Bisley is a village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

, now in the parish of

Bisley-with-Lypiatt Bisley-with-Lypiatt is a civil parish in the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England. It had a population of 2350 in 2019. It includes Bisley, Lypiatt, Eastcombe and Oakridge. Parishes adjoining Bisley-with-Lypiatt are: Miserden t ...

, in the

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five Va ...

district, in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

, England, about east of

. The once-extensive manor included Stroud and

Chalford Chalford is a large village in the Frome Valley of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. It is to the southeast of Stroud about upstream. It gives its name to Chalford parish, which covers the villages of Chalford, Chalford Hill, Fran ...

, Thrupp, Oakridge,

Bussage Bussage is a village in Gloucestershire, England in the district of Stroud. The village was made famous in the 1970s after a sighting of the actor Paul Newman, who was rumoured to be looking for a home in the area. Geography There is an olde ...

, Througham and Eastcombe. In 1891 the parish had a population of 5171.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

in the name Bisley exists. The ward has the same area and population as the civil parish of "Bisley-with-Lypiatt". The parish was abolished in 1894 to form "Bisley with Lypiatt" and

History and architecture

The area is noted for the wealth of its Cotswold stone houses of architectural and historic interest. They include

Lypiatt Park Lypiatt Park is a medieval and Tudor manor house with notable nineteenth-century additions in the parish of Bisley, near Stroud, in Gloucestershire, England. The grounds include a fine group of medieval outbuildings. It is a Grade I listed build ...

, formerly the home of Judge H. B. D. Woodcock and then of the late

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

sculptor Lynn Chadwick; Nether Lypiatt Manor, formerly the home of Violet Gordon-Woodhouse and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent;

Daneway Sapperton is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire in England, about west of Cirencester. It is most famous for Sapperton canal tunnel and its connection with the Cotswold Arts and Crafts Movement in the e ...

(near Sapperton, but within the parish of Bisley); Over Court; Througham Court (repaired in 1929 for the novelist Sir

Michael Sadleir Michael Sadleir (25 December 1888 – 13 December 1957), born Michael Thomas Harvey Sadler, was a British publisher, novelist, book collector, and bibliographer. Biography Michael Sadleir was born in Oxford, England, the son of Sir Michael ...

by Norman Jewson); and Jaynes Court, formerly the private residence of Simon Isaacs, 4th Marquess of Reading (born 1942). BisleyLockup

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 Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

, 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, and petty criminals were detained before appearing before the

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

. This was often followed by a spell in the

stocks Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law describing ...

pillory The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the sto ...

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

Church history

The parish church of All Saints may originally have been an Anglo-Saxon minster. Between 1827 and 1857 the Vicar was

Thomas Keble Thomas Keble (25 October 1793, Fairford – 5 September 1875) was a Church of England clergyman, younger brother of John Keble. Keble was Vicar of Bisley, Gloucestershire from 1827 to 1873. He contributed four of the ''Tracts for the Times'', thre ...

, 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 Denis Parsons Burkitt, MD, FRCS(Ed), FRS (28 February 1911 – 23 March 1993) was an Irish surgeon who made significant advances in health, such as the etiology of a pediatric cancer, now called Burkitt's lymphoma, and the finding that rates ...

, surgeon and cancer researcher, lived latterly in Bisley and was buried there in 1993. *

, musician, lived and recorded at Througham Slad Manor in the 1970s. *Bisley since 1982 has been the home of Jilly Cooper, a prolific contemporary novelist, and was that of her husband, the publisher Leo Cooper, until his death in 2013. *

(1888–1957), publisher, novelist, book collector and bibliographer, lived in Bisley from 1929 to 1949.

Gallery

File:StancombeTollHouse.jpg, ''Stancombe Toll House'' File:WaysideCross.jpg, ''The Cross-Shaft'' File:WaysideCross2.jpg, ''The plaque''

References

External links

*http://www.bisleyvillage.com/ *http://www.bisleynews.co.uk
BBC archive film of Bisley from 1985Stroud Voices (Bisley filter) - oral history site
{{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Former civil parishes in Gloucestershire Stroud District