Bishop`s Waltham Palace (Bishop`s Waltham)
Bishop`s Waltham Palace is an impressive ruin in the Hampshire village of Bishop`s Waltham.
Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester and the brother of King Stephen, built a moated residence here in about 1135. It was visited by Richard I - quite an honour as this king only spent six months of his ten year reign in England.
A later bishop, the celebrated William of Wykeham, converted the residence into a palace, and he died here in 1404.
In the Civil War, it was fortified by the Royalists. Besieged by the Parliamentarians, it fell in 1645, the bishop having escaped in a dung cart.
Soon after, it was destoyed, and the ruins are now in the care of English Heritage.