Bisley, Gloucestershire

Bisley is a village in Gloucestershire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) east of Stroud. The parish is combined with adjoining Lypiatt, the two being styled Bisley-with-Lypiatt. The once-extensive manor included Stroud and Chalford, Thrupp, Oakridge, Bussage, Througham and Eastcombe.

Bisley

A view over Bisley
Bisley
Location within Gloucestershire
Population2,142 (2011)[1]
OS grid referenceSO905065
Civil parish
District
  • Stroud
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townStroud
Postcode districtGL6
PoliceGloucestershire
FireGloucestershire
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament

Governance

An electoral ward in the name Bisley exists. This ward has the same area and population as the civil parish.

History and architecture

The area is noted for the wealth of its Cotswold stone houses of architectural and historic interest.[2] They include Lypiatt Park, formerly the home of Judge H. B. D. Woodcock and then of the late Modernist sculptor Lynn Chadwick;[3] Nether Lypiatt Manor, formerly the home of Violet Gordon-Woodhouse and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent;[4] Daneway (near Sapperton, but within the parish of Bisley); Over Court; Througham Court (repaired in 1929 for the novelist Sir Michael Sadleir by Norman Jewson);[5] and Jaynes Court, formerly the private residence of Simon Isaacs, 4th Marquess of Reading (born 1942).

Bisley lockup

Througham Slad Manor is believed to date from the mid-16th century with 18th century additions, the manor was altered in the 1930s by Norman Jewson for W. A. Cadbury. In the 1970s, the house was owned by Mike Oldfield, who installed a recording studio in the barn.

The village prison, which had originally been located in the churchyard, was replaced in 1824 by a two-cell lock-up, where drunks were kept overnight,[6] and petty criminals were detained before appearing before the magistrate. This was often followed by a spell in the stocks or pillory. This building still stands, minus its heavy oak doors.

Bisley has a structure on Wells Road, containing seven spouts forming a public water supply from the Seven Springs and is known for its well dressing.[7]

There is a Saxon wayside cross on the wide verge of Bisley Road, south-west of Stancombe Toll House.

Church history
The church of All Saints; it was mostly rebuilt in the early 1860s

The parish church of All Saints may originally have been an Anglo-Saxon minster. Between 1827 and 1857 the Vicar was Thomas Keble, a Tractarian and a pioneer in parish ministry. Thomas Keble was the younger brother of John Keble. His son Thomas Keble succeeded him as Vicar.

Notable residents
  • Denis Parsons Burkitt, surgeon and cancer researcher, lived latterly in Bisley and was buried there in 1993.[8]
  • Bisley since 1982 has been the home of Jilly Cooper,[9] a prolific contemporary novelist, and was that of her husband, the publisher Leo Cooper, until his death in 2013.
  • Stancombe Toll House
  • The Cross-Shaft
  • The plaque

See also
  • Bisley Boy

References
  1. "Parish population 2011". Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  2. Stroud Council Conservation Area No. 6 Bisley Archived 23 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "British Council". Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  4. "BBC - Gloucestershire The Royal County - Nether Lypiatt Manor". www.bbc.co.uk.
  5. "Bisley: Introduction - British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk.
  6. GlosGen - Bisley Archived 4 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "GlosGen - Bisley Genealogy". www.glosgen.co.uk.
  8. Anthony Epstein, "Burkitt, Denis Parsons (1911–1993)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004. Retrieved 28 February 2017, pay-walled.
  9. Clarke, Jeremy (26 March 2006). "'Jillywood' tours target Cotswolds' reluctant celebrities" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.