Templar Sites

ABOUT THE SITE

South Witham (previously Wytham) was the southernmost of the five Lincolnshire preceptories. It dates from 1164 and was the administrative centre for all of the Order's extensive estates in its area, which also included lands in parts of Leicestershire and Rutland.

The buildings at South Witham were arranged on a courtyard plan, with a great court at the centre, which was surrounded by the gatehouse on the north side of the complex, a number of barns to the west, the hall, chambers, chapel and kitchen to the southeast, and an area with ovens and kilns on the east side. "Beyond the great court, towards the River Witham, the preceptory had its own water mill and fish-ponds…The excavations have been filled in and the area ploughed over, so we have to rely on the plan", states George Tull. (1)

The Templars were known for their pioneering farming methods, as were the Cistercians, with whom they were closely affiliated, so activities like cattle grazing, pig farming, fishing, brewing, and baking bread were certainly part and parcel of daily life, and especially so at a large complex like that at South Witham.

Today, at South Witham church, one can still see an old coffin stone with an ornate cross and the head of a bearded (?) man on it, perhaps, as some believe, a Templar memorial.

• Knights Templar in Britain page on Witham

1. Tull, George, Traces of the Templars, p107
2. Knights Templar in Britain website