Temple Church

Built by the Knights Templars and modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the Temple Church lies in an area known as "Temple", between Fleet Street and the River Thames, in the City of London. Two Inns of Court (Inner Temple and Middle Temple) both share the church which was consecrated on February 10, 1185 in a ceremony by Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem. The Temple Church's circular nave is known as "the Round" and contains the remarkable life-size marble effigies of nine medieval knights set into its floor. These famous effigies of sleeping knights dressed in their crusader armour, all date from the 12th and 13th centuries. The church has a fine Norman doorway and the chancel, consecrated in 1240, contains Purbeck marble piers. Unfortunately, during the bombing of WW2, the marble piers and Templar effigies was badly damaged but both have been faithfully restored.  The Temple Church, is the largest of the four circular churches to survive in England and was once the base of the powerful military order of the Knights Templar until the early 14th century, when the Order was abolished. It was later given to the Knights Hospitaller, who rented the Temple to two colleges of lawyers. One college moved into the part of the Temple previously used by the Temple's knights, and the other into the part previously used by its priests, and they shared the use of the church. Over time, the colleges evolved into the Inner and Middle Temples, two of the four Inns of Court. The church is decorated with grotesque heads and also features a penitentiary cell where members of the order were locked in the confined space and starved to death, for disobeying the rules of the Temple. Oliver Goldsmith was buried in the churchyard of the Temple Church in 1774. The Da Vinci Code and Temple Church - The church was featured in the controversial novel "The Da Vinci Code" by American author Dan Brown and filming of the film version also occurred there. Website:www.templechurch.com Open: Wed-Sun See website for more details. Nearest Tube ( London Underground Station(s) ) : Temple (closed Sun)Blackfriars.

Temple Bar

Temple Bar is the barrier marking the westernmost extent of the City of London on the road to Westminster, where Fleet Street  becomes the Strand. Until 1878 this boundary was demarcated by a stone gateway. A statue of a heraldic dragon tops the present-day Temple Bar marker in front of the Royal Courts of Justice.The name comes from the Temple Church once owned by the Knights Templar but now home to two of the legal profession's Inns of Court, which is located nearby. Today Temple Bar is marked by a stone monument in the middle of the roadway, topped by a statue of a "griffin". The dragon comes from the City's arms. Wren's Temple Bar (The original stone gateway) reopened at its new location in Paternoster Square on 10th November 2004.  During the 18th century, the heads of traitors were mounted on pikes and exhibited on the roof of the building above the gateway. Historical Pageants at old TempleBar Many historical pageants have taken place at Temple Bar. Anne Boleyn, radiant and happy, came through the Bar (May 31, 1534), on her way to the Tower, to be welcomed by London's citizens, the day before her coronation. Temple Bar on that occasion was newly painted and and children sang—the Fleet Street conduit all the time ran with wine. The old gate figures again the day before the coronation of the child king, Edward VI. Two hogsheads of wine were then ladled out to the crowd, and the gate at Temple Bar was re-painted with battlements and buttresses and adorned by "fourteen standard flags." In September, 1553, after Edward's premature death, his half-sister, Mary Tudor, came through the City, according to ancient English custom, the day before her coronation, she did not ride on horseback, as Edward had done, but travelled in a chariot drawn by six horses On Elizabeth's procession from the Tower before her coronation in January, 1559, Gogmagog the Albion, and Corineus the Briton, the two Guildhall giants, stood on the Bar; and chorister boys, one of whom, attired as a page, bade the queen farewell in the name of the whole City. In 1588, the year that the Armada was defeated, Elizabeth passed through the Bar on her way to give thanks to God at St. Paul's. The Lord Mayor and Aldermen, in scarlet gowns, welcomed the queen and delivered up the City sword, then on her return they rode before her. The City Companies lined the north side of the street, the lawyers of the Inns of Court the south side. In June, 1649 (the year of the execution of Charles), Cromwell and the Parliament dined at Guildhall in state, and the mayor, says Whitelocke, delivered up the sword to the Speaker, at Temple Bar, as he had before done to King Charles. Philips, Milton's nephew, who wrote the continuation of Baker's Chronicle, describes the ceremony at Temple Bar on the proclamation of Charles II. The old oak gates being shut, the king-at-arms, with tabard on and trumpet before him, knocked and gravely demanded entrance. "We are the herald-at-arms appointed and commanded by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, and demand an entrance into the famous City of London, to proclaim Charles II. King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, and we expect your speedy answer to our demand." An alderman then replied, "The message is accepted," and the gates were thrown open. When William III. came to see the City and the Lord Mayor's Show in 1689, the City militia, holding lighted flambeaux, lined Fleet Street as far as Temple Bar. The shadow of every monarch and popular hero since Charles II.'s time has rested for at least a passing moment at the old gateway. Queen Anne passed here to return thanks at St. Paul's for the victory of Blenheim. Here Marlborough's coach ominously broke down in 1714, when he returned in triumph from his voluntary exile. George III. passed through Temple Bar, young and happy, the year after his coronation, and again when, old and almost broken-hearted, he returned thanks for his partial recovery from insanity; and his son, the Prince Regent, came through the Bar in 1814, to thank God at St. Paul's for the downfall of Bonaparte. On the 9th November, 1837, the accession of Queen Victoria, Alderman Kelly, picturesque in scarlet gown, presented the City sword to the Queen at Temple Bar; The Alderman was ready with the same sword in 1844, when the Queen opened the new Royal Exchange; but in 1851, when her Majesty once more visited the City, the old ceremony was dispensed with. At the funeral of Lord Nelson, the honoured corpse, followed by downcast old sailors, was met at the Bar by the Lord Mayor and the Corporation; and the Great Duke's funeral car, and the long train of representative soldiers, rested at the Bar, which was hung with black velvet. Nearest tube: Temple