Stepney Manor of the Bishop of London (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Bishopswood; Bishopshall; Bishops Hall; Bonners Hall; Bethnal Green

In the civil parish of Stepney.
In the historic county of London and Middlesex.
Modern Authority of London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
1974 county of Greater London.
Medieval County of Middlesex.

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ354832
Latitude 51.53148° Longitude -0.04936°

Stepney Manor of the Bishop of London has been described as a certain Palace.

There are no visible remains.

Description

The manor house of Stepney and Hackney was one of the principle residences of the bishops of London. Bishop William dated a grant at Stepney in 1207, and Bishop Roger Niger died there in 1241. The manor house included a chapel by 1243. An ambulatory between the lord's chamber and the clerks', the thatched stair to the solar, the chapel roof, and the gardener's house were repaired in 1336. The site also included separate thatched granges for barley, wheat, and rye. Repairs in 1363 involved large supplies of lime, sand, and gravel from within the manor; tiling was done on the kitchen, the bakery, the bishop's chamber, a chamber outside the 'Breshour'(?) and one beyond the gate, and the long stable, and daubing and plastering were done to the hay grange. A dovecot, great garden, and kitchen garden existed in 1383, when 3,000 reeds were bundled for thatching manorial buildings, the furnace or oven was mended, and a new window made for the steward's chamber. In 1402 shinglers with scaffolding worked on the main hall, using shingles from the manor of Haringey; glass was bought for the chapel windows, and other work was done to the laundry, buttery, great door, and carriage house, besides daubing the walls of the lord's chambers. The kitchen had a well. In 1416 the great stable roof was mended and the windows of the great chamber were given new glass. (VCH)

About a quarter of a mile to the east of Bethnal-Green, is the site of an ancient house, called Bishop's-hall, (now converted into two or three tenements,) said by tradition to have been the residence of Bishop Bonner. That it was his property I have no doubt; and there is good reason for supposing that it has been the manor-house of Stepney; for Norden calls "Bushoppe's-hall" the seat of the Lord Wentworth. Bishop Braybroke dates many of his episcopal acts from Stepney; but I have not seen one dated thence by any of his successors; which leads to a supposition that they did not reside there, but leased the house with the manerial estate. In 1594, Bishop'shall was the residence of Sir Hugh Platt, as mentioned before. (Lysons)

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 080907/00/00.

Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 234 (mention)
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 180
  Baker, T.F.T. (ed), 1998, 'Stepney: Manors and Estates' VCH Middlesex Vol. 11 p. 19-52 online transcription
  Rose, M., 1949, The East End of London p. 72, 132
  Smith, H.L., 1939, The history of East London p. 35-41, 189
  Loftie, W.J., 1883, A history of London Vol. 2 p. 153-5 online copy
  Lysons, Daniel, 1795, The Environs of London: Vol. 2: County of Middlesex p. 32 online transcription
  Lysons, Daniel, 1795, The Environs of London: Vol. 3: County of Middlesex p. 420 online transcription
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. 311
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1909, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 4 p. 128 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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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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