Whitbourne Court (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Whitbourne.
In the historic county of Herefordshire.
Modern Authority of Herefordshire.
1974 county of Hereford and Worcester.
Medieval County of Herefordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO72645683
Latitude 52.20954° Longitude -2.40297°

Whitbourne Court has been described as a certain Palace, and also as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are earthwork remains.

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

Description

The site is that of a manor house of the Bishop of Hereford. It is largely C18 and C19, but incorporates some medieval and C17 work including early C17 panelling and fireplace and overmantel with fluted pilasters. The roof of the central block incorporates C16 or earlier work. It is of irregular plan, faced in roughcast with slate roof. Front of five unequal gables one of which is hipped. Two storeys. Various sash windows, fielded panel door with windows to sides (Listed Building Report)

Medieval moated site, a palace or manor house of the Bishops of Hereford, built in a park which was disparked in 1620. The present house is mainly C18/C19 but contains some Medieval and C16 remains. The north-western side of the moat has been filled, but much of the rest, its island and a small pond to the south-east are extant. (PastScape)

Whitbourne Court: so many additions to orig building that nothing outstanding remains. Harrington excavated area in garden ESE of house early 1920s & discovered walling which is prob foundations of Bishops Palace. No trace remains on surface. Only 3 arms of moat remain, NW arm filled in. NE arm contained by bank 0.7m high & 3.4m deep to water. Outer scarp rises 2.0m out of moat, which orig went around S & E sides of island. Island created early 1800s. Causeway appears at SO72645678 whenever moat drained, does not connect with present inner bank. House stands on site of manor house of Bishops of Hereford. V largely modern building, but incorporates some work in central range which may be medieval, & block of masonry in N wing is perhaps same age. Inside building S room, above hall, lined with E C17 panelling, fireplace has fluted side pilasters, middle bay has oval panel with straps....some reused C17 doors. Roof of central block incorporates work of C16 or earlier, incl 2 trusses with curved braces & cambered collars. Moat encloses oval island, except on W side where filled. Traces of inner bank on NE side of island (RCHME). Dr Bisse (d 1721) last to use palace. Greater part of house has lately been built of brick, stands on site of Bishops Palace, loft which now remains still called Birche's Hole (Col B concealed himself from royalists). Bishops had palace here built of stone, built in pleasant park, part of which supposed to be vineyard. Enclosed & converted 1620. Palace defended by deep moat (part of which remains) with drawbridge etc. (Duncumb). (Herefordshire SMR)

Comments

Bishops had palace here built of stone, built in pleasant park, part of which was supposed to be vineyard. The circular moat is notably strong.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1217072
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 113948.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 3951.

Books
- Shoesmith, Ron, 2009 (Rev edn.), Castles and Moated Sites of Herefordshire (Logaston Press) p. 287
  Whitehead, D. and Patton, J. (eds), 2001, A Survey of Historic Parks and Gardens in Herefordshire (Hereford and Worcester Gardens Trust)
  Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 512-14
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 178
  1981, Herefordshire Countryside Treasures (Hereford and Worcester County Council) p. 36
  RCHME, 1932, An inventory of the historical monuments in Herefordshire Vol. 2: east p. 214 no. 2 online transcription
  Gould, I. Chalkley, 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Herefordshire Vol. 1 p. 256 (plan)
  Robinson, Rev. C. J., 1872, A History of the Mansions and Manors of Herefordshire p. 300
  Duncumb, John, 1812, Collections towards the history and antiquities of the county of Hereford Vol. 2 Broxash Hundred, Ewyas Lacy Hundred and part of Greytree Hundred p. 235- online copy
Periodical Articles
- Tonkin, J.W., 1976, 'The palaces of the bishop of Hereford' Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club Vol. 42.1 p. 53-64
  Williams, Phyllis, 1972, 'Land Tenure in the Bishop's Manor of Whitbourne' Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club Vol40.3 p. 333-53
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)

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.

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

Data >	PastScape	County HER		Listing	I. O. E.
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