On Niello

In a previous volume of this journal, it was proposed that the bishop's palace at Bath was laid out on a modular plan (Chapman, Davenport and Holland 1995). The idea is beguiling, but not supported by the evidence. In fact the case makes an instructive example of the dangers of medieval documentation for the unwary. The problems are briefly discussed here. Full evidence for the location of the bishop's palace at Bath has been published elsewhere and remains valid (Davenport and Lucas 1991; Manco 1994, 80). It is proposed here that the close was laid out between two Saxon streets and so fossilised apart of the Saxon street plan.