This was once part of a medieval bishops’ palace belonging to the bishops of Lincoln.
Following the loss of Church estates in the mid-16th century the palace was no longer used and most of the buildings were pulled down. In 1601 Sir Thomas Cecil converted the bishops’ quarters into a house for ‘poor, needy or impotent people’. There were rooms for 12 men on the ground floor and 2 women on the first floor. The men were provided with gowns of blue with black caps and to be given a weekly allowance of 2 shillings and 4 pence, coal and wood was also provided. Part of the garden was made into allotments for them. In return the men were expected to undertake not to be idle, take on some handicraft and while able attend common prayer on Sunday, Wednesday, Fridays, holidays and all christenings and burials, the men became known as ‘bedesmen’ meaning men of prayer.
The bedehouse was occupied until the 1930s
