Norwich Bishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

Externally a mid C19 building, the palace was constructed initially in 1104-6 by Bishop Losinga. It consisted of a vaulted wing projecting from the north wall of the Cathedral and terminating in a miniature keep. Bishop Salmon, 1279-1325, added a vaulted Kitchen forming an L-shaped plan. Salmon built a crypt and Domestic Hall on the site of a late Norman ground floor hall. Salmon's State Hall to the north-east has disappeared except for the porch and his fine chapel windows which are re-used in Bishop Reynold's Chapel. The palace also contains a Norman barrel vault, a C14 vault in the kitchen, C15 priory prison and traces of the Medieval building in an upstairs room. Rebuilt in 1858-9 by E Ewan Christian it is externally a mid C19 structure, L-shaped, 3-storeyed, flint faced with a brick string course. (PastScape)

A Royal licence to crenellate may have been granted in 1327 (Click on the date for details of this supposed licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1372759 , 1372818
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 923556; 923612; 923601; 923590.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 26035.

Books
- Gilchrist, Roberta, 2005, Norwich Cathedral Close : the evolution of the English cathedral landscape (Woodbridge: Boydell Press Studies in the history of medieval religion 26) p. 150-1
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 66
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 131, 166
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 12, 30, 41-2, 44, 167, 181
  Atherton, L., Fence, F., Harper-Bill, C. and Smith, H. (eds), 1996, Norwich Cathedral: Church, City and Diocese, 1096-1996 (London)
  Ayers, B., 1994, English Heritage Book of Norwich (London: Batsford/English Heritage)
  Fernie, E., 1993, An Architectural History of Norwich Cathedral (Oxford) p. 54-5, 89, 126-7, 134, 182-3
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 310
  Campbell, J., 1975, 'Norwich' in Lobel, M.D. (ed) The Atlas of Historic Towns Vol. 2 (London: Scolar Press/Historic Towns Trust) online copy
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 262
  Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1962, Buildings of England: Norwich and north-east Norfolk (Penguin) p. 229, 238
  Calthrop, Charlotte M., 1910, 'The Palace of Norwich' in Rait, R.S. (ed), English Episcopal Palaces (Province of Canterbury) (London; Constable & Co) p. 209-254 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 288, 422 online copy
  Blomefield, F., 1806, 'City of Norwich, chapter 41: Of the Cathedral Precinct: Bishop's palace' An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Vol. 4 p. 46-50 (mainly tenurial history) online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Quiney, Anthony, 1999, 'Hall or Chamber? That Is the Question. The Use of Rooms in Post-Conquest Houses' Architectural History Vol. 42 p. 24-46
  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
  Whittingham, A.B., 1980, 'The bishop's palace, Norwich' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 137 p. 364-8
  Whittingham, A.B., 1949, 'The monastic buildings of Norwich cathedral' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 106 p. 86-7 online copy
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), 1903, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward II (1317-21) Vol. 3 p. 271 (Licence to enlarge palace lands) online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Speed, John, 1611-12, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain online copy)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk East of England Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 49 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk East of England Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 52 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 54 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 55 online copy
  Shapland, Michael, 2012, Buildings of Secular and Religious Lordship: Anglo-Saxon Tower-nave Churches (PhD Thesis University College London) esp. chapter 7 online via UCL Discovery
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 64 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 58 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 51 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 58 online copy
  Gilchrist, R., 2006, Norwich Cathedral Close
  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.

Data >	PastScape	County HER		Listing	I. O. E.
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio