Temple Bruer ~ Inside the Knights Templar Preceptory
Temple Bruer is one of the few Knight Templar preceptories still standing in Great Britain and is one of the most exciting historic places in Lincolnshire.
I’ve made a return journey not only for my own pleasure and to soak up the atmosphere of the place but also to bring you an extensive range of pictures of the inside
Temple Bruer in Lincolnshire was an important site for the Knights Templar and though most of it no longer remains the tower, built circa 1200, is still there and open to the public.
I made a general trip and posted accordingly the last time I went to Temple Bruer but this one should put a little more flesh on the bones so to speak.
To the left you’ll see the remaining tower of the preceptory standing in all its glory and further down pretty much all the aspects to be seen inside.
The original site design owed, I believe, a great deal to something I’m currently reading about - Sacred Geometry - with this complex originally designed along the lines of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
The person responsible for the donation and founding of the site was William Lord of Ashby de-la-Launde. He was not an active knight but joined the Templars as a ‘pensioner’. I suppose this was almost like an old age insurance policy, the donation of land and wealth in exchange for membership of the Knights Templar and surety of security and comfort in his old age.
There are Knights Templar connections to the other following area, towns and villages in Lincolnshire
Willoughton - Eagle - South Witham
Aslackby - East Mere
Nearly all are in the Kesteven area.
There was a huge Templar interest in farming around here, they held some 10,000 acres I believe, and a big stake in the wool trade.
there were a number of legal disputes between other landowners as to who exactly owned what.
The arrest of the Templars saw the site fall into other with the Duke of Suffolk buying it from henry VIII at the time of the Dissolution.
 The Ceiling on the Upper Floor |
 The Top Floor of the Tower |
Above you’ll see the nicely restored vaulted ceiling to the top floor of the tower and the wall, window and cornicing detail.
Access is via a narrow winding ’spiral style’ stone carved staircase
 Left-Hand Back Corner |
 Right-Hand Corner and Stairway |
Above right picture shows the entrance to the staircase mentioned above and is straight to your right as you walk in through the heavy wooden door to the tower. The other shot shows you the back wall and left hand corner - both shots are on the ground floor.
You’ll notice the pile of dressed stone in the corner, these are believed to be from one of the original pillars that supported the roof of the main church. The wall area shown contains various stone carvings carvings and graffiti both new and contemporaneous
Tomb Lid
Above is a tomb or carved tomb lid, sadly it’s too worn to see whether it is actually a knight or not but an amazing thing to look at non the less. Just around it you’ll see the stone benches on which Templar Knights actually have sat !
Arcading
The above shows you the arcading to the left wall as you walk in, the stone effigy tomb is immediate below this, the corner to the back wall and bottom very right of picture a hint of the doorway to the spiral staircase - just gives you some idea of the size - smaller than you might imagine
The Left-Hand Wall
Above is the wall you’d see to your left as you walk in, some very interesting carved stone and also some period etchings, symbols and ‘graffiti’ on the stone walls
 A Runic Symbol to Ward Off Evil |
 Detailing on the Outside Wall |
To the left you’ll see on of the very early symbols carved into the stone, as mentioned on the left-hand wall and to the right a shot taken outside showing the detail around a ‘window’ or opening.
I feel the site has a great deal more to offer up yet and would relish the idea of some modern in-depth archaeology on and around the site.
It has been looked at before but would really benefit from modern techniques, accuracy and wisdom I feel.
The site really does warrant not only visiting but a great deal more attention than it gets, no doubt were it in another county it would be better thought of, investigated and promoted.
This article could go on a great deal more and I could professionally bore for England on it but I don’t think it’s necessary.
Those well versed in the subject will gain nothing from it and I feel there is just enough here to give those curious an insight and a look around.
It is open to the public but is actually on private farmland so please do show the greatest of respect to both the building and the land around should you decide to visit - thank you.
As always comments are very much welcomed so if you’ve visited the site, know anything of it or just have opinions and comments in general please do share them
Thank You
Preceptorally Yours
Rod
simon brighton said,
November 1, 2009 @ 5:18 pm
the photo ‘detailing on the outside wall’ shows the piscina which would originally have been inside the round church to the side of the altar.
Rod said,
November 1, 2009 @ 5:20 pm
Simon,
many thanks for that, much appreciated.
If anybody is interested in Templar sites in Britain then should should buy Simon’s book.
I’ve mentioned it before on the site, bought a copy myself and thoroughly recommend it
best
Rod
Rod said,
November 1, 2009 @ 7:37 pm
Me in the entrance to the spiral staircase by the way
Chris Jones said,
November 2, 2009 @ 3:09 pm
Nice site and very good information - excellent work…
Rod said,
November 2, 2009 @ 4:49 pm
Hi Chris,
welcome to the site and many thanks for commenting, certainly plenty more to come.
You’ve got a great site there Chris
All the best
Rod
Megan said,
November 28, 2009 @ 2:52 am
Beautiful. I found your site while searching for a symbol that would ward off evil. Please, could you tell me if that particular runic symbol is intact, or are there cracks in the wall that change it’s dimensions?
I’m planning to drive throughout the UK this summer and now plan on making this stop. Thanks for the information!!
Rod said,
November 28, 2009 @ 7:56 am
Hi Megan
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site - hope you’ll return.
The symbol is complete, just as seen and I took all these pictures only a couple of months ago so all should be well.
It’s certainly worth visiting Megan if you’re in the area - hope you enjoy your trip - let us know how it went
All the best
Rod
David said,
October 12, 2010 @ 8:32 am
This is a fascinating site that really does keep alive our links with this important aspect of our history. You will probably tell me to “get a life!” but I do think you should adjust the grammar and spelling - presentation is good but this would improve it, Keep up the good work.
Rod said,
October 12, 2010 @ 9:00 am
Hi David,
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site.
Pleased to hear you like it but sorry to hear you feel the ‘grammar and spelling’ and needs adjusting.
I’d hoped the spelling was pretty much there generally, bar the odd typo, and that the grammar, whilst far from perfect, was reasonable.
Kind regards
Rod
Kate said,
October 12, 2010 @ 9:32 pm
I can’t find a rune which is a parabola shape bisected by a vertical line in any of the futhark runic alphabets, although the parabola shape existed in the earliest known runic alphabet (the older futhark) as the rune O.N “Dagr”/O.E “Daaz”, sound “D”, meaning “day”.
It is also very much like a quite commonly found Medieval mason’s mark (these are not known to be related to runes) with either later added graffiti - or in fact, it reminds me a bit of the face of a stone block where a mason has scribed around a template (templet), and it is ready to be worked to shape. On this assumption, the mark would be central - it may identify either the mason or the final placing of the stone in the building… The vertical line looks as if it could be the centre line of the shape to be worked; the crossed lines to the top left look as if they could have been made with a compass scriber, not sure what purpose they serve - the geometry of setting out a template can be pretty complex!
The block would be worked to shape, usually with a tool like an axe, before carving the detailed profiles of a moulding or carving. Sometimes blocks originally destined to be carved were found to be not fit for purpose because of some internal fault and were instead used for walling (the stone should give a pleasing ring if tapped with a metal chisel or tool, faulty stones make a hollow deadened sound), and the occasional block was simply cut to the wrong size and thus used elsewhere.
I’d also offer that runes were not likely to be used for any ecclesiastical masonry work or markings in even the buildings of the most mysterious of orders such as the Templars, as the symbolism of church building comes from the biblical temple of Solomon, not the pagan symbolism of runes - this may make especial sense to you searchers of Templar truths, actually… Although runes were used as an alphabet right into the 1800s in parts of Northern Europe, the early stone churches in the areas using runes were usually originally designed and built by French masons and the traditions of stone church building come from the areas using the Latin alphabet, even though stylistically they diversified over the centuries. Anglo Saxons, Danes & Vikings were invariably builders in wood - if you look at our Anglo-Saxon church towers such as Barton St Peter’s, they look as if they were designed to be made of wood, not stone - even Germanic words for building, e.g. “bauer” - “builder”, come from “baum”- “tree” . Does make me wonder when you look at the marvellous ancient wooden churches found in Norway whether we sacrificed similar buildings for our stone churches…
See y’all later -
Kate
who is now off to disprove that she has any intellectual ability by watching Ugly Betty and other naff telly programmes!
Jolland DE said,
November 11, 2010 @ 10:03 am
This is the best site on the web great pic’s
Kate has it all most correct, That is a masion mark of the builders. I do beleve on that brick .And there should be 3 other diff.things there also.”Top east corner” if it was all intact. That site does have the same look “window inside edge’s” of sites also in Normandy “abby de hamby ” Mt. Saint M.and 1 other church sites in Normandy they all has the same things in corner that are intact/There were built by the Same 2 masions . I don’t know if they were French or not..their is a book that list them their first name of Normandy book called them master masons.
There is a patent record of “who” was from there.Temple Bruer befor.1300
Rod said,
November 11, 2010 @ 10:53 am
Jolland,
thanks for the kind words and welcome to the site.
That’s extremely interesting Jolland and really worth pursuing - I’d be keen o learn more about this theory
All the best
Rod
Jolland DE said,
November 11, 2010 @ 11:13 am
Rod i have seen other sites site Great work great pics and ill send the what you serch for to get to the anwsers do you have a privat email ? id rather not post what your looking for below?
There is a patent record of “who” was from there.Temple Bruer befor.1300
Rod said,
November 11, 2010 @ 12:09 pm
Jolland
if you click on my name at the top of this comment or go to the about me link at the top of each page you’ll see an email address
Best
Rod
Kate said,
November 11, 2010 @ 1:57 pm
There is still much to be written on this subject - check out a book by Frederick Apthorp Paley “A Manual of Gothic mouldings”; you can download it from google books if you cannot find a real copy.
It may possibly be one of the most boring books you have looked at unless you are a stonemason, but it looks at the styles and development of mouldings (as you have said Jolland, “window inside edges”) and tries to trace their origins - and even the original architect (as a master mason who had risen to the very top of his trade) in some cases, although this is much harder to do - many masters copied from places they had seen or their original master and not all master masons’ (architects) names are known in the UK.
I would also recommend “A History of Architecture - on the comparative method” by Sir Bannister Fletcher for students of old stonework; this will give you a good insight into styles and dating of stonework. If you cannot find a hard copy - I replaced mine (9th reprint from 1931 - the original dates from 1896) from ebay after my first copy was stolen- it can be found here
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofarchite00fletuoft
In Germany the training is the usual 7 years (similar to a university student studying to Masters Level degree in the UK) to train as a steinmetz (stonemason for non German speakers)- and takes in more of the history of the craft; here in the UK and also in France, you may go to college to study stonemasonry and carving, but you learn most on the job and you learn what you wish to learn as you go along; only those destined to become masters and architects of the mysteries of their craft will care to learn much these days, the rest remain “stone cutters”. Because I still love the subject even though I no longer work as a stone carver (you have to learn to be a stonemason first!), my learning continues (although Lincolnshire limestones can be hateful compared to the softer Portland and French limestones that I learnt to work on and I still use hand tools, rather than airtools, which get eaten by the very hard local stone here).
It would be interesting to find out if any German Masters came to Britain to train or work as I have seen definite elements of some of the carving styles used by a couple of the German masters also used in France (brain not working well enough to remember who and where!), but nothing directly identifiable as such in the English limestone cathedrals.
British (Master Mason) Architects came to the fore in the later Middle Ages, when you had those such as Henry de Yevele (Henry of Yeovil (Somerset) or Yeavely (Derbyshire) or even somewhere in Surrey - nobody is quite - bear in mind that masons were one of the few trades that moved about quite freely during the Medieval period) who became master of the King’s works at Westminster Palace in the C14th and worked on the building of the abbey there as well as other cathedrals and castles.
Temple Bruer is a slightly confusing place these days to study as much of the original masonry has been re-used in rebuilding (possibly during the time of the abbey as well as later) & restoration attempts (more recent) - viz the mouldings which are mostly Romanesque (Norman, C11th-13th) with one or two examples of Early English Gothic (C13th) shown on the lower part of the west wall in your photo, Rod. Given the springers for vaulted ceilings seen on the photo of the top floor and the part of the ceiling seen on the arcading photo (these would have been over “sedillas” (seats) around the walls and possibly part of a chapter or council room) this would have been a very richly decorated building at one time.
NB one more thing; some Templar students believe that the Order of Knights Templar trained their own masons rather than employing outsiders. This would mean in theory that all the geometry in planning their buildings was sacred according to their beliefs…
Best wishes,
Kate
Rosi & Ali said,
February 4, 2011 @ 5:08 pm
Hallo Rod
We went to Temple Bruer today in a round about way and passed through several pretty stone built villages on the way.
What a magic place! and the tower was open! I am well impressed with the care taken of the building and the lovely surroundings. We were greeted by two chocolate dogs - gorgeous.
We’ll go back on a sunny day with friends.
Really smashing. And, of course, so much more interesting after reading about it.
Rod said,
February 4, 2011 @ 7:02 pm
R&A,
thanks for the comment and pleased you enjoyed your visit there, it’s truly a magical place.
I’ve been a couple of times and fully intend to return myself
All the best
Rod
Eresbyjack said,
March 1, 2011 @ 7:52 pm
I plan to visit here on the 19th or 20th of March 2011 as Lincs heritage have an open day here, but the paper “Whats on in Lincolnshire” says Saturday the 19th March 2011 and the Lincs heritage web site states its Sunday the 20th March 2011 so will have to tel them on 01529 461 499 to find out which day is correct, smashing photo’s m8 and good write up.
Rod said,
March 2, 2011 @ 8:28 am
Eresby,
thanks for that, much appreciated and welcome to the site.
It’s a fantastic place and if anybody’s thinking of going then the Heritage Day would be perfect
Best
Rod
sochin101 said,
June 11, 2011 @ 6:42 am
Rodrigo!
I visited Temple Bruer just the other day and enjoyed it greatly. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Now, what’s with that strangely discomforting chair on the second floor? Surely you (or your attendant band of history-wizards) know why it’s up there?
Apparently there’s a sculpture nearby made up of drawers, and the chair has a drawer-front appearance.
Is there a link? Is there? Hmmmm?
Caveat: I didn’t see the sculpture myself (heard about it from a friend), so I don’t know how accurate that information is.
Cheers
sochin101 esq.
Rod said,
June 11, 2011 @ 6:48 am
Sochin,
thanks for leavig a comment and welcome to the site.
The chiar is indeed spooky, it’s certainly more of an art installation than historic set dressing.
It looks almost as though the director of a moody art house film put it there as part of aa cryptic scene in a film.
I too would beinterested to hear more of it
Kind regards,
Rodrigo
angry_mutant said,
November 3, 2011 @ 12:51 pm
On my first visit to Temple Bruer (quite a few years ago now) I am sure that I remember an information board still being displayed explaining that there had been an “Artist in Residence” for a season within the previous couple of years. Hence the drawer sculpture and the chair. Can’t remember much else, but the artist might have been a Japanese lady. I’ll have a look around the Arts Council and so forth and see if I can turn anything up.
And I’ll second the praise above for Simon’s book. Well worth a trip to Amazon and shelling out some of your hard-earned, if you haven’t already.
Rod said,
November 3, 2011 @ 4:44 pm
AM,
thanks for that, much appreciated - would be interesting to know exactly what’s what with the chair.
Best
Rod
Postman Pat said,
December 2, 2011 @ 7:48 pm
Rob
Temple Bruer
Computer-generated animation and images of Temple Bruer
Courtesy of Lincs Heritage
http://www.lincsheritage.org/education/temple_bruer/cgi/index.php
Regards
P.P