Battisford Preceptory was a medieval monastic of the

Knights of St John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there u ...

house in Battisford,

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The site is situated 4.5 km south of

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. o ...

and 1 km west of the village of Battisford. All that remains at the site today, apart from the place-name 'St John's Manor House', are part of the moat.

Preceptors of Battisford

The preceptory was the responsibility of a

preceptor 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 ...

. In complete records identify some of those who filled this role. * John de Accoumbe, occurs 1321 * Richard de Bachesworth, occurs 1328 * Henry Haler, (fn. 14) died 1480 at the Siege of Rhodes * Giles Russel, (fn. 15) c. 1530 After the dissolution of the order Henry VIII granted this preceptory to

Andrew Judde Sir Andrew Judde or Judd ( – 4 September 1558) was a 16th-century English merchant and Lord Mayor of London. He was knighted on 15 February 1551. Biography He was born before February, 1492, in Tonbridge, Kent, the third son of John ...

, alderman of London in July 1543. On 18 April 1544 it was transferred by licence of alienation to Sir

Richard Gresham Sir Richard Gresham (c. 1485 – 21 February 1549) was an English mercer, Merchant Adventurer, Lord Mayor of London, and Member of Parliament. He was the father of Sir Thomas Gresham. Biography The Gresham family had been settled in the Norf ...

References

Monasteries in Suffolk Preceptories of the Knights Hospitaller in England {{UK-Christian-monastery-stub