The early 13th century tower at Temple Bruer is a rare survival of the standing remains of an important Knights Templar preceptory church. The Templars were military monks who established a Europe-wide network of preceptories, which were religious houses from which they administered their estates and raised funds to support their work in the Holy Land.
From poor beginnings they quickly became immensely rich, and Temple Bruer was one of their wealthiest properties. However, their success was closely linked to the Crusades, and by the end of the 13th century their popularity was waning and they were beginning to be viewed with suspicion. They were accused of misconduct and corruption and their arrest was ordered. In January 1308 William de la More, the Preceptor of Temple Bruer and the Grand Prior of all England, was arrested at Temple Bruer along with his knights and imprisoned at Lincoln.
The Order was suppressed in 1312 and their property passed to the Knights Hospitaller. Temple Bruer was held by the Hospitallers until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in about 1540, when Henry VIII granted it to the Duke of Suffolk. From that time it gradually declined until only the present tower was left standing.
Computer-generated images of the Knights Templar preceptory
In 2010 Heritage Lincolnshire were given a Renaissance East Midlands MuBu grant to create new computer-generated reconstructions of the preceptory. The Trust worked with members of Navenby Archaeology Group to research the project and create a series of images and an animated fly-through which bring the medieval preceptory back to life and show what it may have looked like in the 14th century when it was held by the Hospitallers.
Fly through animation
Images of Temple Bruer
Nave - dome
Nave, high view
Nave, low view
View of Tribune
Computer-generated animation and images by Antiquus Reconstruction