HOUSES OF KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS

20. THE COMMANDERY OF TEMPLECOMBE

Upon the suppression of the Templars in 1309 their lands were granted to the Hospitallers, who accordingly entered into possession of the manors of Templecombe and Westcombe.

In 1338 the estates of the preceptory were valued at £106 13s., including ' a small church' at Bristol. Robert de Nafford, knight, was preceptor, and there were two brethren under him besides a staff of seven servants. (fn. 1)

In the Valor of 1535 (fn. 2) Edmund Husee was preceptor of the commandery of Hospitallers and the endowments consisted of the manors of Templecombe and Westcombland and estates at Templeton Chudleigh and Clayhanger in Devonshire, Williton, Long Load and Lopen in Somerset and Temple fee in the town of Bristol, and a number of small fees, rents and dues described as Culetts. The gross total income came to £120 10s. 3¼d., from which permanent charges payable to the Abbess of Minchin Buckland and for the payment of a chaplain in the free chapel at Templecombe amounting to £12 13s. 4d. had to be deducted, and the net yearly value was £107 16s. 11½d.

The Hospitallers could not be described as belonging to a monastic order and so Templecombe escaped in 1536 the suppression of the smaller monastic houses and was not dissolved until 1540, when an Act of Parliament (fn. 3) placed the possessions of the Hospitallers in the hands of the Crown as of an Order more loyal to the pope than to the king and existing for the promotion of superstitious ceremonies.

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