Staple Inn

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R & J BECK LTD LONDON1914 FROG NAUTICAL FOLDING FLAT BINOCULAR ANTIQUE SPY GLASS
29 Jan 2012 at 11:35am
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1956 New London Harbor - Thames River Connecticut, Large Nautical Chart
6 Jan 2012 at 11:14am
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W. J. Loftie, adding to the incomplete work of Sir Walter Besant, in The Fascination of London, published in 1903, takes a look at Staple Inn:

Passing on into Holborn and turning eastward, we soon perceive a row of quaint Elizabethan gabled houses, with overhanging upper stories and timber framework.

The contrast with the modern terra-cotta buildings on the north side of the street is striking.

The old houses are part of Staple Inn, now belonging to the Prudential Assurance Company, whose red terra-cotta it is that forms such a contrast across the way.

It was bought by the company in 1884, and restored a few years later by the removal of the plaster which had concealed the picturesque beams.

Still within St. Andrew's parish, we here arrive at the City boundaries.

The numbering of Holborn proper, included in the City, begins a door or two above the old timbered entrance, which leads to the first courtyard of Staple Inn.

The courtyard is a real backwater out of the rushing traffic. The uneven cobble-stones, the whispering plane-trees, the worn red brick, and the flat sashed windows, of a bygone date all combine to make a picture of old London seldom to be found nowadays. Dr. Johnson wrote parts of "Rasselas" while a resident here.

The way is a thoroughfare to Southampton Buildings, and continuing onward we pass another part of the old building with a quaint clock and small garden. Near at hand are the new buildings of the Patent Office and the Birkbeck Bank and Chambers, already mentioned, an enormous mass of masonry.

The Inn contains a fine hall, thus mentioned in 1631:

"Staple Inn was the Inne or Hostell of the Merchants of the Staple (as the tradition is), wherewith until I can learne better matter, concerning the antiquity and foundation thereof, I must rest satisfied. But for latter matters I cannot chuse but make report, and much to the prayse and commendation of the Gentlemen of this House, that they have bestowed great costs in new-building a fayre Hall of brick, and two parts of the outward Courtyards, besides other lodging in the garden and elsewhere, and have thereby made it the fayrest Inne of Chauncery in this Universitie."

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