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Summary

Remains of substantial building in grounds of Bishop's Palace terranced into hillslope situated close to west side of enclosure. Two vaulted chambers at ground level with remains of upper rooms above. Probably contained high status domestic accommodation.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1008679: Bishop's Palace

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX87NE/1/1
• Old Listed Building Ref (II)
• Old SAM County Ref: 297
• Old SAM Ref: 24838

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ECCLESIASTICAL BUILDING (XIV - 1301 AD to 1400 AD (Between))

Full description

Department of National Heritage, Bishop's Palace, Chudleigh: Inspector's Report (Un-published). SDV340551.

Jones, M., 1852, The History of Chudleigh (Monograph). SDV338020.

Ancient Monuments, 1953, Chudleigh, Bishops' Palace (Schedule Document). SDV340550.

Laithwaite, J. M., 1987, The Bishop's Palace at Chudleigh, 6 (Report - Survey). SDV338012.

Gibbons, P., 1993, Bishop's Palace, Chudleigh (Un-published). SDV338010.

Substantial building close to west side of enclosure, terraced into hillslope to south by 2.3m and extending out from the terrace by over 12m. On its east and west sides are modern lean-to structures, and the first floor is a modern addition. Ground floor survives as two vaulted rooms with vestigial remains of upper rooms indicated by height of walls (c 5m). Survives to 10m long, but east end has been removed. Vaults aligned east-west, 3m high at centres. The larger, north, room is 6.8m by 5m, with a blocked window in west wall. Spiral stair in north west corner, with two steps remaining, partly housed in external turret. Blocked doors in n wall and south west corner - the latter apparently leading to south vault. All openings from this room have vaulted ceilings. In outer part of ruined wall forming north east corner of building are remains of a low vaulted passage. South room has cobbled floor and is 3m wide narrowing to 2.6m at west end. Original length over 3.8m, as east wall appears to be a later blocking. Narrow window high in west wall. South west corner has a borrowed-light window for mural passage within offset in south wall, which may connect with a completely enclosed chamber visible through hole in west wall. First floor of this building would have opened onto higher ground to south. Walls 1.2m to 1.6m thick. On north side are either two buttresses or remains of two further walls. To west, the space between the building and perimeter wall appears to have been enclosed on north side by wall extending from perimeter towards turret, with access-way adjacent to turret.

Department of National Heritage, 1996, Bishop's Palace (Schedule Document). SDV340552.

Parker, R. W., 1999, Archaeological Recording at Palace Farm, Chudleigh, 5-8,10,iii (Report - Survey). SDV336345.

Building A, the principal medieval building surviving on the site of the Bishop's Palace, lies close to the west boundary wall at the south end of the long strip of grass leading up from the house. Two later stone walls, covered with a lean-to roof of corrugated-iron, now link it to the boundary wall, but clearly it was detached originally. The opposite (east) end of the building has been demolished and its original upper storey removed, yet it remains an impressive structure and one of the best pieces of purely domestic, early medieval architecture surviving in the county. It is built of coursed stone rubble (local carboniferous limestone and red sandstone) and consists of two stone-vaulted rooms aligned east-west. It has few external features: a chamfered plinth along the west wall, rising (inexplicably) to a higher level at the south end and what appears to be the remains of a robbed-out buttress at the east end of the north wall. The wider north room has a pointed vault and, in the west wall, a window with deep internal splays. At the west end of the north wall is a blocked doorway with an arch of voussoirs and at the east end of the stone wall between the two rooms, part of the arch of a similar doorway. In the north west corner an opening leads into a five-sided angle-turret, mostly demolished but with two winding stone steps left at the bottom. The south room has a roughly rounded vault and a slit window in the west wall, set high up. Compared with the north room it seems designed for security, either to stop people getting out or getting in. Projecting from the west end of the south wall is a curious, narrow stone-walled chamber with a borrowed light into the vaulted room itself at its east end it widens into a rounded recess, taken out of the south wall as if for a winding staircase. There are now no steps, but at the west end, higher up, is a doorway blocked by the build-up of ground behind the building. Presumably it was a second minor staircase, and its presence probably implies that this was a building of some status. The date of the building is difficult to estimate, since all the carved detail has been removed. However, it can hardly be as late as the presumed date of the walls (e1379) and c1300 may be more appropriate.
Probably the building referred to by Jones in 1852: 'all that remains of the palace are some stone steps, and portions of three apartments arched over with their original heavy stone work. These are now thatched, and converted into cellars for the use of the farm. Tradition says that beneath the ruins are some dismal vaults or dungeons.' There is now no sign of the latter, but Roscoe Gibbs, writing in 1904, claims that from this building 'a still accessible underground passage of unknown length runs in a north west direction'. The remains of the vaulted building form the nucleus of a group of modem farm buildings adjoining the precinct wall. The medieval structure is almost completely concealed by timber sheds with mono-pitched corrugated iron roofs, which enclose the building on two sides and also form its first floor. The south side of the building is deeply buried in the hillside and the north wall is densely overgrown with ivy so that no part of the structure is clearly visible externally. The interiors and parts of the exterior retain extensive areas of render, some of which may be medieval. This render unfortunately obscures many of the structural breaks and relationships, making the interpretation of the structure extremely difficult. The worked stone dressings around the openings have without exception been removed, and were presumably burnt for lime. Only the chamfered plinth on the w wall remains. It is thus very difficult to date the structure, which is presumed to have been constructed in around 1300 (see Laithwaite 1987).
The English Heritage inspector's report states that: 'the principal remains are those of a substantial building (A) close to the west side of the enclosure, terraced into the hillstope to the south by at least 2.3m, and extending out from the terrace by over 12m. On its east and west sides are modem lean-to structures, and the first floor is a modern addition. The ground floor survives as two vaulted rooms with the vestigial remains of upper apartments indicated by the overall height of the walls of some 5m. Its existing length is 10m, but the entire e end has been removed. The vaults are aligned east-west, with sandstone ceilings, 3m high at the centres. The larger n room is 6.8m by 5m, with a blocked window in the west wall. In its north west corner there is a spiral stair, with two steps remaining, partly housed in an external angle turret. There is a blocked external door in the n wall, and in the south east corner another blocked door apparently leading to the south vault. All the openings leading from this room have vaulted ceilings. In the outer part of the ruined wall forming the north east corner of the building there are the remains of the end of a low vaulted passage.
The south room has a cobble floor and is 3m in width, narrowed to 2.6m at the west end by an offset in the south wall. Its original length is in excess of 3.8m as the east wall appears to be a later blocking. High in the west wall is a narrow window, opening through a wall of about 3m thickness. The south west corner of the room contains a narrow opening, apparently a borrowed-light window, for a mural passage contained within the offset in the south wall. The passage is some 3m long and widens at both ends with curved walls. The south end is deeper than the floor of the room by at least 0.45m. The roof becomes higher to the west and is stepped, possibly constituting the underneath of a mural stair contained within the wall thickness. The passage continues at its west end, appearing to turn north behind the west wall of the vault. A small hole has been broken through the west wall north of the window to reveal a completely enclosed chamber of some 0.9m width, but unknown height and length. The first floor of the building would have opened directly onto the higher ground to the south. The walls are in general between 1.2m to 1.6m thick, constructed in limestone and sandstone. There is a chamfered plinth on the west wall and either two buttresses, or the remains of two further walls, on the north side. To the west, the space between this building and the perimeter wall appears to have been enclosed on the n side by a wall extending from the perimeter wall towards the stair turret, with an access-way adjacent to the turret'. Building A is the best preserved structure on the site. It retains a double garderobe, and thus probably contained high-status domestic accommodation. The ground floor consisted of cellars, each with their own stair to the upper floor; these may conceivably have served as strong rooms or stores. The disparity in the heights of the crowns of the vaults, taken with the existence of two staircases and two garderobes, suggests that the surviving part of the building had at least two chambers on the first floor. Both garderobe shafts descend in the area of the south vault. The shafts may thus relate to a 'tower' or stack of garderobes, and it is possible that this part of the building was three storeys high. The existing structure has been truncated on three sides; the west wall clearly extended to the south of the existing vaults, and there appears to have been a further vault to the north. To the east lay a room (or rooms) of which nothing remains above ground, and beyond this a further room approximately 3m wide of which fragments remain. This area to the east of the vaulted buildings might be considered the prime position for the hall; however the arrangement of the passages leading into the vaults and the curious narrow passage visible as a scar on the e wall suggest that the plan of the building in this area was more complex, and there is probably insufficient space for a prestigious room in this position. It is possible that the hall was at first-floor level, extending over a complex series of cellars and undercrofts. Building A may have formed part of a solar wing or a range of lodgings at the west end of the hall, extending over service rooms on the lower storey.

Exeter Archaeology, 2003, Archaeological Assessment of Proposed Development at 6 The Square, Chudleigh, 2 (Report - Assessment). SDV338022.

Parker, R. + Allan, J. + Fletcher, M. + Higham, R. + Laithwaite, M., 2006, The Bishop's Palace at Chudleigh, 210-217,222 (Article in Serial). SDV338151.

The principal surviving fragment of the palace buildings consists of a pair of massive vaulted cellars, now surrounded by modern sheds and overlain by a 19th century farm building. These cellars, which were probably used as stores, formed the western end of a substantial range of 13th-14th century date. The shafts of two garderobes in the western wall indicate the presence of former chambers on the floor(s) above. The structure is one of the most remarkable pieces of medieval domestic architecture surviving in the country. See article for full details.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4200 - Archaeological Projects at the Bishops Palace at Chudleigh

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