Devoted to legal activities and forming its own community within the confines of the city, between Fleet Street and the Thames, the Temple, the motherhouse of the Order of the Knights Templar, represents a world apart. Its legal orientation dates from the 17C, when it became the property of the schools and of law offices. The Temple is divided into the Inner Temple inside the city and the Middle Temple, the name given to a picturesque maze of courts, vaults, passages and small gardens.