Map of the Close
The Bishop's Palace
Possibly the first domestic building to be completed in the Close and made ready for the festivities that accompanied the consecration of the first altars in the cathedral in 1225. The west wing houses the oldest remains, with an undercroft below what was the Bishop`s great hall. In the 14th century Bishops Wyville and Erghum received licences to crenellate.
Parliament met at the Palace in 1393 with the intention of impeaching John of Gaunt, as he did not consent to appear to give evidence the session was of short duration.
In the next century Bishop Beauchamp (1450-1481) constructed the tower at the eastern end and a new great hall comparable to that at Eltham Palace in London. King James the I visited Salisbury frequently, as did his son Charles I who liked Salisbury above all other places in his kingdom. They frequently stayed at the Palace and the court was lodged in the close and the great inns of the city.
During the Civil War the City acquired the Palace and let it off as apartments. The ground floor was let to a wealthy gentleman, of Dutch origin, who turned it into an ale house. So much damage was done between 1642-1660 that Beauchamp`s great hall had to be demolished. Bishop Henchman set about restoration in 1660 but it was left to Bishop Seth Ward to put things right at considerable personal cost after his arrival in 1667. It is very likely that Christopher Wren may have given him advice when he visited Salisbury, at the Bishop`s request in 1668, to survey the fabric of the cathedral.
In 1689 the future history of England was determined at the Bishop`s Palace. King James II was about to join his army at Warminster, to fight William of Orange who had landed with an army at Lyme Bay, when he had a great nose bleed which kept him in his bed at the Palace for three days. In that period the King`s Generals had changed sides and James II was forced to return to London and later flee to exile on the continent.
Francis Price, Clerk of Works to the cathedral, altered the great chamber above the undercroft and had the beautiful plasterwork installed in the dining room in the1850`s and probably supervised the building of Bishop Sherlock`s library. At the same time that the cathedral was being restored by James Wyatt , Bishop Shute Barrington engaged Sir Robert Taylor, the architect for the new Guildhall in Salisbury, to carry out further work on the public rooms. Bishop John Fisher (1807-1825) started the collection of portraits of the Bishops of Salisbury which is held in the Palace.
In 1947 the Bishop of Salisbury, who had been living in Mompesson House for the latter part of the Second World War, decided that the Palace was far too large for a family home and took the South Canonry as his future residence. The Palace was then passed by the Dean and Chapter to the Cathedral School who are established there today.
During the summer the Bishops Palace is opened to the public on certain days in August and the visitor may obtain details from the Chapter Office.
Extracts from the Salisbury Cathedral Close Guide - © Copyright, Close Publications 1997