Episode 138 - King John's Lost Palace

On a hill overlooking the confluence of two small rivers, in the heart of Sherwood Forest, England, is an unassuming, ruined stone building. The roofless structure stands in splendid isolation on the edge of the village of Kings Clipstone in Nottinghamshire. Known locally as ‘King John’s Palace’, it was thought for much of the twentieth century to be nothing more than a mere hunting lodge associated with a nearby 1,500-acre medieval deer park. However, intensive archaeological and historical research over the past twelve years has shown that the ruin was once part of an enormous royal palace, known as the King’s Houses, that stretched over seven and a half acres and was visited by eight of the Plantagenet kings. The first serious study of the site took place in 1890 by local researcher Alfred Stapleton. However, he arbitrarily misrepresented the site as nothing more than a hunting lodge. Unfortunately, he was followed in this interpretation, during the mid-twentieth century, by influential academics such as buildings historian Nikolaus Pevsner, archaeologist Philip Rahtz and architectural historian Howard Colvin. A fundamental reassessment of the evidence has taken place over the last twelve years, which has included a wide range of research techniques such as map-regression, documentary analysis, standing building survey, field-walking, geophysics, metal detecting, test-pitting and archaeological evaluation. The work has managed to establish the true scale of the site, as well as specifically identify the original use of King John’s Palace as a twelfth century great hall, and has pinpointed the locations of the great gate and a possible chapel. It has also produced an array of artifacts such as coins, a seal matrix, book clasps and horse pendants. __________________________________________  Composite map of the ground plan of the King’s Houses, Clipstone in the fourteenth century. ______________________________________________  King John’s Palace, looking north-east, viewed from a similar direction to several antiquarian illustrations made of the building in the eighteenth century. ______________________________________________________________  The former interior of King John’s Palace, looking north-west, the openings in the center and to the left are relict doorways whereas the masonry blocking to the right was inserted during 1991. _______________________________________________________________ The origins of the King’s Houses date to 1164 when Henry II established a base in Sherwood Forest, from which to engage in his beloved pursuit of hunting. By 1176, the king was thinking on an even grander scale. He had recently defeated a rebellious coalition of enemies led by his own sons and was free to express his enormous power. The king used two methods to do this: tightened control of the royal forests, coupled with a redistribution of castles amongst his supporters. There was no better time for the king to begin expanding his own residence in the royal forest of Sherwood. When Henry II’s son, Richard, briefly visited Clipstone in 1194 (during a tactical meeting with his ally, William the Lion of Scotland) he was enormously pleased with the facilities that he had inherited from his father. Alongside the vast deer park, enclosed within a timber pale fence, was a huge lake to the east of the palace. Rising above the lake on the slopes of the hill was a complex of buildings including a hall, chamber and chapel which were surrounded by a D-shaped enclosure ditch and palisade. The standing ruin was almost certainly the great hall which was built in the French style, with the main room at first floor level. It was modeled after St. Mary’s Guildhall in Lincoln and was constructed in the Romanesque fashion, complete with an elaborately moulded central doorway and great, round-headed windows. The King’s Houses remained this way throughout the reign of Richard’s younger brother, John.