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Monument Types

• PRECINCT (MEDIEVAL - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• PRECINCT (POST MEDIEVAL - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Events

• Excavation, east of Bishop's Palace (soakaway) (Ref: WCM100058)
• Lodge Flat, Old Palace (Ref: WCM100059)
• Lodge Flat, Old Palace (perhaps same as 100062) (Ref: WCM100060)
• Lodge Flat, Old Palace (Ref: WCM100061)
• Lodge Flat, Old Palace (Ref: WCM100062)
• Lodge Flat, Old Palace (probably same as 100062) (Ref: WCM100063)
• Dean's garden, Old Deanery [DUPLICATE OF 100026] DELETE (Ref: WCM100355)
• Coach House, Old Palace (Ref: WCM100568)
• Watching brief on ground investigations, Old Palace, Deansway (Ref: WCM101272)
• Old Palace access works (Ref: WCM101329)
• Old Palace lift shaft (Ref: WCM101330)

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument
• Scheduled Monument
• Scheduled Monument
• Scheduled Monument
• Scheduled Monument

Full description

The enclosure or precinct containing the medieval Bishops Palace; a sub-division of the Cathedral Close.

Its origins are unknown, though the presence of Romanesque features in the Bishops Palace (WCM 96015) suggests that a pre-1200 date is likely. A contemporary Life of St Wulfstan refers to his great hall, cellar, kitchen, chapel, and private apartments and solar connected to his other rooms by a long passage {1}. The enclosure covers an area of about two acres (c.0.8 ha) with the palace buildings notably tight in against its northern boundary, which may possibly represent a northward encroachment of the cathedral close. The western c. one-third of the enclosure covers the slope down to the river, with the limit of the enclosure marked by a riverside wall (WCM 96627), now part brick and part stone, with a medieval arched opening (now blocked), apparently a watergate (WCM 96624). On its eastern side the enclosure borders the Lay Cemetery (WCM 96385). The southern boundary wall was rebuilt c.1677 using masonry re-used from the demolished charnel house chapel (WCM 96383) whose site and surviving undercroft lie along it {2}.

The present palace buildings may formerly have been associated with a major ground-floor hall, now lost. A probable site for this would be the flat lawns immediately south of the palace, a suggestion first made by Brakspear in the 1920s {3}. The medieval entrance to the site was at the north-east corner, and was covered by a gatehouse (WCM 96092) {4}. The bishop was instructed to crenellate his section of the riverside wall in 1236-7, and in 1271, at the time of Welsh attacks, was licenced to crenellate the cathedral close {5} - though whether this meant all of it or part of it within his jurisdiction is not known. Adjacent to the gatehouse were the lodgekeeper's house and a stable block. Along the southern boundary near the charnel chapel, on land disputed with the Dean and Chapter in 1641, lay the bishop's bakehouse, brewhouse, and slaughterhouse.

The medieval gatehouse was demolished before 1741 (Doharty's map of Worcester) and replaced by a carriage entrance with wrought-iron gates. This entrance was closed in the mid 19th century, in favour of a new entrance in the south wall, facing the cathedral. When Deansway was created from Palace Yard and Birdport in c.1934, the old north-east entrance was re-opened and the 19th-century southern entrance largely abandoned except for foot traffic {6}.

NB blocked archway in riverside wall(mon refs)

Sources and further reading

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