Temple

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Bodmin Moor from Temple
Bodmin Moor from Temple

Temple is a remote hamlet in the parish of Blisland located just off the A30 between Bodmin and Launceston, on a remote and desolate stretch of Bodmin Moor. The hamlet is called after the Knights Templar, who are thought to have built a refuge here for pilgrims travelling to the holy land in the twelfth century. After the suppression of the Knights Templar, a church was built on the site of an earlier Templar chapel. The church was dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria and formed part of the medieval preceptory of Trebeigh.

During the centuries that follwed, the remote St Catherine's church became famous as a place where marriages could be performed without license or banns, similar to Gretna Green. The practice was brought to an end in 1774, after which the church was left to fall down, with the roof finally caving in and killing a tramp sheltering inside. A new church was built in the late nineteenth century and consecrated in 1883.