House of Knights Hospitallers: The preceptory of Quenington

HOUSE OF KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS

30. THE PRECEPTORY OF QUENINGTON

The manor of Quenington was given to the Hospitallers by Agnes de Lucy and her daughter Sibilla, (fn. 1) and a preceptory was established there in or about 1193. (fn. 2) The manor of Wishanger was the gift of Asculf Musard. (fn. 3)

In 1338, when a survey was made of the possessions of the Hospitallers, the gross value of the preceptory was £179 8s. 4d. (fn. 4) The income was derived mainly from the manor of Quenington, lands at Wishanger, and the churches of Lower Guiting, Southrop, Down Ampney, and Siddington. The community consisted of the preceptor, two other knights, a chaplain, three clerks, and several servants. The cost of their maintenance, of hospitality, and other charges amounted only to £57 6s. 9d., and the residue of the income of the preceptory was paid to the treasurer of the Hospitallers in London. The Hospitallers experienced great difficulty in getting possession of the lands of the Templars, which were granted to them by a bull of Clement V in 1312. (fn. 5) In 1338 the manors of Guiting and Bradwell and the church of Temple Guiting, worth in all 210 marks a year, were in the possession of Master Pancius, the king's doctor. (fn. 6) The church of Temple Guiting and the manor of Bradwell were probably annexed soon afterwards to the preceptory of Quenington, (fn. 7) but the Hospitallers never recovered possession of the manor of Guiting.

In 1535 the clear yearly value of the property amounted to £137 7s. 1½d. (fn. 8) The possessions of the preceptory included the manors of Quenington, Wishanger, Baunton, Calmsden and Hampenne in Gloucestershire; of Bradwell, Gosford, Sutton, and Clanfield in Oxfordshire; and the rectories of Temple Guiting, Lower Guiting, Southrop, Down Ampney, Siddington, Bradwell, and Kelmscott. (fn. 9)

The preceptory was surrendered as part and parcel of the possessions of the hospital of St. John at Clerkenwell in 1540.