The Temple can refer to two of the four
Inns of CourtThe Inns of Court in London are the professional associations to one of which every barrister in England and Wales must belong. They have supervisory and disciplinary functions over their members. The Inns also provide libraries, dining facilities and professional accommodation...
in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
:
Inner TempleThe Honourable Society of the Inner Temple is one of the four Inns of Court around the Royal Courts of Justice in London which may call members to the Bar and so entitle them to practise as barristers...
and
Middle TempleThe Honourable Society of the Middle Temple is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. It is near the Royal Courts of Justice, within the City of London.In the 13th...
.
The Temple was originally the precinct of the
Knights TemplarThe Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple , were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
whose
Temple ChurchThe Temple Church is a late 12th century church in London located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, built for and by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters. In modern times, two Inns of Court both use the church. It is famous for its effigy tombs and for being a round church...
was named in honour of the
Church of the Holy SepulchreThe Church of the Holy Sepulchre , also called the Church of the Resurrection by Eastern Christians, is a Christian church within the walled Old City of Jerusalem....
in
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
. The Knights had two halls, whose modern successors are the Middle Temple Hall and the Inner Temple Hall. Only the Inner Temple Hall preserves elements of the medieval hall on the site, however (namely, the medieval Buttery).
Upon dissolution of the Knights Templar, the Temple passed into the hands of the
Knights HospitallerThe Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta is a Roman Catholic order based in Rome, Italy...
.
The Temple can refer to two of the four
Inns of CourtThe Inns of Court in London are the professional associations to one of which every barrister in England and Wales must belong. They have supervisory and disciplinary functions over their members. The Inns also provide libraries, dining facilities and professional accommodation...
in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
:
Inner TempleThe Honourable Society of the Inner Temple is one of the four Inns of Court around the Royal Courts of Justice in London which may call members to the Bar and so entitle them to practise as barristers...
and
Middle TempleThe Honourable Society of the Middle Temple is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. It is near the Royal Courts of Justice, within the City of London.In the 13th...
.
The Temple was originally the precinct of the
Knights TemplarThe Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple , were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
whose
Temple ChurchThe Temple Church is a late 12th century church in London located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, built for and by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters. In modern times, two Inns of Court both use the church. It is famous for its effigy tombs and for being a round church...
was named in honour of the
Church of the Holy SepulchreThe Church of the Holy Sepulchre , also called the Church of the Resurrection by Eastern Christians, is a Christian church within the walled Old City of Jerusalem....
in
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
. The Knights had two halls, whose modern successors are the Middle Temple Hall and the Inner Temple Hall. Only the Inner Temple Hall preserves elements of the medieval hall on the site, however (namely, the medieval Buttery).
Upon dissolution of the Knights Templar, the Temple passed into the hands of the
Knights HospitallerThe Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta is a Roman Catholic order based in Rome, Italy...
. By the fourteenth century, lawyers were already recorded as in residence in the Temple. When the Knights Hospitaller departed, the barristers remained. Their current tenure dates from a charter granted to them by
James IJames VI & I was King of Scots as James VI from 1567 to 1625, and King of England and Ireland as James I from 1603 to 1625....
in 1608.
The area of the Temple was increased when the
river ThamesThe River Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading and Windsor....
was embanked by the
Victoria EmbankmentThe Victoria Embankment, is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and walkway along the north bank of the River Thames in London. Victoria Embankment extends from the City of Westminster into the City of London....
, releasing land to the south which previously lay underwater. The bank of the original river can clearly be seen in a drop in ground level in the Inner Temple Gardens.
The Temple is now divided into the jurisdiction of the Middle Temple to the west, and of the Inner Temple to the east. The Temple Church is governed by both of these Inns and the Master of the Temple is the senior clergyman of the Temple Church. The western portion of the original Temple was granted to the
Earl of EssexEarl of Essex is a title that has been held by several families and individuals. The earldom was first created in the twelfth century for Geoffrey II de Mandeville. Upon the death of the third earl, the title became extinct. It was created again for Geoffrey Fitzpeter in 1199, who had married a...
(family name Devereux) who gave his name, not only to Essex Court within the Temple, but to Essex Street and Devereux Court outside it. There is also a nineteenth century building called the Outer Temple, abutting onto
Fleet StreetFleet Street is a street in London, England named after the River Fleet. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s. Even though the last major British news office, Reuters, left in 2005, the street's name continues to be used as a metonym for the British national press.-History and...
, but this is not part of the modern Inns of Court and has commercial landowners.
An area known as
Serjeant's InnSerjeant's Inn, Fleet Street, London, was one of the two inns of the Serjeants-at-Law. The Fleet Street inn dated from 1443 and the Chancery Lane inn dated from 1416. Both buildings were destroyed in the World War II 1941 bombing raids....
was formerly outside the Temple, although at one time also occupied by lawyers (the
Serjeants-at-LawSerjeant-at-law was an order of barristers at the English or Irish bar. Serjeants-at-law , or Sergeants Counters, were the highest order of counsel. For the 600 years prior to 1873 the judges of the King's Bench, Court of Common Pleas, and Exchequer were always serjeants...
). However, it has recently been acquired by the Inner Temple, and is adjacent to King's Bench Walk in the Inner Temple, to which it is connected by an archway.
The Inns each have their own gardens in the Temple, and their own dining halls and administrative offices. Most of the land is, however, taken up by buildings in which barristers practise from sets of rooms known as chambers. Until the twentieth century, many of the chambers in the Temple were also residential accommodation for barristers; however, shortage of space for professional purposes gradually limited the number of residential sets to the very top floors, which are largely occupied by senior barristers and judges, many of whom also have other residences further out of London. This, coupled with a general move of population out of the City of London, has made the Temple much quieter outside working hours than it appears, for example, in the novels of
Charles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens FRSA , pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era and one of the most popular of all time. He created some of literature's most memorable characters. His novels and short stories have never gone out of print...
, which frequently allude to the Temple.
The Temple is physically within the boundaries of the
City of LondonThe City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
, whose western boundary in Fleet Street was at one time marked by the monument known as
Temple BarTemple Bar is the barrier marking the westernmost extent of the City of London on the road to Westminster, where Fleet Street becomes the Strand...
(now relocated, so as not to impede traffic, to a pedestrian area by
St Paul's CathedralSt Paul's Cathedral is the Anglican cathedral on Ludgate Hill in the City of London and the seat of the Bishop of London. The present building dates from the 17th century and is generally reckoned to be London's fifth St Paul's Cathedral, not counting every major medieval reconstruction as a new...
). However, it is independently administered by the Inner and Middle Temple, and is not subject to the jurisdiction of the
Corporation of LondonThe City of London Corporation is the municipal governing body of the City of London. It exercises control only over the City , and not over Greater London...
or of the
Lord MayorThe Lord Mayor is the title of the Mayor of a major city, with special recognition.* In England, Wales and Northern Ireland it is a purely ceremonial post, see Mayors in the United Kingdom, list of cities in the United Kingdom, especially Lord Mayor of the City of London The Lord Mayor is the title...
.
The Temple gives its name to
Temple tube stationTemple is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster, between Victoria Embankment and Temple Place. It is on the Circle and District lines between Embankment and Blackfriars and is in Travelcard Zone 1. The station entrance is from Victoria Embankment...
, which is next to its south-western boundary.