Domus Conversorum

The Liberty of the Rolls was a liberty, and civil parish, in the metropolitan area of London, England. The Liberty was probably created in the late medieval period by its removal from the Farringdon Without Ward of City of London, and consisted of the part of the ancient parish of St Dunstan-in-the-West that was in the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex, the rest of the parish was within the City. It became a separate civil parish in 1866.Named perhaps after the ancient Rolls House upon Chancery Lane where the rolls of the Court of Chancery of England were kept, or perhaps, like other parishes, the chapel. The site of the house and chapel became the nucleus of the Public Record Office, now the Maugham Library and Provost's Lodgings of King's College London. It was grouped into the Strand District in 1855 when it came within the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works. It was a civil parish from 1866, which became part of the County of London in 1889 and in 1900 part of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. It was abolished as a civil parish in 1922. However, its boundary could be readily seen as that area of Westminster which was the conjunction between the City of London and the Metropolitan Borough of Holborn (and later the London Borough of Camden). This apparent territorial anomaly disappeared in 1994 when the Local Government Commission for England altered the border to place all of the area east of Chancery Lane into the City.

The Maughan Library () is the main university research library of King's College London, forming part of the Strand Campus. A 19th-century neo-Gothic building located on Chancery Lane in the City of London, it was formerly the home to the headquarters of the Public Record Office, known as the "strong-box of the Empire", and was acquired by the university in 2001. Following a £35m renovation designed by Gaunt Francis Architects, the Maughan is the largest new university library in the United Kingdom since World War II.Designed by Sir James Pennethorne and constructed in 1851, with further extensions made between 1868 and 1900, it is a Grade II* listed building. Inside the library is a dodecagonal reading room, inspired by that of the British Museum, and a former medieval chapel, now an exhibition space showcasing the special collections of the library. The library was named in honour of Sir Deryck Maughan, an alumnus of the university.

The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as the PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was merged with the Historical Manuscripts Commission to form The National Archives, based in Kew. It was under the control of the Master of the Rolls, a senior judge. The Public Record Office still exists as a legal entity, as the enabling legislation has not been modified.

The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, also known as the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and sometimes referred to as the Abolition Society or Anti-Slavery Society, was a British abolitionist group formed on 22 May 1787. Slavery was abolished in all British colonies in 1833 as a result. Historians posit that this anti-slavery movement is the first peaceful social movement which all modern social movements are built upon.The society was established by twelve men; including prominent campaigners Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp, who, as Anglicans, were able to be more influential in Parliament than the more numerous Quaker founding members. The society worked to educate the public about the abuses of the slave trade, and achieved abolition of the international slave trade when the British Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act 1807, at which time the society ceased its activities. (The United States also prohibited the African slave trade the same year, to take effect in 1808.) In 1823 the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions (also known as the Anti-Slavery Society) was founded, which worked to abolish the institution of slavery throughout the British colonies. Abolition was passed by parliament in 1833 (except in India, where it was part of the indigenous culture); with emancipation completed by 1838.

Clifford's Inn is a former Inn of Chancery in London. It was located between Fetter Lane, Clifford's Inn Passage, leading off Fleet Street and Chancery Lane in the City of London. The Inn was founded in 1344 and refounded 15 June 1668. It was dissolved in 1903, and most of its original structure was demolished in 1934. It was both the first Inn of Chancery to be founded and the last to be demolished. Through the ages, Clifford's Inn was engaged in educating students in jurisprudence, Edward Coke and John Selden being two of its best known alumni. It also accommodated graduates preparing for ordination, such as the novelist Samuel Butler and those studying for other professions. In 1903, the members of Clifford's Inn reached the view that the establishment had outlived its purpose in education, and unanimously voted to dissolve its incorporation. Its remaining funds were donated to the Attorney General for England and Wales. Since then, Clifford's Inn has housed offices, such as The Senior Courts Costs Office. In apartments above, Virginia Woolf, Sir John Stuttard (679th Lord Mayor) and Sir Ernest Ryder (High Court Judge) have been residents.

Ede & Ravenscroft are the oldest tailors in London, established in 1689. They have two London premises, in Chancery Lane and Burlington Gardens, very close to the famous Savile Row. They make, sell and hire out legal gowns and wigs, clerical dress, civic and municipal robes, academic dress and other ceremonial and formal dress, and have shops in Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh. The main (and historic) outlet and offices are at 93 Chancery Lane which, due to its proximity to the Inns of Court and the country's main civil and criminal law courts, is also the company's main outlet for legal dress.

The Old Bank of England is a public house at 194 Fleet Street, where the City of London meets the City of Westminster. It was constructed on a corner site in 1886 by Sir Arthur Blomfield in a grand Italianate style, the interior having three large chandeliers with a detailed plaster ceiling. It is a Grade II listed building.The building was occupied by the Law Courts branch of the Bank of England from 1888 to 1975 before it was refurbished and put to its current use in 1994. The vaults beneath the pub once contained gold bullion, and are said to have held the Crown Jewels for a period as well. The pub is close to where the fictional Sweeney Todd is said to have plied his trade.The pub is currently operated by McMullen's Brewery.

Prince Henry's Room is situated on the first floor at the front of No. 17 Fleet Street, London. The house is one of the few surviving buildings in the City of London dating from before the Great Fire of London in 1666. It is a Grade II* Listed Building.

The Guild Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West is in Fleet Street in the City of London. It is dedicated to Dunstan, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is of medieval origin, although the present building, with an octagonal nave, was constructed in the 1830s to the designs of John Shaw.

The Queen's Head Tavern (later the Apollo Tavern) was located on Fleet Street to the east of the Temple Bar in London. It was already established in 1682 when it is mentioned in the diary of Narcissus Luttrell: "The 2nd, in the morning early, a fire broke out in the back part of the Queen's Head Tavern, by Temple Bar".Perhaps its most notable clientele were the members of a masonic music club that met there between 1725 and 1727, known as Philo-musicae et -architecturae societas Apollini; their musical director was the Italian composer and violinist Francesco Geminiani.The club's minute-book, now in the British Library, reveals that during its residency at the tavern, the landlord Thomas Oliverson (d.1731) agreed to change the name of the tavern to Apollo, and a new tavern sign was painted by James Parmentier, a member of the club.The area of the tavern can be seen on John Rocque's Map of London, 1746, however the name of the tavern seems to have disappeared from the record by the end of the eighteenth century. The site of the tavern and the southern end of Apollo Court was cleared in the nineteenth century to make way for a branch of the Bank of England to serve the newly built Law Courts. The bank building later became a pub, The Old Bank of England. Present-day maps show that the northern end of Apollo Court is still evident on the ground and still accessible from Bell Yard.

Nando's was a coffee house in Fleet Street in London. It was known to exist in 1696, being the subject of a conveyance, and was popular in the 18th century, especially with the legal profession in the nearby courts and chambers. The name is thought to be a contraction of "Ferdinand's" or "Ferdinando's", and its exact address is given variously as somewhere between 15 and 17 Fleet Street. David Hughson wrote in 1807 that Nando's occupied the building at 15 Fleet Street which was previously the Rainbow Coffee House.The venue was a favourite haunt of Edward Thurlow, who became Lord Chancellor, and he was satirised as being enamoured of the landlady's attractive daughter.Charles Lamb refers to Nando's in his essay "Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading," writing, "Newspapers always excite curiosity. No one ever lays one down without a feeling of disappointment. What an eternal time that gentleman in black, at Nando's, keeps the paper! I am sick of hearing the waiter bawling out incessantly, 'The Chronicle is in hand, Sir.'"

The Rainbow Coffee House was a famous coffee house located at 15 Fleet Street, London. It was opened by James Farr in 1657, becoming London's second coffee house.The Rainbow provided a meeting place for freemasons and French refugee Huguenots who established an information centre there. The Rainbow was also featured in the furore created by Titus Oates, who accused Sir Philip Lloyd of denying the existence of a popish plot there, finding witnesses from amongst the coffee drinkers to testify against himIn 1719 John Woodward wrote a satire The Two Sosias: Or, the True Dr. Byfield at the Rainbow Coffee-House, to the Pretender in Jermyn-Street David Hughson wrote in 1807 that the Rainbow was replaced by Nando's Coffee House in the same building, later in the 17th century.