3-021-335 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ruins of the Bishop's Old Palace, Lincoln, 1869. View of the '...ancient palace of the Bishops of Lincoln, now a picturesque ruin...It is thought to have been originally founded by Bishop Robert Bloet, in the time of King William Rufus or King Henry I.; but it was rebuilt, in the twelfth century, by Bishop Chesney...Here lived "St. Hugh of Lincoln," the Bishop, otherwise named Hugh of Burgundy, who laboured with his own hands as a mason to rebuild the cathedral, which had been "split in two by an earthquake," on the day before his installation. He also commenced the building of the great hall of the episcopal palace, consisting of a nave and aisles, which were finished by his successor and namesake, Hugh of Wells...The palace was further enlarged by Bishop Alnwick, in the time of Henry VI., when the entrance tower was added. After the Reformation, when the vast diocese of Lincoln was divided, and portions of it were allotted to the bishoprics of Peterborough and Oxford, the old residence of the Bishop at Lincoln fell into decay. It was utterly ruined in the civil wars of the seventeenth century...The palace of Lincoln was twice visited by Royalty: Henry VIII., with Queen Catherine Howard, was here entertained by Bishop Longland'. From "Illustrated London News", 1869.