Fingest Bishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Lane End.
In the historic county of Buckinghamshire.
Modern Authority of Buckinghamshire.
1974 county of Buckinghamshire.
Medieval County of Buckinghamshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU77629125
Latitude 51.61453° Longitude -0.87981°

Fingest Bishops Palace has been described as a probable Palace.

There are earthwork remains.

Description

There was a palace in the grounds of the present Fingest Manor House. An C18 history of Fingest in the Browne-Willis manuscript, recording excavations on the site, says it was "of large extent". How large is uncertain as the term palace simply designated a dwelling for a bishop. Among the bishops who stayed at Fingest was Henry Burghersh, who came there in 1321. Some 20 years later he laid out a new park and was granted "free Warren" or hunting rights, in his Manor of Fingest. At the same time he was granted a licence to "impark 300 acres of land" enjoining the woodland which he already controlled. This was common land used by the villagers. Fuller, in his C17 church history speaks of their seeing "their own beef and mutton being turned into the bishop's venison". Enormous hardship resulted. It has been conjectured that there were around 60 families there in medieval times and the Tax Returns for 1341 state that because of the extension of the park, only 30 virgates of land (a little over 100 acres) had been left for the commoners. (Daphne Phillips)

Ruins of the old manor house of the Bishops of Lincoln are near the church of St Bartholomew at the north of the village of Fingest. The manor was held by the Bishops of Lincoln from the 13th c until 1547. According to the owner of Fingest Manor the site of the palace was at SU 7762 9125, but no positive proof was available. At the siting a level area C 20.0m by 30.0m and an old well exist, but no other remains. A house platform indicating the site of the former manor house. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 245505.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 0449801000.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Daphne Phillips, The Green Man of Fingest
Books
- Michael G Shapland, 2017, 'Anglo-Saxon towers of lordship and the origins of the castle in England' in Dawn M Hadley and Christopher Dyer, The Archaeology of the 11th Century Continuities and Transformations (Routledge) p. 104-119
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 270-1
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 179
  Page, Wm (ed), 1925, VCH Buckinghamshire Vol. 3 p. 42-3 online transcription
  Langley, Thomas, 1797, History and Antiquities of the Hundred of Desborough (London) p. 208-23 online copy
Periodical Articles
- 1979, Records of Buckinghamshire Vol. 21 p. 191
  1934-40, Records of Buckinghamshire Vol. 13 p. 301
  1938, Antiquity Vol. 18 p. 287
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Payne, Naomi, 2003, The medieval residences of the bishops of Bath and Wells, and Salisbury (PhD Thesis University of Bristol) Appendix B: List of Medieval Bishop's Palaces in England and Wales (available via EThOS)

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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