The VYNE: A Tudor House Revealed - Tapa blanda

The Vyne, a Hampshire country house in the care of the National Trust, has always been a building of great interest. Much of this appeal is due to the way in which different periods of construction and furnishing interlock with each other, and to the links the house has with the Tudor period, and particularly with the court of Henry VIII. However, until archaeological recording was carried out during 1996-8, the early Tudor house - so crucial to the story of the Vyne - was largely misunderstood. The extent and extraordinary character of this great house, built for King Henry's Lord Chamberlain, Willian Sandys, and his wife Margery, is now revealed for the first time, both in the context of a great courtier's life and against the broader background of archaeology as a constantly changing technique.

Maurice Howard is Professor of Art History at the University of Sussex. He is the author of "The Early Tudor Country House", "The Tudor Image", and (with Michael Snodin) "Ornament - A Social History since 1540". He was Senior Specialist Adviser for the Tudor and Stuart sections of the British Galleries at the V&A Museum. Edward Wilson is Planning Archaeologist for Warwickshire County Council. He was the National Trust's Project Archaeologist for the re-servicing of The Vyne in 1996-8, and is Chairman of the West Midlands Regional Group of the Institute of Field Archaeologists.