BISHAM, a parish in the hundred of BEYNHURST,
county of BERKS, 4 miles (N.W.) from Maidenhead,
containing 707 inhabitants. The living is a discharged
vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Berks, and diocese of
Salisbury, rated in the king's books at £7-13. 1., and
endowed with £200 and £20 per annum private benefaction,
£600 royal bounty, and £900 parliamentary grant,
and in the patronage of G.Vansittart,Esq. The church,
dedicated to All Saints, is pleasantly situated close to
the river Thames, the banks of which are adorned with
interesting scenery, and many pleasing seats. The
rolling of copper into sheets, and the making of copper
bolts for the navy, and of pans and other vessels in
copper, are carried on here to a considerable extent.
Temple mills, esteemed among the most complete and
powerful of the kind in the kingdom, received this name
from having been in the possession of the Knights
Templars, who established a preceptory here, on receiving
a grant of the manor from Robert de Ferrariis, in
the. reign of Stephen. This institution, on the dissolution
of the society, was succeeded by an Augustine
priory, founded in 1338, by William de Montacute,
Earl of Salisbury, the revenue of which, in the 26th of
Henry VIII., amounted to £327. 4. 6. It was surrendered
in 1536, was re-founded by the king, for a mitred
abbot and thirteen Benedictine monks, and was
finally dissolved on the 19th of June, 1538: the abbey
was frequently visited by Henry VIII., and also by Queen
Elizabeth, who resided here some time, a large state
apartment being still called the Queen's council-chamber;
but a very small portion only of the conventual
buildings can be traced in the mansion which now
occupies its site.