On a sunny spring evening Society members enjoyed a walk around Covent Garden led by Caroline Piper. We explored the beautiful, elegant piazza built in the 1630s as London’s first luxury square and learned about how the local people saved the market from destruction in the 1970s. We enjoyed tales of debauchery in the 18th century Rose tavern, setting for Hogarth’s “The Rake’s Progress” and learned about London’s first professional police force, the Bow Street Runners, who had to try and police this “naughty” neighbourhood. We admired the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and the Royal Opera House, originally created by Charles II in the 1660s marking the move of London’s Theatreland from Bankside to the West End. A stroll through the winding streets of Seven Dials introduced the group to quirky gems like Neal’s Yard with its brightly painted buildings, water feature and alternative lifestyle practitioners. I expected the group to be stumped when they saw that the sundial that stands at the centre of the area’s star patterned street layout only has 6 blue sundials attached, but the 7th that gave the area its name was quickly identified. We finished by wandering past famous theatres and theatrical institutions like the Garrick Club, which still refuses to admit women!
Organised by Caroline Piper