SLHS: John de Coutances

Disclaimer

Whilst some care has been taken to check externally linked websites no responsibility is offered nor implied for the suitability, legality or reliability of content therein.

Statements are made here to the best of our knowledge. However no statement here should be regarded as irrefutable fact. Please contact us if you consider otherwise.

The Powerful Bishop

In mediaeval England bishoprics sprawled widely. Some were divided into dioceses and some towns were under direct rule - as was the case in Stratford. John was never a resident of Stratford but is included here because of the far reaching decisions that he made in favour of it.

In 1196, by sheer coincidence, he was ordained Bishop in the Cistercian Stratford Abbey, East London (the fifth largest in England) by Archbishop Of Canterbury Hubert Walter. The following year after his death he was succeeded by Bishop Mauger Archdeacon of Capévreux a man often falling foul of things not his fault.

Sets Out Grid Pattern Of Streets

By what few accounts exist after ordination John was a very busy man -perhaps he sensed his rather impending demise. In his wisdom he recognised the important location of Stratford and the excellent Ecclesiastical College that existed around the Holy Trinity Church by the river there.

In 1196 John decided that the land where the Roman encampment was, in present day Bridgetown, was too low lying and prone to destruction when the river was in flood. He therefore decided upon a new area of higher ground, on the other side of the river, and set aside burgages, on a grid pattern, as the basis for a new town.

Street Names

Street names were not imposed but grew as usage required. For instance one of the streets was far wider than others and so Stratford’s first cattle market was held there and became known by the name we use today: Rother Street. A rother was a Middle English name for an ox. For further information like this see: Street Names.

No maps are available yet but one from 1851 (right) shows that at that time the town remained much as it had done when he first set it out.

Further Information..