Howden Palace

In the civil parish of Howden.
In the historic county of Yorkshire East Riding (Modern Authority of East Riding of Yorkshire, 1974 county of Humberside).

Remains of the medieval residence of the Bishops of Durham. The site was granted to the bishops in 1086 and held by them until late C16. The medieval layout comprised ranges of buildings set around an irregular courtyard. The north range contained the gate; the east the bishops' lodgings, chapel, oratory, chambers and guest rooms and the south the great hall, service rooms, kitchen and a second gate. The majority of the buildings were demolished in late C16 but part of the courtyard wall, the great hall, the southern gateway and two further medieval buildings survive. The great hall and porch were built by Bishop Skirlaw between 1388 and 1405 on the site of an earlier aisled hall. Bishop Skirlaw's hall was a tall, single storey building entered through a two storey, vaulted porch. The hall was floored in late C16, further altered in C18/early C19 and restored in 1983-5. The medieval moat and fishpond survive as landscaped earthworks in a park.

This site has been described as a;
Palace.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Masonry ruins/remnants remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SE74882818

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 59360

• Web site links
  • http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_north/106/howdenmanor.htm
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Yorkshire (Malvern) p49
    Ingham, Bernard, 2001, Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles (Dalesman) p26
    Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p116, 138, 175
    Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses Vol1 (Cambridge) p51-4, 353-6
    Le Patourel, H.E. Jean, 1973, The Moated Sites of Yorkshire (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series 5) p113
    Pevsner, N and Neave, D., 1972, The Buildings of England: York and the East Riding (London)
• Journal Articles
  • Whitwell, J.B., 1984, 'The Bishop of Durham's Manor House at Howden' Archaeological Journal Vol141
    Bilson, J., 1915, 'The manor house of the bishops of Durham at Howden' Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol22 p256-69
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/yorkseng.html#yorks33]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p538