Henry VIII: Man and Monarch

Cycling London in search of Henry

The weather forecast's good for the weekend, so why not cycle round some of London's Henry VIII-related sights and sites with this unofficial Google map bike tour that accompanies our exhibition?

Searching for the Field of Cloth of Gold

Where was the so-called ‘Field of Cloth of Gold’, the site of Henry VIII’s infamously ostentatious meeting with Francis I in June 1520?

The answer is: within 15 minutes' drive of the port of Calais and the Eurotunnel terminal. This place was chosen because it was in no-man’s-land, halfway between the 'English' town of Guînes and Ardres, on the French side. A granite stele marks the spot (but who really knows?) by the side of the busy D231.

There’s no safe parking nearby, and nothing else to see.

But at nearby Balinghem the discerning tourist can enjoy a sumptuous plate of frites.

Guînes, once an English possession and now rather down-at-heel, is keener to celebrate Francis, Duke of Guise, who freed the town from Perfidious Albion in 1558, than our Henry. Ardres, a few miles away, makes a more attractive stopover and has a couple of good restaurants.

In 1520, the area would have been packed with French and English nobility, with their households and animals.

There was a splendid pavilion for Francis I, and lavish temporary palaces for King Henry and Cardinal Wolsey - as this contemporary design in the British Library shows.

In the event, the projected peace negotiations between the two muscular kings barely survived the tensions thrown up by their personal rivalry.

If your French is up to it, you can read two contemporary accounts on our Renaissance Festival Books website.

La description et ordre du camp [et] festiem[en]t [et] ioustes des trescrestiens et tres puissa[n]s roys de France [et] Dangleterre

Lordonnance et ordre du tournoy, ioustes, [et] combat, a pied, [et] a cheual