West Bow.1 THE TEMPLE LANDS. 321
and diversion from other patients, and his lucrum
assans, he has lost more than &so sterling, and
craves that sum as his fee and the recompense of
his damage.?
But as it was represented for the Laird of Netherplace,
that he had done his work unskilfully, and
In the city the order possessed several flat-roofed
tenements, known as the Temple Lands, and one
archway, numbered as 145, on the south side of the
Grassmarket, led to what was called the Temple
Close, but they have all been removed. It was
a lofty pile, and is mentioned in a charter of
that the sum of seyenteen
guineas was sufficient
payment.
At the foot of the
Bow, and on the west
side chiefly, were a few
old tenements, that,
in consequence of
being built upon
ground which had
originally belonged to
the Knights of the
Temple, were styled
Templar Lands, and
were distinguished by
having iron crosses on
their fronts and gables.
In the ?Heart of
Midlothian,? Scott
describes them as being
of uncommon
height and antique
appearance ; but of
late years they have
all disappeared.
It was during the
Grand Mastership of
Everhard de Bar, and
while that brave warrior,
with only 130
knights of the order,
, was fighting under the
banner of Louis VII.
at Damascus, that the
Grand Priory of Scotland
was instituted,
~~
KOMIEU?S HOUSE.
( F Y o ~ a Measured Dnrwing by T. Hamilton, pzr6Zislud in 1830.)
and the knight who presided over it was then
styled Magziter Domus T?YZi in Sotid, when
lands were bestowed on the order,first by King
David I., and then by many others. To all the
property belonging to the Temple a great value
was attached, from the circumstance that it
afforded, until the extinction of heritable jurisdictions
in 1747, the benefit of sanctuary; thus
the Temple tenements in Fifeshire are still termed
houses of refuge.
Tempillands, lyand
next ye Gray Friers?
Yard;? and in 1598,
?a temple tenement
lyand near the Gray
Friars ? Yett ? was confirmed
to James Kent
(Torphichen Charters).
On these the
iron cross was visible
in 1824.
On the dissolution
of the order all this
property in Scotland
was bestowed upon
their rivals, the
Knights of St. John of
Jerusalem ; and the
houses referred to became
eventually a part
of the barony of Drem
(of old a Temple
Priory) in Haddingtonshire,
the baron of
which used to hold
courts in them occasionally,
and here, till
I 747, were harboured
persons not free of
the city corporations, I
to the great annoyance
of the adherents of
local monopoly ; but
so lately as 1731, on
the 24th of August,
the Temple vassals
were ordered by the Bailie of Lord Torphichen,
to erect the cross of St. John ?on the Templelands
within Burgh, amerciating [fining] such as
did not affix the said cross.?? This was a strange
enactment in a country where it is still doubtful
whether such an emblem can figure as an ornament
upon a tomb or church. CIearly there must have
been some disinclination to affix the crosses,
otherwise the regulation would scarcely have been
passed.
buildings
shops
templar
knights
