Walter Scammel, on his promotion to Dean in 1277, presented this canonry to the Bishop. Seven years later he was consecrated Bishop of Salisbury at the Bishop`s country seat at Sonning on the River Thames.

From that time until the mid 16th century there is but one reference of a lease being granted, in 1424, by Bishop Chandler to Alexander Sparrow, later to become Archdeacon of Berkshire. In 1568 the Wardrobe was exchanged by Bishop Jewel for the Glass House, owned by the Dean and Chapter, which stood in the Palace Grounds. The very name The Wardrobe is suggestive of a store place used by earlier Bishops but whether for their household goods or tithings in kind is not known.

With the frequent visits to Salisbury by King James I and the court in the early 17th century it seems likely that this large building may well have housed courtiers in attendance on the Royal family.

From 1659 until well into the nineteenth century the property was leased by the Coles family and later through the marriage of Jane Coles, to the Medlycott family. For some years Dr John Grove, a prominent local physician, held the lease until he inherited the Grove estates at Ferne near Shaftesbury. The house then passed to the Diocesan Training College for Schoolmistresses who used it as residential accommodation until the dissolution of the College of Sarum St Michael in 1979. Since then the Regimental Headquarters of the Duke of Edinburgh`s Royal Regiment together with the Regimental Museum has been housed here.

Opening Hours

April to October - 10:00am - 4:30pm
November, February, March - 10:00am - 4:30pm
Closed throughout December and January.

For more information on The Rifles (Berkshire & Wiltshire) Museum
visit http://www.thewardrobe.org.uk

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Text by John Bushell - Photographs by Roger Croft
Extracts from the Salisbury Cathedral Close Guide - © Copyright, Close Publications 1997