Bisham Abbey

Last updated

Bisham Abbey Manor House Berkshire Bisham-29Ag9-wyrd1.jpg
Bisham Abbey Manor House Berkshire

Bisham Abbey is a Grade I listed manor house at Bisham in the English county of Berkshire. The name is taken from the now lost monastery which once stood alongside. This original Bisham Abbey was previously named Bisham Priory, and was the traditional resting place of many Earls of Salisbury. The complex surrounding the extant manorial buildings is now one of three National Sports Centres run on behalf of Sport England and is used as a residential training camp base for athletes and teams and community groups alike. It is a wedding venue with a licence for civil ceremony and is used for conferences, team building events, corporate parties and private functions.

Contents

Manor house

The Manor House Bisham-29Ag9-wyrd2.jpg
The Manor House

The manor house was built around 1260 as a community house for two Knights Templar. There was substantial rebuilding and alteration in later centuries. [1] When the Templars were suppressed in 1307, King Edward II took over the manorial rights, granting them to various relatives. In 1310 the building was used as a place of confinement for Queen Elizabeth of the Scots, wife of King Robert the Bruce, along with her stepdaughter Princess Marjorie and sister–in–law, Lady Christine of Carrick. They had been captured on the Isle of Rathlin during the Scottish Wars of Succession, and were placed in the charge of the King's Yeoman, John Bentley, for two years, until removed to Windsor.

In 1335 the manor was bought by William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury and in 1337 he founded Bisham Priory alongside, within the year of his death 1344, he was buried in the abbey.

Henry VIII granted the manor house to Anne of Cleves as part of her divorce settlement from him, and it was later bought by the Hoby family, who lived there until 1768. Elizabeth I was a regular visitor in the time of the Hoby family. Anne of Denmark stayed in August 1610. [2] There is a long-standing legend that the house is haunted by the ghost of Dame Elizabeth Hoby. [3] [4]

Monastery

Bisham Priory was built for the Augustinian Canons. The foundation stone laid in 1337, and the brass plaque once affixed to it, can still be seen at Denchworth. When the founder, the 1st Earl of Salisbury, died, he was buried at the priory, as were many later Earls of Salisbury, including Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who was buried in April 1471.

Despite holding some relics of Saints Cosmas and Damian, the priory never really became a centre of pilgrimage: many other churches also held relics of the same saints, including two different locations which both claimed to have their skulls.

Bisham Priory was dissolved on 5 July 1537, but six months later, on 18 December, it was refounded as a Benedictine abbey. This was not to last though as it was finally dissolved on 19 June 1538. [5] The abbot of Bisham, John Cordery, is said to have cursed the building thus: "As God is my witness, this property shall ne’er be inherited by two direct successors, for its sons will be hounded by misfortune", as he was dragged from it. Nothing remains of the abbey church or its associated buildings.

Burials in the Priory/Abbey

Sports centre

The manor house is now run by Serco Leisure Operating Ltd on behalf of Sport England, and is one of three National Sports Centres. Gym membership is open to the public.

The facilities include:-

England Rugby had their training base at Bisham Abbey until 2005, when they moved to the University of Bath. Several football teams have trained at Bisham Abbey, most recently Barcelona and Portsmouth before their 2008 FA Cup victory. For the last few years Non-League Marlow United F.C. use the pitches as their home ground. The facilities are frequently used by elite athletes and community groups for residential training camps such as the Rugby Sevens and England Hockey. There is an International High performance Tennis centre based on site managed by WIN Tennis. Some professional rugby players use the gym facilities. In February 2006 the England futsal team played two international friendlies against Finland at Bisham Abbey. Due to their regular training ground (Beversbrook) being out of use due to the weather Swindon Town F.C. have been using the centre (as of February 2020) while they attempt to find a more permanent facility. [6]

Media

Bisham Abbey is described in Jerome K. Jerome's 1889 humorous novel Three Men in a Boat . [7]

During the Nationwide Building Society's summer advertising campaign of 2010, when they were official sponsors of the England football team at the World Cup, one of their television advertisements featured the England team playing on one of the pitches at Bisham Abbey. The parish church was clearly visible in the background.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury</span> English nobleman

Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury KG PC was an English nobleman and magnate based in northern England who became a key supporter of the House of York during the early years of the Wars of the Roses. He was the father of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, the "Kingmaker".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Salisbury</span> Title in the Peerage of England

Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in English and British history. It has a complex history and is now a subsidiary title to the marquessate of Salisbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury</span> English nobleman

William Montagu, alias de Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury, 3rd Baron Montagu, King of Man was an English nobleman and loyal servant of King Edward III.

Sir Thomas Hoby was an English diplomat and translator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisham</span> Village and civil parish in England

Bisham is a village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. The village is on the River Thames, around one mile (1.6 km) south of Marlow in the neighbouring county of Buckinghamshire, and around three miles (5 km) northwest of Maidenhead. At the 2011 Census, the population of the parish was 1,099, down from 1,149 at the 2001 Census. Bisham is home to one of Sport England's National Sports Centres.

Alice Montacute was an English noblewoman and the suo jure 5th Countess of Salisbury, 6th Baroness Monthermer, and 7th and 4th Baroness Montagu, having succeeded to the titles in 1428.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baron Montagu</span> Extinct barony in the Peerage of England

The titles Baron Montacute or Baron Montagu were created several times in the Peerage of England for members of the House of Montagu. The family name was Latinised to de Monte Acuto, meaning "from the sharp mountain"; the French form is an ancient spelling of mont aigu, with identical meaning.

Maud Francis, Countess of Salisbury was daughter of Sir Adam Francis, born c. 1326, Lord Mayor of London, and Agnes Champnes. She was married and widowed three times. Her first husband was John Aubrey and her second Sir Alan Buxhull, KG in 1372.

Peregrine Hoby, was an English landowner and member of parliament who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1679.

Anne Hoby was an English heiress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu</span> English peer, soldier and courtier

William Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu, was an English peer, and an eminent soldier and courtier during the reigns of Edward I and Edward II. He played a significant role in the wars in Scotland and Wales, and was appointed steward of the household to Edward II. Perhaps as a result of the influence of his enemy, Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, Edward II sent him to Gascony as Seneschal in 1318. He died there in October of the following year.

Cecily Neville, Duchess of Warwick, Countess of Worcester was a daughter of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury and Alice Montacute, 5th Countess of Salisbury. Her siblings included Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick; John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu; George Neville, ; Katherine Neville, Baroness Hastings; and Alice Neville, Baroness FitzHugh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor Holland, Countess of Salisbury</span> Countess of Salisbury

Eleanor Holland, Countess of Salisbury, was an English noblewoman, the daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, a half-brother of King Richard II of England. She was the first wife of Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury. One of her brothers was Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent, to whom she was co-heiress. She is not to be confused with her eldest sister Alianore Holland, Countess of March who bore the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury</span> English nobleman

John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury and 5th and 2nd Baron Montagu, KG was an English nobleman, one of the few who remained loyal to Richard II after Henry IV became king.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury</span> 14th/15th-century English nobleman

Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury, KG of Bisham in Berkshire, was an English nobleman and one of the most important English commanders during the Hundred Years' War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Neville</span> English noble family

The Neville or Nevill family is a noble house of early medieval origin, which was a leading force in English politics in the Late Middle Ages. The family became one of the two major powers in northern England and played a central role in the Wars of the Roses along with their rival, the House of Percy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Montagu</span> British noble family

The House of Montagu, also known throughout history as Montagud, Montaigu, Montague, Montacute, is an English noble family founded in Somerset after the Norman Conquest of 1066 by the Norman warrior Drogo de Montagud. They rose to their highest power and prominence in the 14th and 15th centuries as Earls of Salisbury, the last in the male line being Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury (1388–1428), the maternal grandfather of "Warwick the Kingmaker", 16th Earl of Warwick and 6th Earl of Salisbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury</span> Earl of Salisbury

William Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, 4th Baron Montagu, King of Mann, KG was an English nobleman and commander in the English army during King Edward III's French campaigns in the Hundred Years War. He was one of the Founder Knights of the Order of the Garter.

Thomas Hoby JP DL of Bisham Abbey, Berkshire and Breamore, Hampshire, was an English politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu</span>

Simon de Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu was summoned to Parliament by writ and thereby became the 1st Baron Montagu. He was the ancestor of the great Montagu family, Earls of Salisbury.

References

  1. ↑ Historic England. "Bisham Abbey (1303584)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  2. ↑ HMC Downshire, vol. 2 (London, 1936), p. 358.
  3. ↑ "RBHy: The Ghost of Lady Hoby at Bisham (Berkshire), Part 2". berkshirehistory.com. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  4. ↑ "The Ghost Of Dame Elizabeth Hoby – The Grey Lady Of Bisham Abbey". Planet Today. 26 August 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  5. ↑ Ditchfield, PH; Page, William (1907). "The Priory of Bisham". Victoria County History of Berkshire. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
  6. ↑ "'Driving to Bisham Abbey fills my time, I don't mind it,' Yates on Town's training ground inconsistencies".
  7. ↑ Jerome, Jerome (1889). Three Men in a Boat. Bristol: J.W. Arrowsmith. OCLC   457566372. From Marlow up to Sonning is even fairer yet. Grand old Bisham Abbey, whose stone walls have rung to the shouts of the Knights Templars, and which, at one time, was the home of Anne of Cleves and at another of Queen Elizabeth, is passed on the right bank just half a mile above Marlow Bridge. Bisham Abbey is rich in melodramatic properties. It contains a tapestry bed-chamber, and a secret room hid high up in the thick walls. The ghost of the Lady Holy, who beat her little boy to death, still walks there at night, trying to wash its ghostly hands clean in a ghostly basin.

51°33′24″N0°46′47″W / 51.556635°N 0.779657°W / 51.556635; -0.779657

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.