988 
ton, the Temple church, London, 
and asmall church at Little Map- 
Tested, Essex.’ All these, with one 
that was at Temple Bruer, and one 
at Aslackly, Lincolnshire, are ge- 
nerally attributed to the knights 
Templars,* during their power and 
prosperity in England. This sin- 
gular religious order of °¢ knights- 
errant” obtained their organization 
and fame in the vicinity of the 
church of the Holy-Sepulchre at 
Jerusalem. 
it is the general opinion of wri- 
ters, that this sacred structure was 
built by Helena, the mother of Con. 
stantine the Great ; but, unfortu- 
nately, none of these writers have 
identified the part then built, or des- 
cribed its size, character, or style of 
architecture. Besides, we are in- 
formed that Charlemagne (A. D. 
$13.) rebuilt this venerated edifice. 
‘¢ The east end,” observes Mr. 
Essex, ‘‘ I take to be of his build. 
ing, containing the semicircular tri- 
bune ; but the intermediate part, 
between it and the sepulchre, is more 
modern, and might be rebuilt when 
the church was restored, in the year 
1049, after it was defaced by the 
Saracens towards the end of the 
tenth century.”+ Bede, speaking 
of this structure, describes it as a 
Jarge round church, with three walls 
and twelve pillars; but the precise 
disposition of these walls and pillars 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1806. 
is not specified. The round part 
of the present building materially 
differs from this description. It 
consists of a semicircular wall, which 
attaches to a large mass of buildings 
onthe east, and a little within the 
wall is a circular colonnade, con- 
sisting of sixtecn columns and piers, 
with an open space for four others, 
towards the east.6 The circular 
part of the building is of Roman ar. 
chitecture, and its roof, which is 
mostly of cedar, gradually dimi- 
nishes from its base upwards, and 
terminates with a round aperture. 
This shape is rather singular, as it 
differs from the usual form and con- 
struction of domes, or cupolas. The 
other parts of the building consist of 
several chapels, oratories, passages, 
towers, &c. and on the south side is 
displayed several examples of point. 
ed arched doors and windows, with 
corresponding clustered columns, 
Sandys, Le Brayn, and Maundrell, 
who have all visited this place, are 
so extremely vague and unsatisfac- 
tory in their respective accounts, 
(i cannot apply the term of history, 
or description,)that they prove more — 
tantalizing than gratifying to our — 
curiosity. 
This sacred structure was rever- 
ed, by the holy knights, above all 
earthly objects; their enthusiasm 
had endowed its every stone with 
marvellous qualities; and they 
foolishly 
* The Templars had numerous other places of residengein England, where they 
established preceptories, &c. 
In Strype’s edition of. Stow, 1720, vol. I. p. 270, it 
1s said that they had temples at London, Cambridge, Bristol, Canterbury, Dover, 
Warwick, &c. 
+ Archzologia, VI. p. 169. 
T Resurrectionis Dominice rotunda ecclesia tribus cincta parietibus, duodecim 
columnis sustentatur, 
(De Locis Sanctis 
§ See the ground plan in Sandy’s Travels. 
» Cap. 2.) 
I have also been favoured with a 
view of amodel of thischurch, now in the possession of the learned auther of 
Munimenta Antiqua. 
