Reasons for Designation
A magnate's residence is a very high status residence of domestic rather than
military character. Such dwellings were the houses or palaces of the highest
ranks of society, acting as both luxury residences for the elite and their
large retinues and as settings for meetings. These monuments were formed as a
complex of buildings, usually of stone and in general comprised a great hall
or halls, chambers, chapels, kitchens, service rooms, lodgings and a
gatehouse, usually arranged around a single or double courtyard. Magnate's
residences were in use throughout the whole of the medieval period from the
Norman Conquest and, due to their connection with the highest ranks of society
and their comparative rarity, surviving examples are considered to be of
national importance.
The Bishop of Ely's palace is well documented historically and has important
ecclesiastical associations which extend back before the Conquest. The
monument retains high potential for the preservation of archaeological remains
as well as environmental evidence in the fills of the moat ditches and
fishponds.
Details
The monument includes the site of the Bishop of Ely's Palace with associated
fishponds and a smaller moated site, located to the south of Somersham
village.
The site includes a large moated island, 325m by 150m in size, containing
the Palace earthworks. The moat ditch is between 10m and 20m in width,
broadest at the east and up to 2.5m deep. The north, west and south arms are
straight whilst the eastern arm is curved. The ditch holds water over most of
its length. Along the inner north and east arms of the moat is a bank about
8m wide and 0.5m high. There are at least two original entrances, one via a
causeway at the south of the western arm and the other via a bridge whose
abutments survive beneath the modern bridge. The moat is partially infilled,
on its south arm beneath agricultural buildings and at the north-east within
the garden of a house which stands outside the moat. The interior of the moat
contains a series of linear banks, scarps and hollows which form rectangular
enclosures, averaging 40m by 30m in size, which are the remains of the palace
precinct and gardens. Near the south-eastern edge of the island is a
rectangular fishpond, 18m by 10m, which is connected by a short leat to a
larger irregular pond, 20m by 40m in size. Slightly to the west of centre is
a small, oval moated site which surrounds a derelict Grade II Listed 19th
century farmhouse. The island is about 40m across and surrounded by a
partially infilled dry ditch, about 7m wide and 1m deep.
North of the moat and to the west of the approach road, is a dried-up
artificial fishing lake which is rectangular, measures 150m by 110m and is
about 3m deep. Outside the south-eastern perimeter of the main moat site is a
line of four small fishponds, located in an enclosure. These ponds are almost
rectangular in shape, about 10m wide by 1.5m deep, ranging between 18m and 25m
in length and are linked by leats. The surrounding enclosure is roughly
rectangular, measuring 160m by 80m and bounded to the south by a bank and
outer ditch. The western boundary is defined by the northern end of a
causeway known as `Lady's Walk' and the eastern boundary is formed by a drain
joining the moat. An additional bank and ditch runs outside the eastern arm
of the moat and the fishpond enclosure. The bank is about 8m wide and 0.5m
high. The ditch is 5m wide and 0.5m deep.
Somersham was acquired by the abbey of Ely in AD 991 and became part of the
bishop's endowment in 1109. There are considerable records of the palace,
which was described in detail in a survey of 1588. The buildings had fallen
into decay by the 18th century and were finally demolished in around 1762.
A section of the perimeter wall was still standing at the north and east sides
in the early 20th century but is now demolished. The derelict house on the
central moat was built in around 1850 and has deep cellars.
The existing buildings and the cellars and ground beneath the Grade II Listed
19th century house are excluded from the scheduling, as is the surface of the
access road, the sluice at the north-east of the main road, and the modern
brick structure of the bridge. The ground beneath all the other buildings
except the 19th century house, the garden of the bungalow adjacent to the
bridge and the medieval stone bridge abutments are included in the scheduling.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
