GATEHOUSE
The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.
 
 
Home
The listings
Other Info
Books
Links
Downloads
Contact
 
Print Page 
 
Next Record 
Previous Record 
Back to list 

Thetford Bishop's Palace

In the civil parish of Thetford.
In the historic county of Norfolk.
Modern Authority of Norfolk.
1974 county of Norfolk.
Medieval County of Suffolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL86758306
Latitude 52.41363° Longitude 0.74487°

Thetford Bishop's Palace has been described as a certain Palace.

There are uncertain remains.

Description

The mother church of this city was dedicated to St. Mary, and stood where the free-school, and master of the hospital's house now stands; this, in all probability, belonged to the Bishop of the province, (who, it is to be thought, had a house near it,) till Stigand retained it in his hands, with other revenues of the bishoprick, after he left the see: but upon his disgrace, the King gave it, with the four churches appendant to it, and all that belonged to them, to Bishop Arfast and his heirs, in fee and inheritance, who placed his episcopal chair in it, and afterwards gave the inheritance of it to Richard, his eldest son, and the other four churches to his other sons, and their heirs. This Arfast, assisted by Roger Bygod, rebuilt the church, dedicating it to St. Mary, the Holy Trinity, and all the Saints, and joined his palace, or mansion-house, to the north side of it, towards its west end, of which there is so much now standing, (which serves for a wall to the garden, facing the Canons,) that we can plainly distinguish its breadth; it consisted of a nave, two isles, a north and south transept, (the arch of which now divides the school and master's apartment,) and a chancel or choir, the east end of which reached the street, within about 12 yards, as its foundation discovers, so that it was a noble church, fit for the cathedral of such a see. (Blomefield)
Comments

The short lived cathedral of Thetford was probably near the Grammar school, south of the river in medieval Suffolk, and the bishop probably had a house nearby. The see was transferred to Thetford, from Elmham, in 1075 but then relocated to Norwich in 1094. The see must have been translocated to an existing church (dedicated to St. Mary) although possibly some work was then done to this church. The palace is likely to have been modest and to have been incorporated into the later priory either directly or as a source of building materials.
Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

Data >
PastScape   County HER            
Maps >
Streetmap   NLS maps   Where's the path   Old-Maps      
Data/Maps > 
Magic   V. O. B.   Geology   LiDAR   Open Domesday  
Air Photos > 
Bing Maps   Google Maps   Getmapping   ZoomEarth      
Photos >
CastleFacts   Geograph   Flickr   Panoramio      

Sources of information, references and further reading
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.
Help is acknowledged.
This record last updated 26/07/2017 09:19:30

Home | Books | Links | Fortifications and Castles | Other Information | Help | Downloads | Author Information | Contact
¤¤¤¤¤