Bishop Burnell'S Great Hall

Bishop Burnell's Great Hall is the ruins of a former medieval bishop's hall house, dating from around 1280, with part of it demolished around 1830. It is constructed from local rubble with Doulting stone dressings and currently has no roof. The remains include a large five-bay aisled hall, approximately 35 meters long and 18 meters wide internally, featuring a screens passage and a north porch, with a solar and undercroft to the west. The surviving structures include the north wall, west wall, remnants of the arcade column bases, and a detached turret at the southeast corner of the east wall.

The north wall has four tall two-light geometrical Decorated windows, each with a sexfoil head over cusped lights and a cusped transom. To the right is the inner doorway to the former north porch, with octagonal stair turret remains at either end. At the west end, there are two octagonal turrets, and later single-storey 19th-century service buildings have been added, forming a narrow central courtyard. There was already some low-level extension in this area by 1730.

On the south side, a low wall extends towards the east, featuring a pointed doorway with mouldings. Originally, this hall was an impressive large residence. It is believed to have been built after the Chapel began construction and appears in Buck's view from 1730, still largely intact, with a deep two-storey north porch, three windows (with the eastern window seemingly blocked by a solid wall), and four roof gables or dormers. The south and east walls were finally demolished in the early 19th century by Bishop Law to create a more picturesque ruin. As noted by Pevsner, this site reflects the gentle romanticism of the 18th and early 19th centuries.