In the middle of the 12th century the Preceptory of Temple Guiting was founded. It was a medieval monastic house funded by donations of land and money from the Norman families of Lacy and Waterville. Some of you may remember the family name of Lacy coming up in our recent travels round this western edge of the Cotswold. The Weymiss family at Stanway, no more than a couple of miles from here, is descended from the Lacys.

The Knights Templar were established in 1119 and given Papal recognition in 1129. It was a catholic medieval military order started by a small number of mainly French knights resolved to protect pilgrims to the sacred sites in the Levant, the Eastern end of the Mediterranean. The knights took a vow of poverty and chastity and basing themselves in Jerusalem they dedicated their lives to the protection of the wandering pilgrims from all over the Christian world.

The church is an unusual building. In about 1740 Dr George Talbot was appointed to the incumbency and he left his mark in more ways than one. He spent a thousand pounds beautifying the church according to the taste of his day and as Evans relates, “it remains an astonishing example of the enormities which the taste of the day was capable of.” He really hated this church, and it is true that traditionalists are somewhat mortified by what has been done here, but the passing of the years has perhaps made it less horrific to the eyes of the 21st century.

The font is a pretty example of the octagonal fonts we have seen often before and it boasts an engraved glass cover by Bryant Fedden, made in 1974. The pulpit is 18th century, made of oak and finely carved and inlaid.