Canterbury Archbishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Cellarers Hall; Walpole House

In the civil parish of Canterbury.
In the historic county of Kent.
Modern Authority of Kent.
1974 county of Kent.
Medieval County of Kent.

OS Map Grid Reference: TR15025798
Latitude 51.28036° Longitude 1.08177°

Canterbury Archbishops Palace has been described as a certain Palace.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Description

The Great Hall and other fragmentary remains of the Archbishops Palace rebuilt between 1193 and 1228 on the site of the original palace probably initiated by Lanfranc in C11. Most of the major buildings of the Palace were demolished in the 1650's. The Palace was rebuilt again to designs by W D Caroe in 1896, retaining some of the original features. Excavations have located the Great Hall which was constructed late C12 early C13. (PastScape)

Between September and early November 1982 a large trench (3m x 22m) was excavated on the site of the early 13th century Great Hall at the medieval Archbishop's Palace. The Great Hall of the Archbishop's Palace, the second largest medieval Great Hall in Britain after Westminster, was constructed c1200-1220 by Archbishops Hubert Walter and Stephen Langton and was demolished in the 1650s. (PastScape ref. Rady, 1982)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1004195, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number ke335
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1241616 , 1241505 , and others
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 464536; 464555; 464604; 464460.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) TR 15 NE 978 and others; see also the Canterbury Urban Archaeological Database searchable from Heritage Gateway.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Historic Canterbury
Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 320-25
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 170
  James, T.B., 1990, The Palaces of Medieval England (London; Seaby) p. 22, 60, 63-4, 134, 158
  Tatton Brown, Tim, 1982, 'The great hall of the archbishop's palace' in Coldstream, Nicola and Draper, Peter (eds), Medieval art and architecture at Canterbury before 1220 (British Archaeological Association conference transactions 5) p. 112-119
  Hasted, Edward, 1801, The history and topographical survey of the county of Kent Vol. 12 p. 524-5 online transcription
  Hasted, Edward, 1800, The history and topographical survey of the county of Kent Vol. 11 p. 294-303online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Rady, J., Tatton Brown, T. and Bowen, J.A., 1991, 'The archbishop's palace, Canterbury: Excavations and Building Recording Works from 1981 to 1986' Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol. 144 p. 1-60 (also available as a bound offprint)
  Freeman, J.M., 1991 April, Country Life
  Bowen, J., 1986-7, Canterbury Archaeological Trust annual report Vol. 11 p. 26-7
  Rady, J., 1982, 'Interim Report on Excavations in 1982 by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 98 p. 230-3 (plan) online copy
  Tatton Brown, Tim, 1980-81, Canterbury Archaeological Trust annual report Vol. 5 p. 15-16
  Tatton Brown, Tim, 1979-80, Canterbury Archaeological Trust annual report Vol. 4 p. 33
  Tatton Brown, Tim, 1978-79, Canterbury Archaeological Trust annual report Vol. 3 p. 20
  Willis, R., 1868, 'The architectural history of the conventual buildings of the monastery of Christ Church in Canterbury' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 7 p. 1-206 (plans) online copy
Guidebooks
- Rady, J., Tatton Brown, T. and Bowen, J.A., 1991, The archbishop's palace, Canterbury (Canterbury Archaeological Trust) (reprint of 1991 JBAA article)
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)

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
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.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

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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