Buckden Towers, formerly known as Buckden Palace, is a medieval

fortified A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

house and bishop's palace in Buckden,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

, England.

History

The 15th-century buildings are the remains of the palace of the

bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and ...

. Although it is often stated as being built in the 15th century, the first (wooden) Palace was built in the late 12th century, when records show it as being used by the bishops of Lincoln. The wooden structure was replaced by more substantial buildings and a tall brick tower was added in 1475, protected by walls and a moat, and surrounded by an outer bailey. Parts of the complex were demolished in 1632 on the orders of the

Ecclesiastical Commissioners The Ecclesiastical Commissioners were, in England and Wales, a body corporate, whose full title was Ecclesiastical and Church Estates Commissioners for England. The commissioners were authorized to determine the distribution of revenues of the Chu ...

. The Victorian house now present on the site was built in 1872. The remains of the bishops' moated palace consist of the great tower, the inner

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mo ...

, part of the battlemented wall, which used to surround the inner court within the moat, and the outer gate and wall. The antiquary Edward John Rudge published a history, ''Illustrated and Historical Account of Buckden Palace,'' in 1839.

Present day

The site is a scheduled monument and the great tower, inner gatehouse and curtain walls are

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

s. The

Claretian Missionaries , image = Herb CMF.jpg , image_size = 175px , caption = Coat of arms of the Claretians , abbreviation = CMF , nickname = Claretians , formation = , founders = Anto ...

were given the site by the Catholic Bishop of Northampton in 1956. Initially it was used as a junior seminary carrying out the preliminary training of 11- to 18-year-olds aspiring to become Claretian Missionary priests or brothers. The junior seminary closed in July 1965. Since then the Towers complex has been developed by the Claretians as a retreat and conference centre. Also on the site is the Catholic Church of St Hugh of Lincoln, which stands on the site of the great chamber of the medieval palace and was built as the chapel for the junior seminary. The grounds, but not the buildings, of the Towers are open to visitors at all reasonable times but dogs are not permitted.

Notable visitors

* Henry III in 1248 * Edward I in 1291 * Richard III in 1483 * Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of Henry VII) in 1501 * Queen Catherine of Aragon – resided here from July 1533 to May 1534 until she was transferred a few miles away to

Kimbolton Castle Kimbolton Castle is a country house in Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, England. It was the final home of King Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Originally a medieval castle but converted into a stately palace, it was the family seat o ...

, where she died in 1536. She was buried at

Peterborough Cathedral Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Pau ...

.
Buckden Palace Page on Cambridge Military History Website, accessed 10 January 2015 * Henry VIII and Queen

Catherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542), also spelled Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the se ...

in 1541. They stayed at Buckden Palace in 1541, during a summer tour that the King and Queen took of England before her coronation. It was during this tour that Catherine would be accused of committing adultery with

Thomas Culpeper Thomas Culpeper ( – 10 December 1541) was an English courtier and close friend of Henry VIII, and related to two of his queens, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. He is known to have had many private meetings with Catherine after her mar ...

which led to her beheading for treason in 1542. * On 16 July 1551, Henry, Duke of Suffolk and his brother Lord Charles died here from the

sweating sickness Sweating sickness, also known as the sweats, English sweating sickness, English sweat or ''sudor anglicus'' in Latin, was a mysterious and contagious disease that struck England and later continental Europe in a series of epidemics beginning ...

; they had come to Buckden to avoid the sickness at Cambridge. *

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

in 1619 * In the 1630s Bishop Williams held state at Buckden, entertaining his neighbours with lavish displays of hospitality. * The

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...

accompanied by Lord Lowther were driven from Burley on the Hill past

Norman Cross Prison Norman Cross Prison in Huntingdonshire, England, was the world's first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp or "depot", built in 1796–97 to hold prisoners of war from France and its allies during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wa ...

to visit the Bishop of Lincoln at his seat in Buckden on 10 January 1814. The Royal traveller was received there by the military consisting of detachments of the

9th Light Dragoons The 9th Queen's Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1715. It saw service for three centuries, including the First and Second World Wars. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in forces, but w ...

, the West York and Herefordshire Militia, and a few artillerymen. * William Barlow (bishop of Lincoln) – buried there.

Bibliography

*Pettifer, Adrian. (2002)
English Castles: a Guide by Counties
'' Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. .

Footnotes

External links

The Claret Centre

Friends of Buckden Towers

Detailed historic record for Buckden Towers

The RC Parish of St Hugh of Lincoln Buckden and St Joseph in St Neots

The Palace of Buckden, Cambridge Military History Website
{{Diocese of East Anglia Buildings and structures completed in 1175 Country houses in Cambridgeshire Buildings and structures in Huntingdonshire Episcopal palaces in England