Bristol Bishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Bristol.
In the historic county of Gloucestershire.
Modern Authority of Bristol; City of.
1974 county of Avon.
Medieval County of Gloucestershire.

OS Map Grid Reference: ST58377264
Latitude 51.45121° Longitude -2.60047°

Bristol Bishops Palace has been described as a certain Palace.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Probable Abbot's lodging, later Bishop's Palace. Damaged in the riots of 1831, and still in ruins. (PastScape ref. Pevsner)

The see of Bristol was separated from that of Salisbury in I542,and raised to an independent bishopric. Henry VIII., according to his usual custom, endowed the bishopric with the abbot's lodging and some of the possessions formerly belonging to the dissolved monastery.
The episcopal palace and the park attached to it were sold to Thomas and John Clark for £250 during the Rebellion. The house as it then stood was large and rambling, with a great deal of waste space; it opened into the east cloister. The domestic chapel was very small, only fifteen feet by eleven, with a good deal of painted glass. Judging from the names and armorial bearings of the last abbots who occupied the house, it could not have been a very ancient structure. In 1851 the original episcopal palace was attacked by the rioters, and burnt to the ground. Some of the blackened ruins can still be seen in the graveyard on the south side of the cathedral. (Morewood)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1007663.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1958, Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol (Harmondsworth)
  Morewood, Caroline C., 1910, 'Introductory Chapter' in Rait, R.S. (ed), English Episcopal Palaces (Province of Canterbury) (London; Constable & Co) p. 42-44 online copy

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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.

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