Bisley is a village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

, now in the parish of

Bisley-with-Lypiatt Bisley-with-Lypiatt is a civil parish in the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England. It had a population of 2350 in 2019. It includes Bisley, Lypiatt, Eastcombe and Oakridge. Parishes adjoining Bisley-with-Lypiatt are: Miserden to th ...

, in the

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five ...

district, in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England, about east of

. The once-extensive manor included Stroud and

Chalford Chalford is a large village in the Frome Valley of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. It is to the southeast of Stroud about upstream. It gives its name to Chalford parish, which covers the villages of Chalford, Chalford Hill, Fran ...

Thrupp Thrupp, a variant of the Middle English word ''thorp'', meaning hamlet or small village, and may refer to: People * Arthur Thomas Thrupp (1828–1889), English Royal Navy officer * Darren Thrupp (born 1966), Australian Paralympic athlete * Dorothy ...

, Oakridge,

Bussage Bussage is a village in Gloucestershire, England in the district of Stroud. The village was made famous in the 1970s after a sighting of the actor Paul Newman, who was rumoured to be looking for a home in the area. Geography There is an olde ...

, Througham and Eastcombe. In 1891 the parish had a population of 5171.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

in the name Bisley exists. The ward has the same area and population as the civil parish of "Bisley-with-Lypiatt". The parish was abolished in 1894 to form "Bisley with Lypiatt" and

History and architecture

The area is noted for the wealth of its Cotswold stone houses of architectural and historic interest. They include

Lypiatt Park Lypiatt Park is a medieval and Tudor manor house with notable nineteenth-century additions in the parish of Bisley, near Stroud, in Gloucestershire, England. The grounds include a fine group of medieval outbuildings. It is a Grade I listed build ...

, formerly the home of Judge H. B. D. Woodcock and then of the late

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

sculptor

Lynn Chadwick Lynn Russell Chadwick, (24 November 1914 – 25 April 2003) was an English sculptor and artist. Much of his work is semi-abstract sculpture in bronze or steel. His work is in the collections of MoMA in New York, the Tate in London and th ...

;

Nether Lypiatt Manor Nether Lypiatt Manor is a compact, neo-Classical manor house in the mainly rural parish of Thrupp, near Stroud in Gloucestershire. It was formerly the country home of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and is a Grade I listed building. D ...

, formerly the home of

Violet Gordon-Woodhouse Violet Gordon-Woodhouse (23 April 18729 January 1948) was a British keyboard player. She specialised in the harpsichord and clavichord, and was influential in bringing both instruments back into fashion. She was the first person to record the ha ...

and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent; Daneway (near Sapperton, but within the parish of Bisley); Over Court; Througham Court (repaired in 1929 for the novelist Sir

Michael Sadleir Michael Sadleir (25 December 1888 – 13 December 1957), born Michael Thomas Harvey Sadler, was a British publisher, novelist, book collector, and bibliographer. Biography Michael Sadleir was born in Oxford, England, the son of Sir Michael ...

Norman Jewson Norman Jewson (12 February 1884 – 28 August 1975) was an English architect-craftsman of the Arts and Crafts movement, who practised in the Cotswolds. He was a distinguished, younger member of the group which had settled in Sapperton, Glouces ...

); and

Jaynes Court Jaynes is a surname, and may refer to * Cindy Jaynes (born 1959), American rear-admiral * Dwight Jaynes, American sports journalist * Edwin Thompson Jaynes (1922–1998), American physicist and theorist of probability * Jeremy Jaynes (born 1974) ...

, formerly the private residence of

Simon Isaacs, 4th Marquess of Reading Simon Rufus Isaacs, 4th Marquess of Reading (born 18 May 1942), is a British peer, banker and philanthropist. Biography Early life Simon Rufus Isaacs was born on 18 May 1942. His father was Michael Isaacs, 3rd Marquess of Reading (1916� ...

(born 1942). BisleyLockup

Througham Slad Manor is believed to date from the mid-16th century with 18th century additions, the manor was altered in the 1930s by

for W. A. Cadbury. In the 1970s, the house was owned by

Mike Oldfield Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...

, who installed a recording studio in the barn. The village prison, which had originally been located in the churchyard, was replaced in 1824 by a two-cell lock-up, where drunks were kept overnight, and petty criminals were detained before appearing before the

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

. This was often followed by a spell in the

stocks Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law describing ...

pillory The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the stocks ...

. This building still stands, minus its heavy oak doors. Bisley has a structure on Wells Road, containing seven spouts forming a public water supply from the Seven Springs and is known for its well dressing. There is a Saxon wayside cross on the wide verge of Bisley Road, south-west of Stancombe Toll House.

Church history

The parish church of All Saints may originally have been an Anglo-Saxon minster. Between 1827 and 1857 the Vicar was

Thomas Keble Thomas Keble (25 October 1793, Fairford – 5 September 1875) was a Church of England clergyman, younger brother of John Keble. Keble was Vicar of Bisley, Gloucestershire from 1827 to 1873. He contributed four of the ''Tracts for the Times'', thre ...

, a Tractarian and a pioneer in parish ministry. Thomas Keble was the younger brother of John Keble. His son Thomas Keble succeeded him as Vicar.

Notable residents

Denis Parsons Burkitt Denis Parsons Burkitt, MD, FRCS(Ed), FRS (28 February 1911 – 23 March 1993) was an Irish surgeon who made significant advances in health, such as the etiology of a pediatric cancer, now called Burkitt's lymphoma, and the finding that rat ...

, surgeon and cancer researcher, lived latterly in Bisley and was buried there in 1993. *

, musician, lived and recorded at Througham Slad Manor in the 1970s. *Bisley since 1982 has been the home of

Jilly Cooper Jilly Cooper, CBE (born 21 February 1937), is an English author. She began her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. She is most famous for wr ...

, a prolific contemporary novelist, and was that of her husband, the publisher Leo Cooper, until his death in 2013. *

(1888–1957), publisher, novelist, book collector and bibliographer, lived in Bisley from 1929 to 1949.

Gallery

File:StancombeTollHouse.jpg, ''Stancombe Toll House'' File:WaysideCross.jpg, ''The Cross-Shaft'' File:WaysideCross2.jpg, ''The plaque''

References

External links

*http://www.bisleyvillage.com/ *http://www.bisleynews.co.uk
BBC archive film of Bisley from 1985Stroud Voices (Bisley filter) - oral history site
{{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Former civil parishes in Gloucestershire Stroud District