Description

STROOD KNIGHT ROAD
TQ 76 NW
2/278 Temple Manor
24.10.50
I

Hall of the Knights' Templars, later a farmhouse and now an
Ancient Monument in the custodianship of English Heritage.
Storeyed hall of the Templars; early C13. On the suppression of
the Order it passed (technically) to the Knight Hospitallers,
thence to the Countess of Pembroke who granted it in 1342 to her
nunnery at Denny: building from the monastic period now survives
underground as archaeological remains to the N. After the
Reformation it passed (ultimately) to the Blake family who added
2 storeyed brick ends to the older hall in the second and third
quarters of the C17. The hall is ragstone and flint rubble;
western and eastern extensions in brick; Kent-tile roofs, that
to the hall and western extension continuous. The early C13
building is a 1st floor hall plan. The 1st floor hall was
originally divided into a high-status room to the W adorned with
wall arcade to either side, and a more simply treated room to the
E. Single lancets light the side wall, triple lancets the W (and
probably, originally, the E). The stack is a C17 insertion. The
undercroft is also of high quality, with 3 bays of quadrapartite
ribbed vaults with squared chalk infill. It is lit by smaller
side lancets. Access to the upper floor was by means of an
external stair (reconstructed c.1950) through a doorway of one
order with an inner roll moulding and 2 subsidiary fillets.
Western extension, 3 storeys, lit mainly by principal windows on
the W (6 lights to ground and 1st floor, 3 lights to attic), and
served by a stair and entrance turret to the N. Eastern
extension has different moulding details to the W end, with
gazebo-like upper window and original wooden modillion cornices.
Roof throughout C17 and later.
Note: This building was restored by the Ministry of Works in the
early 1950s. A full and authoritative description (from which
the above summary is derived) is S Rigold, Temple Manor CHMSO,
1962).

Listing NGR: TQ7320768450

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Temple Manor at Wikipedia
• Temple Manor official website
• Wikidata Q7698615

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets