HER 431 DESCRIPTION:-

Scheduled Monument Description:- Not Available

The tradition of an Anglo-Saxon and Norman palace in existence at Kingsholm from Mercian times is probably well founded in view of the close connection of the Mercian rulers of the city and of their estates in the vicinity, although it is not until the time of Edward the Confessor and his successors that its presence can be established. During the critical events of 1051 the Confessor summoned his magnates to his "palace at Gloucester" and there is no doubt that he often resided there. {Source Work 862.}

The Saxon palace is assumed to have been on the same site as the manor house, known from historical documents to have been located at Kingsholm Close. The ruined building remains of the manor house are noted in the late 18th century by Mutlow and Fosbrooke then thought to have been the ‘Saxon palace’ and also recorded on Hall and Pinnell's map of 1780. A later description by Clark in 1854 suggests the site was enclosed by a roughly square ditched raised enclosure. {Source Work 13324 and 862.}

Documentary evidence records a substantial chapel was associated with the palace, which was apparently derelict by the mid 14th century. The chapel was dedicated to St. Nicholas and is suggested to have origins in the second half of the 11th century. {Source Work 13326.}

1972 In 1972 a trench measuring 29m x 9m was excavated in the southeast corner of Kingsholm Close, Gloucester, and produced evidence for Saxon to early medieval occupation of the site. A number of pits and probable wall trenches cut through the Roman levels including burials. Sparse finds of pottery suggest a tenth to early eleventh-century date. More than one structural phase was represented, but the area excavated was too limited to establish the sequence or plan of the structures. It nevertheless seems clear that the boundary and terracing referred to in the Roman period (HER 39791) was still present and the mausoleum may still have been standing, since both these features are respected by tenth to eleventh-century wall trenches and pits. Towards the east two wall trenches might have formed might have formed the end of a hall-like building, like the long hall at Cheddar, and there may have been a north-south route, separating the mausoleum and structural remains immediately to its north from the main body of structures further east. {Source Works 3707 and 2494.}

A reassessment of the archaeological investigation of 1972 suggests the probable timber building was more likely to have acted as one of the service buildings to the hall, rather than the hall itself. It is argued the hall and associated chapel would have been rebuilt in stone in the late 11th century, like Gloucester’s gates and abbey. {Source Works 2494.}

1986 - An excavation in the southern half of the front garden of 24 Kingsholm Square, Gloucester, formerly belonging to 4 Edwy Parade, Gloucester.

The excavation revealed part of an east-west re-cut 'V' ditch about 3 metres wide, with cleaning slot or ankle-breaker, at a depth of 2.3 metres below the modern garden. Claudio-Neronian pottery was recovered in the silt-loam fill of the ditch. The southern side shoulder of the ditch extended out from the garden beneath Edwy parade. The ditch appears to follow the same east-west alignment of the modern street towards its west end. The re-cut could post date the fortress period? A redeposited loam make-up on the line of the conjectured fortress rampart contained remains of a broken-up human skull, presumably associated with disturbed burials in the Kingsholm late-Roman burial ground. A suspected sill-slot and post-in-trench feature cut the redeposited loam make-up level. This was bounded to the south by a ditch cut into and on the same alignment as the fortress ditch. This ditch presumably bounds the southern side of Kingsholm Close, which contains the Royal Saxon palace and later medieval Kingsholm manor. Two subsequent ditches were recorded cutting the above ditch alignment, bounding the former garden area to the north. An early 19th century metalled surface ran parallel to the ditch, bounding the former garden area to the north. A brick-built well contemporary with 4 Edwy Parade was also contained within the garden. {Source Work 13244, 13432 and 10474.}