Cressing Temple

Summary

A moated preceptory of the Knights Templar and later the Knights Hospitaller, begun in 1137. The site includes two standing C13 barns built for the Templars. Below-ground archaeology relating to the medieval occupation includes a well, domestic block, chapel and associated burials. A late-Tudor ‘Great House’ formerly stood on the site, the cellars of which survive below ground.

Reasons for Designation

Cressing Temple, established in 1137 as a preceptory for the Knights Templar, later taken over by the Knights Hospitaller, put to secular use as the Great House of the Smyth family in the late-C16 and eventually becoming a large farmstead, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Period: the activity of the two crusading orders who inhabited this site from 1137 to the Dissolution of the Monasteries is a distinctive feature of the medieval period as a whole;
* Rarity: while the Templars and Hospitallers at certain times had hundreds of preceptories and commanderies between Jerusalem and the Atlantic, their number in England was never large and this site is only the second to have been established here;
* Survival: the two C13 barns are exceptional survivals for their size, early date, and sophistication;
* Potential: for archaeological deposits relating to the early occupation of the site, as well as those associated with the activity of the Templars and Hospitallers, and the Great House and its environs;
* Documentation: there is a wealth of primary source material relating to this site from the medieval period onwards, augmented by the detailed body of research literature produced from the many archaeological studies of the land and buildings;
* Diversity: the site contains moats and ditches, the buried remains of buildings, and major upstanding structures including the barley and wheat barns;
* Group value: the monument forms an internationally significant group with the listed structures it encompasses, all of which enhance the understanding of each other: the Grade II* listed Granary, the Grade II listed farmhouse, and the walled garden and attached structures.

History

Cressing Temple is named for its earliest recorded owners, the Knights Templar, and the nearby settlement at Cressing. The Templars were a military monastic order founded in the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem in around 1118. They rapidly spread in number, wealth and significance. In 1137, less than twenty years after their foundation, Queen Matilda granted the Templars the land for a ‘preceptory’ at Cressing, augmented by the granting of the neighbouring manor of Witham by her husband, King Stephen, in 1147.

The preceptory served as an administrative and financial centre managing recruitment and the burgeoning wealth of the order. It was only the second Templar site in England, after that in London. It was soon large and important enough that within seven decades two large barns had been built, along with a chapel, hall or domestic building, fishponds, and a moat.

The Templars were suppressed in 1308 and in 1312 Cressing Temple was transferred to the Knights Hospitaller.

In 1381 the site was sacked during the Peasants’ Revolt.

The Hospitallers were themselves disbanded in England in 1540 and their land was surrendered to the Crown. The site was granted to Sir William Huse and then sold to the Smyth family, who oversaw the remodelling of the site in the late-C16. They created a ‘Greate House’, a brick building of substantial size which probably incorporated some of the earlier medieval structures such as the Templar chapel. The walled garden also dates to this late-Tudor phase. Alongside the Great House, the extant farmhouse (constructed as two separate buildings around 1603-1618 and entirely excluded from the scheduled area) and granary (around 1637) were built.

It is not known precisely when the Great House was demolished, though certainly between 1637 and 1758. In 1657 Henry Neville sold Cressing Temple and the estate itself was broken up. There followed regular changes of ownership and tenancy until 1913 when it was acquired by Frank Cullen and his descendants, the last private owners of the site.

The site was added to the Schedule in November 1985.

In 1987 Cressing Temple was acquired by Essex County Council (ECC), beginning a period of building and landscape restoration, the construction of the visitor centre (excluded from the scheduling), car park and approach roads, and the laying out of the walled garden’s interior.

Archaeological excavation began here in 1934 and located the site of the chapel. Further undocumented digging at the chapel site occurred in 1940s. The cellar of the Tudor Great House was re-excavated in the 1960s, and remained visible as parch marks in 2018 satellite imagery. The Brain Valley Archaeological Society (BVAS) under John H Hope ran a series of excavations between 1978 and 1981 (published in the Essex Journal). The first decade of ECC ownership also saw several excavations, enabling the addition of new visitor services at the site (published in Essex Archaeology and History).

Within the scheduled area the earliest archaeological evidence includes three Bronze Age ditches and a cooking pit (south of the walled garden). Evidence of Iron Age and Romano-British occupation has been identified within the scheduled area and in the adjoining land. No evidence has been discovered of post-Roman activity at the site prior to the Norman Conquest, though only a small percentage of the scheduled area has been excavated. Medieval archaeological evidence includes a stone-lined well, the chapel footings and associated burials. Among the buried human remains, one was found to have an embedded arrowhead; this has been interpreted as a possible consequence of the storming of the preceptory during the Peasants’ Revolt.

Details

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS

A moated preceptory of the Knights Templar and later the Knights Hospitaller, begun in 1137. The site includes two standing C13 barns built for the Templars. Below-ground archaeology relating to the medieval occupation includes a well, domestic block, chapel and associated burials. A late-Tudor ‘Great House’ formerly stood on the site, the cellars of which survive below ground.

DESCRIPTION

The monument is aligned broadly south-south-west to north-north-east and covers 3.25 hectares. A pronounced scarp on the same alignment runs from the central porch of the wheat barn in the north to the granary in the south and divides the site between level ground to the east and a significant slope to the west as the land descends to the valley of the River Brain. The site is bordered by agricultural land, except on the south-west side where it meets the B1018 road.

Moat and ponds

The preceptory is likely to have been entirely surrounded by a moat during the medieval period, a feature it shares with other preceptories including that of the Hospitallers at Shingay-cum-Wendy. The remnants of the moat survive in three unconnected linear ponds and in some earthwork depressions. These ponds still define large parts of the eastern and western extent of the former preceptory. The north-eastern pond extends for approximately 62m. At its southern end it meets a later earth causeway. It is around 9m wide at the north and south ends but was widened at its mid-point in the later C19 to roughly 17m in width. Beyond the 5m-wide causeway is a second pond, which must originally have connected directly to the first. This L-shaped pond is likely to be the south-eastern corner of the medieval preceptory boundary. It has arms of around 29m and 20m in length and a width of roughly 8m. To the west of the southern arm is an observable earthwork gully suggesting the former continuation of the moat; the excavation of this area by ECC showed the earliest infilling occurred in the C17, likely at the expansion of the built area at the time of the construction of the granary. The western arm of the moat survives as a 96m long pond, roughly 7m wide, that runs behind the Barley Barn. At the south end it turns 90 degrees and widens into an oval pool within the farmhouse garden. Historic maps indicate the pool was cut between 1794 and 1842. At the north end a small right-angled spur suggests the north-western corner of the moat, though aerial photography and a 1989 excavation provide evidence that the moat continued north beyond this point.

East of the waggon lodge is a fishpond, aligned south-south-west to north-north-east and measuring approximately 35m by 13m. It was historically outside the moated preceptory. Two similarly aligned, shallow depressions to the west of the waggon lodge suggest there may have been a series of parallel fishponds in this area.

Barley Barn

The Barley Barn stands in the north-western corner of the scheduled area. It is an aisled oak-framed barn built sometime between 1205 and 1235. It stands on a brick plinth and is clad with horizontal weatherboards and covered by a tiled hipped roof. There is a projecting C18 midstrey (porch) to the east side. It is rectangular in basic plan form, orientated north-east to south-west, and would have been used by the preceptory for the processing and storage of grain. It has five main bays, with two narrow end bays. The two central trusses differ from the others, with an additional lower tie-beam and cruciform bracing, perhaps improving stability in the earliest phases of the construction. The trusses were all of a tie-beam and principal rafter form, with passing braces rising from the wall posts to the roof apex. The construction is characterised by open-notched lap joints, and includes mortice and tenon with a v-shaped profile. Later alterations include the rebuilding of the outer walls, probably between 1410-1445; this made the barn shorter and narrower, and necessitated the removal of the lower passing braces. The roof was altered in around 1510 to incorporate crown-posts and a collar purlin and at least two tie-beams were replaced at the same time. These two phases of alteration are difficult to reconcile, as structurally one would necessitate the other. Andrews (1993) suggests the replacement jowled wall posts are reused from another building, and that the alterations of the outer walls and the roof structure occurred simultaneously, but recognises the unlikeliness of this scenario. In the mid-C18 the east wall was rebuilt. A set of later taking-in doors are present, as well as double doors to the north end, suggesting further alteration. The Barley Barn is listed at Grade I.

Wheat Barn

The Wheat Barn stands east of the earlier Barley Barn. Tree-ring dating indicates that it was constructed between 1257 and 1280. It is oak framed and has a hipped roof covered in plain tiles with weatherboarded gablets. The close-studded walls have brick nogging infill and stand on a brick plinth. It has a rectangular plan, orientated north-west to south-east. It almost touches the Tudor walled garden at the south-east corner. It is five bays long with cantilevered end bays. The trusses are formed of tie beams and principal rafters supported by arcade posts, with passing braces running from the wall posts to the principal rafters. There are side purlins at collar level, thought to be the earliest surviving in an English barn, clamped between collar, rafter and strut. Sub-trusses rise off the arcade plate and provide braces for the purlins. The cantilevered end bays are formed by the continuation of the arcade plates beyond the final trusses. Timbers are joined using a greater number of mortice-and-tenon joints, and secret form notched-lap joints (though some of the simpler notched-lap joints are visible). The wall plates indicate that the outer walls originally had widely spaced studs with vertical boards slotted between, before being reformed with the existing brick nogging. In 1420-1450 the west end of the building was repaired; the walls were rebuilt with closer studs, perhaps remedying flaws caused by instability in the earthen platform supporting the west end (the platform itself may have been produced from material excavated in the construction of the moat). During this phase the west-end sole plates appear to have been lifted and staves added between them and the aisle posts. At around the same time the midstrey (porch) was added to the south elevation (it would later be expanded to its present, hipped-roof, form). In the late-C16 up to 1700, brick nogging was added between the studs.

Attached to the west end of the barn is a C19 animal shelter. It stands below the eaves of the barn itself and is five bays long, four of which are open to the south side. It has a hipped roof covered in plain tiles. The westernmost bay is clad in weatherboard on the south side. The west and north sides are brick built. A brick trough survives internally. The Wheat Barn is listed at Grade I.

Well house

Close to the south-west corner of the walled garden is a well house, designed as a freestanding pavilion in 1920. It is built of brick and timber and has a hipped roof with glazed gablets and a covering of plain tiles. There is a central gabled entrance facing south. Each side of the door are four casement windows. Internally the well, originally produced by the Templars, may be seen. It has been lined in stone and extends 14m down to water level. The well house itself is excluded from the scheduling, but the well and the ground beneath the well house are included.

Site of former chapel and great house

South of the well house is a slight depression providing an indication of the site of the Templar chapel.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING

The scheduling includes the area between Witham Road and the northern extent of the medieval preceptory. This area contains archaeological evidence of the site's prehistoric occupation as well as the buried remains of the preceptory itself, the Tudor great house, and the site's development as an agricultural complex. The scheduling does not include the Grade II listed farmhouse and the visitors' centre.

EXCLUSIONS

A number of other built structures stand within the scheduled area but are excluded from the scheduling as they are considered to be most appropriately managed through their listed building status. These include the Walled Garden and attached structures (listed Grade II) and the Granary (listed Grade II*). The unlisted
Waggon Lodge, Animal Shelter, Stallion Box, Well House and Exhibition Barn are also excluded from the scheduling but the ground beneath all of these buildings is included.

In addition, all road, path and parking surfaces, signage, drain covers, sundials, electrical substation equipment, animal pens, fences and lighting are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath them is included.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

EX 211

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Books and journals
Hewett, C A, The Development of Carpentry 1200-1700 An Essex Study, (1969)
Robey, TS, Cressing Temple in Current Archaeology, Vol. 135, (1993), 84-87
RCHME, , An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Essex: Volume 3, (1922)
Andrews, D, Cressing Temple: a Templar and Hospitaller manor in Essex, (2020)

Websites
'The People of 1381' database., accessed 17/11/2025 from https://data.1381.online/projects_database/pr_sources_ro/?action=view&id=3742

Other
Essex Archaeology and History (Transactions of the Essex Society of Archaeology and History, 3rd Series), vols. 11-14, 20-31, and 34
The Essex Journal, vols. 17, 21, 22, 27 (2)
Medieval Archaeology (journal), vols 25, 39-41, 47
Vernacular Architecture (journal), vols. 21, 24 and 28

End of official list entry

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