Lamphey Bishops Palace, South Wales

Lamphey Bishops Palace, the country house of the Bishops of St. David’s.  Although the lands belonged to the church before the 14th century it is from this time that the majority of buildings date from.  It appears that the Bishop of St. David’s decided to improve his property at Lamphey at this time.

Lamphey was a retreat and rest stop for the Bishops of St. David’s who had two other similar properties at Llawhaden and Abergwili, each about days ride apart.  The bishop would have needed to travel around his diocese and these palaces would have been convenient and comfortable stops.  Lamphey appears to have been a favourite and was used and expanded up until the reign of Henry VIII and the time of the dissolution.

Bishops at this time would have been of noble birth, they were used to and expected the nicer things in life.  They were very much the equal of the nobles and would have expected to have properties of equal grandeur.  The extravagance at Lamphey was the great hall which was built to be 25 meters in length (82 feet) this would have been a massive space that was built to impress guests.