Bristol - Temple Fee

Temple Parish - 1

This page was written after I received an email from Pat Bulley in Wilstshire in May 2005. Pat has a a marriage certificate for their great great grandfather, both bride and groom have given their address as "Temple" but Pat couldn't find anything else about the parish. A look on the web didn't find much, but as I've made several references to Temple elsewhere on the site and many records also mention Temple or Temple Fee, I decided to bring it all together on these pages.

Map of Bristol's Earliest Parishes

The map was re-drawn from the one that appears in "A Survey of Parish Boundary Markers and Stones for Eleven of the Ancient Bristol Parishes" published by the Temple Local History Group in 1986.

1) St John the Baptist 2) Christchurch 3) St Ewen's 4) St Werburgh's 5) St Leonard's 6) All Saints 7) St Mary Le Port

Of these parish churches, St Augustine, St Mary Le Port, St Peter, St Thomas and Temple were blitzed in 1940, the ruins of St Peter's still remain on Castle Green as does St Mary's. The ruins of St Thomas's and Temple with its leaning tower are still to be seen just off of Victoria Street. St Ewen's was demolished in 1788, St Leonards was demolished in 1786, St Werburghs was moved to a district that was named after it in 1876.

Temple Parish Map

Temple - General map of the area
Map adapted from Google Maps

The Knights Templar

Robert Fitzhamon had earlier obtained the Manor of Bedminster under the rule of William II (Rufus the Red, 1087-1100). This land was passed to Robert Fitzroy, Earl of Gloucester. It should be remembered that the Manor lands were seperate from the church parish lands.

Many of the early Crusaders were poorly trained in warfare, and as a result they suffered very badly against Saladin and his Turks. Two years before his death, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, in 1145, set up the Order of the Knights Templar in Bristol, who were also known as the Poor Knights of our Lord.

Robert, Earl of Gloucester gave them a tract of land and built for them the oval Temple in Victoria Street, the foundations of which survive. This original church was about 43ft by 23ft. It was this land, originally the borough of Redcliffe in the Manor of Bedminster which was now known as Temple Fee.

From the start there was trouble between the Order and the civic authorities. The problem was that the civic authority had no jurisdiction in Temple Fee. The Order could hold their own courts, execute felons and enforce other feudal privileges. Gradually, Temple Fee seems to have become a haven for miscreants of all kinds, but when the authorities from Bristol tried to arrest them they would often return empty-handed, bloody and bruised.

The members of the Order of the Knights Templar were trained in warfare, and part of their duties was to defend the Temple - hence their name. They also had to take the same vows as the monks of the time - those of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience. A similar order were the Knight's of Saint John, and these had specific duties as regard to the wounded.

The outlines of the original oval church inside the ruins of the newer
(Photo from "A survey of Parish Boundary Markers and Stones" by the Temple Local History Group (2nd Ed. 1994, ISBN 0-951-00-68-7-8, page 33)

Each Templar had to serve three campaigns on land and two on the sea before they were allowed home. By the time they did get home many of the Templars were either sick or wounded and without any possessions and so those Knights who stayed at home provided them with land.

In Bristol, as well as the Temple, Robert of Gloucester also gave them the surrounding land and here they also built a Priory for themselves. The land given them wasn't particularly good, being very marshy, but at that time most of the land outside the city walls was like that. In fact, there are still clues to this in some of the district and street names of modern Bristol, such as Canon's Marsh and Marsh Street. The land given to them has long been built over and a part of it is covered by our main railway station, which is called Temple Meads. In fact, mead is an old English word meaning meadow.

The Templars may have been individually poor but as an organization they were far from poverty. In 1201, King John was off to Ireland to reclaim land and settle disputes the Irish. Bristol and Redcliffe gave 1,000 marks each and the Templars, 500 marks towards the expedition.

As time went on the area became more populated, particularly by clothworkers. In 1299, a chapel, Weaver's Chapel, at the extreme end of the north aisle of the church was dedicated to St. Catherine, the patron saint of weavers. The weavers were then the wealthiest of the trade guild with many of its members living in Tucker and Temple Streets. Tucker Street has long gone, but used to run from where Bath Street is now to Temple Street. Around this time there were around 675 people living in the parish. It may have been that Tucker Street got its name from the weavers that were living there. Tucking is an old English word that describes the cleaning of cloth. the cloth was cleaned by adding Fullers Earth to a vat of water, putting in the cloth then trampling it, this was done by tuckers. The Fullers Earth acted as a detergent and so another name for the process was fulling, done by fullers. These trades also gave rise to the surnames Tucker and Fuller.

Weavers Chapel

Weavers Chapel - 13th January 1940
The panelling dates back to Queen Anne's reign (1702-14)
Image from "Bristol as it was 1939-1914" by Reece Winstone (Reece Winstone, 4th Ed., 1969, plate 27)

The Templars occupied this land for around 200 years. They had by now become very wealthy and so the Pope ordered their suppression. Our king at the time, Edward II, for some time resisted this order, but in 1312 gave way. The Templars in Bristol were seized and thrown into the castle dungeons - here most were killed but the Knight's of Saint John did manage to rescue a few.

The "New" Temple Church

The Knight's of Saint John took over the Templars land, they demolished the old Temple and built a much finer one, Temple Church. They also drained the marsh. This was built with weak foundations on the marsh which was still being drained. In 1390 and 1397 they made appeals for money to finish the church, and several people responded, some of their names are recorded. In 1390, John Obelly bequeathed money his will for the tower. In 1397, Reginald Taylor, a weaver and who once was a hermit in St. Brendan's chapel, also left money, around £100, for the tower as well as various other amounts for "forgotten tythes and offerings". The subsidence of the tower must have occured around this time as they strengthened the foundations and built the remainder of the tower, which was by now about four feet out of true, more upright. The tower was finished around 1460 and contains an internal buttress to help prevent further inclination. That is how Bristol's Temple Church got it's leaning tower, which is 114 feet high, but 4 feet out of alignment.

The argument over jurisdiction between the civil and religious authorities had continued all this time - nearly 200 hundred years. In 1325 the mayor complained to the king that neither the sheriffs of Somerset or Gloucestershire had any influence within Temple. In 1535 the king ruled that the civic authorities did have the right to arrest felons within Temple Fee, but refused to rule on some of the Knight's of St. John's other feudal privileges that they had inherited from the Order of the Knights Templar. By then, it didn't really matter though as in 1541 the Knight's of St. John's possessions were confiscated by the crown.

In 1544, the Corporation petitioned the king for a grant to a portion of the land and rents from the estate which they estimated at being worth £14 7s 11d a year. They also wanted the estate of Viscount Lisle whose land had also been confiscated, this they estimated at being worth £57 8s 3d annually. The king granted both for a payment of £789 17s 10d. On 30th June 1554, the city corporation finally purchased the whole of Temple Church and part of the land belonging to it from king Henry VIII.

Alfred Harvey in his book "Ancient Cities - Bristol" recalls an incident recorded by the vicar, the Rev. A. S. Catcott that happened in the 1550's. It seems that the Mayor, John Stone, was attending a service in the church when a weaver came out of the Weaver's Chapel in to the chancel and said "Fie upon this idolatrous worship." Stone had the man dragged out and he was later burned as a heretic on St. Michael's Hill. It may be the story is true but there are some discrepancies in the dates. Catcott says the incident happened in the reign of Queen Mary (1553-1558), but John Stone wasn't the mayor until 1562.

Temple Church - Martyr's Door

Temple Church - Martyr's Door - 13th January 1940
The door between Weavers' Chapel and the Chancel
So called because this was door the weaver walked through before being arrested
Image from "Bristol in the 1940's" by Reece Winstone (Reece Winstone, 1970, plate 63)

Temple Church Chancel

Temple Church Chancel - 1930
Image from "Bristol as it was 1928-1933" by Reece Winstone (Reece Winstone, 1979, plate 159)

Harvey also provides a description of the interior of the church which he described as "stately and spacious; the nave and aisles are wide and lofty, and are divided by arcades of tall arches the full height of the building, carried by slender and graceful pillars. The chancel, which is earlier [than the tower] dating from about the year 1300, is long and low. at least as early is the chapel of St. Catherine on the north. The temple is singularly rich in objects of interest; especially to be noticed is the chandelier of latten, of the fourteenth century, which hangs near the entrance of the chancel, with its statuettes, St. George and the Dragon below, and the Blessed Virgin with the Infant Jesus above [...] In the Weavers' Chapel is the Corinthian reredos, towards which Closton gave £60, beautifully carved, if incongruous." The church also contained paintings by Boucher which were restored at some time by John Milton, as well as brasses and a lot of valuable church plate.

The chandelier and font still survive despite the wartime bombing. The font is now at Holy Cross in Inns court, south Bristol and the chandelier now hangs in the Berkeley Chapel of Bristol Cathedral. Other metal screens survived and these are now in the Lord Mayors' Chapel. ChurchCrawler has some great photos of these relics as well as other photos of the church.

The swaying of the tower when the bells were rung must have been a local talking point. On 24th May 1568, Thomas, the Duke of Norfolk, after prayers at St. Mary Redcliffe, went to Tower Church and had the bells rung - just to watch the tower swaying. Several books mention the fact that the tower not only leaned but swayed as well. There's a nice story that small boys would place nuts in the cracks between the tower and main walls. When the bells rang the tower would act like a giant nutcracker and deshell the nuts.

A pre-war book says that the west window was one of the finest in its class and that the church contained many fine 14th century brasses. One dating back to 1396 read "Thou, O Christ, art witness that this stone does not lie here to adorn my body, but that my spirit may be remembered. Ye who pass it, old, middle-aged and young, put up your prayers for me that thus I may be granted hope of pardon."

Edward Colston (1636-1721) was baptised here in 1636. John Wesley also preached here in 1780, 1782 and 1787.

The north side of the chancel had a lengthy inscription to the prominent Bristol Knight family. Sir Thomas Knight was Member of Parliament in 1693. He hated foreigners and and was a violent persecutor of non-conformists. Hazlitt liked this man who was narrow-minded and who "reeked" of violent and vulgar patriotism, but even he likened Knight's oratorical style to a bear-garden.

In 1701, the church was "ceiled and beautified". Latimer cites an amusing article from the vestry minutes of 30th December 1743. The clerk is requested to inform the reverend that "as we allow him £4 a year for the use of the churchyard, he shall have no right or leave to feed horses, sheep, or cattle of any sort in that place."

The Society of Merchant Venturers gave £200 in 1884 to help with the restoration of the tower.

This page created 3rd May 2005, last modified 11th December 2005

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