Inner Temple

From Free net encyclopedia

The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple is one of the four Inns of Court around the Royal Courts of Justice in London, England, to which barristers belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other Inns are Middle Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn.

Since the 14th century, the Inner Temple, like Middle Temple, has been located adjacent to the Temple Church, which serves as the Inns' chapel. The church was built by the Knights Templar and gives the area around it the name "Temple". It is called the Inner Temple as the church lies within its boundary. The Inner Temple was first recorded as being used for legal purposes when lawyers' residences were burned down by Wat Tyler's revolt. It is an independent enclave (a historic extra-parochial area) physically within the City of Westminster, historically not governed by the Corporation of London.

The Inn suffered heavily from wartime bombing between September 1940 and May 1941, because of its proximity to the Thames. The buildings destroyed included the Library and the Hall.

The oldest surviving buildings in the Inner Temple date from the 17th century and are on King's Bench Walk (named after the King's Bench Office which was based there until the 19th century), though the first story of the Knights Templar's medieval buttery (where food was served) survives as part of the larger building that contains the new Hall. Many other parts of the Inn are Victorian.

The Inner Temple is often used as a film location for both television and cinema. In 2005 filming for the film The Da Vinci Code took place here.

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