On the 13th February, 1207, King John was at Woodstock, and in the King’s Court held there that day, the following was recorded, viz.: - "That Eudo Patrie, for ten marks, acknowledged the advowson (the right to elect the Rectors) of Ash to the Prior and Brethren of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem." And in the hands of the Knights Hospitallers of St John it remained till the suppression of their order in England in 1532. King Henry VIII then granted it to Sir Martin Bowes, since which time it passed eventually to the Lambard family with their other rights and property in Ash.
   This order was first introduced into England about the year 1100, and making their headquarters in Clerkenwell, they gradually acquired property to a considerable extent and value. In the latter half of the XIII century they had fallen into serious financial difficulty, perhaps not only through bad management of their estates and costly lawsuits, but also probably

Ash Church Nave 1940

Ash Church from the South 1940

through an expenditure on Church building far in excess of their income. However it appears that this difficulty was largely overcome by about the year 1338, no doubt largely because their property was greatly increased after the suppression of the Order of Knights Templar, and they received gifts of land previously in possession of that Order. Then for two centuries they flourished. The Parish Church of of Ash by Wrotham had come under the control of the Order at least as early as the beginning of the XIII century, and to some extent the Church reflects the vicissitudes of the Order.
   Whilst the Architectural features of the building are chiefly of XV century, there are parts dating from