Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Temple
Temple , the largest of the Inns of Court, was once the headquarters of the Knights
Templar, a military order of monks whose job was to protect pilgrims en route to
Jerusalem. The Templars became very powerful, the Crown took fright and the order
was suppressed in 1307, with the land passing to another order, the Knights
Hospitaller. Legal London already had a foothold here by this point, so when the
monks left during the Reformation, the lawyers simply took over the whole precinct.
Temple actually consists of two Inns - Middle Temple and Inner Temple - both of
which lie south of the Strand and Fleet Street. It's di cult to tell which Inn you're in,
unless you check the coat of arms on each building: the Lamb of God (for Middle
Temple) and the Pegasus (for Inner Temple). Nevertheless, the maze of courtyards and
passageways is fun to explore - especially after dark, when Temple is gas-lit - and a
welcome haven from London's tra c. There are several points of access, simplest of
which is Devereux Court, which leads south off the Strand, but at the weekend you
can usually only enter from Tudor Street to the east.
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Middle Temple Hall
Mon-Fri 10-11.30am & 3-4pm, though sometimes closed for events • Free • T 020 7427 4800 • ! Temple or Blackfriars
Medieval students ate, attended lectures and slept in the Middle Temple Hall , on
Fountain Court, and it remains the Inn's main dining room. The present building was
constructed in the 1560s and provided the setting for many Elizabethan masques and
plays - including Shakespeare's Twelfth Night , which was premiered here in 1602. The
hall is worth a visit for its fine hammerbeam roof, wood panelling and decorative
Elizabethan screen, and the small wooden table said to have been carved from the
hatch from Francis Drake's ship, the Golden Hind .
Temple Church
Mon-Fri 11am-1pm & 2-4pm, but times vary • £4 • T 020 7353 3470, W templechurch.com • ! Temple or Blackfriars
Despite wartime damage, the original round Temple Church - built by the Templars in
1185 and modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem - still stands.
The interior features striking Purbeck marble piers, recumbent marble e gies of
medieval knights and tortured grotesques grimacing in the spandrels of the blind
arcading. At the northwestern corner of the choir, behind the decorative altar tomb of
Edmund Plowden, builder of Middle Temple Hall, stairs lead up to a cell, less than 5ft
long, in which disobedient knights were confined. The church makes an appearance in
both the topic and the film of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
Inner Temple
Garden May-Sept: Mon-Fri 12.30-3pm • Free • W innertemple.org.uk • ! Temple or Blackfriars
The millennium column, to the south of Temple Church, marks the point where the
Great Fire of 1666 was extinguished; it's topped by a diminutive statue of two
THE INNS
Even today, every aspiring barrister in England and Wales must belong to one of the four Inns -
Inner Temple , Middle Temple , Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn - in order to qualify and be
“called to the Bar”. It's an old-fashioned system of patronage (you need contacts to get accepted
at one of the Inns) and one that has done much to keep the judiciary overwhelmingly white,
male, public school- and Oxbridge-educated. The most bizarre stipulation is that to qualify as a
barrister, you must attend a dozen formal dinners. Dress code is strict - “dark lounge suit, plain
collar and sober tie/white blouse” or “genuine ethnic dress” - although the meals are heavily
subsidized: under £20 for a four-course meal with wine and port. Back in medieval times, aspiring
lawyers would take part in mock courts and dine together in the main halls. Today, while the
barristers' professional training is conducted by private law schools, the dinners live on.
 
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