place

Pump Court

Inns of CourtStreets in the City of WestminsterUse British English from June 2015
Pump Court
Pump Court

Pump Court, Temple, London was the first on the left in Middle Temple Lane from 6 Fleet Street, leading to Inner Temple Lane and Lamb's Buildings. Its name referred to the pump in the middle.In the year following 1 Car 1 (1625), brick buildings were erected in the Pump Court. In 1637 (13 Car 1), the rest of the brick buildings in the Pump Court were set up.Many famous figures have lived in Pump Court including William Blackstone, William Cowper, Henry Fielding, Lord Russell of Killowen and Viscount Alverstone, his successor as Lord Chief Justice of England. There is a sundial with a motto that reads "shadows we are and like shadows depart" to remind the residents of the ephemeral character of their occupancy. This sun dial was put up in 1686, and there is an entry in the accounts in respect of it which reads "25th Nov. 1686 Sun Dial in Pump Court £6. 5. 0." It is renovated periodically, and on each of these occasions it was customary for the year and the initials of the Treasurer for the time being to be placed in the centre of the dial. It was restored in 1861. After it was renovated and repainted in 1903, the inscription in the centre read "T. Sir R. B. F. 1903" the Treasurer of the Middle Temple for that year being the Attorney General, Sir Robert Finlay. The insignia of the Middle Temple, the Lamb and Flag, "stood out very boldly" in gold at the top, and the motto was at the bottom. The inscription in the centre was subsequently replaced with "T O M 1686".

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Pump Court (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Pump Court
Pump Court, City of London

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Pump CourtContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.5129 ° E -0.111 °
placeShow on map

Address

Pump Court

Pump Court
EC4Y 7AJ City of London
England, United Kingdom
mapOpen on Google Maps

Pump Court
Pump Court
Share experience

Nearby Places

Essex House (London)
Essex House (London)

Essex House was a house that fronted the Strand in London. Originally called Leicester House, it was built around 1575 for Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and was renamed Essex House after being inherited by his stepson, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, after Leicester's death in 1588. The poet Philip Sidney lived in Leicester House for some time. The property occupied the site where the Outer Temple, part of the London headquarters of the Knights Templar, had previously stood, and was immediately adjacent to the Middle Temple, one of the four Inns of Court. The house was substantial; in 1590, it was recorded as having 42 bedrooms, plus a picture gallery, kitchens, outhouses, a banqueting suite and a chapel. Essex’s mother, Lettice Knollys, leased out the house for a while, but she moved in later with her new husband, Sir Christopher Blount, as well as her son and his family. After the executions of Blount and Essex in 1601, she continued to live there until her death, leasing part of the house to James Hay, the first Earl of Carlisle. Hay hosted a lavish banquet for the French ambassador in 1621 at Essex House involving sweetmeats costing £500 and ambergris used in cooking costing £300, and the total bill was £3,300.The house then became the property of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, who leased part of it to his brother-in-law, William Seymour, 1st Marquess of Hertford. After the English Civil War, the family lost ownership as a result of their debts. Following the Restoration and the death of William Seymour, Sir Orlando Bridgeman lived in the house for a time. When the Duchess of Somerset died in 1674, she left the house to her granddaughter, whose husband, Sir Thomas Thynne, sold it, along with the adjoining lands and properties. The main part of the house was demolished some time between 1674 and 1679. Essex Street was built on part of the site. One of those buildings was used in the mid-1770s as a Dissenters' meeting house known as the Essex Street Chapel, where Unitarianism was first preached in England. The denominational headquarters are still on the site, now called Essex Hall. Their building footprint is believed to include the Tudor chapel of Essex House.