February 2024

13 Buckden Roundabout February 2024 In Case Of Fire INSURANCE OF THE BISHOPS PALACE IN 1769 As some visitors have noticed there is a Sun Insurance Fire Mark on the outside of the inner gatehouse at The Towers. A recently discovered copy of a letter from Sun Alliance & London insurance company to the Owners of The Tow- ers gives information about the insurance of the Palace in 1769. The letter was written by an employee of Sun Alliance in 1968. Sadly we have only a partial copy of it. A copy of the company ’ s records from 1769 was attached to the letter, but has not been found. What survives gives some interesting information about the things that were insured and their values. The Fire Mark, numbered 277374 was issued only 59 years after the Sun Insurance company started trading, so the then Bishop was an early adopter of the idea of fire insurance. The main building that was insured was the Palace itself, most of which except the main tower were demolished in the late 19 th Century. It was insured for £1,000 (£225,000 in today ’ s money.) When compared with the sums other buildings were insured for, this seems a very modest sum. The Bishop ’ s household goods were insured for £300 and printed books (the number of books is not given) were insured separately for £200. By way of comparison, the first printing of Samuel Johnson ’ s famous Dictionary was in 1760 and it was sold for 10 shillings. (For readers un- der 50, that is 50p in today ’ s money.) 10 shillings would be about £110 today. The fact that the books were in- sured separately reflects the value that was placed on books in those days and the cost of replacing them. It is interesting that hand written books, which one might expect to be held at the Palace, are not mentioned. It may be that they were all in Lincoln or London. Or per- haps they were uninsurable because they were irreplace- able. Other buildings insured were the Porters Lodge, Secre- tary ’ s apartments and offices “ under one roof ”, i.e. the Inner Gatehouse (£500); stables and coach houses (note the plural) also “ under one roof ” (£300); a large barn and stable “ in the farmyard opposite the Palace gate ”, be- tween George Lane and Coneygarth (£250) and a house in the occupation of one John Green, Gent. (the house is unidentified but “ situate in Buckden ” £400. Barry Jobling informs me that the house is in fact Coneygarth on High Street and that John Green was a direct ancestor of John Leslie Green VC. The Palace is described as being built of brick and having a leaded and tiled roof; the porters lodge etc are brick and tiled; the large barn and stable were brick and tim- ber with a thatched roof. The coach house with stables and Mr Green ’ s residence were timber and tiled. Co- neygarth is now a brick and plaster building and much of the original timber building remains within. In the large barn, there was stock, insured for £150. What this stock was, is not recorded. It may have been cattle or horses. Finally, “ ricks and stacks ” in the stack yard, were insured for £100. There is a note at the end of the list of insured assets that Sun Insurance would not be answerable for any loss or damage by fire that happened as a result of hay or corn being stacked too wet or green. Presumably if it was wet when stacked, it might start to rot, heat up and then spontaneously catch fire. What is also evident from this letter is that Buckden Pal- ace was a large, important and valuable establishment of the Bishops. The value of printed books suggests that the Bishops used it for study and relaxation as well as an ad- ministrative centre. Not only that but it was clearly a working farm as well. The stables and coach houses were built inside against the outer wall, about halfway be- tween the outer gatehouse and the present vehicular entrance. The stack yard was likely adjacent to the large barn across the High Street. The Palace would have housed the Bishop ’ s staff as well as his family and all these people had to be fed. Old maps show that the Bish- op owned large areas of land around Buckden, including a vineyard – which is where the name Vineyard Way comes from. Note, the modern day prices I have given are based on £1.00 in 1760 being worth £225 today allowing for the effects of inflation. However, prices were so different in those days that this comparison is almost meaningless. One penny (in old money – about 22p today) bought enough gin to get drunk on or a pint of beer. A suit of clothes for a clerk in public office (a civil servant) cost £4.50 which equates to just over £1,000 today. A whole pig cost 2 shillings and six pence – about £6.60p. One would imagine that the rebuilding cost of the Pal- ace, if it still existed, would run into millions, today, whereas replacing goods and books (which together were insured for half the sum that the Palace was in- sured for) would probably only cost thousands, now. John Thelwall My thanks to Barry Jobling for additional information.