The initial donations of sundry small parcels of land as recorded in the Inquest of 1185 did not lend themselves to efficient estate management. To overcome this problem, the Templars became adept at acquiring and exchanging land so as to consolidate estates, reduce travel time, and lengthen the effective working day. The extent to which they were successful is illustrated by the reduction in the number of vills in which the Templars held land by 1308. Indeed, the Order’s extensive acquisition of land was one of the factors that spurred Edward I to enact the Statutes of Mortmain in 1279 and 1290. These statutes were intended to halt the alienation of land by the Church and the Military Orders – ‘ religious orders were prohibited from receiving land without royal licence’ – as ecclesiastical land was not subject to royal taxation and so resulted in lost income to the crown. This chapter looks at the nature of the Templar estates and in particular the Lincolnshire preceptories in the early fourteenth century.

The preceptories

The preceptory was the administrative heart of the Templar estate and as such reflected both the size of the estate and its primary function, that of practising mixed agriculture to raise money for the support of Templar affairs overseas, particularly in the Holy Land. In addition the preceptory had to perform religious offices and to provide accommodation for visitors of noble and sometimes royal rank. Each preceptory had at its head a preceptor who was a member of the Order but not necessarily a knight. Estate management was delegated through bailiffs to artisans and labourers, who did the work. An estate usually consisted of the preceptory manor and other member manors in addition to sundry parcels of land, churches and mills. However, Templar estates varied in size and composition, which meant that although they shared a common function of financing the Order, each achieved that function in its own way.

Any description of the buildings which constitute a Templar preceptory is dependent upon the limited archaeological evidence, mainly the excavation at South Witham. Hurst stresses the significance of the South Witham archaeological evidence, pointing out that Templar sites are rare – following the suppression of the Order in 1312, the buildings were generally altered or demolished during the early fourteenth century.