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Photo: Jim Linwood, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Museum in the former English headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller, covering the history of the order from crusading knights to modern first aid organisation. There are paid guided tours available to see the crypt.
The Museum of the Order of St John in Clerkenwell, London, tells the story of the Venerable Order of Saint John from its roots as a pan-European Order of Hospitaller Knights founded in Jerusalem during the Crusades, to its present commitment to providing first aid and care in the community through the St John Ambulance Brigade and running an Ophthalmic Hospital in Jerusalem. The museum is a member of the London Museums of Health & Medicine.
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Local history museum.
Attend free public lectures, in Barnard's Inn Hall (mostly, but other venues are used as well), renowned historic Inn of Court featured in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.
Gray's Inn
One of the four Inns of Court in London who hold the exclusive right to call qualified legal professionals to the bar, i.e. to become barristers at law. The grand buildings housing the inns are arranged around lovely green gardens. There are records of Gray's Inns operating from this location since the 14th century.
See the rare range of Tudor half-timbered buildings. Staple Inn was built in 1585 and served as an inn Inn of Chancery (law school). Most of it escaped both the Great Fire and the German air raids, unlike other buildings in the area. The western end is actually from a different, adjoining building—which was incorporated into the Inn with a unified facade during restoration work in 1936, although the difference can still be seen in the roofing and slightly different style. One of Charles Dickens's homes was on the site and it was featured in his Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Mail Rail
Besides exhibits about the history of the postal service, the museum also has Mail Rail, an operating segment of a former underground railway that used to carry mail to various post offices within London. Visitors can ride a miniature train through the original tunnels. The ride is not for visitors who are large or have mobility problems. The Postal Museum and Mail Rail are in two separate buildings across the street from each other.
Leading dance production theatre with an amazing history back to the 1690s. Everything from classical ballet to hip hop. For ballet fans, you have often got a much better chance of securing a ticket here than in the Covent Garden venues. Also attached is the Lilian Baylis Theatre, primarily performances by students.