Ledbury Bishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Ledbury.
In the historic county of Herefordshire.
Modern Authority of Herefordshire.
1974 county of Hereford and Worcester.
Medieval County of Herefordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO712376
Latitude 52.03640° Longitude -2.42020°

Ledbury Bishops Palace has been described as a probable Palace.

There are no visible remains.

Description

The Bishops Palace stood on the S side of the church, but no remains now remain. Attached to palace, Denizen Park (Robinson, 1872). By 1120 the Bishops of Hereford are formally lords of the manor of Ledbury with a manor house S of the churchyard, probably where Ledbury Park now stands. c1356 gave up their manor house, in ruins by the mid 1500s (Robinson, 1982). When Leland made his tour of England between 1534 and 1543 he noted that the 'fayre mansion place for the bysshope' at Ledbury was still to be seen but "all in ruyne" '(Hillaby). The extent of the grounds of the bishops palace or indeed the medieval deer park attached to it are not known. The main buildings probably stood close to Upper Cross but a larger area may have been needed to include services and other buildings. (Herefordshire SMR)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 113522.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 12227.

Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 513
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 178
  Buteux, V., 1994, Central Marches Historic Town Survey, a personal observation (Central Marches Historic Town Survey)
  Hillaby, J.G., 1982, The Book of Ledbury: An essay in interpretation (Buckingham)
  Robinson, C.J., 1872, A History of the Mansions and Manors of Herefordshire (Logaston Press, 2001 reprint)
Periodical Articles
- Tonkin, J.W., 1976, 'The palaces of the bishop of Hereford' Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club Vol. 42.1 p. 53-64
Guidebooks
- Robinson, S.F.G., 1982, A short history of the parish of Ledbury, Herefordshire
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 228
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 5 p. 184 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Dalwood, H. and Bryant, V. (eds), 2005, The Central Marches Historic Towns Survey 1992-6 Download online copy
  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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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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