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The West Berkshire Historic Environment Record (HER) is the primary index of the physical remains of past human activity in the unitary authority of West Berkshire Council. Limited elements of the West Berkshire HER are available online via the Heritage Gateway, therefore it is not suitable for use in desk-based studies associated with development, planning and land-use changes, and does not meet the requirements of paragraph 194 of the National Planning Policy Framework (2021: 56). Please read the important guidance on the use of the West Berkshire HER data. For these purposes and all other commercial enquiries, please contact the Archaeology team and complete our online HER enquiry form.



HER Number MWB15833
Record Type Place
Name Greenham Preceptory - unknown exact location

Grid Reference SU 486 655
Map Sheet SU46NE
Parish Greenham, West Berkshire
Newbury, West Berkshire
Thatcham, West Berkshire
Map:Show location on Streetmap

Summary

Documentary evidence that the village of Greenham was given to the Knights Hospitallers of St John in the medieval period; no definite location can be given for the preceptory

Monument Type(s):

Full Description

Greenham Manor was given to the Order of the Knights of St John in c1180 by Matilda, Countess of Clare.

Money <1>, VCH <3> and Garlick <4> refer to an original document by Prior Phillip de Thame, giving an account of the property belonging to the Order of the Hospitallers in England in 1338. The translation referring to Greenham lists a manor with a garden, a dovecote and 360 acres of land (pasture and woodland).

Money <2> puts the site of the preceptory next to the 'Castle' on the wharf, but the reasoning behind this is not clear. Knowles and Hadcock in a list of Knights Hospitallers's houses <5> give more details about the positions held at Greenham. They also note that this house was refounded by Queen Mary.

Other research has suggested the preceptory was at Pigeon's Farm, Greenham <7>.

Sources and further reading

<01>Money, W. 1859-1878. 1859-1878 COLLECTION OF NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS. Acc No 6599, 19/11/1877. [Unpublished document / SWB12926]
<02>Newbury District Field Club. 1872-75. TRANS NEWBURY DISTRICT FIELD CLUB 1872-75 VOL 2. 2. pp252-4 The Site of the Castle of Newbury by Walter Money (from NWN October 1877). [Article in serial / SWB10336]
<03>Ditchfield and Page (eds). 1907. Victoria County History (VCH) Berks II 1907. Vol 2. P88-9. [Monograph / SWB11244]
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol2 (Accessed 24/09/2015)
<04>Garlick, V F M. 1982. When the Knights of St John lived at Greenham. [Article in serial / SWB12927]
<05>Knowles, D and Hadcock, R N. 1953. Medieval Religious Houses in England and Wales. p243. [Monograph / SWB11245]
<06>Birch, W de G. 188?. British Museum Catalogue of Seals. p4561-4563. [Unpublished document / SWB13074]
<07>Leamon, R (and Brimpton Parish Research Association) ©. 05/04/2005. A Landscape Study of some Knights Hospitaller Sites. [Unpublished document / SWB14531]
<08>Dils, J and Yates, M (ed). 2012. An Historical Atlas of Berkshire (2nd Edition). p46-47 Religious houses of medieval Berkshire. [Monograph / SWB148708]

Related Monuments

MWB3449Conjectural site of Greenham preceptory (Monument)
MWB16490Pigeon's Farm, Greenham (Monument)
MWB3694SHALFORD FARM - Preceptory (Monument)

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

  • None recorded