Temple Bruer
Temple Bruer is a farm-yard in the
civil parish of Temple Bruer with Temple High Grange. It is deeply steeped in history and legend, owing to its strong connections with the
Knights Templar of the
12th Century. Its name comes from its Templar ownership and its position in the middle of the
Lincoln Heath,
bruyère in the language current at the time. It was founded in the period 1150 to 1160 and the order was dissolved in 1312.
It is at grid reference TF09537, in
Lincolnshire,
England located between the
A15 and
A607 roads, north of
Cranwell.
Though some Templar churches have survived by being useful to other organizations, Temple Bruer is one of the few Knights Templar sites left in England where any ruins remain standing, and there are numerous legends and myths surrounding the place, including the story of
Byards Leap. The site has been excavated twice, once in Victorian times and again at the start of the 20th Century, but apart from defining the shape of the church, this served only to generate more lurid tales of secret crypts, burnt walls and skeletons showing signs of violent death.
Financing wars, particularly in places as far away as Jerusalem, was a costly business. The Templars therefore had estates generating income all over Europe, including several in Lincolnshire. These served as sources of income but the Temple Bruer estate was different in that its position on the Lincoln Heath made it suitable for use in the manoeuvres of military training. The land, on the thin limestone soil was poor and relatively free of trees. Though not featureless, it was too, fairly flat and firm under foot. It was therefore, the centre of the Templars' estates in Lincolnshire.
The Templars were suppressed at a time when
England was on the brink of economic disaster: not that that was the reason â€" people will not then have known what was coming. However, the great change in emphasis from arable to sheep farming was part of the recovery from that disaster. During the period of our interest, it was almost true to say that any land which could be ploughed was ploughed. The lifetime of the Templars was one in which the climate allowed expansion. This was the period when villages were set up on uplands and fens â€" those same villages which became what we know as
deserted medieval villages. Nonetheless, much
wool was grown on the Lincolnshire uplands, the
Wolds and the
Heath. That wool was sold through
Boston to
Flanders and woven into cloth. At Temple Bruer, the Templars were leaders in the sheep farming industry, an economic powerhouse that made Lincolnshire a rich county at the time, breeding Lincolnshire Longwool sheep. This was a period when Lincolnshire was
populous and an
economically leading part of England.
The economic growth broadly coincided with the decline in the reason for the Templars' existence. The heyday of the
Crusades was over and people's thinking had moved on. But the Templars' wealth remained. They developed into
banking. Some potentates were reluctant to repay monies borrowed and a general jealousy of the Templars' wealth developed.
The community at Temple Bruer was broken up on 10 January 1308 when
Edward II sent knights to arrest the monk-knights for alleged crimes, of which none of significance was substantiated. Nonetheless, the Templars in general were too wealthy and kings, particularly
Philip IV of France owed them too much money for the order to survive and it was suppressed in 1312 by
Pope Clement V.
The ruin consists of the intact square south tower, one of two added to the original structure during the Templars' tenure, north and south of the chancel. The car park is on the site of the round nave. There have been reports of strange feelings by people sitting in their cars at the site.
About 50 yards away from the tower, on a farm track passing the site, is a curious structure, a column about 25 feet high, about 18 inches by 18 inches at the base, made of some sort of stone, and with small drawers inset. The column tapers as it goes up, and the drawers get progressively smaller, up to about the 7 foot mark. The drawers will pull open.
*Mills, D.
The Knights Templar in Kesteven North Kesteven District Council (ca. 1990)
*White, A.
Lincolnshire Museums Archaeology Series No.25 (1981)
