A magnate's residence (medieval) is a very high-status residence of domestic rather than military character. Such residences were the palaces or houses of royalty, bishops and the highest rank of nobility who were usually closely linked to the monarch.
These monuments are recognised in the field as either standing or ruined structures, forming a complex of buildings, usually stone, and in general comprising a great hall or halls, chambers, chapels, kitchens, service rooms, lodgings and a gatehouse, usually arranged around a single or double courtyard. The display of wealth in the architecture and decoration of these buildings, often also attested by documentary references, may distinguish these sites from the residences of lower levels of society.
Specifically excluded from this definition are those sites which were deliberately fortified, for example magnates' residences in castles and moated sites; these are treated as separate monument classes. Bishops' palaces which are surrounded by moats, however, have been included. It is often necessary to use documentary sources to distinguish these sites.
Only residences belonging to the highest ranks of the nobility have been included; sites which are on a smaller scale than, for example, Dartington Hall, Devon, have been excluded.
Magnates' residences were in use throughout the whole of the medieval period as the dwellings of the highest ranks of society acting both as luxury residences for the elite and their large retinues, and as settings for meetings.