Bisley is a village in
Gloucestershire,
England, approximately east of
Stroud. The parish is today united administratively with the adjoining parish of
Lypiatt and the two are usually referred to as
Bisley-with-Lypiatt. The manor was formerly extensive, including the villages of Stroud and
Chalford, as well as
Thrupp,
Oakridge,
Bussage, Througham and
Eastcombe.
History and Architecture
The area is noted for the wealth of its Cotswold stone houses of architectural and historic interest. They include
Lypiatt Park, formerly the home of
Judge H.B.D. Woodcock and then of the late
Modernist sculptor
Lynn Chadwick;
Nether Lypiatt Manor, formerly the home of
Violet Gordon-Woodhouse and
Prince and Princess Michael of Kent;
Daneway (near
Sapperton, but within the parish of Bisley); Over Court; Througham Court (repaired in 1929 for the novelist Sir
Michael Sadleir by
Norman Jewson); and Jaynes Court, formerly the home of Simon Charles Henry Rufus Isaacs, 4th
Marquess of Reading (b. 1942).The village prison, which had originally been located in the Church yard, was replaced in 1824 by a two-cell
lock-up where drunks were kept overnight, and petty criminals were detained before appearing before the
Magistrate. This was often followed by a spell in the
stocks or
pillory.This building still stands, minus its heavy oak doors.
Notable residents
Bisley since 1982 has been...
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