Greater Middlands

The Modern Order established a Preceptory in Birmingham and the Black Country in the mid 1980’s, choosing St Michael the Archangel to be their Patron. St Michael is the ‘Chief’ of the Angelic Host, often depicted in art and statuary as defeating Satan and trampling him underfoot. We are reminded that our battle is with spiritual powers as much as with human failure and sin!

Sine 2018 the Preceptory has been subsumed into the Greater Midlands Commandery, and we now have an established House in Worksop and are seeking to open Houses in the South and North West of our area. 

An Inventory compiled by Geoffrey FitzStephen in the 12 th Century records that the Templars held lands in Warwickshire ,Shropshire, Oxfordshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. Yorkshire also had a Templar presence although the lands there were administered from the Preceptory in Lincolnshire located at Temple Bruer.

Names of places which indicate a Templar presence are;

• Temple Bruer [ the site of which is still discernible in the farmyard in the village]
• Temple Balsall [ which boasts the Old Hall, the Court of the Templar Order and still much used today]
• Temple Newsam near Leeds
• Rothley Temple in Leicstershire.

In the North Midlands the Templars held lands in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and further south in Rutland. Temple Bruer was in effect a Templar village and the lands owned here stretched well into Lincolnshire, possibly as far as the North Sea. This would make sense as some of the shipping routes to the continent were located in the east of England. 

Temple Balsall near Solihull is a site of major historical importance, and as mentioned earlier was the place of legal judgements for Templar affairs. The land here was given by Roger de Mowbray before 1185. Here there were two moated sites and a Preceptory.

Rothley Temple in Leicestershire was established in 1231 and records show that the Templars held land here since 1199. Henry 111 granted the Manor and Church to the Order and the Preceptory there owned over 13 of the neighbouring villages. The Chapel is still in use today being part of Rothley Court Hotel.

Worksop Priory before the Reformation was a Religious House of the Order of the Carthusians and inscribed into the Porch of the South Door are Crusader Crosses made by those leaving for battle in the Holy Lands. Most are unfinished as the practice was to complete the Cross on one’s return. There are approximately 236 crosses and 70% are incomplete. Evidence of Templar style crosses can be seen here.

At Great Wilbraham in Cambridgeshire is a Templar tombstone located in the Parish Church Tower and Templar Crosses carved into the North Wall.

Herefordshire has an extensive list of sites linked to the Templars, for in 1187 Henry 11 gave 2000 acres of land near Archenfield to the Order. Here they built a farm and a village, holding possessions in Bosbury ,Upleadon and Garney.