Preceptories of the Order, as their branch Houses were called, were found in every land, and not least in England, where they were so much beloved that, when the rival Order of the Temple was suppressed, in the fourteenth century, its property was made over to them. Here, at Shingay, their establishment was a small one consisting of the preceptor, two knights, and three priests, one of whom acted as Vicar of Wendy. The gross income of the House was, in 1332 (as we know from a Report still existing in the Record Office at Malta), L187 12s. 8d., equivalent to about L3,500 at the present value of money. Of this the land (about 1,000 acres) brought in L71; the mills, houses, etc., L4 13s. 4d.; the work of the villains L38 10s. 0d.; and the Rectories of Wendy and Sawston, which formed part of their endowment, L66 13s. 4d. The rest was derived from the fees paid by visitors; for, by the rule of the Order, the doors of the House were open to all comers. The expenses of the year amounted to less than half the income, for they lived frugally, their keep only coming to about L3 a week (in present value) for the six inmates, besides servants and guests. Men servants were paid at the rate of L12 a year (besides their keep), and each knight was allowed the equivalent of L25 a year for clothing and pocket-money. Thus a large sum was available for the war-chest of the Order, and was annually forwarded to the headquarters at Jerusalem or Rhodes. One of their sources of income was a special privilege which is still remembered in local tradition. Their House (like those of the Templars) was exempt from every ban, even that of the Pope himself. Thus, in the dismal days of King John, when England was placed under an Interdict, when no rites of religion could be observed, and even burial of the dead was forbidden, so that "you might see human bodies lying everywhere about the fields unsepultured," Shingay shone out as the one spot in the whole district where the consolations of religion were still attainable. Here Mass continued to be said, here the departed could still be laid in hallowed earth. And hither they were brought from all sides. And thus it is that peasants may be found who still tell how, at some far off, unknown period, those who, for some forgotten, inexplicable reason, might not be buried like Christians in their own churchyard, were spirited away by night in a "fairy-cart" to Shingay, there to be committed in peace to the ground. This "fairy-cart" is an echo of the word _feretorium_ (or bier on wheels), in which the conveyance was actually effected. [Illustration: _Rood Screen, Guilden Morden Church._]