Salisbury Rotary Club members were enthralled at a recent meeting as Dr Cindy Wood, of the University of Winchester and Chair of the Friends of Clarendon Palace, gave a fascinating insight into the history of the Palace.
Clarendon Palace is situated in a medieval deer park and is one of the most important remaining palaces in the country, along with Westminster and Windsor.
Although there is evidence of earlier settlements, these seem to have been abandoned around AD 400 to 700. Clarendon Palace was the most westerly major royal, rural residence in medieval England. It was already well established in the 1100s, long before Salisbury was founded during the 1220s.
The Palace was set up for pleasure and is not a castle as it is indefensible. Both Henry II and Henry III invested heavily in the property, converting it into a Royal residence, and the current layout stems from the era of Henry III in the 13th century.
In 1164 Henry II framed the Constitutions of Clarendon to try to restrict ecclesiastical privileges and place limits on Papal authority in England. And, in 1166, the Assize of Clarendon established the right to trial by jury and justice through itinerant judges.
At its height, the palace consisted of several buildings surrounding a central courtyard, with the Great Hall having the same footprint as the Great Hall at Winchester Castle. Overall, the Palace was rectangular with dimensions of roughly 240m by 80m, totalling over 5 acres and included terraced gardens.
Usage of the Palace gradually declined and by 1500 the building was no longer being maintained, and in 1574 it was described as a simple hunting lodge. In that year, Elizabeth I visited, but the buildings were in such poor condition that she had to dine in a “banquet house” in Salisbury.
In 1649 Clarendon Palace was confiscated by Parliament and, in 1660, the park passed briefly into private hands.
A series of campaigns of archaeological excavation were undertaken at the site between 1933 and 1939 by the Finnish art historian Tancred Borenius, with further excavations carried out in in latter part of the last century.
All that is visible now above ground level is the one end wall of the Great Hall and the site is now a scheduled monument.
If you have not been, it really is worth a visit.
