The Palace Gatehouse (a few meters east of the cache) is a Grade 1 listed building. Unfortunately, because of a number of insensitive alterations over the last 150 years, its current appearance is a bit of a mess. But at least it still exists, which is more than can be said for nearly every other medieval gatehouse in Exeter. The core of the building dates to the 14th century. It is currently home to the office of the Bishop of Exeter and a few other departments of the Diocese of Exeter.
If you walk down and look through the black gates under the archway of the Gatehouse you can see the Bishop’s Palace beyond. The first phase of the Palace was built sometime between c1170 and c1240. There is some disagreement about the exact date but according to the Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum the Bishop’s Palace is “the only house still standing in Devon which dates from the Norman period”. You will be able to see one of the Palace’s 13th century features - the monumental inner doorway of the south porch, the main entrance into the palace itself. The inner doorway dates to c1200 and features late transitional-style zigzag mouldings combined with stiff-leaf capitals on slender shafts either side of the entrance.
The Palace now stands in 3 acres of ground laid out before the early 18th century with lawns and shrubs and largely unchanged today. It is thought to be the oldest garden in Devon. If you are interested a local organisation runs a FREE tour of the Bishop’s Garden every Wednesday afternoon (not allowed to mention their name as it breaks geocaching rules). Cache placed with the kind permission of the Bishop's Office.