Aslackby Preceptory in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

lay to the south-east of Aslackby Church. Until about 1891 a tower, possibly of the

preceptory A preceptor (from Latin, "''praecepto''") is a teacher responsible for upholding a ''precept'', meaning a certain law or tradition. Buddhist monastic orders Senior Buddhist monks can become the preceptors for newly ordained monks. In the Buddhi ...

church, together with a vaulted undercroft, survived as part the Temple farmhouse. Temple farmhouse was subsequently rebuilt and a 15th-century window and a stone pinnacle remain in the garden.

History of the preceptory

The preceptory was, according to

William Dugdale Sir William Dugdale (12 September 1605 – 10 February 1686) was an English antiquary and herald. As a scholar he was influential in the development of medieval history as an academic subject. Life Dugdale was born at Shustoke, near Colesh ...

, founded either in or before 1164. This is recorded in Dugdale’s ''Monasticon Anglicanum'', which states that Hubert de Rye presented the Templars with church of Aslackby with its chapel "in the year when Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury departed from the King at Northampton" – i.e., 1164. After the order was suppressed in the first decade of the 14th century, the property passed to Temple Bruer.

The Templars

The word ''preceptory'' is used for the community of the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

which lived on one of the order's estates in the charge of its preceptor. From that its meaning was extended to include the estate and its buildings. The one at Aslackby was founded in 1192. Little of its structure survives, but early descriptions and sketches indicate that its church was like that at Temple Bruer Preceptory, a chancel with an

apsidal In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In Byzant ...

east end and a round nave to its west. This was a standard design for Templar churches, in imitation of the

Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem. The church is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchat ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. The best-known example in England is the

Temple Church The Temple Church, a royal peculiar in the Church of England, is a church in the Inner Temple, Inner and Middle Temple, Middle Temple, London, Temples located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, built by the Knights Templar for their En ...

at the western end of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. Later, towers were built at both the Lincolnshire churches, the one at Aslackby apparently around 1200, on the south side of the round nave.White, A. Lincolnshire Museums Archaeology Series No.25 (1981)

References

Bibliography

*Antram N (revised), Pevsner N & Harris J, (1989), ''The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire'', Yale University Press. *Charles G. Addison The History of the Knights Templars (1997) *Larking, L B. and Kemble, J. M (1857), ''The Knights Hospitallers in England: Being a Report of the Prior Philip de Thame to the Grand Master Elyan de Villanova for A.D. 1338'' Camden Society, pp. 153–156 *Mills, D. ''The Knights Templar in Kesteven'' North Kesteven District Council (c.1990) *Sister Elspeth (1906) in Page, William,(ed). ''A History of the County of Lincoln Volume 2. Victoria County History''. pp. 210–213 ''Houses of Knights Templars: Willoughton, Eagle, Aslackby, South Witham and Temple Bruer''. *White, A. (1981) ''The Knights Templar of at Temple Bruer and Aslackby'', Lincolnshire Museums Archaeology Series No.25.

External links

*. {{Monasteries in Lincolnshire , state=collapsed Monasteries in Lincolnshire History of Lincolnshire Medieval sites in England Castles and fortifications of the Knights Templar 1192 establishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 1190s

History of the preceptory

The Templars

See also

References

Bibliography

External links