Baddesley Preceptory

Baddesley Preceptory
Monastery information
Other names	Godsfield, Godesfield
Order	Knights Hospitaller
Established	pre. 1304
Disestablished	1540
Site
Location	Godsfield, and later North Baddesley, Hampshire, England
Coordinates	51°07′45″N1°08′21″W / 51.12917°N 1.13914°W ; 50°59′15″N1°24′58″W / 50.98745°N 1.41612°W Coordinates: 50°59′15″N1°24′58″W / 50.98745°N 1.41612°W
Visible remains	chapel at Godsfield, no remains at North Baddesley

Last updated November 10, 2019

Baddesley Preceptory was a preceptory of the Knights Hospitaller at North Baddesley in Hampshire, England. The preceptory was founded at Godsfield but was moved soon after the Black Death.

The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller or the Order of Saint John, was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headquartered in the Kingdom of Jerusalem until 1291, on the island of Rhodes from 1310 until 1522, in Malta from 1530 until 1798 and at Saint Petersburg from 1799 until 1801. Today several organizations continue the Hospitaller tradition, most importantly the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

North Baddesley is a large village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is situated 3 mi (5 km) east of the town of Romsey and 6 mi (10 km) north of Southampton. It occupies an area of approximately 9.15 km² (3.53 sq mi), and is home to a population of just over 10,000 people, reducing to 7,000 at the 2011 Census. It is located in the Test Valley; a river famous for trout fishing. North Baddesley is one of the largest villages in the South of England.

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England. The county town is the city of Winchester. Its two largest cities, Southampton and Portsmouth, are administered separately as unitary authorities; the rest of the county is governed by Hampshire County Council.

Foundation

Land in Godsfield, Hampshire was first granted to the Hospitallers by Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester in the time of King John and in 1207 further land there was given by Adam de Port. There were further grants of land in Preston Candover and Child Candover. It is not known when a preceptory was first formed, but it was prior to 1304.

Henry of Blois 12th-century Bishop of Winchester

Henry of Blois, often known as Henry of Winchester, was Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey from 1126, and Bishop of Winchester from 1129 to his death. He was a younger son of Stephen Henry, Count of Blois by Adela of Normandy, daughter of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders. Thus, he was a younger brother of Stephen, King of England.

Winchester is a city and the county town of Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, at the western end of the South Downs National Park, on the River Itchen. It is 60 miles (97 km) south-west of London and 14 miles (23 km) from Southampton, the closest other city. At the 2011 Census, Winchester had a population of 45,184. The wider City of Winchester district, which includes towns such as Alresford and Bishop's Waltham, has a population of 116,595.

Preston Candover is a village and large civil parish in Hampshire, England. It has two churches, only one of which is still in use. Its nearest town is Basingstoke, approximately 4.5 miles (7.2 km) away. It has an acreage of 3,457 acres (13.99 km²), which lies on comparatively low ground, south of the high country round the surrounding villages of Farleigh Wallop and Nutley, and north-west of that which rises to Wield and beyond to Bentworth. The village itself lies on the lowest ground towards the west of the parish on the road which comes northeast from Northington and the two other Candovers, and runs across the parish to enter Nutley at Axford and continues uphill to Farleigh Wallop and thence to Basingstoke.

12th to 16th centuries

By 1355 the preceptory had moved to Baddesley, although it was still sometimes called Godsfield. The establishment was small with only the Preceptor a chaplain and four servants. They held managed land and buildings in several places in Hampshire, including Godsfield, Baddesley, Rownham and the former Knights Templar possessions at Temple.

A preceptor is a teacher responsible to uphold a certain law or tradition, a precept.

Chaplain Provider of pastoral care, often a minister of a religious tradition, attached to an institution

A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric, or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, school, labor union, business, police department, fire department, university, or private chapel.

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple, the Knights Templar or simply the Templars, were a Catholic military order founded in 1119 and recognised in 1139 by the papal bull Omne datum optimum. The order was active until 1312 when it was perpetually suppressed by Pope Clement V by the bull Vox in excelso.

Dissolution

The Valor of 1535 lists the annual value of the preceptory as £131 14s. 1d.. It was suppressed in 1540 and the lands were granted first to Sir Thomas Seymour, and later, in 1551, to Sir Nicholas Throckmorton.

Present day

The 14th century chapel and priest's house at Godsfield survive. Nothing remains of the preceptory at North Baddesley, the site being occupied by the 18th century Baddesley Manor.

A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small, and is distinguished from a church. The term has several senses. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type of these. Secondly, a chapel is a place of worship, sometimes non-denominational, that is part of a building or complex with some other main purpose, such as a school, college, hospital, palace or large aristocratic house, castle, barracks, prison, funeral home, cemetery, airport, or a military or commercial ship. Thirdly, chapels are small places of worship, built as satellite sites by a church or monastery, for example in remote areas; these are often called a chapel of ease. A feature of all these types is that often no clergy were permanently resident or specifically attached to the chapel. Finally, for historical reasons, chapel is also often the term used for independent or nonconformist places of worship in Great Britain—outside the established church, even where in practice they operate as a parish church.

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Yeaveley Preceptory, also known as Stydd Preceptory, was a preceptory of the Knights Hospitaller, near to the village of Yeaveley, in Derbyshire, England. It was located around a mile west of the village, on the site of the current Stydd Hall. The Preceptory has been variously known as "Yeaveley Preceptory", "Yeaveley Bailiwick", "Yeaveley and Barrow Preceptory" and "Stydd Preceptory".

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The site of the former preceptory at Temple Hill, South Witham. It 'has been largely under pasture' since the Knights Templar left in 1308.]] Withham Preceptory, one of the smallest Knights Templar preceptories in England, was founded, before 1164, at Temple Hill, near South Witham, Lincolnshire, and was abandoned in the early 14th century.

References

"House of Knights Hospitallers: Preceptory of Baddesley or Godsfield", A History of the County of Hampshire, volume 2, The Victoria County History, 1973.

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