| Temple | |
Temple Church |
|
|
Temple
Temple shown within Greater London |
|
| Sui generis | City of London |
|---|---|
| Administrative area | Greater London |
| Region | London |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | EC4 |
| Postcode district | WC2 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | City of London |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| EU Parliament | London |
| UK Parliament | Cities of London and Westminster |
| London Assembly | City and East |
| List of places: UK • England • London | |
The Temple is an area of central London, in the vicinity of Temple Church, which is one of the main legal districts of the capital and a notable centre for English law, both historically and in the present day. Two of the four Inns of Court, the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple, are located here and the Royal Courts of Justice are just to the north. The rough boundaries of the wider Temple district are the River Thames (the Victoria Embankment) to the south, Surrey Street to the west, Strand and Fleet Street to the north, and Carmelite Street and Whitefriars Street to the east. The Temple is mostly in the City of London, but a small western part is in the City of Westminster.
The district contains many barristers' chambers, solicitors' offices, as well as some notable legal institutions such as the Employment Appeal Tribunal.[1] The International Institute for Strategic Studies has its headquarters at Arundel House, near Temple tube station.[2]
Contents |
The name is recorded in the 12th century as Novum Tumplum, meaning 'New Temple'.[3] It is named from a house belonging to the Knights Templar. The 'Old Temple' was located in Holborn. The name is shared with Inner Temple, Middle Temple, Temple Church and the Temple Bar.[3]
The Temple was originally the precinct of the Knights Templar whose Temple Church was named in honour of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. 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 Hospitaller. 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 I in 1608.
The western portion of the wider Temple area was granted to the Earl of Essex (family name Devereux) who gave his name to Essex Court, within Middle Temple, and to Essex Street and Devereux Court just outside it.
The area of the Temple was increased when the River Thames was embanked by the Victoria Embankment, releasing land to the south which previously lay within the tidal reaches of the river. The original bank of the river can clearly be seen in a drop in ground level, for example in the Inner Temple Gardens or the stairs at the bottom of Essex Street.
The area suffered much damage due to enemy air raids in World War II and many of the buildings, especially in the Inner Temple and Middle Temple inns, had to be rebuilt. Temple Church itself was also badly damaged and had to be rebuilt. None-the-less the Temple is rich with Grade I Listed buildings.
The core of the district lies in the City of London and consists of two Inns of Court: Inner Temple (eastern part) and Middle Temple (western part). The Temple Church is roughly central to these two inns and is governed by both of them.
The Inns each have their own gardens, dining halls, libraries and administrative offices, all located in their part of the Temple. 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 use them as pied-à-terres, having their family home outside of London. (There are also a limited number of rooms reserved for new barristers undertaking the Bar Professional Training Course.) 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 Dickens, which frequently allude to the Temple. Today, approximately a quarter of the chambers buildings in the Inner Temple and Middle Temple include residential accommodation, and current planning policy is to retain this where possible, in order to retain the special "collegiate" character of the Temple Inns of Court.[4]
There is also a 19th century building called "The Outer Temple", situated between Essex Court and Strand, just outside the Middle Temple boundary in the City of Westminster, but this is not part of the modern Inns of Court, has commercial landowners and is not directly related to the historic and long-defunct Outer Temple inn.
An area known as Serjeant's Inn was formerly outside the Temple, although at one time also occupied by lawyers (the Serjeants-at-Law). However, it has recently been acquired by the Inner Temple (it is adjacent and connected to King's Bench Walk in the Inner Temple) and now has a number of barristers' chambers.
Inner Temple and Middle Temple are two of the few remaining liberties, an old name for a geographic division. They are independent extra-parochial areas,[5] historically not governed by the City of London Corporation[6] (and are today regarded as local authorities for most purposes[7]) and equally outside the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. They geographically fall within the boundaries and liberties of the City of London, but can be thought of as independent enclaves. They both are part of the City ward of Farringdon Without.
The southern boundary of the Temple liberties was the natural bank of the River Thames until the Victoria Embankment was constructed (1865–1870). The boundary of the Temple liberties remained fixed despite this notable engineering work, which meant that the Inner and Middle Temple lost their frontage and access to the Thames. (The boundaries of the Inner and Middle Temple liberties have not changed in centuries, although both now own properties just beyond their liberties' boundary.) The Victoria Embankment (which is a major thoroughfare with an Underground line running beneath) does not therefore form part of the Inner or Middle Temple - the southern boundary today runs along the boundary fence where the Temple gardens meets the Victoria Embankment road, more-or-less where the original bank of the Thames was. The City of London's southern boundary on the other hand runs along the centre of the Thames itself.
Temple gives its name to Temple tube station, served by the District (green) and Circle (yellow) lines, which is situated in the southwest of the area, between Temple Place and the Victoria Embankment. There is also a Temple Pier on the Victoria Embankment, situated near the Tube station immediately upstream of the Westminster-City of London boundary; HQS Wellington is permanently moored there.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||