Peterborough Bishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Abbey of Peterborough

In the civil parish of Peterborough.
In the historic county of Northamptonshire and the Soke of Peterborough.
Modern Authority of Peterborough; City of.
1974 county of Cambridgeshire.
Medieval County of Soke of Peterborough.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL19379848
Latitude 52.57182° Longitude -0.24045°

Peterborough Bishops Palace has been described as a probable Palace, and also as a probable Fortified Ecclesiastical site.

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

Originally the Abbot's House. Present building mainly Victorian Gothic, but features of various dates survive. 2 mid C13 undercrofts survive. The larger is of 2 naves divided by circular piers with moulded capitals. Smaller room also has rib vaulting, the east window being an original slit lancet, Stepped butress. Solar wing at right anglo to the Hall wing with 2 late perpendicular oriel windows facing north, 1 with the rebus of Abbot Kirkton, the room being known as Heaven's Gate Chamber. Triple shaft on a corbel late C12, is a survival of the Monk's kitchen. (Listed Building Report - Bishops Palace)

Mainly built circa 1220 by Robert of Lindsay. Square turrets project at quoins, having crenellated parapets. 3 storey height. Each of the 2 turrets has a trefoil headed niche containing a statue of an abbot and prior, one of which may represent Godfrey of Crowland. Centre is gabled, containing a statue of King Edward, seated, above windows of 4 and 8 lights, strings between storeys. Centre archway has 4 orders of colonnettes with moulded capitals. Inside tyre archway, the main chamber has blank arcading and quadripartite vaulting. The room above the entrance, known as the Knights' Chamber, was formerly decorated with pictures of the knights who met there. The windows have been altered in Jacobean style. (Listed Building Report - Bishop's Gate)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1308 July 18 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1003264, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number pe140
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1331518
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 364275; 364288.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 01518e.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Abaroth's World
Books
- Morewood, Caroline C., 1910, 'Introductory Chapter' in Rait, R.S. (ed), English Episcopal Palaces (Province of Canterbury) (London; Constable & Co) p. 44-7 online copy
  Serjeantson, R.M., Ryland, W. and Adkins, D. (eds), 1906, VCH Northamptonshire Vol. 2 p. 83-95 online transcription online copy p. 454-5 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 249, 406 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Musson, J., 2001/01/11, 'The Palace, Peterborough: The Residence of the Bishop of Peterborough' Country Life
  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
  Challands, A., 1972, 'Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1971' Bulletin of the Northamptonshire Federation of Archaeological Societies no. 7 p. 46 download from ArchLib
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), 1894, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward II (1307-13) Vol. 1 p. 135 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- 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

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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