Holborn's Quiet Side: From the Temple to Bloomsbury

Temple Church

A round church built by the Knights Templar in the 12th century, tucked between Fleet Street and the Thames. Stone effigies of crusading knights lie on the floor of the circular nave.

You are standing outside Temple Church, and already you can see what makes it unusual. It is round. The Knights Templar built it in the 12th century as their English headquarters, and they modelled the circular nave on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Patriarch Heraclius consecrated it on 10 February 1185.

Step inside and the first thing you notice is the floor. Nine stone effigies of knights lie right there, carved in the 13th century. The most famous is William Marshal, the first Earl of Pembroke, the man who negotiated Magna Carta in 1215. His funeral was held in this church.

After the Templars were suppressed in 1314, the church passed to the Knights Hospitaller and later to the lawyers of Inner Temple and Middle Temple, who still own it today. The church is open for sightseeing most weekdays from 10 to 4, admission five pounds. It is a working place of worship, so be ready for services or a lunchtime talk. If you cannot go inside, walk around the outside: the Norman doorway on the west side and the column with two Templar knights sharing a horse are worth the detour.

When you are ready, leave the churchyard through the Inner Temple lane toward Fleet Street.

Lincoln's Inn Fields

London's largest public square, laid out in the 1630s. A green rectangle ringed by Georgian houses, with mature plane trees, tennis courts, and a bandstand.

You are in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and it is hard to believe this was once a rough pasture where cattle grazed and public executions were held. The square was laid out in the 1630s by the developer William Newton, on the condition that the central space remain open to everyone. That bargain is why you can walk across this lawn today. Look around.

Lindsey House at numbers 59 and 60, with its clean classical facade, dates from 1640 and is often attributed to Inigo Jones. The building directly behind you, on the north side, is the Royal College of Surgeons. And across the square, at number 13, is your next stop: Sir John Soane's Museum. The Fields are a public park, open daily until dusk.

Feel free to cut diagonally across the grass or follow the gravel paths. When you are ready, head to the north side of the square, to the house with the Portland stone facade at number 13.

Sir John Soane's Museum

The architect Sir John Soane's house, left exactly as it was at his death in 1837 and crammed with antiquities, paintings, and curiosities. Free entry.

Number 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields looks like a handsome Georgian townhouse. Inside, it is unlike any house you have ever been in. Sir John Soane was one of Britain's greatest architects, the man who designed the Bank of England, and he spent his whole life filling this house with things that fascinated him. The collection is packed into every room and corridor: Greek and Roman antiquities, architectural models in cork and plaster, paintings by Hogarth, Canaletto, and Turner.

The most astonishing object is the sarcophagus of the Egyptian pharaoh Seti I, carved from a single block of translucent alabaster and over three thousand years old. It sits in the Sepulchral Chamber, a basement room lit from above, like a tomb. The Picture Room is a trick of Soane's own devising: the walls are actually hinged panels that open to reveal three layers of paintings. The museum is free and open Wednesday to Sunday from 10 to 5.

No booking is needed, but the rooms are small and it fills up. Aim for a weekday morning if you can. When you leave, turn right onto Lincoln's Inn Fields and walk to its northeast corner.