Temple ( kw, Tempel) is a small village in the parish of
Blisland
Blisland ( kw, Blyslann) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is approximately five miles northeast of Bodmin. According to the UK census 2001, 2001 census, the parish had a populatio ...
on
Bodmin Moor
Bodmin Moor ( kw, Goon Brenn) is a granite moorland in north-eastern Cornwall, England. It is in size, and dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. It includes Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall, and Rough Tor, a s ...
in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
, England,
UK. The village is bypassed by the
A30 road
The A30 is a major road in England, running WSW from London to Land's End.
The road has been a principal axis in Britain from the 17th century to early 19th century, as a major coaching route. It used to provide the fastest route from Londo ...
.
History and antiquities
Temple derives its name from the
hospice
Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by ...
or preceptory founded by the
Knights Templar
, colors = White mantle with a red cross
, colors_label = Attire
, march =
, mascot = Two knights riding a single horse
, equipment ...
s who built a refuge for pilgrims and travellers, en route to the
Holy Land
The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...
, in the 12th century. On the suppression of the Templars it passed into the hands of the
Knights Hospitallers
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...
(in 1314), who held it until the religious houses were suppressed by
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
. In 1901 it was a
curacy
A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...
of
Warleggan
Warleggan or Warleggon ( kw, Gorlegan) is a civil parish on the southern edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
The parish is roughly oblong in shape with hamlets near the church and at Mount. The River Warleggan, a tributar ...
and in 1934, the parish of Temple was incorporated into Blisland parish.
Church
Temple Church is a
Grade II* listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
built c.1120 on land owned by the Knights Templar. It became famous as a place where marriages could be performed without
banns
The banns of marriage, commonly known simply as the "banns" or "bans" (from a Middle English word meaning "proclamation", rooted in Frankish and thence in Old French), are the public announcement in a Christian parish church, or in the town co ...
or licence (similar to
Gretna Green
Gretna Green is a parish in the southern council area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on the Scottish side of the border between Scotland and England, defined by the small river Sark, which flows into the nearby Solway Firth. It was historica ...
until the early 20th century).
[ This came to an end in 1744 when the church first came under episcopal jurisdiction. By the mid-19th century, it had become a ruin and a final service was held on 29 January 1882, in front of a ″large congregation″ led by the Reverend J Brown. It was rebuilt (by ]Silvanus Trevail
Silvanus Trevail (11 November 1851 – 7 November 1903) was a British architect, and the most prominent Cornish architect of the 19th century.
Early life
Trevail was born at Carne Farm, Trethurgy in the parish of Luxulyan, Cornwall on 11 Nove ...
) in the following year. The church is dedicated to St Catherine.
The church contains several references to its links with the Knights Templar, including a cross pattée
A cross pattée, cross patty or cross paty, also known as a cross formy or cross formée (french: croix pattée, german: Tatzenkreuz), is a type of Christian cross with arms that are narrow at the centre, and often flared in a curve or straight ...
in the east window and a depiction of a mounted knight in the north window of the church tower.
Crosses
Arthur Langdon (1896) recorded the existence of eight stone crosses in the parish, including two cross slabs, all in the churchyard. Several of these crosses were subsequently incorporated into a stone outbuilding on the south side of the church.[Temple Church Bodmin Moor, Church Welcome Leaflet]
Gallery
File:St. Catherine's church, Temple - geograph.org.uk - 750143.jpg, St Catherine's Church and churchyard
File:East window of the church at Temple, Cornwall.jpg, East window showing the cross pattée of the Knights Templar
File:Templar2.jpg, Detail of stained glass window in the church tower showing a mounted knight
File:Outbuilding of the church at Temple, Cornwall.jpg, Stone outbuilding incorporating early stone crosses
File:Temple War Memorial - geograph.org.uk - 1542426.jpg, Temple war memorial
See also
* Templars Preceptory
Temple ( kw, Tempel) is a small village in the parish of Blisland on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England, UK. The village is bypassed by the A30 road.
History and antiquities
Temple derives its name from the hospice or preceptory founded by the ...
References
External links
GENUKI entry for Temple
The History of Temple Church
(in PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
format)
Temple Church (from Church Plans Online)
About the Church
{{authority control
1120 establishments in England
Bodmin Moor
Knights Templar
Villages in Cornwall