Historic Buildings & Places is delighted to announce that India Wright is the winner of the 2026 Stephen Croad Prize, awarded for her essay From Banqueting Houses to Bog Houses: the garden structures of the Inns of Court.

The winner was announced on 29 September at the 2026 Historic Buildings & Places Annual Lecture.

The Stephen Croad Prize was established in memory of Stephen Croad, former Assistant Editor of the Society’s Transactions. The prize encourages and celebrates high-quality architectural research whilst remembering Stephen’s contribution to the Society and to the progressive study of architectural history.

About India Wright

India Wright is a doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge, where her research examines the architecture of the Inns of Court in the Early Modern period. Her research is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Isaac Newton Trust.
India completed the MSt in Building History at Cambridge and in 2022 received the Institute of Historic Building Conservation’s Gus Astley Award for her dissertation on the late seventeenth-century redevelopment of Middle Temple. Research from this work has continued to inform her wider study of the architecture and history of the Inns of Court.

In 2024, India undertook an AHRC-funded curatorial research placement with Historic Royal Palaces, examining Tudor royal building accounts known as the Nedeham volumes. Her research has also contributed to forthcoming publications and exhibitions.

In 2026, alongside winning the Stephen Croad Prize, India was awarded runner-up in the Institute of Historical Research Curriers’ Prize for her essay on the open spaces of the early modern Inns.

Her work demonstrates the richness that can be found in looking closely at the buildings, spaces and architectural details that form part of our historic environment.

From banqueting houses to bog houses

India’s prize-winning essay explores the, mostly temporary, garden structures of the Inns of Court. Such buildings were an integral part of the garden landscape and exclusively used by the most senior members of the respective Inns. The essay considers the social history and hierarchy behind these structures and, in doing so, highlights architectural features and spaces that can easily be overlooked when we think about these historic institutions. The essay will be published in the 2027 Journal of Historic Buildings & Places, giving readers an opportunity to discover India’s research in more detail.

India will continue her research into the architecture of the Inns of Court. In 2027, she will curate an exhibition on the architecture of the Temple at Middle Temple Library, and a chapter on privacy at the early modern Inns will be published by UCL Press.

We warmly congratulate India on winning the 2026 Stephen Croad Prize and look forward to following her research and future work.

Congratulations, India!