Road · Covent Garden · WC2E · Contributed by The Underground Map

JANUARY

1

2000

Covent Garden

From fruit and veg to Froo Tan Vetch

Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane.

It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as Covent Garden. The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the elegant buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and the London Transport Museum.

Though mainly fields until the 16th century, the area was briefly settled when it became the heart of the Anglo-Saxon trading town of Lundenwic. After the town was abandoned, part of the area was walled off by 1200 for use as arable land and orchards by Westminster Abbey, and was referred to as 'the garden of the Abbey and Convent'. The land, now called the Covent Garden, was seized by Henry VIII, and granted to the Earls of Bedford in 1552. The 4th Earl commissioned Inigo Jones to build some fine houses to attract wealthy tenants. Jones designed the Italianate arcaded square along with the church of St Paul's. The design of the square was new to London, and had a significant influence on modern town planning, acting as the prototype for the laying-out of new estates as London grew.

A small open-air fruit and vegetable market had developed on the south side of the fashionable square by 1654. Gradually, both the market and the surrounding area fell into disrepute, as taverns, theatres, coffee-houses and brothels opened up; the gentry moved away, and rakes, wits and playwrights moved in.

By the 18th century it had become a well-known red-light district, attracting notable prostitutes. An Act of Parliament was drawn up to control the area, and Charles Fowler's neo-classical building was erected in 1830 to cover and help organise the market. The area declined as a pleasure-ground as the market grew and further buildings were added: the Floral Hall, Charter Market, and in 1904 the Jubilee Market. By the end of the 1960s traffic congestion was causing problems, and in 1974 the market relocated to the New Covent Garden Market about three miles (5 km) south-west at Nine Elms. The central building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980, and is now a tourist location containing cafes, pubs, small shops, and a craft market called the Apple Market, along with another market held in the Jubilee Hall.

Covent Garden tube station is a Grade II listed building and was opened by Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway on 11 April 1907, four months after services on the rest of the line began operating on 15 December 1906.

Like the rest of the original GNP&BR stations, the street level station building and platform tiling was designed by Leslie Green. The station building is a classic red 'Oxblood' building which has two elevations fronting onto the end of James Street and Long Acre. The platform wall was tiled with two shades of yellow and white tiling which formed geometric shapes along with three blank spaces to incorporate the station name. As part of TFL's investment programme, the ageing tiling dating back from the station's opening was replaced in 2010 in a like-for-like basis, retaining the look and feel of the platforms.

Covent Garden station is one of the few stations in Central London for which platform access is only by lift or stairs and often becomes congested due to the Covent Garden area's popularity with tourists. To control congestion on Saturday afternoons, when the surrounding shopping areas are at their busiest, the station was previously exit only to avoid the risk of dangerous overcrowding of the platforms, but following replacement of the lifts, this restriction has been lifted. There are four lifts which give access to street level, although a final flight of stairs from the lifts to the platforms means that the station is wheelchair inaccessible. Alternatively, there is an emergency spiral staircase of 193 steps (The equivalent to a 15 storey building). During the lift journey a recorded announcement is played asking passengers to have their tickets/passes ready as they exit the lifts and advising where to turn for Covent Garden's market.

Image: Chris Ross

LOCATIONS ON THE UNDERGROUND MAP

Ackermann’s:   Rudolph Ackermann (20 April 1764 in Stollberg, Saxony – 30 March 1834 in Finchley) was an Anglo-German bookseller, inventor, lithographer, publisher and businessman.
Covent Garden:   From fruit and veg to Froo Tan Vetch
Garrick Yard:   Garrick Yard, together with the more familiar Garrick Street to the northeast of here, both took their names from the Garrick Club which commemorates the famous 18th century actor, David Garrick.
Holborn:   Holborn is both an area and also the name of the area's principal street, known as High Holborn between St. Giles's High Street and Gray's Inn Road and then Holborn Viaduct between Holborn Circus and Newgate Street.
Royal Opera House:   The foundation of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden lies in the letters patent awarded by Charles II to Sir William Davenant in 1660, allowing Davenant to operate one of only two patent theatre companies (The Duke's Company) in London.
Shipley's Drawing School:   101 The Strand was an art school from 1750 until 1806.
St Giles:   St Giles is a district of London, at the southern tip of the London Borough of Camden.
The Adelphi:   The Adelphi is a small district surrounding the streets of Adelphi Terrace, Robert Street and John Adam Street.

PHOTOS OF THE AREA

Blackmoore Street (1902):   This photo depicts Blackmoor Street which was in the Drury Lane slum, with Clare Court on the left
Wild Street (1902):   Wild Street, in the Covent Garden area, was on the edge of the Kingsway improvements which would utterly transform the area in the following years.
Wych Street:   Wych Street was a street in London, roughly where Australia House now stands on Aldwych. It ran west from the church of St Clement Danes on the Strand to a point towards the southern end of Drury Lane.

NEARBY STREETS AND BUILDINGS ON THE UNDERGROUND MAP

Adam Street, WC2R · Adelaide Street, WC2N · Adelphi Terrace, WC2N · Africa House, WC2B · Agar Street, WC2N · Aldwych, WC2 · Barter Street, WC1A · Beaumont Buildings, WC2B · Bedforbury, WC2N · Bedford Chambers, WC2E · Bedford Street, WC2E · Bedford Street, WC2R · Bedfordbury, WC2N · Betterton Street, WC2H · Bloomsbury Street, WC1A · Bloomsbury Way, WC1A · Bow St Covent Garden, WC2E · Bow Street, WC2B · Bow Street, WC2E · Broad Court, WC2B · Brydges Place, WC2N · Bucknall Street, WC2H · Burleigh Street, WC2E · Bury Place, WC1A · Carriage Hall, WC2E · Carting Lane, WC2R · Catherine Street, WC2B · Catton Street, WC1R · Cecil Court, WC2N · Central Arcade, WC2E · Chandos Place, WC2N · Ching Court, WC2H · Clare Market, WC2E · Coptic Street, WC1A · Covent Garden Piazza, WC2E · Covent Garden, WC2E · Covent Garden, WC2H · Cranbourn Street, WC2H · Crown Court, WC2B · Dansey Place, W1D · Drury Lane, WC2B · Dryden Street, WC2E · Dudley Court, WC2H · Durham House Street, WC2N · Dyott Street, WC1A · Earlham Street, WC2H · Endell Street, WC2H · Excel Court, WC2H · Exeter Street, WC2E · Exeter Street, WC2R · Fisher Street, WC1R · Floral Street, WC2E · Galen Place, WC1A · Garrick Street, WC2E · Gate Street, WC2A · George Court, WC2N · Gerrard Place, W1D · Gerrard Street, W1D · Gilbert Place, WC1A · Grape Street, WC2H · Great Queen Street, WC2B · Hanover Place, WC2E · Heathcock Court, WC2R · Henrietta Street, WC2E · High Holborn, WC1V · High Holborn, WC2A · High Holborn, WC2B · High Street, WD1 · Holborn, WC1V · Hop Gardens, WC2N · Horse and Dolphin Yard, W1D · Ivybridge Lane, WC2R · James Street, WC2E · John Adam Street, WC2N · Jubilee Hall Jubilee Market, WC2E · Jubilee Market Hall Tavistock Court, WC2E · Jubilee Market, WC2E · Kean Street, WC2B · Kemble Street, WC2B · King Street, WC2E · Kingsway, WC2A · Kingsway, WC2B · Lancaster Place, WC2E · Langley Court, WC2E · Langley Street, WC2H · Lion Court, WC1V · Litchfield Street, WC2H · Little Russel Street, WC1A · Little Russell Street, WC1A · Little Turnstile, WC1V · Long Acre, WC2E · Macclesfield Street, W1D · Macklin Street, WC2B · Maiden Lane, WC2E · Maple Leaf Walk, SW11 · Martlett Court, WC2B · May’s Court, WC2N · Mercer Street, WC2H · Monmouth Street, WC2H · Montreal Place, WC2R · Museum Street, WC1A · Neal Street, WC2H · Neals Yard, WC2H · New Compton Street, WC2H · New Oxford Street, WC1A · New Oxford Street, WC2H · New Row, WC2N · Newport Place, WC2H · Newton Street, WC2B · North West Wing Bush House, WC2B · Nottingham Court, WC2H · Oblique Museum Mansions, WC1B · Odhams Walk, WC2H · Parker Mews, WC2B · Parker Street, WC2B · Peabody Trust Estate, SE21 · Peabody Trust Estate, SE24 · Pied Bull Court, WC1A · Pied Bull Yard, WC1A · Procter Street, WC1V · Proctor Street, WC1V · Robert Street, WC2N · Rose Street, WC2E · Russell Chambers, WC2E · Russell Street, WC2B · Russell Street, WC2E · Saint Martin’s Lane, WC2N · Saint Martin’s Place, WC2N · Sardinia House, WC2A · Savoy Court, WC2R · Savoy Hill, WC2R · Savoy Place, WC2N · Savoy Place, WC2R · Savoy Street, WC2E · Savoy Street, WC2R · Savoy Way, WC2R · Seven Dials Court, WC2H · Shelton Street, WC2B · Shelton Street, WC2H · Shorts Gardens, WC2H · Sicilian Avenue, WC1A · Slingsby Place, WC2E · Soho Square, WC1A · Southampton Place, WC1A · Southampton Row, WC1V · Southampton Street, WC2E · Southampton Street, WC2R · St Giles High Street, WC2H · St Giles House, WC2B · St Martins Court, WC2N · St Martins Lane, WC2H · St Martins Lane, WC2N · St Martins Place, WC2H · St Martins Place, WC2N · Stedham Place, WC1A · Strand Underpass, WC2R · Strand, WC2A · Strand, WC2B · Strand, WC2N · Strand, WC2R · Streatham Street, WC1A · Stukeley Street, WC2B · Tavistock Street, WC2B · Tavistock Street, WC2E · The Arcade, WC2B · The Edmund J. Safra Fountain Court, WC2R · The Market Piazza, WC2E · The Market The Piazza, WC2E · The Market, WC2E · The Piazza, WC2E · The Strand, WC2N · Thomas Neal Centre, WC2H · Thomas Neal’s shopping centre, WC2H · Tower Court, WC2H · Tower Street, WC2H · Upper Saint Martin’s Lane, WC2H · Upper St Martin’s Lane, WC2H · Upper St Martins Lane, WC2H · Wardour Street, W1D · Wellington Street, WC2E · Wellington Terrace, W2 · West Central Street, WC1A · West Street, WC2H · Wild Court, WC2B · Wild Street, WC2B · William IV Street, WC2N · Willoughby Street, WC1B · Yorkshire Grey Yard, WC1R ·