The history of Gray’s Inn as a site of legal activity may be traced back before 1370. The Inn occupied property owned or controlled by the dean and chapter of St Paul’s, and subsequently by the family of Grey of Wilton. Historically the manor was called Portpoole, remembered today in Portpool Street which runs eastward from Gray’s Inn Road. (In Elizabethan and Stuart times the site gave its name to the Inn’s lord of Christmas, called the Prince of Portpool or Purpoole.)

The northernmost of the four Inns of Court, Gray’s Inn, is bounded on the east by Gray’s Inn Lane (now Gray’s Inn Road), on the south by shops fronting on High Holborn, on the west by Bedford Mews (now Jockey’s Fields), and on the north by the King’s Way (now Theobalds Road) and fields not yet built over. Within its walls Gray’s Inn comprises law chambers (still used for residence), a hall, a chapel, a library, a treasury, and walks and gardens. Today’s Gray’s Inn is mostly post-Restoration in its architecture, though it preserves the original layout of its buildings and grounds.

The governing body of Gray’s Inn is called the pension. Orders of pension were recorded in a series of Pension Books. Archival documents, maintained under the care of an archivist, are produced and read in the library.

Gray's Inn Pension Book

Surviving Pension Books date from 1568–9. William Dugdale consulted an earlier volume, now lost. His Origines Juridiciales (1666) preserves entries from 1529–30 and 1550–1 (see pp 58–9, 74; see p lxxvi for document description). Financial accounts were entered in the Pension Book to 1582–3, and thereafter in Ledger Books. The library holds microfiche of the Pension Books produced in 1976 (skipping ff 234v–5), and digital photos of PEN/1/1 (Pension Book 1), taken in 2006 when the volume was disbound for conservation.
The standard essential publication is Reginald J. Fletcher (ed), The Pension Book of Gray’s Inn (Records of the Honourable Society)1569–1669, vol 1 (London, 1901).

Access Gray's Inn Pension Books by year: 1568-9, 1570-1, 1571-2, 1572-3,1576-7, 1577-8, 1579-80, 1580-1, 1581-2, 1583-4, 1585-6, 1587-8, 1589-90, 1594-5, 1596-7, 1597-8, 1599-1600, 1600-1, 1603-4, 1606-7, 1607-8, 1609-10, 1612-13, 1613-14, 1614-15, 1615-16, 1616-17, 1618-19, 1623-4, 1631-2, 1633-4, 1634-5, 1635-6, 1640-1

Gray's Inn Admittance Book

Uniquely among Inns of Court admissions registers, the Gray’s Inn Admittance Book contains admissions entries signed by its Christmas prince, the ‘Prince of Purpoole’ (see pp 124–5, 200–1).

The standard essential publication is Joseph Foster (ed), The Register of Admissions to Gray’s Inn, 1521–1889, together with the Register of Marriages in Gray’s Inn Chapel, 1695–1754 (London, 1889).

Access Gray's Innn Admittance Books by year: 1594-5, 1617-18

Gray's Inn Ledger Book

Accounts were kept from Easter to Easter by the pensioner, but from November to November by the treasurer. Despite the legend on the spine the earliest accounts are from 1584 (f 8v). Some butlers’ accounts are also included. Some accounts are out of order, apparently having been entered from rough books without strict attention to chronological sequence. Folios 91v–109v are largely blank, except for two accounts dated 1673 and 1677. No accounts survive for the years 1614–34. Two leaves covering receipts from 1634 to 1637 (ff 110–11v) are heavily damaged (but would not have contained payments relevant to REED).

Access Gray's Innn Ledger Books by year: 1584-5, 1587-8, 1589-90, 1590-1, 1592-3, 1593-4, 1594-5, 1598-9, 1600-1, 1603-4, 1606-7, 1607-8, 1609-10, 1635-6, 1636-7, 1637-8, 1641-2

Account Book of John Bankes

John Bankes was treasurer of Gray’s Inn.

Access John Bankes's Account Books by year: 1631-2, 1633-4