Edward King House And Diocesan Offices And Attached Chapel

Edward King House and Diocesan Offices, together with an attached chapel, were originally built in 1727 and extensively remodelled in 1866 in the Gothic Revival style by Ewan Christian. The chapel was added in 1898, designed by Bodley & Garner in the Decorated style, and built above the service rooms of the former Bishop’s Palace. A mid-20th century addition exists to the south. The building is constructed of dressed stone with ashlar details and gabled and mansard slate roofs, featuring four gable, three ridge, and three side wall stacks, one of which is external.

The exterior features a chamfered plinth, moulded cornice, first and second-floor bands, coved eaves, and a crenellated parapet to the south-east. The building is three storeys plus attics and seven bays, forming an L-shaped plan. The entrance front includes a projecting porch with a parapet and stepped gable, and a moulded four-centred arched door with a crest above. A gabled wing and a four-stage tower, with an octagonal turret to the southwest and crenellated parapet, also feature, all with windows incorporating mullions and transoms.

The south front is divided into two sections set back, each with a canted bay window and parapet. The left range has a central buttress and cross casements, while the right range features an external stack and crenellated parapet, with dormers on both. The chapel has a low-pitched leaded roof, crenellated parapet, coved eaves, and pointed arched windows with hoodmoulds. The interior of the main range includes a fielded panelled stairwell with an early 18th century cantilever dogleg staircase with a decorated string and turned balusters, an oval panelled plaster ceiling, and a restored panelled room with a dentilled cornice, Ionic fireplace surround, and a pedimented doorcase altered to create a bookcase.

The chapel interior comprises two transverse double chamfered arches and a painted ceiling. At the west end are a blocked window flanked by a doorway to the left and a canted porch to the right. The north side contains three chamfered openings separated by buttresses with figures in niches, while the south side has a corresponding doorway to the vestry. Each side to the west has a blocked pointed arched opening with shafts. The east end has 19th-century stained glass in the south and east windows and a panelled reredos, and the north side contains two ogee aumbries. Fittings include a full-width crested screen with inscription at the west end.