Temple Ewell
| Temple Ewell | |
| Kent | |
|---|---|
 The Fox, Temple Ewell | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TR287443 |
| Location: | 51°9’9"N, 1°16’10"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 1,669 (2011) |
| Post town: | Dover |
| Postcode: | CT16 |
| Dialling code: | 01304 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dover |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Dover |
Temple Ewell is a village in Kent, three miles north-west of the port town of Dover.
The village stands in the valley of the River Dour, by the source of the river. It is surrounded by nature reserves and conservation areas. The village has a parish church, a village hall and a primary school. It also has a local shop and post office, and an 18th-century public house.
Temple Ewell is served by Kearsney railway station, which is situated between the villages of Temple Ewell, Kearsney and River.
The 2001 records a population including Kearnsey of 1,696 for Temple Ewell.
Name
The name Ewell is derived from the Old English word æwielm, meaning river source or spring, and is so called because one of the sources of the River Dour rises on the village outskirts at a place called Watersend and flows through the village towards Dover. The prefix Temple indicates that at one time the village was owned by the Knights Templar.
Parish church
The parish church is the Church of St Peter and St Paul. The present church was founded by the Knights Templar in the 12th Century, whose work can be seen in the north and south walls of the church, but it contains much older material: a Roman archway. The first recorded vicar was John Sacardos, under the patronage of the Master of the Temple in 1185.
The church declined into the modern age: the North Chapel was being used as a cowshed by the nineteenth century (though the cows were driven out periodically so that it could be used as a village school). A major restoration was carried out later in the century under the determined direction of the Reverend John Turnbull and with the aid of generous public subscription, completed in 1875.[1]
History
The village of Temple Ewell was founded in the Anglo-Saxon period and is first mentioned by name in a charter of c.772 as Æwille. In the Domesday Book of 1086, it is named Ewelle or Etwelle, and is recorded as having a manor house, five watermills, and about fifty dwellings around a small church. At this time, the village was owned by Bishop Odo, the half-brother of William the Conqueror.
In 1163, the Order of the Knights Templar was granted the manor of Ewell by the crown in recognition of their role in the Crusades, and the word Temple became prefixed to the village name. The Templars founded a Preceptory in the village, and around 1170 built the church of St Peter and St Paul.
In 1213, King John ceremonially surrendered the crown to the Pope, and it is thought that this may have taken place either at the Preceptory in Temple Ewell, or possibly in Dover.[2]
Following the Templars' dissolution in 1312, Temple Ewell passed out of their possession in 1314. The village was then given to the Knights of St John of Jerusalem]], and was retained by them until King Henry VIII dissolved the monastic orders in 1540.
During the 18th and 19th and on into the 20th Century (until the 1960s), Temple Ewell had two of several watermills along the stretch of the River Dour. The two mills (which still stand today as private residences) produced flour, and supplied the soldiers at Dover during the Napoleonic wars.
The railway station at Kearsney was built in 1861, linking Temple Ewell with Dover and London, and leading to an increase in population and prosperity. Temple Ewell C.E. Primary School, a parochial primary school, was established next to the church in 1871, and the Victorian schoolhouse building was completed in 1872. Major renovation work was carried out on the church in the 1870s, and a parish hall was constructed in 1909.
Between 1940 and 1944, Temple Ewell was victim to several stray shells, which were fired at the Dover area across the English Channel from France during the Second World War. One of these destroyed the church's main stained glass window when it landed outside the school.
About the village
The village has a King George V Playing Field.
The Lydden and Temple Ewell Downs are a National Nature Reserve which borders Temple Ewell on one side, stretching up to the neighbouring village of Lydden. The reserve consists of an area of chalk downland which is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna.
Newsletter
TENews Is a monthly village newsletter delivered free to every household.[3]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Temple Ewell) |
References
- ↑ St Peter and St Paul: About us
- ↑ Dame Stella Bernardi. "Temple Ewell". Templar Sites in England. Archived from the original on April 15, 2007. https://www.webcitation.org/5O78rcBip?url=http://www.kingmere.f9.co.uk/Templarpictures/tempewell.html. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
- ↑ TENews