Place Name
This was named after the order of Knights Templars, a 12thCentury religious sect created to safeguard the pilgrim routes to the Holy Land. The knights had watermills around here on both sides of the River Lea, after William of Hastings, steward to Henry II granted land to the order in 1185. Sometime between 1185 and 1278 the order built a watermill, a second one was added on the opposite side of the river in 1308. In the 14thCentury they were disbanded over fears they had become too powerful and their mills passed to the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem (the Knights Hospitaller). These in turn ended up in the hands of the crown following the dissolution of the Monasteries. In turn they were leased to one Clement Goldsmith in 1593. The mills were known as Craccehege Mills, meaning hurdle fence and written as Moleddin’ de Craggehege in 1274, and Cracchegge in 1394 and more recognisably as Tempylmylle in 1461. In the 17th and 18thCenturies the mills were put to work for a number of different roles including grinding rapeseed for oil, processing leather, making brass kettles, twisting yarn and manufacturing sheet lead.
