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.