Bishops Sutton Bishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Bishops Sutton.
In the historic county of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Modern Authority of Hampshire (City of Winchester).
1974 county of Hampshire.
Medieval County of Hampshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU60653220
Latitude 51.08592° Longitude -1.13545°

Bishops Sutton Bishops Palace has been described as a certain Palace.

There are no visible remains.

Description

It seems probable that part of the parish of Bishop's Sutton was included in a grant made by King Ine to the church at Winchester in 701. It was held by Earl Harold T.R.E. and by Count Eustace III of Boulogne at Domesday. In 1136 the king exchanged the manor with the Bishop of Winchester for the manor of Morden. Except for a few brief intervals it has been held by the Bishops of Winchester ever since.
Bishop's Palace Writing in 1839 Duthy, states, "Within the memory of persons still living considerable vestiges of a strong and extensive building stood in the meadows to the north of the church, which were the dilapidated remains of an ancient palace of the bishops of Winchester. The walls were of great thickness and composed of flints and mortar, but it was impossible to trace the disposition of the apartments or the form of the edifice." He conjectures, plausibly, that it was destroyed in the Civil War.
In the time of Edward VI it was described as, "The manor-howse being a verie olde howse, somtyme walled round abowte with stone, now decaied, well waterid with an olde ponde or moote adjoyning to it ..."(Duchy of Lanc., Rentals & Surv).
In 1830 the remains were used as a malt-house, but only the site now remains. (VCH)
(Centred at SU 60653220) The site of the Bishops Palace is indicated by a roughly rectangular area of uneven ground, under pasture, now measuring c. 95 x 85m. There is no obvious sign of a former moat, although the site is bounded on the N.E. & N.W. by watercress beds, on the S.W. by a stream and on the S.E. by a dry watercourse. Around the site are many large flints and a few tile fragments. Examination of mole casts within the area revealed a few pieces of roofing slate.
At 'A' a fragment of flint rubble walling, 1.1m. thick, projects a metre or so into a watercress bed. According to the foreman (Mr. W. Brown, 2 Holbury Cottages, Bishop's Sutton) this was uncovered last year whilst extending the bed. At the same time a floor of concrete flint gravel was found and removed.
Whilst digging the foundations for a shed at 'B', Mr. Brown states that a large brick drain was found. (F1 VJB 11-DEC-56). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 239714.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 19076; MWC70.

Books
- 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)
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 186
  Page, Wm (ed), 1908, VCH Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Vol. 3 p. 41 online transcription
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Duchy of Lancaster: Rentals and Surveys, 5 Edw.VI, bdle. 8, no. 22 The National Archives reference
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Bryan, D.P., 2012, Archaeological Dowsing Survey at Bishops Sutton near Alresford Hampshire (Hampshire Archaeological Dowsers 001) online copy (Gatehouse does not support dowsing as a meaningful or worthwhile investigation technique but there is interest content in this report)
  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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