Turning the corner, I see this map of The Temple. It shows all the major inn’s, legal offices and roads in this legal heartland.
And then the Temple Church comes into view as I step out of the little alley way. This is the church which the Templars used for their headquarters and where Dan Brown situated his Da Vinci Code in. Unfortunately, I was a bit early. The church opens for visiting at 2pm, I was about 30 minutes early so I decided to do a walk around the church. 
Plaque dating back to 1827 AD says, To John Gurney, bearer of Arms, Treasurer, He restored and conserved the south part, which is his own, of the Inn of the Inner Temple. 1827
This is the entrance to the Nave of the church, but its closed. This is the entrance to the Round Church. The shape of the church is actually like the small “i”, in two parts. the top round dot part is the Round Church, and the rectangular part at the bottom is the Chancel, which was actually constructed 1/2 a century after the Round Church. 
A very well architected entrance, looks beautiful. Check out the door. This is the door by which the new templar novices would enter and then take vows of chastity, piety, poverty and obedience. And there would be other ceremonies which would be kept very secret. 
The arched ceiling is beautiful. The church goes back to late 12th century. You might see that quite a lot of the exterior and interior is new, as it was quite heavily damaged during the WW2 due to bombing. 
The Church courtyard is sealed off, one could have seen old Templars practising their sword play here…
The round structure of the Round Church is supposed to be based on the Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The stained glass windows look a bit narrow to me, but I dont think that construction methods were so advanced at that time to provide wide windows. You can see the supporting buttresses. 
There are few graves scattered around, almost at random. I found this very sad. They are abandoned, no signs on the top to indicate who they belonged to, nothing to show who was buried under that slap. Warrior monks/priests…
The courtyard ends with this passageway with arched entrances, its full of construction materials. 
A sign to a law firm. 
I now am turning the corner and walking around the other (north) side of the round church. 
Looking back at the entrance to the round church. 
Between the Chancel and the Round Church stands the steeple. 
A sign on the iron railings. 
The rear of the Chancel Church. You can see that its a warrior priest church from the arrow slits. 
The iron gate leads to the Master’s House. This used to be the house of the Head of the Templars. Now, of course, its the Anglican Priest who is the master. 
Its a classical brick building. 
The east end of the chancel. I turn back, I cannot go any further. 
A rather sad looking tree has this round bench surrounding it. 
Another view of one of the old sad grave. I had to stand there and gaze at the grave. Nobody knows who is buried there. The sides show that the grave is very very old, with no markings. Was this a pauper? Or was this a knight? What dreams did he have? Where did he go and fight? Was he a crusader? Or did he die of more prosaic causes such as the black death? Or was it a servant girl? May your soul rest in peace. 
The sign on the entrance railing of the round church. 
One of the corners of the church, the corner stones are starting to decay.
I come back to the courtyard in front of the Chancel church entrance. Still about 15 minutes to go before the church opens. 
The courtyard is paved with stone and surrounded by these brick buildings. The brick building in the centre is the Inner Temple Hall.
Decorations on the Inner Temple Hall.
Scanning left, a monument in the middle and then the Treasurer’s office, Inner Inn and then the Inner Temple Library. 
Scanning left, you can see the library in the far corner and then the church. 
Back to the church. 
Stone benches are placed for worshippers and pilgrims to take their ease. 
Tall stained glass windows. 
On the other side, the Inner Temple Hall shows this plaque. Pegasus is the motif for the Inner Temple. 
The sculpture on top of the monument. Two knights on a charger. Hmmm, this is dated to 2000 AD. Not new at all. This is the Templar’s seal and the moth eaten flag and poor quality armour was supposed to signify the poverty of the templars. Ironic that it was their great wealth which was the cause of their downfall. Another interesting factoid, this marks the spot where the great fire of 1666 was stopped thereby saving the church from burning down. So why two templars to one horse? Well, they were so poor that they had to share one horse. The full name of the order was…The Order of Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon.
The entrance to the treasurer office. 
Ok, Sir. No dogs. 
The entrance to the Master’s house
The gate was open but I didn't have the courage to pop in, lol. Some rose plants are scattered around the garden and guess this? In Part I of the 16th century play Henry VI, by William Shakespeare, the Temple Church is the scene of the start of the 15th century Wars of the Roses. In the play, the war was sparked by the plucking of two roses in the Temple garden. Curious, eh? 
The church from the east side. 
Walking back from the passage way
The top of the Chancel Church
Some of the stones have been repaired recently, although the church got hit by a German Air raid and severe damage was done to the church. 
The full glory of the church. 
The entrance to the courtyard from the Middle Temple. 
Top of the Round Church. 
Middle Temple, 1952…
Couple of views of the stark chestnut tree in the middle of the courtyard. 
I am now queuing up to go into the church, getting quite excited by it all when I notice this carved flower on the side. Pretty interesting, eh?
the entire areas is drenched with history over the past hundreds of years, if you sit quietly, you can listen to the susurration of noises, voices and yells. You can smell horses, you can smell the armour and can hear the clink of swords. You can hear rustling of paper and the voices of penitents down the centuries. Wonderful place. Loved it.
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