Research Notes – 25th

October 2012 Temple Garth Tealby

Researcher: John Downs 1

TEMPLE GARTH IN TEALBY

HISTORICAL RECORDS: 1119 - 1793

The Enclosure map of Temple Garth showing the location of

the Garth buildings in 1793

Research Notes – 25th

October 2012 Temple Garth Tealby

Researcher: John Downs 2

The Enclosure map of Temple Garth overlaid on a modern aerial image of Tealby,

showing the location of Garth buildings in 1793

Research Notes – 25th

October 2012 Temple Garth Tealby

Researcher: John Downs 3

The south-west corner of a raised building platform at the location of the Temple

Garth buildings shown in the 1793 Enclosure map

1. Introduction

The purpose of my research has been to seek out archive material in public record

offices and libraries that might help shed light on the history of a parcel of land in the

village of Tealby in Lincolnshire known as Temple Garth.

This report describes the current status of my investigations as of 25th

October 2012

2. Knights Templar, 1119 – 1310

The Order of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon,

otherwise known as the Knights Templar, were a western Christian military order

active in Britain from 1119 to 1310.

I have only found two reference sources containing information about all of the

properties owned by the Knights Templar in Britain:

Research Notes – 25th

October 2012 Temple Garth Tealby

Researcher: John Downs 4

i) The Templar’s Inquest of 1185 1

ii) The Exchequer’s Book of Fees, covering the period 1198-12932

For me the nearest copy of the Templar’s Inquest of 1185 is in the British Library in

Wetherby and I haven’t been there yet. There is no on-line copy available on the

Internet because it is subject to copyright. But I have managed to obtain four extracts

regarding Tealby from the Internet; namely one section of the original text in Latin, two

paragraphs in English written by Beatrice Lees, and two Footnote references (one of

which is in Latin and taken from the Book of Fees, dated 1212).

1 “Records of the Templars in England in the twelfth century : the inquest of 1185 with

illustrative charters & documents” by Beatrice Lees. London : Published for the British

Academy by Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press. Publisher : Mu nchen : Kraus reprint,

1981. Text in Latin; introduction and notes in English.

2 “Liber feodorum. The book of fees”, commonly called Testa de Nevill. v. 1. 1198-1242.--v. 2.

1242-1293, and appendix--v. 3. Index. H C Maxwell Lyte, Sir.; Alfred Edward Stamp; Charles

G Crump; Anthony Story Maskelyne; Great Britain. Exchequer. London, H.M. Stationery

Office, 1920-31. The text was extracted from the earliest MSS, by the deputy keeper of the

records, and is in Latin

Research Notes – 25th

October 2012 Temple Garth Tealby

Researcher: John Downs 5

Note that Beatrice Lees has made reference to an extract from the Gilbertine Charters

for the Sixhills Priory about Matthew of Tealby granting land to Sixle Priory in 1150

with the consent of his Lord, Reginald de Creuequer.

According to Wikipedia : “ The Book of Fees is the colloquial title of a modern edition,

transcript, rearrangement and enhancement of the mediaeval Liber Feodorum (Latin:

"Book of Fees"), being a listing of feudal landholdings or "fees/fiefs", compiled in

about 1302, but from earlier records, for the use of the English Exchequer. Originally in

two volumes of parchment, the Liber Feodorum is a collection of about 500 written

brief notes made between 1198 and 1292 concerning fiefs held in capite or in-chief, that

is to say directly from the Crown. From an early date, the book comprising these

volumes has been known informally as the Testa de Nevill (meaning "Head of Nevill"),

supposedly after an image on the cover of the volume of one of its two major source

collections. The modern standard edition, known colloquially as "The Book of Fees"

whose 3 volumes were published between 1920 and 1931, improves on two earlier

19th.c efforts at publishing a comprehensive and reliable modern edition of all these

mediaeval records of fees”.

I have downloaded a digital pdf copy of the 682-page Volume 1 of the Book of Fees,

which seems to cover the period 1198-1237 (of Lincolnshire). Prior to finding this

digital copy I had only managed to find two extracts from the Book of Fees on the

Internet. The first is the passage already referenced previously as a footnote by

Beatrice Lees in her “Records of the Templars in England in the twelfth century: the

inquest of 1185 with illustrative charters & documents”.

Rainard de Creuker (Creuequer) was a Lincolnshire baron in late 12

th/early 13

th century.

My medieval Latin is not good, but I think this is saying that in 1212 Rainard donated 2

carucates of land in Tealby and Normanby to the Templars?

Research Notes – 25th

October 2012 Temple Garth Tealby

Researcher: John Downs 6

I am going to work my way through my downloaded copy, page by page, line by line, in

the hope of finding more entries about Templar land in “Tavelesbia”.

The Order of the Knights Templar in Britain was suppressed by Edward II in 1310. By

papal decree the property of the Templars was transferred to the Order of Hospitallers,

which also absorbed many of the Templars' members. In effect, the dissolution of the

Templars could be seen as the merger of the two rival orders.

In practice Edward II was very reluctant to release the Templar’s estates to the

Hospitallers and it was not until 1324 that many of the title deeds and charters were

handed over.

3. Knight Hospitallers, 1310-1540

The Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Hospitallers, Order of Hospitallers, Knights

of St John, Order of St John, and currently The Sovereign Military and Hospitaller

Order of St. John of Jerusalem, were among the most famous of the Western

Christian military orders during the Middle Ages. The Hospitallers arose as a group of

individuals associated with an Amalfitan hospital in the Muristan district of Jerusalem,

which was dedicated to St John the Baptist and was founded around 1023 by Blessed

Gerard to provide care for poor, sick or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land. By 1338

there were 41 Hospitaller commanderies in England, eight of which had previously

been houses of the Templars.

The Order lost many of its European holdings following the rise of Protestantism and

French Egalitarianism, but survived on Malta. The property of the Order in

England was confiscated in 1540 by Henry VIII as part of his programme to

dissolve monasteries. Although not formally suppressed, this caused the activities of

the English Langue (literally “tongue”) of the Order to come to an end.

Research Notes – 25th

October 2012 Temple Garth Tealby

Researcher: John Downs 7

The Hospitallers took an inquest of their enlarged holdings in 1338. I have downloaded

from the Internet a (pdf digital) copy of this inquest report by the Prior of the time,

Philip de Thame, transcribed in Latin by Lambert Larking in 18573 .

The inquest for Tealby (spelt Temlby in transcription) is on page 148 of the document. A transcription of the text, with my crude attempts at translation into English :

Temlby—Membrum

Temlby — Est ibidem unum mesuagium quod valet cum gardino .........xxx s. (Is there a messuage with a garden, worth 30 shillings) Et unum columbarium quod valet per annum.......................................... v s. (and a dovecote, worth per year 5 shillings.) Et unum croftum inclusum..........................................................................x s. (and a croft included, value 10 shillings) Et cccl. acre, pretium acre iiij d……………………………………………… Summa vj li. x s. ( and 350 acres @ 4d/acre.. Sum ?) Et xxxij. acre prati, pretium acre iiij d.......................................................Summa Ixiiij s. ( and 32 acres of meadow @ 4d/acre… Sum ?) Et pastura separalis valet per annum........................................................xxx s. (and several pastures, worth per year 30 shillings) Et de redditu assiso et de firma................................................................ xij li. iiij s, iiij d. (rent of assize of farm) Et perquisita curiai'um valent per annum ………………………………… xiij s. iiij d.

Most fortunately I have found in the Lincolnshire Archives a much later Hospitaller

document from 1st

May 1526 entitled “Indenture for Release for 72 years”, signed by

3 “Extent of the Estates of the Hospitallers in England - Taken under the direction of Prior

Philip de Thame A.D. 1338”. Transcribed from the original in the Public Library at Malta-1839-

by me Lambert Blackwell Larking. - This work was printed in 1857 as Vol. 65 of the Camden

Society's publications. Lambert Blackwell Larking [1797-1868], antiquary, also edited other

volumes for the Camden Society.

Research Notes – 25th

October 2012 Temple Garth Tealby

Researcher: John Downs 8

Thomas Docwra4 . Thomas was the Prior of the entire Hospitaller community in Britain,

based in Clerkenwell, and he signed this Lease document relating to Temple Garth in

Tealby one year before he died. The tenant named in the Indenture was John Clerke,

whose family are significant land holders in Tealby for many centuries. According to

the Archives’ typescript catalogue the Indenture runs as follows:

Indenture of release for 72 years

Thomas Docwra, Prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, Clerkenwell, 1st

May 1526

to

John Clerke, Yeoman of Willingham

Property: The Manor of Tealby, 8 bovates of land, a toft, and two crofts called “Kendilgarthes”

Former tenants: John Clerk and Alexander Baldok

Rent : £5 to be paid in two terms either to the Prior or at the Preceptory of Willoughton

Presumably this Lease had to be renewed when King Henry VIII confiscated all of the

Hospitaller’s estates in 1540.

4. Later Ownership, 1540 -1793 The typescript catalogues in the Lincolnshire Archives show King Henry VIII making a

Copy of Grant5 of the Hospitaller’s lands in Tealby in October 1543. The Grant runs as

follows (as translated by the Archive):

Henry VIII

to

John Belloo and Robert Brocklesby

Property: Capital Mansion and Manor of Tealby and Lands belonging to it. Parcel of

the Preceptory of Willoughton

Value per annum: £ 9. 8s. 4d

Tenant : John Clerk

Consideration: £ 946 .16s.8d

Dated: 21st

October 1543

Also from Henry VII’s Letters and Papers dated October 20136:

The chief messuage of the manor of Tealby, Linc., and lands leased with it to John

Clerke, which belonged to Willoughton preceptory and St. John's;

4 Lincolnshire Archive catalogue reference “Mrs Fell’s deeds” Tealby XXXII/C (32)/C Fell – Temple

Garth. Page 80 of the Typescript catalogue held in the Archive’s reading room. 5 Lincolnshire Archive catalogue reference “Mrs Fell’s deeds” Tealby XXXII/C (32)/C Fell –

Temple Garth . Page 80 of the Typescript catalogue held in the Archive’s reading room. 6

'Henry VIII: October 1543, 26-31', Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 18 Part 2: August-December 1543 (1902), pp. 173-186. URL: http://www.british-

history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=76773 Date accessed: 02 December 2012

Research Notes – 25th

October 2012 Temple Garth Tealby

Researcher: John Downs 9

There is evidence of Henry VIII making a grant of what could be the Sixle (Sixhills)

Priory lands in Tealby in August 1544. Ref. Calendars of State Papers, Henry VIII,

vol.XIX part II, August 1544:

"Grant of messuages, &c (specified), in Tevylby alias Tealby, Line, in tenure of Robert

Beverley, John Clerk, Alex. Baldok, Wm. Butler and John Trewe, and in Bynbroke in

tenure of Charles Goodhand, and in Walesby, Otteby and Rysby, Line., in tenure of

Mary Wymbysshe, and in Normanby beside Claxby in tenure of Alan Moreley,…”

I am now investigating the following documents held in the Lincolnshire Archives: i) Indenture of Lease for 6 months - TDE/A/TEALBY/63/5

Robert Burton and John Burton

to

John North of Louth, gent, and Dymocke Walpoole of Louth, gent.

Property: Temple Garth with its dovecot, curtilages, closes named above, water mill (tenant

Patrick Trewe).

Rent 6d.

Date: undated

ii) Feoffment - TDE/A/TEALBY/63/3

John Clarke of Tealby, gent,

to

Robert Hanson of Cabourne, clerk, and George Acombe, formerly of North Willingham, gent,

trustees for James Clarke, son of John.

Property: capital messuage called Temple Garth, 2 cottages, arable in West Thorpe field,

closes of pasture called Mills, Dovecot, Waynflet, Staunnadyne, Cawsey, Ten Leys, Nine

Leys, Nunne Furkin, all his meadow in Le South Inges (9a.).

Seal and signature.

On dorse: witnesses of sealing and of enfeoffment, 6 Dec 1630.

Date: 12 Nov 1627

iii) Counterpart of an Indenture of Bargain and Sale - TDE/A/TEALBY/59/2

John Clarke, gent, and James his son, of Tealby

to

Laurence Caldwell of Thorganby, esq, and his trustees Alexander Emerson of Caistor, esq,

and John Barnard of Laceby, gent.

Research Notes – 25th

October 2012 Temple Garth Tealby

Researcher: John Downs 10

Property: the manor of Tealby excepting the capital messuage called Temple Garth.

Consideration: £25.

Signatures of trustees and seal tags.

On dorse: witnesses of sealing.

Date: 27 Oct 1648

iv) Indenture of Conveyance - TDE/A/TEALBY/59/4

John and James Clarke and John's brothers James and Humphrey

to

John Burton.

Property: Capital messuage called Temple Garth; closes called Milne, Dovecot, Waineflet,

Skammadyne, Cawsie, Ten Leas, Nine Leas, and Lea Closes and a little close in the Temple

Ings; 250a. of arable, meadow and pasture in Tealby fields.

Consideration: £900.

Signatures and seals and memorandum of acknowledgment before Robert Aylett, doctor on

Chancery.

On dorse: witnesses of sealing and memorandum of enrolment in Chancery.

Date: 3 May 1653

v) Lease and Release - TDE/A/TEALBY/5/4-5

Elizabeth Fell of Newhall in Sheffield, Yorkshire, widow,

to

John Sexty, in trust for George Tennyson.

Temple Garth and the remaining property in Tealby.

Consideration: £4,600.

Date: 12 & 13 Dec 1792

vi) Memorandum as to 17th century Conveyances of Monastic land Reference - TDE/A/TEALBY/69/3

i.e. Temple Garth.

Date: undated

Note : On page 81 of the Archive’s typescript catalogue for Tealby there is a reference

made on 17th

March 1637 to “A messuage called St. Thomas’s Chapel on the Moor”.

This is the hermitage site in Willingham woods.