In 1675, Barlow became Bishop of Lincoln through the good offices of two secretaries of state, Sir Joseph Williamson and Henry Coventry, both graduates of Queen's College, the latter having been his pupil; Gilbert Sheldon was opposed. Barlow's consecration (on 27 June) did not occur in the customary Lambeth Chapel, but in the chapel attached to the palace of the Bishop of Ely (then Peter Gunning) in Holborn. George Morley of Winchester was the consecrating prelate. Barlow resided mostly at Buckden Palace, near Huntingdon, and was accused of never having entered his own cathedral. The Bishop's Palace at Lincoln had still not been repaired from damage done in the English Civil War, although George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax remonstrated with Barlow on the subject in 1684.