The Knights Templar Lived in Temple Bruer, Lincolnshire

The Templars first came to my attention when I visited France near Carcassonne in the Languedoc Roussillon region and also, in no small part, because of all the publicity surrounding the book and film called The Da Vinci Code; which created a bit of a furor when it upset the Vatican due to its fictitious take on how modern day religious beliefs evolved.

I now live in France close to Carcassonne and run a self catering holiday apartment there, so my level of interest in the local history has risen significantly. Something I should have probably realised much sooner than I actually did is that the activities and legacy of the Knights Templar is by no means restricted to this region.

This is not really surprising when you consider that the Templars were for 200 years the richest and most powerful military order of the crusades. They originated in Jerusalem in 1118 during the aftermath of the first Crusade and their main purpose in life, at that time, was to protect the pilgrims on route to the Holy Land.

Later on they took to the battlefields and combined war with religious vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. Their name the 'Templar Knights' came from the land they were given on the supposed site of Solomon's Temple.

The Templars set up houses or 'preceptories' throughout the Christian world, usually on land donated to them by pious landowners. They often ran farms to provide an income from which they could finance their activities in the Holy Land.

As is often the case, their success in gaining great wealth and privilege resulted in a level of corruption fed by greed, and that caused lapses in their religious vows. The consequences of this were that they became the targets of jealous power mongers of the time.

Many were arrested on trumped up charges for heinous crimes that were fueled by the minor indiscretions they had probably committed in reality. A little bit of the principal of there being no smoke without fire; it was relatively easy to convince people that they were up to much more than they actually were because of these indiscretions.

The end result of course being that by 1312 the whole order was abolished; but not before there has been a whole legacy established throughout the country. Places like Templecombe in Somerset, Cressing Temple in Essex and Temple Meads in Bristol naming but a few.

So there I was visiting Lincolnshire and looking for a good place to walk the dog when I stumbled across a placard describing the history of the Knights Templar and of one of their preceptory buildings, named Temple Bruer, located in the middle of nowhere in rural Lincolnshire.

Temple Bruer was founded in the mid-twelfth century as a monastery and was originally made up of religious, domestic and farm buildings. The only part remaining today is a tower that once stood at the east end of the church. The tower is actually in surprisingly good condition given its age and location, as you can see from the photograph.

Peasants would have been colonised here to farm the 4000 acres of the preceptory's land, but the village they would have lived in has long gone, now buried under the fields.

The Knights Templar of Temple Bruer, according to legend, went the way of their peers when Edward II sent the Sheriff of Lincolnshire to arrest them and lock them up in Claskegate, Lincoln.

Temple Bruer then passed to another crusading order 'The Knights Hospitallers (or the Knights of St John), they occupied the site until the 1530's

So there you have it, a simple stroll in the country to walk the dog and before you know it you have a history lesson to hand, most of the information in this hub is courtesy of the placard placed outside Temple Bruer which provided me with this account of the Templars presence in a small corner of Lincolnshire.

Actually the Templars legacy was not the only similarity I noticed between the South of France and Lincolnshire. Its probably worth noting that the sky seemed every bit as clear and colourful as it it does in France. I suspect the reason for that could well be the absence of huge amounts of traffic and the associated pollution that goes with it.

I couldn't resist a quick photograph of the sunset as we wended our way back to the house and before a swift pint in the village pub. Check it out, could easily be the South of France.

The photograph below is available as a postcard or note card on Moulin Graphic Designs