Chancery Lane - History

History

Chancery Lane takes its name from the historic High Court of Chancery, which started its association with the area when the Bishop of Lincoln acquired the 'old Temple' in 1161.

In later centuries the Court convened in Lincoln's Inn Old Hall and other buildings there for the Court's purposes, such as the important Six Clerks office. On the eastern side of the street, below Breams Buildings and opposite the Law Society, was the original site of the Domus Conversorum (House of the Converts), a residence and chapel for Jews who had converted to Christianity, founded by King Henry III in the 13th century.

In the 14th century it became the estate of the Master of the Rolls, which included an official residence (Rolls House) and storage for court records. The site later became the Public Record Office (which has since become the National Archive), the present Grade II* listed, Gothic Revival building designed by Sir James Pennethorne was built in 1851. In 1907 it became the museum of the Public Record Office and throughout the latter half of the 20th century records gradually moved to a new site located in Kew. In 2001 it underwent renovation and became the Maughan Library, the largest academic library of King's College London.

The Patent Office was originally situated off Southampton Buildings and some of the minor side streets also are named after their associations with now defunct legal practices, such as Rolls Buildings and Cursitor Alley. Just to the south of the Maughan Library is the site of the former Serjeant's Inn.