The Knights Templar in London had met…
1185 CE
The Knights Templar in London had met in the mid-twelfth century at a site in High Holborn in a structure originally established by Hugues de Payens (the site had been historically the location of a Roman temple in Londinium).
Because of the rapid growth of the order, by the 1160s the site had become too confined, and the Order had purchased the current site of the Temple Church for the establishment of a larger monastic complex as their headquarters in England.
In addition to the church, the new compound originally contained residences, military training facilities, and recreational grounds for the military brethren and novices, who were not permitted to go into the city without the permission of the Master of the Temple.
The church building comprises two separate sections.
The original nave section, called the Round Church, and an adjoining rectangular section, built approximately half a century later, called the Chancel.
In keeping with the traditions of the order, the nave of the church has been constructed on a round design based on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
The nave is fifty-five feet in diameter, and is surrounded by the first-ever freestanding dark Purbeck Marble columns.
It is probable that the walls and grotesque heads were originally painted in colors.
The Temple Church is consecrated on February 10, 1185 in a ceremony by Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
It is believed that Henry II was present at the consecration.
From this year comes the first evidence that the king of England is using the safes of the New Temple in London under the guard of the Knights Templar to store part of his treasure. (Ferris, Eleanor (1902). "The Financial Relations of the Knights Templars to the English Crown". American Historical Review 8.