Editing Covent Garden (section)

==History==

===Early history===
[[File:Covent Garden from the Ralph Agas 1572 map of London - marked.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Covent Garden on the [[Woodcut map of London|"Woodcut" map]] of the 1560s, with surrounding wall marked in green]]

During the [[Roman Britain|Roman period]], what is now the [[Strand, London|Strand]] – running along the southern boundary of the area that was to become Covent Garden – was part of the route to [[Silchester]], known as "Iter VII" on the [[Antonine Itinerary]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.roman-britain.co.uk/classical-references/the-antonine-itinerary/ |title=The Antonine Itinerary |publisher=Roman Britain |access-date=10 May 2021 |archive-date=7 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507170350/http://www.roman-britain.co.uk/classical-references/the-antonine-itinerary/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22101 |title=A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 1 |author=J. S. Cockburn |year=1969 |editor=H. P. F. King |editor2=K. G. T. McDonnell |pages=64–74 |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |access-date=31 July 2010 |archive-date=25 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125234231/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22101 |url-status=live}}</ref> Excavations in 2006 at [[St Martin-in-the-Fields]] revealed a group of late Roman graves, suggesting the site had been sacred since at least 350&nbsp;AD.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6196972.stm |title=Ancient body prompts new theories |work=BBC News |access-date=31 July 2010 |date=1 December 2006 |archive-date=11 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120411173632/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6196972.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> The area to the north of the Strand was long thought to have remained as unsettled fields until the 16th century, but theories by [[Alan Vince]] and [[Martin Biddle]] that there had been an [[Anglo-Saxon]] settlement to the west of the old Roman town of [[Londinium]] were borne out by excavations in 1985 and 2005. These revealed that a trading town, called [[Anglo-Saxon London#Lundenwic|Lundenwic]], developed around 600&nbsp;AD,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pre-construct.com/Sites/Highlights/Bedford.htm |author=Jim Leary |title=Excavations at 15–16 Bedford Street, Covent Garden, London |publisher=Pre-Construct Archaeology |access-date=13 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100531174328/http://www.pre-construct.com/Sites/Highlights/Bedford.htm <!--Added by H3llBot--> |archive-date=31 May 2010}}</ref> stretching from [[Trafalgar Square]] to [[Aldwych]], with Covent Garden at the centre.<ref name=Lund>{{cite web |url=http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/EventsExhibitions/Past/MissingLink/Themes/TML_themes_Lundenwic.htm |title=The early years of Lundenwic |publisher=Museum of London |access-date=2 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108035413/http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/EventsExhibitions/Past/MissingLink/Themes/TML_themes_Lundenwic.htm |archive-date=8 January 2009}}</ref> [[Alfred the Great]] gradually shifted the settlement into the old Roman town of Londinium from around 886&nbsp;AD onwards, leaving no mark of the old town, and the site returned to fields.<ref name=Clark>{{cite journal |author=John Clark |year=1999 |title=King Alfred's London and London's King Alfred |journal=London Archaeologist |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=35–38 |publisher=London Archaeologist Association |url=http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-457-1/dissemination/pdf/vol09/vol09_02/09_02_035_038.pdf |access-date=7 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510095059/http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-457-1/dissemination/pdf/vol09/vol09_02/09_02_035_038.pdf |archive-date=10 May 2011}}</ref>

The first mention of a walled garden comes from a document, {{circa|1200&nbsp;AD}}, detailing land owned by the [[Benedictines|Benedictine monks]] of the [[Westminster Abbey|Abbey of St Peter, Westminster]]. A later document, dated between 1250 and 1283, refers to "the garden of the Abbot and Convent of Westminster".<ref name=Burford1>{{cite book |title=Wits, Wenchers and Wantons – London's Low Life: Covent Garden in the Eighteenth Century |author=E. J. Burford |publisher=Robert Hale Ltd |pages=1–3 |year=1986 |isbn=0-7090-2629-3}}</ref> By the 13th century this had become a {{convert|40|acre|ha|adj=on}} quadrangle of mixed orchard, meadow, pasture and arable land, lying between modern-day [[St Martin's Lane]] and [[Drury Lane]], and [[Floral Street]] and [[Maiden Lane, Covent Garden|Maiden Lane]].<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46082 |title=Survey of London: volume 36: Covent Garden |author=F. H. W. Sheppard |pages=19–21 |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |access-date=1 August 2010 |year=1970 |archive-date=5 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805130406/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46082 |url-status=live}}</ref> The use of the name "Covent"—an Anglo-French term for a religious community, equivalent to "monastery" or "convent"<ref>{{cite dictionary |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=convent |title=Convent |dictionary=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=31 July 2010 |date= |archive-date=30 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120730174651/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=convent |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=[[The Concise Oxford Dictionary]] |page=202 |publisher=Clarendon Press |edition=4th |year=1951 |author1=H. W. Fowler |author2=F. G. Fowler | author-link1=H. W. Fowler | author-link2=F. G. Fowler}}</ref>—appears in a document in 1515, when the Abbey, which had been letting out parcels of land along the north side of the Strand for inns and market gardens, granted a lease of the walled garden, referring to it as "a garden called Covent Garden". This is how it was recorded from then on.<ref name=Burford1/>

===Bedford Estate (1552–1918)===
{{See also|Bedford Estate}}
[[File:John Russell, Earl of Bedford, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumb|The [[John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford|Earl of Bedford]] was given Covent Garden in 1552.]]

After the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] in 1540 under King Henry VIII, monastic lands in England reverted to the crown, including lands belonging to Westminster Abbey such as the Convent Garden and seven acres to the north called Long Acre. In 1552 King [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]] granted it to [[John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford]],<ref name=Burford1/> his late father's trusted adviser. The Russell family, who in 1694 were advanced in the [[peerage]] from Earl to [[Duke of Bedford]], held the land until 1918.<ref name=guide>{{cite book |author=Alzina Stone Dale, Barbara Sloan-Hendershott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kyXfTbVxYOQC&pg=PA56 |title=Mystery Reader's Walking Guide: London |page=56 |publisher=iUniverse |year=2004 |isbn=0-595-31513-5 |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-date=2 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802120509/https://books.google.com/books?id=kyXfTbVxYOQC&pg=PA56 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Russell built [[Bedford House (Strand)|Bedford House]] and garden on part of the land, with an entrance on the Strand, the large garden stretching back along the south side of the old walled-off convent garden.<ref>{{cite book |author=John Richardson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0wUCjfE6Lk4C&pg=PA171 |title=The annals of London: a year-by-year record of a thousand years of history, Volume 2000, Part 2 |page=171 |publisher=University of California Press |year=2000 |isbn=0-520-22795-6 |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-date=2 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802120458/https://books.google.com/books?id=0wUCjfE6Lk4C&pg=PA171 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://archivemaps.com/london/1690coventgarden.htm |title=Plan of Bedford House, Covent Garden, &c. Taken About 1690 |publisher=MAPCO |access-date=2 May 2011 |archive-date=23 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423042659/http://mapco.net/london/1690coventgarden.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1630 [[Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford]] commissioned the architect [[Inigo Jones]] to design and build a church and three terraces of fine houses around a large square or piazza.<ref name=Burford2>{{cite book |title=Wits, Wenchers and Wantons – London's Low Life: Covent Garden in the Eighteenth Century |author=E. J. Burford |publisher=Hale |page=6 |year=1986 |isbn=0-7090-2629-3}}</ref> This had been prompted by King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] having taken offence at the poor condition of the road and houses along Long Acre, which were the responsibility of Russell and [[Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth]]. Russell and Carey complained that under the 1625 Proclamation concerning Buildings, which restricted building in and around London, they could not build new houses. For a fee of £2,000, the King then granted Russell a licence to build as many new houses on his land as he "shall thinke fitt and convenient".<ref name=Estate>{{cite book |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46085 |title=Survey of London: volume 36: Covent Garden |pages=25–34 |author=F. H. W. Sheppard |year=1970 |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |access-date=24 August 2010 |archive-date=5 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805130138/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46085 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:1690 bedford house.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Plan of Covent Garden in 1690]]

The houses initially attracted the wealthy, although they moved out when a market developed on the south side of the square around 1654, and coffee houses, taverns, and prostitutes moved in.<ref name=SocialHistory>{{cite book |author=Roy Porter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DyZfYaLXsuUC&pg=PR22 |title=London: A Social History |pages=5–6 |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-674-53839-0 |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-date=2 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802120511/https://books.google.com/books?id=DyZfYaLXsuUC&pg=PR22 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Bedford Estate was expanded by the inheritance of the former [[Manorialism|manor]] of [[Bloomsbury]] to the immediate north of Covent Garden following the marriage of [[William Russell, Lord Russell]] (1639–1683) (third son of [[William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford]] of [[Woburn Abbey]] in [[Bedfordshire]]) to [[Rachel Wriothesley]], heiress of Bloomsbury, younger of the two daughters and co-heiresses of [[Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton]] (1607-1667). Rachel's son and heir was [[Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford]] (1680–1711).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bedfordestates.com/the-estate/history/ |title=History of the Bloomsbury Estate |publisher=Bedford Estates |access-date=15 July 2016 |archive-date=20 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920034123/http://www.bedfordestates.com/the-estate/history/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

By the 18th century, Covent Garden had become a well-known red-light district, attracting notable prostitutes such as [[Betty Careless]] and [[Jane Douglas]].<ref name=Burford>{{cite book |title=Wits, Wenchers and Wantons – London's Low Life: Covent Garden in the Eighteenth Century |author=E. J. Burford |publisher=Hale |page=260 |year=1986 |isbn=0-7090-2629-3}}</ref> Descriptions of the prostitutes and where to find them were provided by ''[[Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies]]'', the "essential guide and accessory for any serious gentleman of pleasure".<ref name=Isaaman>{{cite news |title=The A to Z of Covent Garden's prostitutes |author=Gerald Isaaman |url=http://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/072805/r072805_03.htm |newspaper=Camden New Journal |date=29 July 2005 |access-date=19 July 2008 |archive-date=22 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022005337/http://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/072805/r072805_03.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1830 a market hall was built to provide a more permanent trading centre. In 1913 [[Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford]] agreed to sell the Covent Garden Estate for £2&nbsp;million to the MP and land speculator [[Harry Mallaby-Deeley]], who sold his option in 1918 to the [[Thomas Beecham#Covent Garden estate|Beecham]] family for £250,000.<ref name=shep48>{{cite book |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46089 |title=Survey of London: volume 36: Covent Garden |pages=48–52 |author=F. H. W. Sheppard |year=1970 |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |access-date=27 July 2010 |archive-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629214609/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46089 |url-status=live}}</ref>
{{Clear}}

===Modern changes===
[[File:Apple Market, Covent Garden - geograph.org.uk - 1098932.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|[[Charles Fowler]]'s 1830 neo-classical building restored as a retail market]]

The Covent Garden Estate was part of [[Beecham's Pills|Beecham Estates and Pills Limited]] from 1924 to 1928, after which it was managed by a successor company called Covent Garden Properties, owned by the Beechams and other private investors. This new company sold some properties at Covent Garden, while becoming active in property investment in other parts of London. In 1962 the bulk of the remaining properties in the Covent Garden area, including the market, were sold to the newly established government-owned Covent Garden Authority for £3,925,000.<ref name=shep48/>

By the end of the 1960s, traffic congestion had reached such a level that the use of the square as a modern wholesale distribution market was becoming untenable, and significant redevelopment was planned. Following a public outcry, buildings around the square were protected in 1973, preventing redevelopment. The following year the market moved to a new site in Nine Elms, between [[Battersea]] and [[Vauxhall]] in southwest London. The square languished until its central building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980.

After consulting with residents and local businesses, Westminster Council drew up an action plan to improve the area while retaining its historic character in 2004.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www3.westminster.gov.uk/docstores/publications_store/westend/CG-action-plan.pdf |title=Covent Garden Action Plan |access-date= 15 July 2016 |archive-date= 9 August 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160809013613/http://www3.westminster.gov.uk/docstores/publications_store/westend/CG-action-plan.pdf |url-status= live}}</ref> The market buildings, along with several other properties in Covent Garden, were bought by a property company in 2006.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.coventgardenlondonuk.com/about |title=About Us |publisher=Covent Garden London Official Guide |access-date=28 July 2010 |archive-date=25 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120625123101/http://www.coventgardenlondonuk.com/about |url-status=dead}}</ref>