The Ashworth Centre

The Ashworth Centre in London is a subterranean educational facility built beneath Lincoln's Inn, featuring nearly 2,000 square metres of modern teaching space that preserves the historic estate's rooflines. Located next to the Great Hall, it houses a 158-seat lecture theatre lit by large rooflights. It is named after Mercy Ashworth, who became one of the first women called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1923.

London Β· from the walk β€œBeneath the Bar: Lincoln's Inn & Legal London” Β· audio ~3 min Β· Generated

Ashworth Centre, Lincoln's Inn, London WC2A 3TL

Who was the Ashworth Centre at Lincoln's Inn named after?

Look around you. Do you see a grand new building? A modern glass tower? No. And that's Exactly the point. You are standing above one of London's most ingenious architectural secrets... nearly two thousand square metres of twenty-first century teaching space, hidden entirely beneath your feet.......... This is the Ash-worth Centre, and most of the new construction lies below ground in what is a fairly tightly packed historic setting, where some buildings date back to the sixteenth century. How do you build a major education facility in the heart of one of England's most ancient legal estates... without disturbing a single roofline?......... You dig Down.......... The underground education suite sits beneath the existing east terrace, adjacent to the Great Hall, housing advocacy training rooms, seminar facilities, and a one hundred and fifty eight seat lecture theatre. Large rooflights and double height spaces bring natural light into the heart of the building, providing a visual connection to the surrounding historic buildings. Users regularly say they do not feel they are in a basement space at all.......... But here's the story that makes this place truly special. The Centre is named after Mercy Ash-worth. Mercy was the daughter of a hat manufacturer. She studied at Gir-ton College, then spent years in India as a schools inspector. On the twenty sixth of January, nineteen twenty three, she and Mithan Tata became the first women called to the Bar at Lin-coln's Inn. Mercy was called to the bar at the age of fifty four.......... But it very nearly could have been someone else. A woman named Gwyneth Bebb had fought her way here first... bringing a test case in nineteen thirteen, seeking a declaration that she was a "person" within the meaning of the Solicitors Act. The judge ruled against her. Women, he said, could not be solicitors because... no woman had Ever been a solicitor. Had Gwyneth not died shortly after childbirth in October nineteen twenty one, she may well have been the first woman called to the bar.......... So when Mercy Ash-worth finally stood in the Great Hall next door in nineteen twenty three, she carried the weight of that unfinished dream. Interviewed at the time, she said, "None of us knows yet what the future of women barristers is likely to be."

...... Now, a century later, a portrait of Mercy hangs in this very centre... composed by multimedia artist Roc-co Fazza-ri using photographs of Lin-coln's Inn members who identify as women. Hundreds of faces, forming the image of the one who opened the door. This scheme is the most significant development since Victor-ian times on the inner London estate of Lin-coln's Inn. And yet... you can barely see it. Just the way they planned it.

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