Covent Garden Market - Southampton Street, London, UK
N 51° 30.688 W 000° 07.355
30U E 699660 N 5710630
This relief sculpture with inscription and separate plaque is on the north east side of Southampton Street at its junction with Covent Garden.
Waymark Code: WMHQ9R
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/04/2013
Views: 8
The relief sculpture, which is about three metres high by
two metres wide, has, as its centre piece, a market porter with a basket of
fruit on his head, steadied with his right hand and another basket of fruit
being carried in his left arm.
Across the top is the wording "Covent Garden Market".
Down the sides are panels that show examples of various products that were
traded in the market.
At the bottom is an inscription.
The inscription, at the base of the sculpture, reads:
In May 1670, King Charles II issued
a grant to the 4th Earl of Bedford, to hold a market in Covent Garden's
Piazza 'on every day of the year except Sundays and Christmas Day, for
buying and selling all manner of fruit, flowers, roots and herbs'. For the
following three centuries, London's largest fruit and vegetable market
trader here. In 1828, the 6th Duke obtained Parliamentary powers to provide
market buildings, which were then roofed in 1876. The estate remained in the
Bedford family until 1918. This bronze honours all those men and women who
bought and sold fresh produce here which was then distributed throughout
England.
To the left of the sculpture is a plaque that reads:
The Worshipful Company of Fruiterers
in celebration of
the Company's 400th Anniversary
1606 - 2006
W. A. Sibley Esq - Master
Lt. Col. L. G. French - Clerk
This bronze relief sculpture was
commissioned on the initiative of Sheila and Barry Pringer, supported by The
Covent Garden Area Trust, The Woburn Trust and The Jubilee Market Traders.
It commemorates the bustling fruit and vegetable market that operated in
Covent Garden from 1670 to 1974.
With grateful thanks to those named on the relief and to the many others who
donated so generously.
Also to the following livery men of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers and
their forebears, who worked in the market:
D. L. Cooper
P. D. Cooper
A. Glass
A. J. Goldsmid
A Harris
L. S. Olins, JP
J. E. A. Olney
I. A. Rainford
National Federation of Fruit and
Potato Trades
New Covent Garden Market Authority
Sculptor - Glynis Jones Owen
October 2006