stationed. The design of the church which Heraclius
consecrated was determined by the circular chapel which stood on the
site of the Old Temple in Holborn, and the prototype of both buildings
was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, with which English
Templars must have been familiar from the earliest days of the Order.
The travels of Templars and Crusaders undeniably influenced English
architecture. One such influence we find in the constructive use of the
pointed arch, which is said to have been introduced about 1125 from the
South of France--a route which Norman Crusaders frequently followed. For
many years after that date pointed and round arches were used almost
indifferently in Norman work, so that the strongly pointed arches of
the Round Church are not in themselves decisive of the date of the
building. It is not till about 1170 that the real transition from Norman
to Early English can be said to have begun. In the interior of the Round
Church this movement is in full swing. The lower arcade has been
inaccurately restored and must not be taken as evidence, but in the
decorative band of arcading on the upper wall which frames the openings
into the triforium we see how the intersection of two semi-circular
arches gives the pure lancet form. The crucial point, however, is the
absence of the massive Romanesque columns which invariably mark true
Norman work. In their place we have columns of comparative slenderness,
each consisting of four almost insulated shafts of Purbeck marble, two
smaller and two larger. These columns must be among the earliest
examples of their kind in England. There is a somewhat similar treatment
(two shafts only, as originally designed) in the Galilee of Durham
Cathedral, built a few years later, whereas in the choir of Canterbury
Cathedral, which was rebuilt only a few years before 1185, the
Romanesque columns are still retained, though the style of the capitals
is modified.

The historical interest of the church is not confined to its
architecture. The eight small half-length figures between the capitals
outside the west door, though sadly defaced and only reproductions of
the originals, stand in close relation to the consecration ceremony. In
1783, according to a writer in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, they were
"very perfect," and were believed to represent on the north side Henry
II. with three Knights Templars, and on the opposite side Queen Eleanor
with Heraclius and two other