CONSERVATION WALKS
This area of open access has been created for the appreciation of this historic site and enjoyment of the countryside. Sensitive management of the
grassland along with hedgerow restoration and reversion of arable land to meadows are part of this Countryside Stewardship Scheme. Please take
your litter home with you and keep dogs under control as there may be livestock in the fields. The use of metal detectors is not allowed.
Historical Information
High Street
Great
Limber
KG
D
E
B
C
F
E
S
C
Grange
F
(site of)
St. Peter’s
Close
H
A
F
F
S
B
A. - Large rectangular banked enclosure thought to represent the site of
the Hospitallers camera, where the main house, outbuildings, gardens
and possibly a chapel were located between the 14th and 16th centuries.
The prominent wall foundations visible inside the enclosure mark the site
of the 16th and 17th century house.
G
S
The scheduled monument includes the remains of a medieval manor
believed to have served as a camera of the Knights Hospitallers from the
14th to the 16th centuries (a camera was a subsidiary farm of a
preceptory - a medieval monastery of the military orders). In the late 12th
century the Knights Templar held the second largest manor in Great
Limber, which they let to secular tenants. When the order was dissolved
in the 14th century, the estate passed to the Hospitallers. Thereafter it
developed as a camera dependent on the preceptory at Willoughton,
from which it was administered as an agricultural estate under the
management of a steward. In 1338, there was a large house, dovecote
and garden on the site (A). After the dissolution of the preceptory in 1540,
the house was rebuilt and let by a variety of tenants until it’s
abandonment in the 17th century. The medieval remains in the east part
of the site are partly overlain by the remains of gardens and the farm
buildings of Limber House, built before 1812 and destroyed in the
mid-20th century (H). To the west are the earthwork remains marking the
eastern extent of the village of Great Limber in th medieval period (D).
Cormuir
B. - Remains of a large, rectangular barn.
C. - Closes defined by banks associated with the occupation of the
Templars in the 12th - 14th centuries and reoccupied in the 14th - 16th
centuries by the Hospitallers. The closes contain traces of earlier ridge
and furrow cultivation. A further enclosure to the east is now partly
occupied by the farmyard.
N
é
0
100
200
Metres
Ref Nos
Grid Ref
51/649/8008
TA 155 074
You are here
Entry/exit point
P
Open access
Public Footpath
Parking
B
Bench
S Stiles
FG Field Gate
KG Kissing Gate
This access has been provided under the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs’ farm conservation schemes, which help
farmers and land managers protect and improve the countryside, its wildlife and history. It is permissive access and no new rights
of way are being created. Existing rights of way are not affected. Please follow the Country Code and observe any other requirements
shown above. Do not disturb wildlife, livestock or other visitors and in particular keep dogs under control. This is working farmland
so please take care; people using this site do so at their own risk. Access ends in September 2009.
For more information contact DEFRA: 0207 238 6907 (Office hours).
Based on Ordnance Survey mapping with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office, ©
Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright & may lead to prosecution or civil
proceedings. DEFRA Licence No. 100018880. All details given are believed to be correct.
COUNTRYSIDE
STEWARDSHIP
SCHEME
ENVIRONMENTALLY
SENSITIVE
AREAS
D. - Village remains marking the former eastern extent of Great Limber.
This part of the village was depopulated gradually: only two houses were
occupied in 1676, and the whole area had been abandoned by 1812.
E. - Remains of houses and yards.
F. - Former village streets visible as hollow ways.
G. - Traces of late medieval ridge and furrow cultivation, known as
Stone-Pit Furlong in the 17th century.
H. - Site of Great Limber House and gardens, bounded on the south side
by the earthwork remains of a ha-ha, which formerly seperated the
gardens from adjacent pasture land.