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One True Story, One Shakespeare Made Up
Locksmith EC4Y: The Temple's Real Fall, And Its Invented Garden
The Knights Templar really were suppressed here, and lawyers really did take their place. The famous rose-picking scene in the garden next door, though, never happened at all. Call 020 8534 4949 for a locksmith who knows the difference.
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Covering the Temple and Inner Temple, between Fleet Street and the river. Open in Google Maps
Why EC4Y Is Different
One story really happened. The famous one didn't.
EC4Y covers the Temple, the quiet maze of courts, gardens and chambers between Fleet Street and the river where England's legal profession has worked for centuries. Its real history starts with an ending. By 1307, mounting pressure from King Philip IV of France had turned into a formal case against the Knights Templar, and in 1312 Pope Clement V dissolved the order outright. England's Templars fared better than their French counterparts. Only a handful were ever arrested, and when the order was judged, it was found not guilty of the charges against it.
Their London property didn't simply sit empty. The Pope granted it to the Knights Hospitaller, though the Crown held onto practical control for some years first. Records show part of the site being rented out to lawyers from 1347, the beginning of what grew into the Inner and Middle Temple. When Henry VIII later dissolved the Hospitallers too, the lawyers stayed on as tenants of the Crown. In 1608, James I settled the matter for good, granting the whole site to the two societies by royal charter, on condition they kept Temple Church standing for services. That charter is still the basis of their ownership today.
A Garden Where Nothing Actually Happened
Just next door sits a rather more famous story, and it's entirely made up. In Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 1, rival noblemen gather in the Temple Garden and settle their dispute by picking roses, white for York, red for Lancaster. It's a brilliant piece of theatre. It's also fiction. No record exists of any such meeting, and scholars are clear the scene is Shakespeare's own invention. Even the phrase people now use for the conflict, the Wars of the Roses, wasn't coined until the 1800s, by the novelist Walter Scott, centuries after the play was written.
So the Temple holds two kinds of history side by side: one carefully documented in charters and rent rolls, the other entirely invented for the stage. We deal in the first kind. Whatever your building's own history, we make sure its doors are exactly as reliable as the story suggests.
Need something practical? Lockout help for a shut door, a repair for one that's just tired, our night line whenever it's needed.
What EC4Y Residents & Businesses Call About
What tends to come up in the Temple
Barristers' Chambers
Chambers often keep sensitive files and unusual hours in equal measure. We fit commercial security that suits both without fuss.
Book aheadHistoric Court & Square Buildings
Some of the older buildings here carry original ironmongery worth keeping. A careful lock repair respects the scale of what's there.
Book aheadLockouts In Quiet Courts
Once the working day ends, the Temple empties out almost completely. Reliable, discreet entry matters more here than most places.
Same-day priorityFlats Within The Precinct
A small number of residential entrances sit among the chambers. Each gets handled on its own terms, flat by flat.
Book aheadBroken Or Snapped Keys
Older mechanisms here don't always give up a snapped key without persuading. See broken keys for how we go about it carefully.
Call nowEvening & Out-Of-Hours Calls
Court sittings and late filings mean chambers sometimes run well past a normal day. Our night line is built for exactly that.
Call nowFor clarity on scope: our work covers physical locks and door hardware, not spare keys and not a building's own access-card or intercom system. Those stay with whoever manages the Temple estate itself.
Locked Out In The Temple
A working day full of people, an evening with almost none
During court hours, the Temple is busy in its own quiet way, full of barristers and clerks moving between chambers.
By early evening, that changes completely. The courts and squares empty out, and anyone locked out then has genuinely few people nearby to turn to.
Regardless of the hour, gentle methods always come first here. A drill only gets used once everything else has failed.
A key snapped in the lock is a different problem from one that's actually gone missing. Our broken keys and lost keys pages explain how each gets handled.
Around The Temple
What borders the Temple
Covers the wider district, St Paul's through to Blackfriars.
Forms the Temple's northern boundary.
Fetter Lane and the streets just north-west.
Blackfriars, a short walk east along the river.
St Paul's and the streets closest to the cathedral.
Further north, past the old Inns of Chancery.
What We Do
Services across the Temple
Documented Versus Invented
Telling the two kinds of Temple story apart
Charters, rent records and royal grants tell one story about this place, slowly and in dry legal language. Shakespeare told a different kind entirely, compressed into a single scene for dramatic effect. Both versions have shaped how the Temple is remembered, even though only one of them is actually history.
The full documentary record is set out on Wikipedia's account of the Temple. The Folger Shakespeare Library covers the play itself, roses and all, in its guide to Henry VI, Part 1.
A lock doesn't get to be invented for effect. It either works or it doesn't, and we treat every job here on that basis.
If a lock is misbehaving and you can't say why, describe the symptoms and we'll share our honest read on it.
The Process
Booking a locksmith EC4Y callout
- Call or messageTell us the chambers or address, and what's actually happening.
- We check accessThe Temple's own entrances sometimes need advance arrangement.
- Assessed on siteA price follows the engineer's own look at the door, not before.
- Left in working orderWe test the lock ourselves before calling a job finished.
Access & Traffic
Reaching you inside a private, historic estate
The Temple's own courts and squares are largely pedestrian, tucked away from the main road behind gated entrances. A van rarely gets close to the actual door, so most visits finish on foot.
Temple Underground station sits right on the estate's edge, making it one of the more straightforward areas to reach without a vehicle at all.
The estate operates its own access arrangements outside standard working hours, so we confirm entry with you before setting off rather than assuming.
Why People Call Us
What Temple chambers and residents value in us
- We separate fact from flourish. No overselling a job, just a straight account of what's actually needed.
- Gentle before forceful. A drill only appears once nothing else has worked.
- At ease with historic ironmongery. Period hardware gets repaired wherever that's genuinely possible.
- Flats treated as seriously as chambers. A residential job gets the same care as any commercial one.
- Clear about what we don't do. Spare keys and access-card setup stay with the estate itself.
- Reachable at any hour. Busy court day or silent midnight square, it makes no difference.
Nearby
Areas around EC4Y
Common Questions
What Actually Happened To The Templars
Were the Templars in England treated as harshly as in France?
No. Only a handful were arrested here, and the order itself was judged not guilty when it was dissolved.
Who took over their London property?
The Pope granted it to the Knights Hospitaller, though the Crown kept a firm hand on it for some years first.
When did lawyers actually move in?
Records show the site being rented out to lawyers from 1347 onward, the start of what became Inner and Middle Temple.
Shakespeare's Invented Scene
Did the rose-picking scene in the Temple Garden really happen?
No. Scholars are clear there's no historical record of any such event. Shakespeare wrote the scene himself.
So where does the name Wars of the Roses actually come from?
The phrase itself wasn't coined until the 1800s, by the novelist Walter Scott, long after Shakespeare's play.
Why does the scene still matter if it's fictional?
It gave the conflict its lasting imagery, red rose against white, even though the term came from somewhere else entirely.
Booking In The Temple
Do you work within the Temple's private courts and squares?
Where a specific chambers or flat has asked us in, yes. The wider estate has its own management outside that.
Are these buildings noticeably different to work on?
Some are. Older chambers can carry original hardware that newer buildings simply don't have.
Can you reach me given how quiet the Temple gets after hours?
Yes. Quiet streets don't slow us down, and our night line covers exactly that kind of call.
Do you need special permission to reach a job inside the Temple?
Sometimes, depending on the entrance. Tell us the address and we'll work out what's needed.
Is this mostly chambers work, or do you see other premises too?
Chambers make up a good share of it, but offices and the odd flat come up as well.
What if I'm not sure which Inn my building actually belongs to?
That's fine. Give us the address and we'll work it out, or ask on your behalf if needed.
The real Temple needed no embellishment. Neither does our work.
Chambers, flat or office within the Temple — reach out and we'll line up the right engineer for it.