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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32038#0076
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THE BISHOP’s PALACE, WELLS.
This magnificent residence remained but a very short time after Leland had
seen it, before its dilapidation commenced.
A new race of prelates succeeded, of a totally different temper from their
generous predecessors. These were needy men, who had no money to expend
on buildings and public works, but were intent on raising portions for their sons
and daughters, out of the spoils of the church. A royal license, issued in No-
vember, 1550, authorising Dr. William Barlow, then bishop of Bath and Wells,
to alienate and grant in fee-simple, all the palace at Wells, with all its precincts
and appurtenances, together with divers other lands, &c., to Edward, duke of
Somerset.* The tragical fate of this nobleman, who was beheaded at the com-
mencement of the year 1552, occasioned these possessions to revert to the
crown; and, a few months afterwards, letters patent were granted for an ex-
change, by which the bishop recovered the deanery, the palace, and all the
manor, borough, and hundred of Wells, &c., late parcel of the duke of
Somerset’s estates.f These grants were followed by a letter—“ signifying his
Majesty’s contentation, that the Bishop having many fit places within the precinct
of the house of Wells, to make an hall of, and for his hospitality, may (edifying
one thereon) take down the great hall now standing, and grant the same away:
commending unto him for that purpose Sir Henry Gates, upon knowledge had
of the Bishop’s good inclination tovrards him. Dated in September,” 1552.J
The permission to take down this noble hall was immediately used for the
stripping ofF its roof, hut the walls were left standing. Since that time, the
habitable apartments of the palace have been reduced in extent, and some of
the offices demolished. Nevertheless, it still retains a grand and venerable
appearance, having much of the character of an old baronial castle.
* Strype’s Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. ii. pt. 2, p. 257, Oxford edition, 8vo. 1822.
t Strype, vol. ii. pt. 2, p. 271.
1 Strype, p. 272, 273. Sir Henry Gates, or Yates, was a gentleman of the privy cliamber to
Edward VI., and brother to Sir John Gates, who was at first a groom of the chamber in the court of
Henry VIII., but advanced under Edward VI. to be vice-chamberlain, and captain of the guards.
He acquired a large estate by grants of lands taken from the bishopric of Winchester and other
ecclesiastical property. Sir John Gates was beheaded 22nd August, 1553, at the same time with his
patron, the Duke of Northumberland, whose attempt to set Lady Jane Grey upon the throne he Avas
said to have projected. Sir Henry Gates was condemned on the same indictment, but his execution
was respited. Bishop Godwin ascribes the ruin of the hall at Wells to Sir John Gates; and Sir
John Ilarrington attributes it to Dr. Barlow, in whose time the churches of Bath and Wells were
most barbarously plundered and ruined, See “Godwin’s Lives of Bishops and “Nugee Antiquse,”
by Sir John Harrington, vol. i.
THE BISHOP’s PALACE, WELLS.
This magnificent residence remained but a very short time after Leland had
seen it, before its dilapidation commenced.
A new race of prelates succeeded, of a totally different temper from their
generous predecessors. These were needy men, who had no money to expend
on buildings and public works, but were intent on raising portions for their sons
and daughters, out of the spoils of the church. A royal license, issued in No-
vember, 1550, authorising Dr. William Barlow, then bishop of Bath and Wells,
to alienate and grant in fee-simple, all the palace at Wells, with all its precincts
and appurtenances, together with divers other lands, &c., to Edward, duke of
Somerset.* The tragical fate of this nobleman, who was beheaded at the com-
mencement of the year 1552, occasioned these possessions to revert to the
crown; and, a few months afterwards, letters patent were granted for an ex-
change, by which the bishop recovered the deanery, the palace, and all the
manor, borough, and hundred of Wells, &c., late parcel of the duke of
Somerset’s estates.f These grants were followed by a letter—“ signifying his
Majesty’s contentation, that the Bishop having many fit places within the precinct
of the house of Wells, to make an hall of, and for his hospitality, may (edifying
one thereon) take down the great hall now standing, and grant the same away:
commending unto him for that purpose Sir Henry Gates, upon knowledge had
of the Bishop’s good inclination tovrards him. Dated in September,” 1552.J
The permission to take down this noble hall was immediately used for the
stripping ofF its roof, hut the walls were left standing. Since that time, the
habitable apartments of the palace have been reduced in extent, and some of
the offices demolished. Nevertheless, it still retains a grand and venerable
appearance, having much of the character of an old baronial castle.
* Strype’s Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. ii. pt. 2, p. 257, Oxford edition, 8vo. 1822.
t Strype, vol. ii. pt. 2, p. 271.
1 Strype, p. 272, 273. Sir Henry Gates, or Yates, was a gentleman of the privy cliamber to
Edward VI., and brother to Sir John Gates, who was at first a groom of the chamber in the court of
Henry VIII., but advanced under Edward VI. to be vice-chamberlain, and captain of the guards.
He acquired a large estate by grants of lands taken from the bishopric of Winchester and other
ecclesiastical property. Sir John Gates was beheaded 22nd August, 1553, at the same time with his
patron, the Duke of Northumberland, whose attempt to set Lady Jane Grey upon the throne he Avas
said to have projected. Sir Henry Gates was condemned on the same indictment, but his execution
was respited. Bishop Godwin ascribes the ruin of the hall at Wells to Sir John Gates; and Sir
John Ilarrington attributes it to Dr. Barlow, in whose time the churches of Bath and Wells were
most barbarously plundered and ruined, See “Godwin’s Lives of Bishops and “Nugee Antiquse,”
by Sir John Harrington, vol. i.