Description

WELLS

ST5445 BISHOP'S PALACE
662-1/7/6 Bishop Burnell's Great Hall
12/11/53
(Formerly Listed as:
BISHOP'S PALACE
(including... ruins of Great
Hall...))

GV I

Ruins of former mediaeval bishop's hall house. c1280, part
demolished c1830. Local rubble with Doulting stone dressings,
no roof. Remains of large 5-bay aisled hall, approx 35m long
and 18m wide internally, with screens passage and N porch;
solar and undercroft to right (W). What now remains is the N
wall, W wall, remnants of the arcade column bases, and a
detached turret to the SE corner of the E wall. The N wall has
4 lofty 2-light geometrical Decorated windows, with sexfoil
head over cusped lights, and cusped transom; to the right the
inner doorway to the former N porch, and at either end are
remains of octagonal stair turrets. At the W end, with 2
octagonal turrets, later single-storey C19 service buildings
have been added, with a narrow central courtyard; there was
already some low-level extension here in 1730 and before.
On the S side is a length of low wall extending towards the E,
including a pointed doorway with mouldings.
Originally this was a most impressive large hall residence.
It is believed to have been built after the commencement of
the Chapel (qv), and appears in Buck's view of 1730 apparently
still complete, with a deep 2-storey N porch, 3 of the windows
(that to the E seems blocked by a solid wall), and 4 roof
gables or dormers; the S and E walls were finally demolished
in the early C19 by Bishop Law "... to make a more picturesque
ruin...", and, in Pevsner's words, with the remainder of the
Palace complex, "...is the product of the gentle romanticism
of the C18 and early C19."
(Colchester LS: Wells Cathedral: A History: Shepton Mallet:
1982-: 232; Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset
and Bristol: London: 1958-: 315).

Listing NGR: ST5516845702

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17529920

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)