Summary
A preceptory of the Knights Hospitallers with associated fishponds, medieval village of Hogwash and the site of the medieval church of St John the Baptist.
Reasons for Designation
The preceptory of the Knights Hospitallers and medieval settlement of Hogshaw are scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Rarity: preceptories are rare nationally, with those of the Knights Hospitallers numbering orginally 76 in total, not all of which survive;
* Intactness: the full extent of the moated site the settlement and fishponds is preserved and there is no record of any damaging interventions.
* Group value: the preceptory forms a good group with the fishponds, medieval settlement and site of the Church of St John the Baptist;.
* Documentary evidence: there is good documentary evidence for the preceptory and the subsequent history of the settlement.
History
The monument includes the visible earthworks and buried remains of the Preceptory of the Knights Hospitallers, the tenements and enclosures of the medieval village of Hogshaw, two fishponds and the buried remains of the Church of St John the Baptist, which served both communities. The site lies within two fields to the west of the Claydon Road, on high ground that rises to the north of Aylesbury.
Preceptory of the Knights Hospitlers
The Preceptory of the Knights Hospitallers at Hogshaw is well-documented, and can be identified with the moated enclosure and its associated earthworks.
Preceptories were the manors of the military orders of the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller (also known as the Knights of St John of Jerusalem). Preceptories were founded to raise revenues to fund the C12 and C13 crusades to Jerusalem. In the C15 the Hospitallers directed their revenue towards defending Rhodes from the Turks. In addition, the preceptories of the Templars functioned as recruiting and training barracks for the knights whilst those of the Hospitallers provided hospices which offered hospitality to pilgrims and travellers and distributed alms to the poor. Preceptories were often enclosed within a moat or bank and ditch. From available documentary sources it can be estimated that the Templars held 57 preceptories in England. At least 14 of these were later taken over by the Hospitallers, who held 76 sites. As a relatively rare monument class, all sites exhibiting good survival of archaeological remains are considered as nationally important.
The manor of Hogshaw was held following the Norman Conquest by William Peverel, whose son granted it to the Hospitallers (the site had previously been occupied by nuns, the Sisters of St John). Commanderies or preceptories resembled secular manor houses in form, and would have contained the usual components of a manor, such as a hall, kitchen, chapel and possibly dormitory, with farm buildings around. The estate was administered by the Preceptor in order that a proportion of its profits be paid as dues to the central organisation of the Order in Europe. In 1338 the Preceptory in Hogshaw housed and fed the Preceptor, William Warde, one other knight, the chaplain to the Preceptory, the chaplain to the church, and Thomas Fitz Neel, the holder of a knight's corrody, a pension which purchased residence and care for his lifetime. In addition it was reported to house about six assorted servants, and to possess a court, a garden, a mill and a dove house, although the location of these has not been identified.
Fishponds
To the south of the moated site are two fishponds. Fishponds were widely scattered throughout England, the majority found in central, eastern and southern parts and in areas with heavy clay soils. Fewer fishponds are found in coastal areas and in those parts of the country where natural lakes and streams make freshwater fish readily available. Although C17 manuals suggest that areas of waste ground were suitable for fishponds, in practice it appears that most fishponds were located close to habitation or within parks where a watch could be kept to prevent poaching. Although about 2000 examples are recorded nationally, this is thought to be only a small proportion of those in existence in medieval times. Despite being relatively common, fishponds are important for their associations with other classes of medieval monument and in providing evidence of site economy.
Medieval settlement
The village, comprising a small group of houses, gardens, yards, streets, paddocks, often with a green, a manor and a church, and with a community devoted primarily to agriculture, was a significant component of the rural landscape in most areas of medieval England. Villages provided some services to the local community and acted as the main focal point of ecclesiastical, and often of manorial, administration within each parish. Although the sites of many of these villages have been occupied continuously down to the present day, many others declined in size or were abandoned throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods, particularly during the C14 and C15. As a result over 2000 deserted medieval villages are recorded nationally. The reasons for desertion were varied but often reflected declining economic viability, changes in land use such as enclosure or emparkment, or population fluctuations as a result of widespread epidemics such as the Black Death. As a consequence of their abandonment these villages are frequently undisturbed by later occupation and can contain well-preserved archaeological deposits. Because they are a common and long-lived monument type in most parts of England, they provide important information on the diversity of medieval settlement patterns and farming economy between the regions and through time.
Until the turn of the C15 to C16, when the manor of Hogshaw was leased to Ralph Lane, the villagers were the tenants of the Preceptor. The neighbouring manor of Fulbrook was held by Roger Gifford from the Abbot of Eynsham, the two manors amounting to a total of eleven holdings, 390 acres of arable and 569 acres of pasture and woodland. Eight of the eleven holdings were in Hogshaw, and of these Roger held two, the principal one of the manor and one other. Sometime between 1485 and 1517 Roger Gifford and Ralph Lane enclosed all the arable, pasture and woodland, evicting the tenants, converting arable to pasture for more profitable sheep husbandry. Of the 9000 acres in Buckinghamshire appropriated in this way, Hogshaw and Fulbrook, and Littlecote in Stewkley parish, were amongst the most serious incidents. A Commission set up between 1485 and 1517 to enquire into these acts of depopulating enclosure produced a full report, and during that period Acts were introduced to discourage the practice, to little effect. Although the event which led to the clearance of the village is well documented, it is not known when the Preceptory buildings were abandoned.
Although the existence and the desertion of Hogshaw village are historically documented, its location was unknown until preparatory work was undertaken for the conversion of the Ox House c 2003, a probably early C18 barn or cattle shelter which lies to the north east of the ponds. The watching brief conducted during the stripping of a new access track revealed that remains of the village do survive. Excavation in 2003 identified traces of eight buildings here, either of timber construction on low dry stone walls, or built entirely of limestone. Some were associated with cobbled surfaces, and at the south end there seems to have been an area of light industrial use.
The church of St John the Baptist
The church served both the village and the small community of the Knights Hospitaller, and was part of the endowment of the Preceptory. The church was only partially standing in 1681, the last burial took place in 1683, and within fifty years the building was demolished. The Ordnance Survey 1885 first edition 6” map identifies the Ox House with the site of the church of St John the Baptist and states that human remains were found here. During the watching brief, carried out in the course of conversion works on the Ox House, an architectural fragment, probably part of a window mullion, was found in the make up of the floor of the barn which otherwise contained only modern building debris. Two substantial stone structures were observed in a service trench, cut in 2003, about 15m south east of the Ox House. Although largely of brick construction, the walls of the Ox House rest on dressed limestone footings indicating recycled building material which is thought to have originally been part of the church. However, its alignment is north to south rather than west to east, suggesting that if the barn stands on the site of the church, it does not occupy its footprint. The font was at one time in use at Fulbrook Farm as a water cistern and later as a flower container. It is now said to be in the Museum of the Order of St John in London.
Details
The moated enclosure of the preceptory measures 52m by 40m internally, with a moat 11m wide and 1.4m deep. The western arm of the moat is a ditch or drain which now forms the boundary with the field to the west. A leat runs south from the centre of the south arm of the moat, connecting it to two fishponds to the south. The fishponds are situated about 75m south of the moated site and lie side by side, divided by a bank about 5m wide: aligned west to east, together they measure about 50m by 25m.
To the south of the ponds aerial photographs reveal a rectangular block of ditched enclosures, subdivided into four. These are clearly associated with and are thought to represent a continuation of the site of the village, the known remains of which lie immediately to the east of the moated site beside the Claydon road. About 20m to the east of the moat, parallel to and the same length and width as its eastern arm, is a shallow linear feature: at right angles to this are traces of four other similar ditches, running as pairs, 60m to 80m apart, to join a hollow way to the east, apparently an earlier route of the Claydon road, subsequently straightened to its present form. These features are also associated with the site of the village.
The former church of St John the Baptist lies partly beneath or in the vicinity of the Ox House, which itself is about 60m to the south-east of the moated site and just to the north-east of the ponds.
Extent of Scheduling
The scheduling aims to protect the visible and buried remains of the moated site, its associated earthworks and ponds, the church and the deserted medieval village of Hogshaw and associated enclosures. The scheduling boundary is drawn to form a shape which appears as two adjacent, roughly rectangular areas joined together, the smaller attached to the larger at its south-east corner. The larger, to the north, measures 245m north to south and 180m west to east. The second area continues south as a narrower strip beside the Claydon Road and measures 65m wide from west to east, 160m north to south. The north, east and southernmost boundaries are defined by and lie inside existing field boundaries; that to the west follows the outer edge of the drain. The southern boundary of the larger rectangle crosses the open field from west to east before making a right angled turn to the south to form the west boundary of the second rectangle. The total scheduled area of archaeological importance therefore has a maximum width of 190m and a maximum length of 412m.
All upstanding buildings and other structures, fences and posts that lie within the scheduled area are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground around and beneath them is included.
