THE PALACE TRUST

Registered charity 1160830 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The Palace Trust aims to preserve and make accessible The Bishop's Palace and its fourteen acres of gardens to the public, as a place of historic, architectural and landscape interest.

Objects

THE NEW COMPANY HAS BEEN SET UP WITH THE FOLLOWING OBJECTS: TO PRESERVE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC THE FABRIC OF THE BISHOP'S PALACE (AS A PLACE OF HISTORIC AND ARCHITECTURAL INTEREST) IN ORDER TO FACILITATE ACCESS TO THE BISHOP'S PALACE BY THE PUBLIC FOR THEIR EDUCATION AND INTEREST AND TO PROMOTE SUCH CHARITABLE PURPOSES AS WILL ADVANCE THE RELIGIOUS AND OTHER CHARITABLE WORK OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN SUCH MANNER AS THE TRUSTEES SHALL FROM TIME TO TIME DECIDE AND ARE APPROVED BY THE CHURCH COMMISSIONERS.IN THE ARTICLES, CHARITABLE MEANS CHARITABLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAW OF ENGLAND AND WALES PROVIDED THAT IT WILL NOT INCLUDE ANY PURPOSE WHICH IS NOT CHARITABLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 7 OF THE CHARITIES AND TRUSTEE INVESTMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 2005 AND / OR SECTION 2 OF THE CHARITIES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 2008.FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBT, THE SYSTEM OF LAW GOVERNING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHARITY IS THE LAW OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · Religious Activities · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Somerset, South West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity returned a surplus of £73,534 for the year ended 31 December 2025, marking the second successive year of surplus. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted net assets stood at £1,276,805, with free reserves of £461,887 exceeding the stated policy target of three months' forecast expenditure (£450,000). The auditors confirmed that the use of the going concern basis of accounting was appropriate with no material uncertainties identified.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Albert Goodman LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Corporate structure

• Trading subsidiary: PALACE ENTERPRISES (WELLS) LIMITED Companies House 03013064
• Registered company of the charity Companies House 09404519

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• national lottery — “The Palace Trust gets no statutory funding and is supported entirely by grants from organisations like the national lottery and charitable t…” (source page)
• charitable trusts — “The Palace Trust gets no statutory funding and is supported entirely by grants from organisations like the national lottery and charitable t…” (source page)

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• STRACHEY, Sally Anne — director, appointed 20/11/2025on trustee list
• HOPKINS, Natasha Elena — director, appointed 01/09/2024on trustee list
• BRAWLEY, Caroline — director, appointed 01/09/2024on trustee list
• BEEDLE, Gregory Merrick — director, appointed 01/06/2024on trustee list
• MACDONALD, Katharine Isolde Elisabeth — director, appointed 02/05/2023on trustee list
• BEASLEY, Noel Michael Roy, Bishop — director, appointed 15/09/2022on trustee list
• HAWES, Roger — director, appointed 01/12/2021on trustee list
• DICKINSON, Paul Richard — director, appointed 01/10/2021on trustee list
• WILLMOTT, Trevor, Rt Revd — director, appointed 01/09/2021on trustee list
• MINTA, Michael Timothy — director, appointed 18/02/2021on trustee list
• KIDD, Merryn — secretary, appointed 16/07/2025

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~2.6 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Other trading activities (55% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 44.9% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (22/07/2022) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Roger Haweschair
• Caroline Brawley
• Claire Revell
• Gregory Beedle
• Katharine Macdonald
• Michael Minta
• Natasha Hopkins
• Paul Richard Dickinson · trustee of 2 other charities
• Right Rev Trevor Willmott
• Rt Revd Noel Michael Roy Beasley · trustee of 3 other charities
• Sally Strachey

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Somerset

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with LOWTHER CASTLE AND GARDENS TRUST.

• LOWTHER CASTLE AND GARDENS TRUST income £74k
• THE SHARPHAM TRUST income £2.2m
• WHITSTABLE CASTLE TRUST income £712k
• THE PIECE HALL TRUST income £5.2m
• MASTER PARK income £35k
• FULHAM PALACE TRUST income £2.0m

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.