On the south side of Holborn at No.22 in Farringdon Ward Without (P.O. Directory).
An Inn of Chancery, attached to Gray's Inn.
Extra parochial.
First mention: " Macworth lane " or " Barnardes Inn," 32 H. VI. 1454 (Cal. P.R. H. VI. 1452-61, p. 145).
There is a long account of the Inn in N. and Q. 7th Series.
It appears from an Inquisition taken after the death of John Macworth, Dean of Lincoln, 1422-51, that licence was granted to his executor to demise a messuage in Holborn called " Macworth's lane " to the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln for pious uses, and it is described as the property of the Dean and Chapter of St.Mary's Cathedral, Lincoln, in the Patent Roll temp. H. VI. quoted above.
At this time it was leased to one Lionel Bernard, by whose name it came to be known (Harl MS. 1104).
The messuage seems to have been used as an Inn of Chancery soon after this date, for it appears from the records in Lincoln Cathedral that the Dean and Chapter received a yearly rent in respect of the premises from the principal of the Inn, a term which suggests that it was occupied by students for some purpose or other.
At any rate in 1549 the society was fully established, with principal, antients and students, etc.
In temp. Q. Elizabeth some of the students were residents, while some only kept the terms and resided in the country.
The old hall was originally constructed of timber, like the old manor houses of Cheshire and Shropshire, and may well have been in existence in the 15th century. The first definite reference to it occurs in 1566, when mention is made of the bow window in it. No trace of the old hall remains.
The property remained in the hands of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln until 1888, when the freehold was purchased by Mr. Bartle L. Frere, the Chapter having refused to renew the lease to the Inn (N. and Q. 7th S. II. and III.).
The Inn consisted of about a dozen houses and the hall is the smallest of the Inns of Chancery Halls.
Purchased by the Mercers' Company 1892 and rebuilt for their school, the hall being retained as the dining-hall of the school.