Bekesborne Archbishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Bekesbourne With Patrixbourne.
In the historic county of Kent.
Modern Authority of Kent.
1974 county of Kent.
Medieval County of Kent.

OS Map Grid Reference: TR19355553
Latitude 51.25672° Longitude 1.14260°

Bekesborne Archbishops Palace has been described as a certain Palace.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

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

Description

This was the Gatehouse of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's Palace. Two storeys red brick laid in English bond. Hipped slate roof. Three casement windows of 2 lights with 4 centred heads and stone mullions. In the west wall is a four-centred stone doorway with a stone over it inscribed "T C (Thomas Cranmer) 1552" and a cartouche of the arms of Archbishop Parker of Canterbury. Chimneybreast on north wall. To the east of the cottage is a red brick barn with a tiled roof with gable ends, hipped waggon entrance and casement windows. (Listed Building Report)

Site of an archiepiscopal palace, built in circa 1552 for Cranmer using buildings belonging to Christchurch, Canterbury and destroyed in the Civil War; only the gatehouse, now a cottage survives. Excavations uncovered Roman settlement debris. The present house is late C18 to C19. (PastScape)

The prior's apartment and adjoining chapel, the hall and the prior's dormitory and everything else except a lodge and two barns, were built during the reign of Henry 7th by Prior Thomas Goldston of Christchurch, Canterbury. At the dissolution the estate passed to Thomas Colepeper and then to Thomas Cranmer who made the buildings into the Archbishop's Palace and built the gateway in 1552. The remains of the palace are in the gardens around the house. (PastScape ref. Scheduling report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1005136, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number ke366
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1186845
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 464372.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) TR 15 NE 30.

Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 320-25
  Keevill, Graham D., 2000, Medieval Palaces, An Archaeology (Stroud; Tempus) p. 149, 157
  Tatton Brown, Tim, 2000, Lambeth Palace: A History of the Archbishops of Canterbury and Their Houses p. 73-4
  Hasted, Edward, 1801, The history and topographical survey of the county of Kent Vol. 12 p. 524-5 online transcription
  Hasted, Edward, 1800 (2edn), The history and topographical survey of the county of Kent Vol. 9 p. 266-76 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Tatton Brown, Tim, 1980, 'Excavations at the "Old Palace" Bekesbourne, near Canterbury' at Bekesbourne' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 96 p. 27-57 online copy
  Tatton Brown, Tim, 1977, 'Excavations in 1977 by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 93 p. 216 online copy
  1976, 'Excavations in 1976 by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 92 p. 240-1 online copy

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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