Bisley is a village in Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, approximately 4 miles (6 km) east of Stroud

Stroud

Stroud a town and civil parish in the county of Gloucestershire, England.Stroud may also refer to:*Stroud, New South Wales, Australia*Stroud, Ontario, Canada*Stroud , Gloucestershire, UK*Stroud...

. The parish is today united administratively with the adjoining parish of Lypiatt

Lypiatt

Lypiatt is a small village in Gloucestershire, England, approximately east of Stroud. The parish is united administratively with the adjoining parish of Bisley and the two are usually referred to as Bisley-with-Lypiatt....

 and the two are usually referred to as Bisley-with-Lypiatt

Bisley-with-Lypiatt

Bisley-with-Lypiatt is a civil parish in the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England. It had a population of 2107 in 2001. It includes Bisley, Lypiatt, Eastcombe and Oakridge....

. The manor was formerly extensive, including the villages of Stroud and Chalford

Chalford

Chalford is a village in the Frome Valley of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. It is about 8 km upstream of Stroud. It gives its name to Chalford parish, which covers the villages of Chalford, Chalford Hill, France Lynch, Bussage and Brownshill, spread over 2 mi² of the...

, as well as Thrupp, Oakridge

Oakridge, Gloucestershire

Oakridge is a village in Gloucestershire, England. The parish church is St. Bartholomew's Church. It is just on the outskirts of Stroud, Gloucestershire....

, Bussage

Bussage

Bussage is a village in Gloucestershire, England in the district of Stroud.-Geography:There is an older part to the village and a newer part...

, 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

Lypiatt Park

Lypiatt Park is a medieval and Tudor manor house with notable nineteenth-century additions in the parish of Bisley, near Stroud, in Gloucestershire, England. The grounds include a fine group of medieval outbuildings.-History and description:...

, formerly the home of Judge H.B.D. Woodcock and then of the late Modernist sculptor Lynn Chadwick

Lynn Chadwick

Lynn Russell Chadwick CBE was an English artist and sculptor trained as an architectural draughtsman,but began producing metal mobile sculpture during the 1940s. Chadwick was born in London and went to Merchant Taylor's School.Chadwick was commissioned to produce 3 works for the 1951 Festival of...

; Nether Lypiatt Manor

Nether Lypiatt Manor

Nether Lypiatt Manor is a compact, neo-Classical manor house situated in the parish of Thrupp, near Stroud in Gloucestershire. It was formerly the country home of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.-Description:...

, formerly the home of Violet Gordon-Woodhouse

Violet Gordon-Woodhouse

Violet Gordon-Woodhouse was an acclaimed British harpsichordist and clavichordist, highly influential in bringing both instruments back into fashion.-Family:...

 and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent

Prince Michael of Kent

Prince Michael of Kent is a grandson of King George V and Queen Mary, making him a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. He is also the first cousin once removed of Prince Phillip. Prince Michael occasionally carries out royal duties representing the Queen at some functions in Commonwealth realms outside...

; Daneway (near Sapperton

Sapperton

Sapperton may refer to:*Sapperton, Derbyshire, England*Sapperton, Gloucestershire, England**Sapperton Tunnel **Sapperton Canal Tunnel*Sapperton, Lincolnshire, England*Sapperton, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada...

, but within the parish of Bisley); Over Court; Througham Court (repaired in 1929 for the novelist Sir Michael Sadleir

Michael Sadleir

Michael Sadleir was a British novelist and book collector.-Biography:He was born Michael Sadler, though upon beginning to publish novels he altered the spelling of his name to differentiate himself from his father, Michael Ernest Sadler, a historian and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds...

 by Norman Jewson

Norman Jewson

Norman Jewson was an English architect-craftsman of the Arts and Crafts movement, who practiced in the Cotswolds. He was a distinguished, younger member of the group which had settled in Sapperton, Gloucestershire, a feudal village in rural southwest England, under the influence of Ernest Gimson...

); and Jaynes Court, formerly the home of Simon Charles Henry Rufus Isaacs, 4th Marquess of Reading

Marquess of Reading

Marquess of Reading is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1926 for Rufus Isaacs, 1st Earl of Reading, the former Viceroy of India and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales...

 (b. 1942).
The village prison, which had originally been located in the Church yard, was replaced in 1824 by a two-cell lock-up

Village lock-up

Village lock-ups are historic buildings that were used for the temporary detention of people in rural parts of England and Wales. They were often used for the confinement of drunks who were usually released the next day or to hold people being brought before the local magistrate. A typical village...

 where drunks were kept overnight, and petty criminals were detained before appearing before the Magistrate

Magistrate

A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...

. This was often followed by a spell in the stocks

Stocks

Stocks are devices used in the medieval and colonial American times as a form of physical punishment involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they were often exposed in a public place such as the site of a market to the scorn of those who passed by...

 or pillory

Pillory

The pillory was a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse, sometimes lethal...

.
This building still stands, minus its heavy oak doors.

Notable residents

Bisley since 1982 has been the home of Jilly Cooper

Jilly Cooper

Jilly Cooper OBE is an English author. She started her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. She is most famous for writing the Rutshire Chronicles.-Early life:Jilly Sallitt was born in Hornchurch,...

, one of England's most popular and prolific contemporary novelists, and her husband, Leo.

External links

• http://www.bisleyonline.net/
• BBC archive film of Bisley from 1985