Exeter Bishops Palace and Cathedral Close (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Exeter.
In the historic county of Devonshire.
Modern Authority of Devon.
1974 county of Devon.
Medieval County of Devon.

OS Map Grid Reference: SX92159250
Latitude 50.72209° Longitude -3.52922°

Exeter Bishops Palace and Cathedral Close has been described as a certain Palace, and also as a probable Fortified Ecclesiastical site.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

The Bishop's Palace at Exeter (while originating presumably with the Norman cathedral in C12) is mostly of 1848, by E Christian. The only medieval parts showing are the masonry of the hall, north and east walls and screen, the Chapel of St. Faith (in the north east side of the part of the palace nearer to the cathedral; alternatively and less accurately given as dedicated to St. Mary (Rose-Troup)) which was dedicated between 1224 and 1244, the early C13 entrance arch in the south east tower, the C15 Tower porch and the tower itself, and a re-used oriel window of 1500. The unique entry passage directly into the cathedral was originally early C16. (PastScape)

The Bishop's Palace. Retains some C13 work, the main block having originally been the Great Hall. Lower part of Entrance tower and fine internal arch of this date. C13 Chapel, restored by William Butterfield. Famous "Courtenay" mantelpiece (position moved) late C15. Many later demolitions and alterations, including virtual rebuilding in 1846-8, by Ewan Christian. Heavitree stone. Three storeys. Mullioned windows. Slate roof. Early C16 oriel window brought from demolished house in city. (Listed Building Report)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1290 Oct 30 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).
A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1322 June 23.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1222943 , and others
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 448305; 448313; 621909.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 11060.0.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Britannia America's Gateway to the British Isles since 1996
Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 549-51
  Higham, Robert A., 1999, 'Castles, Fortified Houses and Fortified Towns in the Middle Ages' in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W., Historical Atlas of South-West England (University of Exeter Press) p. 136-43
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 35, 47, 108-9, 167, 176
  Blaycock, S.R., 1987, Observations in the Bishop's Palace, Exeter, 1985 (Exeter)
  Pevsner N., 1952, Buildings of England: South Devon p. 162-3
  Morewood, Caroline C., 1910, 'Introductory Chapter' in Rait, R.S. (ed), English Episcopal Palaces (Province of Canterbury) (London; Constable & Co) p. 28-34 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 167, 403, 408 online copy
  Lysons, D. and S., 1822, Magna Britannia Vol. 6 Devon p. cccxlv-cccxlviii online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Allan, John and Dyer, Martin J., 2005, 'The Medieval Gatehouse of the Chancellor's House, Cathedral Close, Exeter' Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society Vol. 63 p. 93-102
  Musson, J., 1998 March, Country Life
  Blaylock, S., 1990, The Archaeological Journal Vol. 147 Supp. p. 41-5
  Higham, R.A., 1988, 'Devon Castles: an annotated list' Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society Vol. 46 p. 142-9
  Coulson, C., 1982, 'Hierarchism in Conventual Crenellation: An Essay in the Sociology and Metaphysics of Medieval Fortification' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 26 p. 69-100 see online copy
  Rose-Troup, F., 1932, Transactions of the Devonshire Association Vol. 64 p. 415-20
  Chanter, J.F., 1931, 'The Bishop's Palace at Exeter' Transactions of the Devonshire Association Vol. 63 p. 381
  1913, The Archaeological Journal Vol. 70 p. 517-8
Guidebooks
- Chanter, J.K., 1932, The Bishop's Palace at Exeter (Exeter)
  Addleshaw, P., 1898, Exeter Cathedral
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1893, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward I (1281-91) Vol. 2 p. 393 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1904, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward II (1321-24) Vol. 4 p. 140 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Celia Fiennes, 1888, Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press) Vision of Britain online transcription
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Payne, Naomi, 2003, The medieval residences of the bishops of Bath and Wells, and Salisbury (PhD Thesis University of Bristol) Appendix B: List of Medieval Bishop's Palaces in England and Wales (available via EThOS)

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It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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