Witham Preceptory

The site of the former preceptory at Temple Hill, South Witham. It 'has been largely under pasture' since the Knights Templar left in 1308.]]
Withham Preceptory, one of the smallest Knights Templar preceptories in England, was founded, before 1164, at Temple Hill, near South Witham, Lincolnshire, and was abandoned in the early 14th century.
Margaret Percy and Hubert de Rie were "great benefactors, if not founders" of the preceptory, which began as "a simple hall with outbuildings" before 1164. Development in the early 13th century led to a "regularly laid-out farmstead complex" comprising "two halls, a chapel, kitchens and agricultural and industrial buildings". The site, which has the River Witham at the base of the hill, and the river's source, half a mile distant, also included a water-mill, fishponds and "other water-control features".

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