History
The land on which Covent Garden stands has been occupied continually for nigh on 2000 years making it the oldest inhabited part of London so it is hardly surprising that the history here is rich and curious.
Covent Garden gets its name because it is built on the land of an ancient Benedictine convent. The land was originally tilled by the religious residents and provided vegetables for their table. When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, the monks were banished to Berkshire and the King used the fields to train his falcons. A man of little patience, the King soon tired of this and before long the land was given to the aristocratic Bedford family who ordered the construction of the Piazza and surrounding streetscape.
After the City of London was devastated in the great fire of 1666, trade and industry moved westwards and laid roots in Covent Garden where the famous fruit, vegetable and flower market flourished for 300 years before finally moving away in the 1970s. Billions of people have passed through Covent Garden for business and pleasure over the years and many of them have left a legacy for history. From the aristocrats who contested world-title boxing bouts to John Logie Baird transmitting the first television programme and the hoaxer who exhibited the mermaid he caught in China, there has always been something happening in and around Covent Garden.