Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T02:29:23.675Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Preface and Acknowledgements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2023

Edited by
Get access

Summary

This collection springs from two main initiatives.

In the mid-1990s some linear features appeared in the lawn of the Bishop’s Palace at Wells, which were investigated by the archaeologist Dr Lucy MacLaurin. Subsequently, recognising their importance, the then bishop of Bath and Wells, Jim Thompson, asked Dr MacLaurin to form a committee of local experts. With advice from the Somerset County Archaeologist, Bob Croft, and with the bishop’s enthusiastic encouragement, she gathered together a group of archaeologists and others interested in the history of the building and its site. Some of the work commissioned by this committee is now published here for the first time.

Peter Price, who succeeded Jim Thompson in 2001, and his wife Dee immediately saw the immense potential of the palace and continued to support the committee in its wish to examine their home and garden in detail and to explain the site, the ruins and the buildings still in use so that visitors might be attracted in greater numbers and receive increased satisfaction from their experience. The year 2006 provided a convenient one for drawing attention to the palace, for it marked the 800th anniversary of the election and enthronement of Bishop Jocelin, sometimes known as Jocelin Trotman, more often as Jocelin of Wells, as bishop of Bath. It may not have been in 1206 that Jocelin put up the first buildings on the present site but without question it was the beginning of his significant rule as bishop, significant both for the palace he clearly built, for the great minster church to the north which was to become his successor’s cathedral, and for the diocese that he presided over for nearly forty years. Such an anniversary needed to be marked so that the great bishop and his palace could be worthily celebrated.

Thus, during a busy week of celebrations in September 2006, actively inspired and supported by the bishop and his wife and organised under the leadership of Brigadier John Hemsley, two days were given over to a conference where an enthusiastic audience heard experts talk on historical, archaeological, liturgical, cultural and architectural aspects of the history of the cathedral, palace and city of Wells, set in both national and international contexts. Dr Lucy MacLaurin most successfully organised the conference and a large debt of gratitude is owed to her.

Type
Chapter
Information
Jocelin of Wells
Bishop, Builder, Courtier
, pp. ix - x
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×