{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox historic site | name = South Witham Preceptory | native_name = | image =File:Temple Hill, South Witham - geograph.org.uk - 169488.jpg| | caption = Site of South Witham Preceptory at Temple Hill | alt= | locmapin =Lincolnshire | map_width = 250 | map_caption = Location in Lincolnshire | coordinates = {{coord|52.7744|-0.6251|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | location = Temple Hill | gbgridref =TF 08643032 | area = | elevation = | formed = | founded = 1164 or earlier | built = | demolished = After 1540 | rebuilt = | restored = | architect = | architecture = | visitation_num = | visitation_year = | governing_body = | designation1 = Ancient Monument | designation1_offname = | designation1_type = | designation1_criteria = | designation1_date = | delisted1_date = | designation1_parent = | designation1_number = 325499 | designation1_free1name = | designation1_free1value = | designation1_free2name = | designation1_free2value = | designation1_free3name = | designation1_free3value = | designation2 = | designation2_offname = | designation2_type = | designation2_criteria = | designation2_date = | delisted2_date = | designation2_parent = | designation2_number = | designation2_free1name = | designation2_free1value = | designation2_free2name = | designation2_free2value = | designation2_free3name = | designation2_free3value = }} '''Withham Preceptory''', one of the smallest Knights Templar preceptories in England, was founded, before 1164, at Temple Hill, near South Witham, Lincolnshire, and was abandoned in the early 14th century.<ref name="NatHer1007688">{{NHLE |num=1007688|desc=Remains of Knights Templar preceptory, watermill and fishponds, Witham|access-date=15 November 2013}}</ref> The site of the former preceptory at Temple Hill, South Witham. It 'has been largely under pasture' since the Knights Templar left in 1308.<ref name="pastscape"/>

==Founding and establishment== Margaret Percy and Hubert de Rie were "great benefactors, if not founders" of the preceptory,<ref name="TannerTanner1744">{{cite book|author1=Thomas Tanner|author2=John Tanner|title=Notitia Monastica|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7H1PAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA272|year=1744|publisher=Society for the Encouragement of Learning|page=272}}</ref> which began as "a simple hall with outbuildings" before 1164.<ref name="NatHer1007688"/> Development in the early 13th century led to a "regularly laid-out farmstead complex" comprising "two halls, a chapel, kitchens and agricultural and industrial buildings".<ref name="NatHer1007688"/> The site, which has the River Witham at the base of the hill, and the river's source, half a mile distant,<ref name="Moule1837">{{cite book|author=Thomas Moule|title=The English Counties Delineated|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=la0_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA195|year=1837|publisher=Virtue|page=195}}</ref> also included a water-mill, fishponds and "other water-control features".<ref name="NatHer1007688"/>

===Chapel=== The rectangular chapel, constructed between 1200 and 1220, was unusual for a Knights Templar preceptory,<ref name="swagchapel">{{cite web | url = http://community.lincolnshire.gov.uk/swag/section.asp?docId=75543 | title = Knights Templar Chapel | access-date = 2013-11-15 | work = South Witham Archeological Group | publisher = Lincolnshire County Council}}</ref> as the Templars typically built distinctive rounded churches, to resemble the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, a practice which "was unique in medieval England".<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.leicester.gov.uk/your-council-services/ep/planning/conservation/scheduledmonuments/scheduledmonumentslist/beaumontleyscastlehill/officialscheduleentry/ | title = Official Schedule Entry: Preceptory, boundary, two mounds, fishpond and dam at Beaumont Leys | access-date = 2013-11-15 | work = Leicester City Council}}</ref> Its size was around {{convert|12.8|by|5|m|ft}}, with a stairwell in the northwest corner, that may have led to a bell tower.<ref name="swagchapel"/> Two large footings, to the north of the altar, may be evidence of an Easter Sepulchre and a wall safe.<ref name="swagchapel"/> During 20th-century excavations, burial remains were found within the chapel: to the south, a body that had once been in a wooden coffin, the coffin having disintegrated over time, and, to the north, a body in a stone coffin without a lid.<ref name="swagchapel"/> A possibly corresponding stone coffin lid, dated to 1250, had been used, from around 1550, as part of a nearby footbridge over the River Witham, before being moved to the church of St John the Baptist at South Witham in 1905.<ref name="swagchapel"/>

==Late 13th century== In the late 13th century the hall and chapel were rebuilt, the farmstead complex was expanded and enclosed by a wall.<ref name="pastscape">{{cite PastScape |mnumber=325499 |access-date=15 November 2013}}</ref> The preceptory, at its largest, was: "Set about a great court, they had included a gatehouse on the north, a fine range of barns on the west, a domestic complex with hall, chambers, chapel and kitchen on the south-east, and a workshop area, with its ovens and kilns on the east."<ref name="SzarmachTavormina2013">{{cite book|author1=Paul E. Szarmach|author2=Teresa M. Tavormina|author3=Joel T. Rosenthal|title=Medieval England: A Social History and Archaeology from the Conquest to 1600 AD|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5B7uEJVJW7QC&pg=PA39-IA1|date=2013-01-11|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-79453-9|page=39}}</ref> In total, foundations for eighteen buildings have been located, ranging in size from 4 metres by 8 metres to 10 metres by 24 metres.<ref name="pastscape"/> Remains have also been found for what has been interpreted as a kitchen garden, and also a hall keep, 'intended as a place of refuge in times of crisis'.<ref name="pastscape"/>

==Disestablishment and Knights Hospitaller== After the arrest of the Knights Templar in 1308, and the sequestering of their lands by the Crown,<ref name="SzarmachTavormina2013"/> records show the preceptory was occupied by eight ''famuli'', or farm servants,<ref name="SzarmachTavormina2013"/> twelve ploughmen, a bailiff and three shepherds, all paid from nearby Temple Bruer.<ref name="Housley2007">{{cite book|author=Norman Housley|title=Knighthoods of Christ: Essays on the History of the Crusades and the Knights Templar, Presented to Malcolm Barber|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NkFGy2cTSwgC&pg=PA204|date=2007-01-01|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-0-7546-5527-5|page=204}}</ref>

The Knights Templar order was formally disestablished by Pope Clement V,<ref name="counthist">{{cite book | editor-last1 = Page | editor-first1 = William | title = A History of the County of Lincoln | chapter = 66. THE PRECEPTORY OF SOUTH WITHAM | volume = 2 | publisher = British History Online | url = http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=38047#s7 | access-date = 2013-11-15}}</ref> in 1312, and the Witham preceptory was completely abandoned by 1324.<ref name="NatHer1007688"/> The lands passed to the Knights Hospitaller, who, in 1338, held a messuage (dwelling of some kind), eight carucates (units of ploughland) and moiety, in this case half the endowment,<ref name="Street1857">{{cite book|author=B. Street|title=Historical Notes on Grantham, and Grantham Church|url=https://archive.org/details/historicalnotes00stregoog|year=1857|publisher=S. Ridge|page=[https://archive.org/details/historicalnotes00stregoog/page/n69 57]}}</ref> of the South Witham church,<ref name="counthist"/> but are believed to have left the former preceptory uninhabited, and eventually incorporated the landholding into their estate at Temple Bruer.<ref name="NatHer1007688"/>

==Later history== In 1563, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the property, then known as 'Great Temple', was granted, by Elizabeth I,<ref name="TannerTanner1744"/> to Stephen Holford in 1562.<ref name="Moule1837"/> It was then owned, with 'buildings as it stood', by Thomas, the son of William Wimberley, of South Witham, (originally of Lancashire), and remained with that family 'until 1761, or thereabouts'.<ref name="Urban.1852">{{cite book|author=Sylvanus Urban.|title=The Gentleman's Magazine -- Volume 38.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7bkUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA486|year=1852|page=486}}</ref>

The preceptory site, recorded as uninhabited in the late 18th century,<ref name="NatHer1007688"/> along with the Wimberley's 'mansion, the post-house, and other lands', then passed to Lord William Manners, younger brother of John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland.<ref name="Urban.1852"/> From Manners, it went to a descendant, Lionel Tollemache, 8th Earl of Dysart, who held possession in the mid-1800s.<ref name="Urban.1852"/> Describing the preceptory in 1837, Thomas Moule wrote that the 'foundation of the building only remains, and they extend over several acres'.<ref name="Moule1837"/>

During the 1960s, archeological excavations commenced, which, as it had mainly been used for pasture, meant that 'post-medieval disturbance' had 'been minimal'.<ref name="NatHer1007688"/> Items found during the digs included a gilded ring, knights head belt buckle, arrowheads and horseshoes.<ref name="swagchapel"/>

A second archeological excavation took place in the area, in April 2002, following preliminary work in December 2000.<ref name="arch2002">{{cite web | url = http://www.le.ac.uk/ulas/downloads/SthWitham.pdf | title = 8 Church Lane South Witham, Lincolnshire: A Medieval Productive Site | access-date = 2013-11-15 | last = Kipling | first = Roger | work = University of Leicester Archaeological Services | publisher = University of Leicester}}</ref> Evidence from the 11th to 15th century suggest large scale ironwork and bread-making in South Witham to supply local religious houses.<ref name="arch2002"/>

==See also== * List of Templar sites in Lincolnshire

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==Bibliography== *Antram N (revised), Pevsner N & Harris J, (1989), ''The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire'', Yale University Press. *Charles G. Addison The History of the Knights Templars (1997) {{ISBN|0-932813-40-2}} *Larking, L B. and Kemble, J. M (1857), ''The Knights Hospitallers in England: Being a Report of the Prior Philip de Thame to the Grand Master Elyan de Villanova for A.D. 1338'' Camden Society, pp.&nbsp;153–156 * Mayes, P., (2002), ''Excavations at a Templar Preceptory, South Witham, Lincolnshire 1965-67'' (English Heritage: Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph) *Mills, D. ''The Knights Templar in Kesteven'' North Kesteven District Council (c.1990) *Sister Elspeth (1906) in Page, William,(ed). ''A History of the County of Lincoln Volume 2. Victoria County History''. pp.&nbsp;210–213 ''Houses of Knights Templars: Willoughton, Eagle, Aslackby, South Witham and Temple Bruer''.

{{Monasteries in Lincolnshire|state=expanded}}

Category:History of Lincolnshire Category:Preceptories of the Knights Templar Category:Monasteries in Lincolnshire Category:1312 disestablishments in Europe