Templar Sites

Robert of Ewias, to whom the Estate of Alfred of Marlborough had passed gave a hide in Rockley to the Templars in the 12th Century, the land apparently became part of the manor of Temple Rockley in Preshute. In 1338 payment of 20 marks was made to the Prior of Ogbourne for Tithes, probably owed from the land formerly held by the Templars, no other such payment is recorded and the land may thereafter have been considered part of Preshute Parish.

A chantry founded in Bromham in 1494 by Sir Richard Beauchamp Lord St, Amand and his wife Anne was endowed with lands at Rockley they passed to the crown at the dissolution and were granted to Edward Cary in 1564.

House of Knights Templars the preceptory of Temple Rockley John Marshall, ancestor of the Earls Marshall and Earls of Pembroke, gave 1 hide of land in Rockley (Ogbourne St. Andrew) to the Knights Templars in 115-6. They had already been given 2 Hides in Lockeridge (West Overton) by Miles, Earl of Hereford, and other parcels were given about the same time by William Beauchamp, Richard Sokemond and Thomas De Hacy. From the terms of these gifts it is clear that the Templars had established a Preceptory at Rockley during the reign of Henry II in 1185 they also held lands in Durnford, Farley, Netheravon and Bewick Bassett, and they had a Royal grant of 1 mark annually which was paid by the Sheriff of Wiltishire.

A survey of the Templars lands at Rockley and elsewhere was made in 1185. At that time their estate was value at £3 15s. The servile customs of the manor were set out in detail. Each holder of 5 acres was bound to find one woman to milk the ewes and make cheese, also for shearing and washing the sheep. Boon-work at the harvest time and the small payments in kind to which the tenants were entitled were fully described.

No single preceptory is known to us by name nor any event in the history of the house, the order the Templars was suppressed in England in 1308 and 1313 the keeper of their lands in Wiltshire was ordered to pay the Bishop of Salisbury for the maintenance of four Templars John De Mohun, John De Egle, Robert De Hameldon and Robert De Sautre, the only Wiltshire Templars whose names survive, with other estates of the order, Rockley passed to the Knights Hospitallers, but this order did not establish a Preceptory there. The lands at Rockley and Lockeridge were added to the Holdings of the Preceptory at Sandford (Oxon).

In 1338 these lands were value at £20 there was 1 Messuage in each place, pasture altogether for 1,200 sheep and other livestock and small rent and services. The Knights maintained one Chaplain, a Bailiff and a Reeve. The net profits were £12. After the dissolution of the Hospitallers the Manor Rockley was granted to Sir Edward Baynton in 1541.

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Temple Rockley, Wiltshire