The Templars and the Hospitallers made inroads into Wales, though less than in other European countries. In Wales, they are very much associated with the Normans and the Holy Land … not that Welshmen didn’t go on Crusade, because some did, but that the institution didn’t attract much of a following among the native Welsh. “In 1156 the Countess of Warwick gave the Templars the church of Llanmadoc in the Gower, and until the early 1280s they held Templeton in Pembrokeshire – contemporary documents call it “Villa Templar”, “Templars’ village”. William Marshal may have given them the mill they owned outside Pembroke castle, and he may have been the donor who gave them the church of Kemeys Commander on the River Usk. The Templars also owned small parcels of land in Glamorganshire and Gwent. Though founded at the same time Read more…