The New Murrey and Blue blog

A few years back I wrote about Buckden Towers in Cambridgeshire, the old palace of the Bishops of Lincoln. Finally, with the pandemic receding, I was able to visit the site in its small village (once a thriving place in coaching times and earlier but much diminished with the advent of the railways.) Here Richard and Anne visited the palace, mostly likely in 1484, although 1483 is stated on most websites. The Bishop at the time was John Russell. The great red brick Tower which makes a striking landmark was built in 1472-5 by Thomas Rotherham, supplanting an earlier structure, and still looks much as it would have done in Richard’s day, though many outbuildings are lost. The moat is now gone but the courtyard retains a few medieval features and you can trace the outline of the orchards in the back. One one side is a lovely knot garden built when the unfortunate Katherine of Aragon was held there by Henry VIII. It was at Buckden the charming Henry tried to force Katherine to accept the title of ‘Princess Dowager’ instead of Queen. She refused and locked herself into the Tower where she stayed for some time, until, beaten down at last, she eventually allowed herself to be moved to Kimbolton Castle, where she died. (Kimbolton, now a school, was one time a castle of the Dukes of Buckingham, with 15thc renovations being carried out by Anne Neville, sister of Cecily Neville, who was the wife of Humphrey Stafford and grandmother to the infamous 2nd Duke, Henry Stafford.)

Buckden Towers is now a religious retreat but you are free to walk in the grounds and courtyard. The church next door is interesting as well, with a fabulously ornamented 15thc porch.

I stayed at the THE LION which stands near the palace wall. It was, in medieval times, the hostel for the Palace, and the current building was finished in around 1490. There is a boss which is believed to have been taken from the Palace and is now in the bar. The place had lots of characters and possibly a few ghosts…but if so, they didn’t bother to show themselves to me!