The Diary of Samuel Pepys

Daily entries from the 17th century London diary

Covent Garden

Map

The overlays that highlight 17th century London features are approximate and derived from:

5 Annotations

Phil   Link to this

Later to be where Francis Thompson saw the ghost of Chatterton.
Some older buildings remains, including the Lamb and Flag pub

Stuart Woodward   Link to this

History of Covent Garden

http://www.coventgardenlife.com/info/history.htm

"[In the] 17th century. [Covent Garden] 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.
[...]
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."

Susanna   Link to this

Another Map

Here is Covent Garden on a map of London made in 1746:

http://www.motco.com/Map/81002/SeriesSearchPlat...

david mcirvine   Link to this

SEEING A PICTURE IN AN ALEHOUSE

Covent Garden was generally festooned with paintings although I wonder what sort of picture Sam sees here. Genre painting? Something else?

Michael Robinson   Link to this

Wencaslas Hollar (Czech/British, 1607-1677)

View across Inigo Jones' Piazza in Covent Garden, towards St Paul's Church.
Etching, c. 1647.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_th...

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References

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