Temple Manor, Knight Road, Strood, Rochester

Image: © Jo and Steve Turner Taken: 9 May 1978

The remains of the Knights Templars manor house, Grade I Listed Scheduled Monument. Some form of occupation of the site has occurred since Roman times, a burial to the south-east of the present building is thought to date from then. Later it was part of a royal manor until c.1159 when Henry II granted it to the Knights Templars along with all the dues and administrative rights of the Hundred of Shamel in which it lay. By 1312 the order was dissolved and the manor was apparently in the hands of the King and in 1324 the Grand Prior formally ceded the manor to the king. In 1342 Edward III granted it to Mary of St Pol and it was used for Franciscan nuns until 1539. It then passed through the hands of Edward Elrington, the Cobham family, Robert Cecil, Stuart, Duke of Richmond and Isaac Blake. The Blake family held the estate until the 18th century, when it was sold on to various families who combined farming with commerce and gradually divided the estate up. In the 1930's the City of Rochester acquired what remained of the estate for industrial development. In 1950 guardianship of the site, in a state of decline was offered to the Ministry of Works. Access to the upper floor was by means of an external stair, reconstructed c.1950 when the building was restored. Now in the hands of English Heritage, it is planned to be opened to the public for 13 days in August 2024.

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