A GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY OF THE MEDIEVAL BISHOPS' RESIDENCE AT POTTERNE 



275 



DOCUMENTARY 

 EVIDENCE FOR THE 

 BISHOP OF SALISBURY'S 

 RESIDENCE 



Bishop Herbert Poore (1194-1217) signed a 

 document at Potterne in August 1 199 (Kemp 1999, 

 165, no. 207) and another in July 1214 (Kemp 1999, 

 163, no. 205). It is therefore possible that an 

 episcopal manor house was in existence at Potterne 

 by the late-12th century. Bishop Bingham (1228- 

 1246) issued a document from Potterne in 1242 

 and in 1 246, not long before his death in November 

 of that year, he consecrated a new abbot of 

 Malmesbury at Potterne church (McGlashan and 

 Sandell 1974, 86). St Mary's church was used for 

 this purpose because the bishop was in poor health 

 and he was presumably staying long term in his 

 residence at Potterne. Bingham is also recorded to 

 have given benediction to the abbot of Cerne in his 

 chapel at Potterne, probably the chapel in his manor 

 house. King Henry III issued a document at Potterne 

 in 1255, indicating that the king may have been the 

 guest of Bishop William of York (1246-1256) at the 

 episcopal manor house (Jones 1876, 259-60). 



The earliest surviving register of a bishop of 

 Salisbury is that of Bishop Simon of Ghent (1297- 

 1315). Ghent and his successors spent time at 

 Potterne during the 14th and 15th centuries, 

 judging by the dates on which documents were 

 signed and received there in the registers. In 1337, 

 Bishop Robert Wyvil (1330-75) obtained a licence 

 to crenellate his manor at Potterne and a number 

 of his other houses (Thompson 1998, 167). Forty 

 years later, a similar licence was issued to Bishop 

 Ralph Erghum (1375-1388), suggesting that the 

 earlier permit had not yet been acted upon. It seems 

 unlikely that work relating to the licences was 

 carried out at each of the named locations, but may 

 have happened at a selection, perhaps including 

 Potterne. The chapel at the bishop's manor house 

 was mentioned several times in the registers, for 

 example in the register of Bishop Roger Martival 

 (1315-30) 1 and the register of Bishop Robert 

 Hallum (1407-17). 2 During the episcopate of 

 Bishop Chandler (1417-1426), a statement of 

 account reveals that an oriel window was added to 

 his residence at Potterne (McGlashan and Sandell 

 1974,88). 



It appears that Potterne was used less frequently 

 by the bishops from the second half of the 15th 



century: Bishop Richard Beauchamp (1450-81) 

 seems only to have visited the village in the early 

 part of his episcopate and Bishop Thomas Langton 

 (1485-93) may not have used the residence at all, 

 as no document in his register was signed or 

 received there (Wright 1985, 123-1 28). 3 It should 

 be noted that the later registers contain many fewer 

 documents, but it seems likely that the bishops of 

 Salisbury did not use the residence at Potterne later 

 than the mid- 15th century. At some point fairly 

 soon after this, the decision must have been taken 

 to lease out the house and its land: a lease of 1538 

 refers back to another of 1508 (McGlashan and 

 Sandell 1974, 88). The late- 15th century Porch 

 House on Potterne High Street may have been built 

 as a result of the cessation of episcopal use of the 

 manor house. It would have provided a base for 

 the local bailiff and a venue for the manorial court 

 once the manor house was no longer available 

 (Haycock and Davey 1992, 8). 



A 17th-century survey provides an indication 

 of the size and scale of the old episcopal manor 

 house, which must also reflect its general character 

 during the late medieval period. This description 

 (see McGlashan and Sandell 1974, 89), dated 1649, 

 states that the manor house was: 



built with free stone thoroughly tiled containing seven 

 rooms belowe the stairs, i.e. one hall and kitchen, 

 one parlour, one larder, one milke house and pantry 

 house and one cellar, and seven rooms above ye stairs 

 i.e. one faire chamber over the hall, another faire 

 chamber over the parlour and over the kitchens and 

 other chambers with it and two chambers more in 

 the new buildings. 



There was also: 



a large house or building well walled and well covered 

 with stone for the most part of it . . . which contayneth 

 in breadth about 25 foote and in length about 80 

 foote which is called ye chappell now fitte for a barne. 

 And one faire barn containing 8 baies or rooms of 

 building built with free stone with timbers covered 

 with tyle. Wanting some reparation in the coverings. 

 And one orchard well stored with fruit trees containing 

 by estimation one acre . . . the backside and yards 

 about the same house containing about 2 acres. 



The estate was worth £10. A survey of the parish 

 from 1656 indicates that the residence was still in 

 existence with its dwelling house, chapel, great barn 

 and courts (Jones 1876, 260). The house may well 

 have been demolished between this date and the 

 early- 18th century, when a new house was built to 



