Bisham Berkshire Family History Guide
Bisham is an Ancient Parish in the county of Berkshire.
Alternative names: Bustleham, Bysham Montague
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1560
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1606
Nonconformists include:
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
BISHAM, or Bysham-Montague, anciently Bustleham, a parish in Cookham district, Berks; on the river Thames, 2 miles W by N of Cookham r. station, and 4 NW of Maidenhead. It has a post office, of the name of Bisham, under Maidenhead. Acres, 2,520. Real property, £5,491. Pop., 665. Houses, 136. The property is divided among a few.
Bisham Abbey is the seat of G. Vansittart, Esq. A pointed doorway, an octagonal tower, and a hall are part of an ancient monastic edifice; and the rest of the mansion is of the ancient style of the Tudor architecture. The hall was tastefully restored in 1859; and has at one end a dark oak gallery, at the other, a beautiful ancient lancet window. The scenery of the grounds of the mansion is very fine, and has engaged the pencil of some eminent artists.
A preceptory of Knights Templars was early founded here; passed, in the reign of Stephen, to other knights; was converted into an Augustinian priory, in 1338, by Montacute, Earl of Salisbury; was changed into a Benedictine Abbey, a short time before the dissolution, by Henry VIII.; was afterwards given, by that king., to his repudiated wife, Anne of Cleves; was conveyed by her to Sir Philip Hobby, in exchange for his house in Kent; and was for three years the residence, under its owner’s guardianship, of the Princess Elizabeth, afterwards Queen Elizabeth.
The barn of the priory, the old moat round the garden, and the spring which supplied the Princess Elizabeth’s bath, still remain. There was an extensive copper factory at Temple-mills; but it was recently converted into a paper factory.
The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £156. Patron, G. Vansittart, Esq. The church shows some traces of Norman architecture; but was destructively modernized about 1810, and restored in better taste a few years ago; and it contains some grand monuments of the Hobbys. Many persons of high historical note, especially Earls of Salisbury, Neville the king-maker, the famous Marquis of Montague, and Edward the last Plantagenet, were buried in the Abbey; but the monuments of all have disappeared.
The vicarage of Stubbings is a separate charge. There is a national school.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850
Bisham, 2 miles N.W. Maidenhead. P. 659.
Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850.
Parish Registers
Marriage Licences and Allegations
London Marriage Licences and Allegations 1521 to 1869
The following have been extracted from London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869.
Abbreviations. — B. Bishop of London’s Office; D. Dean and Chapter of Westminster; F. Faculty Office of Archbishop of Canterbury; V. Registry of the Vicar-General of Canterbury.
Harvey, William, vicar of Marlow, Bucks, bachelor, 35, and Margaret Goodwyn, of Henley-on-Thames, co. Oxon, spinster, 22, with consent of her mother, — Goodwyn, widow — at Bisham, co. Berks, or … . 19 Sept. 1687. F.
Hoby, John, esq., about 18, son of Sir John Hoby, bart., of Bisham Abbey, Berks, who alleges, and Elizabeth Hoby, of same, spinster, about 19, her parents dead, with consent of her grandmother, Elizabeth Standen — at All Hallows Staining, St. Michael, Wood Street, or St. Bride, London. 21 Dec. 1686. F.
Quarles, Roger, of Bisham, Berks, bachelor, 32, and Sarah Wade, of same, spinster, 26, with her father’s consent — at Old Windsor, Berks. 21 April, 1671. F.
Source: London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869; Edited by Joseph Foster; London 1887
Bisham Parish Registers 1560-1812
Parish Records
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Administration
- County: Berkshire
- Civil Registration District: Cookham
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Berkshire
- Diocese: Pre-1836 – Salisbury, Post-1835 – Oxford
- Rural Deanery: Reading
- Poor Law Union: Cookham
- Hundred: Beynhurst
- Province: Canterbury