The Middle Temple, London

Legal history: The Middle Temple Gardens, London, has had lawyers rushing around its beautiful buildings for centuries.

Middle Temple is one of the four Inns of Court which have the exclusive right to Call men and women to the Bar, ie to admit those who have fulfilled the necessary qualifications to the degree of Barrister-at-Law, which entitles them, after a period of pupillage (vocational training) either to practise as independent advocates in the Courts of England and Wales or to take employment in government or local government service, industry, commerce or finance.-Middle Temple

Lots of dark woods and white plaster ceiling and portraits of important people. In short, another one of those wonderful places that takes you back in time to the London that was. The Middle Temple Hall was built during the reign of Elizabeth I, in 1576, as a dining and assembly hall. The Middle Temple Garden is a lovely spot as well, with all those windows and all that fine brickwork as a backdrop.

Being a bit of a bibliophile I was interest to find out that The Middle Temple has a Rare Book and Manuscript Collection with over 7000 early printed books, and approximately 200 Manuscripts. Access to the Collection is by appointment only, but if you are interested legal documents this is worth seeing. The regular library holds about 150,000 books of one sort or another, again mostly legal in nature.

Library Opening Times:

Monday to Thursday - 9.00 am to 8.00 pm
Friday - 9.00 am to 7.00 pm
Saturday - 10.00 am to 5.00 pm (every 4th Saturday)
Monday to Friday - 9.00 am to 5.30 pm
The Library also opens every fourth Saturday on a rota with the other Inn libraries from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm

As with most places in London these days there is a Virtual Tour of The Middle Temple which lets you see the site without the bother of actually going there.

Among the good things the Middle Temple does is help to provide for the next generation of London barristers by offering Scholarships and Prizes. Well, if there's one thing the world needs, it's more lawyers, right?

Middle Temple Lane

London

EC4Y 9AT

Open: 10am-11.30am and 3pm-4pm Mon-Fri