The Winchester Pipe Rolls, the annual accounts of the bishop's extensive estates, and the bishop’s money were once stored at the palace gatehouse.
The bishops derived their wealth from vast landholdings, one of the richest estates of medieval England. The yearly income and expenditure on the estates was recorded in great detail in the Pipe Rolls, an astonishing surviving series of documents covering the years from 1208–9 until 1710–11.
Each year, the estate manors totalled up their accounts, and sent the profit in cash directly to the treasury at Wolvesey. In the year 1301–2, this profit totalled £5,188, over £2 million in today’s money. Income was generated from land rents, sales of produce, and fees imposed at the manor courts.
After the 1370s, the Pipe Rolls were probably stored in the gatehouse, where the treasurer’s quarters and the treasury was located. Today they are held by Hampshire Record Office.
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The text and pictures on this page are derived from the 'Heritage Unlocked' series of guidebooks published in 2004. We intend to review, update and enhance the content in the near future as part of the Portico project, whose objective is to provide information on the history, significance, research background and sources for all English Heritage properties.
