Norwich Bishops Palace

In the civil parish of Norwich. In the historic county of Norfolk (Modern Authority of Norfolk, 1974 county of Norfolk).

Externally a mid C19 building, the palace was constructed initially in 1104-6 by Bishop Losinga. It consisted of a vaulted wing projecting from the north wall of the Cathedral and terminating in a miniature keep. Bishop Salmon, 1279-1325, added a vaulted Kitchen forming an L-shaped plan. Salmon built a crypt and Domestic Hall on the site of a late Norman ground floor hall. Salmon's State Hall to the north-east has disappeared except for the porch and his fine chapel windows which are re-used in Bishop Reynold's Chapel. The palace also contains a Norman barrel vault, a C14 vault in the kitchen, C15 priory prison and traces of the Medieval building in an upstairs room. Rebuilt in 1858-9 by E Ewan Christian it is externally a mid C19 structure, L-shaped, 3-storeyed, flint faced with a brick string course. Included in the licence to crenellate issued to the bishop in 1327 although as this was for all his houses may not have resulted in any building work.
Norfolk SMR records a motte and small shell keep partly buried in later buildings and dates this to 1104-6.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TG23460896

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 923556; 923612; 923601; 923590
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 26035 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

• Web site links
  • http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/SingleResult.aspx?uid=MNF26035
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern) p66
    Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p131, 166
    Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p12, 30, 41-2, 44, 167, 181
    Atherton, L., Fence, F., Harper-Bill, C. and Smith, H. (eds), 1996, Norwich Cathedral: Church, City and Diocese, 1096-1996 (London)
    Ayers, B., 1994, English Heritage Book of Norwich (London: Batsford/English Heritage)
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p310
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1962, Buildings of England: Norwich and north-east Norfolk (Penguin) p229, 238
    Calthrop, Charlotte M., 1910, 'The Palace of Norwich' in Rait, R.S. (ed), English Episcopal Palaces (Province of Canterbury) (London; Constable & Co) p209-254 http://www.archive.org/details/engepiscopalaces00raituoft
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p288, 422
• Journal Articles
  • Coulson, C., 1982, 'Hierarchism in Conventual Crenellation: An Essay in the Sociology and Metaphysics of Medieval Fortification' Medieval Archaeology Vol26 p69-100 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    Whittingham, A.B., 1980, 'The bishop's palace, Norwich' Archaeological Journal Vol37 p365-8
    Whittingham, A.B., 1949, 'The monastic buildings of Norwich cathedral' Archaeological Journal Vol106 p86-7
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Speed, John, 1611-12, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain [http://faculty.oxy.edu/horowitz/home/johnspeed/Cities20.htm]
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Gilchrist, R., 2006, Norwich Cathedral Close
    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 http://ethos.bl.uk ]