Church Court, Inner Temple,
TQ 3125 8106; (Jonathan Butler); evaluation; October 1999; The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple; TCT99
Five trial trenches were excavated. A light yellow brown medium sandy gravel was
observed in the trench to the east of the site at a height of 9.28m OD. Dumping of
possible Saxo-Norman date was revealed in the most westerly trench, which may represent
levelling of the area for the construction of the New Temple.
A N-S aligned ragstone wall with associated floors of Medieval date were revealed in
the trench to the east of the courtyard. This probably represents the western part of the
cloisters. A skeleton of possible late Medieval date was discovered in the trench in the
centre of the old cloistered area.
The cloister wall and floors went out of use and were covered by post Medieval
demolition dumps. A brick E-W aligned wall was observed which may be the foundation of an
early Post-Medieval timber framed building. The remains of the basement floor of the Lamb
Building, destroyed by enemy action in 1941, was recorded. Post-Medieval dumping was
present in four of the trenches. Three of the trenches were covered by the pre-WWII
Yorkstone pavement.
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