Maidstone Archbishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Maideston

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

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ75935544
Latitude 51.27095° Longitude 0.52066°

Maidstone Archbishops Palace has been described as a certain Palace.

There are major building remains.

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

Description

The Archbishop's Palace. Begun by Archbishop Ufford in 1348. Completed by Archbishop Islip between 1349 and 1366. Enlarged by Archbishop Morton in 1486. Exchanged by Archbishop Crarmer with Henry VIII for other property. By Henry VIII it was granted to Sir Thomas Wyatt. On his son's rebellion it was forfeited to the Crown and subsequently granted to Sir John Astley, who built the greater part of the existing house in the 2nd half of the C16. The main portion of the building is of ashlar with timber-framed wings at the north and south ends. The main section is E-shaped. 2 storeys and attics. 5 windows and 2 dormers to the north-vest front. Stringcourse. Parapet. Windows with stone mullions and transoms. 2 large dormers above the outer-projecting east wings with kneelers, coping and finials over the apices and kneelers. Tiled roof. The centre projection is the porch with round-headed arch and room over. At the south end of the building is a timber-framed wing nearby flush with the southern projection of the main front. This has one large and one small gable with pendants. Casement windows. At the north end of the building is a wing with stone ground floor and timber-framed upper storey with diagonal braces and plaster infill, surmounted by a gable with pendant. On the ground floor there is one obtusely pointed window and 1 square headed window containing 2 cinquefoil-headed lights. One sash window above them with glazing bars intact. To the north of this again is a further recessed wing wholly faced with stone but with a portion projecting on the 1st floor apparently timber framed but this is modern or a reconstruction. The south-west front of the Palace facing the Medway has a fine stone corbelled oriel window with 3 tiers of 6 lights, stone mullions and transoms and chamfered stone corbelling beneath. Also there are some double or triple lancets with hood moulding. The interior contains C16 panelling and some fine C16 wood or stone fireplaces. (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1005499, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number ke168
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1336232 , 1086309 , and others
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 415124.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) TQ 75 NE 35; MKE29458.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 393
  Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 320-25, 370-3
  Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Kent (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 56
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 171
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 237
  Newman, John, 1980, Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald p. 405-6
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 306 online copy
  Beale Post, 1856, History of the college of All Saints, Maidstone
  Hasted, Edward, 1801, The history and topographical survey of the county of Kent Vol. 12 p. 524-5 online transcription
  Hasted, Edward, 1798 (2edn), The history and topographical survey of the county of Kent Vol. 4 p. 260- online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Philp, B.J., 1992, 'Excavations at Maidstone Palace' Kent Archaeological Review Vol. 110 p. 237
  Rigold, S.E., 1969, 'Maidstone: the archiepiscopal precinct' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 126 p. 252-4
  Goodsall, R.H., 1958, 'The Astleys of Maidstone' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 72 p. 2 online copy
  1924, The Archaeological Journal Vol. 81 p. 377 (slight) online copy
  1905, The Archaeological Journal Vol. 62 p. 185 (slight) online copy
  Whichcord, J., 1855, 'on the antiquities of Maidstone' Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol. 10 p. 34 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 250, 255
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1909, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 4 p. 47 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk South East Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 43 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk South East Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 43 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 47 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 44 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 55 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 51 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 47 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 South East (London: English Heritage) p. 52 online copy
  Kent County Council, December 2004, Kent Historic Towns Survey (Kent County Council and English Heritage) view 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)

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	Scheduling	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