Gray's Inn

Martin K. Foys on 8 Feb 2003   Link to this

Gray's Inn
Though the founding date of Gray's Inn is unknown (all records before the 1560s burned), by Queen Elizabeth's reign this one of the four Inns of Court was quite popular, and known for its lavish parties.

A full history, as well as maps and descriptions of individual buildings, may be found at:
http://www.online-law.co.uk/bar/grays_inn/histo...

Pauline on 12 May 2004   Link to this

Gray's Inn
One of the four principal inns of court; on the w. side of Gray's Inn Lane (now Gray's Inn Rd) in grounds that stretched north as far as Theobalds Rd. The tree-lined walks in the grounds, reputedly designed and planted by Francis Bacon when Treasurer, provided a pleasant and fashionable promenade, with a view over Gray's Inn Fields of the countryside to the north as far as Highgate and Hampstead.

L&M Companion

Glyn on 6 Apr 2005   Link to this

Gray's Inn Walks were in what is now Gray's Inn Gardens which are a sort of small park or large garden enclosed by walls. It is open to the public only Mon-Fri 12

PHE on 7 Apr 2005   Link to this

For a photo of the gardens:
http://www.smartgroups.com/pictures/openpicture...

vicenzo on 7 Apr 2005   Link to this

as it were/was. in 1700's : ah! the price of real e$tate?
http://www.motco.com/Map/81002/SeriesSearchPlat...
http://www.motco.com/Map/81002/SeriesSearchPlat...

Bill on 13 Jun 2013   Link to this

Gray's Inn Walks, or Gardens; a large open plot of ground, laid out in lawns and gravel walks, and planted with trees, extending northwards from South Square, Gray's Inn, to the King's (now Theobald's) Road. It was laid out as a garden and planted with trees when Bacon was Treasurer of Gray's Inn, and he has always been credited with having devised and directed the operations. The older trees are said to have been planted by him, but none of them are as old as his time.
...
In Charles II.'s time Gray's Inn Walks were a fashionable promenade on a summer's afternoon or evening, and, like the Zoological Gardens in our own time, most fashionable on the Sunday. In a curious debate in Parliament on a "Bill for the Lord's day," one speaker said, "there may be profaneness by sitting under some eminent tree in a village, or an arbour, or Gray's Inn Walks."
...
Gray's Inn Walks became the constant resort not only of fine ladies but of ladies of questionable character, and a favourite place for assignations. The obscene pages of Ned Ward, Tom Brown, The Holborn Drollery, and like publications, and a well-known epigram on the Four Inns of Court, afford ample evidence, though not always of a quotable kind. At this time, the principal entrance from Holborn was by Fulwood's Rents. The gardens remained open and retained their popularity to the days of The Tatler and The Spectator.
---London, Past and Present. H.B. Wheatley, 1891.