Bishopstone, Salisbury
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Bishopstone is a village and
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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
in
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
, England, in the Ebble valley about south-west of
Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
. The parish is on the county boundary with Hampshire and includes the small village of Croucheston and the hamlet of The Pitts (now Pitts Road).


History

The area was settled in prehistoric times. There was a
bowl barrow A bowl barrow is a type of burial mound or tumulus. A barrow is a mound of earth used to cover a tomb. The bowl barrow gets its name from its resemblance to an upturned bowl. Related terms include ''cairn circle'', ''cairn ring'', ''howe'', ''ker ...
near Croucheston Down Farm and
Grim's Ditch Grim's Ditch, Grim's Dyke (also Grimsdyke or Grimes Dike in derivative names) or Grim's Bank is a name shared by a number of prehistoric bank and ditch linear earthworks across England. They are of different dates and may have had different funct ...
, a prehistoric earthwork, forms the southern boundary of the parish. The
Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...
from
Old Sarum Old Sarum, in Wiltshire, South West England, is the ruined and deserted site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury. Situated on a hill about north of modern Salisbury near the A345 road, the settlement appears in some of the earliest recor ...
to Dorchester crosses the river near Throope. Before the 10th century, much of the land forming the present-day parish was part of a large estate called Downton. Early in the 10th century a manor at what is now Bishopstone was granted to
Winchester Abbey Hyde Abbey was a medieval Benedictine monastery just outside the walls of Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was dissolved and demolished in 1538 following various acts passed under King Henry VIII to dissolve monasteries and abbeys (see Dis ...
as an early endowment; around that time the whole river valley was known as Ebbesborne, and the village had the same name. A prefix "Bishop's" was sometimes used to distinguish the village from another in the same valley, and in the later Middle Ages the parish became known as Bishopstone; meanwhile the other village became
Ebbesbourne Wake Ebbesbourne Wake or Ebbesborne Wake is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, some south-west of Salisbury, near the head of the valley of the small River Ebble. The parish includes the hamlets of Fifield Bavant and West End. In 201 ...
. The
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
in 1086 divided the Chalke Valley into eight manors: ''Chelke'' (Chalke –
Broad Chalke Broad Chalke, sometimes spelled Broadchalke, Broad Chalk or Broadchalk, is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about west of the city of Salisbury. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Knapp, Mount Sorrel and Stoke Farthing. ...
and
Bowerchalke Bowerchalke is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about southwest of Salisbury. It is in the south of the county, about from the boundary with Dorset and from that with Hampshire. The parish includes the hamlets of Mead End, M ...
), ''Eblesborne'' (Ebbesbourne Wake), ''Fifehide'' (
Fifield Bavant Fifield Bavant (/'fʌɪfiːld 'bavənt/) is a small village in the civil parish of Ebbesborne Wake, in Wiltshire, England, about southwest of Wilton, midway between Ebbesbourne Wake and Broad Chalke on the north bank of the River Ebble. Fifiel ...
), ''Cumbe'' (
Coombe Bissett Coombe Bissett is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire in the River Ebble valley, southwest of Salisbury on the A354 road that goes south towards Blandford Forum. The parish includes the village of Homington, to the e ...
), ''Humitone'' (Homington), ''Odestoche'' (
Odstock Odstock is a village and civil parish south of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the village of Nunton with its nearby hamlet of Bodenham. The parish is in the valley of the River Ebble, which joins the Hampshire Avon near ...
), ''Stradford'' (
Stratford Tony Stratford Tony, also spelt Stratford Toney, formerly known as Stratford St Anthony and Toney Stratford, is a small village and civil parish in southern Wiltshire, England. It lies on the River Ebble and is about southwest of Salisbury.
and Bishopstone) and ''Trow'' (circa Alvediston and
Tollard Royal Tollard Royal is a village and civil parish on Cranborne Chase, Wiltshire, England. The parish is on Wiltshire's southern boundary with Dorset and the village is southeast of the Dorset town of Shaftesbury, on the B3081 road between Shaftesbur ...
). The parish contained six ancient townships, possibly since Saxon times, each with land bounded by the river. To the north of the river these were Bishopstone (with the parish church), Netton and Flamston; to the south, Throope, Faulston and Croucheston. The roadside settlement known as The Pitts developed in the 19th century.


Faulston

Faulston (or Falston, Falstone) manor was inherited in 1328 by Thomas Benton (d. 1358) whose descendants had surnames Baynton or Bayntun. The estate was confiscated from Sir Robert Baynton in 1475 for his support of Henry VI at the
Battle of Tewkesbury The Battle of Tewkesbury, which took place on Saturday 4 May 1471, was one of the most decisive battles of the Wars of the Roses in England. King Edward IV and his forces loyal to the House of York completely defeated those of the rival Hou ...
, and granted to John Cheyne, later Baron Cheyne; but returned in 1503 to Sir Robert's son John (d. 1516). Sir John's son and heir Sir
Edward Bayntun Sir Edward Bayntun (c.148027 November? 1544), of Bromham, Wiltshire, was a gentleman at the court of Henry VIII of England. He was vice-chamberlain to Anne Boleyn, the King's second wife, and was the brother-in-law of Queen Katherine Howard, ...
(c.1480 – 1544) was a soldier and courtier who was a royal favourite, appointed vice-chamberlain to Queen
Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the Wives of Henry VIII, second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading ...
and later wives of Henry VIII. Sir Edward's second wife was
Isabel Leigh Isabel Leigh, Lady Stumpe ( 1496 – 16 February 1573) was a lady-in-waiting during the reign of her younger half-sister, Katherine Howard, fifth wife and Queen Consort to Henry VIII. Early life Isabel was the first child of Joyce Culpeper and ...
, half sister to
Catherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542) was Queen of England from July 1540 until November 1541 as the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a first cousin to Anne Boleyn (the second ...
, Henry's fifth wife. After Isabel's death in 1573, the manor was inherited by a younger son
Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...
, who sat for several Wiltshire constituencies but "without leaving any mark on the known proceedings of the House". Henry sold the manor to Charles Vaughan in 1577, and it was inherited in 1584 by his grand-nephew Walter Vaughan (c.1572–1639) who sat in Parliament for one term, was High Sheriff in 1599–1600, and later deputy lieutenant.
Arbella Stuart Lady Arbella Stuart (also Arabella, or Stewart; 1575 – 25 September 1615) was an English noblewoman who was considered a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I of England. During the reign of King James VI and I (her first cousin), she marrie ...
stayed for over a month from the end of October 1603, as the royal court moved from Winchester to Salisbury and Wilton. The manor passed to his younger son George (knighted 1643), who commanded a regiment of
Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...
cavalry at the
Battle of Lansdowne The First English Civil War battle of Lansdowne, or Lansdown, was fought on 5 July 1643, at Lansdowne Hill, near Bath, Somerset, England. Although the Royalists under Lord Hopton forced the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller to ...
. After Wiltshire fell to the Parliamentarians in 1645, they seized Sir George's house and used it as the meeting-place of the 'Falstone House Committee', which determined the fines to be paid by 47 Wiltshire Royalist supporters. In 1649 the house's fortifications were ordered to be destroyed, and Sir George sold the manor in that year to the
earl of Pembroke Earl of Pembroke is a title in the Peerage of England that was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title, which is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, has been recreated ten times from its origin ...
. The house was rebuilt, although traces of a moat remain. The property remained with the Pembrokes until the farm was sold to its tenant in 1919.


Settlements and notable buildings

The site of Bishopstone village has only the church, the former rectory, Manor Farm and a few houses; there are signs of a
deserted medieval village In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the conve ...
east of the church. The rectory, now called Bishopstone House, was built in yellow brick around 1820 to designs of Bath architect
John Lowder John Lowder was an architect and surveyor working in Bath, Somerset, England. He was the Bath City Surveyor for a short time. In Bath, Lowder designed the Commissioners' church A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church a ...
; it was sold into private use in the 1950s. Manor Farm was built in the early 19th century for the Wilton estate, the house in red brick and the later outbuildings in characteristic banded brick and flint. Throope has always been a small settlement. The main dwelling is Throope Manor, built in the early 18th century for the Button family and extended in 1935 for Lord Essex. It may incorporate a 17th-century house, and contains panelling from that century. Netton developed as a
linear village In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping''); * linearity of a ''polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)= ...
along what is now Pitts Lane and Netton Street. Netton Old Farmhouse, two storeys in chequered flint and limestone under a thatched roof, has a 1637 date tablet. To the west, the former Three Horseshoes Inn is from the 18th century. Also in this area is the parish hall, built in 1885 and extended in 1921. The White Hart pub, beside the road from Coombe Bissett to Broad Chalke, was a public house in 1792 but the present building is from the 19th century. Flamston was another linear village. A farm and two thatched cottages remain on Flamston Street. Croucheston House is a farmhouse from the late 18th century, in banded brick and flint. Chapel Lane has the former Methodist chapel and Sudbury House, from the late 17th century in brick and thatch, with a contrasting c.1800 addition in flint and brick. Further south, 'Old Rafters' is a 16th-century timber-framed cottage, again brick, flint and thatch, altered in later centuries. Next to the river is a corn mill which was in use until the 1990s and may be on the site of the mill recorded in the 13th century. At Faulston, farmsteads were abandoned in the Middle Ages to leave only the manor house and its farm. The present Faulstone House is a rebuilding of c.1800 in dressed limestone and a tiled roof. A tall dovecote from the early 17th century, in flint with dressed limestone bands under a conical tiled roof, is
Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
; it may have been part of the fortifications of the earlier house. Farm buildings across the road were built in the mid-19th century in brick and flint bands for the Wilton estate. Faulston had a corn mill with a house attached, downstream from the settlement and known as Lower Mill, which was in use until the 1940s.


Religious sites


Parish church

The
Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...
of St John the Baptist is
Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
. Traces of a 12th-century building are found in the rubble walls of the nave, and a small blank arch with a Norman head. By the late 13th century the church had a cruciform plan. It was rebuilt in the 14th century, with vaulted ceilings in the chancel, vestry and south transept; both transepts were originally chapels. The low tower at the crossing was built c.1406 and had a wooden spire until at least 1567. The two-storey porch was added in the same century. 19th-century restoration included the rebuilding of the porch and a new east window. Julian Orbach, extending
Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...
's work in the
Buildings of England The ''Pevsner Architectural Guides'' are four series of guide books to the architecture of the British Isles. ''The Buildings of England'' series was begun in 1945 by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, with its forty-six original volumes pub ...
series, describes the church as big and impressive. He compares its style to Edington church which was also begun by a bishop of Winchester. There are several monuments outside. By the south transept, a small stone structure of two vaulted bays, buttressed and open on three sides, shelters a 13th-century decorated tomb chest, perhaps moved from elsewhere. Pevsner calls this "the strangest of additions" and speculates that it is a memorial to the patron who built this part of the church. The priest's door on the south side of the chancel has a deep vaulted hood with an
ogee An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (Sigmoid curve, sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircle, semicircula ...
gable and
crocket A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the Old French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of a crocket to a bishop's Shepherd's crook, ...
parapet. Inside the church, a triple
sedilia In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, typically made of stone, located on the liturgical south side of the altar—often within the chancel—intended for use by the officiating priest, deacon, an ...
has ornately carved vaults and pinnacles. Orbach praises the vaulted roofs of the chancel and south transept. The east window of 1898 is by Powell and Sons, paid for by a bequest of George Augustus Montgomery, rector from 1821 until his accidental death in 1842. In the north transept is a richly decorated tomb recess, with stone coffin-lids. Dominating the south transept is an ornately canopied monument of 1844 by A. W. Pugin, a memorial to Rev. Montgomery. Orbach calls it "super-Gothic". Next to it is a
piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...
in similar style. At one time, above this was a window designed by Pugin and executed by
William Wailes William Wailes (1808–1881) was the proprietor of one of England's largest and most prolific stained glass workshops. Life and career Wailes was born and grew up in Newcastle on Tyne, England's centre of domestic glass and bottle manufacturing. ...
; this has since been replaced by clear glass with re-set medieval pieces. The octagonal font is 14th-century with later carving. Some of the woodwork was brought from Seville in 1838 by Montgomery; Orbach describes the pulpit as "a disorderly assemblage of very good things". The three bells in the tower were cast in 1583, 1587 and 1652, and are said to be in unringable condition.


Parish

By 1264 the church had a rector and a vicar, but from 1584 it was customary to appoint the same man to both positions. In 1815 the two benefices were united in a rectory. The benefice of
Stratford Tony Stratford Tony, also spelt Stratford Toney, formerly known as Stratford St Anthony and Toney Stratford, is a small village and civil parish in southern Wiltshire, England. It lies on the River Ebble and is about southwest of Salisbury.
was united with Bishopstone in 1925, with the incumbent to live at Bishopstone, although the parishes remained distinct. A group ministry was established for the Ebble valley in 1972, and today the parish is part of the wider Chalke Valley Churches benefice alongside twelve others. Parish registers from 1636 are held at the
Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorse ...
, Chippenham.


Notable incumbents

Notable holders of the living, as rector and/or vicar, include: * Nicholas Bildeston, at the same time archdeacon of Winchester and
dean of Salisbury The Dean of Salisbury is the primus inter pares, head of the cathedral chapter, chapter of Salisbury Cathedral in the Church of England. The Dean assists the archdeacon of Sarum and bishop of Ramsbury in the diocese of Salisbury. List of deans ...
, rector from 1423 to 1441 * John Earle, rector from 1639, later chaplain to Charles II and then
Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The Episcopal see, see is in the Salisbur ...
*
John Younger John Harrison Younger (c. 1851 – March 17, 1874) was an American outlaw, the brother of Cole, Jim and Bob. He was briefly a member of the James–Younger Gang, a band of outlaws who also included the infamous Jesse James. Origins He ...
, rector from 1688 to 1728, dean of Salisbury from 1705 *George Augustus Montgomery, 1821–1842; as well as arranging renovations and furnishings, he paid for the building of the village school and willed money for a charity to provide subsidised coal to villagers * Francis Lear, rector from 1842 until his death in 1850, dean of Salisbury from 1846. His son, also
Francis Francis may refer to: People and characters *Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church (2013–2025) *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) * Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie2 ...
, was curate from 1847 and rector 1850–1914, then
archdeacon of Salisbury The Archdeacon of Sarum is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Salisbury, England. He or she is responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy within the five area deaneries of the Sarum archdeaconry, which cover the ...
from 1875 to 1913.


Others

A
Primitive Methodist The Primitive Methodist Church is a Christian denomination within the holiness movement. Originating in early 19th-century England as a revivalist movement within Methodism, it was heavily influenced by American evangelist Lorenzo Dow (1777–18 ...
chapel was opened in 1833 at Croucheston and continued in use until 1978.


Amenities

A school was built in Pitts Road in 1843 and educated children of all ages until 1932 when it became a junior school. It closed in 1977 due to falling pupil numbers. Bishopstone has a village hall. It also has a
pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...
, the ''White Hart''. There was another, the ''Three Horseshoes'', in an 18th-century building, but it closed in 2002. Throope Down is a
Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
, recognised for its variety of grasses, herbs and orchids.


References

*


External links


Bishopstone Village
{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire