Feature: NJ26SW0080 - BISHOP'S HOUSE, NORTH COLLEGE STREET, ELGIN
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Bishop's Palace, built in the 15th and 16th centuries to the North-West of Elgin Cathedral (NJ26SW0001), with the South-West wing apparently later added by the Earl of Dunfermline in the late 17th century. It is a remnant of the town house of the Bishops of Moray. It appears more likely that it formed the manse of the Precentor than the residence of the Bishop himself, who would possible lodge here when visiting from the Cathedral at Spynie Palace. The building would therefore represent the only one of a number of manses belonging to members of the cathedral chapter to have survived more or less intact in its late medieval form. The house is on an L-plan, comprising of a main block and a jamb attached to the East end of the North wall, with a square stair tower between the North and South wings. The tower contains a turnpike stair below a caphouse chamber, which is reached via a stair turret that is corbelled on the North. Northward from the jamb there extends a North wing, which may possibly have been an addition. The door, in the West side of the jamb, was originally entered from a yard, which was in turn entered off a lane to the North. The house would therefore in effect have backed on to the main street (today's King Street). The earliest part of the house appears to be the South wing, possibly dating from the 15th century, and the North wing may have been added later on the evidence of a date-stone of 1557 on one of the gables of this wing. The building was partially demolished in 1851, and much of the South wing was destroyed towards the end of the 19th century. The main South-West block contained a vaulted kitchen and cellar on the ground floor, and a hall above with the main fireplace in the West gable. Late 19th-century drawings show the East gable to have had gableted crow-steps, a small oriel window on the second floor, a skewputt with the arms of Bishop Patrick Hepburn (1535-73), and another with a double-faced mask. The only part of this wing to remain relatively undamaged is the cellar, which has been re-roofed and is used to store the carved stones from Elgin Cathedral. It has small windows, some of which are blocked, and various coats of arms. The North range contained a stable and a covered space, probably for a carriage, on its ground floor. From the covered space, a door for pedestrians once opened to King Street but is now blocked. The upper floors contained chambers. The date 1557 is set below the crow- steps, while the North wall also has inserted in it the Royal arms and two smaller shields (one with the initials A.L.). Excavation was carried out by Scotia Archaeology in 1988-9 on the area formerly occupied by the basement cellar prior to moving a fence line The features revealed corresponded to those shown in an 1868 drawing, with remnants of a kitchen fireplace remaining in the East wall, but apart from a North doorway, other mural features on the early plan had been too high up on the wall to survive demolition. A watching brief carried out by Kirkdale Archaeology in 1997 on two trenches being dug south of the Bishop's House, and recorded only 20th century features. Archaeological monitoring was undertaken in February 2004 while a service trench was excavated to the West of the Bishop's house. The trench followed the West wall of the building, starting at the boundary wall to the North and running into the South-West part of the structure at its South end. A stone built drainage culvert was discovered, clearly pre-dating the standing building and it may well be part of the original cathedral layout.