Remains of a preceptory, fishponds and post-medieval gardens at Eagle Hall

Reasons for Designation

A preceptory is a monastery of the military orders of Knights Templars and
Knights Hospitallers (also known as the Knights of St John of Jerusalem). At
least one preceptory of the Knights of St Lazarus is also known to have
existed in England. Preceptories were founded to raise revenues to fund the
12th and 13th century crusades to Jerusalem. In the 15th century the
Hospitallers directed their revenue toward defending Rhodes from the Turks. In
addition, the preceptories of the Templars functioned as recruiting and
training barracks for the knights whilst those of the Hospitallers provided
hospices which offered hospitality to pilgrims and travellers and distributed
alms to the poor. Lazarine preceptories had leprosy hospitals attached. Like
other monastic sites, the buildings of preceptories included provision for
worship and communal living. Their most unusual feature was the round nave of
their major churches which was copied from that of the Holy Sepulchre in
Jerusalem. Indeed their use of such circular churches was unique in medieval
England. Other buildings might include hospital buildings, workshops or
agricultural buildings. These were normally arranged around a central open
space, and were often enclosed within a moat or bank and ditch. From available
documentary sources it can be estimated that the Templars held 57 preceptories
in England. At least 14 of these were later taken over by the Hospitallers,
who held 76 sites. As a relatively rare monument class, all sites exhibiting
good survival of archaeological remains will be identified as nationally
important.

The remains of the preceptory at Eagle Hall survive well as a series of
substantial earthworks extending over most of the area of the original
precinct. The remains of the preceptory buildings survive beneath later
structures which overlie rather than cut into earlier deposits. The monument
also preserves the remains of a post-Dissolution formal garden. The site has
been undisturbed by modern development and agricultural activity and has never
been excavated, indicating that valuable archaeological remains relating to
both the medieval preceptory and post-medieval garden, and the relationship
between them, survive intact.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a preceptory of the Knights Templars
founded at Eagle in the mid-12th century. The preceptory served as an
infirmary for sick and aged members of the order. In 1312, following the
suppression of the Templars, it became a commandery of the Knights
Hospitallers. In the 14th and 15th centuries the administration of the estate
was linked to that of other Lincolnshire preceptories at Temple Bruer and
Willoughton. In 1338 there was a population of 16, including a Knight
Preceptor; by the time of the Dissolution in 1540 the estate was run by a
steward. In the post-medieval period the site was occupied by a house and
gardens with associated farmbuildings. The remains of the preceptory include
the earthworks of part of the inner precinct and associated fishponds. The
remains of the medieval period are overlain by those of post-medieval date,
including ornamental ponds and other garden features.
The monument takes the form of a series of earthworks and buried building
remains located at Eagle Hall Farm, approximately one mile to the south west
of the village of Eagle. Near the centre of the monument is a raised area,
now partly occupied by Eagle Hall and a complex of associated farmbuildings.
Eagle Hall is principally of 18th century date, as is at least one of the
farmbuildings, and although all of these buildings are excluded from the
scheduling the ground below the Hall and the farmbuildings in the western part
of the complex is included. Approximately 30m to the south of the Hall, on
the south east side of the present garden boundary, are the earth-covered
remains of a rectangular stone building, standing to a height of approximately
1m above the surrounding land. Stone and tile fragments are visible.
Adjacent to the east, in the area of the present drive and flanking fences, is
an area where human burials have been discovered. Further building remains
have been identified in the paddock to the east of the Hall. This area, at
and around the Hall, is considered to be the site of the main buildings of the
preceptory, including the church and its associated cemetery and domestic
buildings. The present elevation of the area, at approximately 2m above the
surrounding land, is considered to be largely artificial and due to the
accumulation of medieval and post-medieval building remains.
Surrounding the central area of building remains is a large, roughly
rectangular area aligned north west-south east, bounded on three sides by
the remains of a moat and on the fourth by the course of the present road.
This is considered to be the area of the preceptory precinct. On the south
east side the moat takes the form of a linear depression, approximately
8m wide and up to 1m deep, bounded on each side by a substantial linear bank
up to 1.5m high and 5m wide. On the longest, south western side it is
approximately 6m wide and 1.5m deep, with internal and external banks about
0.5m wide. On both the south east and south west sides the surviving
earthworks largely represent the recutting of the medieval moat in
post-medieval times as a feature of the formal gardens surrounding the early
18th century Hall. The north west arm of the moat, which has not been recut,
is narrower in width (4m-5m); the northern half has been partially levelled in
post-medieval times and survives as a shallower feature, its northern end
identified by a depression in the roadside hedge.
Within the area of the precinct are traces of the agricultural and other
activites associated with the occupation of the site as a preceptory. In the
eastern corner of the precinct are the earthworks of an enclosure containing
traces of ridge and furrow cultivation; adjacent to the south west, and
separated from it by a linear bank, is another, low lying enclosure. In the
western corner of the precinct are the remains of three rectangular ponds
representing a complex of medieval fishponds. In part of the precinct the
medieval remains are overlain by traces of post-medieval activity on the site
including, in the south east part of the precinct, a drive leading to the
Hall. On the south side of the drive is a pair of ornamental ponds with a
metalled way between, representing part of the post-medieval gardens
associated with the Hall. In the northern part of the precinct is a low mound
representing the levelled remains of post-medieval buildings.
Outside the area of the preceptory's precinct are further remains associated
with both the medieval and post-medieval use of the site. Near the southern
corner of the precinct, the former drive crosses the causeway flanked on each
side by a narrow channel. These channels continue south eastward along the
drive which runs as a raised track, and on each side is a linear bank
terminating in a return approximately 40m from the edge of the moat. These
features are considered to be post-medieval in date and are linked to a series
of water-control features in the southern part of the monument. These include,
adjacent to the southern corner of the precinct, an irregular pond complex
believed to have originated as medieval fishponds associated with the
preceptory and later recut for drainage and stock-watering purposes. Other
water-control features in this area include a large pond, formed of a sequence
of superimposed cuttings, with a dam on the east. These are considered to be
largely post-medieval.
Outside the precinct to the south west is a large rectangular pond,
approximately 60m x 20m, with a broad bank on each side approximately 10m in
width. On the north western side the bank is flanked by a narrow modern
drainage channel which follows the course of a cobbled path. On the other
side the bank is linked to the precinct area by a causeway across the moat.
These features are considered to form part of the post-medieval garden at
Eagle Hall, the pond being an ornamental feature and its banks serving as
raised terraces linked to walkways and other parts of a formal garden.
Excluded from the scheduling are Eagle Hall Farm and the barn to the north of
it (both of which are Listed Grade II), all other standing buildings, walls
and fences at Eagle Hall Farm, and the modern paving in the farmyard area,
although the ground beneath all these features is included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 24 May 2023 to amend the description

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

22620

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Mills, D, The Knights Templar in Kesteven, (1993)
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Lincolnshire: Volume II, (1906), 211
Knowles, D, Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales, (1971), 293-357
Knowles, D, Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales, (1971), 293-357
Order of St. John - Lincolnshire Magazine in The Heritage of the Order in Lincolnshire: Part II, (), 13-19

Other
Lincolnshire Archives Office 2/25, Inventory of all the goods and chattells of John Bell of Eagle H, (1681)
Mills, Dennis, Eagle Hall 1990, (1990)
NAR, SK 86 NE 1,
landowner, Chennells, Gordon, (1990)
Chennells, Gordon, (1992)

End of official list entry

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