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.
Sussex in the High Middle Ages
Sussex had strong links with the military orders of the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller. Founded in 1119, the Knights Templar established centres in Sussex including a local headquarters, or preceptory, at Shipley from around 1125, with other centres at Sompting from 1154 and at the port of Shoreham by 1170. The church at Shipley is the earliest surviving church of the Templars in England and dates from the 1130s. The Hospitallers established a centre at Poling and another at Shoreham in 1190. Various Sussex magnates went on crusade including Philip de Braose, lord of Bramber, went on crusade probably in 1128. William de Warenne III, lord of the rape of Lewes, made annual gifts from his estate at Lewes to the knights Templar and around 1146 went on crusade where he was killed in battle in 1148.