SURVIVAL OF GREAT FIRE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19802, 18 May 1934, Page 6

SURVIVAL OF GREAT FIRE

LONDON RELIC TO DISAPPEAR Oldest of the Courts of Chancers, where law students of the 14th centum studied before taking chambers, Clifford’s Inn, a quaint and picturesque relic of old London, enclosed between the church of St. Dunstan-in-the-Wqjst» Fleet Street, and the Record Office, is in danger of disappearing under a. development scheme. Tenants have been served with notice to quit by June 24 next, for the owners intend, it is understood, to erect i3ats, with shops and offices. The inn contains the only group of brick houses left in the city which date before the Great Fire of Londtm in 1660. It was in the old hall thnt Sir Matthew Hale and other commissioners sat to deal with the claims that arose out of the Great Fre. The hall takes its name from Robert de Clifford, Earl of CumberTa*wl, who was granted the property by Edward 11. in 1310. His successors te.'*sed it to the law students for £lO a, year, and in 1618 the students acquired a freehold. For three centuries the affairs of the estate were managed by a body called The Ancients, and it was this governing body which disposed of the property in 1900 for approximately £IOO,OOO.