THE KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS
IN HEREFORDSHIRE
GARWAY
Map of Hospitaller estates in Herefordshire
UPLEADON
Bosbury was once home to a Templar Preceptory known as Upleadon or Temple Court, founded around 1217 by William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke. After the Templars were dissolved in 1312, the site passed to the Knights Hospitaller, and by 1410 it was merged with the larger preceptories at Dinmore and Garway.
The nearby Church of the Holy Trinity may reflect this history. Its separate square tower hints at defensive or storage use, much like the Hospitaller church at Garway. A nearby barn also resembles the known Knight Hospitaller site at Quenington, with its large main doorway and side entrance, resembling Queningtons Knight Entrance.
Inside the church, tomb slabs bearing the foliated cross may mark the graves of Templar or Hospitaller knights, offering a lasting link to Bosbury’s medieval past.
Check out our blog on the Knights at Quenington and Gloucester here -
DINMORE
The 1338 survey of the Knights Hospitaller (the Report of Prior Philip de Thame), describes the Bailiwick of Dinmore (Dynemor) in Herefordshire and its dependent estates as:
The Bailiwick of Dinmore, with its members, in the County of Hereford
At Dinmore there is a well-built manor house, with a garden, worth each year:
13 shillings and 4 pence.
Also, there is one dovecote, worth each year: 6 shillings and 8 pence.
Also, there are:
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300 acres of land valued at 8 pence per acre,
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100 acres valued at 6 pence per acre,
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100 acres valued at 4 pence per acre,
together producing an annual value of £64 3 shillings and 4 pence.
Also, at Dinmore there is assize rent (fixed customary rents from tenants) worth annually: 17½ marks, less one halfpenny.
There are also assize rents in various villages, namely:
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Leominster (Leomhales)
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Calow (Caluwe)
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Lodelawe
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Rorrington (Roynton)
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Overwent
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Monmouth
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Moulton (Multon)
amounting to 26 marks, 8 shillings and 3 pence annually.
Also, from the demesne lands at Moulton, let at farm: 22 shillings per year.
Also, from two carucates of land leased at Rorrington, for the lifetime of Master Nicholas, Rector of Worthyn, by agreement of the Chapter during the time of Brother Thomas Larcher, then Prior: 66 shillings and 8 pence annually.
Also, from the church of Clyro (Clya), together with one carucate of land leased out: 33 shillings and 4 pence.
Also, from two poor-quality carucates of land at Calow, together with the church there, leased at farm:
60 shillings.
Also, from the church of Oxenhall (Oxinhale), together with four bovates of land, leased at will: 40 shillings.
Also, from 30 acres of land with an adjoining meadow in Hereford: 100 shillings (£5).
Also, from the lease of the fulling mill at Dinmore: 20 shillings (£1).
Also, from the water mill at Dinmore: 36 shillings and 8 pence annually.
Also, from the lease of the mill at Moulton: 20 shillings (£1) annually.
Also, from pensions received from the churches of Porkington (Porkirie) and Penmark (Pennarck):
20 shillings annually.
Also, from the frary (probably a payment associated with hospitality or a dependent religious house):
4½ marks and 11 pence annually.
Aconbury - St John the Baptist Church
Aconbury, south of Hereford, has one of the most unusual Hospitaller histories in England. Rather than serving as a preceptory of knights, it was established as a religious house for women of the Order of St John.
In 1216, King John granted Margaret de Lacy, wife of Walter de Lacy, three carucates of land in the royal forest of Aconbury, probably around 360 acres, so that she could establish a religious house for the souls of members of her family.
Margaret and Walter subsequently placed the new foundation under the authority of the Knights Hospitaller, and the house was dedicated to St John the Baptist, patron of the Order.
The women at Aconbury were not simply nuns living on Hospitaller land. Evidence suggests that they were formally received into the Hospital of St John, taking the Order's habit and living as Hospitaller sisters.
One of them is known by name: Sister Constantia, who is recorded as magistra, or mistress, of the Hospitaller community at Aconbury. Other documents refer to the “brothers and sisters of Aconbury”, suggesting that male Hospitaller personnel also supported the house.
The sisters lived a religious life of prayer and commemoration, but the foundation also appears to have retained the Hospitallers' charitable role, with references to the care of the poor and sick. A Hospitaller priest or chaplain served the community, while nearby Dinmore Preceptory probably provided administrative and religious support.
The surviving church
The present Church of St John the Baptist is the surviving church of the medieval convent.
Much of the building dates from around 1230–1240, meaning that its earliest fabric was constructed during, or immediately around, the final years of Hospitaller control.
The conventual buildings once stood directly south of the church, around a cloister. Blocked doorways and the position of windows in the south wall still show where the monastic buildings once joined the church. The wider estate also contained agricultural land and fishponds.
The dispute with the Hospitallers
Relations between Margaret de Lacy, the sisters and the Hospitallers eventually deteriorated.
After the death of the community's prioress around 1230, disagreement arose over who had the right to appoint her successor. There were also complaints about Hospitaller control of the convent's income and the conduct of a priest appointed to serve the sisters.
The community itself was divided. Sister Dionisia of Leche and several other women apparently supported the Hospitallers and wished to remain within the Order.
Margaret appealed directly to Pope Gregory IX, beginning a lengthy legal struggle. The Hospitallers strongly defended their rights to Aconbury, demonstrating that they regarded the convent as a genuine part of their Order.
Eventually, in 1237, Pope Gregory IX released Aconbury from Hospitaller authority. The community continued independently under the Rule of St Augustine until its suppression in 1536.
Today, the Church of St John the Baptist at Aconbury remains the clearest surviving reminder of this remarkable episode — a medieval house where women lived not simply as nuns, but for a brief period as Sisters of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.
Boulstone (Bolstone) - Church & Lands
The small Herefordshire village of Bolstone, near Holme Lacy and the River Wye, was once part of the estates of the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem.
Exactly when the Hospitallers first acquired Bolstone is uncertain. Some later accounts place their ownership in the 12th century, but the earliest clear documentary evidence currently identified comes from 1333, when Bishop Thomas Charlton of Hereford recorded:
Capella de Bolstone — xx s.
— the chapel of Bolstone, valued at 20 shillings, among the possessions belonging directly to the Hospital of St John. Significantly, it was listed separately from former Knights Templar property, confirming that Bolstone was an established Hospitaller holding in its own right.
By the early 16th century the Order's estate at Bolstone was considerably more than a chapel. A Hospitaller rental compiled in 1505, preserved at Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre as A63/III/23/1,
records Thomas Llewellyn as tenant of a “capital messuage or mansion” with lands and pastures at Bolstone.
This shows that the Hospitallers held a small but substantial agricultural estate consisting of a principal house or manor farm, surrounding land and pasture, tenant holdings and the church. The estate produced rents and income for the Order rather than functioning as a separate commandery.
There is no evidence that a permanent community of Hospitaller knights lived at Bolstone. Instead, the property appears to have been leased to local tenants and administered as part of the Order's wider network of estates in Herefordshire and the Welsh Marches.
The Hospitallers continued to control the church into the final years of the Order in England. In 1536, it was recorded as:
Ecclesia sive capella de Bolstone
— the church or chapel of Bolstone, annexed to the Hospitaller priory and valued at 40 shillings.
The medieval church survives today as the Church of St John of Jerusalem, Bolstone, at approximately OS Grid Reference SO 55172 32760. Although restored in the 19th century, it retains 12th-, 13th- and 14th-century fabric, meaning parts of the building were standing during Hospitaller ownership.
Immediately beside the church stands Bolstone Court. The present house is later, but its position close to the church and the 1505 reference to a Hospitaller capital messuage or mansion make it a strong candidate for the site, or approximate site, of the medieval Hospitaller manor farm, although this has not yet been proven archaeologically.
Bolstone was therefore not a preceptory filled with knights, but a working Hospitaller manor: a church, principal farm, agricultural land, pastures and tenants whose rents helped support the wider work of the Order of St John.
Callow - Land & Church St Mary
The Knights Hospitallers at Callow
A few miles south of Hereford lies the small village of Callow, once part of a network of estates belonging to the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem and administered from their important commandery at Dinmore.
A gift from Richard the Lionheart
The Hospitallers acquired Callow during the reign of Richard I. An especially valuable piece of evidence survives in a Hospitaller document associated with a chapter held at Quenington in 1193. It refers to:
terra de Calewe quam nos tenemus ex donacione domini Ricardi... Regis Anglie
— the “land of Callow which we hold by the gift of Lord Richard, illustrious King of England.”
This provides strong contemporary evidence that Richard I granted Callow to the Order, probably around 1190, at approximately the same period that he confirmed and supported the Hospitallers' establishment at Dinmore before departing on the Third Crusade.
What did the Hospitallers own at Callow?
Callow was much more than a small parcel of land. By 1292, it was described as one of the Hospitallers' manors, alongside Dinmore, Sutton St Michael and Wormbridge. The Preceptor of Dinmore claimed manorial rights there, including the view of frankpledge and rights over fines and tenants.
The great Hospitaller survey commissioned by Prior Philip de Thame in 1338 gives us an even clearer picture. It records at Callow:
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two carucates of land, described as relatively poor land and leased out to farm;
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the church at Callow;
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rents received from tenants within the manor.
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The two carucates and the church together were valued at 60 shillings a year. Callow also appears amongst the places from which the Dinmore commandery received its regular assized rents.
Unlike Dinmore itself, Callow does not appear to have contained a resident community of Hospitaller knights. The estate was apparently farmed or leased to tenants, with its income passing back to Dinmore to help support the Order and its wider religious, charitable and military activities.
The Hospitallers' church
The church was clearly under Hospitaller control. In 1333 Bishop Thomas Charlton's return of churches belonging to the Order records:
“Capella de Calewe — x s.”
— the Chapel of Callow, valued at ten shillings.
A return of 1346 calls it Sanctae Margaretae de Calewe — St Margaret of Callow, suggesting that St Margaret was probably the medieval dedication, although the present church is dedicated to St Mary.
We can even identify at least one medieval clergyman serving there. On 18 September 1330, Bishop Charlton's register records Nicholas de Kari, vicar of Calewe, being ordained priest.
Because the Hospitallers controlled the church, Nicholas was serving a church within their patronage.
However, the surviving entry records his ordination rather than his original presentation, so it would be safer not to claim that we can yet prove the Hospitallers personally nominated him.
What remains today?
The medieval Hospitaller church no longer survives above ground. The present Church of St Mary was rebuilt on the site of the earlier church in 1830 and enlarged again in 1884.
Its location is:
OS Grid Reference: SO 49479 34368
Remarkably, however, one object may have survived from the Hospitaller period. Inside the church is a 13th-century font, meaning it could have been used by the inhabitants of Callow while the manor and church belonged to the Knights of St John.
Immediately beside the church stands Callow House Farmhouse, described by Historic England as probably 17th century but having “earlier origins.” Its proximity to the church and the medieval Hospitaller estate makes it tempting to wonder whether this area represents the old manorial or agricultural centre of Callow, although at present there is no firm evidence identifying the farmhouse itself with a Hospitaller building.
Callow and the Hospitallers
Callow was therefore not a commandery filled with knights, but something equally important to the medieval Order: a working rural manor producing rents, agricultural income and church revenues.
Granted by Richard the Lionheart around the time of the Third Crusade, its lands and church helped support the Hospitaller community at Dinmore for centuries. Today the medieval buildings have largely disappeared, but the site of their church — and possibly its 13th-century font — still provides a tangible link with the Knights Hospitaller who controlled Callow more than seven hundred years ago.
Hereford - Coningsby Hospital
The Knights Hospitallers at Coningsby Hospital, Hereford
On Widemarsh Street in Hereford stands Coningsby Hospital, on the site of a much earlier medieval hospital associated with the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem.
The Hospitallers' connection with Hereford appears to date from the reign of Richard I. A later Hospitaller account records that in 1194 the king placed the hospitals at Hereford and Worcester in the care of the Order. This suggests that a charitable hospital may already have existed here before the Hospitallers took responsibility for it.
The medieval establishment was not originally known as Coningsby Hospital. It was essentially the Hospital of St John at Hereford, and formed a small dependency or cell of the Hospitallers' important commandery at Dinmore, several miles north of the city.
Its main purpose was charitable. Rather than functioning like a modern hospital, it provided shelter, food, support and religious care for poor and infirm men. It was therefore a particularly direct expression of the Hospitallers' original vocation of caring for the sick and needy.
The Hospitallers also held land around Hereford which helped support the institution. Their lordship extended around the Widemarsh area, and the 1338 accounts of Dinmore record 30 acres of land and adjoining meadow at Hereford.
Interestingly, the hospital itself does not appear as a separate establishment in Philip de Thame's great Hospitaller survey of 1338. This was probably because it was administered as a dependent part of Dinmore rather than as an independent commandery. It was also a charitable institution producing little surplus income, whereas the 1338 report concentrated largely on the estates and revenues of the Order.
The number of Hospitaller brothers permanently resident at Hereford is unknown, but it was almost certainly a small community. Even the much larger commandery at Dinmore contained only three professed Hospitaller brothers in 1338. At Hereford there may have been only one or two brethren overseeing the hospital, supported by a chaplain, servants and other lay staff, alongside the poor and infirm men who lived there.
The hospital continued in Hospitaller hands into the sixteenth century. Shortly before the Reformation, John Leland described an almshouse and chapel on the site, showing that its charitable purpose was still being maintained.
After the suppression of the Knights Hospitaller in England in 1540, the medieval institution eventually disappeared. The site later came into the possession of Sir Thomas Coningsby, who founded a new hospital there in 1614, giving the complex the name by which it is known today.
Although much of what can now be seen at Coningsby Hospital is later in date, the site preserves the memory of a much older institution — a small Hospitaller hospital dependent upon Dinmore, caring for the poor and infirm within medieval Hereford.
Sutton St Michael - St Nicholas Church
The Knights Hospitaller at Sutton St Michael
Sutton St Michael, in the fertile valley of the River Lugg north of Hereford, was an important estate of the Knights Hospitaller and a member of their preceptory at Dinmore. By the 14th century, Sutton formed part of the extensive network of lands and revenues administered by the Hospitallers from Dinmore.
The origins of their possession of Sutton lie in the later 12th century. The church and its associated lands had previously been connected with St Guthlac's Priory at Hereford, and by 1185 Sutton St Michael was in Hospitaller hands. The precise details of the transfer remain uncertain: surviving historical evidence suggests that St Guthlac's rights were transferred to the Hospitallers, although the ownership history of the wider manor in the 12th century is not entirely clear. St Guthlac's retained a pension from the church after the transfer.
The importance of Sutton is demonstrated particularly well by the Hospitallers' 1338 survey of the preceptory of Dinmore. It records Sutton as:
"Sutton — membrum de Dynemor"
— Sutton, a member of Dinmore.
The estate contained 350 acres of land, comprising 200 acres valued at 8 pence per acre and a further 150 acres valued at 6 pence per acre. Together these were valued at £10 8s. 4d. annually. The Hospitallers also received 60s. 11d. in assized rents, 20s. from the pleas and profits of their courts, and 40s. from pasture.
Most significantly, the church of Sutton was held in proprios usus — for the Order's own use — and produced £10 a year. A further 34s. 1d. was received from other small tithes. The Sutton estate was therefore producing a substantial and varied income from agriculture, pasture, rents, manorial jurisdiction, the church and tithes.
The reference to profits from the courts is particularly important. The Hospitallers were not merely collecting agricultural rents at Sutton; they exercised manorial rights and jurisdiction, demonstrating that this was a fully developed estate within the Dinmore administration.
The Hospitallers also maintained a local establishment at Sutton, traditionally identified with Overcourt. Local historical records describe Overcourt as the Sutton headquarters of the Hospitallers, operating beneath the principal establishment at Dinmore.
Nearby Freen's Court, immediately west of St Michael's Church, preserves an exceptionally important medieval archaeological landscape. Its buried buildings, medieval moated site, fishponds and associated earthworks survive as a Scheduled Monument. Geophysical survey has revealed substantial medieval structures, including a building approximately 25 metres by 8 metres and another approximately 30 metres by 10 metres.
However, Freen's Court should not automatically be identified as the Hospitaller headquarters. The archaeological complex has a much longer history and has been interpreted as a high-status or magnate residence, potentially occupying part of an earlier Anglo-Saxon royal complex. The evidence currently available does not conclusively connect its medieval buildings with the Hospitallers.
The surviving Church of St Michael provides the clearest visible reminder of the medieval estate. The church itself dates from the 12th century, placing its origins within the period in which Sutton passed into Hospitaller possession. Although extensively restored, it preserves the location of the church whose revenues were being appropriated by the Hospitallers in 1338.
Following the Dissolution of the Hospitaller estates in the 16th century, Sutton passed into secular ownership. The Lingen family subsequently became associated with the Sutton estate and Freen's Court. The Hospitallers' buildings have disappeared, but their former estate remains visible in the landscape through the church, medieval settlement pattern, surviving earthworks, field boundaries and archaeological remains.
Sutton and the Dinmore Estate
By 1338, Sutton illustrates the way in which the Hospitallers organised their Herefordshire possessions. It was not an isolated farm or simple church holding, but a member of Dinmore, generating income through land, pasture, rents, courts, tithes and ecclesiastical revenues.
The Sutton estate therefore provides an excellent example of the Hospitallers' role in medieval Herefordshire: a military-religious order whose possessions had become substantial manorial and agricultural estates, administered through a network of dependent members centred upon Dinmore.
Today, the fields and archaeological remains around Sutton St Michael preserve much of the landscape within which the Hospitallers operated more than seven centuries ago, while St Michael's Church remains the most tangible surviving medieval building associated with their Sutton estate.
Welsh Newton
the Templars owned a house with outbuildings, 100 acres of land and a pasture. The late 13th century church at Welsh Newton was appropriated to the Templars, And Also bears a number of Potential Knights Templar Graves, Upon their surpression this was passed to the Hospitallers
Rowlestone
The Knights Hospitaller at Rowlestone
Rowlestone, in south-west Herefordshire, was a small but significant estate of the Knights Hospitaller, administered as a member of the preceptory of Dinmore.
The 1338 survey of the Hospitallers records it as:
“Rolston — membrum de Dynemore”
The Order held 200 acres of land, valued at 6 pence per acre and producing £5 annually. In addition, the estate generated 60 shillings and 10½ pence in assized rents and a further 13 shillings and 4 pence from the pleas and profits of its courts. The latter demonstrates that the Hospitallers possessed manorial rights at Rowlestone rather than simply holding agricultural land.
The estate was administered locally by a Hospitaller bailiff, while archaeological records also identify a medieval camera of the Knights Hospitaller at Rowlestone, indicating that the property had its own administrative function within the wider Dinmore estate.
The precise circumstances by which the Hospitallers acquired Rowlestone are uncertain. By the 14th century they held a moiety, or half, of the manor, although the surviving evidence indicates that their holding excluded both the medieval castle and the parish church. It has been suggested that the Hospitaller estate may have originated from former Templar property transferred after the suppression of the Templars, but this remains unproven.
The most likely location of the Hospitaller manor or administrative centre is Rowlestone Court Farm. The present farm occupies the historic manorial area, immediately beside the surviving medieval castle motte, and archaeological work has identified evidence of earlier occupation. The farm itself should not, however, be described as a surviving Hospitaller building without further archaeological evidence.
Nearby St Peter's Church is an exceptional survival of the medieval Rowlestone landscape, with important Norman and Romanesque sculpture. The church was not part of the Hospitallers' holding, but its proximity to the manor and castle illustrates the character of the medieval settlement.
The castle motte, historic Court Farm and medieval church therefore survive as important elements of the landscape in which the Hospitallers operated. Although the buildings of their Rowlestone establishment have not been securely identified, the 1338 account demonstrates that the Order controlled a substantial agricultural and manorial estate here as part of the wider Dinmore network.
Following the Dissolution of the Hospitallers in 1540, their Rowlestone lands passed into secular ownership, but the medieval landscape still preserves important clues to the Order's presence.
Wormbridge - St Peter Church
The Knights Hospitaller at Wormbridge, Herefordshire
Wormbridge was one of the principal members of the Knights Hospitaller Preceptory of Dinmore, forming part of the extensive network of estates that supported the Order's charitable and military work in England and the Holy Land.
The manor and church of Wormbridge were granted to the Hospitallers during the reign of King Richard I, around 1189–1190, becoming part of the newly established commandery at Dinmore. The estate remained in Hospitaller hands until the Dissolution of the Order in 1540.
The Hospitallers' survey of 1338 records Wormbridge as a prosperous agricultural and manorial estate. The report states that the estate produced 11 marks, 11 shillings and 11 pence in assized rents, together with 40 shillings from the pleas and profits of the manor court, demonstrating that the Hospitallers exercised manorial jurisdiction over their tenants. The estate also generated 30 shillings from hay and pasture, while 200 acres of land—100 acres valued at 6 pence per acre and a further 100 acres valued at 4 pence per acre—were worth £4 3s. 4d. annually.
Unlike several of the smaller members of the Dinmore estate, Wormbridge also included the parish church, now dedicated to St Peter and St Thomas. Much of the present church dates from the Hospitaller period, including its fine Norman doorway of around 1200, making it one of the best surviving reminders of the Order's presence in Herefordshire.
The 1338 survey demonstrates that Wormbridge was far more than a simple farming estate. Through rents, agricultural production and the profits of its manor court, it provided a valuable source of income for the Preceptory of Dinmore and ultimately helped support the Hospitallers' religious, charitable and military activities.
Following the suppression of the Knights Hospitaller by Henry VIII in 1540, the manor and its estates passed into secular ownership. Although the Hospitaller buildings have long since disappeared, St Peter and St Thomas Church and the surrounding medieval landscape continue to preserve the legacy of one of the Order's most important Herefordshire estates.
KENTCHURCH - 200 Acres Deer Park
WELLINGTON - Church Hall Farm
The village of Wellington, around five miles north of Hereford, had an important but often overlooked connection with the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem. The Order did not possess the entire manor of Wellington; instead, it held a collection of valuable agricultural properties and watermills within the parish which formed part of the estates of the nearby Hospitaller Commandery of Dinmore.
Wellington and Dinmore
Dinmore, immediately north of Wellington, became one of the principal Hospitaller houses in Herefordshire during the later 12th century. A charter dating from about 1189 already records William, Prior of Dinmore, and Brother Thomas, described as the founder of the house, dealing with land between Wellington Wood and Winsley. This demonstrates how closely the Dinmore estate bordered Wellington from the earliest period of the commandery.
Wellington itself, however, had a separate manorial history. Before the Norman Conquest it was held by Thorkil White, and in the Domesday survey of 1086 the manor was held by Hugh l'Asne. It subsequently passed to Robert de Chandos, remaining with the Chandos family until the death of Sir Thomas Chandos in 1375. Thereafter the manor became divided into separate portions. In 1514, Charles, Earl of Worcester, was recorded as holding the manor.
The Hospitaller property at Wellington should therefore be viewed as an estate within the parish rather than possession of the lordship of Wellington itself.
What did the Hospitallers hold?
The clearest medieval evidence comes from a 1505 rental of the Knights of St John at Dinmore. This records:
“for Wellington – 2 water mills situated on the Lugg called Fryermill.”
The reference is particularly significant because it confirms that the Hospitallers were established landholders at Wellington at least 35 years before the suppression of Dinmore. The name Fryermill or “Friars' Mill” itself preserved an obvious association with the religious Order.
By the time of the Reformation, a reconstruction of the Dinmore estate made by Richard Hollins Murray records the Hospitallers as possessing at Wellington:
Church House Farm, a watermill and Adford's Meadow.
Together these provide a good picture of the purpose of the Wellington estate. It was not another commandery occupied by a body of knights, but an income-producing agricultural property belonging to Dinmore. The farm supplied rents and agricultural produce, the meadow provided valuable grazing and hay, and the watermills generated income through the grinding of grain.
Who gave Wellington to the Hospitallers?
Unfortunately, the original donor and date of the Wellington estate have not yet been identified.
It is possible that some property was acquired relatively early because the Hospitallers were already dealing with land bordering Wellington in about 1189. However, there is presently no surviving charter that securely demonstrates that Church House, Adford's Meadow or the Wellington mills formed part of the original endowment of Dinmore.
Neither is there evidence that the Wellington property had previously belonged to the Knights Templar. The Hospitallers received many former Templar estates following the suppression of that Order in the early 14th century, but Historic England specifically notes that there is currently no evidence that their Wellington property came to them through this route.
The safest conclusion is therefore that Wellington had become part of the Dinmore estate by 1505, and probably earlier, but its original donor and precise date of acquisition remain unknown.
Church House Farm
The most important surviving building associated with the Hospitaller estate is Church House Farm, close to the parish church.
Remarkably, the present Grade II* listed building contains medieval fabric. Historic England identifies its origins as a 15th-century hall house, with a cross-wing constructed during the early or middle 16th century. This means that at least part of the building standing today may have existed while the property belonged to the Knights Hospitaller.
It should not, however, be imagined as a Hospitaller preceptory filled with armed knights. Church House was more probably the principal farmhouse or residence connected with the Order's Wellington estate, perhaps occupied by a tenant responsible for farming the property and paying rent to Dinmore.
The house was substantially altered after the Hospitallers disappeared and contains important late-16th and early-17th-century painted decoration.
The Hospitaller mills
Watermills were among the most valuable components of a medieval estate, and the Hospitallers appear to have had a particularly strong interest in milling at Wellington.
The 1505 Dinmore rental records two watermills on the River Lugg called Fryermill. Later records associated with the former Dinmore estate continued to mention a watermill on the Lugg.
Another Wellington mill was known as Shottesbrook. Following the suppression of the Order of St John, it was granted away by Edward VI in 1549.
The present Wellington Mill was constructed in 1832 on the site of earlier mills, and its deeds reportedly include Shottesbrook among its predecessors. Although the present building is therefore much later than the Hospitallers, the site may preserve the location of one element of their medieval milling estate. The building has since been converted into houses, but some of the former milling machinery and millstones survive.
Suppression and the Grey grant
The English properties of the Knights Hospitaller were suppressed by Henry VIII in 1540, bringing several centuries of Hospitaller ownership at Dinmore to an end.
The Wellington properties consequently passed into Crown hands.
An 1888 history of the manor of Wellington states that:
“the Church House belonged to the Hospitallers of Dynmore”
and that it was granted by Queen Elizabeth I to Peter Grey and Edward Grey and their heirs in 1577.
Historic England has confirmed that a Patent Roll does indeed record property at “Wyllington” in Herefordshire among a grant to the Queen's servant Peter Greye and his son Edward. The grant covered numerous properties across England, however, so the Greys probably had little or no personal involvement with Church House itself.
What remains today?
Several features around Wellington still help tell the story.
Most important is Church House Farm, at National Grid Reference SO 49804 48221. Its 15th-century origins mean that visitors are looking at a building whose earliest fabric probably stood during the final decades of Hospitaller ownership.
The later Wellington Mill also preserves the tradition of centuries of milling in the village and occupies a site associated with earlier mills, including Shottesbrook.
Immediately to the north rises Dinmore Hill, where the Hospitallers' former commandery survives at Dinmore Manor. Most notably, its medieval chapel remains, providing a direct architectural connection with the headquarters from which the Wellington property would have been administered.
Wellington's medieval parish church of St Margaret of Antioch should not be confused with a Hospitaller church. Its early history was associated with the lords of the manor, particularly the Chandos family, rather than ownership by the Knights of St John.
The Hospitallers at Wellington
Wellington was never a great Hospitaller fortress or independent commandery. Instead, it illustrates how the military Orders actually supported themselves in medieval England.
By at least 1505, the Knights of St John at Dinmore controlled valuable property here, including two watermills on the River Lugg, while by the Reformation their estate is recorded as including Church House Farm, a watermill and Adford's Meadow.
These farms, meadows and mills produced the rents, food and income that sustained the Hospitaller community at Dinmore and ultimately helped finance the wider work of the Order of St John.
The identity of the person who originally gave the Wellington property to the Hospitallers remains uncertain, as does the exact date of the grant. Yet the surviving records — and particularly Church House Farm itself — leave a fascinating reminder that this quiet Herefordshire village once formed part of the extensive medieval estate of the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem.
HAREWOOD
LYNHALES - Messuage
The Knights Hospitallers held property interests at Lyonshall in Herefordshire, recorded in medieval documents under forms such as Leomhales and Leonhales. Their holdings here were connected to the nearby Hospitaller commandery of Dinmore, rather than forming a separate preceptory or resident community.
By 1338, the great survey compiled for Prior Philip de Thame records Dinmore receiving fixed rents from Lyonshall, alongside income from several other scattered estates and settlements. This suggests that the Hospitallers' presence in Lyonshall consisted primarily of tenanted land or property from which annual rents were collected, helping support the wider Dinmore estate and the work of the Order.
The original donor of these Lyonshall holdings has not yet been securely identified. They may have resulted from one or more smaller grants made to Dinmore during the 12th or 13th centuries.
Today, no building at Lyonshall can be securely identified as having belonged to the Hospitallers. The impressive ruins of Lyonshall Castle and the medieval parish church still survive, but neither formed part of the Order's estate. The Hospitallers' presence at Lyonshall is therefore remembered chiefly through the medieval records of the rents they once drew from the village.
ROYNTON
OVERWENT
MONMOUTH
MULTON - Watermill
LUDLOW
OXENHALE - Church St Annes
PORTH KERRY
PENMARK
BRAMPTON BRYAN - Church St Barnabas
The Knights Hospitaller held the patronage of the medieval church at Brampton Bryan, on the Herefordshire–Shropshire border, for at least two centuries. Brampton Bryan was not a Hospitaller preceptory and there is no evidence that a community of knights lived there. Instead, the church formed part of the network of ecclesiastical properties administered by the Order, most probably through their nearby preceptory at Dinmore.
The exact date and donor of the original grant are not yet known. However, the Hospitallers were certainly in possession of the advowson – the right to appoint the parish priest – by 1275, when Joseph de Cauncy, Prior of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in England, presented a new incumbent to the church.
The contemporary lords of Brampton Bryan were the de Brampton family, and it is possible that they, or one of their predecessors, granted the church or its patronage to the Order, but this remains unproven.
Income from Brampton Bryan
The financial value of the Hospitallers' interest is recorded in 1333, when a return of their possessions in the Diocese of Hereford included:
“Pensio in ecclesia de Brampton – xx s.”
meaning:
“A pension from the church of Brampton – 20 shillings.”
The Order therefore received an annual payment of £1 from the church, alongside its valuable right of patronage.
There is presently no firm evidence that the Hospitallers owned Brampton Bryan Castle, the manor, or a separate preceptory or substantial estate within the village. Their documented interest centred upon the church, its patronage and associated income.
Clergy appointed by the Hospitallers
A particularly valuable series of episcopal records preserves the names of several clergy appointed to Brampton Bryan under Hospitaller patronage.
1275 – Robert de Lacy
Presented by Joseph de Cauncy, Prior of the Hospitallers in England. Robert was initially an acolyte and was subsequently ordained subdeacon before being formally instituted on 22 December 1275. He later received permission to leave the parish temporarily in order to study canon law or theology.
1303 – William de Rowelle
Presented to Brampton Bryan by the Grand Prior of the Knights Hospitaller, demonstrating that the Order still controlled the patronage nearly thirty years after Robert de Lacy's appointment.
1330 – Stephen de Monte Leonis
Presented on 11 November 1330 by the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.
1333 – Nicholas de Oxon
Presented by the Hospitallers in August 1333. He is subsequently recorded as rector of Brampton Bryan.
1349 – Richard de la Hulle
Rector of Brampton Bryan during the Black Death. In December 1349 he was granted permission to be absent from the parish because he was attending the Preceptor of Dinmore, providing strong evidence of the close administrative link between Brampton Bryan and Dinmore.
1361 – Sir John Mathew
Also recorded as attending the Preceptor of Dinmore. Later that year he was formally presented to Brampton Bryan by John de Pavele, Prior of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.
Before 1473 – John Grene
Recorded as the previous incumbent when he resigned the benefice.
1473 – Master David Robyn
Presented by Brother John Bosewell, Preceptor of the Hospital at Dinmore. By this period the local preceptor was clearly exercising the Hospitallers' patronage directly.
1475 – John Lloyd, chaplain
Presented by Sir John Bosewell, Knight and Preceptor of Dinmore.
These clergy appear to have been predominantly secular priests appointed by the Hospitallers, rather than professed brothers of the Order. There is no clear evidence of resident Hospitaller knights at Brampton Bryan itself.
The church today
The medieval church used by these priests was heavily damaged during the fighting surrounding Brampton Bryan Castle in 1643. The present Church of St Barnabas was largely rebuilt in 1656, although portions of the earlier medieval fabric survive within the building.
The church therefore remains the principal physical link with the Hospitallers at Brampton Bryan.
Although no Hospitaller preceptory survives here, the documentary evidence reveals a continuous relationship stretching from at least 1275 into the later fifteenth century. For generations the Order appointed Brampton Bryan's clergy, received income from the church and administered its interests through nearby Dinmore Preceptory, making this small border parish part of the much wider network that supported the Knights Hospitaller in medieval England.
DEWSALL - Church St Michael
The Knights Hospitaller at Dewsall, Herefordshire
Hidden in the countryside just south of Hereford, the small parish of Dewsall has a little-known connection with the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem, whose great Herefordshire administrative centre stood at Dinmore.
What did the Hospitallers hold at Dewsall?
The clearest evidence concerns St Michael's Church and its patronage. Historian H. J. Harris noted that although few medieval institutions to Dewsall survive in the registers of the Bishops of Hereford, presentations to the church were made by the Prior or the Knights of St John of Jerusalem and recorded in the Order's own records. This indicates that the Hospitallers possessed the right to present clergy to Dewsall.
It is important, however, not to overstate the evidence. Dewsall does not appear among the clearly documented Hospitaller manors such as Dinmore, Callow, Sutton St Michael and Wormbridge. At present there is insufficient evidence to state securely that the Hospitallers owned Dewsall manor itself.
Who gave Dewsall to the Order?
No surviving charter has yet been identified showing who granted the church or its patronage to the Hospitallers, or exactly when.
The connection was probably associated with the Order's extensive estates around nearby Callow and Dinmore. Callow was already a Hospitaller possession by the late twelfth century and formed part of the network administered from Dinmore. Dewsall's ecclesiastical connection with the Order therefore seems to belong to this wider Hospitaller landscape rather than to a former Knights Templar estate.
Who was present at Dewsall?
Dewsall was not a Hospitaller preceptory, and there is presently no evidence for a permanent community of Hospitaller knights or brothers living there.
The Order's involvement appears instead to have been through the church. A local priest or vicar would have served the parish after being presented under the Hospitallers' patronage, while officials from the Order's nearby estates would have exercised its administrative rights. The principal community of Hospitaller brothers in the area was based at Dinmore.
What remains today?
The medieval connection is centred on St Michael's Church, Dewsall, near Callow, Hereford, HR2 8DA, at approximately OS Grid Reference SO 486 334.
The Grade II* church is principally 14th century, but contains earlier fabric probably dating from the 12th century, meaning that a church existed here before or during the period of Hospitaller influence.
Immediately outside survives an impressive medieval churchyard cross, probably dating from the 14th century, with its stepped base, socket stone and part of the original octagonal shaft.
Although there is no identifiable Hospitaller commandery building at Dewsall today, St Michael's remains a surviving medieval witness to a parish whose clergy once came under the patronage of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem.
MARSTOW - (Site of) St Martins Church
