Since 1640 and its dismantling, there had been no trace of the Tudor palace of Collyweston, today a village of 500 souls in the Northamptonshire countryside. On the old road linking London to the north of England, the site is only animated by the parish church of St. Andrew, its hotel-restaurant (The Collyweston Slater) and its, now famous, association of historians amateurs (Collyweston Historical and Preservation Society).
According to The Tudor Travel Guide, it belonged to Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, in 1486 after the Battle of Bosworth. She would have made what was at the time a manor into a real royal palace. At this time, Collyweston would have become the administrative center of the Midlands. For more than a century, Henry VII, Henry VIII then Elizabeth I would have lived there. During the 18th century, after its purchase, the residence was dismantled and its materials reused, “leaving only earthworks, garden terraces, two fish ponds and banks as clues to the existence of a majestic property” , says The Tudor Travel Guide.
The exact location of the building is now uncertain. In 2018, a group of amateur historians launched excavations. With a budget of 14,000 pounds (approximately 16,300 euros) according to the BBC and the cooperation of several landowners, ground penetrating radar (Lidar) analyzes are undertaken. On November 11, 2023, after more than 5 years of research, the collective published an official press release on its website: “Collyweston Palace has been found!”
Emotions run high for archaeologists. “We are just a bunch of amateurs, with no money, no plans, just a lot of enthusiasm and against all odds, we discovered this,” one of them told the BBC. The collective indicated that further investigations would be carried out using penetrating radar.
An exhibition presents their discoveries at Lady Margaret Chapel in Collyweston, an exhibition which should be enriched as research continues.