Hereford Bishops Palace

In the civil parish of Hereford. In the historic county of Herefordshire (Modern Authority of Herefordshire, 1974 county of Hereford and Worcester).

Stands on south of Cathedral-cloister. The earliest part of the palace is the surviving wall of the late eleventh-century chapel which was a structure of the double-chapel type common in Germany and north France. The great hall of the palace is late C12 and was a large timber building with a stone base to the outer walls and perhaps a stone porch on the west side. It had aisles and was at least three bays long, the bay at each end, north and south, now form cross wings but may originally have formed part of the hall, in which case it would have had five bays. The first thing that strikes the visitor is the exceptionally large size of the timbers, each post must have been before carving, 4.5 feet square. An investigation was made of the building whilst empty by H.J. Powell. The report includes plans. Bishop William de Vere (1186-1198) is the most likely builder of the celebrated timber aisled hall in the Bishop's Palace. It was a sumptuous late C12 hall, a product of a new fashion. It had four-bays with side porch and an end chamber-block of three floors over a basement. The Palace complex was separated from the cathedral by a stone wall. Its main front faced west to what may have then been the main north-south route through Hereford. The main block of the palace runs north to south and is in five bays. Largely remodelled by Bishop Bisse (1713-21) who formed the present hall and cased the building in brick. The drawing room in the centre of the east side was formed by Bishop Atlay (1868-95). The only medieval feature is the stone-work at the base of the side walls. Embedded in the cross-walls and rising above C18 ceilings are substantial remains of the timber framing of C12 hall. The great hall is one of the grandest and most important of the surviving C12 timber buildings in England.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SO510397

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 909857
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 457 '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.archenfield.com/Hereford%20Bishops%20Palace.htm
• Books
  • Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses Vol2 (Cambridge) p512-14
    Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p47, 49, 65, 158, 177
    Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p178, 179
    Lobel, M.D., 1969, 'Hereford' in Lobel, M.D. (ed), Historic Towns: Maps and Plans of Towns and Cities in the British Isles, with Historical Commentaries, from Earliest Times to 1800' Vol1 (London: Lovell Johns-Cook, Hammond and Kell Organization) p1-11
    RCHME, 1931, An inventory of the historical monuments in Herefordshire. Vol1: south-west
    Garbett, Henrietta L.E., 1910, 'The Palace of Hereford' in Rait, R.S. (ed), English Episcopal Palaces (Province of Canterbury) (London; Constable & Co) p255-286 http://www.archive.org/details/engepiscopalaces00raituoft
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p377
• Journal Articles
  • Blair, John, 1987, 'The twelfth-century Bishop's Palace at Hereford' Medieval Archaeology Vol31 p59-72 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    Tonkin, J.W., 1976, 'The palaces of the bishop of Hereford' Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club Vol42.1 p53-64
    Radford, C.A.R., Jope, E.M. and Tonkin, J.W., 1973, 'The great hall of the bishop's palace at Hereford' Medieval Archaeology Vol17 p78-87 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    Powell, H.J., 1963, 'The Bishop's Palace, Hereford' Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club Vol37.3 p320
    Jones, E. and Smith, J.T., 1960, 'The great hall of the bishop's palace at Hereford' Medieval Archaeology Vol4 p69-81 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Nico Vaughan and Ron Shoesmith, 2006, The Bishop's Palace, Hereford: archaeological evaluation (Archenfield Archaeology–unpublished report) http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/library/greylit/details.cfm?id=2725
    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 ]