Inside ‘Preserved’ Medieval Kitchen Where Meals Were Made for Henry VIII

A video of a “surreal” view inside a kitchen that served royals in medieval England has left viewers on TikTok obsessed.
The footage showcases the interior of Gainsborough Old Hall, located in the market town of Gainsborough in the county of Lincolnshire. The cavernous space features high ceilings, exposed brick walls, wooden beams and tables scattered with cauldrons and other rustic kitchenware.
Jess Bowden (@jessbowden1), a 26-year-old Ph.D. candidate who is a heritage and well-being researcher, recorded the clip on October 12.
Bowden told Newsweek, “Being inside the Old Hall feels so special—it has such an atmosphere, and you can really feel the 500 years of history.”
Text overlaid on the video, which has amassed 3 million views since Bowden posted it on October 26, said, “When you’re standing in one of the best preserved Medieval kitchens in the country.”
“Meals were cooked here for Richard III and Henry VIII,” it continued. “I can just imagine the fires roaring.”
Bowden told Newsweek that the U.K. charity English Heritage “currently manage the Old Hall, so it’s open for visitors, but the kitchen is not in use anymore. The hall was built in 1460 for the wealthy Burgh family, it later passed into the hands of the Hickman family, and over the years, Kings Richard and Henry each made a visit.”
Gainsborough Old Hall is a medieval manor house built for Sir Thomas Burgh, an “ambitious and successful soldier who negotiated his way through the fast-changing politics of the 15th-century Wars of the Roses,” according to English Heritage, which manages historic buildings across the country.
Burgh expanded the property into a great courtyard manor house over three or four decades, and three wings of the house survive today. The final home improvements were made around the 1480s and 1490s, when Burgh added a tall brick tower—essentially a “mini-castle”—and a great medieval kitchen.
Divided into several areas, the kitchen was dominated by two great hearths, including a fireplace on the north end for stewing meat and boiling pottage in cauldrons, while a meat-roasting fireplace was found opposite. Two pastry ovens were on the west wall, and on the fourth side of the kitchen was the servery, where the food was placed on plates and delivered to diners in the grand hall or private chambers.
The kitchen also featured a separate dairy, bakehouse and brewhouse, which provided the household with butter, cheese, bread and ale.
Among the hall’s two royal visits was one by King Henry VIII on August 12, 1541. He arrived at the hall with his fifth wife, Katherine Howard, and Baron Thomas Burgh, Burgh’s grandson, hosted them for four nights, English Heritage said.
More than half a century earlier, in 1483, King Richard III was said to have traveled from London to York for the investiture of his son Edward as the Prince of Wales.
“Returning southwards, he left Pontefract on 8 October and arrived in Lincoln by 11 October. It is likely that he broke his journey halfway and stayed with Burgh, his loyal Yorkist Knight of the Garter, on Friday 10 October,” the charity wrote on its website.
Viewers on TikTok were amazed by the historic hall’s interior, with one writing: “When I’m in places like this, all I can feel is the energy of the people who were there before. It’s a very surreal feeling, walking on surfaces people walked on hundreds of years ago.”
“I am obsessed with the fact that this piece of history still exists. What a treasure,” another added.
“I am just so fascinated and obsessed with seeing history come alive like this,” a user said. “Adding to my list of places to visit.”
“This is absolutely incredible,” another commented, while a user wrote: “It’s hard to process how much history lives inside these walls. Amazing.”
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