1140 – 1171
In the 1140s Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, brother of King Stephen and one of the richest men in England, built himself a palace just down the road...
Things were slightly less grand here though – this site was so wet they nicknamed it the Bishop of Winchester’s Marsh.
Henry de Blois’ estate stretched from St Mary Overie’s Dock to Park Street. By the 1300s Winchester Palace was one of the grandest houses in London. The ruins of its Great Hall are still standing today, just down the road from 46-48 Park Street, on Clink Street.