The Archbishop's Palace is a Grade I listed historic 14th-century and 16th-century building on the east bank of the

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a total distance ...

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. Originally a home from home for travelling archbishops from Canterbury, the building is today principally used as a venue for

wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

services. The former

tithe barn A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious orga ...

for the palace (today severed from the palace by the A229), now serves as the Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of Carriages.

History

The Manor of Maidstone was probably given to the

Archbishops of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...

as a royal gift during the 7th or 8th centuries. A house on the site of the palace was given to Archbishop Langton by Rector William de Cornhill in 1207 to be used as a resting-place for archbishops travelling between

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

and is linked to palaces at

Charing Charing is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, in south-east England. It includes the settlements of Charing Heath and Westwell Leacon. It is located at the foot of the North Downs and reaches up to the escarpment. T ...

Otford Otford is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It lies on the River Darent, north of Sevenoaks. Otford's four churches are the Anglican Church of St Bartholomew in the village centre, the Otford Methodist Ch ...

and

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an exten ...

. Cornhill's house was demolished by Archbishop Ufford. The first work on the current building was ordered by Archbishop Ufford in 1348 and was continued by Archbishop Islip between 1349 and 1366, partly with materials from a palace at

Wrotham Wrotham ( ) is a village on the Pilgrims' Way in Kent, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is north of Borough Green and approximately east of Sevenoaks. It is between the M20 and M26 motorways. History The name first occurs as ...

. At the end of the 14th century Archbishop Courtenay expanded the establishment in Maidstone when he founded the neighbouring

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

and Church of All Saints. The palace was enlarged and improved by

Archbishop Morton John Morton ( – 15 September 1500) was an English cleric, civil lawyer and administrator during the period of the Wars of the Roses. He entered royal service under Henry VI and was a trusted councillor under Edward IV and Henry VII. Edw ...

in 1486, but it and the College were given to Henry VIII by

Archbishop Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry's ...

in exchange for property elsewhere. Henry VIII granted the palace to

Sir Thomas Wyatt Sir Thomas Wyatt (150311 October 1542) was a 16th-century English politician, ambassador, and lyric poet credited with introducing the sonnet to English literature. He was born at Allington Castle near Maidstone in Kent, though the family was o ...

, but the estate was forfeited to the Crown in 1554 following the rebellion led by his son,

Thomas Wyatt the younger Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger (152111 April 1554) was an English politician and rebel leader during the reign of Queen Mary I; his rising is traditionally called " Wyatt's rebellion". He was the son of the English poet and ambassador Sir Thoma ...

, against Mary I. It was later given by Elizabeth I to Sir John Astley, son of John Astley,

Master of the Jewel Office The Master of the Jewel Office was a position in the Royal Households of England, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom. The office holder was responsible for running the Jewel House, which houses the Crown Jewels. This role has, a ...

. Astley extended the palace, building much of the existing structure. On his death there in 1639, he bequeathed the manor to Jacob Astley, 1st Baron Astley of Reading. Lord Astley died at the palace in 1652 and it passed to his son and grandson, the second and third barons. On the death of the third baron in 1688, the barony became extinct and the palace passed to his cousin Sir Jacob Astley. In 1720, Sir Jacob sold the palace to

Robert Marsham, 1st Baron Romney Robert Marsham, 1st Baron Romney (17 September 1685 – 28 November 1724) of The Mote, Maidstone, known as Sir Robert Marsham, Bt between 1703 and 1716, was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1708 to 1716 when he w ...

who lived at nearby Mote House. The palace was subsequently sold by the Marsham family. At the beginning of the 20th century it was used as a Territorial Army medical school.

Present day

Today the palace is managed by

Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs most of the county of Kent in England. It is the upper tier of elected local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council h ...

and primarily used as a

register office A register office or The General Register Office, much more commonly but erroneously registry office (except in official use), is a British government office where births, deaths, marriages, civil partnership, stillbirths and adoptions in Eng ...

. It is only open to the public on regular "Heritage Days". The Kent Garden's Trust tends the Apothecary's Garden which is open to the public between May and August on Wednesday afternoons only.

Buildings

The E-shaped palace building is located on the east bank of the River Medway close to its meeting with the River Len. The two-storey central section is constructed of

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

stonework with a main entrance through a central projecting porch in the north-east façade. Timber framed wings are at each side. The roof is clay tiled and two projecting stone-built

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

windows at

attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a ''loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

level on the entrance façade are capped with finials. The south-west façade has windows in a variety of sizes, many stone-framed, and includes a large

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...

led and three-tiered and

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found projecting from an upper f ...

. Close to the palace on the south side is the dungeon, a 14th-century stone building with small windows and an early Norman undercroft. To the north-east of the palace, adjacent to Mill Street and the River Len is the 13th and 14th century gatehouse, a two-storey building constructed of roughly-coursed

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

and timber framing on the east end. The roof is tiled and a

garderobe Garderobe is a historic term for a room in a medieval castle. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives as its first meaning a store-room for valuables, but also acknowledges "by extension, a private room, a bed-chamber; also a privy". The word der ...

projects on the north side. The palace is a 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 I ...

, the dungeon is listed Grade II*, and the gatehouse is listed Grade II and a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and ...

. The buildings are surrounded by walls which are Grade II listed. The Dungeon is on the

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

References

External links

Virtual Tour of the building {{Archbishop of Canterbury Grade I listed buildings in Kent Episcopal palaces of archbishops of Canterbury Christianity in Kent Buildings and structures in Maidstone Country houses in Kent

History

Present day

Buildings

See also

References

External links