The Archbishop's Palace, situated on the banks of the River Medway was gifted to the Archbishops of Canterbury in the 13th century. It was here in 1381 that Chancellor Sudbury, the incumbent Archbishop at the time, imprisoned the radical preacher John Ball. Ball was subsequently freed on 11 June that year by the peasant army led by Wat Tyler, on its way from Canterbury to London to protest about the new poll tax.