Interior of Temple Church

The circular nave of Temple Church showing the effigies of knights. Temple Church is off Fleet Street in the middle of London's main legal district. It was built by the Knights Templar, the order of crusading monks founded to protect pilgrims travelling to and from Jerusalem in the 12th century.
In these photographs, Reid aimed to record an extended walk through the cities of Westminster and London. He used a wooden whole-plate stand camera and a handcart and stepladder which allowed him to photograph from an elevated standpoint. By the time of his death in 1933, Reid had made over 700 photographs for the project, organised into albums. He wrote two manuscripts in rhyme called ‘The Route Ornate’ to accompany his images.