Rugeley Manor of Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Puysland Farm; Lower Hall; Ruggel

In the civil parish of Rugeley.
In the historic county of Staffordshire.
Modern Authority of Staffordshire.
1974 county of Staffordshire.
Medieval County of Staffordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK04471837
Latitude 52.76301° Longitude -1.93505°

Rugeley Manor of Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield has been described as a Palace although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Thompson lists as residential manor of the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield.

The manor had no capital messuage in 1298, and there seems to have been none before or after that date. (VCH)

The site of the mansion house of the Dean and Chapter in Rugeley in the mid 14th century. It was originally known as Puysland Farm, but from the 16th century it was known as Lower Hall. The 14th century timber-framed house stood until 1790, and the remaining part of the old stone wall around the ground was demolished in 1939. (Staffs HER)

Comments

There was a court held at Rugeley and the manor was held by the bishops but this does not seem to have been a residential manor. This is definitely not the supposed moated manor, in Elmore Park, suggested by Salter which is no such thing (it was a small summer house on an island in a mill pond). The Hagley manor of Rugeley was not held by the bishops. The Hagley manor was called Bank Top and clearly lay where Hagley Hall lay (SK039180), It is unclear as to why the VCH would suggest otherwise. It has been suggested that an old manor house, of which there are no remains, lay on the other side of Market Street from the churchyard of the (new) church (SK045138), this is a entirely possible location for the manor house. Ruggel is in a list of the bishops manors granted free warren in 1259.
The Staffs HER record certainly suggests the manor was later held by the dean and chapter and the early use of the name 'farm' implies it was let out, presumably after 1259. The bishop had several manors in close proximity in mid Staffordshire and can not have needed all of them as residential sites.

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00994.

Books
- Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 174
  Salter, Mike, 1997, Castles and Moated Mansions of Staffordshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 63 (erroneous)
  Greenslade, M.W., 1959 in Midgley, L.M. (ed), VCH Staffordshire Vol. 5 p. 154 - online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Landor, W.N., 1940, Rugeley Parish Magazine
  1914, Transactions of the Burton-on-Trent Natural History and Archaeological Society Vol. 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.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1906, Calendar of Charter Rolls Henry III-Edward 1 1257-1300 Vol. 2. (HMSO) p. 18 (grant of free warren) 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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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.

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