Buckden Towers

Buckden Towers stands in the village of Buckden, Cambridgeshire, as the surviving parts of a medieval bishop’s palace. Built originally in the late 12th century as a wooden residence for the bishops of Lincoln, it later became a fortified complex with brick towers, walls and a moat. The great tower added in 1475 still rises above the inner court, while sections of the battlemented curtain wall mark the limits of the moated enclosure. A Victorian house from 1872 now occupies part of the site, its newer stonework contrasting with the older medieval fabric. The whole complex once formed a palace with an outer bailey, gatehouse and chapel, though parts were demolished in the 17th century. The site’s long history is recorded in Edward John Rudge’s 1839 study, *Illustrated and Historical Account of Buckden Palace*. Among its notable visitors were Henry III, Edward I, Richard III and Queen Catherine of Aragon, who stayed here in 1533–34. Henry VIII and Catherine Howard visited in 1541, and James VI and I arrived in 1619. The Claretian Missionaries took over in 1956 and turned the towers into a retreat and conference centre, while preserving the medieval remains as scheduled monuments and Grade I listed buildings. Visitors walk through the outer grounds and can view the great tower, inner gatehouse and stretches of the curtain wall. The Catholic Church of St Hugh of Lincoln occupies the site of the medieval great chamber, its altar marking the former palace hall. The grounds remain open to the public, offering a quiet place to see medieval architecture set among modern lawns and trees.