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 AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. Originally a home from home for travelling archbishops from Canterbury, the building has been most recently used as a venue for

wedding A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...

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 tithes. Farmers were required to give one-tenth of their produce to the established church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the ...

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 bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop was Augustine ...

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 city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

and is linked to palaces at Charing, Otford and

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

. 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 motorway, M20 and M26 motorway, M26 motorways. History T ...

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

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

and Church of All Saints. The palace was enlarged and improved by Archbishop Morton in 1486, but it and the College were given to Henry VIII by Archbishop Cranmer in exchange for property elsewhere. Henry VIII granted the palace to Sir Thomas Wyatt, but the estate was forfeited to the Crown in 1554 following the rebellion led by his son, Thomas Wyatt the younger, against Mary I. It was later given by Elizabeth I to Sir John Astley, son of John Astley, Master of the Jewel Office. 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 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

The palace has been managed by

Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Kent in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes the Unitary authorities of England, unitary auth ...

and primarily used as a

register office A register office, commonly referred to unofficially as a registry office or registrar's office is an office in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and some Commonwealth countries responsible for the civil registration of births, deaths, marri ...

. It is only open to the public on regular "Heritage Days". There have been plans to use the building as a wine bar or hotel. As of October 2023, new tenants are being sought for the building. 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 River Len is a river in Kent, England. It rises at a spring in ''Bluebell Woods'' to the southeast of the village centre of Lenham from the source of the River Great Stour; both rise on the Greensand Ridge. Its length is c. It enters the ...

. The two-storey central section is constructed of

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

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 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. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

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 keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

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, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window generally projects from an ...

. 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 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 is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, 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, visu ...

. 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 Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

Heritage at Risk Register.

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