Temple Grafton is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 and civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in the Stratford district

Stratford-on-Avon (district)

Stratford-on-Avon is a local government district of southern Warwickshire in England.The district is named "Stratford-on-Avon" to distinguish it from its main town of Stratford-upon-Avon where the district council is based, although this name often causes confusion .The district is mostly rural and...

 of Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, situated about 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Alcester

Alcester

Alcester is an old market town of Roman origin at the junction of the River Alne and River Arrow in Warwickshire, England. It is situated approximately west of Stratford-upon-Avon, and 8 miles south of Redditch, close to the Worcestershire border...

 and 14 miles (22.5 km) West of the county town

County town

A county town is a county's administrative centre in the United Kingdom or Ireland. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its...

 of Warwick

Warwick

Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England. The town lies upon the River Avon, south of Coventry and just west of Leamington Spa and Whitnash with which it is conjoined. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 23,350...

. The place name is misleading, the Knights Templar

Knights Templar

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

 never having any association with the place but owing to a naming error made in the time of Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 the mistake has been perpetuated. During the reign of Richard I

Richard I of England

Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...

 the estate in fact belonged to the Knights Hospitaller

Knights Hospitaller

The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...

. During the reign of Edward III

Edward III of England

Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...

 in 1347 the village was recorded as Grafton Superior while neighbouring Ardens Grafton

Ardens Grafton

Ardens Grafton is a hamlet or small village in the Stratford on Avon district of Warwickshire, England, situated about 4 miles east of Alcester and 14 miles west of the county town of Warwick...

 was named Inferior

History

Temple Grafton was alleged to have been granted to Evesham Abbey

Evesham Abbey

Evesham Abbey was founded by Saint Egwin at Evesham in England between 700 and 710 A.D. following a vision of the Virgin Mary by Eof.According to the monastic history, Evesham came through the Norman Conquest unusually well, because of a quick approach by Abbot Æthelwig to William the Conqueror...

 by Ceolred King of Mercia

Ceolred of Mercia

-Mercia at the end of the 7th century:By the end of the 7th century, England was almost entirely divided into kingdoms ruled by the Anglo-Saxons, who had come to Britain two hundred years earlier. The kingdom of Mercia occupied what is now the English Midlands, bordered by Northumbria to the...

 in 710. But it is also said to have been given by Edward the Confessor

Edward the Confessor

Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....

 in 1055, and is included among the 36 manors acquired by Abbot Ethelwig

Æthelwig

Æthelwig was an Abbot of Evesham before and during the Norman Conquest of England. Born sometime around 1010 or 1015, he was elected abbot in 1058. Known for his legal expertise, he administered estates for Ealdred, the Bishop of Worcester prior to his election as abbot...

 (1055–77); the 8th-century charter is probably a forgery made about this time to strengthen the title. Of these 36 manors, 28, including Grafton, were seized by Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, quasi lupus rapax, (like a ravaging wolf) after Ethelwig's death. The village is then recorded in the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 as part of the lands of Osbern son of Richard, having been given to him by Odo, where the entry states, "In Ferncombe Hundred Gilbert holds 5 hides

Hide (unit)

The hide was originally an amount of land sufficient to support a household, but later in Anglo-Saxon England became a unit used in assessing land for liability to "geld", or land tax. The geld would be collected at a stated rate per hide...

 in (Grastone) Temple Grafton. Land for 5 ploughs. In lordship 2; 4 slaves; 6 villagers with a priest and 6 smallholders with 5 ploughs. Meadow, 24 acres

Acre

The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...

. The value was £3; now £4. Merwin,Scroti, Toti and Tosti held it freely before 1066."

The first mention of the Knights Hospitallers here occurs in 1189, when they received a grant of land from Henry de Grafton. In 1275–6 they were holding 2 carucates, formerly belonging to Ralph and Bernard de Grafton, which were declared to have evaded taxation for forty years. In 1316 they held the manor for a knight's fee of Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. By 1338 they had a Preceptory here, which was united with that of Balsall

Temple Balsall

Temple Balsall is a hamlet within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the English West Midlands, situated between the large villages of Knowle and Balsall Common. It was formerly in Warwickshire. It is on a notoriously bad bend on the B4101 Kenilworth Road.It is one of the oldest and most...

, and they continued lords of the manor until the suppression of their Order in 1540 when the manor passed to the crown.

It is known as one of the Shakespeare villages. William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 is said to have joined a party of Stratford folk which set itself to outdrink a drinking club at Bidford­-on-Avon

Bidford-on-Avon

Bidford-on-Avon is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Warwickshire. In the 2001 census it had a population of 4,830.-Location:...

, and as a result of his labours in that regard to have fallen asleep under the crab tree of which a descendant is still called Shakespeare's tree. When morning dawned his friends wished to renew the encounter but he wisely said "No I have drunk with “Piping Pebworth

Pebworth

Pebworth is a village and civil parish in the county of Worcestershire, lying about 8 km north-north-west of the town of Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire. Until 1931, the parish – which includes the hamlet of Broad Marston – was itself in Gloucestershire, as part of Pebworth Rural District...

, Dancing Marston

Long Marston, Warwickshire

Long Marston is a village about southwest of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England. The southern and western boundaries of the parish also form part of the county boundary with Worcestershire.-History:...

, Haunted Hillboro’, Hungry Grafton, Dodging Exhall

Exhall, Stratford-on-Avon

Exhall is a small village located approximately 1.7 miles south-south-east of the Roman town of Alcester, and approximately 6 miles west of Stratford-upon-Avon in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England...

, Papist Wixford

Wixford

Wixford is a hamlet and civil parish in the Stratford district of Warwickshire, England, situated south of Alcester. The name derives from a compound of the Old English personal name Whitlac with the noun for a river crossing "ford"...

, Beggarly Broom and Drunken Bidford” and so, presumably, I will drink no more. The story is said to date from the 17th century but of its truth or of any connection of the story or the verse to Shakespeare there is no evidence. The hungry ephitet refers to the poverty of the soil.

Governance

Temple Grafton is part of the Bardon ward of Stratford on Avon District Council and represented by Councillor Valerie Hobbs, Conservative. http://democracy.stratford.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1 Nationally it is part of Stratford-on-Avon (UK Parliament constituency)

Stratford-on-Avon (UK Parliament constituency)

-By-elections:-Notes and references:...

, whose current Member of Parliament is Nadhim Zahawi

Nadhim Zahawi

Nadhim Zahawi is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Stratford-on-Avon since 2010, after the retirement of previous MP John Maples....

 of the Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

. It is included in the West Midlands

West Midlands (European Parliament constituency)

West Midlands is a constituency of the European Parliament. For 2009 it elected 6 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation. The constituency will also elect a "virtual MEP" who will be able to sit in the Parliament if the Treaty of Lisbon comes into effect...

 electoral region of the European Parliament and the six members are; Mike Nattrass

Mike Nattrass

Mike Nattrass is an English politician and Member of the European Parliament, representing the West Midlands constituency for the UK Independence Party , elected for the first time in June 2004 and re-elected in June 2009....

 (UK Independence), Liz Lynne

Liz Lynne

Elizabeth Lynne, known as Liz Lynne, is a British politician, and has been a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands for the Liberal Democrats since her election at the 1999 European election...

,(Liberal Democrat), Malcolm Harbour

Malcolm Harbour

Malcolm Harbour is a British politician. He is a Conservative Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands. He is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group and the Chairman of the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection.-Motor industry:Malcolm Harbour was...

 (Conservative), Michael Cashman

Michael Cashman

Michael Maurice Cashman is a British former actor, now a Labour politician. He has been a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands constituency since 1999.- Acting :...

 (Labour), Philip Bradbourn

Philip Bradbourn

Philip Bradbourn OBE MEP is a British politician, and Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands, for the Conservative Party...

 OBE (Conservative) and Nicole Sinclaire

Nikki Sinclaire

Nicole Sinclaire is a European politician from the United Kingdom and is a current MEP.Educated at the University of Canterbury graduating with a Bachelor of Laws qualification. Sinclaire has worked for Lloyds as a 'problem troubleshooter' was employed as a Gateway store manager and worked in...

 (UK Independence).

Geography

The land rises to an altitude of over 300 ft. in the northern part of the parish and slopes down to about 180 ft. by the river-bank at Hillborough, 2 miles to the south. The village, with the church, stands on the edge of the hill, commanding views across the valley to Bredon Hill

Bredon Hill

Bredon Hill is a hill in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Evesham in the Vale of Evesham. The summit of the hill is in the parish of Kemerton and it extends over parts of eight other parishes...

 and the Cotswolds

Cotswolds

The Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...

.

Notable buildings

The parish church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 of St. Andrew

Saint Andrew

Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...

 was entirely rebuilt in 1875 to a design by F Preedy on the site of an older edifice. Consisting of a chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

 with a north organ chamber and vestry, nave, north aisle, and a south-west tower serving as a porch, it is built of lias stone with sandstone dressings, and has tiled roofs. On the north wall of the chancel is a repainted stone shield of arms of the 17th century with the six quarterings of the Woodchurch-Clarke family, impaling the quarterly coat of De la Hay, Winterbourne, Sheldon, and Ruding. In the organ chamber is a 17th-century oak chest with panelled sides, a carved top-rail, and a panelled lid. Another chest is of the 18th or early 19th century. The blunder regarding the Knights Templar is repeated in the symbols of that order being depicted in the glass and encaustic tiles of the interior.
Many scholars believe it to be the place where William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 married Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare)

Anne Hathaway was the wife of William Shakespeare. They were married in 1582. She outlived her husband by seven years...

, since records of the marriage do not appear in Stratford itself, and a licence was issued for Shakespeare to marry in Temple Grafton. However marriage records for the period have been lost.

Sports and leisure

It has a cricket club, a Pub (Blue Boar) and a Bus stop.

Situated on New Road is Graftons village hall serving both Temple Grafton & Ardens Grafton. It is a large hall which seats 120 people in rows or 100 at tables, 60 if stage is in place). The reception porch has access for the disabled.

Education

Located on Church Bank is Temple Grafton Church of England Primary School having 102 pupils on its roll.

School	Compulsory education stage	School website	Ofsted Office for Standards in Education The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....  details
Temple Grafton Church of England Primary School	Primary Primary education A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...	Temple Grafton Church of England School

The nearest secondary schools are located in Alcester 4 miles (6.4 km) or Stratford-upon-Avon 6 miles (9.7 km).