Fladbury Bishops Manor

Has been described as a Questionable Palace (Bishop)

There are no visible remains

NameFladbury Bishops Manor
Alternative Names
Historic CountryWorcestershire
Modern AuthorityWorcestershire
1974 AuthorityHereford and Worcester
Civil ParishFladbury

At least ten vills comprised the manor of Fladbury, Worcestershire, a manor of the bishop of Worcester. A minster founded here had probably failed some time before the Conquest and the bishopric had absorbed its lands, as it had so many others. The distribution of its hidage shows that there had once been a traditional inland at Fladbury itself, the site of the minster. Around 1170 this was a typical curial centre (there was a hall there in 1299), the home of permanent estate officials like the beadle and some 'radman', of inland workers, Famuli, bovarii and cottages, and of fifteen customary tenants with yardlands, half-yardlands and 'Mondaylands', owing week-work (and providing beer). (Faith 1997)

The see of Worcester continued to hold the manor until the date of the Domesday Survey, when it paid geld for 40 hides. In the 12th century the bishop still held these 40 hides at Fladbury. Richard I freed 13½ acres from essartum, and King John confirmed this grant. On 15 March 1214 he gave leave to the bishop to plough up 29½ acres of his wood. In 1254 the bishop received a grant of free warren at Fladbury. The manor was confirmed to the church by Pope Gregory in 1275, and in 1291 was worth £29 6s. a year. It remained in the possession of successive Bishops of Worcester, and was in 1535 worth £53 1s. 2d. yearly. (VCH 1913)

Gatehouse Comments

Thompson includes this in a list of residential manors of the Bishop of Worcester. Clearly a manor of the bishopric but where is the evidence it was used residentially by the bishop? The Worcestershire and Worcester City HER seem to place the possible location as west of the parish church, in an area that looks like an infilled village green so a location north of the parish church (now occupied by an extended graveyard) may be more likely.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSO995463
Latitude52.1150283813477
Longitude-2.00870990753174
Eastings399400
Northings246300
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

No photos available. If you can provide pictures please contact Castlefacts

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.

Calculate Print

Books

  • Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 187
  • Faith, R., 1997, The English peasantry and the growth of lordship (Leicester University Press) p. 240
  • Dyer, C., 1980, Lords and Peasants in a Changing Society: The Estates of the Bishopric of Worcester, 680-1540 (Cambridge University Press) p. 30
  • Page, Wm and Willis-Bund, J.W. (eds), 1913, VCH Worcestershire Vol. 3 p. 352-4 online transcription

Journals

  • Bond, C.J.. 1975, 'Two Recent Saxon Discoveries in Fladbury' Vale Evesham Historical Society Research Papers Vol 5 p. 19
  • Peacock, D.P.S., December 196?, 'Fladbury' Current Archaeology Vol. 5 p. 123-4

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)