Park of the week

185. Lincoln’s Inn Fields

Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. Before the 17th century it was used for grazing cattle. It was laid out as a square. in what was then a fashionable area, in the 1630s by Inigo Jones and were private property until it was acquired by the local authority, and opened to the public, in 1895. It takes its name from the adjacent Lincoln's Inn, one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. This itself dates back to 1422, the year before mayor of London Dick Whittington died.

Sometime after 1735 the Fields were enclosed within cast iron railings, on account of the then Master of the Rolls, Sir Joseph Jekyll, being ridden over by a horse. An alternative version of the story claims that Jekyll was attacked for his support of an Act of Parliament raising the price of gin.  The railings were removed during the Second World War and later replaced with steel ones.

The grassed area in the middle of the Fields contains a tennis and netball court and a bandstand. It was previously used for corporate events, which are no longer allowed. Cricket and other sports are thought to have been played there in the 18th century. The square includes many different trees: London plane, tree-of-heaven, ash, holly, holm oak, pedunculate oak, false acacia and flowering cherry. Shrubberies and a planted hedge line the perimeter, providing nest sites for common birds, including blackbird, song thrush, magpie and blue tit.

Prominent buildings around the square include Sir John Soane’s Museum,  the LSE and the Royal College of Surgeons. This includes the Hunterian Museum, and I visited there as well. It contains the  18th century surgeon John Hunter.’s fascinating collection or specimens, equipment and objects. Among the items that caught my eye was a ribcage and spine, the latter S-shaped like mine, which made me fidget just looking at it (I’ve spared you a photo) and Winston Churchill’s upper partial denture. There's also a set of dental tools that wouldn’t have been out of place when I worked as a dental nurse in the summer of 1972 (which left me with a fondness for writing fiction involving dentistry). That makes two reasons why I’m a museum piece.

Judith Field

Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3ED