Newcastle House — The Bank of England's Birthplace
Newcastle House at 66 Lincoln's Inn Fields in London is where the Bank of England was officially created on July 27, 1694, when the Great Seal was applied to its founding charter. Remodelled by architect John Vanbrugh in 1705, the property helped raise 1.2 million pounds for King William III. Today, Newcastle House is occupied by royal law firm Farrer and Company.
London · from the walk “Secrets of Lincoln's Inn Fields” · audio ~4 min · Generated
66 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LJ
- Sir John Somers sealed the founding charter of the Bank of England at Newcastle House on July 27, 1694.
- To fund war, 1,268 ordinary investors raised 1.2 million pounds for King William III in eleven days.
- Architect John Vanbrugh remodelled Newcastle House in 1705 for John Holles, the first Duke of Newcastle.
- Solicitor James Farrer bought part of Newcastle House in 1790, and Farrer and Company remains there today.
Why is Newcastle House in London historically significant to the Bank of England?
You're standing before one of the most quietly powerful addresses in all of London. Number sixty-six, Lincoln's Inn Fields. It looks like an elegant solicitors' office... and it is. But inside these walls, over three hundred years ago, something happened that changed the course of global finance Forever.......... On the morning of the twenty-seventh of July, sixteen ninety-four... the Great Seal of England was pressed into wax right here, in a room now known as the Peacock Room. The seal was affixed to the charter by Sir John Somers, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. With that single act, the Bank of England was born.......... But Why here? Well, this wasn't some grand parliamentary chamber. Powis House, as it was then called, was the official residence of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. The original owner, William Herbert, Marquess of Powis, had purchased it in sixteen seventy-two... but after the house burned down in sixteen eighty-four, and then was ransacked by a mob during the Glorious Revolution, Lord Powis fled to France. The Crown simply took it over.......... And the reason for the charter? King William the Third was desperately trying to raise funds for wars against France. He went to the remaining goldsmiths, and they all said no. So what do you do when nobody will lend you money? You listen to a Scottish merchant named William Paterson, who suggested that members of the public could lend one point two million pounds to the government. The target was raised in just eleven days by one thousand two hundred and sixty-eight ordinary investors.......... Hours after the seal was pressed in this very building, the first Court of Directors assembled at Mercers' Hall that same afternoon. Sir John Houblon, a ten-thousand-pound subscriber, became the Bank's first governor.......... Now look at the building itself. By seventeen oh five, it was sold to John Holles, first Duke of Newcastle, who had it remodelled by the great architect John Vanbrugh. Hence the name... Newcastle House. The Duke's widow eventually sold it for eight thousand four hundred pounds to a banker named Henry Kendall, who split it in two. In seventeen ninety, one half was purchased by James Farrer. The solicitors Farrer and Company still occupy the building today.......... And what a firm it is! Farrer and Company established itself as advisors to the Royal Family in the nineteen thirties, when partner Leslie Farrer personally advised the Duke of York... the future King George the Sixth... during the abdication crisis of Edward the Eighth. They have served as trusted advisors to Charles Dickens, the Duke of Wellington, and decades of British monarchs.......... So here you stand... at the birthplace of the world's second oldest central bank, now home to the Crown's own lawyers. History layered upon history, sealed in wax, behind a very discreet front door.
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