Staple Inn Garden (London)

 park, garden

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A place for trading in the C13th and C14th, Staple Inn was used by the legal profession from c.1415 until c.1884, and since 1887 has been the home of the Institute of Actuaries. A 'Staple Hall' is recorded here from at least 1292 and it may date from even earlier. Parts of the surviving buildings date from the late C16th when Staple Inn was enlarged, including the half-timbered Elizabethan range facing onto Holborn with an arch leading to the internal Courtyard.

The Garden south of the Hall has existed here since the late C16th and today has fountain, flower beds, trees and shrubs. The Courtyard is paved and has a number of mature plane trees, seats and lamp posts; its well and pump provided the water supply to the Inn until the 1930s.