Templecombe
It was Bishop Odo’s descendent, Serlo Fitz Odo who granted ‘the combe’ to the Knights Templar in 1185 A.D. Not much is known about the activities of any of the Templar preceptories a
part from the obvious admitting new members, training of knights, the running of administration in local commerce, mostly the farming of livestock to raise funds. The trade and supply of goods, around the preceptory was done for over 120 years. In 1307 the Pope terminated the order of the Knights Templar, and most of their property including Templecombe preceptory was given to another order of knights called the Hospitallers.
In 1383 the Knights Hospitallers made an inventory of the land owned by the Templecombe preceptory 368 acres of land had belonged to the Templars here. The Hospitallers turned the preceptory into a commandery and they held the property until 1540 when Henry VIII dissolved all the monasteries. Henry VIII awarded Templecombe to William Sherrington who in turn, sold it to Richard Duke Esq. Richard Duke pulled down the Hospitallers commandery (which had incorporated the Templars preceptory) and used all the stone to create a substantial manor house. Nothing now survives in Templecombe of the Knights Templar, apart from the place name and possibly the Templecombe Head.
it is impossible to know who painted the head, or who owned it, or who hid it away and concealed it or why; there are many ideas but no evidence, as yet. It is also impossible to say who the head is meant to represent; Jesus? John the Baptist? Nobody knows for sure. Assuming that it has always been at Templecombe then the carbon dating of 1280 A.D. suggests that it belonged to the Knights Templar, as Templecombe belonged to them at the time it was painted. This is tantalizing to Templar scholars because during the Trial of the Templars many were accused of ‘worshipping a head’ (of uncertain identity.) Could the Templecombe Head be a representation of the head that they were accused of worshipping?
Many people think it to be a portrait of Jesus (now that it hangs in the local church it only helps to reinforce this idea) yet there is no halo, crown of thorns, or inscription to say that it is Jesus and it was not found in a church, chapel or temple. It has no body and so many people think that it depicts the severed head of John the Baptist (certainly, the Templars were known to of held the Baptist in very high regard.) Much about the Templar mystery suggests a pagan influence to their devotions so the ‘Head’ they worshipped could be the decapitated oracular head of Bran the Blessed (of British tradition) or even Mirmir’s head (of Norse tradition) indeed, the ‘Cult of the Head’ is ancient and comes from many cultural origins, any of which the Knights Templar may have been influenced by. The Templars are even believed by some to have been the guardians of the Holy Grail and in an old Welsh romance the grail is described as ‘a head swimming in blood!’
My own personal belief (and I have no evidence to support it) is that the Templecombe Head is of Templar origin and that it is meant to depict an ‘Oracular Head’; be it Baptist, Bran, or Mirmir it isn’t that important because in actuality they all perform the same action; a metaphysical gateway, allowing direct contact with the intelligence of the unfolding universal mind; an oracle.
