Wolsingham Manor of the Bishop of Durham (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Chapel Walls

In the civil parish of Wolsingham.
In the historic county of Durham.
Modern Authority of Durham.
1974 county of County Durham.
Medieval County of County Palatinate of Durham.

OS Map Grid Reference: NZ07693769
Latitude 54.73413° Longitude -1.88208°

Wolsingham Manor of the Bishop of Durham has been described as a certain Palace.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Traces of a moat of a residential manor of the bishop of Durham with an attached deer park. A series of earthworks adjoining the main complex at the Bishop's Manor House.

WOLSINGHAM : CHAPEL WALLS. A rectangular enclosure about 220 feet north to south by 200 feet east to west, surrounded by a bank and ditch, with, in places, a low outer bank. The ground falls slightly on all sides except the north, and the bank is most prominent on the east. Along this side runs the main road from Wolsingham to Lanchester, having to the east of it a small stream following at this point the line of the road. The north end of the enclosure has been destroyed by gardens, and its former extent is shown on the plan by a broken line. In the south- west corner is a rectangular site which appears to mark the position of a building, and near it, in the south-west angle, is a well. (VCH)

It is not clear whether they are the outer enclosures of the Manor House, or house sites from the shrunken part of the village. The remains consist of a rectangular enclosure c.220ft x 200ft surrounded by a bank and ditch with, in places, an outer bank. The north end of the enclosure has been destroyed by probable landscaping to the north where the moated manor is believed to be located. 18th and 19th century antiquarians attribute the site to a failed monastic foundation begun by Henry Pudesy, the nephew of Bishop Pudesy a late 12th century Prince Bishop of Durham. (Keys to the Past)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1002334, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number du96
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 20090.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) D2505.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- The Durham Record
Books
- Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 1 Northern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 51-4
  Hildyard, E.J.W., 1947, Archaeology of Weardale: Third annual summary of research p. 9
  Gould, Chalkley, 1905, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Durham Vol. 1 (London) p. 360 online copy
  Fordyce, W., 1857, History and antiquities of the county palatine of Durham (Durham) Vol. 1 p. 632 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Pearson, N.F., 1978, 'Wolsingham Excavations 1977' CBA Group 3 News Bulletin (ser2) Vol. 5 p. 6
  Wooler, 1904, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (ser3) Vol. 1 p. 139
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Payne, Naomi, 2003, The medieval residences of the bishops of Bath and Wells, and Salisbury (PhD Thesis University of Bristol) Appendix B: List of Medieval Bishop's Palaces in England and Wales (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.

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