25/08/2026
Bishop Lloyd's Palace is a Grade I listed beauty in the very heart of Chester. But, for such a well-known landmark, it's early life is shrouded in much mystery...
We know the "Palace" actually starts as two Tudor townhouses, each with only a first-floor storey up on the Rows. In the early Jacobean era, two more storeys then appear, along with a host of rich carvings. The bright line of windows are a Victorian addition from the time of the Arts & Crafts movement.
Across the building's carved façade, fantastical beasts, shields, bibical scenes, and vague inscriptions all hinta at possible links to certain families and organisations across time. However...
We don't get any hard proof of who owns the place until the 1660s. Ironically, it's a little dubious the Bishop of Chester whose name comes to memorialise it ever actually spends time living here.
One of the decorative panels celebrates the Stuart dynasty (image 4), with gold letters 'I' and 'R' sitting either side of a crowned rose. They represent the reign of King James I of England: 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘣𝘶𝘴 𝘙𝘦𝘹 = 'James the King' in Latin. Beneath are the ostrich feathers of the Prince of Wales and the shield of the Earl of Chester. They probably celebrate the moment when those titles pass to the young heir to the Stuart throne, Henry, in 1610. But the prince is never to become king...
Just a few years afterwards, Henrys falls from a carriage and dies. His ill-fated younger brother Charles, goes on to receive the crown instead. But things end up even worse for him... He infamously loses his head on the executioner's block amid the tumult of English Civil War.
