The Templars’ round church in London, consecrated in 1185
The Knights Templar built this round church as their English headquarters, and Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, consecrated it on 10 February 1185, probably with Henry II present. Its round nave follows the Templar model taken from Jerusalem, and inside stand the earliest known surviving free-standing columns of Purbeck marble. Under King John the Temple held the royal treasury, trusted to an order that acted as early international bankers, and in January 1215 William Marshal negotiated here between John and his barons in the talks that led to Magna Carta. The order was destroyed in 1307, the Crown took the church, and two colleges of lawyers leased the Temple; they became the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple, and they still own it. The church is famous for its 13th and 14th century stone effigies. German incendiary bombs gutted it on 10 May 1941, and it was rededicated in 1958. Between Fleet Street and the Thames, London.
The Temple, between Fleet Street and the Thames, London
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Other places on the map within a couple of hours of here.
