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Temple Bruer Preceptory church, Temple Bruer, Lincolnshire

Location
Temple Bruer Knights Templar Preceptory Tower, Temple Bruer with Temple High Grange, Lincoln LN5 0DG, United Kingdom (53°4′16″N, 0°29′46″W)
Temple Bruer
TF 008 537
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Lincolnshire
now Lincolnshire
  • Thomas E. Russo
  • Thomas E. Russo
27 July 1998

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Feature Sets
Description

Temple Bruer was founded on Lincoln Heath, in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, 10 miles S of Lincoln. Of the centrally planned preceptory church here which belonged to the Knights Templar, only a single tower still stands. The tower belongs to the late-12thc, although the doorway in the N wall appears to be mid-13thc work. Buck's engraving of 1726 shows a circular nave and a straight 2-bay chancel with the tower that remains on the E side of it, presumably one of a symmetrical pair. This was restored in the ealy 20thc. Reset Romanesque sculptural fragments are found inside the 1st floor chamber.

History

The preceptory was founded late in the reign of Henry II (1152-89) by William of Ashby, who entered the fraternity shortly afterwards. It was of some size and considerable importance. A license to crenellate was granted in 1306, six years before the order was suppressed by Pope Clement V, and the house eventually passed to the Knights Hospitaller in 1338. The Commandery was dissolved in 1541.

Features

Interior Features

Interior Decoration

Miscellaneous
Comments/Opinions

The most likely source of the intersecting arcade fragment is from a baptismal font.

Bibliography

W. H. St John Hope, 'The Round Church of the Knights Templars at Temple Bruer, Lincolnshire', Archaeologia, vol.61, 1908, 177-198.

Lincolnshire Historic Environment Record MLI60735

  1. N, Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, Harmondsworth 1990, 751-52,

Victoria County History: Lincolnshire, Vol. 2 (1906), 212-13.