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

fortified A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lat ...

house and bishop's palace in Buckden,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, England. It is now a conference and retreat centre operated by the

Claretian The Claretians, officially named the Congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary (; abbreviated CMF), is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men headquartered in Rome. It was f ...

missionaries.

History

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

bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), 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 Nort ...

. 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 A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

, 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 authorised to determine the distribution of revenues of the Ch ...

. 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 most ...

, part of the battlemented wall, which used to surround the inner court within the

, and the outer gate and wall. The antiquary

Edward John Rudge Edward John Rudge (30 May 1792 – 29 January 1861) was a British barrister and antiquary. Rudge was the son of Edward Rudge, botanist and antiquary, and Anne Rudge, botanical illustrator. He was educated in Chiswick and at Westminster School, ...

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 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 ...

s. The Claretian Missionaries 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 Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...

in 1291 *

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

in 1483 *

Lady Margaret Beaufort Lady Margaret Beaufort ( ; 31 May 1443 – 29 June 1509) was a major figure in the Wars of the Roses of the late 15th century, and mother of King Henry VII of England, the first House of Tudor, Tudor monarch. She was also a second cousin o ...

(mother of Henry VII) in 1501 * Queen

Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...

– 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 of ...

, 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, and formerly known as Peterborough Abbey or St Peter's Abbey, is a cathedral in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, in the United Kingdom. The seat of the Church ...

.
Buckden Palace Page on Cambridge Military History Website, accessed 10 January 2015 *

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

and Queen

Catherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542) was Queen of England from July 1540 until November 1541 as the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a first cousin to Anne Boleyn (the second ...

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 was related to two of his queens, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. He is known to have had many private meetings with Catherine during he ...

which led to her beheading for treason in 1542. * On 16 July 1551, Henry, Duke of Suffolk and his brother

Lord Charles Raymond Alan Whyberd (18 September 1930 – 24 May 2010) was an English ventriloquist, television entertainer, and writer. His career spanned over half a century, though he was most popular from the 1950s until the 1980s. He was associated pri ...

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 i ...

; 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 King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 M ...

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, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness) or ab ...

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". Constructed in 1796–97, it was designed to hold prisoners of war from France and its allies during the French Revolutionary W ...

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 regiments of the British Army, cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1715. It saw service for three centuries, including the World War I, First and World War II, Second World Wars. The ...

, 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