They also are fine places to spend a peaceful afternoon enjoying the carefully tended lawns and rose gardens, and searching out the history hidden away in ancient corners. They couldn't be handier for lawyers. The Staple Inn in Holborn is the last remaining example of Elizabethan domestic architecture. Each inn has its own history, but their common background is as dwelling places for lawyers, some of whom took in resident students beginning in the late Middle Ages after the practice of law transferred from priests to secular professionals. From this grew the role of the inns as centers of learning for the law.
Solicitors handle non-court legal work.
Each inn has a library, a chapel and a hall for dining and social occasions. If you visit, be sure to choose a weekday. The inns are closed Saturdays and Sundays. It and its somewhat younger red-brick annex look as if they will easily outlast the postwar concrete upstarts on either side. And although it is still possible to get white rubber sandwiches with yellow or brown fillings, they are quite rare.