William Portington

William Portington (1544-1628) was an English carpenter and joiner, originally from St Albans, employed by Elizabeth I and James VI and I.

Portington may have designed and constructed the hall screen at Knole

Portington was employed by Sir Nicholas Bacon, the Lord Keeper, for his buildings on Fetter Lane. Sir Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey and Sir Nicholas Bacon of Redgrave paid him £20 in May 1579.[1]

Portington was employed in April and May 1603 during preparations for the coronation of King James and other ceremonies, supervised by Simon Basil and William Spicer. His account survives in the library of the University of Edinburgh. He repaired and altered the privy lodgings at the Tower of London and built new sheds for the kitchen and a pump to bring water from the Thames to the kitchen cistern. He repaired the "standard" or fountain at Westminster Palace.[2]

He made masque scenery including the temple and rock for The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses performed in January 1604.[3] Portington is thought to have made the Great Hall screen at Knole.

Portington owned a house in St Martin's Lane, which he let to the crown for the use of the painter Daniël Mijtens.

His portrait was given to the London Company of Ironmongers by Matthew Bankes in 1637.[4] The picture shows him with dividers and compass.[5]

References

A. Hassell Smith, Papers of Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey, vol. 2 (Norwich, 1983), pp. 74-5.
HMC Laing Manuscripts, vol. 1 (London, 1914): Edinburgh University, Laing II 636.
John Pitcher, 'Samuel Daniel's Masque "The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses": Texts and Payments', Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England, vol. 26 (2013), pp. 17-42 citing TNA LR6/154/9.
A Catalogue of the Antiquities and Works of Art Exhibited at Ironmongers (London, 1863), p. 219.
Jasmine Kilburn-Toppin, 'Material Memories of the Guildsmen: Crafting Identities in Early Modern London', Erika Kuijpers, Judith Pollmann, Johannes Mueller, Jasper van der Steen, Memory before Modernity: Practices of Memory in Early Modern Europe (Brill, 2013), pp. 181-2.

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[1] A. Hassell Smith, Papers of Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey, vol. 2 (Norwich, 1983), pp. 74-5.

[2] HMC Laing Manuscripts, vol. 1 (London, 1914): Edinburgh University, Laing II 636.

[3] John Pitcher, 'Samuel Daniel's Masque "The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses": Texts and Payments', Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England, vol. 26 (2013), pp. 17-42 citing TNA LR6/154/9.

[4] A Catalogue of the Antiquities and Works of Art Exhibited at Ironmongers (London, 1863), p. 219.

[5] Jasmine Kilburn-Toppin, 'Material Memories of the Guildsmen: Crafting Identities in Early Modern London', Erika Kuijpers, Judith Pollmann, Johannes Mueller, Jasper van der Steen, Memory before Modernity: Practices of Memory in Early Modern Europe (Brill, 2013), pp. 181-2.