al, to assign a messuage in Holbourne called Macworth
Inne, now commonly called Barnard's Inne, to the Dean and
Chapter of the aforesaid Cathedral towards this work,
extraordinary fees were raised, and divine service in the
Chapel of St. George, in the southern part of the said church,
where the body of the said John is buried, for the soul of the
said John for ever, in part satisfaction of L20 of land which
Edward III. licenced the said Dean and Chapter to acquire. The
said messuage is held of the king in free burgage as is the
whole city of London and is worth yearly beyond deductions six
marks (L4) and there is no mean between the king and the said
Thomas Atkyn; whether he has enough of lands, &c, to support
all dues and services, &c., remaining after the said donation
and assignment or whether he will be able to be sworn on
assizes as before this donation the jurors are thoroughly
ignorant; but the country will not by this donation in defect
of the said Thomas be burdened."[131]

This Inn became attached to Gray's Inn. In 1894 the Dean and Chapter of
Lincoln Cathedral sold it to the Mercers' Company for the Mercers'
School, and the old hall of the Inn is now used as a dining-room for the
boys.

Brooke House, to the west of Furnival's Inn, stood where now is Brooke
Street, and was probably at one time an Inn for lawyers. In the reign of
Henry V. it was held by John Gascoigne, who demised it to Justice
Richard Hankeford,[132] who died in 1431, and whose heir, Thomasina,
married Sir William Bourchier, brother of the Treasurer Henry, Earl of
Essex. In 1480 his descendant, Fulk Bourchier, died, and it was found
that he had enfeoffed John Sapcote and Guy Wollaston, esquires of the
King's body (_pro corpore domini Regis_), and others, of his property in
Holborn.[133] His descendant, John Bourchier, was created Earl of Bath
in 1536, and in 1623 Bath House passed into the possession of Lord
Brooke and took his name.

The earliest evidence yet obtained respecting the name of Staple Inn is
in the will of Richard Starcolf, a wool-stapler, which was proved in the
Court of Hustings on February 14th, 1334, and dated July 22nd, 1333,
wherein he bequeaths his tenement in Holborn, called _le Stapled halle_,
to be sold for pious uses.[134] No less than four _stapled halles_ are
known to have been in existence, at this time, at various trade gates of
th