Beverley Gormley Art
Temple Bruer - external view
I have a copy of a paper read to the Society of Antiquaries in 1908 that tells of past archaeological excavations at Temple Bruer. Dr Oliver (the vicar of the local village of Scopwick) had started to excavate in 1833 and believed he had found evidence of the dastardly deeds of the Knights Templar when he came across what he thought was an immuralled skeleton.
Here is an extract from the paper:
'Temple Bruer, Dr Oliver says [he was the vicar of Scopwick nearby and an amateur archaeologist] is situated in a retired valley on the heath, surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills not far distant from the Hermen-Street [Ermine Street]; and it was connected with that road by a private way winding through a ravine which communicated with the fortified entrance to the Temple, and was visible only from the Warder's tower, which rose out of the centre of the buildings. Westward of the tower stood the church which was accessible by cloistered passages connected with pribcipal buildings by which it was surrounded.
In the years 1832 and 1833, Charles Chaplin, Esq., of Blankney, placed some workmen under my direction for the purpose of excavating the foundations which had been undisturbed on the north and west of the tower. The first excavation was made at the tower, as I confidently expected to find a vault in that situation, because the floor of the lower story is elevated five feet above the ancient surface of the ground. Whatever space might formerly have existed here, it had been filled in; but we came to a narrow subterranean passage, which appeared to take its rise in this vault, and issuing under the north door by a winding passage eastward, passed on to the buildings in that quarter, the very foundations of which have disappeared. The walls of the passage are coated with plaister.
In our researches on the site of the church, we discovered in a perfect state the ancient circular plinth and four feet of the wall, but buried under a vast accumulation of rough and squared stones, a large number of them handsomely carved and polished. Norman columns and capitals; zig-zag and other mouldings, earth and cement, and the tangled roots of large trees which grew amongst the foundations.'
Temple Bruer - external view
I have a copy of a paper read to the Society of Antiquaries in 1908 that tells of past archaeological excavations at Temple Bruer. Dr Oliver (the vicar of the local village of Scopwick) had started to excavate in 1833 and believed he had found evidence of the dastardly deeds of the Knights Templar when he came across what he thought was an immuralled skeleton.
Here is an extract from the paper:
'Temple Bruer, Dr Oliver says [he was the vicar of Scopwick nearby and an amateur archaeologist] is situated in a retired valley on the heath, surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills not far distant from the Hermen-Street [Ermine Street]; and it was connected with that road by a private way winding through a ravine which communicated with the fortified entrance to the Temple, and was visible only from the Warder's tower, which rose out of the centre of the buildings. Westward of the tower stood the church which was accessible by cloistered passages connected with pribcipal buildings by which it was surrounded.
In the years 1832 and 1833, Charles Chaplin, Esq., of Blankney, placed some workmen under my direction for the purpose of excavating the foundations which had been undisturbed on the north and west of the tower. The first excavation was made at the tower, as I confidently expected to find a vault in that situation, because the floor of the lower story is elevated five feet above the ancient surface of the ground. Whatever space might formerly have existed here, it had been filled in; but we came to a narrow subterranean passage, which appeared to take its rise in this vault, and issuing under the north door by a winding passage eastward, passed on to the buildings in that quarter, the very foundations of which have disappeared. The walls of the passage are coated with plaister.
In our researches on the site of the church, we discovered in a perfect state the ancient circular plinth and four feet of the wall, but buried under a vast accumulation of rough and squared stones, a large number of them handsomely carved and polished. Norman columns and capitals; zig-zag and other mouldings, earth and cement, and the tangled roots of large trees which grew amongst the foundations.'