Temple Church, London is a round church, which previously occupied the heart of the Templars' headquarters in the city, the New Temple. The church is impressive in scale and precise in execution, as befits the church of such an important Preceptory. It is now surrounded by the elegant Inns of Court, off Fleet Street, where lawyers of the Inner and Middle Temple go about their profession.
The oldest part of the church is the rotunda, which was begun in the 1160s, and which was consecrated to the Blessed Mary in 1185 by Heraclius, the visiting Patriarch of Jerusalem. It shows a transitional style of architecture, with Romanesque windows but pointed Gothic arches supporting its central drum. A blind arcade surrounds the interior, with a series of carved heads in between the arches. Some of these are darkly comical, others grotesque, with grimacing expressions. Some show kings, others fools, others demons. The Romanesque doorway to the round nave has an elaborate Norman arch, with twelve 'Green Man' heads around the top of the door, with foliage sprouting from their mouths in 'X' shapes, so that at first glance they resemble somewhat the skull and crossbones. Outside may be seen the plain stone coffins or grave slabs of the Templars. Inside are ten tomb covers, including nine effigy figures of knights. These are patrons and honorary associates (confrates) of the Order, some of whom joined the Templars at the end of their lives. They include Geoffrey de Mandeville, Robert de Ros, William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and William's son and grandson son. These figures are not in their original location and do not cover bodies. The round church opens into an oblong quire, rebuilt in the time of Henry III, who originally intended to be buried there. The choir contains another tomb, that of an unidentified bishop, in a recess near the altar. To one side of the three arches connecting the two parts of the church, a stairway leads up to a small chamber, said to be the penitential cell where expired the ill-fated Walter Bacheler. There was formerly a side chapel dedicated to St Anne, but this was later demolished. A stairway leading down from the side porch, meanwhile hints at the existence of an undercroft.
The Church was sustained damage during the Blitz when all its original furnishings were destroyed, and when the tomb figures were damaged. It was restored in a rather austere fashion. In late Templar times the decoration would have been rich, with sacred vessels on the altars in silver gilt and ivory, and with banners and probably paintings on the now bare walls.
The Church passed temporarily to the Hospitallers, but eventually became the chapel serving the legal societies of the Inner Temple and Middle Temple. It is a 'Royal Peculiar' independent of the diocese of London, with ministers appointed by the Crown. The priest serving the church (now part of the Church of England) has the grand title 'Master of the Temple'. (The present incumbent has recently written a book attempting to refute claims made in The Da Vinci Code, in which Temple Church features).
In both London and Paris the Templars constructed churches based around a circular design. Only the London building is still standing. Most of the Paris Temple was demolished by the 19th Century. There is a mystery with these round churches. They are much more complex to build than square sided ones. They are essays in masonic precision and to visit the London church is to be struck by the engineering knowledge at the brethren's disposal. It has been suggested that the Templars built round churches in imitation of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, where the first Templars swore their religious vows. There may also have been some liturgical reason for the round shape- which suggests a rite with a central focus. In the case of the London church the round now houses the effigies of Knights associated with the Templars (including the illustrious William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke). These however are not in their original positions, and it is likely that originally the round floor was uncluttered.
I have made an observation concerning the plans of these two churches in question. If their plans are overlaid with the six columns within the circular naves superimposed, the proportions of other parts of the apparently different designs directly relate. Not only is the long nave the same relative width (as might be expected) but it is the same relative length. The same goes for the porch on the other side of the round. Clearly there is some significance to these proportions. The spacing between the columns is the same as the width of the circular aisle, so the plan of the round may be said to contain a star of David, within a circle, with the columns placed where the lines (forming the two overlaid equilateral triangles) would intersect. The round could equally contain a pattern of circles the the same size as the inner circle. This would render a six leaf pattern in the centre circle, if the six new circles were drawn touching the outer wall, with a column at their midpoint.
The Temperas did not always build round churches, and I have not been able to match these proportions to other Templar buildings as yet. The Templar Church at Montsaunes in S. France is conventional in plan (oblong) but it's ceiling is painted with a unique abstract design of many circles. The most common design there is of a circle with six leaf pattern within. Nine form the main design, arranged in two groups of six and three. Researcher Christian Tourenne has proposed that these circles could represent the spheres of the sephirotic tree from the Jewish mystic tradition of Cabbalism (an idea which has explosive implications when it comes to the religious orthodoxy or otherwise of the Knights Templar). This arrangement of nine special points may also be found in Temple Church, taking the apexes of the nine gothic arches found in the round section of the church- six in the centre and three where the round meets the oblong body of the building.
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