This hall runs east west. Out of the west door you can see the Tudor stable block which was built almost directly along the site of the old London Road which crossed the river over the one & only medieval bridge. Hereford was so named as it was about here in the river that it was possible to cross at the “ford” before the bridge was built. The east west hall is only a quarter of the size of the original north south hall Of which you see only one of four bays. The original timbers (which were acorns in 910AD) still form the skeleton of the building & can be seen clearly in the attic ( see picture) and it is Bishop Bisse who is to blame for the architectural vandalism that covered them up (see the grandest portrait in the hall). He was but the humble chaplain to the very wealthy Earl of Plymouth but when the earl died, a secret liaison developed between the chaplain & the merry widow. After, or during, their two year secret marriage, he was elevated to bishop of Hereford. His rich heiress wife decided the medieval Palace was not up to her requirements & they spent £3,000 on “modernising “ it. Thus, the current Georgian décor has hidden the primitive medieval hall.
