HOUSE OF KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS
22. THE PRECEPTORY OF CLANFIELD
The Hospitallers had a preceptory at Clanfield with an income of £60, according to the
valuation of 1338, (fn. 1) but of this sum about £15
seems to come from lands which originally belonged to the Templars. As there is no chartulary
for the possessions of the Hospitallers in this
county, we can do little more than give the
record of 1279 in the Hundred Rolls. They
owned at that time 2 hides in Clanfield, 1 in
Brize Norton, 1½ in Westwell, a meadow in
Grafton, a tenement in Woodstock, and another
in Oxford. (fn. 2) But their chief property was the
manor of Gosford in Kidlington, containing 2
carucates, (fn. 3) now 250 acres, (fn. 4) where they had their
own manorial courts, and a chapel for their own
tenants, erected shortly before 1235. (fn. 5) This
property was given by Robert d'Oilly, (fn. 6) and
therefore before 1142. In 1547 it is described
as 'the House of the sisters of the order of
St. John at Gosford,' as though sisters of that
order had not only owned it but resided there. (fn. 7)
They held also the advowson of Westwell as early
as 1230. (fn. 8) A small property in Kencott was
attached to the neighbouring preceptory of
Quenington, Gloucestershire. (fn. 9)
Footnotes
| 1 |
The Hospitallers in Engl. (Camd. Soc.), 26;
Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 793. |
| 2 |
Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 691-2, 697, 700, 793,
842. |
| 3 |
The Hospitallers in Engl. 26. |
| 4 |
Three Oxfordshire Parishes (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), 129. |
| 5 |
Oseney Chartul. No. 108. |
| 6 |
Dugdale, Mon. ii, 545. |
| 7 |
Lee, Hist. of Thame, 420; but it had been ordained that sisters of this order should live at Buckland
only; see Chart. R. John (Rec. Com.), 16a. |
| 8 |
Linc. Epis. Reg. Inst. Wells, ii, 32. |
| 9 |
Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 699. |