Mick Hartley

Hampton Court:

Delightful place, of course. Henry the Eighth and all that. But what you really go there for are….

…the chimneys! Gorgeous twisted turreted fluted Tudor chimneys.

You'll not get any glib psychoanalytic nonsense here about why they built these fancy brick erections. They were in fact supremely functional:

The increased use of chimneys during the Tudor period [was] due to the widespread adoption of coal as fuel as opposed to wood. Coal produced more smoke than wood. Wood smoke was just allowed to escape from the interior of houses through a simple hole in the roof. The increased amount of smoke from coal made necessitated new designs for fireplaces, chimneys and flues. Thick bricks were inclined to crack so the thin Tudor bricks were good for building the highly ornate Tudor chimneys of Hampton Court. The Hampton Court chimney stacks were often clustered in groups and designed in twists, flutes and spirals. The spiralled design was functional as the hot air moved  upwards with the flow of the wind and therefore cooled down chimneys faster than other designs. The number of chimneys in Hampton Court Palace was also another illustration of the wealth of Cardinal Wolsey.

Previous chimney watches here and here.