Bishop Lloyd's House



Bishop Lloyd's House (or Bishop Lloyd's Palace) is at 41 Watergate Street, and 51/53 Watergate Row, Chester, Cheshire, England. It is designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner considered it to be "perhaps the best" house in Chester.

George Lloyd
Prior to his arrival in Chester as Bishop Lloyd in 1605, George Lloyd was "Bishop of Sodor and Mann", hence the Manx symbol on the front of that building. The Stanley's (of Stanley Palace) were also associated with the Isle of Man and the title of the "Lord of Mann" was the subject succession dispute between the daughters of Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby and Ferdinando Stanley's brother, William Stanley in 1594-1607. Whether there is any link between the placement of the arms of Man on the facade of the building and the Bishops time in Man during the dispute is unknown.

George Lloyd was born 1561, educated at the King's School, Chester, and at Jesus College, Cambridge. He became a Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge around 1586. He was rector of Heswall from 1597. He became Bishop of Sodor and Man in 1600, and Bishop of Chester in 1605. In Chester, he reversed the anti-Puritan and anti recusant policy of his predecessor Richard Vaughan.



Guidebook Descriptions
Hemingway describes the building thus:


 * "Lower down on the same side is another very singularly decorated mansion the lower part of the front is divided into several compartments each having a sunk pannel representing in rudely carved work some of the most noted events recorded in the scriptures such as the Serpent beguiling Eve the murder of Abel Susannah and the Elders &c &c In the two centre pannels are the arms and initials supposed of Dr George Lloyd Bishop of Chester who died in 1665 which date is on the pannel The upper part of the house is also richly figured in the same pannelled style nor is even the bottom neglected in the profusion of laborious handiwork for even the pillars and brackets which support the rows are carved in a ludicrous manner"

Hughes a little more detail, and gets quite carried away in religous fervor:


 * '''"..exactly opposite to Crook Street stand three fine gable fronted houses the centre one of which deserves our attention and admiration. This house is without exception the most curious and remarkable of its kind in Chester and one which perhaps has no parallel in Great Britain. Prout has immortalised it in one of his inimitable sketches of which the accompanying woodcut is a reduced yet faithful copy. The origin of the house seems to be lost in fable but in the present day it is usually styled Bishop Lloyd's House from the fact of that Cestrian prelate dying about the date 1615 carved on one of the panels and from certain coats of arms arms which decorate the front bearing some analogy to the bearings of his family. Grotesquely carved from the apex of the gable to the very level of the Bow this house exhibits a profusion of ornament and an eccentricity of design unattempted in any structure of the kind within our knowledge. It is indeed a unique and magnificent work of art. To say nothing of the designs in the higher compartments it must suffice here to state that the subjects of the lower panels lay the plan of human redemption prominently before the eye. In the first panel we have Adam and Eve in Paradise in a state of sinless nudity then comes the first great consequence of the Fall Cain murdering Abel his brother. To this follows Abraham offering up his Son Isaac: typical of "the one great Sacrifice for us all". The seventh compartment has a curious representation of the Immaculate Conception whereby "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners". Ridiculous have been some of the attempts of "Local Guide-makers" to arrive at the real meaning of this design some have gravely set it down as the "Flight into Egypt" while another and later unfortunate has sapiently pronounced it to be "Susannah and the Elders". The eighth panel symbolises the completion of the great sacrifice the Crucifixion of Christ in Simeon's prophecy to the Virgin "Yea a sword shall pierce through thine own heart also". The three centre compartments contain the arms of the reigning monarch James I England's Solomon as he was called the supposed arms and quarterings of Bishop Lloyd and a Latin inscription with the date 1615. If it be true that "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever" then will this house as a masterpiece of art be an object of interest and delight to strangers till time itself shall be no more. We should step up into the Row at this point and scrutinise the indescribable forms of men and beasts which ornament and support the oaken pillars in front"'''



Whatever the correct interpretation of the panels should be it is curious to note the parallels between the images used here and the "mockery-Tudor" employed in Bridge Street.

Sources and Links

 * Bishop Lloyd's House at English Heritage;
 * Bishop Lloyd’s Palace at Chester Civic Trust;
 * Bishop Lloyd’s Palace at Cheshirenow;
 * Bishop Lloyd’s Palace at Wikipedia;
 * Bishop Lloyd’s Palace by ChesterTourist;