A badly worn carved slab which was once used as a door lintel at Bishopscourt. Each face is decorated with an inscribed shafted wheel-headed cross, one with a dog and interlace pattern. It was found in 1893 and measures 190 centimetres by 58 centimetres and is 14 centimetres thick. It is numbered as Manx Cross No. 94. It has been said to include a runic inscription, but modern authorities doubt this.
See also Manx Cross 94.
The site of a Bronze Age burial discovered in 1888. It was excavated by Miss A.M. Crellin and reported in 1894. The site was re-excavated by Dr Larch S. Garrad in 1986. A skeleton was found within a stone cist.
An Ordnance Survey recorded noted in 1955 that on the top of a large, apparently natural mound, was a prostrate stone slab orientated east-west which may be a burial cist. The stone measures 1.0 metre by 0.6 metres by 0.1 metres with minor depressions around the sides perhaps indicating subsidence. It is partly grass covered. It is not clear which cist of two cists (0408.20 and 0408.30) this refers to.
The site of a burial cist excavated by Dr Larch S. Garrad in 1986. The cist with an extended inhumation burial and a Food-Vessel by the side of a skeleton situated about twenty-four metres south of a standing stone (0408.00) was found in 1888. The food-vessel is in the Manx Museum, Accession No. 1954-0995, donated by Bishop Bardsley.
Medieval towerhouse.
The site may have been the seat of the bishops of Sodor and Man from as early as the 13th century, though no physical evidence from this period has been identified. Bishop Simon died at the nearby church of St Michael in 1247.
The earliest structural evidence is the 14th century towerhouse, which has been ascribed to Bishop Duncan. A fortified residence would have been appropriate at the time, as the Island was a target for Scottish raiding. In its original form, it seems likely that the tower comprised a basement, perhaps two residential storeys, and a defensible fighting top.
Bishop's palace.
The earliest structural evidence is the 14th century towerhouse, which has been ascribed to Bishop Duncan.
A series of detailed sketches made in the mid-17th century by a skilled landscape artist show that by this time the bishop's tower house had been extended by the addition of a medieval chapel to the north-east and a sizeable hall of four bays to the south-west. The grounds were also laid out as formal gardens.
Further alterations to the house followed at the hands of a succession of bishops. Bishop Wilson remodelled and extended the hall c. 1700, Bishop Crigan renovated the towerhouse in the 1790s, Bishop Murray altered the hall and replaced the chapel from 1814 and Bishop Powys rebuilt the chapel again in 1858; a fire in 1893 occasioned further rebuilding.
17th century Civil War earthwork fortification. The see fell vacant in 1643 upon the death of Bishop Parr, and the site was occupied until 1651 by James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby and Lord of Man.
The earl constructed a sub-rectangular earthen fort around the house, consisting of a rampart and ditch with a bastion at each corner. The fort is slightly assymmetrical, with maximum dimensions of 160m.
The fort still survives in a substantially intact condition on the north-east and north-west sides, but is less obvious to the south where the creation of a road and landscaping within the gardens have masked the earthworks.
Medieval carved stone cross slab.
Following a fire at Bishopscourt in 1893, rebuilding works led to the discovery of Manx Cross 94, found re-used as a lintel over a doorway.
Medieval carved stone cross slab.
Repair works to a 19th century part of Bishops court in 1990 resulted in the discovery of a large and worn fragment of a slab (Manx Cross 194) in use as a lintel.
This has been suggested to be the site of a possible burial cist, where the remains of a cist constructed of quartz boulders has been reported. No stones or traces of such a cist have been noted in the area in modern times.
The site at which a medieval cross formerly stood. It was of 10th or 11th century date and bore a runic inscription. It is thought to now be kept with the collection of crosses at St Michael's church, Kirk Michael. The site where it is thought to have stood is now covered by a lawn and it has not been confirmed that the cross formerly stood there. At St Michael's Church, the stone is numbered 94 by a bronze plaque and interpreted as having served as a door lintel at Bishop's Court during the 19th century.
This large and worn fragment of a slab was found at Bishopscourt (IOMHER 0423.00) in 1990 used as a lintel in a 19th century part of the house. It is carved with spirals and would appear to have formed a panel to the side of the cross shaft.
This badly-worn slab was found re-used as a lintel over a doorway at Bishopscourt (IOMHER 0423.00) in the 19th century. There is evidence to suggest that the doorway was formed during the tenure of Bishop Murray (1814-1827). The slab bears an equal-limbed cross surrounded by a broad ring on both faces. On one face the shaft can be traced, the borders of which end in spirals. The shaft still bears the remains of a plait and the ring is decorated with a loop-twist. To one side of the shaft is a crouched dog-headed figure sat upon the volute and facing away from the cross-shaft. Below the volute is an animal which appears to be a hound. The remainder of the face is too badly worn to allow other figures or decoration to be identified with certainty.
On the other face the ring is decorated with a plait-of-four. Faint traces of interlace just below the ring, and a man on horseback armed with a spear at the foot of the slab, can both be seen in the panel to the left of the shaft. One edge is well preserved, displaying a plait-of-three within a beaded panel.
Modern watermill and associated water management.
A watermill is presumed to have existed at Bishopscourt farm for at least a century and a half on the basis of the presence of a 220m-long leat marked on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1869. Modern mapping (2017) annotates the building as 'Mill (Disused)'.
The leat, controlled by a sluice marked near the northern end of the dam, draws water from the lower of two millponds in the Bishop's Glen. It leads to the rear of an outbuilding (centred at the grid reference provided) forming part of the farmstead, and a short tailrace is shown issuing from the gable of the building, from where it rejoins the main watercourse. An additional channel is shown running along the rear wall of the building to carry any waterflow when the mill was not in use.
The mill presumably served latterly to process farm produce. Any predecessor on the site may have additionally processed grain collected as the bishop's tithe. A document recording a parochial perambulation in 1677 mentions the existence of a mill. It is noteworthy that the water supply for the mill is derived from an extensive catchment consisting of at least four watercourses.
Water storage is provided by two millponds situated in the Bishop's Glen to the south-east. As well as the sluice controlling the mill leat, a second sluice at the southern end of the dam impounding the lower and larger of the two ponds governs the flow of water through the glen, which by at least the middle of the eighteenth century had been landscaped.
Modern watermill.
A watermill is presumed to have existed at Bishopscourt farm for at least a century and a half on the basis of the presence of a 220m-long leat marked on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1869.
The leat, controlled by a sluice marked near the northern end of the dam, draws water from the lower of two millponds in the Bishop's Glen. It leads to the rear of an outbuilding (centred at the grid reference provided) forming part of the farmstead, and a short tailrace is shown issuing from the gable of the building, from where it rejoins the main watercourse. An additional channel is shown running along the rear wall of the building to carry any waterflow when the mill was not in use.
Modern mapping (2017) annotates the building as 'Mill (Disused)'.
The mill presumably served latterly to process farm produce. Any predecessor on the site may have additionally processed grain collected as the bishop's tithe. A document recording a parochial perambulation in 1677 mentions the existence of a mill.
Modern mill leat.
A watermill is presumed to have existed at Bishopscourt farm for at least a century and a half on the basis of the presence of a 220m-long leat marked on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1869. The grid reference provided marks the midpoint of its course.
The leat, controlled by a sluice marked near the northern end of the dam, draws water from the lower of two millponds in the Bishop's Glen. It leads to the rear of an outbuilding forming part of the farmstead, and a short tailrace is shown issuing from the gable of the building, from where it rejoins the main watercourse. An additional channel is shown running along the rear wall of the building to carry any waterflow when the mill was not in use.
Modern millpond.
A watermill is presumed to have existed at Bishopscourt farm for at least a century and a half on the basis of the presence of a 220m-long leat marked on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1869.
Water storage is provided by a millpond situated in the Bishop's Glen to the south-east, and centred at the grid reference provided. The millpond is impounded by a dam across the width of the valley. It covered an area of three-quarters of an acre in 1869.
A sluice at the northern end of the dam controls the flow of water down the leat, whilst a second sluice at the southern end of the dam governs the flow of water through the glen, which by at least the middle of the eighteenth century had been landscaped.
The mill presumably served latterly to process farm produce. Any predecessor on the site may have additionally processed grain collected as the bishop's tithe. A document recording a parochial perambulation in 1677 mentions the existence of a mill. It is noteworthy that the water supply for the mill is derived from an extensive catchment consisting of at least four watercourses.
Modern millpond.
A watermill is presumed to have existed at Bishopscourt farm for at least a century and a half on the basis of the presence of a 220m-long leat marked on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1869.
Additional water storage is provided by a smaller millpond located immediately upstream of the main reservoir (see PRN 1105.30) and centred at the grid reference provided. The millpond is impounded by a dam across the width of the valley. It covered an area of 0.2 acres in 1869, and derived its water from three of the four watercourses supplying the catchment.
A channel at the northern end of the dam connects to the lower pond.
The mill presumably served latterly to process farm produce, though any predecessor on the site may have additionally processed grain collected as the bishop's tithe. The millponds also served to regulate the waterflow through the landscaped grounds of the Bishop's Glen.
