London Inn of the Bishop of Rochester, Lambeth (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
La Place

In the civil parish of Lambeth.
In the historic county of Surrey.
Modern Authority of London Borough of Lambeth.
1974 county of Greater London.
Medieval County of Surrey.

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ30957928
Latitude 51.49736° Longitude -0.11481°

London Inn of the Bishop of Rochester, Lambeth has been described as a probable Palace.

There are no visible remains.

Description

In 1197, when the Archbishop of Canterbury obtained Lambeth Manor from the bishop and monks of Rochester, the bishop reserved a piece of ground for his own residence which during the Middle Ages was known as La Place. (Denne) It was in this house that the horrid attempt was made in 1531 to kill Bishop Fisher by throwing poison into the “mess of gruel” which was being prepared for his dinner. The perpetrator was subsequently boiled alive in Smithfield. Nicolas Heath, Bishop of Rochester, was in residence there, July, 1539, but a few months later meekly agreed to remove to the house of Lord John Russell in Chiswick to oblige the King in his expressed desire to have his nobles and councillors near his court, rather than dignitaries of the church. The exchange was a three-cornered one, Lord John Russell taking the Bishop of Carlisle's house near Temple Bar and the Bishop of Carlisle taking La Place in Lambeth. Carlisle House was sold in 1647, but reverted to the see in 1660. It does not appear to have been used as a bishop's residence after the Restoration, and about 1690 part of it was in use as a pottery. In 1827 the Bishop of Carlisle obtained an Act to enable him to grant building leases of his Lambeth property. The house, then “very ancient and much out of repair,” was pulled down, and the grounds, which lay between Hercules Road and Carlisle Lane, were cut up into streets and built up by Robert Armstrong of Hercules Buildings, and John Woodward of Crozier Street, Stangate, builders. (Roberts and Godfrey)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 182
  Roberts, H. and Godfrey, W.H., 1951, Survey of London Vol. 23 p. 75-6 online transcription
  Denne, Samuel, 1795, Historical particulars of Lambeth Parish and Lambeth Palace in addition to the histories by Dr. Ducarel
Periodical Articles
- Pearman, A.I., Tait, G.H. and Thompson, H.P., 1918, 'Residences of the bishops of Rochester' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 33 p. 131-54 online copy

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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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