Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 95 (2002), pp. 274-8 



A Recent Geophysical Survey on the Site of the 

 Residence of the Medieval Bishops of Salisbury 

 at Potterne 



by Naomi Payne 



The medieval bishops of Salisbury used a number of manor houses both within and outside the diocese of 

 Salisbury. The episcopal manor house at Potterne does not survive, but local tradition and the place name 

 Courthill to the west of the main body of the village indicate its probable location. A resistivity survey of 

 part of Great Orchard field undertaken in October 2001 confirmed this to be the likely site of the residence 

 and provided a hint of the layout and size of the manor house. 



INTRODUCTION 



According to a list of manors belonging to the pre- 

 909 bishopric of Sherborne which is contained 

 within the 14th-century manuscript known as 

 Faustina A, King Offa of Mercia (757-796) gave 

 Potterne (Figure 1) with its appurtenances to the 

 bishop of Sherborne (O'Donovan 1988, xlv). 

 Potterne was certainly part of the endowment of 

 the new bishopric of Salisbury in 1086 (Thorn and 

 Thorn 1979, 3, 1), and therefore probably passed 

 to Salisbury either directly from Sherborne or via 

 the bishopric of Ramsbury (O'Donovan 1988, xlv). 

 In 1 139, the manor of Potterne was seized by King 

 Stephen, along with Devizes Castle. Having passed 

 into the possession of the Empress Maud, Potterne 

 was returned to the bishop in 1146, after Pope 

 Eugenius III had recognised that the manor formed 

 part of the estate of Salisbury bishopric (Crittall 

 1953, 122, 209). McGlashan and Sandell (1974, 

 86, 89) suggest that these events prompted the 

 construction of the episcopal manor house at 

 Potterne, the bishop having lost the use of Devizes 

 Castle but still in need of a local base after Potterne 

 had been restored to the bishopric. 



Fig. 1. Location of Potterne within Wiltshire 



Department of Archaeology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 1UU 



