Wykes by Ipswich manor of the Bishop of Norwich (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Wykes Bishop; Bishop Wycks; Wyke Bishops; Holywells Park

In the civil parish of Ipswich.
In the historic county of Suffolk.
Modern Authority of Suffolk.
1974 county of Suffolk.
Medieval County of Suffolk.

OS Map Grid Reference: TM17604355
Latitude 52.04792° Longitude 1.17194°

Wykes by Ipswich manor of the Bishop of Norwich has been described as a certain Palace, and also as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Residential manor of the Bishop of Norwich.

Large quadrilateral moat (of about 1 ha or 6 acres), connected to a linear series of ponds. Wykes Bishop was originally an outlying grange belonging to Queen Edith (in 1066)(Redstone). It was later granted by Richard I to John Oxenford, Bishop of Norwich. It is (incorrectly?) claimed the Bishops of Norwich subsequently had a manor house or palace here. In 1535 it passed to the Crown and was regranted in 1545 to Sir John Jermie. It is also claimed there is some possibility of a church or chapel here (Clarke). A moat first recorded in a bailiff's account of 1515 though there is no mention of any buildings on the site. Documentary search has failed to locate any evidence for a manor house or palace, though there is a 1515 reference to a barn or grange near the site of the moat. The named 'Holywells' was a 19th century invention - the area was previously known as hollow wells. The Park did not exist before the 19th century. Details in (Breen). (Suffolk HER)

A Royal licence to crenellate may have been granted in 1327 (Click on the date for details of this supposed licence.).

Comments

Possibly included in the licence to crenellate possibly issued to the bishop in 1327 although as this was for all his houses may not have resulted in any building work. However, c.1314 bailiffs Stace and le Rente led a force of burgesses to the Bishop of Norwich's manor at Wykes Bishop, disrupted the holding of a leet court there, and rescued a horse that the Bishop's steward had arrested, so possible that here, at least, some work was done to fortify the manor house.

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) IPS 063.

Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 131
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 181
  Redstone, L.J., 1948, Ipswich through the Ages p. 28
  Clarke, G.R., 1830, History of Ipswich p. 300-301
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Wessex Archaeology, Sept 2005, Holywells Park Restoration Project, Ipswich: Archaeological Investigation Report (geophysical survey)
  Breen, A.M., May 2004, Holywells Park
  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)

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >		County HER
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio