Ramsbury Manor (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Remmesbury

In the civil parish of Ramsbury.
In the historic county of Wiltshire.
Modern Authority of Wiltshire.
1974 county of Wiltshire.
Medieval County of Wiltshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU25707096
Latitude 51.43734° Longitude -1.63169°

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

There are no visible remains.

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

Description

Great house constructed 1681-83 in English Renaissance period style on the site of an earlier house constructed in 1560. A Medieval deer park and garden features surround the house. The bishops of Salisbury had, from C13, a park and a palace at Ramsbury Manor. (PastScape)

Ramsbury throughout the Middle Ages was one of the bishop of Salisbury's principal and, especially in the later 15th century and the early 16th, most often lived in palaces. The house stood beside the Kennet in a park which has been extended more than once. The bishops had at the house a chapel dedicated to the Virgin and a cloister was mentioned in 1320. Licences were granted to crenellate in 1337 and to wall and crenellate in 1377. Leland described the house c. 1540 as 'fair' and 'old'. Between 1552 and 1567 William, earl of Pembroke, spent over £2,000 on building work at the site. His house had a main symmetrical east front of two storeys with attics and nine gables. (VCH)

In the early to mid 12th century the Bishops of Salisbury moved their Ramsbury residence to the well-documented site at Ramsbury Manor Park. Prior to that time it is thought that the episcopal residence was located within the settlement (see Ramsbury 'castle'). (Mcmahon p. 11)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1337 Aug 30 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).
A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1377 July 20.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1184029
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 225275.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) SU27SE525 (Post medieval House); SU27SE464 (Deer Park).

Books
- Smith, P.L., 2013, The Bishop's Palace at Salisbury (Reading: Spire Books) p. 178-80
  Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 627-9, 695
  Cooper, Nicholas, 1999, Houses of the Gentry, 1480-1680 (Yale University Press) p. 242
  Crowley, D.A., 1983, 'Ramsbury Hundred' in Elrington, C.R. (ed) VCH Wiltshire Vol. 12 (Oxford University Press for the University of London Institute of Historical Research) p. 19-22 online transcription
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 123, 167, 168, 184
  Pevsner, N. (Revised by Cherry, Bridget), 1975, Buildings of England: Wiltshire (London, Penguin) p. 340-1
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 411 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1895, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1334-38) Vol. 3 p. 498 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1895, Calendar of Patent Rolls Richard II (1377-81) Vol. 1 p. 9, 10 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. 499
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 5 p. 79 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Mcmahon, Phil, 2004, The Archaeology of Wiltshire's Towns An Extensive Urban Survey Ramsbury (Wiltshire County Archaeology Service) online copy
  Payne, Naomi, 2003, The medieval residences of the bishops of Bath and Wells, and Salisbury (PhD Thesis University of Bristol) p. 176-180 (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.

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.

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