Vincent Square is a grass-covered square in Westminster, London, England, covering 13 acres, lined with mature trees including London Planes. In among a network of backstreets, it chiefly provides playing fields for Westminster School, who own it absolutely; otherwise, it functions as a green lung and a view for the homes, hotel and other organisations adjoining. [1] Nine of its adjoining buildings have been given strict statutory architectural recognition and protection.
It was appropriated in the 18th century on land originally known as Tothill Fields, by William Vincent, a former Dean of Westminster and headmaster of Westminster School who simply paid a man with a horse and plough to enclose the square with a mound and ditch. Previous uses include a death camp and cemetery for 1,200 Scottish prisoners starved to death after the Battle of Worcester in 1651, a large burial pit for victims of the Great Plague of London in 1665/6, a jail named Tothill Fields Bridewell, and a well-known bear-baiting den recorded in the reign of Queen Anne. [2] [3] The space, facing buildings and certain others surrounding form the Vincent Square Conservation Area. [4]
The square contains a cricket pavilion, four football pitches, about 10 tennis courts, and the groundsman's house, and is used on school weekdays by Westminster Under School. Other buildings fronting the square include the headquarters of the Royal Horticultural Society. [5] Outside of school bookings the courts host many fixtures of the Lords and Commons Tennis Club. [6]
Numbering is from the east corner, clockwise (3 to 87) and applies to fewer than 87 buildings, from great mergers and additional road openings. Those listed in the initial, mainstream category of statutory recognition and protection ("Grade II listed") are:
At rarer, Grade II* is:
In 1981, Westminster Under School opened in the building of the former Grosvenor Hospital [4] for Women which had closed in 1976. [13]
Vincent Square lends its name to a current electoral ward of the local authority, Westminster City Council. Its bounds are thus drawn up for approximately equal representation of the electorate. At the 2011 Census its population was 9,988. [14]
Philip Hardwick was an English architect, particularly associated with railway stations and warehouses in London and elsewhere. Hardwick is probably best known for London's demolished Euston Arch and its twin station, the original Birmingham Curzon Street, which stands today as the oldest railway terminus building in the world.
Belgravia is a district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of both the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Lingfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England, approximately 23 miles (37 km) south of London. Several buildings date from the Tudor period and the timber-frame medieval church is Grade I listed. The stone cage or old gaol, constructed in 1773, was last used in 1882 to hold a poacher.
Eaton Hall is the country house of the Duke of Westminster. It is 1 mile (2 km) south of the village of Eccleston, in Cheshire, England. The house is surrounded by its own formal gardens, parkland, farmland and woodland. The estate covers about 10,872 acres (4,400 ha).
Grosvenor Square is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was developed for fashionable residences in the 18th century. In the 20th it had an American and Canadian diplomatic presence, and currently is mixed use, commercial.
Soho Square is a garden square in Soho, London, hosting since 1954 a de facto public park let by the Soho Square Garden Committee to Westminster City Council. It was originally called King Square after Charles II, and a much weathered statue of the monarch has stood in the square, with an extended interruption, since 1661, one year after the restoration of the monarchy.
Eaton Square is a rectangular, residential garden square in London's Belgravia district. It is the largest square in London. It is one of the three squares built by the landowning Grosvenor family when they developed the main part of Belgravia in the 19th century that are named after places in Cheshire — in this case Eaton Hall, the Grosvenor country house. It is larger but less grand than the central feature of the district, Belgrave Square, and both larger and grander than Chester Square. The first block was laid out by Thomas Cubitt from 1827. In 2016 it was named as the "Most Expensive Place to Buy Property in Britain", with a full terraced house costing on average £17 million — many of such town houses have been converted, within the same, protected structures, into upmarket apartments.
Manchester Square is an 18th-century garden square in Marylebone, London. Centred 950 feet (290 m) north of Oxford Street it measures 300 feet (91 m) internally north-to-south, and 280 feet (85 m) across. It is a small Georgian predominantly 1770s-designed instance in central London; construction began around 1776. The north side has a central mansion, Hertford House, flanked by approach ways; its first name was Manchester House — its use is since 1897 as the Wallace Collection (gallery/museum) of fine and decorative arts sits alongside the Madame Tussauds museum and the Wigmore Hall concert rooms. The square forms part of west Marylebone, most of which sees minor but overarching property interests held by one owner among which many buildings have been recognised by statutory protection.
Grosvenor Park is a public park in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It consists of 20 acres (8.1 ha) of land overlooking the River Dee. It is regarded as one of the finest and most complete examples of Victorian parks in the North West of England, if not nationally. On 22 August 2013 the designation of the park was raised from Grade II in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens to Grade II*.
Thomas Cundy the younger was an English architect, son of another architect of the same name. He joined his father's practice and ultimately succeeded his father as surveyor of the Grosvenor Estate, and held the position during the main phase of the development of Belgravia and Pimlico by the contractor Thomas Cubitt.
St George's Square is a prestigious and very long garden square in affluent Pimlico, Central London. It benefits from gardens and a church in its central area. Near the northern acute angle, the square is intersected by Lupus Street. Pimlico tube station is a short distance east. Its north-east side is in effect Belgrave Road and southern side is arterial Grosvenor Road which is lined by a small public garden in front of the River Thames.
Lawrence Hall in Greycoat Street, Westminster was the newer of the two Royal Horticultural Halls owned by R.H.S. Enterprises Limited, which is part of the Royal Horticultural Society charity in central London. The other is Lindley Hall in Elverton Street; both are close to the RHS' headquarters in Vincent Square. The site of Lawrence Hall incorporates a self-contained purpose-built conference centre above the main hall. The building's name relates to Trevor Lawrence, president of the Royal Horticultural Society from 1885 to 1913 who was chiefly responsible for moving the Society from its expensive Kensington site to a more practical home in Westminster in 1904.
Old Burlington Street is a street in central London that is on land that was once part of the Burlington Estate.
Half Moon Street is a street in the City of Westminster, London. The street runs from Curzon Street in the north to Piccadilly in the south.
Bolton Street is a street in the City of Westminster, London. The street runs from Curzon Street in the north to Piccadilly in the south.
Stratton Street is a street in the Mayfair district of the City of Westminster, London. It runs from Berkeley Street in the north to Piccadilly in the south.
South Audley Street is a major shopping street in Mayfair, London. It runs north to south from the southwest corner of Grosvenor Square to Curzon Street.
Page Street is a street in Pimlico, in the City of Westminster, that runs from Regency Street in the west to the junction of John Islip Street and Dean Ryle Street in the east, parallel with Horseferry Road. It is crossed midway by Marsham Street.
