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Summary

Site of manor house with late Saxon origins; 'Bigrave Place' in the 18th century

Monument Types

• MANOR HOUSE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1500 AD)

Protected Status

• SHINE: LIA/RB occupation and moated site, Bygrave

Full description

'The Palace' at Bygrave is so called due to supposed ownership by the bishop of Chester <1>, but this is essentially a misnomer. In 1086 the manor (a late Saxon estate) was in the hands of Robert de Limesey, who had recently been consecrated bishop of Chester and Lichfield. 'Robert de Limesey probably held the manor as his personal property, as he did North Mimms…. It is possible that Limesey died without heirs' <2>, as his lands then passed elsewhere, and by 1201 Bygrave was held by the de Somery family <2>. The manor house was never a bishops' palace. See <2> for the documentary history.

'No trace of the palace and no further information about it and it is not shown on the Enclosure Map (1808). The published site lies beneath the lawns of a modern house' <3>. This, The Moat House, was built before 1975 adjacent to the position of 'Palace (Site of)' marked in lettering denoting an antiquity on later 19th century OS mapping <5, 6>. This was at the eastern end of a walled garden which then served as a kitchen garden for the 16th-17th century farmhouse [1914] to the west. It is unclear when this house was demolished; it is not on the 1847 tithe map <4>, but may be present in schematic form on the 1766 map <7>. Certainly there appear to be surviving elements of formal post-medieval gardens, as well as the medieval moat (see [854]).

As the house is named 'Bigrave Place' on the 1766 map <7>, it is quite possible that the 'Palace' label is a 19th century elaboration.

Enclosure Map, 1808 (Cartographic material). SHT3248.

<1> Andrews, Herbert C, 1911, Bygrave: its owners, rectors, and legends; Trans East Herts Archaeol Soc 4/3, 279-99, - p280 (Article in serial). SHT5825.

<2> Page, W (ed.), 1912, VCH Hertfordshire vol.3, - p215 (Bibliographic reference). SHT2329.

<3> OS Records (Index). SHT8223.

<4> Tithe map and award, Bygrave, 1847 (map) (Cartographic material). SHT1377.

<5> OS 25 inch map, 1st edition, 1877 (Cartographic material). SHT8116.

<6> OS 25 inch map, 2nd edition (1897-1901), 1898 (Cartographic material). SHT8113.

<7> Dury & Andrews, 1766, A topographical map of Hartford-shire, from an actual survey… (Cartographic material). SHT3062.

Sources and further reading

Related records

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