THE KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS
IN OXFORDSHIRE
BROADWELL
The manor of Bradwell St John, so called from the 16th century, (fn. 104) originated in Alan de Limesy's grant to the Knights Templar in the mid 12th century of five hides in Broadwell, together with the church and rectory estate, and meadow at Cottesmore. During the 13th century the Templars repeatedly sought warranty for six hides or 13 librates of land against owners of the other manors. In 1279 they held over 24 yardlands in Broadwell, and another hide was held for 4 marks' rent of Brimpsfield priory (Glos.), whose right is otherwise unrecorded. Broadwell mill was acquired from Ralph of Wigginton by the Templars some time before 1185, when it was leased for 10s. a year.
Broadwell is now extremely small but in the 12th century it was bigger than Burford with a population of approx 2,000
The building of the church of St Peter & St Pauls in Broadwell history does coincide with the rise in power of the Knights Templar after the First Crusade in 1096, their official adoption by the Catholic Church in 1129, the gift of land in Broadwell parish at Filkins to them in 1185 and the building of the spire using their money in about 1260.
As with all Templar Churches, The church doesn’t face east but north-east, 45 degrees, which accords with the Templar’s practice of aligning churches with sunrise on the Patronal Saint’s day, 29th June for the Saints Peter and Paul.
CLANFIELD
GOSFORD
In the medieval period, Gosford in the parish of Kidlington formed part of an important network of religious and charitable foundations linked to the Knights Hospitaller — also known as the Order of St John of Jerusalem.
Early Foundations
The manor of Gosford was granted in 1142 by Robert d’Oilly the younger and his son Henry to the Hospitallers. Initially, the estate supported sisters of the Order of St John, who were responsible for a hospital at Gosford. Around 1180, these nuns were relocated to Buckland in Somerset, after which Gosford remained in the hands of the knights.
For a time in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, control appears to have shifted. Tradition holds that the site passed to the Knights Templar, who are thought to have built a chapel here around 1234. After the suppression of the Templars in 1307, the property returned to the Hospitallers.
The Preceptory of Clanfield
Gosford fell under the authority of the Hospitaller preceptory at Clanfield. A chapel had been erected at Gosford before 1235, and its existence is confirmed in records from 1279. A 1388 report of the Hospitallers notes income from “one messuage and two carucates of land in Goseford” valued at ten marks — evidence of the estate’s ongoing agricultural and financial importance.
Although primarily an estate rather than a large monastery, Gosford played a role in sustaining the charitable and military-religious work of the Order in England.
Dissolution and Aftermath
The Hospitallers held Gosford until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s under Henry VIII. In 1543 (34 Henry VIII), the Crown granted the manor to Sir John Williams and Anthony Stringer, marking its transition from religious to secular ownership. Thereafter, Gosford became linked administratively with nearby Water Eaton.
Over time, the former religious buildings were adapted for new purposes — serving successively as an asylum or poorhouse, and later as a tavern.
A Surviving Medieval Fragment
In 1948, during structural alterations at the Kings Arms in Gosford, a 15th-century window was discovered beneath the floor. It is believed to have formed part of the medieval hospital complex. Today, this window is preserved at the headquarters of St John Ambulance in Kidlington — a tangible reminder of Gosford’s connection to the Order of St John.
Today the site of the Miller & Carter restaraunt sits on the site of the former Knights Hospitallers Messuage and Chapel at Gosford
MERTON
SANDFORD ON THAMES -
Sandford is situated on the Thames, just to the South of Oxford. The Preceptory there was the second largest houses of the order, outside of London. Thomas de Sandford gifted the lands at Sandford to the Templars circa 1239-1240 (Who himself later became a Templar) There remains part og the 13th Century Chapel at the location, which was used as a barn at Temple Farm, along with some other conventional buildings incorporated into the farm, which is now a Hotel, between the Church of St Andrew and the river.
Windows & fragments of stone carvings have been preserved by being built into the wall, and over the doorway of what would have been the chapel is the cross of the Templars.
The Knights Hospitaller at Sandford-on-Thames
After the suppression of the Knights Templar in 1312, the lands and mills at Sandford-on-Thames were transferred to the Knights Hospitaller. By the 1320s, the Hospitallers were officially managing the estate, collecting rents, and operating the watermills that had been central to the local economy. They retained control of Sandford for over two centuries, until the dissolution of their order in England under Henry VIII in 1540.
This transition marked a significant chapter in Sandford’s medieval history, linking the village to the wider story of England’s religious and military orders.
The hospitallers would have held the following at Sandford:
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300 acres of arable land, at the price of 6d. per acre
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28 acres of meadow, at the price of 3s. per acre
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two water-mills, which are worth … 100s (see below for watermills info)
Medieval Mills at Sandford-on-Thames
Sandford-on-Thames is home to two historic watermills, once owned by the Knights Templar and later by the Knights Hospitaller. The first mill, near Sandford Lock, was established by the Templars in the late 13th century and was integral to local grain processing and navigation along the Thames. Following the suppression of the Templars in 1312, the property passed to the Hospitallers, who managed the mills and surrounding lands until the dissolution of their order in 1540.
Today, remnants of these mills can still be seen along the River Thames, offering a tangible link to Sandford’s medieval past. The site near Sandford Lock, in particular, is accessible via the Thames Path National Trail, providing a scenic route for exploring the village’s rich history.
TEMPLE COWLEY - (Templecouelee)
Temple Cowley: From Templar Preceptory to Hospitaller Estate
On the eastern side of Oxford lies Temple Cowley, once a thriving medieval preceptory of the Knights Templar. Founded in 1136, the estate began with four hides of land (around 480 acres) gifted by Queen Matilda, wife of King Stephen.
Over the next century, the Templars expanded their holdings. By the 14th century, the estate included two watermills, a fishery, and a church at Sibford (granted to them in 1153 by Agnes of Sibford). In 1141, the Empress Matilda also granted the knights extensive pasture rights in Shotover Forest—today known as Akemere Wood—stretching beyond the village of Horsepath and covering land on the slopes of Otmoor. This amounted to a substantial estate of at least 880 acres.
Temple Cowley flourished as a busy settlement, but its importance declined after Thomas de Sandford’s gift of Sandford-on-Thames to the Templars in 1239. The preceptory gradually fell into disuse, eventually being reduced to a smaller administrative unit known as a camera.
When the Knights Templar were suppressed in 1312, their Cowley lands briefly passed to Queen Margaret, before being transferred to the Knights Hospitaller, who continued to hold them until the Dissolution in the 16th century.
Today, little survives of the medieval estate, but Temple Cowley’s name still recalls its fascinating Templar and Hospitaller past—linking modern Oxford to one of the most powerful religious orders of the Middle Ages.
The Lands at Templecoulee, in the 1188 report of Brother Philip de Thame, Knight Templar included the following:
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“Est ibidem unum gardinum et valet .”
→ There is there one garden, -
“Item ij. Columbaria que valent”
→ Also, two dovecotes, -
“Item xj. acre prati, pretium acre iij s., et summa”
→ Also, eleven acres of meadow, the price per acre 3 shillings, -
“Et pastura separalis, que valet”
→ And separate pasture, -
“Item CO. acre terre, pretium acre xij d.”
→ Also, 100 acres of land, the price per acre 12 pence. -
“Item apud Westbury in Cliercliecouelee iiij acre vj d.”
→ Also, at Westbury in Cliercliecouelee, 4 acres, 6 pence. -
“Item j. molendinum aquaticum quod valet”
→ Also, one water mill, -
“Item vij. acre prati, pretium acre ijs.”
→ Also, 7 acres of meadow, the price per acre 2 shillings. -
“Item apud Garsyngdon et Bokenesfeld sunt Ix acre vj d.”
→ Also, at Garsington and Bokenesfield there are 9 acres, 6 pence. -
“Et perquisita curiarum valent ....Et de redditu assiso in eisdem placeis”
→ And the court fines … and from the assessed rent in the same places. -
“Item opera et consuetudines Nativorum valent, XX s, . yj s. xxiii s. . xiij s. iiij d.”
→ Also, the labor and customary services of the tenants are worth 20 shillings, 6 shillings, 33 shillings, and 13 shillings 4 pence. -
“Summa x li.”
→ Total 10 pounds. -
“acre terre : pretium Summa xl s. . XXX s. Summa xviij s. acre terre, pre- . XXX s. XV s. vj li. xij s. ob. iiij li. xj s. ob.”
→ [This section totals land value in various parcels:]-
Acre of land: price… total 40 shillings, 30 shillings, 18 shillings, acres at 30 shillings, 15 shillings, 6 pounds 12 shillings and 4 pounds 11 shillings.
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WESTCOTT
HORSPATH / OVERHORSPATH
SIBFORD FERRIS/GOWER
The villages of Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris in north Oxfordshire preserve the memory of a remarkable medieval landholding: an estate belonging to the Knights Templar, the famous military-religious order founded during the Crusades. Through a series of charters in the mid-12th century, the Templars assembled land at Sibford that formed a small but valuable rural manor.
Early Grants to the Templars
The earliest recorded gifts date to around 1153, when local landholders granted property in Sibbeford (as the village was then known) to the “poor brothers of the Temple of Solomon”. These charters reveal how the estate was formed through several donations.
William son of Roger of Sibford granted the Templars around ten hides of land, including fields, meadows, pastures, and rights connected with a mill. The grant was confirmed by his feudal overlords, including Robert, Earl of Derby (Robert de Ferrers). William retained a smaller portion of land as a tenant of the Templars.
Other local benefactors also contributed. Agnes of Sibford, widow of Ralph Clement, granted the chapel of Sibford, together with one and a half hides of land, a mill site, houses in the village, and full rights of common pasture and water. Her son Simon later confirmed this gift and added further rights, including the tithe of the demesne land and additional houses.
These charters show that the Templars quickly established a functioning estate centred on agriculture and milling.
The Templar Manor
By the late 12th century the estate was recorded in surveys of Templar property. The manor included:
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approximately 200 acres of arable land
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6 acres of meadow for hay
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pasture and common rights in the village
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a water mill on the River Sib
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houses and tenant holdings
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income from rents, labour services, and manorial courts.
The manor produced an annual income of over £15, a respectable sum for a rural estate at the time.
The Templar property lay mainly in what later became Sibford Gower, while nearby Sibford Ferris formed a separate manor associated with the Ferrers family, Earls of Derby. The two villages had originally been part of a single settlement but developed as distinct manors during the 12th century.
The Hospitallers
When the Knights Templar were suppressed in 1312, their lands passed to another military order, the Knights Hospitaller (Order of St John). The Sibford estate continued under Hospitaller management for nearly two centuries, functioning as part of a wider network of monastic and agricultural properties.
The medieval chapel granted to the Templars survived into this period but eventually disappeared after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. Today no visible remains are known, though it probably stood somewhere in the centre of modern Sibford Gower.
Traces in the Modern Landscape
Although the buildings have vanished, the medieval estate still leaves traces in the landscape of the Sib Valley. The River Sib and its historic mill sites likely correspond to the Templars’ water mill, while field patterns around Sibford Gower reflect the long history of agricultural use.
Place-names such as Temple Mill and Temple Close preserve the memory of the order that once held land here.
Today the two villages of Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris, lying a few miles south-west of Banbury, continue to occupy the same landscape that supported this small but significant medieval estate of the Knights Templar and later the Knights Hospitaller.
BURFORD
GINGES
LITTLEMORE
MESEY HAMPTON - St Marys Church
SIDDINGTON - St Peters Church
SOUTHROP - St Peters Church
BAUNTON -
HAMPNETT
Werpesgrave with Esyndon
