Inner Temple Gatehouse - Fleet Street, London, UK
N 51° 30.826 W 000° 06.658
30U E 700456 N 5710917
This building, the Inner Temple Gatehouse, sits on the south side of Fleet Street close to the Royal Courts of Justice.
Waymark Code: WMG5QE
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/16/2013
Views: 14
Two 'then' photos
are included. One from 1870 and another from 1910.
The Historic UK website [visit
link] tells us:
"Whilst it is always a pleasure to
wander through London’s leafy legal enclaves, the highlight of any walk up Inner
Temple Lane is without doubt the gatehouse at its northern end. A unique
survivor of the Great Fire, and as such the City’s sole surviving timber-framed
Jacobean townhouse, it was nevertheless subjected to many centuries of abuse and
was not rescued and restored until barely a hundred years ago.
Originally part of the great 12th
century estate of the Knights Templar, the stone gateway beneath the largely
Jacobean structure was eventually taken over by another order, that of St John
of Jerusalem (aka the Knights Hospitallers) who leased this and much other
accommodation in the area to lawyers operating in the area south of Fleet
Street. For a while part of the building was a tavern, the Hand Inn, later
renamed the Prince’s Arms in honour of James I’s short-lived son, Henry
(1594-1612), who had recently become Prince of Wales.
Having survived the fire, and been
renamed The Fountain, the premises were then leased by a Mrs Salmon to house her
popular collection of celebrity waxworks. From 1711 until well into the reign of
Queen Victoria, Londoners queued to see exhibits which included a clockwork
waxwork which would kick passers-by, another wax depicting the execution of
Charles I, and that of ‘Hermione, a Roman Lady, whose father offended the
Emperor, was sentenced to be starved to death, but was preserved by sucking his
Daughter’s Breast’.
By 1898 the exterior was decidedly
delapidated, its frontage boarded up, the ancient timbers covered in successive
layers of paint, and a new tenant offering passers-by haircuts and steam-powered
hairbrushing Fortunately the principal room above the main gateway had survived
unharmed, however, complete with elegant panelling and an elaborate Jacobean
plasterwork ceiling incorporating flowers, three feathers and the initials P.H.
for Prince Henry, Prince of Wales.
Whilst there is no documentary
evidence to suggest a personal connection with the Prince (nor indeed the
Victorian barber’s claim that it was ‘formerly the Palace of Henry VIII and
Cardinal Wolsey’) the belief persists that in ancient times it served as the
council chamber for the Duchy of Cornwall. Today it is a small museum, housing
an exhibition of artefacts on loan from the Pepys Society which can be viewed
most weekday afternoons."
The gate and gatehouse are Grade II*
listed and the entry at the English Heritage website [visit
link] tells us:
"Includes Inner Temple Gateway, Inner
Temple. 1610-11, very much restored and rebuilt. 4 storeys. Ground storey set
back but with decorative stone archway etc dated 1748. Modern shop. 2 storeys
above timber framed, with reconstructed oriel windows. Top storey recessed with
2 plastered gables to tiled roof and timber balustrade in front. Interior
contains altered late C17 stair and early C17 room ('Prince Henry's Room') on
1st floor with good plaster ceiling and panelling. Rear wing rebuilt 1905. 3
main storeys. Glazed brick and pebbledash etc."