Ely Old Bishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Ely.
In the historic county of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely.
Modern Authority of Cambridgeshire.
1974 county of Cambridgeshire.
Medieval County of county palatine of the Isle of Ely.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL540801
Latitude 52.39851° Longitude 0.26187°

Ely Old Bishops Palace has been described as a certain Palace.

There are major building remains.

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

Description

Claustral buildings of Ely Cathedral dating from C12. Features include the Bishops Palace, the Deanery. the Almonry and the Prior's House. Bishop's Palace, which stands on the south side of Palace Green to the west of the Cathedral, was originally built in the C15 by Bishop Alcock (1486-1501). The only surviving part of Alcock's palace is the east tower and the lower part of the west tower. The upper part of the west tower and the west wing, facing Palace Green was built by Bishop Goodrich in 1550 and the recessed centre part and the block facing south to the garden was built by Bishop Laney (1667-75) who demolished the major part of Bishop Goodrich's palace. The Great Hall, or Guest Hall was built in the mid C13 and was remodelled in the early C14. (Derived from PastScape and listing report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1296856 , 1167260
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 375293.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 11966.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- BBC Cambridgeshire
  Abaroth's World
Books
- Meadows, P. and Ramsay, N. (eds), 2003, A History of Ely Cathedral
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 154
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 175
  Pugh R.B. (ed), 1953, 'City of Ely: Monastic buildings and palace' VCH Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely Vol. 4 p. 77-82 online transcription
  Morewood, Caroline C., 1910, 'Introductory Chapter' in Rait, R.S. (ed), English Episcopal Palaces (Province of Canterbury) (London; Constable & Co) p. 34-6 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Hussey, C., 1928, 'Ely Palace, Cambridgeshire' Country Life Vol. 63 p. 850-7
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  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.
- Cambridgeshire Extensive Urban Survey: Ely. Draft Report 17/01/2001. 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)
  Alexander, M., 1997, Excavations at the Old Bishops Palace, Ely [online copy > http://hbsmrgateway.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/ImagesAndFiles/LibraryLinkFiles/2217.pdf

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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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