Bishop’s Palace, Little Downham, 1914 (photo J H Bullock) (Cambridgeshire Collection)

Bishop’s Palace, (Tower Farm), Little Downham

History of the Bishop's Palace

Listed Building:

Late C15 walls of Bishop of Ely’s Palace to west and north included in fabric of C19 building. Gault brick, C15 red brick; plain tile roof with end stacks and ridge stack to right of centre.

The picture shows the refectory of the Bishop’s Palace, Little Downham, used as a barn in 1914. The palace was constructed by Bishop Alcock towards the end of the C15th. In 1906 H Rider Haggard published an account of his visit to the area.

By 1250 the estate of Downham covered almost 11 square miles, although 10.5 of these were made up of a Deer park of 250 acres and two large fen lakes.

The Palace was damaged in the Civil War and had been largely demolished by the 18th century. By 1746 a farmhouse had been created.