Fingest Bishops Palace

Has been described as a Possible Palace (Bishop)

There are earthwork remains

NameFingest Bishops Palace
Alternative Names
Historic CountryBuckinghamshire
Modern AuthorityBuckinghamshire
1974 AuthorityBuckinghamshire
Civil ParishLane End

There was a palace in the grounds of the present Fingest Manor House. An C18 history of Fingest in the Browne-Willis manuscript, recording excavations on the site, says it was "of large extent". How large is uncertain as the term palace simply designated a dwelling for a bishop. Among the bishops who stayed at Fingest was Henry Burghersh, who came there in 1321. Some 20 years later he laid out a new park and was granted "free Warren" or hunting rights, in his Manor of Fingest. At the same time he was granted a licence to "impark 300 acres of land" enjoining the woodland which he already controlled. This was common land used by the villagers. Fuller, in his C17 church history speaks of their seeing "their own beef and mutton being turned into the bishop's venison". Enormous hardship resulted. It has been conjectured that there were around 60 families there in medieval times and the Tax Returns for 1341 state that because of the extension of the park, only 30 virgates of land (a little over 100 acres) had been left for the commoners. (Daphne Phillips)

Ruins of the old manor house of the Bishops of Lincoln are near the church of St Bartholomew at the north of the village of Fingest. The manor was held by the Bishops of Lincoln from the 13th c until 1547. According to the owner of Fingest Manor the site of the palace was at SU 7762 9125, but no positive proof was available. At the siting a level area C 20.0m by 30.0m and an old well exist, but no other remains. A house platform indicating the site of the former manor house. (PastScape)

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSU776912
Latitude51.6145286560059
Longitude-0.879809975624084
Eastings477620
Northings191250
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Michael G Shapland, 2017, 'Anglo-Saxon towers of lordship and the origins of the castle in England' in Dawn M Hadley and Christopher Dyer, The Archaeology of the 11th Century Continuities and Transformations (Routledge) p. 104-119
  • Emery, Anthony, 2000, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 2 East Anglia, Central England and Wales (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 270-1
  • Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 179
  • Page, Wm (ed), 1925, VCH Buckinghamshire Vol. 3 p. 42-3 online transcription
  • Langley, Thomas, 1797, History and Antiquities of the Hundred of Desborough (London) p. 208-23 online copy

Journals

  • 1979, Records of Buckinghamshire Vol. 21 p. 191
  • 1934-40, Records of Buckinghamshire Vol. 13 p. 301
  • 1938, Antiquity Vol. 18 p. 287

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)