Literary London

Where the books were written, set, sold, printed and buried: from the Globe to the graves, the bookshops to the presses.

This season's book talks, festivals and exhibitions are in What's On: Books & writers

Tell us what we can do better, or what you’re trying to discover.

Lincoln's Inn

The Old Hall where Bleak House opens, in the Inn where Donne and Thomas More were students.

In the storyFree

A gate into the Inn. Photo by David Holt London, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Also in Power & Politics and Beautiful Streets.

'London. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln's Inn Hall.' The Court of Chancery sat in the fifteenth-century Old Hall from 1737 to 1883, so the fog of Bleak House's opening pages gathers here, at the heart of the case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. John Donne was a student and later the Inn's preacher, Thomas More was admitted in 1496, and Dickens knew it as a young lawyer's clerk. The gatehouse of 1521 on Chancery Lane, the chapel and the gardens are open to walk through on weekdays.

Where
Lincoln's Inn, WC2A 3TL
Nearest station
Chancery Lane · 2 min walk

Hours

Monday08:00 – 19:00
Tuesday08:00 – 19:00
Wednesday08:00 – 19:00
Thursday08:00 – 19:00
Friday08:00 – 19:00
SaturdayClosed
SundayClosed

Hours from the page that lists them, checked 5 September 2026.

The Chancery Lane and Carey Street gates are open to the public on weekdays; the Old Hall and chapel are seen on the Inn's tours.

NearbyLiterary London

NearbyOther Categories

See more nearby listings

Submit a correction for this listing.

Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

Which area are you in?