London's legal quarter contains nearly eight centuries of history.
Behind its gateways are stories not merely about law, but about kings and parliaments, political struggles, famous trials, extraordinary lawyers and the development of institutions that influenced legal systems throughout the world.
Below are some of the stories you will hear on the tour.
The Four Inns of Court
Why every barrister must belong to one of four ancient societies — Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, Inner Temple or Middle Temple — and where the unusual expression "Inn of Court" came from.
Lincoln's Inn
The history of the largest Inn of Court, its Old Hall and Great Hall, and some of the remarkable people who have belonged to it.
Gray's Inn
From medieval legal education to Francis Bacon and the development of one of London's great legal societies.
Middle Temple and America
The extraordinary connections between Middle Temple and the United States, including members who played important roles in the American Revolution.
Helena Normanton and the First Women Barristers
How the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 opened the profession to women and Helena Normanton became the first woman admitted to an Inn of Court.
Why Barristers Wear Wigs
From seventeenth-century fashion to the horsehair wig still worn in English courts today.
Eating Your Way to the Bar
Why eating dinners at an Inn of Court was once an essential part of becoming a barrister — and why Helena Normanton had to complete 70 of them.
Sir William Blackstone
The English lawyer whose Commentaries on the Laws of England became extraordinarily influential on both sides of the Atlantic.
Francis Bacon and Edward Coke
Two towering figures of English law whose careers, rivalry and political struggles helped shape the legal world of their age.
The Royal Courts of Justice
Why London's principal courts left Westminster Hall and moved into one of the great Victorian Gothic buildings of the Strand.
Westminster Hall — London's Original Law Courts
For centuries three great courts operated simultaneously inside Westminster Hall — alongside lawyers, litigants, bookshops and even taverns.
Barristers and Solicitors
Why England and Wales developed two branches of the legal profession and how their roles have changed.
Temple Church and Magna Carta
The Temple's connections with the events surrounding Magna Carta and the struggle between King John and his barons.
Magna Carta: The American and British Views
Americans and Britons often mean subtly different things when they talk about Magna Carta.
American constitutional history frequently looks back to the celebrated charter of 1215. In Britain, however, the surviving statutory provisions derive from the reissue of 1225.That distinction matters.
The famous 1215 clauses 12 and 14 — sometimes interpreted as containing the beginnings of the principle that taxation required common consent — did not survive into the 1225 version. A future article will examine why two countries sharing the same legal ancestry came to view Magna Carta rather differently.