| |
|
|
|
| The
history of Covent Garden Market is a fascinating
story. Now one of London's most popular tourist attractions,
for much of its existence Covent Garden served as a fruit
and vegetable market, the largest in England. The market
used to cover the whole of the square and occupied many
of the buildings, but has since been transformed beyond
all recognition. |
 |
COVENT
GARDEN - A BRIEF HISTORY
By John Richardson |
| |
 |
The modern story of Covent
Garden began in the 1630s when land formerly belonging
to Westminster Abbey, 'the Convent Garden' was redeveloped
by the 4th Earl of Bedford.
But there is a much earlier story that has been discovered
only in recent years. In archaeological digs, especially
near the Strand, in Shorts Gardens and on the site of
the Jubilee Hall, significant Saxon remains have been
found. They point to a new theory of what happened in
the London area once the Romans abandoned England and
the walled city of Londinium in about AD410.
Our knowledge of events once the Saxon invaders took
their place is very scant for at least three hundred
years. There is little evidence that the Saxons settled
within the walls of the city the Romans left behind.
And what happened to the Britons who lived in Londinium
under the Roman administration? We don't know much.
What we do know now is that the Saxons established a
trading port to the west of the city, along Fleet Street
and the Strand, up Aldwych (the name itself probably
meaning old port) and covering today's Covent Garden.
This new settlement, which was abandoned once the Viking
invaders became too dangerous in the 9th century, was
called Lundenwic.
The Covent Garden area then
reverted to agricultural land until the 17th century.
It was then the scene of the first experiment in London
of town planning, and the creation of the first public
square in the country. It was the work of three men
- the Earl of Bedford the developer, Charles I, who
gave his strong support to the scheme, and Inigo Jones
the most important architect of the day.
 |
| St
Paul's Church and the Piazza, by Wencelaus Hollar |
"Londoner's must
have been amazed
by this watershed
in English
architecture"
The enthusiasm of Jones for classical, especially Palladian,
architecture was to have an enormous effect on London's
later buildings. Having seen and studied the many public
squares in Italy, he brought the idea to London and
he also surrounded it with a perfectly straight grid
of streets. Londoners, used to the random and haphazard
arrangement of winding streets, alleyways and courtyards,
must have been amazed. Architecturally, it was a watershed
in English architecture.
The Piazza was designed by Jones with arcaded houses
to the north and east. (These are now all gone but more
modern developments have sought to remind us of them.)
To the west was the church of St Paul, flanked by two
houses, and to the south there was at first no development
because the Piazza backed on to the mansion of the Bedford
family, which faced the Strand, the main artery of London
connecting City and Court at Westminster.
| |
|
| |
Architect Inigo Jones |
| |
|
This new square was a
public one - and meant to be so. But this imaginative
approach was, socially, to lead to its downfall. For
the distinguished people who occupied the houses around
the square soon began to tire of their lack of privacy
and the intrusion of all sorts of London underworld
beneath their windows. Once the private Bloomsbury
Square and others were built, with bars across them
to prevent undesirables, the rich went there instead,
leaving Covent Garden to a different kind of tenancy,
much of it artistic.
There was too the matter of the fruit and vegetable
market in the square. This began in a very small way
in 1649 but, no doubt, expanded quite a lot when the
Great Fire of London in 1666 destroyed the markets
in the City. By the 1760s the market occupied much
of the Piazza. What with this, the nearby theatres
in Drury Lane and Bow Street and the many public houses,
the neighbourhood acquired an extremely dubious reputation,
though it was still popular.
Eventually the area was dominated by the market. The
main building in the Piazza we see today was erected
in 1830 by Charles Fowler, but did not then have a
glass roof - that came in the 1870s. Gradually, other
market buildings were added. The first part of the
Flower Market was put up in 1872 - it is now used
by the London Transport Museum and the National Theatre
Museum. More significantly, the market extended into
the houses and shops in the streets around, especially
up to the lower-priced premises in Seven Dials, then
a notorious slum. In these premises traders operated
outside of the market proper, or else just used them
as warehouses.
Even before the
last war it was evident that the country's principal
fruit and veg market could not remain where it was
in a very congested part of London. But it was long
after the war had finished that the decision to move
it to Nine Elms was taken. It was relocated there
in 1973, leaving empty market buildings and numerous
vacant premises in the hinterland.
"A vigorous
campaign by local residents prevented plans to knock
most of it down"
The planners wanted
to knock most of it down and build a new metropolis
of through highways, hotels and conference centres.
But a vigorous campaign by local residents and the
general public prevented this vandalistic plan from
going through. Instead, the market was renovated to
become the popular shopping centre it is, and gradually
the streets around became a mecca also for shoppers
and for niche businesses. It was an amazing transformation.
The Covent Garden area has long been associated with
theatre. The oldest established is the Theatre Royal,
Drury Lane, which had its origins in a patent granted
on the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. A small
theatre was established off Drury Lane in 1663 and
this has evolved via several auditoria to the present
famous building. Covent Garden theatre began in Bow
Street in 1732.
| "Covent
Garden is a pleasure to explore but we should
remember that it was a close-run thing to save
it"
|
|
The kernel of the present
theatre was built in 1858 after a disastrous fire had
destroyed the old one. It was designed by E.M. Barry
in classical style. He also built for the theatre's
management the Floral Hall next door in glass and iron,
meant to be a straightforward rival to the Bedford's
flower market. Both of Barry's buildings are now part
of the rebuilt Royal Opera House complex completed recently
in a storm of bad publicity about the running of the
enterprise. There are other theatres in the area - notably
at the Aldwych and in the Strand: the Lyceum, Aldwych,
Strand, Duchess, New London, Coliseum, Fortune plus
of course, more recently, the Donmar.
Covent Garden has traditionally been a centre of small
businesses. Once, it was a hive of coachmakers, especially
in Long Acre, premises which later became car dealers;
there have been lots of famous publishers and printers,
notably Odhams Press. Sainsbury's began in Drury Lane.
Moss Bros. began on the site of the Tesco store in Bedford
Street. Samuel French, the theatrical publishers began
in Wellington Street. Sotheby's, the auctioneers began
in the same road.
Despite its throngs of tourists, Covent Garden is still
remarkably intact and attractive. Much of it is fairly
traffic-free and the area is therefore relaxed and a
pleasure to explore. But we should all remember that
it was a close-run thing to save it.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
| COVENT
GARDEN TIMELINE |
| |
| 1200s-1548 |
| Pasture and gardens of the Convent
of St Peter of Westminster |
| |
| 1548-1552 |
| Henry VIII takes over after his destruction
of the monasteries |
| |
| 1630 |
| 4th Earl commissions Inigo
Jones to design Piazza and Square. |
| |
| 1670 |
| 5th Earl grants licence
for fruit and vegetable market |
| |
| 1700-1812 |
| Market grows, aristocracy move west
to Mayfair. Coffee houses, gambling
dens and brothels move in |
| |
| 1717 |
| The first ballet staged at Theatre
Royal, Drury Lane, even though the Manager
Colley Clibber has doubts that this
new type of dance would catch on. |
| |
| 1813 |
| 6th Duke secures Act of
Parliament regulating market |
| |
| 1830 |
| C Fowler designs and builds the present
market |
| |
| Mid 18th Century |
| Many homes in Covent Garden converted
into seedy lodging houses and Turkish
baths. Several doubled as brothels.
The area becomes so renowned for prostitutes
that magistrate Sir John Fielding calls
it the Great Square of Venus |
| |
| 1830-1914 |
| London's main fruit and vegetable
market employing over 1,000 porters |
| |
| 1914 |
| Market is sold to the Beecham family
(Beechams Powders) |
| |
| 1962 |
| Sold to the GLC for redevelopment |
| |
| 1973 |
| Secretary of State creates 250 listed
buildings in Covent Garden overnight
to stop mass development |
| |
| 1974 |
| Market finally moves |
| |
| 1975-1979 |
| Market area restored and basement
opened up. |
| |
| 1980 |
| Market opens with 26 shops and six
restaurants |
| |
| 1988 |
| Market is sold to Guardian Royal Exchange
but GLC set up the Covent Garden Area
Trust to preserve its character. |
| |
| ABOUT
THE AUTHOR |
 |
John
Richardson has written books
on various areas of London, including
Highgate, Hampstead, Camden Town and
Islington. He is chairman of the Camden
History Society. His book Covent Garden
Past (published by Historical Publications/
ISBN 0 948667 27 3) is in print and
generally available at bookshops in
central London.
Buy
this book |
| |
| COVENT
GARDEN HISTORY LINKS |
To read more about the history of
Covent Garden, the Piazza and Jubilee
Hall Market
click
here |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
