ThTHE TEMPLARS

IN OXFORD

THE TEMPLARS IN OXFORD

The Legacy of the Knights Templar in Oxfordshire

The Knights Templar established their first preceptory at Temple Cowley in 1136, where they remained for nearly a century before relocating to a more prestigious site at Sandford. Their presence in Oxfordshire was supported by generous benefactors, including Alan La Zouche, who gifted them lands at Sandford. Additionally, before 1153, Agnes of Sibford granted the Templars a chapel at Sibford Gower, along with land at Temple Mill. The grange at Sibford became the administrative heart of their Oxfordshire estates.

Following the establishment of the Sandford preceptory, Temple Cowley’s importance declined, becoming a subordinate cell or camera. Today, no physical traces of the preceptory remain near Temple Street, except for the traditional fish pond. Over the centuries, Cowley has been absorbed into modern Oxford, now bustling with shopping centers and residential areas, leaving little visible reminder of its medieval past

THE PRECEPTORY OF SANDFORD

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.

By the time the Templars had built their preceptory here, they were already well established in the county, having aquired rich properties from other benefactors., Sandford being their chief preceptory in Oxfordshire

The hospitallers would have held the following at Sandford:

300 acres of arable land, at the price of 6d. per acre
28 acres of meadow, at the price of 3s. per acre
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)

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:

“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.

HORSPATH

In 1141, the Empress Matilda gifted the Knights at Temple Cowley, rights of pasture at Shotover Forest. A survey in 1298, also showed the Templars as holding lands at Akemere wood, which lay just beyond the forest ib the village of Horspath, granted to the Templars in 1225 by Bernard Malet. This was a large holding of approx 880 acres as well as woods, & common pasture grounds. 120 Acres seem to have been in demense - with the value of the lands between 1194 - 1338 being thus

1194 - £3 14s

1195 - £6

1305 - £6 9s 2d

1312 - £6 4s 5d

1338 - £7

MERTON

Merton near Bicester, was an important Manor which was given to the Templars in 1152-1155 by Simon, Earl of Northampton. Although in an isolated spot, it had 25 tenants inb 1185, A lot of effort was put placed in clearing woodland at Merton, along with the construction of a watermill, a mill leet and a bridge - The value of the lands in Merton being as follows

1185 - 25 Tenants - £4 12s 8d

1279 - 49 Tenants - £7 10s 9d

1308 - 31 Tenants - £6 5s 10d

1338 - Unknown. - £5 12s 6d

BROADWELL - Advowson

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.

EWELME -

SIBFORD FERRIS / SIBFORD 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:

approximately 200 acres of arable land
6 acres of meadow for hay
pasture and common rights in the village
a water mill on the River Sib
houses and tenant holdings
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.

HORSEPATH

FILKINS - Mill

BLEWBURY - Church St Michaels

BECKLEY - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church

WESTWELL - St Mary's Church

HENSINGTON

COTESMORE - Mill

TEMPLAR FIGURES AT OXFORD

Knights Templar at Oxford

Colingham (Richard of) - Templar at Sandford, arrested in January 1308, penitence in the Diocese of Bath and Wells
William of Chalesey (Chelse) - Knight
Sautre (William of) - Commander of Sandford, arrested in January 1308, penance in the Diocese of Lincoln - Present in London in 1310
Warwick (Warrewyck) (William of) - Prior to Sandford, arrested in January 1308, penance in the diocese of Bath and Wells
Stephen de Stappelbrigg - Knight Merton
Thomas Totty (Tolly) - Knight Merton
Robert le Eascropp - Preceptor
Baldwin de Austray - Constable/Preceptor
John de Dokesworke - Preceptor
Robert de Waus - Knight
Michael de Baskevile - Knight
Walter de Rokele - Knight
Thomas de Walkington - Knight
Robert de Sancto Justo - Knight
Ralph de Malton - Knight
FATHER Herbert - Preceptor of Cowley
Brother Hugo de Munchausi (Hugh may have been a younger son of that family who entered the Templars. Several members of the Montchensey family appear in royal service and crusading contexts.)
Brother Willelmus Capellanus - SIBFORD/OXFORD

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