Temple Church and Charing Cross Road

Woke up today having no clue what I was going to do :). I knew I had to wait for Eelin to call to let me know if we have any flat viewings today but, other than that, I was at a bit of a loss. After a bit of thought, I realised that Temple Church was open was visiting hours today and decided I'd take advantage of that and go pay it a visit!

Temple Church has notoriously erratic visiting hours. This week, for example, it's open twice - today and Thursday. Since it's not really one of the big tourist attractions and, in fact, probably owes most of its fame to "The Da Vinci Code", it doesn't really seem to feel the need to pander to the tourist hordes. That's one of the main reasons I've never managed to visit before.


Anyway, headed out around 1 and was at the Church by 1:30. As I neared the doors, I started to feel a bit apprehensive - there were too few people around; the place looked deserted. I checked the noticeboard next to the door and, sure enough, the Church would be opening at 2:30. After sitting in the courtyard for awhile, toying with the idea of waiting, I decided I may as well do some book shopping along Charing Cross Road while I had time.

Charing Cross Road is one of the main arteries of what I consider Central London :). It runs right through the West End, dividing Covent Garden and Bloomsbury to the East from Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Chinatown, and Soho to the West. What I learned fairly recently is that Charing Cross Road was also, historically, an area where booksellers tended to congregate. Consequently, there are still loads of interesting bookshops along the Road, including two of my favourites: a little used bookshop called Henry Pordes Books, and the gargantuan Foyles. Popped into both of these and managed to pick up four books for about 10 pounds - not too shabby! That should keep me busy for about a week. lol.

By the time I got back to Temple Church, it was about 3pm and the Church was open. I was amazed at how many people were already there when I arrived - to be fair, it was nothing compared to the crowds at Westminster Abbey or St Paul's Cathedral but, hey, this is a tiny Church! Had a leisurely look around, took some pictures, then headed home after some trouble on the tube (basically there was signal failure along the District line so, to bypass it, I had to take the Northern Line from Embankment, switch over to the Piccadilly at Leicester Square, then switch again to the District at Earl's Court. Tiring!).

For now, here are some photos from Temple Church. It really is lovely - worth a visit if you can manage to get there when they're open! I'll probably try to go back sometime for a service and to see the working Church instead of the tourist attraction.

The Temple Round, which is the part of the Church that houses the effigies of the Knights Templar, and also the bit that you can see in the movie, "The Da Vinci Code".

Temple Church, looking down towards the High Altar.

View of the Church, from the Choir stalls.

The Pump Court, which is the courtyard you walk through from Middle Temple Lane to get to the Church. Honestly, does this look like the middle of London to you??

Middle Temple Lane. This might illustrate what I said in my R+J post about how this particular part of London looks nothing like the modern London you would normally see whilst walking around.