[John Dee lived on the south bank of the Thames, a few hours up by barge from London, but was even closer to Richmond Palace where the Queen spent a lot of time. Consequently visitors would drop in for consultations and demonstrations, or to examine his collections. Even the Queen dropped by on occasion.]
“From his mother, on the other hand, John Dee received his house and land at Mortlake, conveniently close to Richmond Palace, which would subsequently serve as a site for his library, museum and alchemical workshops; as a venue for receiving the Queen and other visitors; and as security for loans and mortgages.”Pasted from <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0039368111001129> (Jennifer M. Rampling, John Dee and the sciences: early modern networks of knowledge, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, Volume 43, Issue 3, September 2012, Pages 432-436, ISSN 0039-3681, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2011.12.001.
“Richmond Palace was a royal residence on the River Thames in England that stood in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It lay upstream and on the opposite bank from the Palace of Westminster, which lay nine miles (14 km) to the north-east. It was erected about 1501 by Henry VII of England, formerly known as Earl of Richmond, in honour of which the manor of Sheen had recently been renamed as “Richmond”, later to become Richmond upon Thames. It replaced a palace, itself built on the site of a manor house appropriated by the Crown some two centuries before.In 1500, a year before the construction of the new Richmond Palace began, the name of the town of Sheen, which had grown up around the royal manor, was changed to “Richmond” by command of Henry VII. However, both names, Sheen and Richmond, continue to be used, not without scope for confusion.
[…]
Richmond Palace was a favourite home of Queen Elizabeth, who died there in 1603. It remained a residence of the kings and queens of England until the death of Charles I in 1649. Within months of his execution, the Palace was surveyed by order of Parliament and was sold for £13,000. Over the following ten years it was largely demolished, the stones and timbers being re-used as building materials elsewhere. Only vestigial traces now survive, notably the Gate House. The site of the former palace is the area between Richmond Green and the River Thames, and some local street names provide echoes of the former Palace, including Old Palace Lane, Old Palace Yard and The Wardrobe.”Pasted from <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Palace>