Temple Church

About

The Temple Church, a royal peculiar in the Church of England, is a church in the Inner and Middle Temples located between Fleet Street and the River Thames in London, England. It was built by the Knights Templar for their English headquarters in the Temple precinct and consecrated on 10 February 1185 by Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem. During the reign of King John (1199–1216) it served as the royal treasury, supported by the role of the Knights Templar as proto-international bankers. It is now jointly owned by the Inner Temple and Middle Temple Inns of Court, bases of the English legal profession. It is famous for being a round church, a common design feature for Knights Templar churches, and for its 13th- and 14th-century stone effigies. It was heavily damaged by German bombing during World War II and has since been greatly restored and rebuilt.

The area around the Temple Church is still known as the Temple. Temple Bar, a jurisdictional gateway, stood in the middle of Fleet Street in the Temple area. Nearby is Temple Underground station.