Gray's Inn

One of the four Inns of Court that have the exclusive right to call men and women to the Bar, Gray’s Inn, or The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, has evolved over the centuries, growing steadily during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to become the largest of the four. The Inn started off as a manor house with a hall and chapel, suffered three disastrous fires between 1680 and 1687, and was badly damaged during the Blitz. Today in addition to its sixteenth-century Hall and twentieth-century library, the Inn contains a mix of buildings, many constructed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and let as offices for barristers and solicitors. There is no public access to the buildings, apart from special events and also tours as part of the annual Open House London event, which is held in September. However, the Inn’s formal gardens, known as The Walks – which were laid out in the early seventeenth century – are open on weekdays, 10am-2.30pm.