Gray's Inn - Field Court, ca.1885

From: Henry Dixon & Son

RA Collection: Art

""Gray's Inn takes its name from Edmund, Lord Gray of Wilton, by whom, in 1505, the Manor of Portpoole, otherwise called Gray's Inn, four messuages, four gardens, the site of a windmill, eight acres of land, ten shillings of free rent, and the advowson of the Chantry of Portpoole were sold to Hugh Denny. From him the manor passed to the Prior and Convent of East Sheen. They leased it to certain students of the law, who became tenants of the Crown when the property was seized on the suppression of religious houses. The great Lord Bacon had chambers here, from which he dates the dedication of his "Essays." The garden, which is partly shown in the view of Field Court, was first planted in 1600, and as Bacon was then Treasurer of the Society it is not too much to assume that the author of the essay "Of Gardens" had a great deal to do with its planning. These gardens, which continued to have an uninterrupted view of Hampstead and Highgate (see notes on No.21) were long a fashionable promenade.""

The above description, by Alfred Marks, was taken from the letterpress which accompanies the photographs.According to Walter Thornbury, in 1878, Grays Inn comprised South Square, Gray's Inn Square, Field Court, Gray's inn Place, Raymond Buildings, Verulam Buildings and the Gardens. He describes the chambers as "well adapted for study and retirement; they are commodious, airy, and quiet, and free from fogs which, in the winter season, afflict the region near the river."