Monopoly - London Here & Now - Covent Garden - Covent Garden, London, UK
N 51° 30.704 W 000° 07.399
30U E 699608 N 5710657
Covent Garden is famous for its market, the Opera House and the Transport Museum. There are also numerous street artists performing in the area.
Waymark Code: WMF3W3
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/19/2012
Views: 16
Property: Covent
Garden
Board: London - Here and Now Limited
Edition (2005)
Colour:
Yellow
Original 1935
Property: Ventnor Avenue
Detailsof Property:
Wikipedia [visit link] tells us about
Covent Garden:
"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, with the postcode WC2, falls within the
London boroughs of Westminster and Camden, and the parliamentary constituencies
of Cities of London and Westminster and Holborn and St Pancras. The area has
been served by the Piccadilly line at Covent Garden tube station since 1907; the
journey from Leicester Square, at 300 yards, is the shortest in
London."
Board link: Wikipedia.