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Monument details

Summary

Grade I listed building. Main construction periods 1200 to 1959 Hall of the Knights' Templars, early C13. C17 farmhouse. Preceptory or camera of the Knights Templar founded in 1159, dissolved in 1312.

Monument Types

• MANOR HOUSE (MANOR HOUSE, Medieval - 1159 AD to 1539 AD)
• TEMPLARS CAMERA (TEMPLARS CAMERA, Medieval - 1159 AD to 1342 AD)
• TEMPLARS PRECEPTORY (TEMPLARS PRECEPTORY, Medieval to Modern - 1159 AD to 2050 AD)
• SITE (Medieval to Modern - 1200 AD to 1959 AD)

Full description

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Description from record TQ 76 NW 36 :
TQ 73316853] STROOD TEMPLE [G.T.] (Rems. of) (1) [See M.O.W. Guide Book.] (2) "Temple Manor" (nameplate) is as described by Authority 2. (3) Scheduled listing. (4) Temple Manor. Grade I. This land was part of a royal manor until in 1159 Henry II gave it to the Knights Templars. (5) Additional bibliography. (6-7) The surviving building comprises a 13th Century hall on a vaulted undercroft with 17th Century brick additions at either end. Timber framed extensions, in part late medieval, suvived until recently. Excavations by S.E. Rigold revealed the foundation trench for the original hall, post-holes for an external staicase or gallery, traces of outbuildings demolished early in the fourteenth century (after the dissolution of the Templars) and footings of timber extensions on top of the debris. Against these was a 15th Century midden. a good pottery series is associated with the earlier phases. (8) Additional bibliography. (9) [TQ 73316853] (10) STROOD KNIGHT ROAD Temple Manor Hall of the Knights' Templars, later a farmhouse and now an ancient monument in the custodianship of English Heritage. Storeyed hall of the templars; early C13. [Full architectural reference] LISTED GRADE I. (11) Scheduling description interprets the Templar site as a Camera, or subsidiary farm to a Preceptory. Scheduling affirmed. (12)

Threnching for CCTV. in one trench post-med walls were found. These possibly are connected with the later farm buildings destroyed in the E20thC.(14)

A watching brief on the refurbishment of four soakaways in 2007 observed that they were filled with 17th century and later rubble but also a few blacks of ashlar that was interpreted as of Templar date (15)

Description from record TQ 76 NW 744:
Preceptory or camera of the Knights Templar founded in 1159, dissolved in 1312. The surviving building comprises a 13th century hall on a vaulted undercroft with 17th century brick additions at either end. Timber framed extensions, in part late medieval, survived until recently. Excavations by S.E. Rigold revealed the foundation trench for the original hall, post-holes for an external staircase or gallery, traces of outbuildings demolished early in the fourteenth century, after the dissolution of the Templars, and footings of timber extensions on top of the debris. Against these was a 15th century midden. A good pottery series is associated with the earlier phases. The building was in use as a farmhouse during the 17th century.

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
STROOD KNIGHT ROAD TQ 76 NW 2/278 Temple Manor 24.10.50 I
Hall of the Knights' Templars, later a farmhouse and now an Ancient Monument in the custodianship of English Heritage. Storeyed hall of the Templars; early C13. On the suppression of the Order it passed (technically) to the Knight Hospitallers, thence to the Countess of Pembroke who granted it in 1342 to her nunnery at Denny: building from the monastic period now survives underground as archaeological remains to the N. After the Reformation it passed (ultimately) to the Blake family who added 2 storeyed brick ends to the older hall in the second and third quarters of the C17. The hall is ragstone and flint rubble; western and eastern extensions in brick; Kent-tile roofs, that to the hall and western extension continuous. The early C13 building is a 1st floor hall plan. The 1st floor hall was originally divided into a high-status room to the W adorned with wall arcade to either side, and a more simply treated room to the E. Single lancets light the side wall, triple lancets the W (and probably, originally, the E). The stack is a C17 insertion. The undercroft is also of high quality, with 3 bays of quadrapartite ribbed vaults with squared chalk infill. It is lit by smaller side lancets. Access to the upper floor was by means of an external stair (reconstructed c.1950) through a doorway of one order with an inner roll moulding and 2 subsidiary fillets. Western extension, 3 storeys, lit mainly by principal windows on the W (6 lights to ground and 1st floor, 3 lights to attic), and served by a stair and entrance turret to the N. Eastern extension has different moulding details to the W end, with gazebo-like upper window and original wooden modillion cornices. Roof throughout C17 and later. Note: This building was restored by the Ministry of Works in the early 1950s. A full and authoritative description (from which the above summary is derived) is S Rigold, Temple Manor CHMSO, 1962).
Listing NGR: TQ7320768450 (16-17)

HE archive material (18)

<1> O.S. 25" 1938 (OS Card Reference). SKE47806.

<2> "Temple Manor" 1962. (S.E.Rigold) (OS Card Reference). SKE32688.

<3> F1 CFW 19-DEC-64 (OS Card Reference). SKE42649.

<4> DOE (IAM) Anc Mons Eng 2 1978 111 (OS Card Reference). SKE40707.

<5> DOE (HHR) City of Rochester 1969 41 (OS Card Reference). SKE40162.

<6> Bldgs of Eng West Kent and the Weald 1980 552 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE38094.

<7> Arch J 122 1965 86-131 (SE Rigold) (OS Card Reference). SKE36535.

<8> Med Arch 2 1958 204 (DM Wilson and JG Hurst) (OS Card Reference). SKE46746.

<9> Moated Site Res Grp Rep 6 1979 48 (CJ Bond) (OS Card Reference). SKE47241.

<11> OS 1:10000 1975 (OS Card Reference). SKE48160.

<12> DOE(HHR)City of Rochester upon Medway Kent, 2nd Dec 1991. 158 (OS Card Reference). SKE41278.

<13> English Heritage Scedule Entry AA 50985/1 30-JUN-1995 (OS Card Reference). SKE41636.

<14> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1998, Watching Brief at Temple Manor, Strood (Serial). SKE7285.

<15> Graham Keevill, 2007, Temple Manor, Strood: Report of an archaeological watching brief on the refurbishment of existing soakaways (Unpublished document). SKE13077.

<16> English Heritage, Register of Scheduled Monuments (Scheduling record). SKE16191.

<17> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<18> Historic England, Archive material associated with Temple Manor, Strood, Medway, Listed Building (Archive). SKE54021.

Sources and further reading

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