Temple is a residence name, carried by people who lived on or worked land held by the Knights Templar. Scotland has one village that wears the word outright. Temple stands above the South Esk in Midlothian, and the Canmore record for the old kirk there states that the modern village corresponds with Balantrodoch, "the principal seat of the Knights Templars in Scotland."
The kirk is roofless now, walls entire, a seventeenth-century belfry on the east gable. The parish took the name Temple only in 1618, by which time the preceptory chapel had become the parish church.
What Was Balantrodoch?
The order's Scottish headquarters, a working estate rather than a castle. The old name is Gaelic, usually read as Baile nan Trodach, the settlement of the warriors. The ScotlandsPeople place record puts the change plainly: the parish "was originally known as Balantroda but renamed when David I granted the lands to the Knights Templar."
Tradition dates the grant to 1128, when Hugues de Payens, the order's first Grand Master, is said to have met David I. Canmore is more careful: the foundation is attributed to David I, no formal record of it survives, and the earliest documentary reference falls in a charter of 1175 to 1199. That gap is the difference between a story and a deed.
Our pieces on Crichton Castle, Dalhousie and the Ramsays and the Shank lands at Borthwick lie within a few miles of the same ground.
Where Did the Land Go After 1312?
To the Hospitallers, by papal order. Vox in excelso dissolved the Templars in 1312 and Ad providam assigned their property to the Knights Hospitaller of St John, whose Scottish center was Torphichen in West Lothian. The two estates were thereafter administered as one.
In 1563 and 1564 James Sandilands resigned the Hospitaller properties to Mary, Queen of Scots and received them back as the hereditary barony of Torphichen. A seventeenth-century tenant of ground called temple land held of that barony, not of a crusading order gone two hundred and fifty years.
Why "Temple Lands" Keep Appearing in Scottish Deeds
Because the tenure outlived the order by centuries. A Haddington History Society study sets out the oddity: a temple tenement inside a burgh was extra-burghal, holding "not of the Magistrates and Council, as representing the Sovereign, but of the owner of the temple lands of Scotland," so its transfers went into the general Record of Sasines at Edinburgh rather than the burgh register. The same paper cites Evelyn Lord's observation that such tenements bore a cross marking them as property of a military order.
The practical point follows. Temple land in a later deed describes how ground was held, not who lived there, and the phrase turns up in burghs that never had a preceptory within twenty miles. Two families of the name, in two counties, can both take it from local temple ground and share no kinship at all.
Does the Surname Prove Templar Descent?
No, and the reason is structural rather than skeptical. A residence name attaches to ground, not to an institution. A man recorded as del Temple was known by where he lived or whom he farmed for, and the Oxford-backed dictionary of family names gives that: Middle English and Old French temple, "denoting a religious house or manorial estate of the Knights Templar," alongside places called Temple. It adds two non-Scottish routes: foundlings baptized at the Temple Church in London, and an Americanized German or Dutch Tempel.
The wider folklore fares badly against the documents. Rosslyn Chapel, the building most often produced as evidence, was founded by William Sinclair in the 1440s and 1450s, roughly a century and a half after the suppression, and medieval historians say the Templar readings of its carvings have no basis in fact. Our piece on Rosslyn Castle covers the family behind it.
Accounts do not even agree on whether Scotland held a trial. One has the Sinclairs giving evidence against the order at Edinburgh in 1309; a survey of the Templars in Scotland says no record survives of any Scottish bishop trying them. What is documented is slighter: one brother, William Middleton of the "Tempill House of Culter," in November 1309. On present evidence the surname sits on the land, not the legend.
How Common Is Temple in Scotland, and Is It Templeton?
Moderately rare, and no. The 1901 Scottish census returned 482 Temples, ranking the name 1,216th. Templeton is a separate surname from places of that name, and merging the two imports strangers into a tree. Temple is well established in England and Ireland too, so a Scottish line must be proved in Scottish registers rather than assumed from the spelling. Our guide to what a Scottish surname tells you covers the general rules.
How Do You Trace a Temple Line?
- Work Midlothian first, especially Temple, Borthwick, Carrington and Newbattle, before widening to Edinburgh.
- Search Temple alone; do not wildcard into Templeton or Templeman until a document forces you to.
- Read temple land as tenure, and check the general Register of Sasines, not the burgh register.
- Start from a post-1855 certificate with our explainer on civil registration, then use our ScotlandsPeople walkthrough.
Own a Piece of Temple Heritage
Balantrodoch is the older name for that Midlothian village, and the parish only became Temple in 1618, by which time the preceptory chapel was doing duty as a parish church. Three pieces carry the surname: a garden flag, a t-shirt and a silver-framed keepsake ornament, family crest over a woven tartan background. No pattern was ever recorded for Temple and none is claimed, the weave having been chosen to suit the product, as our explainer on the customs around wearing tartan describes.
Temple Family Crest Framed Keepsake Ornament
Frequently Asked Questions About the Temple Name
What does the surname Temple mean?
Residence at or service to a property of the Knights Templar, from Middle English and Old French temple. In Scotland the anchor is Temple in Midlothian, formerly Balantrodoch.
Is there a Clan Temple?
No. Temple is a residence surname, with no chief, no clan body and no tartan recorded to it.
Were the Temples descended from Knights Templar?
Not by the workings of the name. Residence surnames identify people by the ground they occupied, and much of the popular Templar material attached to Scotland, Rosslyn included, is unsupported by the surviving record.
Sources and Further Reading
- Canmore: Temple Church (site 53261) — the principal Scottish seat; the 1175 to 1199 charter.
- ScotlandsPeople: Balantroda and Temple parish — the renaming after David I's grant.
- Temple, Midlothian — Baile nan Trodach and the 1618 parish name.
- The Knights Templar in Scotland — Vox in excelso and William Middleton of Culter.
- Haddington History Society: the Templars in Haddington — extra-burghal tenements; the Sandilands resignation.
- Rosslyn Chapel — the foundation date; historians on the Templar claims.
- Dictionary of American Family Names: Temple — the residence sense.
- Temple in the 1901 Scottish census — 482 bearers, ranked 1,216th.
- ScotlandsPeople — Midlothian registers and sasine indexes.
The surname sits on ground rather than on an order of knights, and a deed using the phrase temple land is describing tenure, not descent. Temple designs are here.