Templeton, Pembrokeshire
Encyclopedia
Templeton is a town
in Pembrokeshire
, Wales
.
had some form of religious house here before their possessions were taken over by the Knights Hospitaller
s, which had a commandery
at nearby Slebech
, which, by 1282 passed to the Mortimer
s, Lords of Narberth
.
In 1282 Templeton was referred to as "Villa temparil" which means the “Vil” or settlement of the Templars and "Villa Templarorium Campestris" – the vil of the Templars in the fields. In 1283 there was also a reference to “Burgesses”. These burgesses were "de vento" - "of the wind" meaning they were not property owners within the settlement but were permitted to come in and out of trade on a regular basis. Burgesses at Templeton are again recorded in the 16th century.
The layout of the present village is an example of deliberate planning in the Middle Ages
, with a single main street fronted by houses with their respected plots extending behind each dwelling. These houses and plots, the "burgage
s" of the Middle Ages
, form a coherent unit imposed on the landscape and set in a regular system of fields, which themselves still show the narrow strips representing recent enclosures from an extensive medieval "open field" agricultural field system
.
It is not certain that the Templars were responsible for creating the planned settlement. It is possible that this was done by Mortimer incorporating an earlier agricultural holding or farm established by the Templars. It was once a marcher borough
. Owen, in 1603, described it as one of nine Pembrokeshire "boroughs in decay".
In the 17th century Narberth Mountain was stocked with Red Deer
and covered 873 acres (3.5 km²) of woodland. The Pembrokeshire county history records also show open fields in Molleston and Templeton being enclosed for pasture
. The establishment of the Tavernspite Turnpike Trust in the 1770s led to a turnpike road toll gate being built at Catershook to the south of the village; its position on an important trading route from Tenby
to Cardigan
undoubtedly contributed to the growth of Templeton. In the late 18th century the countryside continued to change with woodland disappearing, more land being enclosed and farming dominating the landscape.
The 1870 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Templeton as "a chapelry, with a village, in Narberth parish, Pembroke; 5 miles SSW of Narberth-Road r. station. It was constituted in 1863: and it has a post-office under Narberth. Pop., 650. A property here belonged to the Knights Templars. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of St. Davids. Value, £182. Patron, the Crown. The church was built in 1862. There is a dissenting chapel."
", thought to date from the 12th century. Legends as recorded in the 13th century Mabinogion
mention the area of Arberth and a place called Gorsedd Arberth, thought by some authorities to be Sentance Castle. The embanked earthworks are about 15M across and the site is a Scheduled monument.
when a new platform was built. There were also extensive sidings that were used twice for overnight stops for the Royal Train. The station was closed on the 16 June 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts
and has since been removed.
torpedo bomber aircraft. Templeton was also used by 595 Squadron
target towing Spitfires
, as well as Spitfires and Mosquito bombers
of A Flight, No. 8 Operational Training Unit in 1945, when operations moved to RAF Benson
and the airfield closed.
The disused runways are now occasionally used for military exercises and low flying training with Hercules transport aircraft.
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
in Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
.
Early history
The placename Templeton may derive from “The Templar's Farm” or (“Tun”). It is possible that the Knights TemplarKnights 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...
had some form of religious house here before their possessions were taken over by 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...
s, which had a commandery
Commandry (feudalism)
Commandry , or commandery , was the smallest division of the European landed estate or manor under the control of a commendator, or commander, of an order of knights...
at nearby Slebech
Slebech
Slebech is a parish in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. The community of Slebech is a sparsely populated on the northern shore of the Eastern River Cleddau. It shares common land boundaries with the Communities of Uzmaston and Boulston, Wiston and Llawhaden and mainly consists of farmland and woodland...
, which, by 1282 passed to the Mortimer
Mortimer
Mortimer is a popular English name, used both as a surname and a given name.- Norman origins :The origin of the name is almost certainly Norman, but the details are disputed....
s, Lords of Narberth
Narberth
Narberth may refer to:*Narberth, Pembrokeshire, a town in Wales*Narberth, Pennsylvania, a town in the United States*Narberth , a traditional hundred of Pembrokeshire in Wales...
.
In 1282 Templeton was referred to as "Villa temparil" which means the “Vil” or settlement of the Templars and "Villa Templarorium Campestris" – the vil of the Templars in the fields. In 1283 there was also a reference to “Burgesses”. These burgesses were "de vento" - "of the wind" meaning they were not property owners within the settlement but were permitted to come in and out of trade on a regular basis. Burgesses at Templeton are again recorded in the 16th century.
The layout of the present village is an example of deliberate planning in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, with a single main street fronted by houses with their respected plots extending behind each dwelling. These houses and plots, the "burgage
Burgage
Burgage is a medieval land term used in England and Scotland, well established by the 13th century. A burgage was a town rental property , owned by a king or lord. The property usually, and distinctly, consisted of a house on a long and narrow plot of land, with the narrow end facing the street...
s" of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, form a coherent unit imposed on the landscape and set in a regular system of fields, which themselves still show the narrow strips representing recent enclosures from an extensive medieval "open field" agricultural field system
Field system
The study of field systems in landscape history is concerned with the size, shape and orientation of a number of fields. These are often adjacent, but may be separated by a later feature.-Types of field system:...
.
It is not certain that the Templars were responsible for creating the planned settlement. It is possible that this was done by Mortimer incorporating an earlier agricultural holding or farm established by the Templars. It was once a marcher borough
Welsh Marches
The Welsh Marches is a term which, in modern usage, denotes an imprecisely defined area along and around the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods...
. Owen, in 1603, described it as one of nine Pembrokeshire "boroughs in decay".
In the 17th century Narberth Mountain was stocked with Red Deer
Red Deer
The red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being...
and covered 873 acres (3.5 km²) of woodland. The Pembrokeshire county history records also show open fields in Molleston and Templeton being enclosed for pasture
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
. The establishment of the Tavernspite Turnpike Trust in the 1770s led to a turnpike road toll gate being built at Catershook to the south of the village; its position on an important trading route from Tenby
Tenby
Tenby is a walled seaside town in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales, lying on Carmarthen Bay.Notable features of Tenby include of sandy beaches; the 13th century medieval town walls, including the Five Arches barbican gatehouse ; 15th century St...
to Cardigan
Cardigan, Ceredigion
Cardigan is a town in the county of Ceredigion in Mid Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire. It was the county town of the pre-1974 county of Cardiganshire. It is the second largest town in Ceredigion. The town's population was 4,203...
undoubtedly contributed to the growth of Templeton. In the late 18th century the countryside continued to change with woodland disappearing, more land being enclosed and farming dominating the landscape.
The 1870 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Templeton as "a chapelry, with a village, in Narberth parish, Pembroke; 5 miles SSW of Narberth-Road r. station. It was constituted in 1863: and it has a post-office under Narberth. Pop., 650. A property here belonged to the Knights Templars. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of St. Davids. Value, £182. Patron, the Crown. The church was built in 1862. There is a dissenting chapel."
Sentance Castle
Sentance Castle is a raised fortification, a "ringworkRingwork
A ringwork is a form of fortified defensive structure, usually circular or oval in shape. Ringworks are essentially motte-and-bailey castles minus the motte...
", thought to date from the 12th century. Legends as recorded in the 13th century Mabinogion
Mabinogion
The Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...
mention the area of Arberth and a place called Gorsedd Arberth, thought by some authorities to be Sentance Castle. The embanked earthworks are about 15M across and the site is a Scheduled monument.
Margaret's Well
Located adjacent to Sentence Castle is one of the 'Holy Wells of Wales', known as Margaret's Well. Set into a bank, the well chamber is lined with stone and has a corbelled roof.Templeton Railway Station
On 4 September 1866 a railway line was completed to link south Pembrokeshire with the main rail line at Whitland. In Templeton a high limestone bridge was built to span Tanner's Lane and a small station was built in 1867. This was mainly used by the adjacent brickworks until World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
when a new platform was built. There were also extensive sidings that were used twice for overnight stops for the Royal Train. The station was closed on the 16 June 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
and has since been removed.
Templeton Airfield
Opened in 1943, Templeton Airfield had three concrete runways and was originally a base for 306 Ferry Training Unit which used twin engined Bristol BeaufortBristol Beaufort
The Bristol Beaufort was a British twin-engined torpedo bomber designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, and developed from experience gained designing and building the earlier Blenheim light bomber....
torpedo bomber aircraft. Templeton was also used by 595 Squadron
No. 595 Squadron RAF
-History:The squadron was formed at RAF Aberporth, Wales on 1 December 1943, from nos. 1607, 1608, 1609 and 1621 Flight for anti-aircraft co-operation duties over central and northern Wales. It operated a variety of aircraft in this role...
target towing Spitfires
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
, as well as Spitfires and Mosquito bombers
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
of A Flight, No. 8 Operational Training Unit in 1945, when operations moved to RAF Benson
RAF Benson
RAF Benson is a Royal Air Force station near Benson in South Oxfordshire, England. It is home to the Royal Air Force's support helicopters, the Aérospatiale Puma and the EH-101 Merlin, known as the Puma HC.Mk 1 and the Merlin HC.Mk 3 and Mk 3a....
and the airfield closed.
The disused runways are now occasionally used for military exercises and low flying training with Hercules transport aircraft.