From its inception in 1483 until 1657 the court sat in a disused church in Southwark, and from then until 1665 in Montjoy House, private premises leased from the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral. In order to escape the Great Plague of London in 1665, the court was briefly relocated to Winchester and then to Jesus College at Oxford University. The plague threat having subsided by 1666, the court returned to London and until 1671 was located at Exeter House on The Strand before returning to Montjoy House near St Paul's.