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CHAPTER 22 — LAMBETH PALACE

[See plates 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 73, 74, 75, 82, 85, and 86.]

A brief account of the struggles of Archbishops Baldwin and Hubert
Walter to found a college of secular clerks, with a house for an archiepiscopal
residence, away from Canterbury and free from interference by the defenders
of monkish privilege there, has been given in the
account of Lambeth Manor (p.3). In 1190 Archbishop
Baldwin, having acquired 24 acres of the demesne land
of the manor of Lambeth from the bishop and monks
of Rochester, (fn. 10) caused a site to be marked out for a
chapel and clerks’ houses there, before departing for the
First Crusade. (fn. 189) Baldwin died in the Holy Land in
1190 and, after a prolonged dispute, Hubert Walter,
Bishop of Salisbury, was elected in his stead. The monks
of Canterbury renewed their opposition to the Lambeth project, but in 1197
Hubert Walter obtained a grant of the whole manor of Lambeth, with the
exception of the Bishop of Rochester’s residence, (fn. 10) and proceeded with the
building of a chapel. Two years later, as a result of papal intervention on
the side of the monks he agreed to raze the chapel to the ground, (fn. 190) but
in 1200 he finally got both Pope and monks to agree that he might build a
house of Praemonstratensian canons at Lambeth with accommodation for his
own residence. (fn. 190)

During his later years Hubert Walter was much in France and it is
impossible to say whether he lived at Lambeth, (fn. 189) but Archbishop Stephen
Langton issued letters from thence in 1207, the year of his elevation to the
See. (fn. 189) It seems probable that part at least of the chapel crypt, the earliest of
the buildings now remaining, dates from the time of Hubert Walter. (fn. n1) The
house and its grounds were extra-parochial and have remained so until the
present day.

The palace has suffered many vicissitudes during its long history.
The Survey of 1647 to which frequent reference will be made and the 1648
plan reproduced on Plate 60 give some picture of the condition of the palace
during the upheavals of the Commonwealth period. The drastic renovations
carried out by Edward Blore after 1828 can be seen by a comparison of the
1648 plan with his (Plate 61). The havoc wrought by bomb damage during
the 1939–45 war is described by William Temple’s biographer-“Part of
the roof of Wren’s (fn. n2) library had been burnt away, 2,000 books were now
ashes, and 3,000 more were jumbled together in a sodden heap on the floor.
Piles of smashed furniture and pictures torn by the blast lay in a litter of
broken glass and rubble, the great drawing-room was a gaping hole, and the
chapel was open to the sky.” (fn. 192) Now order and beauty are again being restored
to the palace. The old buildings are being repaired and pieced together,
and where complete destruction of the old work or the necessities of modern
living require it, new buildings, as far as possible in keeping with the old,
are being constructed. The architects for the restoration are Lord Mottistone
and Paul Paget.

The Archbishop of Canterbury was for several centuries often a high
officer of state as well as of the church, and his London residence has played
an important part in the history of these islands. An excellent chronological
account of the personalities who have resided in, and visited the palace, and
of the scenes which have been enacted there, is given in Mrs. Dorothy
Gardiner’s Story of Lambeth Palace
(fn. 189) and it has therefore been decided to
arrange this survey of the palace topographically taking the buildings one
by one and giving past history only so far as it throws light on existing
conditions. In compiling this account two sources have been freely used
to which little reference has been made either by Mrs. Gardiner or by
the editors of the Victoria County History and the Royal Commission on
Historical Monuments; these are the plans and records of the manor now
in the custody of the Church Commissioners and the drawings and plans
made by Edward Blore for his reconstruction of the palace circa 1828.

The Gateway or Morton’s Tower

The gateway of red brick, the part of the palace most familiar to the
general public, was built by John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury in
1486–1501. It probably stood on the site and incorporated part of a previous
“great gate” which was in existence in 1322 when Archbishop Reynolds
was carrying out improvements to the
palace. (fn. 183) There is evidence that
under Archbishop Bourchier (1454–86) the archives had been kept in “a
certain low chamber” of the gateway
to the left of the entrance and that
after the new gateway was completed
they were transferred to a chamber on
the right side, adjacent to the dwellinghouse “ in the new work of the
gate, newly-built,” which Morton had
provided for his porter. The old
Prerogative Registry remained in the
right-hand tower until the passing of
the Probate Act in 1857. (fn. 189)

Morton’s tower is one of the
few surviving examples of the early
Tudor style of brick building. The
only comparable building in the
neighbourhood of London is the old palace of Hatfield which was also built
by Cardinal Morton.

From time immemorial the “Lambeth Dole” was dispensed to
beggars at the gate. Ducarel says that in his day it was regularized and consisted of a weekly allowance of 15 quartern loaves, 9 stone of beef and 5s.,
which were divided and distributed thrice weekly. (fn. 193) The practice was
discontinued after 1842 when money grants to poor persons were substituted.

Description

The gateway has massive five-storey towers of stocky proportion set
forward at either side of the entrance. It is built in fine red brick relieved
in places by diaperwork formed of black header bricks. The window
dressings and tracery, as well as the copings
to the battlements, quoins and bands, are all
in stone, much of which has been renewed
in modern times. The plinth at the base of
the building is of coursed ragstone.

The entrance has a large opening
for vehicles and another, far smaller, for
pedestrians. Both have moulded jambs and
their four-centred arches have label mouldings. On the inner side there is only one
arch for both vehicles and pedestrians. The
room over the entrance has a four-light
mullioned and transomed window on the
south front, and a three-light window on the
north. The other windows to the gateway,
including those to the stair-turrets, which
project forward at each side on the courtyard
front, are of one or two lights. The stairturrets rise above the parapets of the towers
and, like them, are battlemented.

Above the entrance there is stone
vaulting with moulded ridge, wall and diagonal ribs which spring from attached angle
shafts with moulded caps and bases. The
vaulting has carved bosses at the tops of the four wall arches. On the west
side there are two doorways with four-centred heads and simple chamfered
jambs. On the east side there are two single-light windows and a doorway similar to those opposite. Near the pedestrians’ entrance is a late
16th century wood settle with an upright back, shaped arms and turned
legs.

The gateway has lead rain-water heads bearing inscriptions “TH
1751,” “TS 1758,” “1897” and a tun device (Cardinal Morton’s rebus).

The large room over the entrance, which is at the same level as the
second storeys in each tower, has moulded ceiling beams, joists and cornice.

Its chimney piece has stone jambs, a depressed head and carved spandrels.
The stone jambed doorways have four-centred heads and both windows
have hollow-moulded jambs and heads. The floor is paved with old red
square tiles much worn and damaged.

The rooms in each tower have moulded or chamfered ceiling beams
and their doorways and chimney pieces are of stone and similar in detail to
that in the large room. There is some linen-fold panelling and a number of
16th and 17th century doors.

On the ground floor the south room in the east tower (formerly a
cell for prisoners) has a small square-headed cupboard with a perforated
wood door. Two iron rings are fixed to the south wall. The north room has
a cupboard with linen-fold panelled door and grotesque head above; there
is a square-headed label moulding over the cupboard.

The first floor room in the west tower has a late 17th century partition
and its walls, including those of the small room leading off it, are lined with
flush vertical boarding painted to represent panelling of coeval date. The
boarding above the fireplace is painted to represent a marble overmantel.
It bears a cartouche with the date “ 1691.” Above it is a shield of the arms
of the See of Canterbury impaling Tillotson, supported by two winged
cherubs. Like the cartouche, it is now mostly obscured.

The Great Hall

It is probable that a Great Hall was one of the earliest parts of Lambeth
House to be built. In the first extant set of accounts there is an entry
concerning the repair of its roof (fn. 189) and thereafter references are frequent.

Archbishop Robert de Winchelsey (1294–1313) kept “prodigious”
hospitality in the Great Hall on Sundays and Fridays, feeding “no fewer then
four Thousand men when corn was cheap and five Thousand when it was
dear.” (fn. 194) The Great Hall was also the scene of the long series of banquets
held to celebrate the consecration of new bishops in Lambeth chapel. Of
these feasts the most famous was that of William of Wykeham in 1367,
who, though consecrated at St. Paul’s, kept his feast at Lambeth. In later
years the feasts were held in the guard chamber. They were discontinued
in 1845 at the consecration of Bishop Wilberforce. (fn. 195)

The Hall was repaired by Archbishop Chichele (1414–1443) who
replaced the portico at the south end by an arched gateway leading into the
inner court with a room above it. (fn. 189) The Hall was re-roofed with shingles
in 1570–71 by Archbishop Parker. (fn. 196)

The old Hall, as shown on the 1648 plan, had a buttery and pantry
at the west end and the kitchen and offices jutting out at right angles on
the north side.

In 1660 William Juxon, who had ministered to Charles I on the
scaffold, was appointed to the See of Canterbury. He found the archiepiscopal residence at Lambeth in a sorry state and the Great Hall demolished. (fn. 196)
The latter he rebuilt on the old site and as far as possible in the “ancient
Form.” (fn. 196) The walls appear from the plan to have been in the same positions
as the old, and it is possible that some of the old foundations were re-used.
The site of the buttery and pantry was covered by the gateway to the inner
courtyard and the entry and staircase to the room over the gate.

In 1829 Blore reported that the Great Hall was dirty, neglected and
applied to no useful purpose. (fn. 197) It was decided that it should be turned into
a library, and elaborately carved book shelves (Plate 77a) were designed by
Blore and placed at right angles to the west and east sides of the Hall to
form bays. The library had its origin in the collection of books left to his
successors by Archbishop Bancroft in 1610. His will contained the provision
that if the books were in danger of dispersion they should be handed over
to the University of Cambridge. This provision was invoked by John
Selden after the execution of Laud and the collection was by this means
preserved. It was restored to Lambeth Palace in the time of Archbishop
Sheldon (1663–77) and was added to from time to time by succeeding
archbishops.

Both the library building and its contents suffered greatly from
damage by fire and water during the 1939–45 war. The fabric of the Hall
has been carefully restored, but in future though bookcases will line the
walls the main bulk of the library will be housed elsewhere and the Hall left
clear for conferences and assemblies.

Description

The Great Hall is built in red brick with stone quoins, entablatures,
battlements, cappings, and window tracery. The roof, which is of timber
construction, is carried by buttresses which stand forward from the east and
west walls.

At either end of the west elevation there are square bay projections,
with Classic pediments. The entablature on this elevation is joined to each
pediment and is, like them, modillioned. It breaks forward at each buttress
and has an enriched frieze with carved swags and masks. Above the cornice
the buttresses, which each have one moulded offset on the face, are stepped
back below square pedestals, each with a ball finial. The main parapet wall
is battlemented.

The bay projections have rusticated quoins and pedestals at both
ends and at the centre of their parapets. Above each central pedestal stands a
finial of stumpy proportion. Both bays have a large Gothic three-light pointed
window, each being two-centred with moulded reveals and transoms dividing
it into three ranges of lights. All the lights are cinque-foil headed. Between
the bay projections the windows are of similar design but of only two ranges,
of which the lower lights are square-headed and without cinque-foils. There
is a continuous moulded plinth at the base of the buttresses and to both bay
projections.

There are original lead rainwater heads and down-pipes in two of
the buttress angles on this side, each inscribed “1663” and “WI,” and
bearing the arms of the See of Canterbury and of Juxon. The heads have
cornices and pineapple pendants at each side. There is a similar rainwater
head and down-pipe on the east elevation but it has no pendants.

The east elevation is similar to the west but less ornate. There
is a deep string course below the parapet, instead of an entablature. The
parapet is straight and without battlements; it has a moulded coping and
stops against the buttresses, which extend higher and have square cappings.
The end buttresses are wide and rise from plinth to string course without
offsets. The string course of the southernmost of these buttresses is incised
“MDCLXXXV.”

Under the most southerly window on this front is a stone doorway
with a semicircular arch and pediment above. It has a moulded architrave
which is eared at the arch springing and returns round the arch keystone.
The spandrels each side of the keystone are panelled.

The gables of the north and south walls of the Hall are surmounted
by finials with round-headed recesses to each of their four faces. The finials
are topped by ball terminals. Each gable has a three-light window whose
tracery is similar to that in the side windows but of wider proportion and
without transoms. The labels to the south window rest on Renaissance type
console brackets.

The lantern, placed centrally on the ridge of the tiled roof, is of
wood clothed in lead. It has lights to each of its two stages, the lower being
hexagonal and the upper circular. Above the upper stage there is an ogeeshaped cupola which carries a gilded weather-vane with ball and mitre
terminal. The vane is pierced with the arms of the See impaling those of
Juxon.

The Hall has a fine oak hammer-beam roof of Gothic form, though
much of its detail is of Classic derivation (Plate 78). It has seven bays. The
main members are moulded and the main spandrels are filled with acanthus
foliage. There are carved mitres in the parts of the spandrels above the
brackets. The side post pendants below the brackets have acanthus enrichment and the longitudinal braces spring from carved head corbels with fruit
branches below. The main wall-plates are masked by a frieze with a band
above. The frieze is carved with swags and bears arms of the See and Juxon
impaled and separately. Above the main purlins there are similar bands
which have guilloche ornament with carved busts or mitres in the larger
circles, while below, the longitudinal
spandrels have pierced carving. Above
the collar beams and main members
there is open tracery with semi-Gothic
cusped heads. The trusses rest on
stone corbels cut to represent lion
heads, masks, cherubs, and angels
holding shields. Inside the lantern
there are masks and pendant foliage
carving, and an enriched ceiling rose.

Each of the bay projections on
the west side of the Hall has coffered
arched reveals and soffits ornamented
by large rosettes of differing pattern.
The walls are plastered and distempered.

On the east side at the north
end there is a semicircular headed
doorway in stone which has a voluted
keystone and moulded imposts and
plinth (Plate 79). Its detail is enriched
and it is flanked by Corinthian pilasters
which support an entablature and
broken segmental pediment. The
raised panel above the keystone bears
the inscription: “ANNO DOMINI
M.DC.L.X.III” and above the pediment is set, upon a panelled pedestal,
a cartouche with the arms of the See
impaling Juxon flanked by winged cherubs and with a larger winged cherub’s
head above.

Much of the 16th and 17th century glass was destroyed during the
1939–45 war but what was saved has been reset in the lower lights of the
northerly bay projection. Below the arms of Philip II of Spain with fully
quartered shield within a garter (the crown above the shield being missing)
there are fragments of glass set in a circle of the same size. There are also
shields of the arms of the See of Canterbury impaling Grindal, Abbot,
Sancroft, Laud, and Cranmer.

The building to the south of the Great Hall has a vaulted way
through at ground level and one storey above, which houses the Manuscript
Room. It is in brick with stone dressings and its Gothic detail is of similar
character to that of the residential wing. There are string bands below the
battlemented parapet and at first floor level. The west elevation has an oriel
window over the archway while there are two small two-light windows with
square heads on the east side.

The Cloisters

In 1647 to the north of the Great Hall there was “a foure square
Cloyster reachinge from the Chappell to the Hall beinge a walke On the
grounde And over the Cloyster … the greate Library of the ArchBishop-pricke being foure square and covered with Lead. And in the midle of the
said Cloyster … a square Court with a greate well in the midst thereof
covered with Lead.” (fn. 198)

It was the intention of Archbishops Baldwin and Hubert Walter to
build a small religious house or college at Lambeth as well as a residence for
themselves and it is probable that the cloisters formed part of the earliest
buildings, though they are not specifically mentioned in the first set of
accounts. Archbishop Chichele (1414–43) seems to have built galleries over
the cloisters one of which was to serve as a library. (fn. 189) His successor, Archbishop Stafford, had to clear a quantity of rubble, probably left from Chichele’s
building work from the “freresgardyn” (fn. 199) or cloister garth.

Cardinal Pole may have repaired the galleries, though his chief
alteration of the palace was the building of a long gallery east of the chapel.
It is recorded that in 1573, when Queen Elizabeth visited Archbishop Parker
at Lambeth, she listened in one of the galleries to a sermon preached from a
pulpit set up near the pump in the middle of the cloisters, while the people
who filled the quadrangle below “divided their attention between her
Majesty and the preacher.” (fn. 200)

Archbishop Sheldon (1663–77) repaired the galleries for the reception of Archbishop Bancroft’s library which he had recovered from the
University of Cambridge (see p. 85) and they continued to be used for
this purpose until the 1830’s, though readers complained of the arctic
temperature in winter. (fn. 195)

Blore fitted up the Great Hall as a library. The old cloister galleries,
which he pulled down and rebuilt, he described as frail buildings of timber
and plaster. (fn. 189) A kitchen was built at the south-west corner of the old site,
but the cloister garth was left open.

The book-cases were removed from the Great Hall in 1948 and the
cloisters are again being fitted up as a library with the rooms previously used
as kitchens as reading rooms for students and a muniment room.

Description

The cloisters are of brick of two storeys and their detail is similar to
that of the archway at the south end of the Great Hall. They have stone
dressings to the square-headed windows and stone copings to their battlements. There are angle buttresses at each corner.

On the upper storey the cloister gallery has a coved and ribbed flat
ceiling with an embattled cornice. The doors have four-centred heads and
some have carved spandrels and weakly designed buttress surrounds. At
the right angle bend in the gallery there is a straight-headed archway with
foliated caps and thin shafts at each side.

Chichele’s or the Water or Lollards’ Tower

In 1432 the tower, which had stood previously at the west end of
the Chapel, was pulled down and a new tower five storeys high was erected
there. The accounts (fn. 201) record that 490 tons of ragstone, with lime, sand and
other materials, were brought by boat from Maidstone for the building,
while oak timber was brought from “le West wode” near Harrow. A mason
worked 11 days on the tabernacle or
niche on the west side of the tower,
which still remains, through the image
of St. Thomas the Martyr for which
it was intended was removed at the
Reformation. Chichele’s tower was
built nearer the Chapel than its predecessor and its erection involved the
removal of a buttress and the blocking
up of the lancet windows at the west
end of the Chapel. The windows of
the tower were glazed and the room
at the entrance to the Chapel (now
the Post Room) was ceiled with wood
boarding. Payments for carving the
angels’ heads, etc., for the ceiling are
included in the accounts.

There has been some controversy as to the traditional connection of this tower with the Lollards.
The ill-famed Lollards’ Tower in
which John Hunne met his death
and where many heretics were incarcerated was the south-west tower
of old St. Paul’s which served as the
Bishop of London’s prison, but the
name was in use for part of the tower at Lambeth at least as early as 1647
for the Survey of that date has the entry“At the Northend of the said
Courte is a greate Bricke Buildinge with Windowes opening towards the
Thames foure Storeys high covered with Lead Behind which Buildinge
alonge by the West end of the Chappell is a paire of Staires Leadinge
upp into chambers five Storeys high over which is the Lollards Tower all
covered with lead.” (fn. 198)

It is possible that this turret was part of an older tower demolished
in 1432, and that Chichele’s predecessor, Archbishop Arundel, a fierce
persecutor of Lollardry and advocate of the 1401 statute “De heretico
comburendo,” may have employed it as a prison, though the usual prison
of the palace was part of the entrance gate. (fn. 189)

The Post Room has been described as a pleasant solar and the upstairs
rooms were intended as sleeping apartments. In 1646 the tower was turned
into a prison for “the faithful, but unhappy Royalists,” (fn. 196) and it is possible
that it was at this time that the name Lollards’ Tower became attached to
the whole tower.

The post and panelling in the Post Room were added in the 17th
century. Blore described the tower as dilapidated and weatherworn but
does not seem to have made any radical alterations there. The base of the
tower has recently been turned into a boiler room to serve the whole of the
palace buildings.

Description

The Water Tower (Plate 72) is faced with roughly coursed Kentish
ragstone except to the east and south fronts which are of red brick. At the
corner are stone quoins. It is of four storeys above a lower ground storey,
but the tower at the north-east corner rises one storey higher. The parapets,
which have been renewed in modern times, are battlemented.

On the west side the square-headed windows, each of two-lights,
are arranged symmetrically with a niche between those of the storey above
the Post Room. The niche, whose stonework is much decayed, is vaulted
and has moulded jambs. It has a two-centred cinque-foiled arch and a
crocketed and finialled hood. There are small flanking buttresses with
moulded bases at each side and the corbel shelf below has a demi-angel
holding a shield, much effaced with age. There are moulded string bands
round the tower at the cill levels of the Post Room and the room above.

The turret at the north-east corner is capped by an ogee roof with
moulded eaves and is faced partly in ragstone and partly in red brick, with
stone quoins at the corners. It has a bell-cote on the south-east side with
cusped and traceried barge-boards to its gable and a bell dated 1687.

The lower ground floor or semi-basement room (now used as a boiler
room) has a large fireplace recess in the north wall and a circular stone oven
with a tiled arch and domed-top of brick.

The Post Room has a stout central octagonal wood post with moulded
capping and four curved braces supporting heavy moulded cross-beams.

The main divisions of the ceiling, which is boarded in wood, are divided into
panels by moulded ribs with carved bosses at the intersections and ends.
Some of the bosses have carvings of demi-angels holding scrolls, shields,
crowns, and books, while others have conventional leaves or women’s heads.
Part of this ceiling was destroyed during the war.

The south wall has two plain pointed door openings with moulded
jambs; the smaller, leading to a staircase in the south-east corner, has been
bricked up. Adjoining to the west is a restored square-headed two-light
window with cinque-foil heads. The north wall has a filled doorway at the
west end and at the north-east corner a doorway which leads to the spiral
staircase and has hollow chamfered jambs and a four-centred head. Part
of the 17th century dado, two panels high, with a moulded capping and dentils,
which surrounds the Post Room, has escaped war damage. Some of the wood
benches, which are of the same date and have small Tuscan column posts, are
also intact. The doorway to the chapel in the west wall is described on p. 95.

The rooms above the Post Room have exposed ceiling beams and
some 17th century panelling. There are also doors of the same date and a
chimney piece with bolection moulded architrave and moulded cornice to
the north room on the second floor. The south room has an original stone
chimney piece with hollow chamfered jambs and a flat four-centred arch.

The two upper floors have been seriously damaged but their original
chimney pieces and the heavy three inch thick riveted door to the prison
have survived.

The tower on the north-east has garde-robes on the west side. The
spiral staircase has solid wood steps and to the openings at each landing
there are hollow chamfered stone jambs and four-centred heads. Some of
the openings have original doors.

Laud’s Tower

This tower seems to have been erected by Archbishop Laud mainly
in order to provide a more convenient staircase to the rooms in Chichele’s
Tower.

Description

On the river front Laud’s Tower is faced with roughly coursed
Kentish ragstone with some courses of flint while the south and east sides
are mostly of red brick. The parapets are of brick with stone copings and
there is a flush stone band below the parapet on the south side. There are
stone quoins at the south-west corner, adjoining which a chimney stack
projects forward. Parts of the brickwork have been restored.

The tower is of four storeys and all the windows, which are small
and of one or two lights, have stone dressings. On the east wall there is an
original lead rain-water head and down-pipe bearing the arms of the See
impaling Laud with the inscription “1635 WL.”

The ground storey room (formerly a kitchen) is entered through a
stone doorway with chamfered jambs and a four-centred head. It has
chamfered ceiling beams. On the north side there is a doorway with moulded
jambs and two-centred head leading to the Lollards’ Tower. Under the
stairs to the first floor there is a small cellar which has in its south wall a little
square-headed window with moulded stone jambs and a wrought-iron grate.

The room at first floor level (now a living room) has a late 17th
century doorway with enriched architrave and panelled surround. It has
carved consoles supporting a richly detailed
cornice. The wood cornice and cross-beam
to the ceiling are moulded and the timber
framing to the east wall is exposed. The
chimney piece is of stone, painted with
panelled pilasters; the lintel is dated 1680.

The late 17th century staircase with
moulded handrail and strings (one string
being of tapered shape on the upper flight)
has square newels with plain ball terminals.
Its balusters are turned. The short staircase
between the first and ground floors is similar
but its newels have plain cappings.

The first and second floors have
moulded and chamfered ceiling beams and
there are several original doors. The chimney
piece in the second floor room overlooking
the river has panelled surrounds and a plain
tablet set forward beneath the shelf.

There is early 18th-century panelling
in both rooms on the top floor; one has a
chimney piece with a simple moulded surround and delft tiles, while the
other chimney piece has a moulded architrave, frieze and cornice with a
plain panelled tablet to the frieze.

The Chapel

As has already been shown there was a Chapel in existence early in
the 13th century. The present crypt appears to date from that period and
its foundations are probably those of the earlier building of Hubert Walter. (fn. 202)
The earliest of the Court or Account Rolls at Lambeth, that for 1234,
records payments to a glazier for repairing the Chapel windows. (fn. 189)

In 1243 the King induced the Bishop of Hereford to repair the
chapel at Lambeth in anticipation of the arrival of Boniface of Savoy, the
Archbishop elect, and in the following year, Edward, son of Odo, a craftsman
at the King’s Court was instructed to provide for use at the services a gold
chalice, two flagons, two basins and a silver thurible. (fn. 16) What is left of the
chapel proper dates from this time.

Archbishop Laud, to his later undoing, spent much money and care
on repairing and redecorating the Chapel. He put in a new pulpit and altar
table which he railed in. He had the old stained glass repaired and new
glass was painted with what his accuser Prynne described as Popish subjects.
Laud also put in a richly carved screen (Plate 69b), and pews including “a
pew for the Lords” (fn. 195) because “many of the Nobility, Judges, Clergy, and
persons of all sorts, as well strangers as Natives,” (fn. 203) were in the habit of
attending there. (fn. 203)

In November, 1640, Laud was sent to the Tower. Two years later
Lambeth House was taken over by Commonwealth soldiers. The Chapel
windows were destroyed and Archbishop Parker’s stately tomb was
broken up.

At the Restoration Archbishop Juxon repaired the fabric of the
Chapel, and his successor, Archbishop Sancroft, put together so far as was
possible the desecrated tomb of Matthew Parker. His successors made few
alterations there until, in 1846, Archbishop Howley employed Edward Blore
to carry out a complete renovation, in the spirit of the Gothic revival. The
wall panelling was removed and a lofty groined roof was substituted for the
old flat ceiling which was thought, probably mistakenly, to have been a
Laudian innovation. (fn. n1) The whole of the vaulting was elaborately painted in
bright colours during the time of Archbishop Tait. (fn. 195)

Description

The crypt is divided centrally by a row of three Purbeck marble
circular columns with moulded caps and bases. They, and the moulded
corbels at the walls, support the two lines of vaulting which date from the
early 13th century. There are four bays in each line, and each bay has
simple cross-vaulting with broadly chamfered ribs (Plates 70 and 71).

The walls of the crypt are of stone, mostly covered by old plasterwork.
In each bay of the north wall there are two small single-light windows each
with a segmental head and splayed jambs. The westernmost window has
been raised above the rest and altered.

The south wall has doorways in the two westernmost bays leading
to the cloisters, one with a rough square head and wooden lintel, the other
with splayed and moulded jambs and a two-centred segmental head
incised “IO”. One doorway has recently been filled.

The west wall has a two-light window in the north bay, each light
having a segmental head. There is a window seat below. There is a similar
window and window seat to the east wall and adjoining it in the southern
bay there is a doorway with two-centred head and chamfered jambs.

The crypt was partly filled with earth prior to 1907. Signs of the
level of the former floor can be seen on the walls.

Most of the crypt windows have external wrought iron grilles and
some have double grilles which are coeval with the building. These windows
have a very unusual detail—their segmental heads are crowned externally
by a blind round-lobed trefoiled arch. (fn. n1)

Adjoining the westernmost door in the south wall there is a small
niche. This was possibly used as a holy water stoup or it may have contained
a lamp. At one time it probably had a door.

The walls of the Chapel and crypt, which are of conglomerate and
freestone partly faced with ashlar, are divided into four bays by buttresses.
There are triple graduated lancets set in recess beneath two-centred curtain
arches spanning between the buttresses. The buttresses terminate at the
moulded string bands under the parapets. The parapets are straight topped
on both north and south sides, those to the north being in stone while to
the south they are built of red brick.

The east window is of five long graduated lancets with a flat gable
above; the window, like the others, has stone dressings, and is set in a wall
which has been rendered in modern times. The upper parts of the most
easterly window on the south side are blocked while those opposite are
turned to other use as they are masked by Cranmer’s Tower.

The doorway at the west end is of early 13th century date. It has
three moulded orders of which the inner forms two trefoil-headed door
openings and the outer two, which are semicircular, enclose a tympanum.

The tympanum contains a sunk moulded quatrefoil with a 17th century
cartouche of the arms of the See impaling Laud; there are three cherubs’
heads in the carving of the cartouche and a mitre above. The jambs have
two free shafts and two attached, and there are three attached shafts at the
central dividing pier. The rear arch is segmental and moulded, and is
supported by a detached shaft at each side. The shafts on both sides of the
doorway have moulded caps and bases.

The west window is similar to that at the east end but the cill is at
a higher level and some of the lights are blocked.

The chapel was burnt out during the 1939–45 war and only the outer
walls were left. Those fittings which were saved were removed for safe
keeping. They include parts of the wood screen which stood between the
third and the most westerly bays and formed an ante-chapel (Plate 69). A
number of wooden benches and bench-ends have also been saved; these
have heads of different cartouche-forms carved with winged cherubs’ heads,
swags, etc.

All the lancet windows have deep splayed jambs and cills with
moulded rear arches. The arches are borne by attached shafts of Purbeck
marble which have moulded caps and bases. There is a moulded string
band beneath the cills. In the middle of the west window is a semi-octagonal
oriel window with three cinque-foil lights having rosette terminals to the
lower cusps. The oriel is of mid—17th century date and has a moulded
cornice and ogee capping with a moulded cill below carried on a carved demiangel who holds a shield of the See impaling Juxon.

The lower part of the most easterly window on the north side is
filled and has a pointed doorway leading to a vestry in Cranmer’s Tower.
This work is much altered. The upper part of the window opens into the
second floor of the tower and contains an organ loft; it is fronted by a stone
gallery erected in modern times.

On the south side of the Chapel, in what was the ante-chapel, stands
the altar-tomb of Arch bishop Matthew
Parker (d. 1575). It has been cut
down and altered, and has a moulded
plinth at the north and east sides
panelled with quatre-foils and a
moulded Purbeck marble slab with
an inscription recording the tomb’s
replacement by Archbishop Sancroft
after the Restoration.

Cranmer’s Tower

The 1647 survey has the
entry—“On the East end of the
Chappell is a passage leadinge into
the Garden where is a Stone Staircase
leadinge upp to a Brick buildinge five
Storyes high with a Chamber on each Story covered with lead.” (fn. 198) This was
what has come to be known as Cranmer’s tower though there seems to be no
written evidence either to connect the tower with his name or to substantiate
the story that he wrote the Prayer Book in a room there.

Description

The style of this tower suggests that it may have been constructed
during Cranmer’s archiepiscopate and finished during that of Pole. It is
built of red brick with stone dressings to the windows and stone quoins at
the corners, and has a stair-tower projecting at the north-east corner. There
is a moulded stone band below the parapets, which are in brick with stone
coped battlements. On the west side there is a chimney stack resting on
shaped stone corbels. The stack is embraced by the moulded band below
the battlements. The entrance on this elevation has a square-headed label
moulding; its stonework, like that to the small single-light windows in the
stair-tower and the parapets, has been renewed in modern times.

The first storey, used as the Chapel vestry, has an original oak
ceiling with moulded cornice, cross-beam and joists, as well as late 17th or
early 18th century bolection-moulded panelling. The chimney piece in the
west wall has hollow chamfered jambs and a four-centred arch; it is now
filled and surrounded by a later bolection-moulded architrave with moulded
cornice above. The doors leading to the staircase and in the west wall are
similarly panelled.

The room on the second floor (used as an organ loft) has a ceiling
similar to that below. The walls at third floor level have plain panelling and
the ceiling, like that on the fourth floor, has a moulded beam. In the east
wall there is a chimney piece similar to that in the vestry.

The stair treads, of wood except between the first and second floors,
are built round a heavy central square pier which has many names and dates
carved upon it. The pier has stone quoins and all the arrises are chamfered.
The landings are paved with old square red tiles. In the east well on each
landing there is a window which has been blocked since the adjoining
residential wing was rebuilt in 1829–30. The central pier stops at fourth
floor level; the landing at this level is enclosed by a low panelled wood
screen with moulded angle posts and top rail. The staircase leading from
this floor to the roof has treads formed of solid balks of timber of triangular
section. Leading off the landings are several 16th century doorways with
oak doors of the same date, and across the stair itself there is a pointed
opening complete with rebated reveals and two embedded hooks on which
a door formerly swung.

The Guard Room

It is possible that the Guard Room was built during the archiepiscopate
of William Courtenay (1381–96). (fn. 189) It was certainly in existence a
few years later for it is mentioned in the account roll of 1424–25 (fn. 206) as the
“Camera Armigerorum.” It was probably in this room that Sir Thomas

More faced the Lords of the Council and refused to take the oath acknowledging
Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church in England. After the
alterations made by Cardinal Pole to the Presence or Great Chamber the
latter name was sometimes applied to the Guard Room.

The 1647 Survey describes the Guard or Great Chamber as a “lardge
Roome… covered with lead” and approached from the north-east corner
of the Great Hall by “a greate paire of Stone Staires.” (fn. 198)

In the time of Laud it was said to contain armour sufficient for 200
men, but, the troublous times of the Civil War once over, there was little
more need for such provision and the collection was disposed of during the
18th century. (fn. 195)

After the demolition of the long gallery the series of Archbishops’
portraits which had previously hung there were removed to the Guard
Room, where many of them still remain. During the 18th and 19th centuries
the room was used as a state dining room and for conferences.

In 1829 Blore found the walls of the Guard Room to be of rubble
and much decayed. He therefore shored up the roof and rebuilt the walls.
It is often stated that he raised the floor of the room 3 feet in order to provide
greater height to the storey below, but he himself denied having done so. (fn. 197)
The entrance lobby and stairs from the Great Hall were rebuilt by Blore.

The Guard Room suffered only slight damage during the 1939–45
war but restoration has been made more difficult owing to woodbeetle
decay.

Description

The Guard Room is faced with Bath stone. Its east elevation
has narrow two-light windows to the upper storey with buttresses between.
There are two trefoil-headed lancets in each bay of the lower
storey. There is a cill band under the upper windows and a
moulded plinth at the base which continues round the buttresses.
The latter terminate below the moulded band of the
straight parapet. The north and south ends are gabled, and
the south end has a traceried window of triangular shape with
pointed head and bowed cill.

The most impressive feature of the interior of the
room is its 14th century roof which was restored when the
building was altered by Edward Blore in the 1830’s. It has
4 bays with two-centred moulded arched trusses borne on corbels carved
with human figures, animals and foliations. There is pierced tracery to
the spandrels above the main members and to the spandrels between the
moulded purlins and the curved longitudinal wind-braces. There is similar
pierced carving above the wall-braces which spring from the corbels and help
to support the moulded wall-plates.

At the centre of the west wall there was a heavy Gothic stone chimney
piece designed by Blore (Plate 76); it had a moulded and crenellated shelf set
forward between traceried circular end columns. These had gorged tops
terminated by battlements and rested on shaped corbels faced with carved
demi-figures. It has been replaced recently by a chimneypiece of simpler
design. The room is surrounded by a wooden dado two panels high with
a moulded top rail and skirting.

The entrance lobby to the south of the Guard Room is built in yellow
stock brick with stone dressings to the windows and stone quoins at the
corners; it has a moulded band below the parapet and battlements above.
Its windows are square-headed and there is a stone porch
extending in front of its east elevation.

The porch is embattled and has two cinque-foil
openings each side of the entrance whose hood is set forward
slightly and carried on shaped corbels with carved
head terminals. The spandrels to the hood have leaf ornamentlike the spandrels to the entrance under the porch.

The staircase has a traceried wood balustrade and
finial capped newels, some with foliated pendants. The
ceiling is divided into square panels with moulded joists and beams in
plasterwork.

The Residential Wing

In 1647 the residential wing was described as follows: “Eastwards
from the … Chappell is the Dyninge Parlour with a Dyninge Chamber
over it. And att the East end of the Dyninge Parlour is a faire long Wainscotted Gallery with a tarras walke under it open towards the Garden. And
on the backe of the said Gallery are three Chambers Wainscotted being the
late Arch-Bishopps lodgings with a backe Staires Leading downe into three
Roomes under those Chambers which Chambers and Gallery are covered
with tyles. The said Chambers have Windowes openinge Southward into
a kitchin Garden. In the Southside of the said Dyninge Roome is a little
Chamber leadinge into the Presence Chamber which is a faire lardge Roome
covered with lead. Under which is a greate paved Roome.” (fn. 198)

The account rolls show that there was a Great or Presence Chamber
and other rooms east of the Chapel early in the 14th century. It is probable
that the new oratory built by Archbishop Arundel (1397–1414) was in
this block. (fn. 189)

Of the many imposing ceremonies which have taken place at Lambeth
perhaps the most elaborate was the creation by Henry VIII of two dukes
and two earls in the Great Chamber on Candlemas Day, 1514. The King,
attended by many nobles, stood beneath a canopy; trumpeters in the
musicians’ gallery blew a fanfare and a long procession of nobles, officers,
trumpeters, and minstrels richly apparelled filed before the King. After the
creations, dinner was provided for all comers in Morton’s Gatehouse. (fn. 207)

Cranmer carried out some alterations to the Great Chamber and his
successor, Cardinal Pole, completely transformed this wing by building a
Long Gallery on the north and a number of living rooms for himself and
his servants. (fn. 189) The gallery, shown on the 1648 plan (Plate 60), was 90 feet
long and 16 feet broad. An inventory (fn. 208) compiled after Pole’s death gives an
interesting list of all the rooms in this part of the palace with their furnishings.

Many minor additions and repairs to the residential wing were
made during the 17th and 18th centuries but by the beginning of the 19th
century it had become a thing of “shreds and patches.” Blore reported in
1829 that the walls were “decayed for want of proper repairs and further
weakened by the injudicious insertion, at various periods, of new Doors and
windows and by openings and alterations made for various other purposes.” (fn. 189)
The basements were “dark, damp and filthy,” the floors and staircases rotten.
In this wing he decided, probably correctly, that nothing but a complete
rebuilding would suffice. His drawings for the north and south elevations are
reproduced on Plates 83a and 80a.

During the 1939–45 war one section of the north front to this wing
which included the drawing room was completely destroyed. It has now
been rebuilt in keeping with the rest of the façade (Plate 83b) and the whole
wing has been restored and adapted to modern requirements.

Description

The residential wing was designed by Blore in Perpendicular Gothic
style, some of the walls being on the lines of old foundations. It is faced
with Bath stone.

The main elevation faces southwards; the entrance is situated
centrally and is emphasized by its position at the base of a powerful tower
which stands four-square and rises above the assemblage of surrounding
gables, turrets, chimneys and parapets. The tower has octagonal turrets at
the front corners and square turrets at the back rising above the parapets
and, like them, battlemented. The front turrets are divided into four stages
by moulded string bands; their power is accentuated by the boldness of
the plinth mouldings.

The entrance has a four-centred head and label mouldings with
square stops. The oriel window above the entrance has moulded mullions
at the splayed angles and its tracery is divided into three heights by transoms;
it is shouldered back above and has embattled eaves. Below the cill of the
oriel there is a row of panels in which are carved the royal arms supported
by the arms of several archbishops. Over the oriel there is a small two-light
window with a square head. On this front the band below the tower battlements
is elaborated by rosettes and demi-angels.

To the west of the entrance there are three-light mullioned windows
with square heads on each of the three floors, those on the first and second
floors being also transomed. There is a moulded plinth and string bands at
first floor level and below the battlemented parapet. This part of the elevation
is joined to the Guard Room by a link of two storeys which is of similar detail.

To the east of the entrance there is a large five-light window whose
tracery is divided into three heights by transoms; it extends through the
first and second floors and lights the staircase. There are five small groundfloor windows separated by mullions beneath it and also narrow windows
and a small doorway at each side. Beneath the cill of the large window there
are quatre-foil panels with foliated centres. The elevation is terminated by a
projecting gabled wing. The wing has an oriel window at the first floor,
with plain rectangular windows above and below.

There is a square stone mounting-block adjacent to the entrance;
it has trefoiled panels at each of its faces.

The north elevation, which overlooks the garden and abuts on
Cranmer’s Tower to the west, has similar detail but is without a central
dominant feature. To the east of the recently rebuilt portion there is a first floor
oriel window with a niche above and a bay window which extends through all
three storeys. At the north-east corner there is a gabled wing of four storeys
which has angle buttresses and a battlemented bay projection running
through three storeys.

The east elevation is divided by an octagonal turret and a gabled
wing adjoining, which sets forward. The lower part of the turret is buttressed.
It is approached by a staircase with traceried balustrade. At the south-east
corner there is a stumpy battlemented tower and small gateway with a
niche above.

The finest interior feature is the entrance hall with its wide staircase
(Plate 81). The staircase, designed in Perpendicular Gothic style, has
delicate traceried open balustrades and stone newels which are embattled
and have foliated terminals. The upper newels are square and the lower
octagonal; all are panelled with traceried heads. Where the landing meets
the central first floor corridor there is a graceful arcade of three bays. The
piers are faced by telescopic octagonal buttress shafts. The arches have finely
carved solid spandrels. Above, there is a simple open traceried balustrade.

The ceiling over the entrance hall has graceful lierne vaulting with
moulded ribs and carved bosses; it is lit by light thrown upwards from the
oriel window, also beautifully vaulted. The oriel opening has a depressed
arch with a chaste hollow-chamfered moulded surround; it is enclosed by
an open balustrade with an embattled top rail.

The secondary staircase between first and second floors is less
elaborate but has an elegant ribbed ceiling with cusped fillings and a foliated
pendant at the centre. At the second floor landing there is a screen of three
equal bays. Each arch has a depressed four-centred head with hollowchamfered jambs. The mouldings rise from a simple plinth and are not
relieved at the springings of the depressed arches. Each of the arch spandrels
has lightly carved relief.

The Stables And Service Buildings

As can be seen on the 1648 plan (Plate 60), there were kitchens and
other domestic buildings and “a Row of Lodginge Chambers called
‘Crooked Lane’” east of the Great Hall and Guard Chamber. A number
of these still remained at the beginning of the 19th century but they were
swept away by Blore who erected new stables and lodgings for staff separate
from the main palace buildings. They suffered considerable damage during
the 1939–45 war but have been in part restored. The memorial to Archbishop
Davidson in the centre of the courtyard was erected in 1931. It
replaced a lamp designed by Edward Blore.

Description

These buildings are grouped on three sides of an enclosure, and
flank the courtyard of the residential wing; they are built in yellow stock
brick and have entrances with simple pilaster surrounds and flat hoods. The
west wall of the west wing and the screen walls to the north and west of it
are buttressed and have battlemented parapets.

The Gardens And Grounds

The description of the garden in the 1647 Survey is as follows:
it “is scituate on the north side of the House which Garden is foure square
and Walled about on the West and North sides w^th Brickwalls. And on the
North West corner is a little House for a Gardner with three Roomes one
over the other. And on the West side is a longe tarras Walke paved with
square Tyles opening with arches to the West side of the said Garden over
which is a faire leaden Walke with a Bankquetting house at the North East
Corner thereof, and at the South end is a Staircase covered with lead. On the
East side of the said Garden is an Orchard sett with Apple trees, Paire trees,
Plum trees and Moated round about.”

The gardens of the palace have been well cultivated and looked after
from an early date. In 1234 (fn. 189) fruit from the garden was on sale, flax and
hemp were sown, and a new herbarium was laid out. In 1319–20 (fn. 183) six
perches of wall in the great garden were re-made and thatched with reeds and
the wall along the Thames and at Stangate was repaired. Among the vegetables
sown were cabbage, cucumber, spinach and lettuce.

By the 15th century there was a walk between the Archbishop’s
grounds and the river, (fn. 206) and a ditch or sluice ran inward from the river
near the entrance gate. The moat, which was still in existence on the north
and east sides of the grounds in the 18th century, at this time surrounded
the whole property and drained into this sluice. The 1648 plan (Plate 60)
shows a considerable amount of water within the grounds, and a long pond
is shown on the 1750 plan reproduced by Dr. Ducarel. (fn. 193) This plan shows
the extent of the grounds as just over 12 acres, a triangular area having been
added at the north-west corner during the preceding century for a kitchen
garden. Archbishop Cornwallis (1768–83) made a small garden on ground
which he walled and embanked from the river on the west side of Bishop’s
Walk. (fn. 209) Under Archbishop Moore (1783–1805) the grounds were considerably
extended to take in about six acres of Sowters Lands to the north,
and the whole of the gardens were replanned. The new area at the north-east
corner near Carlisle House was laid out as a kitchen garden and melon
ground; (fn. 210) subsequently Holy Trinity Church, vicarage and schools were
built on part of this ground (see p. 75).

In 1900 the eastern half of the palace grounds comprising over 9
acres was opened to the public as a pleasure ground to be maintained by the
London County Council. (fn. 211)

Parts of the old boundary walls, dating from Tudor times and later,
still remain. The old red brick wall between Morton’s Tower and the Water
or Lollards’ Tower was re-faced on the Lambeth Palace Road frontage in
the 1860’s, diaperwork in black header bricks being introduced similar to
that in the walls of Morton’s Tower. The new boundary wall from the
Lollards’ Tower northwards was two to three feet west of the old line. Recently
an entrance has been formed north of Morton’s Tower during the restoration
of part of the wall destroyed by bombing.

On the south bank of the Thames, opposite the Palace of Westminster is Lambeth Place which for nearly 800 years has been the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Lambeth Palace was acquired for the archbishop from around 1200 AD and has had a varied history which is documented within the palace in the Lambeth Palace Library. The library contains over 120,000 books as well as the archives of the Archbishops of Canterbury and other church bodies dating back to the 12th century.

Lambeth Palace 1685

The palace once stood in its own grounds and has many stages of development, the Crypt Chapel is the oldest part of Lambeth Palace with Lollard’s Tower later dating from 1435 to 1440. The early Tudor brick gatehouse at the front of the palace was built by Cardinal John Morton and completed in 1495. Further construction was added to the Palace in 1834 by Edward Blore.

The Palace was attacked in 1381 during the Peasant’s revolt and suffered considerable damage by Cromwellian troops during the English Civil War. After the Restoration, the Great Hall was rebuilt by archbishop William Juxon with a late Gothic hammerbeam roof. Founded in 1197, the Lambeth Palace garden covers just over 10 acres and is considered one of the oldest gardens in England.

Near to the entrance of the Place stands the former parish church of St Mary-at-Lambeth. The tower dates from 1377 and tombs within the church include some of the archbishops, gardeners John Tradescant the elder and his son of the same name, and Admiral William Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty fame. The church deconsecrated in 1972 and now houses The Garden Museum.

Many Kings and Queens have visited Lambeth Palace over the centuries, however Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 become the first pontiff to step foot inside the Palace. The Pope was welcomed to the Palace by the then Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

As a working palace and family home, Lambeth Palace is not open to the public on a daily basis. However, visitors can go on guided tours or attend special open days when it is open.

For more information, visit the Lambeth Palace website here

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Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, 400 yards (370 metres)^[1] south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposite bank.

History

While the original residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury was in his episcopal see, Canterbury, Kent,^[2] a site originally called the Manor of Lambeth or Lambeth House was acquired by the diocese around AD 1200 and has since served as the archbishop’s London residence. The site is bounded by Lambeth Palace Road to the west and Lambeth Road to the south, but unlike all surrounding land is excluded from the parish of North Lambeth. The garden park is listed and resembles Archbishop’s Park, a neighbouring public park; however, it was a larger area with a notable orchard until the early 19th century. The former church in front of its entrance has been converted to the Garden Museum. The south bank of the Thames along this reach, not part of historic London, developed slowly because the land was low and sodden: it was called Lambeth Marsh, as far downriver as the present Blackfriars Road. The name «Lambeth» embodies «hithe», a landing on the river: archbishops came and went by water, as did John Wycliff, who was tried here for heresy. In the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, the palace was attacked.

The oldest remaining part of the palace is the chapel which was built in the Early English Gothic architectural style. Lollards’ Tower, which retains evidence of its use as a prison in the 17th century, dates from 1435 to 1440. The front is an early Tudor brick gatehouse built by Cardinal John Morton and completed in 1495. Cardinal Pole lay in state in the palace for 40 days after he died there in 1558. The fig tree in the palace courtyard is possibly grown from a slip taken from one of the White Marseille fig trees here for centuries (reputedly planted by Cardinal Pole). In 1786,^[3] there were three ancient figs, two «nailed against the wall» and still noted in 1826 as «two uncommonly fine… traditionally reported to have been planted by Cardinal Pole, and fixed against that part of the palace believed to have been founded by him. They are of the white Marseilles sort, and still bear delicious fruit. …On the south side of the building, in a small private garden, is another tree of the same kind and age.»^[4] By 1882, their place had been taken by several massive offshoots.^[5] The notable orchard of the medieval period has somewhat given way to a mirroring public park adjoining and built-up roads of housing and offices. The palace gardens were listed grade II in October 1987.^[6]

The great hall was completely ransacked, including the building material, by Cromwellian troops during the English Civil War. After the Restoration, it was completely rebuilt by archbishop William Juxon in 1663 (dated) with a late Gothic hammerbeam roof. The choice of a hammerbeam roof was evocative, as it reflected the High-Church Anglican continuity with the Old Faith (the King’s (Charles II) brother was an avowed Catholic) and served as a visual statement that the Interregnum was over. As with some Gothic details on University buildings of the same date, it is debated among architectural historians whether this is «Gothic survival» or an early work of the «Gothic Revival». The diarist Samuel Pepys recognised it as «a new old-fashioned hall».

The building is listed in the highest category, Grade I, for its architecture – its front gatehouse with its tall, crenellated gatehouse resembles Hampton Court Palace’s gatehouse which is also of the Tudor period, however Morton’s Gatehouse was at its very start, in the 1490s, rather than in the same generation as Cardinal Wolsey’s wider, similarly partially stone-dressed deep red brick façade. While this is the most public-facing bit, it is not the oldest at north-west corner, the Water Tower or Lollards’ Tower mentioned above is made of Kentish Ragstone with ashlar quoins and a brick turret is much older.^[7]

Among the portraits of the archbishops in the Palace are works by Hans Holbein, Anthony van Dyck, William Hogarth and Sir Joshua Reynolds.

New construction was added to the building in 1834 by Edward Blore (1787–1879), who rebuilt much of Buckingham Palace later, in neo-Gothic style and it fronts a spacious quadrangle. The buildings form the home of the archbishop, who is ex officio a member of the House of Lords and is regarded as the first among equals in the Anglican Communion.

• 

  The Guard Room

• 

  The great hall with Cardinal Pole’s fig tree in front

• 

  Lambeth Palace from the south circa 1685.

• 

  Lambeth Palace main entrance

• 

  The 19th-century range

Library

Within the palace precincts is Lambeth Palace Library, the official library of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the principal repository of records of the Church of England. It describes itself as «the largest religious collection outside of the Vatican».^[8]

The library was founded as a public library by Archbishop Richard Bancroft in 1610, and was historically located within the main Palace complex. A new purpose-built library and repository opened in 2021. This is located at the far end of the Palace gardens, with its entrance on Lambeth Palace Road, and was designed by Wright & Wright. In addition to the existing library collections, it houses the archival collections of various Church of England institutions formerly held at the Church of England Record Centre (opened 1989) in Bermondsey.^[9]

The library contains an extensive collection of material relating to ecclesiastical history, including the archives of the archbishops dating back to the 12th century, and those of other church bodies and of various Anglican missionary and charitable societies. Manuscripts include items dating back to the 9th century. The library also holds over 120,000 printed books. In 1996, when Sion College Library closed, Lambeth Palace Library acquired its important holdings of manuscripts, pamphlets, and pre-1850 printed books.

Topics covered by the collections range from the history of art and architecture to colonial and Commonwealth history, and numerous aspects of English social, political and economic history. The library is also an important resource for local history and genealogy. For online catalogues, see External links below.

Highlights of the collection

Notable items in the collections include:

• Mac Durnan Gospels (late 9th/early 10th centuries)
• Minuscule 473 (11th century)
• Minuscule 559 (11th century)
• Lambeth Apocalypse (12th century)
• The Romanesque Lambeth Bible (12th century)
• Lambeth Homilies (c.1200)
• Book of Hours of King Richard III (mid 15th century)
• A Short English Chronicle (mid 15th century)
• A rare copy of the Gutenberg Bible (1450s)
• Lambeth Choirbook (16th century)
• Book of Howth (late 16th century)
• Archives of the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches (1711–1759)
• Archives of the Incorporated Church Building Society (1818–1982)

St Mary-at-Lambeth

Immediately outside the gatehouse stands the former parish church of St Mary-at-Lambeth. The tower dates from 1377 (repaired in 1834); while the body of the church was rebuilt in 1851 to the designs of Philip Hardwick.^[6] Older monuments were preserved, including the tombs of some of the gardeners and plantsmen John Tradescant the elder and his son of the same name, and of Admiral William Bligh. St Mary’s was deconsecrated in 1972, when the parish was absorbed into the surrounding parish of North Lambeth which has three active churches, the nearest being St Anselm’s Church, Kennington Cross.^[10][11] The Museum of Garden History (now the Garden Museum) opened in the building in 1977, taking advantage of its Tradescant associations.

During the renovation works of 2016, a previously unknown crypt was discovered, containing 30 coffins.^[12] Amongst these were those of five Archbishops of Canterbury, including Richard Bancroft, Thomas Tenison, Matthew Hutton, Frederick Cornwallis, and John Moore, as well as that of John Bettesworth, Dean of the Arches.

Lambeth Palace is home to the Community of Saint Anselm, an Anglican religious order that is under the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury.^[13]

See also

• Old Palace, Canterbury, within the precincts of Canterbury Cathedral, is the residence of the archbishop when in Canterbury
• List of palaces
• Palace of Whitehall

References

Bibliography

• Palmer, Richard; Brown, Michelle P., eds. (2010). Lambeth Palace Library: Treasures from the Collections of the Archbishops of Canterbury. London: Scala. ISBN 9781857596274.
• Stourton, James (2012). Great Houses of London. London: Frances Lincoln. ISBN 978-0-7112-3366-9.

External links

• Official website
• Lambeth Palace Library official website
• Detailed architectural description – from the Survey of London online
• Library catalogue of printed books
• Library catalogue of manuscripts and archives

This page was last edited on 8 August 2022, at 10:23