Little Downham Bishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Tower Farmhouse

In the civil parish of Downham.
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: TL51928420
Latitude 52.43450° Longitude 0.23300°

Little Downham Bishops Palace has been described as a certain Palace.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

C15 palace of Bishop of Ely. Gatehouse survives as farm outbuilding. Built for Bishop Alcock (1486-1500). Red brick with deeper red brick diaper patterning; plinth coursed in English bond with chamfered limestone band, limestone dressings to quoins and openings. Reroofed with corrugated iron. Possibly of several original storeys, height reduced to two storeys with walls and door jambs in rear elevation of rear wing demolished. South elevation: Pedestrian entrance to left of centre through moulded four-centred arch with panelled overmantel and superimposed crocketed ogee arch enclosing a cock, the rebus of Bishop Alcock. Windows with round-headed- lights, drip moulds and chamfered mullions, two single-light ground floor windows and one three-light window to right hand of entrance; one large five-light window reduced in height at first floor and two single-light windows to right hand. Interior: The original plan was of an entrance hall with guardroom and doorway to staircase from the cross passage with an inner room to the right hand. The end room was possibly tunnel vaulted and the hall has springings for two bays of fan vaulting. The room divisions are repeated at first floor. The Lease of 1746 'with covenant to repair tower said to have been gatehouse... into a good farmhouse'. Bishopsic of Ely Lease Book. Kitchen wing survives as barn, fragments also incorporated into later buildings. (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1310362 , 1127026
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 375286.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 07154.

Books
- Pugh, R.B. (ed), 2002, VCH Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely Vol. 4 p. 92 online transcription
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 83-4, 154
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 176
  Patterson, W., 1974, The Village and Church
  Pevsner, N., 1970, Buildings of England: Cambridgeshire (London, Penguin) p. 330
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
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)

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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.
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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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