In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Grays Inn like this:
GRAYS INN, an extra-parochial place, in Holborn district, Middlesex; in the metropolis, on the N side of Holborn, 1 mile NW of St. Paul's. Acres, 13. Real property, £14, 373. Pop., 308. Houses, 56. The Inn of Court here, Grays Inn, is gamed after Lord Gray of Walton, of the time of Henry VII. The hall was built in 1560; is plain Tudor; and has a carved oak roof, a rich screen, and a great window full of armorial bearings. The Gardens, or Inn Walks, were planted about 1600; and, in Charles II. 's time, and the times of the Tatler and the Spectator, were a fashionable promenade. The chief entrance from Holborn was then elegant, but is now a squalid habitation of the poor. The great Lord Burleinh and the great Lord Bacon lived in Grays Inn; and a remarkable number of distinguished noblemen, prelates, and judges have been among its inmates.
The location is that of Gray's Inn, as shown on London street maps.
Grays Inn through time
A Vision of Britain through Time includes a large library of local statistics for administrative units. For the best overall sense of how the area containing Grays Inn has changed, please see our redistricted information for the modern district of Camden. More detailed statistical data are available under Units and statistics, which includes both administrative units covering Grays Inn and units named after it.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Grays Inn, in Camden and Middlesex | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/4110
Date accessed: 24th May 2013
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