Templar Sites

ABOUT THE SITE

Temple Rockley ('Rocleia') was located at Temple Bottom, in the parish of Ogbourne St. Andrew, on high ground above Marlborough and south of Swindon. It was granted to the Knights Templar in 1155-6 by charter of John Fitz Gilbert the Marshal, a Wiltshire landowner and court official and the husband of Sibyl the sister of the Earl of Salisbury.

At Domesday, Temple Rockley had been in the possession of the Earl of Salisbury, but by 1159 it is known that it had been already conveyed to the Templars. The 1308 records about the site at the Public Records Office show that it consisted of a refectory, chapel, hall, kitchen, bakehouse, and chamber. (1)

Mr George Tull comments that "the Rockley customs (existing before the coming of the Templars) provided labour for the dairies and sheep farms of the Wiltshire Downs, where the heavier work of sheep washing and shearing were done by women. When a feast day occurred during the harvest, the work specified to be done was reduced to ten sheaves." (2) He also believes that Temple Rockley may not have been an actual Preceptory itself, stating that it was administered from the Oxfordshire Preceptory, but he does not give further details.

"Less than a mile to the west Top Temple are two hilltop ponds known by the unlikely name of 'Glory Ann'. There has been much speculation as to the origin of this name. One theory is that the Templar motto 'Non nobis Domine, no nobis; sed nomini Tuo da gloriam' provided the name from its final 'gloriam'. (3)

• Historical info submitted by Michael S. Kohut, Sept 2001

1. Bernardi, Dame Stella, "Temple Rockley, Temple Bottom, Wiltshire" in Templar News Issue 2 No. 1, The Knights Templar of England and Wales, Littlehampton, 2000, ISSN 1467-6117, p25
2. Tull, George, Traces of the Templars, p77
3. Bernardi, Dame Stella, ibid, p25