In 1584, the island, having escheated to the Crown, was granted by Queen Elizabeth I to the Bishop of Ross.

After 1066 William I granted it to the Bishop of Lincoln.

The first documentary evidence comes from 737 when the manor was granted to the Bishop of Winchester.

Wednesday and Saturday markets in the town were established during the period 1156-1329 when a series of charters granted to the Bishop of Lincoln made them possible.

The settlement was formed in 930 when Athelstan of England granted the lands to the Bishop of Durham.

Ealdred in turn granted Sedgeberrow to the Bishop of Worcester.

These estates were granted to the Bishop of Sherborne to whose diocese Cornwall had been added.

The church was granted by Montacute Priory to the Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1339.

This could refer to the area being extra land granted to the Bishop of Durham by King Canute in around 1020.

In 1553, Queen Mary, by letters patent, granted it to the Bishop of London and his successors.