Lincoln Medieval Bishop's Palace

Lincoln Medieval Bishop’s Palace in Lincoln, England is the medieval residence of the bishops of Lincoln, first established by the English church in the late 12th century during the medieval period. From its beginnings the palace occupied a central place in the Diocese of Lincoln, which once extended from the Humber to the Thames, and the complex was regarded in its time as among the most imposing ecclesiastical houses in England, reflecting the high status and resources of Lincoln’s bishops.

The palace grew through the high medieval centuries. In the 1230s Bishop St Hugh of Lincoln commissioned the East Hall, which was completed above an undercroft, and this hall became one of the site’s principal medieval elements. Further major building activity took place in the 1430s under Bishop William Alnwick, when a range of structures was added, including an enlarged chapel and a tower gatehouse that altered the palace’s southern and defensive profile.

The English Civil War brought damage to the palace and after the conflict the complex was largely neglected. In the years that followed the bishop’s principal home shifted away from Lincoln, with the household using Buckden Palace in Huntingdonshire as a main residence. Administrative changes in the 19th century also affected the bishop’s location; in 1841, after the diocese was reduced in size, the bishop moved to Riseholme north of Lincoln, though that arrangement was later abandoned and the hall there was sold.

By the late 18th and early 19th centuries the medieval fabric had fallen into advanced decay and was recorded by artists and surveyors. In the 1780s a visiting artist made detailed views of the ruins that show major parts in decline. During the 1840s a surveyor to the cathedral chapter carried out detailed surveys of the standing fabric, compared them with earlier documentary evidence including a 1647 parliamentary survey, and produced drawings that reconstructed the medieval appearance; those findings were presented in 1848. In the later 19th century parts of the palace precinct were reworked: an older building on the west side of the enclosure was substantially rebuilt in a Tudor-revival manner in 1886, and in 1888 the southern end of the medieval Great Hall was rebuilt and fitted out as a chapel.

In the mid-20th century the scale of the site was judged too great for the bishop’s needs and, after a decision in 1945, the bishop’s residence was relocated in 1948 to a house on the north side of the cathedral. The later Victorian palace within the enclosure served as a diocesan retreat centre for much of the 20th century and since 2009 has operated as a hotel. In 1954 the ruined medieval portions passed into state guardianship and subsequent decades have seen programmes of excavation, conservation and interpretation. A new garden plan was laid out at the start of the 21st century and a small vineyard was re-established in 2012, adding a contemporary layer to the long history of the site.