Henbury Bishops Palace

Has been described as a Certain Palace (Bishop)

There are no visible remains

NameHenbury Bishops Palace
Alternative NamesHenbury in the Saltmarsh; Westbury on Trym
Historic CountryGloucestershire
Modern AuthorityBristol; City of
1974 AuthorityAvon
Civil ParishBristol

Soon after the Conquest the bishops of Worcester founded a Palace here (Henbury) and imparked many acres. Thomas Peverell the sixtieth bishop died here in 1418, and Henry Wakefield, his predecessor, issued a Mandate there against Wickliffe in 1387. Some ruinous buildings near the Church seem to mark the site of the Palace, which was their occasional residence (Bigland). (PastScape)

Domesday refers to a wood one mile square in the manor of Henbury, held by the bishops of Worcester. There are traces of ancient woodland on the estate, with ridge and furrow and old field boundaries in the parkland south of Blaise Castle House and the remains of an Iron Age hillfort on Blaise Hill. After the Dissolution, and the seizure of the estate by the Crown, Henbury was granted to Sir Ralph Sadlier, of Standon in Hertfordshire. Henbury was sub-let by the Sadliers until they sold it in lots in 1675. A substantial part was purchased by Sir Samuel Astry, whose father-in-law, George Morse had built a house, known as Henbury Great House, on land in the village purchased from the Sadliers some ten years earlier. After Morse's death in 1688, Astry took over and enlarged the house and made formal gardens to the north, and planted a double avenue to a summerhouse on the top of Blaise Hill. The whole layout is depicted in an engraving by Kip published in 1712 (Atkyns 1712).

Blaise Castle House (1795-9, listed grade II star) was built for John Scandrett Harford by the Bristol architect, William Paty. It is situated just a few metres north-east of the site of the old manor house occupied by Thomas Farr (National Heritage List entry. Parks and Gardens 4181 Blaise Castle and Hamlet)

Gatehouse Comments

Presumably Blaise Castle House was built on, or very near, to the site of the medieval bishops palace. The park associated with Blaise Castle House is certainly based on the medieval park of the bishops. Blaise Castle House was built a few year after Bigland wrote.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceST562787
Latitude51.5057487487793
Longitude-2.63246989250183
Eastings356200
Northings178700
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 466
  • Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 187
  • Dyer, C., 1980, Lords and Peasants in a Changing Society: The Estates of the Bishopric of Worcester, 680-1540 (Cambridge University Press)
  • Bigland, R., 1792, Historical, Monumental and Genealogical Collections Relative to the County of Gloucester Vol. 2 p. 70
  • Atkyns, R., 1712, The Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire p. 473-4

Other

  • 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)