Buckden Towers: A Medieval Fortified House and Bishop’s Palace
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Modern
- Civilizations
- British, English
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page7 sections
History
Buckden Towers is a medieval fortified house and former bishop’s palace in the United Kingdom, associated with the bishops of Lincoln, senior Christian officials who governed the Diocese of Lincoln. A wooden palace was built there in 1175, and the site later developed into a substantial fortified residence.
Medieval Episcopal Residence
The original wooden palace was replaced by more substantial buildings. In 1475, a tall brick tower was added to a complex enclosed by walls and a moat, with an outer bailey, an enclosed area outside the principal inner enclosure. The residence hosted several medieval monarchs. Henry III visited in 1248, Edward I in 1291, and Richard III in 1483. Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII, visited in 1501.
Buckden was also associated with William Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, who was buried there. The antiquary Edward John Rudge published an illustrated history of Buckden Palace in 1839, helping preserve the site’s historical record during a period of major change.
Tudor and Stuart Connections
Catherine of Aragon lived at Buckden from July 1533 until May 1534, when she was transferred to nearby Kimbolton Castle. In 1541, Henry VIII and Catherine Howard stayed at the palace during a royal summer tour of England before Catherine’s coronation. During that tour, Catherine Howard was accused of adultery with Thomas Culpeper, a member of the royal household, and she was beheaded for treason in 1542.
On 16 July 1551, Henry, Duke of Suffolk, and his brother Lord Charles died at Buckden from sweating sickness, an acute epidemic disease recorded in England during the sixteenth century. They had come there to avoid the disease in Cambridge. James VI and I visited in 1619. During the 1630s, Bishop Williams lived at Buckden and became known for lavish hospitality toward his neighbours.
Demolition and Later Uses
Parts of the complex were demolished in 1632 on the orders of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, a body concerned with the administration and reform of church property and institutions in England. A Victorian house was built on part of the site in 1872. The Prince Regent, George, Prince of Wales, visited the Bishop of Lincoln at Buckden on 10 January 1814 while exercising his father George III’s powers during the king’s incapacity. He was received by detachments of the 9th Light Dragoons, the West York and Herefordshire Militia, and several artillerymen.
In 1956, the Catholic Bishop of Northampton gave Buckden Towers to the Claretians, members of a Catholic religious order engaged in missionary and educational work. The complex became a junior seminary, an institution providing preparatory training for young people considering the priesthood or religious life. It closed in July 1965, after which the site was developed as a Claretian retreat and conference centre. Buckden Towers is a scheduled monument, and the great tower, inner gatehouse, and curtain walls are Grade I listed buildings. A scheduled monument is a legally protected archaeological or historic site in England, while Grade I is the highest category of protection for buildings of exceptional architectural or historic interest.
Remains
The Moated Palace
The surviving remains of the bishops’ moated palace include the great tower, the inner gatehouse, the outer gate, part of the battlemented curtain wall around the inner court, and the outer wall. The curtain wall, a defensive wall linking towers or gates, helped enclose the inner court, while the moat and outer bailey formed part of the wider fortified arrangement. The great tower is a tall brick structure added in 1475 and remains one of the principal surviving elements of the medieval complex.
Later Buildings
St Hugh of Lincoln’s Catholic Church stands on the site of the medieval palace’s great chamber. St Hugh was a medieval bishop of Lincoln venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. The church was built as the chapel for the Claretian junior seminary. The Victorian house occupying part of Buckden Towers was built in 1872, adding a later layer to the surviving site alongside the medieval walls, gates, and tower.
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