The Bishop’s Palace, Ely was one of the residences of the Bishop of Ely from the 15th century until 1941. It is a Grade I listed building.^[1]

The palace was built in the 15th century by Bishop John Alcock however just two towers from the original building remain. He also completed the bishop’s palace (now Wisbech Castle) at Wisbech (where he died in 1500). Bishops over the following centuries expanded and remodelled the palace.^[1]

In 1541, King Henry VIII founded a College of Canons at Ely Cathedral to replace the monks whose monastery had been dissolved in 1539

The Bishop’s Palace at Ely was used as a prison for Catholics between 1577 and 1597, and between 1588 and 1597 was exclusively a prison for lay recusants. Its inmates included Abbot John Feckenham between 1577 and 1580 and Thomas Tresham, who was imprisoned in Ely four times.

Lorraine Hansberry

Omar Khayyám

The earliest part of the  Bishop’s Palace in Wells was built in 1206 by Bishop Jocelyn, who also built a two storey chapel on this site. Some years later between 1275 and 1292 Bishop Burnell used the existing foundations to change the chapel into the single storey building we see today. In the nineteenth century a second storey was added to the Palace building and the chapel parapets were raised to keep the Chapel in proportion.

To celebrate the eight hundred years since Bishop Jocelyn was granted land to build a Palace in Wells in 1206, a new altar and presidential chair were commissioned.

The celtic knot design represents reconciliation and connectedness.

The altar stone is engraved with the words: ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and he has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.’ (2 Corinthians 5.18)

*information taken from the The Chapel of the Holy Trinity and St Mark information booklet

Visitors approach the Garden of Reflection along curving paths past the well pools. The planting echoes colours and shapes of the stained glass in the palace chapel.

Within the garden they find themselves beneath the gaze of the Cathedral tower, in a green and sheltering enclosure. Beside the path is a long, curving stone seat.

a place to pause and experience the Garden. Bishop Peter chose a line from Machado’s poem to inscribe on the stone bench because it expresses a spiritual journey ‘towards eternal values of truth, peace, justice and love. How we walk the path determines our destiny, we walk in hope.’

Wanderer, your footsteps are the path, and nothing more; wanderer, there is no path, the path is made by walking, by walking one makes the path and upon glancing back one sees the path that will never be trod again. Wanderer, there is no path – only waves upon the sea.*

At the centre is a rounded, chapel-like ‘poustinia’ open to the sky. This design reflects a religious tradition in Russia, where people seeking solitude to deepen their self-understanding would go into the woods and to small hermitages to reflect.*

*From A guide to the Palace & Gardens

This part of the Bishop’s Palace was built in the 1400’s by Bishop Bekynton, it is the home and working offices of the Bishop of Bath & Wells.

Prior to 2011 the wells and gardens were within the bishop’s private garden.

The part of the wells can be found is a complex of small pools and channels, fed by an underground river. The sluice gates regulate the flow of water into the moat and other water channels. Water can sometimes be seen bubbling up in the clear water of the wells.

Bishop Law enclose a group of three small well springs to create a new pond. On a still day this pool perfectly mirrors the cathedral.*

After heavy rain the flow of water increases, and local flooding becomes a risk. The palace gardeners can open sluices to let more water into the moat so the pool doesn’t overflow.*

*From a signboard next to the sluice gate

For centuries the wells here provided clean water for those living nearby.

This water wheel was installed in the 1800s to power a pump which supplied water to the Palace for domestic use.

However, in the 1870s Bishop Hervey’s children caught typhoid fever. He suspected that contaminated water had caused their illness. He may well have been right – most of the city’s wells were eventually classed as unfit for drinking because liquid sewage from cesspits leached into groundwater sources.*

*From a sign board next to the pump.

In 1451 Bishop Beckynton granted to the town a supply of water from the Wells within his palace gardens. A cistern inside this well house collected water. This ‘head’ connected enough pressure to force a supply through pipes to an outlet in the market place.

Overflow water from the marketplace wellhead ran down a gutter, washing blood and offal away from butcheries along the high street.

The statue on top of the well house is Bishop Beckynton’s hunting dog, a Talbot hound.