Bisham Abbey is a Grade Ilistedmanor house atBisham in the English county ofBerkshire. The name is taken from the now lostmonastery which once stood alongside. This original Bisham Abbey was previously namedBisham Priory, and was the traditional resting place of manyEarls of Salisbury. The complex surrounding the extant manorial buildings is now one of threeNational Sports Centres run on behalf ofSport England and is used as a residential training camp base for athletes and teams and community groups alike. It is a wedding venue with a licence for civil ceremony and is used forconferences,team building events, corporate parties and private functions.
The manor house was built around 1260 as a community house for twoKnights Templar. There was substantial rebuilding and alteration in later centuries.[1] When the Templars were suppressed in 1307, KingEdward II took over the manorial rights, granting them to various relatives.In 1310 the building was used as a place of confinement forQueen Elizabeth of the Scots, wife of KingRobert the Bruce, along with her stepdaughterPrincess Marjorie and sister–in–law, LadyChristine of Carrick. They had been captured on the Isle ofRathlin during theScottish Wars of Succession, and were placed in the charge of the King'sYeoman, John Bentley, for two years, until removed toWindsor.
In 1335 the manor was bought byWilliam Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury and in 1337 he founded Bisham Priory alongside, within the year of his death 1344, and he was buried there.
Henry VIII granted the manor house toAnne of Cleves as part of her divorce settlement from him, and it was later bought by theHoby family, who lived there until 1768.Elizabeth I was a regular visitor in the time of the Hoby family.Anne of Denmark stayed in August 1610.[2] Her arms with the mottoLa Mia Grandezza dal Eccelso and the arms of her husbandJames VI and I featured in the stained glass of the parish church, and were later installed in the house.[3] There is a long-standing legend that the house is haunted by the ghost ofDame Elizabeth Hoby, as she purportedly beat her son to death for blotting his copy-book.[4][5][6]
Bisham Priory was built for theAugustinian Canons. The foundation stone laid in 1337, and the brass plaque once affixed to it, can still be seen atDenchworth. When the founder, the 1st Earl of Salisbury, died, he was buried at the priory, as were many later Earls of Salisbury, includingRichard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who was buried in April 1471.
Despite holding some relics ofSaints Cosmas and Damian, the priory never really became a centre ofpilgrimage: many other churches also held relics of the same saints, including two different locations which both claimed to have their skulls.
Bisham Priory wasdissolved on 5 July 1537, but six months later, on 18 December, it was refounded as aBenedictineabbey. This was not to last though as it was finallydissolved on 19 June 1538.[7] Theabbot of Bisham, John Cordery, is said to have cursed the building thus: "As God is my witness, this property shall ne’er be inherited by two direct successors, for its sons will be hounded by misfortune", as he was dragged from it. Nothing remains of the abbey church or its associated buildings.
The manor house is now run bySerco Leisure Operating Ltd on behalf ofSport England, and is one of threeNational Sports Centres. Gym membership is open to the public.
The facilities include:-
The Englandassociation football men's senior team trained at Bisham Abbey for 40 years, up until early 2001. England Rugby had their training base at Bisham Abbey until 2005, when they moved to theUniversity of Bath. Several football teams have trained at Bisham Abbey, most recentlyBarcelona andPortsmouth before their 2008 FA Cup victory. For the last few years Non-LeagueMarlow United F.C. use the pitches as their home ground. The facilities are frequently used by elite athletes and community groups for residential training camps such as the Rugby Sevens and England Hockey. There is an International High performance Tennis centre based on site managed by WIN Tennis. Some professional rugby players use the gym facilities. In February 2006 theEngland futsal team played two international friendlies againstFinland at Bisham Abbey. Due to their regular training ground (Beversbrook) being out of use due to the weatherSwindon Town F.C. have been using the centre (as of February 2020) while they attempt to find a more permanent facility.[8]
Bisham Abbey is described inJerome K. Jerome's 1889 humorous novelThree Men in a Boat.[9]
During theNationwide Building Society's summer advertising campaign of 2010, when they were official sponsors of theEngland football team at theWorld Cup, one of their television advertisements featured the England team playing on one of the pitches at Bisham Abbey. Theparish church was clearly visible in the background.
From Marlow up to Sonning is even fairer yet. Grand old Bisham Abbey, whose stone walls have rung to the shouts of the Knights Templars, and which, at one time, was the home of Anne of Cleves and at another of Queen Elizabeth, is passed on the right bank just half a mile above Marlow Bridge. Bisham Abbey is rich in melodramatic properties. It contains a tapestry bed-chamber, and a secret room hid high up in the thick walls. The ghost of the Lady Holy, who beat her little boy to death, still walks there at night, trying to wash its ghostly hands clean in a ghostly basin.
51°33′24″N0°46′47″W / 51.556635°N 0.779657°W /51.556635; -0.779657