Braintree Bishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Chapel Hill; Parsonage Farm

In the civil parish of Braintree.
In the historic county of Essex.
Modern Authority of Essex.
1974 county of Essex.
Medieval County of Essex.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL76702287
Latitude 51.87492° Longitude 0.56598°

Braintree Bishops Palace has been described as a probable Palace.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Although the placename 'Braintree' is mentioned in Domesday "it was a minor holding in the larger manor of Great Rayne, owned by the Bishop of London. The manorial centre, an episcopal palace and grange, was a mile to the south-east of the present town centre at what is now chapel hill, where traces of both palace and chapel were known until the last century, but are now lost beneath factories and warehouses" "The Bishops of London held an estate at Braintree from the late 10th century, and perhaps earlier". The estate seems to have been centred on Chapel Hill from the beginning. (Unlocking Essex's Past)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 378942.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 6409; 6410.

Books
- Eddy, M.R. and Petchey, M.R. (eds), 1983, Historic Towns in Essex: An Archaeological Survey p. 23
  Bassett, S.R. and Drury, P.J., 1976, in Drury, P.J. (ed), Braintree:Excavations and Research, 1971-76 p. 134-5
  Morant, P., 1768, History of Essex Vol. 2 p. 400
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.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)
  1999, Braintree Historic Town Assessment Report (Essex County Council) Download copy

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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.

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