Mandirs in the United Kingdomਯੂਨਾਈਟਿਡ ਕਿੰਗਡਮ ਵਿੱਚ ਮੰਦਰ

Britain's Hindus built their temples slowly, and then, suddenly, in stone. For decades the community worshipped in converted churches, halls and houses. Then, between 1995 and 2010, London gained two traditional stone mandirs built the ancient way, carved in India and assembled on site, alongside a third great temple that began life as an English country house. This hub gathers the United Kingdom mandirs published on Jugti: the Neasden Temple, Bhaktivedanta Manor near Watford and Wembley's Shree Sanatan Hindu Mandir. More entries will join the list as the guide grows.

All Mandirs in the United Kingdom

• Shri Nathji Mandir, Leytonstone - the original Shri Vallabh Nidhi UK temple, inaugurated in June 1980 on Whipps Cross Road in east London, with shrines to Shri Ram, Shrinathji, the Shiv Parivaar, Amba Mataji, Jalaram Bapa and Hanumanji.

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London (Neasden Temple) - Europe's first traditional Hindu stone temple, inaugurated on 20 August 1995 in the London Borough of Brent. Built from Bulgarian limestone and Italian marble carved in India by 1,526 sculptors, with no structural steel, it was listed by Guinness World Records 2000 as the biggest Hindu temple outside India.

Bhaktivedanta Manor (ISKCON Watford) - ISKCON's largest UK property, a mock Tudor manor in Letchmore Heath near Watford donated by former Beatle George Harrison in February 1973. Its Janmashtami festival draws up to 60,000 visitors to the estate.

Shree Sanatan Hindu Mandir, Wembley - the golden limestone temple on Ealing Road, opened in the summer of 2010 after fourteen years of building. Made entirely of imported Indian limestone with no steel supports, its shrines hold dozens of deities under one all inclusive roof.

Which is the most famous Hindu temple in the UK?

The Neasden Temple is the United Kingdom's most famous mandir, and the one that changed what British Hindus believed they could build. At its completion it was the largest Hindu temple outside India, and it remains the benchmark for traditional temple building in Europe: Bulgarian limestone outside, Italian and Indian marble inside, a carved wooden Haveli cultural centre beside it, and the permanent Understanding Hinduism exhibition below. Time Out has counted it among the seven wonders of London.

Two ways to build a temple in Britain

Neasden and Wembley share one method: design to the scriptures, carve the stone in India with hundreds of craftsmen, ship the pieces to London and assemble them like a vast jigsaw, with no structural steel. Wembley's builders took fourteen years and used limestone from India itself; Neasden took its limestone from Bulgaria and its marble from Italy and India.

Bhaktivedanta Manor took the opposite path. Nothing was carved or shipped: a Beatle bought an 1884 mock Tudor manor and gave it away, and the temple grew inside a listed English house, fighting a fifteen year planning battle to stay open before winning its access road in 1996. Between them, the three temples tell the whole modern story of Hindu Britain: arrival, ambition, and permanence.

Planning a London temple journey

All three temples on this hub stand in or beside London, and two of them share a borough. Neasden and Wembley are both in Brent, a few miles apart, so the white stone of Neasden and the golden stone of Wembley make one easy day. Bhaktivedanta Manor sits just beyond the city near Watford in Hertfordshire, a country contrast to the two urban giants. Start with the individual entries for each temple's deities, festivals and visiting notes, and check each temple's official site for darshan times before you travel.