Bishopstrow House (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: ST89804429
Latitude 51.19774° Longitude -2.14735°

Bishopstrow House has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The notion that a castle mound lies between Bishopstow Farm and Bishopstow House ... is undoubtedly mistaken, and apparently based on confusion between the tradition of a castle in the village and the mis-identification of a mutilated round barrow. (Crieghton)

One of two barrows shown on Hoare's map and is included on the OS 1" First Edition. Grinsell suggests it to be a castle mound, 40 paces in diameter and 16 feet high.
Mrs Cunnington (1926) describes the building of the present farm and house at Bishopstrow as standing within earthworks which are apparently the outer bailey, with the remains of the motte and inner bailey traceable in a grass field on the east.
The published mound may be a large barrow.
It is ditchless and at the edge of a low plateau whereby it is 2.2.m. high on the N. and 4.0m. high on the S. No trace of any baileys can be seen and the view that this is possibly a motte cannot be substantiated by ground inspection. An area of at least 15 acres is enclosed by a sunken road and it may be this which Mrs. Cunnington considered to be the outer bailey (F1 NVQ 16-MAY-67).
Originally recorded as Bishopstow 2a by Goddard.
A bowl barrow located immediately east of Bishopstrow House. The barrow mound measures 52 metres by 50 metres and the flat top is 10 metres in diameter. The northern edge of the mound has been truncated by the construction of a tennis court. The barrow appears on an 18th century map of sites around Warminster. Scheduled. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1019973, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 34187
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 207583.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) ST84SE601.

Books
- Grinsell, L.V., 1957, Pugh, R.B. and Crittall, Elizabeth (ed), VCH Wiltshire Vol. 1 Part 1 p. 160
  Cunnington, M.E., 1949 (4edn), An Introduction to the Archaeology of Wiltshire: From the Earliest Times to the Pagan Saxons (Devizes: C.H. Woodward) p. 155
  Hoare, Sir R.C., 1812, The Ancient History of Wiltshire Vol. 1, Station 2 Map
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, O.H., 2000, 'Early Castles in the Medieval Landscape of Wiltshire' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 93 p. 112 online copy
  Cunnington, 1926 March 4, Wiltshire Gazette
  Goddard, E.H., 1913-4, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 38 p. 205 online copy

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.

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