Here’s something a bit different that Cipher Mysteries buffs with an interest in the history of the Knights Templar might well enjoy: a 20MB PDF scan of a 1908 article on Temple Bruer, one of the few Knights Templar buildings in the UK still standing.
You see, one summer nearly a decade ago I had a picnic with my friend Charles Cecil and his family at a Lincolnshire local history open day at Temple Bruer, complete with a swordfight between a Templar and an Hospitaller (I think it was a draw). Just for a bit of historian fun, I decided to buy the copy of Archaeologia that contained the definitive article on the site to bring along. Fast forward to 2009… and a few days ago I thought that I really ought to get round to scanning it in, for the benefit of anyone else out there with an interest in Templar history in the UK. (Well, Charles will like it, anyway.)
The article is entitled “The Round Church of the Knights Templars at Templr Bruer, Lincolnshire. By W. H. St John Hope, Esq., M.A.” (from Archaeologia LXI (1908), pp.177-198), and commences:-
One is sorely tempted in writing upon matters connected with the Knights Templars to say something about the monstrous persecution and terrible sufferings which the unhappy brethren of the Order endured, during the opening years of the fourteenth century, at the hands of an infamous King of France, a more wicked Pope, and even of a King of England, as an excuse for bringing about their suppresssion.
But the subject has already received the attention of abler hands than mine, and the purpose of this paper is not to lay before the Society any new facts about the Order, but some notes upon a curious church of the Knights Templars at Temple Bruer which I have lately had an opportunity of investigating.
It’s an easy read, and includes some nice plates, plans, maps and photos (most of which I scanned at 600dpi). If you ever find yourself between Lincoln and Sleaford and fancy having a look for yourself, here’s Rod Collins’ nice page which tells you how to find Temple Bruer (though remember that it’s on private property, so you must ask before you go in). Enjoy!