Go on a tour of the historic Lincoln’s Inn

Sitting on the edge of the City of London is a large walled estate that is packed full of history and impressively grand buildings — and they offer tours.

This is Lincoln’s Inn, named after their original home in the City which was leased from the Earl of Lincoln. However, for reasons which are a bit unclear, King Henry III banned schools for lawyers in the City in 1234, and all the law schools moved to the borders.

Lincoln’s Inn moved into a former bishop’s palace and has been there ever since, slowly expanding its site, but it still retains the air of a refined enclave within the modern city, fenced off and hidden away, but actually freely open to visit if you want.

And rather than wandering around the outside of the buildings, they recently resumed regular tours of the insides as well, and going on a tour gets you access to areas that even some members of the Inn don’t have access to.

Tours start in the impressive undercroft, which is actually at street level with the chapel built on the first floor, and the space was often used for gatherings, and during WWII as a shelter. Look closely for the WWI bomb damage, from when a bomb was dropped from a Zepplin.

Around the corner is the Old Hall which is a pretty impressive building in its own right, but only a precursor of what’s to come.

Up to the chapel, and this is unusual in that it’s rather lacking in religious symbols and is much more packed full of coats of arms of the lawyers who have been benchers of the Inn. And there are some more amusing modern coats of arms closer to the doors and you sink deeper into history and the older classic armorials as you get up to the altar.

You also learn the true, rather macabre meaning of the famous line from John Donne’s poem, “For whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee”

What will make a visitor gasp though is the grand building that dominates the site, looking very much like a Tudor-era cathedral. It’s actually Victorian and isn’t a Cathedral either, but the dining hall and the library.

But it looks impressive outside, and pretty stunning inside.

If you’re quiet, you can go for a walk around the library, just don’t disturb anyone studying there, and then the real eye-popper of the tour inside the main dining hall.

Lined with portraits modern and old, and huge paintings of the Fire Judges, from the Great Fire of London, the huge space is dominated though by a massive fresco on the far wall. There’s a grand hammerbeam roof, and you’ll learn the surprising significance of the various crests on the tablemats. You’ll also see the only gavel to be used in a legal establishment and learn why a loyal toast is uniquely given while still seated.

The tour lasted about an hour, on my visit, during the pouring rain so as much was spent indoors and darting between buildings, and photography was allowed throughout, with plenty of time in each of the rooms to get your photos and soak up the atmosphere.

Although the estate and the chapel are open to the public, the rest of the buildings are not, and if you like visiting big grand buildings, this somewhat hidden enclave in the heart of London is very much worth a look around.

The tours of Lincoln’s Inn cost £15 per person, and usually take place on a Tuesday morning at 11am.

You can book a ticket from here.