One of only 6 Knights Templar churches in England. This church (and lands) were given to the Knights Templars in the reign of Henry 11 (around 1170). The Templars originated from nine French Knights who joined together in 1113 to protect pilgrims. They eventually became powerful but feudal. The tower of this church was designed to provide protection for parishioners in the event of hostilites - other such examples in Herefordshire can be found at Ledbury, Bosbury, Yarpole, Holmer and Richards Castle.

For those with ancestors from Garway, you may be interested to know that the name derives from “gwrwe” meaning a marsh, or from “gwre” meaning a camp, and “wy” or “wey” meaning water. Therefore – a camp by the water. The area is surely Herefordshire at it’s best, and Garway sits on a bank above the river Monnow which forms the border between England and Wales. This was, and still is very much a farming community with many of the farmhouses being very old indeed, and although the population has shrunk somewhat in the past 100 years, there used to be enough people to warrant a Post Office, Forge and shop. The tower of the church may not only have been used as a refuge for villagers when the enemy from over the border threatened their peace, but also as a prison…….the ground floor of the tower is still know as the “prison” to this day.

Garway is one of the few Templar churches in England which is still in use, and after the first crusade of 1096 some of the Knights stayed around Jerusalem in order to protect the pilgrims journeying along the roads.  The Order of the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon came from this band of Knights, and they were awarded gifts – including land totalling more than 2000 acres in Garway in 1180, but in 1307 all the property passed to the Knights Hospitaller when the Templars were suppressed.  Much of the Templar’s work in the church is still preserved, as is that of the Hospitallers.