The King’s Stair, Hampton Court Palace

The King’s Staircase isn’t a cantilever staircase, but I think that it is worth including because of it scale and interesting landing.

The treads are all made from several pieces of stone, supported on walls or arches.

It is worth mentioning that the balustrade was made by Jean Tijou.

King's Stair IFL_5624 (43)

King's Stair IFL_5624 (23)

DSCF4177

DSCF4175

IMG_0568

The top landing is really remarkable. It is almost 3m wide and is formed out of many pieces of stone cleverly jointed together.

DSCF4183

There is a wall below about 2m back from the free edge (approximately along the line where the man in the light trousers is walking) so the pieces must be jointed to allow the landing to cantilever.

DSCF4181

The joints on the soffit appear to tally with the ones on the top.

King's Stair IFL_5624 (19)

There are a few lead lines across the landing – did someone get nervous and add some straps?

IMG_0574