Bishop Burnell's Great Hall
BISHOP BURNELL'S GREAT HALL, BISHOP'S PALACE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1382875
- Date first listed:
- 12-Nov-1953
- List Entry Name:
- Bishop Burnell's Great Hall
- Statutory Address:
- BISHOP BURNELL'S GREAT HALL, BISHOP'S PALACE
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2007-08-01
- Reference:
- IOE01/16712/02
- Rights:
- © Mr John H. Sparkes. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1382875
- Date first listed:
- 12-Nov-1953
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 31-May-2000
- List Entry Name:
- Bishop Burnell's Great Hall
- Statutory Address 1:
- BISHOP BURNELL'S GREAT HALL, BISHOP'S PALACE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- BISHOP BURNELL'S GREAT HALL, BISHOP'S PALACE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Somerset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Wells
- National Grid Reference:
- ST 55174 45693, ST 55207 45709
Details
WELLS
ST5445 BISHOP'S PALACE
662-1/7/6 Bishop Burnell's Great Hall
12/11/53
(Formerly Listed as:
BISHOP'S PALACE
(including... ruins of Great
Hall...))
GV I
Ruins of former mediaeval bishop's hall house. c1280, part
demolished c1830. Local rubble with Doulting stone dressings,
no roof. Remains of large 5-bay aisled hall, approx 35m long
and 18m wide internally, with screens passage and N porch;
solar and undercroft to right (W). What now remains is the N
wall, W wall, remnants of the arcade column bases, and a
detached turret to the SE corner of the E wall. The N wall has
4 lofty 2-light geometrical Decorated windows, with sexfoil
head over cusped lights, and cusped transom; to the right the
inner doorway to the former N porch, and at either end are
remains of octagonal stair turrets. At the W end, with 2
octagonal turrets, later single-storey C19 service buildings
have been added, with a narrow central courtyard; there was
already some low-level extension here in 1730 and before.
On the S side is a length of low wall extending towards the E,
including a pointed doorway with mouldings.
Originally this was a most impressive large hall residence.
It is believed to have been built after the commencement of
the Chapel (qv), and appears in Buck's view of 1730 apparently
still complete, with a deep 2-storey N porch, 3 of the windows
(that to the E seems blocked by a solid wall), and 4 roof
gables or dormers; the S and E walls were finally demolished
in the early C19 by Bishop Law "... to make a more picturesque
ruin...", and, in Pevsner's words, with the remainder of the
Palace complex, "...is the product of the gentle romanticism
of the C18 and early C19."
(Colchester LS: Wells Cathedral: A History: Shepton Mallet:
1982-: 232; Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset
and Bristol: London: 1958-: 315).
Listing NGR: ST5516845702
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 483261
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol, (1958), 315
Colchester, LS, Wells Cathedral: A History, (1982), 232
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 22-Jun-2026 at 11:19:10.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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