Lyddington Bede House

Lyddington Bede House (or Lyddington Bedehouse) is a historic house in Rutland, England, owned and opened to the public by English Heritage. The existing Grade I listed building is a part of a former palace of the Bishops of Lincoln, later used as an almshouse. It is next to St Andrew's Church in the village of Lyddington. The watch tower or gazebo is separately listed as Grade I and the boundary walls are Grade II. The site is a scheduled monument.

Lyddington Bishop's Palace and later Lyddington Bedehouse
Lyddington Bede House
Location	The Bedehouse is adjacent to the parish church.
OS grid reference	SP8758797005
Founded	12th Century
Demolished	Wing of a building, the remainder demolished after 1547
Architectural style(s)	Medieval with later alterations
Governing body	English Heritage
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	The Bede House
Designated	10 November 1955
Reference no.	1264528
Scheduled monument
Official name	Lyddington Bedehouse: a medieval bishop's palace and post-medieval almshouse with moat, gardens, fishponds and cultivation remains
Designated	11-Sep-1947
Reference no.	1013825
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	Lyddington Watchtower
Designated	10-Nov-1955
Reference no.	1236617
Location in Rutland

History

The medieval Diocese of Lincoln was the largest bishopric in England,^[1] extending from the River Thames to the Humber Estuary.^[2] Lyddington lay on a north–south road and the estate here was a convenient place for the bishop's entourage to stop when traversing the diocese.^[3]

After the Reformation, ownership passed to the Cecil family who made it their private house. By 1600 it had passed to Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, son of Lord Burghley, who converted it into an almshouse for twelve poor bedesmen and it continued in this use until 1930. A feature is the former bishop's Great Chamber with its carved ceiling cornice.^[4]

The Bede House is a Grade I listed building,^[5] and the wider site is a Scheduled monument.^[6]

Watchtower

The Watchtower, or "Bishop's Eye", is a two-storey tower set into the garden wall of the palace. Its purpose is uncertain; although its name suggests a defensive intention, it is considered more likely to have been constructed for leisure. Elizabeth Williamson, in her Lincolnshire and Rutland volume in the Pevsner Buildings of England series, revised and reissued in 2003, describes it as a "summerhouse",^[7] and the Historic England listing record refers to it as a gazebo. The tower has its own Grade I listing,^[8] while the walls into which it is set are listed at Grade II.^[9] The remains of the fishponds of the bishop's palace are nearby.^[6]

Lyddington Bishop's Palace and Bedehouse gallery

The Bede House and St Andrew's Church from the orchard North aspect Bede House, hall Attic roof structure Bedesman's room Decorated medieval fireplace Early 16th-century cornice The "Bishop's Eye" watch tower on the corner of Main Street and Church Lane

Nearby English Heritage attractions

• Rushton Triangular Lodge
• Kirby Hall
• Eleanor Cross, Geddington

See also: other palaces and residences of the Bishop of Lincoln

• Biggleswade
• Buckden Palace, Huntingdonshire
• Dorchester on Thames, Oxfordshire
• Fingest, Buckinghamshire.
• Horncastle, Lincolnshire. Bishop's Palace
• Lincoln Medieval Bishop's Palace
• London, Camden, Inn of the Bishop of Lincoln, later Southampton House. Purchased from Templars by Bishop Robert de Chesney (1148–68)
• Louth, Lincolnshire
• Nettleham, Lincolnshire
• Spaldwick, Huntingdonshire, Bury Close
• Stow, Lincolnshire
• Thame, Oxfordshire
• Wooburn, Buckinghamshire. Bishop's Palace

Further reading

• The Victoria History of the County of Rutland: Volume I, (1908), 118-119
• The Victoria History of the County of Rutland: Volume II, (1935), 188-191
• Woodfield, C and P, (1993) Lyddington Bede House
• Woodfield, C and P, (1982) "The Palace of the Bishops of Lincoln at Lyddington", Transactions of the Leics Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol. 57, 1-16