Cropredy Bishops Manor

Has been described as a Possible Palace (Bishop)

There are no visible remains

NameCropredy Bishops Manor
Alternative Names
Historic CountryOxfordshire
Modern AuthorityOxfordshire
1974 AuthorityOxfordshire
Civil ParishCropredy

Thompson lists as a residential manor of the bishop of Lincoln.

Manor Farm (PRN 10410) stands on the west side of a ditched quadrilateral enclosure cut into gently sloping ground on west side of Cherwell Valley. Shows evidence of internal bank at NE corner and north side. A vague, ill-defined depression to the north could be the remains of an associated fishpond, but this is not clear. Manor Farm (dated 1693) 'Partly surrounded by a moat belonging to an earlier house' (Oxfordshire HER)

Cropredy is specified among the possessions of the see of Lincoln in papal confirmations of 1126, 1139, 1149, and 1163. (Reg. Antiquiss. i. 189, 191, 194, 203) In 1329 Bishop Henry received a grant of free warren in his demesnes in Cropredy and elsewhere. (Cal. Chart. R. 1327–41, 117) In the fiscal year 1540–1 the bishop's temporalities in Cropredy rendered £29. (Beesley, Hist. Banbury, 204)

Gatehouse Comments

The grant of free warren may suggest this was a residential manor, although such a liberty may just have been a benefit for the manorial steward (stewards were often from gentry family).

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSP468464
Latitude52.1140785217285
Longitude-1.31773996353149
Eastings446800
Northings246400
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 179
  • Crossley, Alan (ed), 1972, VCH Oxfordshire Vol. 10 p. 157-75 (tenurial history) online transcription
  • Beesley, A., 1841, The History of Banbury (London: Nichols and son) p. 204 online copy

Primary Sources

  • Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1912, Calendar of Charter Rolls Edward III 1327-1341 Vol. 4. (HMSO) p. 117 online copy

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)