Temple Church was founded c.1147 by Robert of Gloucester, the powerful illegitimate son of Henry I, who held Bristol Castle and great estates in the area. He granted land to the Knights Templar, who built upon it one of the round churches for which they are famed. Medieval rebuilding imposed a more conventional plan, though slipped up slightly with the leaning tower. The church was gutted by bombs in 1942. Its shell can be contemplated in the secluded Temple Gardens.
