THE KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS
IN SHROPSHIRE
Interactive Map of Hospitaller Locations (in Blue) in Shropshire
HALSTON -
In the quiet fields of Shropshire, near the historic manor of Halston, lies the little-known story of a once-significant medieval commandery of the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem. Though few structures remain today, the land still whispers tales of crusading knights, religious devotion, and shifting fortunes across centuries.
A Medieval Foundation
The Preceptory at Halston was founded between 1165 and 1187 by Roger de Powys, lord of nearby Whittington. As with other Hospitaller sites across England, Halston served as both a religious house and an administrative centre, helping to support the Order’s charitable and military missions in the Holy Land and beyond.
What Remains Today?
The most visible legacy of Halston’s medieval past is the timber-framed chapel, likely built in the early 15th century. Set apart in a field, ringed by ancient yew trees, this modest building still sees periodic use and provides a powerful connection to the site’s sacred past.
No other original structures from the preceptory survive above ground, though the site is believed to have stood just west of the chapel, possibly adjoining the west end of the nave—where a 19th-century tower now stands. The preceptory buildings were likely demolished around 1690, when the current Halston Hall was constructed on higher ground to the north.
Clues in the Landscape
Despite the absence of standing ruins, the land still bears signs of its medieval life. The field surrounding the chapel displays several artificial earthworks, including two rectangular ditched enclosures to the south. These may mark the outlines of former buildings or enclosures once used by the Hospitallers.
A Regional Centre of Power
By 1294, Halston’s influence had grown. It was united with the commandery of Ysbyty Ifan in Denbighshire, and from that point became the administrative centre for all Hospitaller estates in north Wales. This role continued until the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII in the 16th century, when Halston, like so many other religious houses, was seized by the Crown. By this time, its lands had become part of the Dinsmore estate in Herefordshire.
Who Built the Chapel?
The origins of the surviving chapel have long been debated. Some scholars believe it was constructed by the Hospitallers themselves in the late 15th or early 16th century, possibly as a final investment before the Dissolution. Others argue it may have been built shortly after, between 1536 and 1553, by the secular grantees who took over the site. Regardless of its precise date, the chapel remains one of the most evocative surviving features of the Hospitallers' presence in England.
Time Team’s Investigation
Halston’s historical significance drew the attention of Channel 4’s Time Team, who conducted an archaeological investigation of the chapel and surrounding area. Their dig unearthed new insights into the layout and legacy of the preceptory, adding fresh detail to a story long obscured by time. You can now watch the full episode on YouTube, offering a visual journey through this remarkable site. You can view the full episode by clicking here
You can also view our blog entry on Halston Commandery by clicking here
LYDLEY KEYS (Penkridge Hall)
STANTON LONG
(HOLT) PREEN -
WHITTINGTON CASTLE -
The Knights Hospitallers and the Chapel of Whittington
The Knights Hospitallers established their principal house in north-west Shropshire at Halston, near Whittington, during the later twelfth century. Their benefactor was Roger de Powys, lord of Whittington, who granted the Order land and privileges within his lordship. His gift included territory around Halston and rights within the woodland of Whittington, and it was confirmed by King John on 30 August 1199.
The Hospitallers’ connection with Whittington also included the great tithes of the lord’s demesne, together with the tithes of Kinsall and Evenall. By 1338 the Order was required, in return, to provide a priest for the chapel within Whittington Castle. This was distinct from Whittington’s parish church, which already possessed its own rector by about 1218.
The precise date on which the castle-chapel arrangement began is unknown. It may have developed from Roger de Powys’s original grant, or through a later agreement in which some of the Hospitallers’ territorial rights were exchanged for tithes. The surviving evidence does not show that Roger directly gave the chapel itself to the Order; rather, the Hospitallers received revenues from Whittington and accepted responsibility for maintaining its castle chaplain.
Accounts from Halston show that this obligation continued into the early sixteenth century, when payments were still being made for the priest serving Whittington. The chapel probably served the lord of the castle, his household, officials and garrison, while the parish church served the wider community.
No identifiable remains of the medieval chapel survive today. It probably stood within the inner enclosure of Whittington Castle, close to the principal residential buildings. The ruins of the castle remain open to visitors, while the Hospitallers’ surviving medieval chapel at Halston continues to preserve the Order’s wider connection with the Whittington lordship
MIDDLETON (CHURBURY) -
CAYNHAM - Church St Mary's
KINNERLEY - Church St Mary's
The Knights Hospitallers at Kinnerley
Before the middle of the thirteenth century, the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem acquired the rectory and advowson of St Mary’s Church, Kinnerley, in north-west Shropshire. The precise donor is uncertain, but the grant was probably made either by Griffin Goch, a royal interpreter under Henry II, or by his son Madoc de Sutton. The Hospitallers were already in possession by 1248.
Their holding was not a separate preceptory at Kinnerley. Instead, the church and its rectorial revenues were administered from the Hospitaller preceptory of Halston, near Whittington. The Order received the great tithes of the parish—principally corn, sheaves and hay—together with other income belonging to the appropriated rectory. In 1338 the rectory was valued at £8 a year, while the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1534–35 valued it at £20 annually.
These rights extended across the townships of the medieval parish, including Kynaston, a rural settlement also associated in later local records with the name Treginford. Surviving Halston accounts appear to record income from the tithes and agricultural produce of this district. There is no firm evidence that the Hospitallers maintained a separate commandery, chapel or manor house at Kynaston itself; their interest was chiefly ecclesiastical and financial, based upon the parish rectory and its tithes.
The Hospitallers retained Kinnerley until the suppression of their English order in 1540. The rectory was subsequently granted by the Crown to private owners, and its tithes were eventually divided among several lay impropriators.
Today, Kynaston and Treginford remain small rural settlements within Kinnerley parish, where historic farmhouses, timber-framed buildings and converted barns preserve the agricultural character of the area. At Kinnerley, the parish church of St Mary still occupies the medieval ecclesiastical site. Much of the church was rebuilt in 1790, but its Perpendicular west tower survives from the earlier building that once belonged to the Hospitallers.
CLUNBURY
ENCHMARSH
The Knights Hospitallers at Enchmarsh
The Knights Hospitallers' connection with Enchmarsh in Shropshire was relatively brief and arose through their inheritance of former Knights Templar property.
Enchmarsh had originally been granted to the Templars in the mid-12th century, probably between 1155 and 1160, by William FitzAlan I, together with Cardington and half of Chatwall. It formed part of the wider Templar estate administered with Lydley and Cardington.
When the Knights Templar were suppressed in England from 1308, their estates were taken into royal custody. Under the arrangements that followed the suppression of the Order, many former Templar properties were intended to pass to the Knights Hospitallers of St John.
The Hospitallers therefore acquired, or at least claimed, the former Templar rights over the Lydley–Cardington estate, which included Enchmarsh. However, their possession was contested by Edmund FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel, whose family descended from the original FitzAlan lords who had granted the land to the Templars.
In 1324, the dispute was formally settled. Brother Thomas L'Archer, Prior of the Hospitallers in England, and the brethren of the Order quitclaimed their rights in the manors of Lydley and Cardington to the Earl of Arundel. The Hospitallers retained Cardington Church and its associated ecclesiastical rights, but Enchmarsh appears to have returned with the wider secular estate to the FitzAlan lordship.
There is no evidence for a separate Hospitaller preceptory or resident community of brothers at Enchmarsh. The settlement remained what it had been under the Templars — a small agricultural township of tenant farms and cultivated land. The surviving 1185 Templar survey shows seven principal half-virgate farms and several smaller holdings there, and these were presumably among the properties briefly inherited or claimed by the Hospitallers after the suppression of the Temple.
By the time of the great Hospitaller survey of 1338, Enchmarsh was no longer recorded as an active Hospitaller estate. Its connection with the Order therefore belongs mainly to the transitional period between the fall of the Templars and the settlement with the Earl of Arundel in 1324.
Today, Enchmarsh remains a small rural settlement within Cardington parish. A later estate map of the Manor of Lydley and Cardington, preserved at Shropshire Archives, shows several historic farmsteads clustered around the old road junction. Although no building can presently be identified as specifically Hospitaller, the surviving settlement pattern may preserve elements of the medieval agricultural landscape which briefly passed through Hospitaller hands more than seven centuries ago.
PENMACHNO - Church of Tudclud & Watermill
The Knights Hospitallers at Penmachno
The Knights Hospitallers of St John held an important ecclesiastical and economic interest at Penmachno in modern Conwy, administered through their nearby house at Ysbyty Ifan, known in medieval records as Dolgynwal or Dongelwal.
The exact charter by which Penmachno came into Hospitaller hands has not yet been securely identified. The Order's establishment at Ysbyty Ifan developed during the late 12th and early 13th centuries, traditionally associated with Ifan ap Rhys and later supported by Llywelyn the Great. Penmachno appears to have become one of the dependent properties attached to this growing Hospitaller estate.
By 1338, however, its ownership is certain. In the great survey compiled for Prior Philip de Thame, the church of Penmachno is recorded as being annexed to the Hospitaller church at Ysbyty Ifan:
Ecclesia de Pennemenchno eidem annexa valet per annum vj li.
— “The church of Penmachno, annexed to the same, is worth £6 per year.”
The same account immediately records a watermill at Penmachno, worth a further 40 shillings (£2) annually. Together, the church and mill provided the Order with approximately £8 a year.
St Tudclud's Church
The medieval church at Penmachno is represented today by St Tudclud's Church. The site itself is far older than the Hospitallers, with evidence of Christian worship extending back to the early medieval period.
The present church was largely rebuilt in 1857, so it is not the building seen by the Hospitallers in 1338. However, it stands on the ancient church site and preserves important earlier material, including a 12th-century font and a remarkable collection of early Christian inscribed stones.
There is no evidence that Hospitaller knights were permanently stationed at Penmachno. The church and its revenues were most likely administered through Ysbyty Ifan, with a local priest providing for the parish.
The Hospitaller Watermill
The 1338 survey also proves that the Hospitallers possessed a functioning watermill at Penmachno. Such a mill would have ground grain for the surrounding community while providing rental or milling income for the Order.
The exact medieval site has not yet been conclusively identified, but the strongest present candidate is the later Melin y Pentre, or Pandy Mill, locality, where a corn watermill is documented in the 17th century.
The probable mill area lies around:
OS Grid Reference: SH 8069 5308
near Pandy, north-east of Penmachno village.
This remains a working identification rather than a proven medieval building footprint, but the continuity of the mill-name and the later documentary evidence make it the strongest candidate for the successor to the Hospitaller mill recorded in 1338.
The End of Hospitaller Ownership
The Hospitallers retained their Welsh possessions until the suppression of the Order in England and Wales under Henry VIII in 1540. Their former Penmachno properties later passed into secular ownership.
Today, St Tudclud's Church still marks the ancient religious centre of Penmachno, while the Pandy/Melin y Pentre area preserves the most likely landscape associated with the Order's medieval watermill.
Together, the church and mill show that Penmachno was not simply a distant religious dependency: it was a valuable part of the Hospitallers' Welsh estate, providing both ecclesiastical income and agricultural revenue to the Order of St John.
ELLESMERE - Church St Marys
The Knights Hospitallers of St John held one of their most valuable ecclesiastical possessions in the Welsh Marches at Ellesmere in Shropshire, centred upon the parish church of St Mary.
A surviving charter records that in 1225 Llywelyn the Great granted the church of Ellesmere to the Hospitallers of Dolgynwal, now Ysbyty Ifan, together with its rights of patronage and presentation. The grant was later inspected and confirmed by Edward II in 1316. As Ysbyty Ifan became increasingly administered through the Hospitaller commandery at Halston, Ellesmere formed part of this wider regional network.
By 1338, the great survey compiled for Prior Philip de Thame shows just how valuable Ellesmere had become. The church was valued at an extraordinary 70 marks a year — £46 13s 4d. The Hospitallers also received £4 annually in fixed rents from properties within the Hundred of Ellesmere, together with 20 shillings from court profits.
The Order's interest was therefore far more than simply the right to appoint a priest. The church was appropriated to the Hospitallers, allowing them to receive its principal rectorial revenues, including tithes and other ecclesiastical income, while a vicar continued to serve the spiritual needs of the parish.
Hospitaller control can also be seen directly in the appointment of clergy. In 1313 John de Woubourne was instituted as vicar after being presented by Brother William de Tothale, Prior of the Hospitallers in England.
Today, St Mary’s Church, Ellesmere, still occupies the medieval church site and retains substantial historic fabric. Although the Hospitallers' estates and revenues have long disappeared, the surviving church remains the clearest reminder of what was once one of the Order's richest ecclesiastical holdings in the region.
WORTHEN
CLEE (CLYA) - Church St Margaret
The Knights Hospitallers at Clee St Margaret
The Knights Hospitallers of St John held an important church and agricultural estate at Clee St Margaret in Shropshire, administered from their commandery at Dinmore in Herefordshire.
The earliest known grant dates from around 1250, when a chaplain named Philip gave the Hospitallers three nocates of land at Clee. By 1291, the church of St Margaret at Clee was also recorded as belonging to the Hospitallers of Dinmore, although the surviving evidence does not clearly identify who originally granted the church itself to the Order.
By 1338, the Hospitaller survey compiled for Prior Philip de Thame records:
“the church of Clee, together with one carucate of land, let at farm for 33 shillings and 4 pence.”
This shows that the Order held both the church and a substantial area of agricultural land. The carucate was not being directly farmed by Hospitaller brothers but was leased to a tenant for a fixed annual payment.
The precise medieval boundaries of this land have not yet been identified. However, the strongest candidate is the historic glebe land surrounding St Margaret’s Church, particularly towards the later Glebe Farm, where around 90 acres of ecclesiastical land were still recorded in the 19th century. This may preserve part of the earlier Hospitaller estate.
There is no evidence for a permanent community of Hospitaller knights or brothers living at Clee. The property was administered through Dinmore, whose brothers in 1338 included Brother Roger de Mittlyngton, Preceptor, together with Brother John de Hampton and Brother Roger de Barton. Everyday management at Clee was probably undertaken by local tenants and clergy.
The Hospitaller connection continued until the Reformation. In the early 16th century, income from the church at Clee was still payable to the Commander of Dinmore, showing that the Order retained its rights here for nearly three centuries.
Today, St Margaret’s Church still stands on the same medieval site and retains important early fabric. Nearby Church Farm and Glebe Farm preserve the historic agricultural character of the settlement, although no surviving building can yet be securely identified as a Hospitaller structure.
Clee St Margaret therefore represents a typical but important example of how the Hospitallers supported their wider organisation: through church revenues, leased farmland and local rents, rather than through a resident military community.
CARNO - Church & Lands
The Knights Hospitallers at Carno
The village of Carno in modern Powys was once the centre of a substantial estate belonging to the Knights Hospitallers of St John. Their holding here formed part of the Order’s wider network of Welsh properties associated with Ysbyty Ifan, and later administered through the commandery of Halston in Shropshire.
The Hospitallers appear to have acquired Carno in the early 13th century. Medieval evidence suggests that Llywelyn the Great granted the Order the bond vills of Carno, Trawscoed and Derlwyn between about 1221 and 1224, helping to establish a sizeable manorial estate in the valley.
The Hospitallers also held Carno church. In the taxation of 1254, it is explicitly described as:
Ecclesia de Carno que est Hospitalariorum
— “The church of Carno, which belongs to the Hospitallers.”
The church was dedicated to St John, reflecting its long association with the Order of St John.
The Hospitaller Manor
The medieval Hospitaller manor appears to have included principally the townships of Trawscoed and Derlwyn, together with agricultural land, tenants and manorial rights.
Beside the church lay an important enclosed site known today as Caer Noddfa. Archaeological investigation has revealed the foundations of a substantial medieval building within the enclosure, together with medieval pottery. This is widely considered the likely location of the Hospitallers’ grange or estate centre at Carno.
The enclosure, church and surrounding agricultural land together suggest a working manorial estate rather than a large resident preceptory.
By 1338, the survey compiled for Prior Philip de Thame records:
Carnow. Est ad firmam per preceptorem loci per annum, pro xxvij marcis.
— “Carno is let at farm by the local preceptor for 27 marks per year.”
This was equivalent to £18 annually, showing that Carno was a valuable estate. By this date the Hospitallers were apparently leasing the manor as a whole for a fixed rent rather than farming it directly.
Who was there?
No Hospitaller knight is specifically named as resident at Carno in the 1338 survey. The wording suggests that the estate was supervised by the Order but managed locally by tenants or officials.
The wider Welsh estates were ultimately controlled through the Hospitaller administration at Ysbyty Ifan and Halston, rather than by a large permanent community of brothers at Carno itself.
Carno Today
The present Church of St John the Baptist occupies the historic church site, although much of the standing building is later than the Hospitaller period.
Immediately beside it, the earthworks of Caer Noddfa preserve the strongest physical evidence for the medieval Hospitaller estate centre. The surviving enclosure, building foundations and surrounding landscape make Carno one of the more important Welsh sites for understanding how the Knights Hospitallers managed their agricultural estates.
Carno therefore represents much more than a church holding: it was a working Hospitaller manor, estate centre and source of substantial annual income, forming part of the Order’s wider network across medieval Wales.
KINVER
OSWESTRY - Hospital
St John’s Hospital, Oswestry, a medieval hospital for lepers and the poor. It was not originally founded by the Knights Hospitallers, although it later came under their authority.
The hospital was dedicated jointly to:
St John the Baptist
St John the Evangelist
It was founded by Reiner, Bishop of St Asaph, probably between 1200 and 1210, to support lepers and other poor or infirm people. The hospital was subsequently assigned to the Knights Hospitallers of Halston, apparently in the early thirteenth century.
A medieval record calls it: St John’s Hospital at Oswestry, called Sputt
LLANWYDDN - Church & Manor
The Knights Hospitallers at Llanwddyn
The remote valley of Llanwddyn in modern Powys, now dominated by Lake Vyrnwy, once formed part of the Welsh estates of the Knights Hospitallers of St John. In medieval records the place appears under forms such as Lanothyn and was associated with the Hospitaller house at Ysbyty Ifan, later administered through the commandery of Halston in Shropshire.
The Hospitallers had acquired land at Llanwddyn by the early 13th century, certainly before 1205, although the original donor is not securely known. The grant was probably made by a local Welsh benefactor during the period when the Order was expanding its estates in north and central Wales.
By 1338, the great survey compiled for Prior Philip de Thame records simply:
“Lanothyn. It is worth 100 shillings per year.”
This valuation of £5 annually probably represented income from the wider manor and estate rather than a single property.
The Hospitaller Estate
Archaeology shows that Llanwddyn possessed a genuine Hospitaller grange or camera, a working agricultural estate centre rather than a major preceptory.
The site, now known as Pant y Ffynnon or Llanwddyn Hospitium, survives at approximately:
OS Grid: SH 99830 19358
The remains include the foundations of a substantial rectangular building, a garden enclosure, additional building platforms, field boundaries and traces of medieval cultivation. Nearby is Ffynnon y Mynaich — “the Monk’s Well”, another reminder of the site's religious past.
The Hospitallers appear to have used Llanwddyn primarily as a working agricultural manor, producing rents and resources for the wider Order. By the later medieval period much of the estate was probably managed by secular tenants rather than by a permanent community of Hospitaller brothers.
The Church of St John
Llanwddyn also possessed an ancient church. During the medieval period it became associated with the Hospitallers and was dedicated to St John of Jerusalem.
The old church stood within the original village of Llanwddyn. Its probable location is around:
OS Grid: c. SH 9985 2132
The church and village were later lost beneath Lake Vyrnwy when the valley was flooded in the 1880s to create the reservoir. A new church, St Wddyn’s, was built before the flooding and still serves the modern community today.
Who lived there?
The 1338 survey does not name any Hospitaller knight or brother as permanently resident at Llanwddyn.
The wider Welsh estates were supervised through the Hospitaller administration at Halston and Ysbyty Ifan, with local bailiffs, tenants and estate workers carrying out the everyday management.
By 1535, shortly before the suppression of the Order, Llanwddyn was leased to Maurice ap David Lloyd for £7 annually, including the profits of the manorial court. This shows that the Hospitallers still possessed a recognisable manor here immediately before the Reformation.
Llanwddyn Today
The Hospitallers' ownership ended when their English and Welsh properties were confiscated under Henry VIII in 1540.
Today, much of medieval Llanwddyn lies beneath Lake Vyrnwy, including the old village and church. However, the surviving earthworks at Pant y Ffynnon provide one of the clearest physical reminders of Hospitaller activity in Wales.
Llanwddyn is therefore particularly important because both documentary evidence and surviving archaeology show that this was once a functioning Hospitaller manor, church and agricultural estate in the heart of medieval Wales.
GWANAS - Manor & Chapel
The Knights Hospitallers at Gwanas
The medieval estate of Gwanas, near Dolgellau in modern Gwynedd, formed part of the Welsh possessions of the Knights Hospitallers of St John. In medieval records the place appears under spellings such as Wanas, Wannas and Swanas. Although now in Wales, it was later administered through the Hospitaller commandery of Halston in Shropshire.
The Hospitallers were certainly in possession of land at Gwanas by the late 13th century, with documentary references dating to around 1284. The identity of the original donor has not yet been securely established, although the estate formed part of the wider group of Welsh properties associated with the Order’s house at Ysbyty Ifan.
Gwanas appears to have functioned principally as a grange or agricultural estate, with land, grazing and a chapel. Its position on routes through the mountains has led to suggestions that it may also have offered hospitality to travellers, although this cannot yet be proved from surviving medieval records.
By 1338, the survey compiled for Prior Philip de Thame records:
De firma de Swanas per annum xl s.
— “From the farm of Gwanas, 40 shillings per year.”
This shows that the estate was being leased for a fixed annual rent of £2, rather than being directly farmed by Hospitaller brothers at that time.
There is no known Hospitaller knight or brother specifically recorded as resident at Gwanas in the 1338 survey. The estate was instead managed as one of the Order’s outlying properties, with its income ultimately passing into the wider Hospitaller administration.
The Chapel at Gwanas
A medieval Hospitaller chapel certainly existed here. In 1494, the will of Dafydd ap Meurig Fychan of Nannau included money towards glazing a window in the chapel of St John at Gwanas, showing that the building was still in use during the late 15th century.
The exact site of the chapel has not been conclusively identified, although archaeological records place the wider chapel and grange complex around the Gwanas estate. A surviving section of a late-medieval chapel porch, probably dating from the late 15th or early 16th century, was later reused at Gwanas Farmhouse, providing a rare physical survival from the Hospitaller period.
The Grange Today
The strongest candidate for the medieval Hospitaller estate centre is Gwanas Fawr, at approximately:
OS Grid Reference: SH 77115 16621
The present house has been substantially altered, but surviving timbers have been dated to 1442, placing part of the building firmly within the period of Hospitaller ownership.
Nearby place-names such as Dol Yspytty, meaning approximately “Hospice Meadow”, also preserve the memory of the medieval religious estate.
Although the original Hospitaller grange and chapel have largely disappeared, the surviving medieval fabric, historic place-names and archaeological evidence make Gwanas one of the more evocative Hospitaller sites in Wales.
The estate remained in Hospitaller hands until the suppression of the Order under Henry VIII in 1540, bringing to an end more than two centuries of their presence at Gwanas.
OSWESTRY - Hospital
The Knights Hospitallers at Oswestry
The Hospitallers’ connection with Oswestry centred on the medieval Hospital of St John the Evangelist and St John the Baptist, founded in the early 13th century by Reiner, Bishop of St Asaph.
Reiner established the hospital on land acquired from Shrewsbury Abbey and endowed it with adjoining property, around 32 acres of land, the township of Wilcott, rents and other income. The burgesses of Oswestry also contributed provisions from local market activity, while William FitzAlan granted pasture rights.
Around 1217–1218, Reiner entrusted the hospital to the Knights Hospitallers, while retaining its administration during his lifetime. One of the conditions was that the Order should maintain seven poor people within the hospital. The Historic England record also describes the institution as a hospital for lepers and the poor.
A dispute with Haughmond Abbey followed, and a settlement was reached whereby Haughmond administered the hospital while recognising Hospitaller rights. In return, the abbey paid 20 shillings annually to the Hospitaller preceptory at Halston.
By 1338, the complex included a chapel, residential buildings, adjoining crofts and a dovecote. A chaplain held the hospital for life and was required to provide daily services, maintain the buildings and accommodate visiting canons of Haughmond. By this stage, however, the hospital was probably no longer housing poor residents in the way originally intended.
No Hospitaller brother is specifically recorded as permanently resident at Oswestry. The Order’s main local base remained Halston, while the hospital itself was administered increasingly through Haughmond Abbey.
The hospital stood in Church Street, Oswestry, with Historic England placing the site at approximately:
OS Grid Reference: SJ 29000 29500
The chapel of St John the Baptist was still standing in Church Street in the 16th century.
The Hospitallers continued to receive their annual payment from Haughmond until the Dissolution. By the 1550s, the former hospital was described as the chapel of St John the Baptist and was still regarded as a former dependency of Halston. It was granted by the Crown to George Lee in 1560, and the chapel was last recorded in 1577.
No medieval hospital buildings are known to survive today, but the Church Street site preserves the location of one of the more unusual Hospitaller interests in Shropshire: a charitable hospital founded for the poor and sick, held under the authority of the Order and closely connected with their nearby house at Halston.
CARDINGTON - Church
The Knights Hospitallers at Cardington, Shropshire
The Hospitallers’ connection with Cardington began not through a new grant made directly to the Order, but through the inheritance of property formerly belonging to the Knights Templar.
During the mid-12th century, probably around 1155–1160, William FitzAlan I granted the Templars the whole vill of Cardington, together with Enchmarsh and half of Chatwall. Their interests also included income from Cardington church and the village mill. The Templar survey of 1185 records Cardington as a substantial estate with numerous tenants, a reeve, craftsmen, a priest, a miller and extensive agricultural holdings.
After the suppression of the Templars in England in 1308, their former estates were intended to pass to the Knights Hospitallers. At Cardington, however, the transfer was not straightforward.
The secular manor of Cardington and Lydley was reclaimed by the FitzAlan family, represented by Edmund FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel. In 1324, the Hospitallers formally relinquished their claim to the manor. What they retained was the most valuable ecclesiastical part of the former Templar estate: Cardington church and its associated rectorial rights.
The Church of Cardington
By 1338, Cardington church was fully appropriated to the Hospitallers. The survey of Philip de Thame records:
Item ecclesia de Cardington in proprios usus valet per annum xx li.
“The church of Cardington, appropriated to their own use, is worth £20 per year.”
This was a substantial income. The phrase in proprios usus shows that the Hospitallers were not simply patrons of the church; they received the principal rectorial revenues, including the greater tithes and other income attached to the rectory.
The church was administered as part of the Hospitallers’ nearby estate at Holt Preen, which explains why Cardington appears under the Prene account in the 1338 survey.
The Order also retained the advowson, allowing the Hospitallers to present clergy to serve the parish. Hospitaller priors are recorded presenting vicars to Cardington during the 14th century, demonstrating that their control of the church continued long after the secular manor had returned to the FitzAlans.
What about Cardington Mill?
The mill had certainly belonged to the Templars. In 1185, Roger the Miller held the mill at Cardington for life for an annual rent of 5 shillings.
There is, however, currently no firm evidence that the Cardington mill remained in Hospitaller possession after the transfer of the former Templar estate. It does not appear with Cardington church in the Hospitaller survey of 1338.
The safest interpretation is therefore that the mill probably passed with the secular manor back to the FitzAlan estate, while the Hospitallers retained the church and its ecclesiastical revenues.
Who gave Cardington to the Hospitallers?
Strictly speaking, Cardington was not newly gifted to the Hospitallers by an individual benefactor.
The chain of ownership was:
William FitzAlan I
→ granted Cardington to the Knights Templar, c.1155–1160
→ Templars suppressed in 1308
→ former Templar rights passed to the Knights Hospitallers
→ Hospitallers relinquished the secular manor to Edmund FitzAlan in 1324
→ but retained Cardington church, rectory and advowson.
By 1338, the church alone was producing £20 each year, making it one of the more valuable ecclesiastical possessions associated with the Hospitallers’ Shropshire estates.
Cardington today
The present St James’s Church at Cardington occupies the historic medieval church site and retains substantial medieval fabric. Although the building has been altered over the centuries, it stands on the same ecclesiastical centre whose revenues were once held by the Knights Templar and later by the Knights Hospitallers.
Cardington therefore represents an interesting example of how the Hospitallers inherited former Templar property but did not necessarily retain the entire estate. Here, the secular manor was lost to the FitzAlan family, while the Order preserved the valuable church, rectory and patronage rights that continued to provide income for the Hospitaller estate at Holt Preen.
LUDLOW - Chapel
The Knights Hospitallers at Ludlow
The Knights Hospitallers held a significant property in Ludlow from the later 12th century, centred on land in Corve Street and the medieval chapel of St Leonard. Unlike Dinmore or Halston, Ludlow was never an independent preceptory; its Hospitaller property was administered as part of the preceptory of Dinmore.
Hugh de Lacy's grant
The Hospitallers' presence in Ludlow originated with Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Ludlow and later Lord of Meath, who died in 1186. Hugh was an important patron of religious institutions and granted the Order:
twelve burgages and two virgates of land in Ludlow.
The burgages represented valuable urban properties within the developing medieval town, while the two virgates provided a substantial agricultural endowment. Modern scholarship confirms this grant as part of Hugh de Lacy's patronage of the military orders.
The grant was therefore made before 1186, probably during the later decades of the 12th century.
The Chapel of St Leonard
Associated with the Hospitaller estate was a small chapel dedicated to St Leonard. The Shropshire Historic Environment Record records that the chapel was already in existence by 1186, when Hugh de Lacy provided two virgates of land for the support of two chaplains. It specifically identifies the chapel as property of the Knights Hospitaller of Dinmore.
The Hospitaller property therefore appears to have consisted of more than a collection of rents. It included an identifiable religious centre, agricultural land and urban holdings from which income could be collected.
There is no evidence, however, that a permanent community of Hospitaller knights was stationed at Ludlow. It is better understood as a dependent estate of Dinmore, with its chapel and property providing income and supporting religious services.
Ludlow in the 1338 Hospitaller survey
The Order was still receiving income from Ludlow more than 150 years after Hugh de Lacy's grant.
In the 1338 survey of Prior Philip de Thame, Ludlow appears as Lodelawe among the properties producing fixed rents for Dinmore:
Leomhales, Caluwe, Lodelawe, Roynton, Overwent, Monemuth et Multon...
Lyonshall, Callow, Ludlow, Rorrington, Overwent, Monmouth and Multon together produced 26 marks, 8 shillings and 3 pence annually. Unfortunately the account combines the rents from these places, so the precise amount contributed by Ludlow cannot be separated.
The same Dinmore account also records a clerk responsible for collecting court payments at Ludlow and Hereford, showing that the Order maintained an administrative interest in the town as well as simply receiving a passive rent.
Where was the Hospitaller property?
The medieval chapel of St Leonard can be located with reasonable confidence on the western side of Corve Street, north of the medieval town centre.
The Shropshire HER gives its probable site as:
SO 5106 7516
on the triangular ground around the junction of Corve Street and Coronation Avenue.
The site has sometimes been confused with the neighbouring Carmelite friary, established during the 14th century. Archaeological work has helped distinguish the two establishments, placing the Hospitaller chapel slightly farther north.
After the Hospitallers
Following the suppression of the Order in England during the Reformation, the former Hospitaller property passed into secular ownership.
Part of the Corve Street estate was eventually acquired by Charles Foxe, who founded almshouses there at the end of the 16th century. Records of the later charity specifically identify the land as formerly belonging to the Knights Hospitaller of Dinmore. St Leonard's chapel continued in use for a time, but deteriorated during the 18th century and was eventually demolished.
A new St Leonard's church was built nearby in the 19th century, but the surviving building is not the medieval Hospitaller chapel.
The Hospitallers' legacy at Ludlow
The Hospitallers never controlled Ludlow itself, nor did they hold Ludlow Castle or the great parish church of St Laurence. Their estate was instead a smaller but valuable religious and economic holding established through the generosity of Hugh de Lacy before 1186.
From their property around Corve Street they possessed twelve burgages, two virgates of land and the chapel of St Leonard, while income from Ludlow continued to support the preceptory of Dinmore into the 14th century.
Although little survives visibly today, the Corve Street site preserves the location of a Hospitaller presence in Ludlow that can be traced for more than three centuries.
KNIGHT HOSPITALLER FIGURES AT SHROPSHIRE
Shropshire & the Hospitallers: Learn Who Shared Their Chapter of History Here
-
Roger de Powys - Halston - Founder 1165-1187
-
Stephen Lynde - Halston - 1483
- Thomas Halston 1239 and 1248
- Odo de Neneth - Halston -1294 and 1300
- Richard de Bachesworth - Halston - 1330
- Philip de Luda - Halston - 1338
- Walter of Kinnerley - Halston 1350 and 1362
- Robert of Normanton - Halston - 1367 and 1377
- Walter Grendon - Halson appointed 1382, resigned 1415
- John Kilquyt - Halston - appointed 1415 and in 1417
- John Etton - Halston - resigned 1420.
- Walter Burley - Halston - appointed 1420 died 1442
- William Bathcote - Halston - 1442 - 1454
- Thomas West - Halston - appointed July 1454 but died soon afterwards
- John Langstrother - Halston - 1454-1470
- Augustus Middlemore - Halston - 1470 died a year later
- John Kendall - Halston - 1471-1472
- Robert Dalison - Halston - 1492–1501.
- Roger Boydel - Halston -1506-1523
- Giles Russell - Halston - appointed by July 1523
- Nicholas Roberts - Halston - appointed Aug. 1523
- George Aylmer - Halston - Nov. 1523 - Found insane and removed 1535
- Richard Shelley - Halston - 1558
- Sir Hugh, chaplain of Halston (Whittington)
- Sir William Chare, Chaplain of Halston
- Ricardus de Hulles - Keele