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Summary

SITE OF MEDIEVAL PRECEPTORY AND SETTLEMENT REMAINS, TEMPLE GARTH

Full description

PRN 50259
The earthwork complex of Temple Garth, lying on the south-west edge of Willoughton village, marks the site of the richest of the English preceptories of the Knights Templars. The preceptory was founded between 1135 and 1154 by Simon de Canci and Roger de Bussei, the endowment being the greater part of a Domesday manor in Willoughton which had passed to Anfrid de Canceio in the early 12th century. Through its extensive early endowment Willoughton Preceptory became an economic and administrative centre of Templar estates throughout northern Lincolnshire. When the Templars were suppressed in 1312, the property was temporarily managed by a warden, after which the estate passed to the Hospitallers. The preceptory was dissolved in 1540 and in 1545 the site was granted to John Cokke and John Thurgood, who in the same year alienated the property to John Sutton, and the site became part of a working farm. The remains of the preceptory, which are themselves imposed on part of an earlier settlement at Willoughton, are therefore overlain by traces of post medieval occupation including farm buildings and dwellings. The preceptory buildings may have included a chapel (mentioned in 1392); a dovecote is mentioned in 1338, 1535, and in 1575-76. The gardens are mentioned in 1338, in 1535 as orchards and gardens, and in 1575-76 constituted 10 gardens and 6 orchards. A mill is recorded in 1185, and a windmill in 1338, 1535 and 1575-76; it may have been located on top of the limestone escarpment like the post mill shown on the enclosure award plan of 1769. The main precinct of the preceptory occupies a roughly rectangular enclosure around Temple Garth farmhouse, defined on the west and north by a deep water- filled moat and on the south and south-east by a similar moat, now dry. To the south of the inner precinct, a possible extension of the moat is slighter in scale but similar in form, now dry, and enclosing 2 rectangular closes. Further south are 3 more ditched plots or closes to the south of an east to west hollow-way; and a further 2 large closes to the north of the hollow-way may also have formed part of the preceptory complex. See Everson, Taylor and Dunn for a detailed history and description. {3}
The monument includes the remains of the preceptory's inner precinct moat with an area of building remains, a series of ditched enclosures representing the remains of the preceptory's outer precinct, and associated earthworks including traces of an earlier settlement and a representative area of ridge and furrow cultivation. There is a full description in the scheduling document. {8}

<1> William Page (ed), 1906, The Victoria County History: Lincolnshire - Volume 2, VOL 2 pp210-211 (Bibliographic Reference). SLI1104.

<2> D. Knowles and R.N. Hadcock, 1971, Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales - Second Edition, pp293,296,301,308 (Bibliographic Reference). SLI1089.

<3> P.L. Everson, C.C. Taylor and C.J. Dunn, 1991, Change and Continuity: Rural Settlement in North-West Lincolnshire, pp22,43-4,47,218-220;ARCH (Bibliographic Reference). SLI1063.

<4> Dorothy M. Owen, 1971, Church and Society in Medieval England, VOL 5 pp71,153 (Bibliographic Reference). SLI1064.

<5> OS CARD INDEX, SK 99 SW:3,1964, FEATHERSTON K J A (Index). SLI2846.

<6> J.K.S. St Joseph, 1945-79, Cambridge University Collection, JG 75-76,1952, (Aerial Photograph). SLI175.

<7> Paul Everson, 1975-90, RCHM, 2953/16,1980, (Aerial Photograph). SLI196.

<8> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 1994, SCHEDULING DOCUMENT 22618, MPP 22 (Scheduling Record). SLI4353.

<9> Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1992-1996, National Mapping Programme, SK9293:LI.618.1.1-8,1994, (Map). SLI3613.

<10> COLE, C., 1993-2002, InnerVisions Business Presentations, 179/0597/28,1997, (Aerial Photograph). SLI181.

Monument Types

• MOAT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• PRECEPTORY (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• RELIGIOUS HOUSE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument

Sources and further reading

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