-Caveat Lector-

>From http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,61-395725,00.html

August 27, 2002

City find is Knights Templars' oldest London church
By Norman Hammond, Archaeology Correspondent


REMAINS of London’s first Temple Church have
recently been uncovered, several hundred yards north of its famous successor. Part of 
the
distinctive circular nave which marked churches built by the Knights Templar in the 
Middle
Ages was identified just south of High Holborn, on the edge of the medieval city of 
London.

The present Temple Church, which gives its name to the Middle Temple and Inner Temple,
two of the four Inns of Court, was built from 1160 onwards. Its circular nave, 
reflecting the
plan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, was consecrated by Patriarch
Heraclius of Jerusalem in 1185 as the central church of the Templar Order in England;
seriously damaged by bombing in the Second World War, it has been completely restored.

The earlier church and the “Old Temple”, the initial headquarters of the Order, stood 
just
east of Chancery Lane, where Southampton Buildings recently underwent refurbishment.
Archaeologists from the Museum of London watched over the site when a new lift- shaft
was installed.

At the base of the excavation they found Roman deposits, cut into by what Alison Telfer
describes in London Archaeologist as “a substantial medieval chalk foundation, 
consistent
with the location and design of the circular ‘Old Temple’ of the Knights Templar, 
dating to
the 12th century”. The foundations rested on the natural gravel of the Thames terrace 
that
underlies the City, and match other sections seen in 1704, and in 1876, when a bank was
built in Holborn just north of the present site.

Reconstruction of the plan from the foundations suggests that the circular nave had an
internal diameter of about 55ft — slightly smaller than the present Temple Church. The 
roof
would have been supported by a central colonnade of six columns, recorded in the 1876
work, as in the present building, and Telfer suggests that there was both a western 
porch
for entry and an eastern chancel as long again as the nave. The square chancel of the
Temple Church was added in 1220-40.

The Old Temple was sold to the Bishop of Lincoln when its successor was built closer 
to the
Thames and with direct river access, and he used it as his London residence. It was
eventually demolished in 1595.

Apart from the recent discovery, further remains could survive in the surrounding area,
Telfer suggests: the bedrock is sufficiently deeply buried for them probably to have 
avoided
destruction by Victorian cellarage.

Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A<>E<>R
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Forwarded as information only; I don't believe everything I read or send
(but that doesn't stop me from considering it; obviously SOMEBODY thinks it's 
important)
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"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth
shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway

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