Hare Court at present,
looking south-east. |
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The name of this court commemorates Nicholas Hare
(d. 1597), one of four bencher brothers, and Treasurer in 1584,
who built chambers here; it was previously called the Little Court,
or Garden Court, and is perhaps the same as Nut Tree Court, called
the 'Nut Garden' in Henry VIII's time. It contained a well, with
a pump. The original buildings here were named after various members
who paid for their erection - for instance Crompton's Building and
Brooker's Building - but after rebuilding in the seventeenth century
they were all known by the name of the court itself.
Hare Court, 1830. Drawing
of west range (demolished 1893), which in the 18th
century housed the Common Pleas office. |
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Only the chambers on the west and south sides open
into the court; those on the west side also open into Middle Temple
Lane and have passages leading through. Jeffreys had chambers at
No. 3. The west range (Nos. 2-3) was rebuilt in 1679 after the fire
of 1678, and again (to the design of Sir Thomas Jackson) in 1893-94.
There are carved plaques on both sides of this range with the names
and arms of Alfred George Marten, Treasurer 1893, and Arthur Cohen,
Treasurer 1894.
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