Blackford Bishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Paradise Field

In the civil parish of Wedmore.
In the historic county of Somerset.
Modern Authority of Somerset.
1974 county of Somerset.
Medieval County of Somerset.

OS Map Grid Reference: ST41024788
Latitude 51.22705° Longitude -2.84601°

Blackford Bishops Palace has been described as a probable Palace.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Orchard lying behind the junction of the village street and Blacksmith's Lane is traditionally known as "The Bishop's Palace". Comprise the E and W sides of a moat c300ft across, still containing water. Excavations within and across the moated area revealed parts of a stone floor, robbed wall trenches, roofing materials (including nails), C13-C14 pottery, a silver penny of Edward I, and three pieces of RB pottery. The excavator concluded from contemporary registers etc that this is the site of a late C13-C14 episcopal manor house, demolished by Bishop John Harewell in 1380-90. In 1966 only the moat and slight unsurveyable traces of banks within the moated area remain. The moat is bounded on the W side by a hedge and is dry apart from a pond in the SW corner which has been partially filled in by rubble on the E side. A resistivity survey showed a complex of buildings (over 50m long) in the northern part of the moated area. The main approach appears to have been from the south through a gatehouse from which a path leads across the platform to the building. There is also evidence for a wall on the inside of the moat with another possible gatehouse in the north joined to the other buildings. The pathway entered the largest room in the building, presumably the hall, to the west of which there appear to be at least 8 further rooms. A room projecting from the E of the hall can be identifiable as the chapel by comparison with the better known site at Banwell. To the north of the hall is another large room, or possibly an enclosed yard. (Somerset HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1006135, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number so456
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 194130.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 10879.

Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 673
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 170
  Dunning, Robert, 1995, Somerset Castles (Somerset Books) p. 52
  Ramsey, F.M.R. (ed), 1995, English Episcopal Acta X, Bath and Wells 1061-1205 (Oxford: University Press) p. xxx
Periodical Articles
- Payne, Naomi, 2003, 'A resistivity survey on the site of the residence of the medieval bishop of Bath and Wells at Blackford' Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Vol. 146 p. 13-8
  Rendell, I.M, 1963, 'Blackford (Wedmore), 'The Bishop's Palace'' Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Vol. 107 p. 72-8
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1907, Calendar of Manuscripts of the Dean and Chapter of Wells (Historical Manuscript Commission) Vol. 1 p. 147, 167-8, 180, 204-6, 303 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Payne, Naomi, 2003, The medieval residences of the bishops of Bath and Wells, and Salisbury (PhD Thesis University of Bristol) p. 90-97 (available via EThOS)
  Payne, N.A., 2001, resistivity survey on the site of the residence of the medieval bishops of Bath and Wells at Blackford, near Wedmore, Somerset (unpublished Bristol University fieldwork report in HER files (PRN 15162))

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
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