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CHARLES G. ADDISON, ESQ. The history of the Knights Templars, Temple Church, and the Temple

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CHARLES G. ADDISON, ESQ.
The history of the Knights Templars, Temple Church, and the Temple
page 326



leaden coffins curiously and beautifully ornamented with a device resembling the one observable on the old tesselated pavement of the church; and an arched vault, which had been formed in the inner circular foundation, supporting the clustered columns and the round tower. The leaden coffins had been inclosed in small vaults, the walls of which had perished. The skeletons within them were entire and undisturbed ; they were enveloped in coarse sackcloth, which crumbled to dust on being touched. One of these skeletons measured six feet four inches in length, and another six feet two inches ! The large stone coffins were of immense thickness and weight ; they had long previously been broken open and turned into charnel-houses. In the one nearest the south window were found three skulls, and a variety of bones, amongst which were those of some young person. Upon the lid, which was composed of Purbeck marble, was a large and elegantlyshaped cross, beautifully sculptured, and in an excellent state of preservation. The vault constructed in the solid foundations of the pillars of the round tower, on the north side of the church, contained the remains of a skeleton wrapped in sackcloth ; the skull and the upper part of it were in a good state of preserva tion, but the lower extremities had crumbled to dust. Neither the number nor the position of the coffins below corresponded with the figures above, and it is quite clear that these last have been removed from their original position. In Camden's Britannia, the first edition of which was published in the 38th of Eliz., A. B. 1586, we are informed that many noblemen lie buried in the Temple Church, whose effigies are to be seen crosslegged, among whom were William the father, and William and Gilbert his sons, earls of Pembroke and marshals of England.* * Flarim.que nobiles apud eoa buroati fuerunt, quorum imaginée visumur in hoc Tempio, tibiis in crucerà transversa* (sic cairn sepolti fuerunt quotquot jllo s&culo nomina bello sacro dédissent, vel qui ut tune tenrporia sunt loculi eraeera sasoepissent.)


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