More information : [SE 36549398] BISHOP'S PALACE [LB] (Site of). (1)
In the 14th c. the Bishop of Durham built a palace, protected with a moat and rampart, at Northallerton, out of the ruins of the Castle which had been dismantled temp Henry II. (2)
Apart from the moat, there are no remains of the Bishop's Palace, and the site is covered by a modern cemetery.
The 'dismantled castle' consists of a mutilated and partially levelled motte and bailey incorporated in the SW side of the moat.
The remains suggest, either that the motte had two baileys and that the palace was built within the larger, or, more probably, that the smaller bailey at SE 36449387 was the original bailey to the disused motte. (3)
An adulterine castle at Northallerton built by Bishop Hugh Pudsey in 1174 was surrendered, and dismantled in 1176. (This structure is referred to by Hoveden as the new castle, or 'castellum novum', which suggests that the Palace site is more probable than the earlier castle site at Castle Hills - SE 39 SE 1). The right to build a further castle was purchased by Pudsey from Richard I, probably in 1189 when he also bought the earldom of Northumberland, and it was apparently completed by 1195. Material from it is supposed to have been used in the erection of the episcopal palace or manor house on the same site, probably with the lowering and abandonment of the motte, which would produce a 'typical Medieval moated manor house'. In 1314 a peel was constructed within the Bishop's manor. Described by Leland (circa 1535-43) as "strong of building and well motid", it was a ruin in 1658 and stone from it was used for building in the town in 1663. The building had gone by 1791 and the site was laid out as a cemetery in 1856, the moat remaining. Renn mentions it as a motte and bailey with counterscarp bank. (4-8)
SE 365 940. Bishop Rufus' Palace. Scheduled No NY/480. (9)
Listed by Cathcart King (10). |