Covent Garden

Zaman Rom hingga 1500-an

Sebuah penetapan telah wujud di kawasan ini sejak zaman Rom sebagai sebuah penetapan berhampiran Londinium, bukti yang sangat rinci datang dari kawasan berhampiran St Martin's in the Fields, di mana pengebumian Romano-British kedudukan tinggi digalikan keluar pada 2004. Selapas jatuhnya Empayar Rom di Britain kawawsan itu ditinggalkan, tetapi dengan ketibaan penetapan Anglo-Saxon kawasan ini menjadi Lundenwic kebandaran zaman pertengahan awal prinsip. Puak Anglo-Saxon secara besar mengabaikan kawasan intramural Londinium, seperti meraka mempunyai banyak bandar-bandar Rom. Alfred the Great meninggalkan kawasan ini, dari lebih kurang 886, apabila dia menduduki Londinium sebagai Lundenburh sebagai sebahagian dari penaklukan semula pendudukan Viking. Ini menjelaskan mengapa sebahagian dari kawasan ini dinamakan Aldwych iaitu pekan lama'. Ada banyak peninggalan arkeologi awal zaman pertengahan di kawasan Covent Garden mencerminkan tempoh dan proses penetapan dan abandonment ini.
"Covent Garden" (covent menjadi bentuk Bahasa Inggeris Pertengahan pada perkataan moden convent) telah diberikan, sewaktu pemerintahan Raja John (1199–1216), ke sebuah patch 40-ekar (16 ha) di county Middlesex, bersempadan barat dan timur yang apanya kini St. Martin's Lane dan Drury Lane, dan utara dan selatan pada Floral Street dan suatu garisan dilukis dari Chandos Place, di sepanjang Maiden Lane dan Exeter Street ke Aldwych. Dalam medan segi empat ini Abbey atau Convent of St. Peter, Westminster, mengekalkan sebuah kebun dapur besar di sepanjang Zaman Pertengahan untuk memberikan makanan sehariannya. Tiga kurun lebih kemudian, "kebun biara" sami menjadi sebuah sumber utama buah-buahan dan sayur-sayuran di London dan telah diuruskan oleh suatu berturutan pemegang pajakan dengan kelulusan dari Abbot dari Westminster.
Pajakan jenis ini kahirnya mambawakan pecanggahan harta tanah di sepanjang kerajaan, yang Henry VIII menyelesaikan pada 1540 dengan pukulan pen apabila dia membubarkan biara dan menyesuaikan tanah mereka.
Raja Henry VIII meluluskan sebahagian dari tanah ke Baron Russell, Lord High Admiral dan, kemudian, Earl of Bedford. Dengan penunaian kemintaan ayahnya yang hampir mati, Raja Edward VI mengurniakan peninggalan kebun biara pada 1547 ke bapa saudara dari belah ibunya, Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset yang bermula membina Rumah Somerset di bahagian selatan Strand tahun yang berikutnya. Apabila Seymour beheaded oleh kerana treason pada 1552, tanah itu sekali lagi menjadi hadiah diraja, dan telah dianugerahkan empat bulan kemudian pada salah seorang yang telah menyumbang kejatuhan Seymour. Empat puluh ekar (16 ha), digelarkan "le Covent Garden" tambah "ekar yang panjang", telah diluluskan oleh paten diraja untuk selama-lamanya ke Earl of Bedford.

1600-an hingga 1800-an

Covent Garden hari kini mempunyai akarnya pada kurun ke-17 apabila tanah ("the Convent's Garden") telah dibangunkan semula oleh Francis Russell, Earl ke-4 dari Bedford. Kawasan ini telah direkabentuk oleh Inigo Jones, arkitek pertama dan terhebat Zaman Pembaharuan Inggeris. Dia telah diilhamkan oleh kurun ke-15 dan kurun ke-16 merancang pekan pasar digelarkan bastide (mereka sendiri dimodelkan oleh pekan penjajahan Rom dengan cara biara berhampiran) dan Place des Vosges dataran dirancang pertama di Paris. Hiasan utama projek adala sebuah piazza beraked. Gereja St Paul's, Covent Garden berdiri di tengah-tengah bahagian barat piazza. Sebuah pasar, yang terdahulunya di tempat buka, menduduki tengah-tengah piazza.
Kawasan secara pantas menjadi sebuah asas untuk para pedagang pasar, sebuah kawasan di mana para pengembara menjadikan tempat peranginan. Bahan-bahan eksotik dari seluruh dunia telah dibawa di bot-bot atas Sungai Thames dan dijual dari Covent Garden. Sebutan pertama sebuah tayangan Punch and Judy di Britain telah dirakam oleh diarist Samuel Pepys, yang melihat sebarang tayangan di dataran pada Mei 1662. Berikutnya Kebakaran Besar London dari 1666 yang memusnahkan pasaran bersaing terhadap timur bandar, pasar ini menjadi yang terpenting dalam negara. Hari ini Covent Garden hanya adalah sebahagian dari London dilesenkan untuk hiburan jalan, dengna para penghibur melakukan uji bakat untuk pengurusan Market dan para pewakil kesatuan penghibur dan menandatangan dengan menampatkan jadual. Pada 1830 sebuah bangunan mengingatkan mewah Roman bath seperti yang ditemukan di Bath telah dibina untuk memberikan sebuah pusat perdagangan yang lebih tetap.
Pada 7 April 1779, laluan jalan kaki di luar rumah mainan Covent Garden adalah babak pembunuhan terkenal Martha Ray, seorang perempuan simpanan Earl ke-4 dari Sandwich, oleh peminatnya Rev. James Hackman, yang telah digantung dua belas hari kemudian.
Covent Garden adalah sebuah daerah lampu merah terkenal pada kurun ke-18. Aktiviti-aktiviti di Covent Garden telah didokumenkan di Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, sebuah senarai memberangsang yang memberikan alamat pelacur dan rumah pelacuran, dan juga perincian “keistimewaan” mereka. Sewaktu zaman gemilang (1757 hingga 1795), Harris’s List adalah "panduan pokok dan accessory untuk mana-mana lelaki serius kenikmatan".

Modern-day period

Pada 1913, menjawab perasaan politik terhadap pemegang besar harta milik, dan and wishing to diversify his investment portfolio into less politically sensitive fields, the Duke of Bedford agreed to sell the Covent Garden Estate to the MP and land speculator Harry Mallaby-Deeley for £2 million. The following year Mallaby-Deeley sold his option to buy to the pill manufacturer Sir Joseph Beecham for £250,000. After delays caused by the First World War and the death of Sir Joseph, the sale was finalised in 1918, the purchasers being Sir Joseph's two sons, Sir Thomas and Henry. The transaction included the market, 231 other properties, and sundry other rights. The property was part of Beecham Estates and Pills Limited from 1924 to 1928 and from 1928 it was owned by a successor company called Covent Garden Properties Company Limited, owned by the Beechams and other private investors. This new company sold some properties at Covent Garden, while becoming active in property investment in other parts of London. In 1962 the bulk of the remaining properties in the Covent Garden area, including the market, were sold to the newly established government-owned Covent Garden Authority for £3,925,000.
By the end of the 1960s, traffic congestion in the surrounding area had reached such a level that the use of the square as a market, which required increasingly large lorries for deliveries and distribution, was becoming unsustainable. The whole area was threatened with complete redevelopment. Following a public outcry, in 1973 the Home Secretary, Robert Carr, gave dozens of buildings around the square listed building status, preventing redevelopment. The following year the market finally moved to a new site (called the New Covent Garden Market) about three miles (5 km) south-west at Nine Elms. The square languished until its central building re-opened as a shopping centre and tourist attraction in 1980. Today the shops largely sell novelty items, though street performers can be seen almost every day of the year, both on the pitches within the market, and on the West and East Piazza's/James Street outside. More serious shoppers gravitate to Long Acre, which has a range of clothes shops and boutiques, and Neal Street, noted for its large number of shoe shops. London's Transport Museum and the side entrance to the Royal Opera House box office and other facilities are also located on the Piazza.
In August 2007, Covent Garden launched the UK's first food Night Market. Fresh produce from over 35 different stalls included Neal's Yard's specialist cheeses, Spore Boys' mushroom sandwiches, Gourmet Candy Company, Ginger Pig sausages and Burnt Sugar fudge. The aim of the Night Market was to bring Covent Garden back to its roots as the "Larder of London". Organisers are hoping to make it a permanent event in 2008 as part of a wider initiative to regenerate interest in the Covent Garden area.
Covent Garden Market and Piazza was bought by Capital and Counties in August 2006 for £421 million. In March 2007 Capco also acquired the shops located under the Royal Opera House. The complete Covent Garden Estate owned by Capital and Counties consists of 550,000 sq ft (51,000 m²). and has a market value of £650 million.
Covent Garden Market reopened as a retail centre in 1980, after the produce market was moved to its current location in Nine Elms. Currently one of the most famous and popular parts of the covered Covent Garden market is Apple Market, a small subsection of the main market.  Street entertainment at Covent Garden was first mentioned in Samuel Pepys' diary in 1662. Today Covent Garden is the only part of London licensed for street entertainment with performers having to undertake auditions for the Market's management and representatives of the performers' union and signing up to timetabled slots.
Currently performers operate in a number of venues around the market, including the North Hall, West Piazza, and South Hall Courtyard. The courtyard space is dedicated to classical music only. There are street performances at Covent Garden Market every day of the year, except Christmas Day. Shows run throughout the day and are 30–40 minutes in length.
In March 2008, Capital and Counties proposed to reduce street performances by approximately 50%. In the Courtyard, shows currently run back to back from 10:30 am to 7:00 pm, with short breaks in between each show, allowing for two shows each hour. Under the new proposal, performances would be cut to one 30-minute show each hour. The musicians and performers staged a demonstration "busk" in the Piazza against these cuts on 27 March with the opera singer Lesley Garrett who is supporting their campaign. They have organised a petition which so far has over 5,000 signatures including Ken Livingstone, Brian Paddick, Vasko Vassilev, Brian Eno and Victoria Wood.

Royal Opera House

Pada 1960an suatu pemanjang pada bahagian belakang Royal Opera House telah agak memperbaikikan kemudahannya, tetapi apabila waktu berlalu, ia menjadi jelas bahawa suatu pemodelan semula diperlukan. PAda 1975 kerajaan memberikan tanah bersebelahan untuk kemodenan, pembersihan dan pemanjangan rumah dan, pada 1995, dengan adanya wang National Lottery, dana penting telah dinaikkan. Pembinaan semula utama bangunan mengambil tempat di antara 1996 dan 2000, melibatkan demolition hampir seluruh tapak (kecuali untuk auditorium sendiri), termasuk beberapa bangunan bersebelahan, untuk membuatkan ruang untuk suatu ketambahan utama dalam skala komplek. Dari segi isi padu, lebih daripada setengah kompleks adalah baru.
Rumah opera baru telah secara besar diperbaiki teknikal, latihan, pejabat dan kemudahan pendidikan, sebuah teater studio baru, Linbury Theatre, dan lebih banyak ruang awam. Kemasukan Floral Hall lama bersebelahan, telah lama sebahagian dari Covent Garden Market lama tetapi menjadi kopak-kapik umum untuk beberapa tahun, ke dalam rumah opera sebenar mencipta sebuah tempat pengumpulan awam. Venue ini kini didakwa oleh ROH untuk menjadi kemudahan teater termoden di Eropah.

Geraja St Paul's

Pada 2005 jalan yang menuju ke hadapan Geraja St Paul's diberikan plak mirip dengan yang di Dataran Leicester dan Hollywood Walk of Fame, yang digelarkan Avenue of Stars. Plak ini cepat-cepat merosot dan hanya bertahan selama sathun sebelum dipindahkan.

Cultural connections

The marketplace and Royal Opera House were memorably brought together in the opening of George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion, as well its musical adaptation by Alan Jay Lerner, My Fair Lady. In both, Professor Henry Higgins is waiting for a cab to take him home from the opera when he comes across Eliza Doolittle selling flowers in the market.
In the mid-1950s, before he directed such films as If.... and O Lucky Man!, Lindsay Anderson directed a short film about the daily activities of the Covent Garden market called Every Day Except Christmas. It shows 12 hours in the life of the market and market people, now long gone from the area, but it also reflects three centuries of tradition in the operation of the daily fruit and vegetable market.
Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 film, Frenzy, likewise takes place amongst the pubs and fruit markets of Covent Garden. The serial sex killer in Frenzy is a local fruit vendor, and the film features several blackly comic moments suggesting a metaphorical correlation between the consumption of food and the act of rape–murder. Hitchcock was the son of a retail greengrocer in North-East London and would have known the area, so the film was partly conceived (and marketed) as a nostalgic return to familiar streets from the director's childhood.

Streets

Neal Street, named after Thomas Neale (1641-1699) who designed the Seven Dials development and set up the first central postal service in the American colonies, was home to the punk club The Roxy in 1977. It is the centre of a fashion-focused mid-market retailing district which caters mainly for young people.