Lyddington Bishops Palace and later Lyddington Bedehouse
Lyddington Bede House
Location	The Bedehouse is sited adjacent to the parish church.
OS grid reference	SP8758797005
Founded	12th Century
Demolished	Wing of a building, the remainder demolished after 1547
Architectural style(s)	Medieval with later alterations
Governing body	English Heritage

Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	The Bede House
Designated	10 November 1955
Reference no.	1264528

Scheduled monument
Official name	Lyddington Bedehouse: a medieval bishop's palace and post-medieval almshouse with moat, gardens, fishponds and cultivation remains
Designated	11-Sep-1947^[1]
Reference no.	1013825


Location in Rutland

Lyddington Bede House (or Lyddington Bedehouse) is a historic house in Rutland, England, owned and opened to the public by English Heritage. The existing Grade I listed building^[2] is a part of a former palace of the Bishops of Lincoln, later used as an almshouse. It is next to St Andrew's Church in the village of Lyddington. The watch tower or gazebo is separately listed as Grade I^[3] and the boundary walls are Grade II.^[4] The site is a scheduled monument.^[1]

History

The medieval Diocese of Lincoln was the largest bishopric in England, extending from the River Thames to the Humber Estuary. Lyddington lay on a north–south road and the estate here was a convenient place for the bishop's entourage to stop when traversing the diocese.

After the Reformation, ownership passed to the Cecil family who made it their private house. By 1600 it had passed to Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, son of Lord Burghley, who converted it into an almshouse for twelve poor bedesmen and it continued in this use until 1930. A feature is the former bishop's Great Chamber with its beautifully carved ceiling cornice.