Crediton Bishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
The Old Palace; Crideton; Cridiantun; Kirton

In the civil parish of Crediton.
In the historic county of Devonshire.
Modern Authority of Devon.
1974 county of Devon.
Medieval County of Devon.

OS Map Grid Reference: SS83710030
Latitude 50.79057° Longitude -3.65120°

Crediton Bishops Palace has been described as a probable Palace.

There are masonry footings remains.

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

Description

Possible site of the Saxon monastery and later cathedral and palace of bishops until 1050. A richly endowed Saxon monastery, possibly dedicated to St Gregory, was founded in 739 by a grant from King Aethelheard to Forethere, Bishop of Sherborne, in which see Crediton then lay. With the division of the See of Sherborne in 909, the former Saxon monastery became the cathedral church of the new see of Crediton and remained so until the see was removed to Exeter in 1050. Its location is not precisely known, although Leland suggested it lay here, close to the later churchyard, although it may be beneath the Church of the Holy Cross. (PastScape)

The bisshop of Excester hath a maner place or palace by the chirch yarde, and to this maner place longith a parke. (Leland)

William Camden's Britannia mss. of 1586-1607 said that Crediton was then noted for the palace of the Bishop of Exeter, but Gibson in his edition of 1695 adds that there were then no traces of the bishops having been there except for the field called My Lord's Meadow. He also says that the manor had been granted to the Killegrews which Polwhele shows was done in 1595 (Polwhele).
The Old Palace, an 18th century house built round and in front of Medieval stone walls, is sometimes considered part of the Bishop's Palace, but the walls are more likely to be the remains of the Collegiate buildings.
The so-called 'Old Palace' incorporates Medieval walls. Its front is pleasant early 18th century red-brick with a trellis porch (Pevsner). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1208225
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 35566; 35553.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 12612.

Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 549-51
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 177
  Pevsner, Nikolaus and Cherry, Bridget, 1989, Buildings of England: Devon (Harmondsworth) p. 299
  Hoskins, W.G., 1954, A New Survey of England: Devon (London: Collins) transcribed extract
  Polwhele, R., 1797, Historical Views of Devonshire p. 88
Periodical Articles
- Blake, D.W., 1982, 'The pre-conquest Bishops of Cornwall' Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries p. 1-6
  Venn, T.W., 1955, 'An Introduction to Crediton, alias Kirton or sometimes Critton' Transactions of the Devonshire Association Vol. 87 p. 27
  Tapley-Soper, H., 1942-6, Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries Vol. 22 p. 78-80
  Montague, L.A.D., 1940-1941, 'Notes on Old Crediton' Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries Vol. 21 p. 31-2
  Reichel, O.J., 1922, 'The Manor and Hundred of Crediton' Transactions of the Devonshire Association Vol. 54 p. 146-75
  Smith, Rev. P., 1882, 'The early history of Crediton' Transactions of the Devonshire Association Vol. 14 p. 191-98 esp. 195 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 122
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 239 online copy
  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 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.

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*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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