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Photo: Chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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.
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these inns. Located at the intersection of High Holborn and Gray's Inn Road in Central London, the Inn is a professional body and provides office and some residential accommodation for barristers. It is ruled by a governing council called "Pension", made up of the Masters of the Bench and led by the Treasurer, who is elected to serve a one-year term. The Inn is known for its gardens, which have existed since at least 1597.
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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.
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.
Lincoln's Inn
Like Gray's Inn, one of the four societies of the bar. The wonderful old buildings here are arranged around the open spaces of Lincoln's Inn Fields and a walk around this area will give any visitor a real sense of the history and grand traditions of the legal profession in London.
A home for automated arcade machines.
Theatre and concert hall. Home of the National Secular Society and the South Place Ethical Society: often hosts lively debates on religion, politics and secularism.
The former home of architect Sir John Soane, the building has been converted into a museum, displaying some of the objects he collected during his lifetime, including the alabaster sarcophagus of Seti I, and paintings by artists including William Hogarth. There is a display of some of Soane's architectural plans on the upper floor. Be sure to wait in the picture room until the guides open the walls up to reveal further paintings behind. The museum is a little-known tourist attraction, but well worth a visit. Admission free (but you're encouraged to leave a donation), you can walk in on the day.