Downton Bishops Palace

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; The Old Court

In the civil parish of Downton.
In the historic county of Wiltshire (Modern Authority of Wiltshire, 1974 county of Wiltshire).

Possible Bishops palace documented during early C13. It is thought to have been situated on the west bank of the River Avon. Excavations in 1957 located part of a Medieval wall. Building material was also dredged from the river in 1962. Henry de Blois episcopal castle, The Moot (qv), was demolished in 1155 and never seemed to recover; was this a replacement on a new site?. Creighton writes that "the distinct possibility that the castle was conceived as an appendage to an extant archiepiscopal (sic) palace site, and thus represented the temporary transfer of functions to a fortified nucleus as opposed to the creation of a new seat of Lordship."

This site has been described as a;
Palace.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Nothing visible remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SU17812126

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; 217911