Bitterne Bishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Manor House

In the civil parish of Southampton.
In the historic county of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Modern Authority of Southampton; City of.
1974 county of Hampshire.
Medieval County of Hampshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU43371337
Latitude 50.91817° Longitude -1.38438°

Bitterne Bishops Palace has been described as a probable Masonry Castle, and also as a certain Palace.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

This dates from the C13, on the site of the Roman Port of Clausentum, and was a manor house of the Bishops of Winchester. This was much restored in 1864, damaged in the second World War and subsequently reconstructed out of old materials. Two storeys built of stone rubble. Gable ended. Modern tiled roof with 5 modern dormers. Six modern mullioned and transomed windows. Modern doorcase with 4 centred archway having the datestone 1952 above it. On the left-hand side is a C13 blank lancet window and a portion of rough rubble walling. The interior is modern. (Listed Building Report)

Comments

Much altered large square tower has some C13 remains. Possible castle built originally within Roman wall and ditch of Clausentum. Site of episcopal house, possibly fortified, of C13 date. A documentary source of 1207-8 refers to a great house, with cloister, courtyard, kitchen, chapel, and barns. According to Leland 'sumtyme a castelle'. Remains within Roman shore fort of Clausentum.
The Roman walls and earthwork defences may still have been in existence in the middle ages but this site was readily accessible from the River Itchen and hardly defensible. However this location does mean this house of the bishops had an important economic function as a place for sea borne trade of the bishops estates.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1178451
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 230268.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MSH318.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
Books
- Osborne, Mike, 2011, Defending Hampshire: The Military Landscape from Prehistory to the Present (Stroud: The History Press) p. 51, 244
  Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 430-34
  Roberts, E., 2003, Hampshire Houses 1250-1700: Their Dating and Development (Winchester: Hampshire County Council)
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 38
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 186
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 195-6 (possible)
  Pevsner, N. and Lloyd, D., 1973, Buildings of England: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (Harmondsworth) p. 597
  Aubrey, E.R. (ed), 1909, Speed's History of Southampton (Southampton Record Society 8) p. 7
  Englefield, H., 1805, 'Account of Antiquities discovered at Clausentum, etc.' in A walk through Southampton (Southampton: Baker and Fletcher) p. 107- online copy
Periodical Articles
- Strutt, K.D. and Hay, S.A., 2004, 'Recent Geophysical Survey Work at the Site of Clausentum, Bitterne Park Manor, Southampton' CBA Wessex News p. 19
  1947, Antiquaries Journal Vol. 27 p. 151
  Crawford, 1944-6, Proceeding of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Vol. 16 p. 148-55
  1937, Proceeding of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Vol. 13 p. 195
  Fox, 1902, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries London Vol. 19 p. 7
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Hall, H. (ed), 1903, The Pipe Roll of the Bishops of Winchester 1207-8 p. 30-32
  Hall, H. (ed), 1903, The Pipe Roll of the Bishops of Winchester 1208-9 p. 30-32 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 206
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 280 online copy
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 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.

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Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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