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A History of Preston in Hertfordshire
Where is this marker? Why is it there?
The marker shown below is in plain sight in Preston, though its existence and what it marks are
not common knowledge.
This article explains why it was created and where it can be seen.
Our story begins around the thirteenth century. According to newspaper reports, four people were
buried in chalk at Temple Dinsley:
Burial at Temple Dinsley circa 13thC
Hertfordshire Mercury 18 December 1886
Some caution may be needed here when assessing this report - the date suggested and the
comments concerning the bones and skulls should be disregarded in particular. It might be inferred
that these deaths happened at the same time and were the result of the plague - but that would be
supposition. All that can be said with certainty is that a quantity of human bones were found at Temple
Dinsley in late 1886.
Evelyn Lord in The Knights Templar in Britain states that when the Sadlier mansion was built on the
site, ‘The Templars’ graveyard became the kitchen yard (L below) where human remains were found
in the nineteenth century. Supporting references were not provided.
In a blog post dated 18 July 2023, Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews refers to a ‘new kitchen and scullery
block being built to the east of Temple Dinsley in 1884’. He added, ‘During the building work of 1884,
skeletons, gravestones and parts of a pewter chalice and paten were found. This is clearly at odds
with the news reports included above.
Reginald Hine, when writing his History of Temple Dinsley, commented, ‘Skeletons of some of the
brethren have been dug up in the kitchen yard. One of the skulls used to stand as a memento mori (a
reminder of one’s mortality) on Lord Hampden’s study table when he was tenant of Temple Dinsley.
Found with the bodies of the Knights was a pewter chalice of early fourteenth century date, similar to
those that were wont to be buried with priests.’
.
On 19 March 1887, another news cutting comments on what is probably the same discovery. This
was confirmed verbatim in a Society of Antiquaries’ report also dated 1887:
The Burial Act of 1857
If the skull mentioned here was taken from an actual burial at Temple Dinsley, then (at least in
principle) its removal and retention would have sat uneasily with the legal framework already in
force by the 1880s. Section 25 of the Burial Act 1857 created a criminal offence where “a body or
any human remains” that have been interred in a “place of burial” are removed unless authorised.
In broad terms, lawful authority would typically be either a Secretary of State licence or—where
the ground was consecrated according to the rites of the Church of England—a faculty from the
Church.
On that basis, if human remains including bones) were disturbed during works and a skull was
then taken away and kept as an object, that is the sort of “removal” section 25 was aimed at
preventing. The principal uncertainty is the statutory phrase “place of burial.” If the Temple Dinsley
burials formed part of a recognised burial ground attached to the religious site (which is entirely
plausible for a preceptory), removal without authority would fall squarely within the provision.
Where remains were encountered on private land and treated informally as “just bones in soil,”
people sometimes behaved as though the Act did not apply.
In practice, enforcement in the late nineteenth century could be uneven. A 1914 Parliamentary
exchange referring to section 25 described breaches as “rare” and noted that cases were dealt
with by the police “in the usual way,” which hints at why informal handling of older discoveries
could occur even after 1857.
With specific reference to the bones which were found, it appears likely that they were discreetly
kept at Temple Dinsley, this arrangement would have been considered by successive new owners
until its purchase and plans for modification had been drawn up in 1908/09. By that time, an
Anglican church with a designated graveyard had been built and approved, so possibly a sensible
and decent interim holding place for the bones was within St Martin’s, Preston.
However, sooner or later a permanent plot had to be found for the skeletons which had been kept
in a box at the east end of the church.
A solution was announced at a vestry church meeting on Thursday, 15 April 1915:
The Solution
Unfortunately, the church accounts are not available for 1915,
and so no payment for ‘thirsty work at St Martins at The Red
Lion on 15 April’ can be confirmed.
During a visit to Preston in April 2025, I decided to try to find the
last resting place of the skeletons of the Temple Dinsley monks
as described above. It didn’t take long. There, in the corner and
about three feet above the ground is the stone shown below.
Note the floriated cross, so similar to that on the memorial slab
inside St Martins. The ornate inscription says, ‘Anno Dom: 1915’
It was later that I discovered Mrs Maybrick’s comment in her
Scrapbook, which reminded me once again of a lesson learned
several years ago:
*
‘ ….in the burial ground is a collection of much older bones which were
found in the Courtyard of Temple Dinsley’.