Some research notes on the history of Temple Garth - A Knights Templar site in Tealby, Lincolnshire. Researcher : John Downs

1. Research Notes – 25
th
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

2. Research Notes – 25
th
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

3. Research Notes – 25
th
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 25
th
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:

4. Research Notes – 25
th
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 1198-1293
2
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 : Munchen : 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

5. Research Notes – 25
th
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?

6. Research Notes – 25
th
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.

7. Research Notes – 25
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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 1857
3
.
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 1
st
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.

8. Research Notes – 25
th
October 2012 Temple Garth Tealby
Researcher: John Downs 8
Thomas Docwra
4
. 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, 1
st
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 Grant
5
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: 21
st
October 1543
Also from Henry VII’s Letters and Papers dated October 2013
6
:
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

9. Research Notes – 25
th
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.

10. Research Notes – 25
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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 17
th
March 1637 to “A messuage called St. Thomas’s Chapel on the Moor”.
This is the hermitage site in Willingham woods.