ThTHE TEMPLARS

IN SHROPSHIRE

THE TEMPLARS IN SHROPSHIRE

CITATION

Many thanks to the British History Online & 'Houses of Knights Templar', in A History of the County of York: Volume 3, ed. William Page( London, 1974), British History Online (https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/vol3/pp256-260)

THE PRECEPTORY OF LYDLEY

The Templars, who had acquired estates in Shropshire by 1158, owed their original endowments to William FitzAlan (I) and Herbert de Castello. Some time between 1155 and his death in 1160 the former granted them the townships of Cardington and Enchmarsh, half of Chatwall, a pension of 3 marks from Cardington church, and 5s. from Cardington mill. At about the same time Herbert de Castello granted them a carucate at Lydley and two virgates in the adjoining township of Botville, a portion of his wife's inheritance. Since the order chose to establish its preceptory at Lydley the latter may have been the earlier of the two grants. A few outlying properties were added in the next 25 years. Two messuages in Shrewsbury were given by William FitzAlan and a virgate at Cound by his brother Walter. Brian and Roger of Brampton granted a virgate at Kinlet, and a half messuage in Bridgnorth had come into the possession of the preceptory by 1185.

The hamlet of Lydley, which seems to have shrunk to a single farm in the earlier 17th century and is now represented by a derelict range of cottages known as the Day House, stood alongside a stream, near but not on Watling Street. Although the Templars built a mill in the hamlet shortly before 1185 and seem also to have had fishponds there the preceptory buildings apparently stood on the site of Penkridge Hall, an isolated farmstead half a mile south-east of the hamlet which in the 12th century was situated at the junction of the forest of Botwood and the open commons of the Lawley. Their initial endowments had provided the Templars with a compact estate on the northern and southern slopes of the Lawley and Caer Caradoc hills and, like Haughmond Abbey in neighbouring Leebotwood, they were quick to realize its economic potential.

Throughout its history the preceptory maintained a large demesne. In 1185 this comprised nearly the whole of Lydley township and other lands, presumably assarts, in Botville. Since their tenants were excused from all services, apart from the obligation to surrender a third of their goods at death, it is evident than in 1185, as later, the demesne was being worked by a large staff of permanent farm servants. Excluding the sums received from Cardington church and mill and rents of 12s. 4d. from the four outlying properties, the 60 tenants on the Lydley estate in 1185 paid rents totalling £7 11s. ½d. for 17¾ virgates and 173½ acres. The latter were assarts, held on life-tenancies for rents of 2d. an acre, which were waived during the first three years after clearance. The standard holding was the half virgate but a third of the tenants held assarted lands in addition and a further third held assarts only. Although income from assarts represented only a quarter of the total rents, their extent, the favourable terms on which they were held, and the high proportion of recent settlers are a clear indication of the Templars' lively interest in forest clearances.

Soon after 1185 the Templars were able to appropriate Cardington church and in the early 13th century they extended the Lydley estate further into the upland country south of Caer Caradoc and the Lawley. In 1232 they obtained a carucate at Holt Preen. A half hide at Stoneacton was acquired about 1240, while Comley had been added to the estate by 1255 and Willstone by 1274. The order was rather less successful in its efforts to expand into the wooded lowlands to the north of the hills. The boundary with Longnor was probably defined in 1222, when a portion of Botwood was surrendered to the lord of that manor in return for exclusive rights of common in the remainder. The respective common rights of Lydley and Leebotwood tenants in Botwood were regulated in 1273, when the Templars were given the right to fish in the Cound Brook. Their claims to assarts in the southwestern portion of Botwood, which lay in Church Stretton manor, were still a subject of dispute in 1292. Less resistance was encountered to the east where, taking advantage of the lax administration of Langley manor in the earlier 13th century, they had taken possession of the woods of 'Tywleshey' and Harlith, north and south of Causeway Wood. Their rights here were, however, challenged in 1273 and a similar attempt to usurp woodland in the part of Chatwall township outside the Lydley estate was foiled in 1276. The Templars were granted free warren on their demesne at Lydley in 1302 and were employing a forester there in 1308.

Apart from an outlying property at Turford in Richard's Castle, which apparently belonged to the Templars in 1227 but had passed by 1255 to the Hospitallers of Dinmore, Lydley's remaining acquisitions after 1185 were in Corvedale. Most of them were held in demesne and this development can be seen as an attempt to complement the upland economy of the home estate at Lydley with land more suited to cereals. The earliest of these was Lawton mill in Diddlebury, acquired before 1192, but their principal Corvedale property was some six miles up the valley at Stanton Long. Four virgates were granted by Robert Walensis, c. 1225, and a tract of moorland was acquired, c. 1255, from Thomas de Stanton, who conveyed the remainder of his estate here to the Templars soon afterwards. In 1266 they made an unsuccessful claim to the advowson of Stanton Long. Of greater potential value was the adjoining manor of Castle Holdgate, with its barony, which was leased to the Templars of Lydley from c. 1263 until shortly before 1284. Like earlier and later lords of this manor they seem to have held it in demesne; Templar corn from Castle Holdgate was seized c. 1274 by Sir John Giffard of Corfham while it was being carried to Ludlow. It is clear from the reports of the hundred jurors in 1274 and from the lawsuits in which the Templars were involved about this time that they were exercising with some vigour their suzerainty over the numerous manors within the barony, most of which lay in Corvedale. Lydley's interest in Corvedale may explain the appearance of the Ludlow merchant Roger de Hayton as one of their tenants in avowry in 1255.

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Interactive Map of Templar Locations (in Purple) in Shropshire

BRIDGNORTH - Rented Property

The Templars’ Bridgnorth property was, A modest High Town burgage house yielding 2 shillings annually, probably situated along or near the main market street, and by the time of the Shropshire return the rent was in arrears. It was an investment property, not a Templar headquarters.

The Templar property was almost certainly:

A standard Norman-planned burgage strip
Roughly 15–20 ft frontage
In High Town
Probably near the commercial spine
Worth about average urban rental value

The Knights Templar and the July 1155 Meeting at Bridgnorth

In July 1155, Henry II campaigned in Shropshire to suppress the revolt of Hugh Mortimer, who had seized several royal castles, including Bridgnorth. Following Mortimer’s submission, the castle reverted to direct royal control, and the king was present in the town while consolidating authority in the region.

At this time, William FitzAlan, recently restored to favour, granted the whole vill of Cardington, together with other lands, to the Knights Templar. The confirmation of this grant likely occurred while Henry II, FitzAlan, and Richard of Hastings were together at Bridgnorth in the summer of 1155.

There is no evidence that the Templars maintained a preceptory or council hall in Bridgnorth at this date. Given the political and administrative context, the most plausible location for such a meeting and royal confirmation is Bridgnorth Castle itself, then functioning as a military headquarters and royal administrative centre.

The July 1155 gathering was therefore not a secluded Templar assembly, but a moment of royal governance, linking the restoration of a Marcher lord with the expansion of Templar landholding in England.

CARDINGTON - Church & Mill / 5 Hides of Land

During the 12th and 13th centuries, the Knights Templar established a significant rural estate centred on Cardington in Shropshire. Like many Templar holdings across England, the manor formed part of a network of agricultural properties designed to generate income to support the Order’s religious and military activities in the Holy Land.

Origins of the Templar Estate

The Templar presence at Cardington originated with a substantial grant from William son of Alan, a prominent local landholder and benefactor of religious houses. From his gift, confirmed by the king, the Templars received:

The church of Cardington, producing an annual income of three marks
The whole vill (manor) of Cardington and Hernchemers (Enchmarsh)
Half the vill of Chattewelle (Great Chatwell)
Additional lands and properties in nearby settlements

This formed the nucleus of a compact but valuable estate, typical of Templar landholding patterns in the Welsh Marches.

Tenants and Agricultural Management

A surviving medieval rental roll records the tenants of the Templars at Cardington in remarkable detail. The land was divided into standard medieval units such as virgates, half-virgates and individual acres. Tenants paid annual rents in coin and occasionally rendered additional obligations.

Among those recorded are:

Adam Albus, holding a half-virgate and additional acres
William of Legee and Odo the reeve, each with half-virgate holdings
Roger le Roer, Richard Prude and other customary tenants
Widows such as Hawis and Matilda holding land in their own right
Tradesmen including a smith and a skinner
The village priest, Inard, who held land and paid both rent and fraternity dues

The roll shows a structured manorial economy with rents carefully assessed, often in the range of 2–3 shillings per half-virgate. The Templars also retained some land in direct demesne and received income from mills, messuages and newly cleared (assarted) land.

Rights, Customs and Inheritance

Tenants held their land largely free of additional customary burdens, except for a customary mortuary payment at death. This consisted of:

One third of movable goods to the Templars (after debts paid)
One third to the widow
One third to the children

Most holdings would revert to the Templars after a tenant’s death, though heirs had first refusal if they could match any competing offer. This ensured continued control of the estate while maintaining stability among tenant families.

Wider Templar Holdings Linked to Cardington

The Cardington estate was connected to a wider network of Templar properties in Shropshire and beyond, including:

Land at Kinlet, producing rent from a full virgate
Properties at Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth
Mills and demesne lands in nearby settlements

Together, these holdings generated a recorded annual total of over 15 marks, 8 shillings and 4½ pence, a substantial income in the 12th–13th centuries.

What Remains Today

Although the Knights Templar were suppressed in the early 14th century and their lands passed to the Knights Hospitaller, traces of their presence remain at Cardington:

St James’ Church, Cardington — parts of the present building incorporate medieval fabric and stand on or near the site of the church from which the Templars drew income.
The historic village layout and surrounding field patterns likely preserve elements of the medieval manorial landscape once administered by the Order.
Place-names and long-established boundaries reflect the structure of the former Templar estate.

While no confirmed standing Templar buildings survive above ground, the documentary record reveals Cardington as a well-organised agricultural manor whose revenues supported one of the most famous military-religious orders of the Middle Ages

BOTLEY (Botelegee)

ENCHMARSH - Manor

The Knights Templar at Enchmarsh

The small Shropshire settlement of Enchmarsh, recorded in medieval documents as Hernchemers or Henchemerse, once formed part of an important group of estates belonging to the Knights Templar around Cardington and Lydley.

The Templars acquired Enchmarsh in the mid-12th century, probably between 1155 and 1160, when William FitzAlan Igranted them Cardington, Enchmarsh and half of the neighbouring vill of Chatwall. These lands became part of the Templars' wider Shropshire estate associated with Lydley, where the Order maintained its principal local agricultural centre.

Enchmarsh in the Templar Survey

The remarkable Templar estate survey of 1185 provides a rare glimpse of the people actually living at Enchmarsh. Under the heading:

“Apud Hernchemers” — “At Enchmarsh”

the survey records ten separate tenant holdings occupied by eleven named people.

Seven were substantial half-virgate farms, held by:

William Iratus, Edwin son of Elsolf, Seisellus, Reinald, Robert White, Cilleva the widow, and Walter and John, who held one farm jointly.

Each of these principal holdings normally paid the Templars four shillings annually.

Three smaller holdings were occupied by Richard son of Edwin, who held one acre; Willimot son of Edric, with three acres; and John the Clerk, who held one acre.

The evidence therefore suggests that Enchmarsh was not a Templar preceptory occupied by a community of knights. Instead, it was a working agricultural township, consisting of several tenant farmsteads whose rents helped support the Order.

Life on the Templar Estate

The wider Cardington–Enchmarsh estate was highly organised. The 1185 survey records reeves, priests, smiths, craftsmen, millers and agricultural tenants across the neighbouring settlements. Woodland was also being cleared and brought into cultivation, with newly assarted land becoming liable for rent after its first three years.

There was also a religious relationship between the Templars and some of the inhabitants. At Enchmarsh, Walter and John paid four pence for their fraternity, showing that local people could become associated with the spiritual confraternity of the Order. They were not Templar knights, but shared in the prayers and religious benefits of the Templar community.

Although millers and mills are recorded elsewhere within the estate, including definite mills at Cardington and Lydley, the 1185 survey does not specifically record a mill at Enchmarsh itself.

Enchmarsh 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 a compact group of historic farmsteads clustered around the roads at Enchmarsh.

Intriguingly, the later map appears to show around six substantial farmstead groups, while the Templar survey records seven principal half-virgate farms in 1185. It cannot yet be proved that the later farms occupy exactly the same individual medieval holdings, but the surviving settlement pattern raises the possibility that today's Enchmarsh preserves the footprint of the farming community once recorded on the estates of the Knights Templar more than eight centuries ago.

CHATWELL (2 Virgates Land)

KINLET - 1 Virgate

SHREWSBURY (2 Messuages) -

medieval sources record that William FitzAlan gave the Templars “two messuages in Shrewsbury” to the Lydley (Lydleye) preceptory, and that the Templars also had a house in Shrewsbury producing 20 shillings rent.

One of the Shrewsbury properties was worth 20 shillings a year at the time of the royal custodial accounts — that was a substantial urban rent in the later 13th / early 14th century, so the house was probably within the town and reasonably valuable.

20s a year was a substantial town rent. Burgage plots were sometimes rented for low sums (small burgages could be 1s or a few shillings), while larger merchant houses or corner plots attracted rents in tens of shillings. Comparative studies of medieval urban rents (e.g. case studies in Hull and other towns) confirm wide variation, with the best urban houses renting for multiple tens of shillings or a few pounds per year. Thus 20s sits in the mid–upper range of urban house rents — quite likely a merchant-class house on a principal street rather than a minor backland tenement.

a strong candidate type for the 20 s rent is something like Bennett’s Hall at 2‑3 Pride Hill:

It’s in the medieval commercial centre (Pride Hill).
Archaeological and architectural analysis shows it was a significant merchant’s house in the 13th century. Historic England
Such a house is exactly the kind of burgage likely to command a relatively high rent (20s per year is consistent with a high-status town-house)

ONNELEY - Chapel

The small Staffordshire village of Onneley, near Madeley, was once part of the extensive estate network of the Knights Templar. Although no standing medieval chapel survives today, documentary and landscape evidence strongly suggests that a Templar chapel once stood here and was later continued in use by the Knights Hospitaller.

The Templars first acquired land at Onneley in 1185, when King Henry II granted property there to the Order. The holding was relatively small and was administered as part of the larger Templar estate centred on Keele Preceptory, which had itself been granted to the Templars around 1168–69. Further land at Onneley was later associated with the family of William Dodde.

There is no surviving document giving an exact construction date for the chapel. However, a religious presence at Onneley during the Templar period is strongly indicated, and the chapel was probably established sometime between 1185 and the early fourteenth century. The later Hospitaller chapel on the site was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and Historic England considers it probable that it occupied the site of an earlier Templar chapel.

Onneley was not an independent Templar preceptory. Instead, it was a satellite estate of Keele, providing rents and agricultural income to the commandery. In the final years of Templar ownership, Keele was administered by Brother Ralph de Tanet, who was recorded as its commander when the estates were seized in 1308.

One particularly important record dates from 1307, when John de Bagesovere is described as the chaplain of Honyleye, an early form of Onneley. Although the document does not explicitly call him a Templar brother, his presence provides valuable evidence that a functioning chapel existed at Onneley immediately before the suppression of the Order.

The Templars held the Onneley estate from 1185 until 1308, a period of about 123 years. After the arrest of the English Templars, their lands eventually passed to the Knights Hospitaller, who continued to maintain a chapel at Onneley. By the later Middle Ages it was known as the Chapel of the Virgin, and in 1549 it was described as a pilgrimage chapel.

The chapel survived long after the medieval military orders had disappeared. It appears on Christopher Saxton's map of Staffordshire in 1577 and later on John Speed's map as "Onneley Church."

Today, no standing medieval building remains. The probable chapel site survives as a raised rectangular earthwork, roughly 28 yards by 25 yards, in a field north of Onneley. The surrounding ridge-and-furrow cultivation appears to respect the platform, suggesting that a substantial building once stood there.

The site is recorded at approximately:

National Grid Reference: SJ 75080 44100

The old route leading towards the site was historically known as Chapel Lane, while nearby field-names such as Chapel Field preserve the memory of the lost medieval building.

Although much about its appearance remains unknown, Onneley provides a rare surviving landscape trace of one of the smaller religious and agricultural estates that supported the Knights Templar's greater commandery at Keele.

TEMPLAR FIGURES AT SHROPSHIRE

Knights Templar at Shropshire

Preceptors of Lydley

John de Houton, occurs 1261.
Richard Lovel, occurs 1273.
Stephen of Stapelbrugge (Stalbridge):, occurs 1292 - Templar at Lidley, Lieutenant of William of Warenne, Ireland, arrested in January 1308, penitence in the Diocese of Winchester
Henry of Halton, occurs as custos 1308 - arrested in January 1308, penitentally sent the Diocese of Coventry and Lichfield
Karvyle (Michael de): - Templar in Lydley?, arrested in January 1308, died before his interrogation

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