Sonning Bishops Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Sonnyng; Sunnyng

In the civil parish of Sonning.
In the historic county of Berkshire.
Modern Authority of Wokingham.
1974 county of Berkshire.
Medieval County of Berkshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU75467549
Latitude 51.47378° Longitude -0.91528°

Sonning Bishops Palace has been described as a certain Palace, and also as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Site of the palace of the Bishops of Salisbury, revealed by excavations in 1912-14. The earliest remains found dated to C13, with alterations in C14 and C15. The main building was moated on three sides and bounded to the north by the Thames. No surface remains are now visible. (PastScape)

A plan of the Bishops residence at Sonning was drawn up by Keyser and Brakespear following excavations at the site between 1912 and 1914. The earliest works found in-situ date from the 13th century, when the house would appear to have consisted of a range running parallel to and on the south bank of the Thames with a first floor hall, chapel and solar and kitchen and offices beneath. The building was enlarged in the 14th century, and in 1337 Bishop Robert Wyvill obtained a license to crenellate. The house was defended by a moat on three sides and by the river on the north. A new hall with porch and oriel was added to the thirteenth century block either in the 15th century or in the 14th century and remodelled in the 15th century. The great gatehouse was rebuilt in Henry VII's reign with the walls surrounding the forecourt, and possibly the water gate on the north. Little is known of the house following the manor of Sonning and Eye being given to the crown in 1574, but ultimately it seems to have been allowed to fall into decay and a new house built to the south-ward with the old materials. (Berkshire Archaeology HER)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1337 Aug 30 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).
A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1377 July 20.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 244651.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00868.00.000.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- David Nash Ford's Historic Buildings of Berkshire
  Wikipedia entry
  David and Margaret's Royal Berkshire History for kids
Books
- Smith, P.L., 2013, The Bishop's Palace at Salisbury (Reading: Spire Books) p. 180-2
  Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 3 Southern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 157-8, 627-9
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 123, 129, 136, 167, 168, 185
  Page, Wm and Ditchfield, P.H. (eds), 1923, VCH Berkshire Vol. 3 p. 211, 223 (manorial history online transcription
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 411 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Hull, Graham and Hall, Melanie, 1998-2003, 'Excavation of medieval features at St Andrews church vicarage, Sonning, Berkshire' Berkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 76 p. 73-93
  Hatherley, J.M. and Cantor, L.M., 1979-80, 'The Medieval Parks of Berkshire' Berkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 70 p. 77
  Long, E.T., 1940, 'The Medieval Domestic Architecture in Berkshire, Part I' Berkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 44 p. 108-9 online copy
  Keyser, C.E. and Brakspear, H., 1916, 'Notes on excavations carried out on the site of the palace of the Bishop of Salisbury at Sonning' Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 22 p. 2-21 (A full excavation report with prints and plans not just 'notes') online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1895, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1334-38) Vol. 3 p. 498 online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1895, Calendar of Patent Rolls Richard II (1377-81) Vol. 1 p. 9, 10 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 27
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 109 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Thames Valley Archaeological Services, 2006, Bishop's Close, Sonning Lane, Sonning, Berkshire - An Archaeological Desk-based Assessment
  Payne, Naomi, 2003, The medieval residences of the bishops of Bath and Wells, and Salisbury (PhD Thesis University of Bristol) p. 193-98 (available via EThOS)

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >	PastScape	County HER
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio