Oxford Inscriptions: Beaumont Palace site
NEAR TO THIS SITE
STOOD THE KING’S HOUSES
LATER KNOWN AS
BEAUMONT PALACE
KING RICHARD I
WAS BORN HERE IN 1157
AND KING JOHN IN 1167
This stone set into the wall at the west end of Beaumont Street is understood to have been erected by Alan Brown, a former Vice-Provost of Worcester College.
It was restored by Worcester College in 2004, after it was hit by a vehicle in 2003 and left lying in the hedge of 24 Beaumont Street.
Beaumont Palace was built outside Oxford’s North Gate in c.1130 by King Henry I (Henry Beauclerc), and he came to stay here at Easter 1133, celebrating the birth of his grandson, the future Henry II..
King Richard I (also known as Richard the Lionheart), the third of the five sons of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, was definitely born here at Beaumont Palace in 1157, but there is some doubt about whether his younger brother King John was also born here.
Edward I was the last king to use it as a palace, and in 1275 it became a private dwelling when he granted it to an Italian lawyer, Francesco Accorsi, who had undertaken diplomatic missions for him.
By the middle of the fourteenth century the Sheriffs had permission to remove stone and timber from the palace to repair the castle, and in 1318 the remaining buildings were granted to the Carmelite friars.
Above: Painting of the remains of Beaumont Palace in 1785
Below: Engraving of the remains of Beaumont Palace as they appeared in 1800