A tall gable wall with a 14th-century rose window, the surviving fragment of the Southwark palace built for the bishops of Winchester
Open accessfree to visit at any reasonable time
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
A fire in 1814 destroyed most of Winchester Palace, leaving only a tall stone gable wall standing beside Clink Street in Southwark. King Stephen’s brother Henry of Blois had built the great hall here around 1136, giving the bishops of Winchester, who often served as the king’s treasurer, somewhere comfortable to stay on business in the capital.
Doorways in the gable once opened onto a buttery, a pantry and a kitchen, all part of the bishop’s household offices, while a vaulted cellar below the hall, reached from the river, stored wine and other goods brought in by boat. The hall was grand enough for a royal wedding feast in 1424, that of James I of Scotland and Joan Beaufort, and the wider palace once covered two courtyards with its own prison, brewhouse and gardens.
That same fire, and later redevelopment of the area in the 1980s, gradually revealed more of the remains; a small garden, planted by the Bankside Open Spaces Trust, now sits among the ruins. Winchester Palace stands right on the Thames Path; you can see it from the street for free, though the ruins themselves are fenced off. The Tower of London is a short walk east along the river, and London Bridge Station is a few minutes away.
