The palace of Lincoln was one of the most impressive buildings of medieval England, reflecting the power and wealth of Lincoln’s bishops. It is situated on a spectacular hillside site, in the shadow of the cathedral, providing extensive views over the city.*

The palace lies outside the cathedral close, but was, and remains an enclosed space of 1.05 ha between the close and the east wall of the city. To the south are the Victorian Temple Gardens, and to the west is St Michael’s Church and churchyard. This position has given the site and aura of quiet and privacy, even though it lies in the heart of the city. Today it comprises the late nineteenth-century bishop’s palace and its gardens, which contain the ruins of the central buildings of the twelfth-to-seventeenth-century bishop’s palace.

Lincoln was a major Roman city, and by the early fourth century had its own bishop. St Paulinus had built a church there in 627, and in 675 the bishopric of Lindsey was established, possibly centred on the city.*

In 1607, Remi of Fecamp, the first bishop created after the Norman conquest of 1066, moved the cathedral of  his diocese from Dorchester-on-Thames to Lincoln to compliment the castle that was being built within the ruins of the Roman town on top the limestone ridge. From the first, the castle and cathedral were designed as symbols of Norman power, to express authority of the crown and church on a conquered nation.

Subsequent bishops seemed to have lived outside the city, or within the royal castle, as land for a palace of their own was not granted until 1135. Even then, it was not until the mid-twelfth century that Bishop Robert de Chesney started to build a residence for himself and his household on the present site.*

*From the English Heritage guidebook to Medieval Bishops’ Palace, Lincoln

I have just returned from a weekend away. This was the wonderful view that I could see from the window seat in my hotel room.

When I have gathered my thoughts, I will be posting more about my weekend away