Kingston Upon Thames Bishops Palace

Description

The Saxon bishops of Winchester had a palace at Kingston in Egbert's time. It was in use as such until 1392, became a house known as the "Bishopes Haulle" by 1544 but by 1804 no traces remained. Excavations 1964, following the demolition of the tannery which stood on the site revealed only minor finds and a flint scraper. No further information. The site is now occupied by a warehouse. (PastScape)

Bishop's Hall, once the property of the Bishops of Winchester. Probably it first came into their hands in 1202, when Bishop Godfrey paid 14s. to Osbert Horo for three messuages, retaining two and letting the other to Osbert. The Bishop's Hall was soon deserted and was leased to tenants, certainly from 1392; as Leland put it, 'now it is turned into a commune Dwelling House of a Tounisch man. Sum Bishop, wery of it, did neglect the House and began to build at Asher near the Tamise side 2 or 3 miles above Kingston.' In the time of William of Wykeham it was described as between a lane leading to the Thames on the south, a tenement on the north, and the river on the west.' In 1533 the master of the chapel of St. Mary Magdalene leased a toft and garden abutting on 'le Byshoppe Hawe' on the north, the Thames on the west, and the tenement of Richard Benson on the east; this last was described as situated between the highway and Bishop's Hall. These descriptions prove that the hall faced the river and can have had no frontage to Thames Street. Sold to Henry VIII with other lands of the see, it was granted in 1544 as a garden and lands to Richard Borole, barber-surgeon, and John Howe, grocer, of London, but in 1567 Mr. Starr paid 3s. 4d. to the bailiffs and freemen for 'Bisshopes Hall,' and in 1670 Robert Viall paid 8s. for a tenement so called. By 1804 no traces of the building remained, and the site is now occupied by stables and yards. (VCH)