What You Will Do
You will hear how this small area of London almost by accident fostered the development of the English Common Law which spread around the world to the United States, India, Pakistan, Africa, Australia, and many more countries and was the originator of the world's system of common law.
People who changed the world worked, lived, entertained, and were educated in the Inns of Court, including:
*Eight of the signatories to the American Declaration of Independence
*Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan who owned over 200 bespoke (made-to-measure) suits and, as a barrister in London, was said to never wear the same silk tie twice.
* Mahatma Gandhi who had to promise his mother that he would abstain from meat, alcohol, and women before he could enrol in Inner Temple.
* Sir William Blackstone who influenced commercial and criminal law in the United States and British Commonwealth and said: “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.”
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Itinerary
Meeting Point
I will be outside the entrance to the underground under the (closed) kiosk with the MONOCLE sign.
1
Middle Temple Hall
10 minutes
Built in 1573 and said to be "the most perfect" example of an Elizabethan building remaining in Central London. So much of English history revolves around this building.
2
Inner Temple
10 minutes
We will stop outside Inner Temple Hall. Shakespeare's Henry VI Part 1 suggests that the War of the Roses originated with the picking of red and white roses in Temple Gardens. The garden is usually open to the public during the week in the afternoon.
3
Temple Church
10 minutes
Built in 1162 by the Knights Templar, in fiction it featured in Dan Brown's book and film, the Da Vinci Code, and in fact in the Magna Carta negotiations, when King John used the Temple as one of his two bases in London. Temple Church will usually be open after the morning tour - admission is £5.00.
4
Royal Courts of Justice
15 minutes
Opened in 1882 by Queen Victoria, the building was originally designed to house 19 courts and now there are around a hundred. We will go inside the building.
5
Lincoln's Inn
10 minutes
This Inn produced eleven prime ministers. The Old Hall was built around 1490 and was sometimes used as a Court of Chancery.
6
Staple Inn
10 minutes
Is a former Inn of Chancery. The front was erected in 1586 and is the finest example of a Tudor timber framed building in Central London.
7
Gray's Inn
10 minutes
The hall was built in 1560 and reconstructed after bomb damage with a substantial contribution from the American Bar Association. In the square there is a statue to the Inn's most prominent former member. Hear his story and decide whether there should have been a statue to him.
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