Highclere Bishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Highclere Castle; Highcleere; Clere Episcopi; Alta Clera; Hauteclere; Bisshopesclere; Hautclere

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SU44625880
Latitude 51.32661° Longitude -1.36056°

Highclere Bishops Palace has been described as a probable Palace.

There are no visible remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Site of episcopal manor house/early medieval palace of the Bishops of Winchester, original owners of the Parish. Highclere Castle has been built over the site. In 749, a Saxon charter granted 'the land of 10 households which the inhabitants called Clere' to Winchester Cathedral. Much further evidence in Saxon Charters, Domesday Book and Episcopal Pipe Rolls of 'Clere' and the manor of Highclere which continued in possession of the Bishopric until 1582. The Bishops of Winchester built the first Medieval house there, on the site which was later extensively rebuilt by William of Wykeham. Several of the public Acts of William of Wykeham are dated at Highclere. (Hampshire AHBR)

HIGHCLERE CASTLE, the seat of the Earl of CARNARVON, is built on the site of the Palace of the Bishops of WINCHESTER, the original owners of the parish. Before 1208-9 the manor of HIGHCLERE was included with BURGHCLERE under the general name of CLERE. Although from that date onwards they are distinguished by name, they have always followed the same descent, the lord of the manors having his mansion at HIGHCLERE. Thus the Bishops had a place here and, in 1692, Sir ROBT. SAWYER died 'at his mansion house of HIGHCLERE' (VCH).
A Hampshire manor of the Bishops of WINCHESTER with a modern residence on site of the episcopal manor house.
While WILLIAM of WYKEHAM was at HIGHCLERE, from 1364, there are detailed records of the re-building of much of the palace. Masonry of early date can be seen at a short distance from the west side of the castle and some portions of the original buildings can still be recognized (Crawford).
The present house, known as HIGHCLERE CASTLE, was rebuilt circa 1840. I have never heard of masonry to the west of the house and do not know of any surviving part of the original Palace (F1 WW 21-NOV-55). (PastScape)

A park existed in Highclere in very early times, and complaints arose of damage from the inclosure of the park. In an account of the dilapidations in the episcopal manors after the death of John Sendale, in 1320, mention is made of damage by inclosure of the park, and in 1403 the rector of Burghclere received compensation for loss of tithe by reason of a great part of arable land having been imparked by the bishop, 'et parco nostro de Altâ Clerâ anneximus ac inclusimus in eodem que quidem inclusio in grave dampnum ecclesie predicti cederet.' Cobbett describes this park as 'the prettiest I have ever seen.' (VCH)

Comments

The history of the site is rather dominated by the later C19 Barry designed gothick castle. Parts of the medieval park pale survive.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1092528
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 232587.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 21191; 992.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Highclere Castle
  Abaroth's World
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
  James, T.B., 1990, The Palaces of Medieval England (London; Seaby) p. 88, 130, 136
  Crawford, O.G.S., 1953, Archaeology in the Field (London: Phoenix House) p. 194, 203
  Dunlop, G.D., 1940, Pages from the History of Highclere (Oxford: The Holywell Press)
  Page, Wm (ed), 1911, VCH Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Vol. 4 p. 285-6 online transcription
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.
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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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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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