Bisham Abbey

The manor house was built around 1260 as a community house for two Knights Templar, and saw substantial rebuilding and alteration in later centuries. When the Templars were suppressed in 1307, King Edward II took over the manorial rights and granted them to various relatives. In 1310 the house became a place of confinement for Queen Elizabeth of the Scots, wife of Robert the Bruce, together with her stepdaughter Princess Marjorie and her sister-in-law Lady Christine of Carrick. They had been captured on the Isle of Rathlin during the Scottish Wars of Succession. They were kept in the charge of the King's Yeoman, John Bentley, for two years before being removed to Windsor.

In 1335 the manor was bought by William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury, who in 1337 founded Bisham Priory alongside it for the Augustinian Canons. He was buried there on his death in 1344, as were many later Earls of Salisbury, among them Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, buried in April 1471. The priory held relics of Saints Cosmas and Damian, but it never really became a centre of pilgrimage, since many other churches also held relics of the same saints. The priory was dissolved on 5 July 1537 and refounded as a Benedictine abbey on 18 December that year. It was finally dissolved on 19 June 1538. The foundation stone, and the brass plaque once fixed to it, can still be seen at Denchworth.

Henry VIII granted the manor house to Anne of Cleves as part of her divorce settlement, and it was later bought by the Hoby family, who lived there until 1768. Elizabeth I was a regular visitor in their time, and Anne of Denmark stayed in August 1610. Her arms, bearing the motto La Mia Grandezza dal Eccelso, and those of her husband James VI and I once featured in the stained glass of the parish church and were later installed in the house.

Bisham Abbey is a working sports venue. The manor house is run by Serco Leisure Operating Ltd on behalf of Sport England as one of three National Sports Centres. The complex is used as a residential training base by elite athletes, teams and community groups. Facilities include a water-based international hockey pitch, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, squash courts, a nine-hole par three golf course, a sauna and steam room, and a large community gym. Gym membership is open to the public.

The house is also licensed for civil ceremonies as a wedding venue, and hosts conferences, team building events, corporate parties and private functions. Literary visitors may like to know that Bisham Abbey is described in Jerome K. Jerome's 1889 humorous novel Three Men in a Boat. Because the site is busy with training and events, it is sensible to check with the centre before planning a visit.