St John'S Commandery

St John's Commandery

A commandery, or preceptory, of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, later used as a farmhouse and now an English Heritage monument. The building dates from the 13th century and 16th century, with alterations made in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was restored between 1972 and 1974.

The structure is built of flint, knapped in places, and mixed flint and stone, with stone quoins and dressings. The west gable end is tile-hung on both floors. The north elevation retains areas of render painted and scored to resemble red brick in Flemish bond. The roof is covered with plain tiles, gabled to the east and hipped to the west, with crested ridge tiles and a multiflue brick ridge stack towards the west end.

The original chapel had domestic ranges adjoining to the west, which may have encroached into the west end of the extant building and were removed in the mid-19th century. A porch was added to the present west end of the north elevation. The chapel floor was divided in the 16th century and later; the floors were removed in the 1970s except at the west end.

The south elevation features a battered plinth to the east half and a stone string about halfway up the wall. The wall was formerly extended further west but was subsequently truncated, forming a two-storey buttress. Another buttress towards the centre was also formed from a truncated wall. The fenestration is irregular, with three windows: one plain-chamfered pointed first-floor lancet above the string just west of the stack, one tall broad pointed-arched window breaking the storeys to the east of the central buttress, and a taller, narrower plain-chamfered lancet towards the east end. A blocked first-floor doorway with brick dressings lies at the west end, together with the half architrave of a pointed-arched stone ground-floor doorway. A blocked doorway with cambered head and brick dressings stands at the west end of the ground floor, with a rectangular doorway with boarded door immediately west of the central buttress.

The east end has three single plain-chamfered pointed lancets, stepped in height, with three oculi above them. The north elevation has three tall chamfered mid-19th-century lancets. Mid-19th-century sashes appear at the west end.

The north porch, possibly of the 14th century, is two storeys and extends a few feet further west than the present west end of the building. A buttress to the south end of its west elevation was formed from a truncated wall formerly running west. The porch roof has higher eaves and a lower ridge than the main range and is hipped to the north. It contains one single-light rectangular chamfered stone east window to the first floor, a blocked window to the north, and a casement window to the west. The pointed-arched hollow-chamfered outer doorway is incised with a cross. The interior ceiling is an unribbed quadripartite vault springing from moulded stone corbels, with a moulded pointed-arched inner doorway with a ribbed and studded door.

Interior details include outer lancets at the east end that are double-shafted, with the inner lancet triple-shafted, featuring bell capitals and bases. Each lancet has a roll-and-fillet hoodmould and continuous moulded string to the cills. A part of the jamb of a blocked 13th-century lancet is visible to the east of the central north lancet. Blocked rere-arches to windows are found to the north and south of the stack. A plain corbel appears halfway up the wall between the east and central lancets on the south side, with a moulded corbel to the east of the north-east lancet. A rebated plain-chamfered pointed-arched aumbry is positioned towards the east end of the north wall. A broader chamfered recess with cambered head and bar stops stands towards the south end of the east wall. A 13th-century moulded and shafted pointed-arched piscina with roll-and-fillet hoodmould is located towards the east end of the south wall, with a consecration cross towards the centre on the south side. A blocked plain-chamfered ground-floor doorway with cambered head and bar stops is positioned towards the west end, alongside a plain-chamfered pointed-arched first-floor doorway to the room over the porch.

The roof to the east of the stack is a crown-post roof with three formerly hollow-chamfered tie-beams, each with a moulded octagonal crown post. The beams feature morticed collars, sous-laces and ashlar-pieces. The east end of the collar purlin terminates in a blocked central oculus. A later roof was added to the west of the stack. A 16th-century ceiling with moulded cross beam and joists is found in the ground-floor room to the west of the stack. To the east, only the part of the floor adjacent to the stack remains, with plain-chamfered beams. The first-floor ceiling to the west of the stack has a chamfered cross beam, tenoned axial beams, moulded joists to the north-east end, and plain joists to the rest.

Blocked fireplaces with bressumers are positioned on each side of the stack on the ground floor, with an iron grate to the west side on the first floor and a brick fireplace with wooden bressumer to the east side, infilled with a smaller semi-circular brick fireplace.

A cellar, possibly of the 16th century or later, lies under the east end of the chapel. It contains wall niches and reused beams and joists.

The site was occupied by Sisters of the Order of St John of Jerusalem before 1180. The Knights Hospitallers took over when the Sisters transferred to Buckland.