Knights Templar in England
An inventory by Geoffrey Fitz Stephen reveals that by 1185, the Order of the Knights Templar had extensive holdings in London, Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Salop, Oxfordshire, Cornwall, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. The involvement of Templars in financial matters is highlighted by Walter of Coventry's story of Gilbert de Ogrestan, the Knight Templar accused of embezzling taxes collected in the Saladin tithe of 1188. He was severely punished by his contemporary Master.
Cunninghamhead, Perceton and Annick Lodge
The mill in this vicinity would have belonged to the order before their dissolution and the proximity of Templeland makes this doubly likely. In 1312 the Knight's Templar order, who's Scottish headquarters had been at Torphichen, was disbanded (Barber 1996) and its lands given to the Knights of St. John (Dobie 1876). Lord Torphichen as preceptor obtained the temple-land tenements and the lands then passed through the hands of Montgomerie of Hessilhead and Wallace of Cairnhill (now Carnell) in 1720, before passing into unrestricted ownership.