Temple and Lincoln's Inn

On this walk we visited London's legal districts.
Inns of Court are associations containing chambers of barristers. As far as I know, barristers are the highest ranked lawyers, and every barrister must be a member of one of the chambers.
Each of the Inns has library, dining and lodging facilities. In addition, there is a church or chapel. London has four Inns of Courts: Inner Temple, Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn and Grey's Inn.



Though we could also have started from Temple station, now we got off at Blackfriars station.

The station is not far from The Black Friar Pub which is in 174 Queen Victoria Street.
Built around 1875, it has a very nice Art Deco interior. The statue of a black monk on the façade and the Black Friar name refer to the time when this part of the City was the property of Dominican monks whose monastery was hereabout.

On the other side of the street, you can see the Neoclassical and Art Deco building of Unilever House which looks to the River Thames. They started building it in 1929 and  became the main office of Unilever in 1930.

The bridge at the left, Unilever House at the right

We turned to Tudor Street, and started off toward the Temple Court which contains Inner Temple and Middle Temple Inns. 

Alsatia used to be the name of this area, which in the 15-17th Century, due to certain privileges had become haven for criminals. The authority had no right to take action here, so it was the most infamous quarter of London at that time. But it also gave refuge to Daniel Defoe in 1692, when he was wanted for some of his writings. Alsatia in 1697 had lost its this type of independence and later slowly consolidated.

Temple Avenue is the Inn's eastern border

Temple entrance from Tudor Street

The eastern entrance of the Temple can be accessed from Tudor Street
From the 12th Century until 1312 here stood the church of the Knights Templar (Temple Church) and its two halls. In 1312 the Templar order was disbanded, and their estates were confiscated, so the London one, which was given to the Knights of Saint John by the Pope. But Edward II did not accept this, and treated this area like his private estate. The Temple was divided into inside (Inner Temple) and external (Outer Temple) parts, and it formally became possession of England in 1324. The king appointed of one of his minions as head,who two years later were executed due to the influence of the queen. That same year, the king was deposed and brutally executed.in 1327.
Afterwards the Mayor of London became the owner, and in 1333 William de Langford minion of Edward III got a 10 years lease.
However, in 1337, the King leased the western part of the Inner Temple to a lawyer. Thereafter there was a sanctified and a profane (Middle Temple) area .
Once Henry VIII dissolved the religious orders, the lawyers remained there as tenants - and still are. The current lease contract's start date is 1608.

After entering we turned right and so reached Temple Church. The church featured in Dan Brown's 'Da Vinci Code', and since tourist interest has increased significantly.
We can see a column with a statue on the top in front of the church: two knights sharing a horse with each other which is a Templar symbol. Surprisingly, this statue has been here since 2000, and marks the place where the great Fire of London was stopped in 1666. So this is a counterpart of Sir Christopher Wren 's Monument (more about that another time), which towers on the starting point of the fire .

In front of the old, round part of Temple Chruch stands a column with an old templar symbol on the top; knights sharing a horse with each other

The church was built in the 12th Century by Templars. Originally, only the round part was built based on the Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and later added the rectangular part of it.

View of the interior of the church from the old part. The famous effigies are on both sides.

Previously, the Templars had a smaller, also round-based church in Holborn, but from there they moved to the present location. The church was consecrated  in 1185 during the reign of Henry II by Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem. After the Great Fire of London it was renovated by Sir Christopher Wren and was added the organ as well.

Grotesque heads all over on the wall of the round part

'Memento Mori' symbol on the grave of Sir Edmund Plowden

Then we walked through beautiful yards and gardens to the Middle Temple, where the famous 16th Century Middle Temple Hall was built. A lot of interest fact is bound to this place, such as here was the first performance of Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' in 1602. Probably here was where Robert Louis Stevenson - who was a member of the Middle Temple - found names for a well-known novel of him. It's thought so, because several coat of arms can be found on the famous window of the hall - the Chancellor's Window - , especially of important families' arms and two of them are of a certain Josephus Jekyll's, while another is Roburtus Hyde's...

Middle Temple Hall

The building is used for meetings and meals by the students of Middle Temple as usual. It had many famous residents: in addition to the already mentioned Stevenson, Geoffrey Chaucer, author of the Canterbury Tales, Sir Francis Drake, the 'pirate' of Queen Elizabeth I, Gandhi and Tony Blair.

The Middle Temple Hall from the garden side

The hall is between Middle Temple Lane in the East, which formerly led till the River Thames, and the Middle Temple Gardens in the West.

Middle Temple Lane from the Temple

Middle Temple Lane from the Thames

At the end of the courtyard of the Middle Temple Hall (Fountain Court) is a small fountain, which has inspired several writers, such as Dickens.

Fontain Court

From the fountain, facing the Thames we saw the Middle Temple Gardens, which might have been a garden during the time of the Templars, based on some sources.

Middle Temple Gardens

West from the Temple, near the River Thames is the Astor House, also known as Two Temple Place. We left the Middle Temple Gardens  through one of its west gate to take a look. Although it seems very old, in fact, it was built in 1895 as apartments and offices of Lord William Waldorf Astor. The exterior is early Elizabethan-style, while the interior invokes the French Renaissance. Currently it is owned by the Bulldog Trust Charity. Sometimes exhibitions are held in it, and then you can visit the house.

The model of Santa Maria on the roof of the Astor House

Columbus's ship the Santa Maria has been added to the roof to symbolize the Astor family's relation to America. Indeed, the builder's ancestor, John Jacob Astor was a businessman who founded one of the first major U.S. companies and he was the first American multi-millionaire as well.

From the Temple you can start off in several directions toward The Strand to the north, such as next to the Astor House in the cosy Milford Lane:

Millford Lane with the fence of the Astor House in the left

But if we stay on the temple, you can exit to the Devreaux Chambers, from where we got to the George Pub in The Strand.

Exit towards The Strand

George was launched in 1723 as a coffee house, transformed in 1830 to hotel, and later to pub.

The interior of the George

Its look seems to be from the 18th Century, though it was renovated in the late 1890s in that style. A headless knight is haunting supposedly in the basement, but doesn't hurt anyone.

On the other side, just opposite is the neo-Gothic building of the Royal Court of Justice. The building was inaugurated by Queen Victoria in 1882. This is the Supreme Court of England and Wales.

The Royal Court of Justice from the George

In The Strand at the eastern part of the building is the Temple Bar, which marks the official western boundary of the City. As the name implies, in the Middle Ages a barrier was here, and according to tradition, the King or Queen went through it only in the presence of the Lord Mayor.

The Temple Bar

Sir Christopher Wren's gate stood in this place in the 17-19th Century, but then, due to a road expansion it was demolished and rebuilt in a private estate in Hertfordshire in 1880. In 1984, the Temple Bar Trust repurchased it (for £1), and in 2003 they moved it next to St Paul's Cathedral so now it is the entrance of Paternoster Square.

Since 1880 there is a monument in the original site atop a dragon, which is the symbol of the City of London (see the picture above).

A little further to the east, The Strand continues as Fleet Street. The latter is Anna's big favourite, so she definitely will write about it once in another post. In our walk we did not follow it, but turned north instead to Chancery Lane and aimed Lincoln 's Inn.
Chancery Lane connects Fleet Street with High Holborn, and many interesting sites can be found here .
The Maughan Library is one of the main libraries of King's College (one of London's major universities). The 19th Century neo-gothic building was the Public Record Office until 2001, and then became the property of the University.

Maughan Library

The library was named after Sir Deryck Maughan and his wife Lady Maughan who supported the university with significant amount of money. The building was completed in 1851, designed by Sir James Pennethorne, but many alterations and additions had been made yet between 1868 and 1900. The building is grade II listed.

Roughly opposite the library is The Law Society. This is the organization of Solicitors who are lawyers also but do different things comparing with barristers.

The Hall of the Law Society

Also on Chancery Lane is located Ede & Ravenscroft's shop. The shop was founded in 1689 and  makes, sells and lends lawyers and judges formal suits since then.

The backdoor of the shop of Ede & Ravenscroft

From Chancery Lane we turned to Carey Street where the bankruptcy courts used to be. Weekdays you can go into Lincoln's Inn from this street - it was the entrance we chose that day.

Carey Street

Henry de Lacey, the earl of Lincoln donated this land to the law students in the early 14th Century. This time this area was still countryside with a pond in the middle and earlier a religious order owned it.
Thomas More was the most famous resident of this college, who became later an adviser of Henry VIII and then lord chancellor. He wrote 'Utopia', which describes the society he considered perfect. In his work kids only get crumbs, rest from the elderly; young people serve the elderly, and elderly have the responsibility to strictly punish even the slightest offense. The priest's duty is the education of children - who are owned by the Republic - to instil obedience into them and thus will play a big role in the maintenance of the state. The priests - since they have the less survival instinct - have, however, the finest women, so their offsprings are not stunted.
This is an interesting contradiction that utopia allowed the clerical marriage, and this was against the Catholic doctrine, but More opposed the divorce of Henry VIII from Catherine Aragon. As the Pope didn't allow the annulment, Henry assigned himself at the head of the English Church though had not yet completely broke with Rome. From this position he allowed himself a divorce and married Anne Boleyn. Morus resigned and didn't attend the wedding, which the king disliked. After the wedding, the Pope excommunicated Henry, who in response proclaimed himself the only head of the Church, and expected all his subjects to attest to him. As Morus refused it because he thought that lay person could not be the head of the Church, Henry imprisoned him and after his further oppositions Morus was beheaded.

The statue of Thomas More in Carey Street, close to the  Lincoln's Inn

This Inn is much more transparent, less labyrinthine than the Temple courts. First, we set off towards the Chapel and the Old Hall.

Lincoln's Inn Chapel and the Old Hall

Lincoln's Inn Chapel was built around 1620. Many mother left their babies alone at the imposing, arched undercroft beneath, to be raised by the Inn. These children were often given the first name Lincoln.

The interior of the chapel

The arches of the undercroft, under the chapel

The later built Great Hall and the library are located in the western part of the Inn. The Great Hall's role is the same as for the Middle Temple Hall, ie meals and gatherings, but concerts are held here either.

The library of the Lincoln's Inn

Over the library is the western entrance of the Inn from Lincoln's Inn Fields, which is London's largest square.

The entrance of Lincoln's Inn from Lincoln's Inn Fields

They started building the first houses in 1638 in Lincoln's Inn Fields; earlier they used this area for knightly sports and tournaments, but also for executions. Here, for example were quartered and hanged 14 members of the Catholic Babington plot against Elizabeth I in 1586 as well.

In the garden of Lincoln's Inn Fields

South-East corner of the square

The only remaining original building  can be seen on the western side of the square: Lindsey House (59-60). In the 18th Century, after the area began to deteriorate, the residents got permission to close the square, so it could start improving slowly.

Lindsay House at the right

The most famous houses are on the north side of the square, the buildings of Sir John Soane Museum (No12,13,14). Sir John, who though was a son of a simple mason, became a famous architect, designed the house himself, which became a museum after his death. We saw his mausoleum in another walk of ours.

Sir John Soane Museum

Since Sir John was a collector, he accumulated an incredible amount of artefacts in his house. The museum is not a traditional one, because it's terribly crowded. It's free to visitors, but unfortunately taking photos is not allowed. 

After visiting the museum, we walked northward to High Holborn and from there we went to the Cittie of Yorke, which we have previously mentioned. 

The Grey's Inn would be relatively easy to access from there, but we will present it another occasion. 

The Inns of Courts are worth visiting on weekdays, as they are not completely opened on weekends; in addition it is rather extinct that days, and so provides a completely different impression.

Kings Cross and St Pancras

Earlier that day we were in St James's Park spotting birds and arrived to the station around 2pm.
Not too long ago, I had a chat with English colleagues of mine about the name of this station, that it's St Pancras or King's Cross. They did not know exactly, but we guessed that St Pancras is the international one, and King's Cross is the domestic one, and actually, it's two separate, abutting railway stations. Harry Potter's train left from the latter.

Platform 9 3/4

The front of St Pancras is a beautiful hotel (formerly Midland, now the Renaissance Hotel), designed by George Gilbert Scott. Scott was one of the most prolific designers: about 800 building designs or reconstructions are associated with his name (such as the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park).

The Renaissance Hotel

Inside the station stands 'The Meeting Place', Paul Day's monumental sculpture. Not just the public, but our family was also divided over this sculpture.
The message is clear enough in itself here on the platforms of Eurostar which connects England and France. The statue was modelled after the sculptor and his French wife, Catherine.

The Meeting Place

Leaving the station, first we started off eastward in Euston Road. There was a wide variety of people and heavy traffic which is typical in the vicinity of such a big railway stations.

First, the Lighthouse was we wanted to see which is a lighthouse built on top of  a house, but it was renovated, so we missed it. The origin of the lighthouse is uncertain, although the building has been from the 19th-century. Based on a theory it was a marketing trick of the oyster bar in the ground floor, in an age when oysters were cheap food and the lighthouse lamp light signalled the arrival of the fresh product, so that was also visible from afar.

A borrowed picture of The Lighthouse Building (Photograph by Mike Peel)

From there we started back on the south side of Euston Road, and then we went further down into smaller streets. In Argyle Square, almost every house is a small hotel. The process of the transition from houses to hotels started around 1860, though at that time these hotels were rather brothels. Prostitution was present until the 1990s, when the area was rehabilitated. The Pet Shop Boys's 'King's Cross' in 1987 still shows that darker era.

We go across the cosy Whidborne Street 

We followed the small alleyways of Whidborne Street and Argyle Walk then walked further in Tonbridge Street, and then from there we went in Bidborough Street. Our aim was Woburn Walk, a little bit further away. This street is a separate, small world with its small shops and shop windows. William Butler Yeats, the famous Irish poet lived here, in the number 18, between 1895 and 1919.

The shops of  Woburn Walk

Then we visited the peculiar, Greek-style St Pancras Church which was consecrated in 1822.

St Pancras Parish Church

The main entrance is from Upper Woburn Place. Both on Euston Road and temple garden side, robust caryatids are standing; they are robust to a fault. The reason of this is a mistake: the creator, John Charles Felix Rossi worked on them in the studio for three years, and when he delivered them into place, realized that they were too tall to their place! So he chopped them up on the spot, and shortened the statues. Fortunately, it's hard to spot it because the sculptures' chitons have allowed the operation.

Caryatids

The garden-facing caryatids are protecting the crypt, which hasn't been used for burials since the 1850s. During the Second World War it was used as air raid shelter, but now exhibitions are held there. When we were there, there was an Italian exhibition, "When Material Transforms into Art".

Exhibition in the Crypt - Anna liked this dress

After visiting the exhibition, we went over to the other side of Euston Road, we crossed a small park in front of Euston station and headed to Melton Street which later becomes Cardington Street.
In London there are some abandoned, closed subway station, here you can find such a sad building. Euston Underground station himself exists, but this is a ceased exit.

Dead station

At the end of Cardington Street we found the abandoned building of London Temperance Hospital which prepared us for the  bleakness of Hampstead Road. The hospital was founded in 1885 by a teetotaller association. The main goal was to avoid using alcohol for curing. From 1939 up till 1990 it worked as temperance hospital.

The abandoned hospital

The southern part of Hampstead Road is so ugly as it is. Noisy, dirty and hideous buildings are everywhere. So we were forced to endure a whole 10 minutes until we were going through it.

Grey, noisy, bleak

We went past a block of houses which we had spot once from the top of the London Eye. This is the Ampthill Estate, which was funny-looking from the distance with its different coloured roofs, but they were just so big, grey blocks in reality.

Ampthill Estate

Arriving to Mornington Crescent you can go further to visit the exciting, busy Camden but we turned right. As moving away from the Hampstead Road, all was becoming more relaxed. On the corner of Oakley Square and Crowndale Road was the Working Men's College, the world's first workers' school, founded by the Christian Socialists in 1854.

Working Men's College

Walking down on Crowndale Road we saw this former church building converted to theatre. The Theatro Technis has been operating since the '50s as fringe theatre company with strong ties to Cyprus.

Fringe theatre

On the other side of the old buildings of St Pancras Hospital and St Pancras Gardens is Goldington Crescent Gardens. Walking through it, we 'admired' the 'Clouds', these extremely ugly looking rather tumour-like statues. Well, we are not the only one who disliked it.

Cloud

St Pancras Gardens is a nice quiet (grave) park, just a few people were walking there other than us. First we visited St Pancras Old Church. This place is supposed to have been a Christian site of worship since the 4th Century.

St Pancras Old Church

The interior of the church

The graveyard is fused with the park, where a number of really interesting things caught our attention. A strange twisty tree with branches as if they were writhing people:

Novelist and poet Thomas Hardy in his young age was supervisor of railway construction here in 1865 (originally studied civil engineering). During the construction the temple garden was cut in half, and the graves were just emptied. Hardy was absolutely horrified when he saw the scattered remains of the dead, and was really shaken especially seeing a two-headed skeleton. He kicked up a stink, ordered the train company to mend its crime, and he hoarded  the tombstones around the root of this tree. As two of our London books have it.
In contrast, according to a little tablet placed there, though the tree was Hardy's idea indeed, he just revised the exhumation of the dead which passed off nicely. So maybe just another urban legend?

Hardy's Tree

The following image shows the mausoleum designed by Sir John Soane for himself and his family, and it contains every architectural feature which is characterise his oeuvre. There are two Grade I (unchangeable monument) sepulchres in London; this one and Marx's monument in Highgate Cemetery. Supposedly, this mausoleum served as model of the famous London red telephone box.

Soane's mausoleum

We went through,  under the rails coming from St Pancras, to reach the Camley Street Natural Park, which sounded fantastic in the midst of many rail and industrial areas, but unfortunately it is closed on Saturdays.

This was the umpteenth walk of ours in London when we ran into the Regent's Canal.

Regent's Canal

The canal flows from the Paddington, through the northern part of Regent's Park down till the docks, near the western part of Canary Wharf. It was extremely impressive, as this area which we visited  was restored and developed.

Located on the other side of the canal is the renovated Granary Square situated with fountains, chairs, benches, neighbouring a college of the University of Arts London - you can cross over a footbridge to get there.

Granary Square

Then,along the canal, we went till the Battlebridge Bassin, which was formerly a harbour. The bassin is extremely quiet and beautiful with apartments with a view to the water, restaurants and houseboats. On the other side of the harbour is the Canal Museum.

Battlebridge Bassin

We approached the harbour through the Kings Place, which is a large office building with concert and exhibition halls. Restaurant, café and The Guardian editorial offices has been here as well.

Kings Place

Long time ago, there was a settlement called Battlebridge in the area; this is the origin of the name. According to tradition here was a battle between the army of Boudica, the warrior queen and the Romans around 60- 61 AD.

And to link back to the beginning of the post: another tradition is that Boudica's tomb  is under the platforms 9 and 10 in Kings Cross somewhere, so the place where Harry Potter usually disappears off.
Close to the end of our trip, we reached Scala, the famous concert venue. In daylight it is more like an abandoned hotel, though it works.

The Scala

The building was originally made ​​for cinema in 1914, but World War I intervened, so at first the nearly completed building had been used for different purpose. As cinema, it finally opened up in 1920.

In the early '70s the movie expanded its profile and became scene of rock concerts as well. Here, for example, had the only concert of Iggy Pop and the Stooges in London. Then, in 1974, local residents didn't bear more noise, and with petitions they managed to make close the venue.
The Scala reopened in 1981 as movie again, and in 1993 went bankrupt.
In 1999 it was renovated, expanded, and has been working as a cinema, disco and concert hall since then. Its performers, among others, were Deftones, Coldplay and Avril Lavigne.

This walk took about three and a half hours.