The London Walker

In and around Chancery Lane are some fabulous buildings and other little known wonders which date surprisingly far back into the cities history. One of the most gorgeous buildings in the area, and there’s a few, is Staple Inn located on High Holborn. It’s one of the few remaining Tudor buildings in the city, and showcases a beautiful, in fact sumptuously stunning original timber-frame; and of course it has a rich history to match, one of surviving fires, plagues and flying bombs.

The origins of Staple Inn date back to the Plantagenet period in 1292. There is a record of a structure known as a le Stapled Halle, possibly a covered market, on what was then know as Houlburne Street, a wide road lined with buildings and surrounded still by fields and gardens. The term “Staple” was born from a duty on wool forged in 1275 at the behest of enterprising merchants and the support of Edward I.

In 1415, the year of Henry V’s famous victory at Agincourt, as the surrounding area became more associated with law and courts, the building evolved into the home of the Society of Staple Inn, an association of lawyers and legal students. By 1586, its status was cemented as an ‘Inn of Chancery,’ a medieval institution offering foundational training in legal practice.

It miraculously escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666 although it suffered extensive damage from a flying bomb at the end of the Second World War which required extensive repairs.

Aside from its historical significance, Staple Inn’s courtyard has earned a reputation as a tranquil sanctuary, providing respite from the relentless noise and congestion of the city. It managed to find itself in the pages of Charles Dickens’ The Mystery of Edwin Drood who described it as an escape from the “clashing streets” of London: “It imparts to the relieved pedestrian the sensation of having put cotton in his ears and velvet soles on his boots.” If you get the chance duck beneath the Tudor arch and wander into the old courtyard Dickens so warmly described.