Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in the West End of London (England). It falls within the modern borough of Camden and the City of Westminster. The district's name comes from the former fruit and vegetable market in the area as well as the Royal Opera House, which is also known as Covent Garden. The market was first owned and licensed by the Dukes of Bedford in the 17th century when stalls were built in the gardens of Bedford House. The Dukes of Bedford sold their stake in the market in 1918.

In London Labour and the London Poor edition:

Phase 1

Watercress Girl. (Volume 1): "At Covent Garden only the finer sorts of cress are in demand, and, consequently, the itinerants buy only an eighth in that market, and they are not encouraged there. They purchase half the quantity in the Borough, and the same in Spitalfields, and a third at Portman."

Of Groundsel and Chickweed Sellers. (Volume 1): "I goes down about Covent-garden and the Strand on a Thursday."

Of the Low Lodging-Houses. (Volume 1): "'Each man in such houses pays 4d. a night, a bed to each man or boy; that is 26s. 8d. nightly, or 486l. 13s. 4d. a year, provided the beds be full every night—and they are full six nights out of seven. Besides that, some of the beds supply double turns; for many get up at two to go to Covent-garden or some other market, and their beds are then let a second time to other men; so that more than eighty are frequently accommodated, and I suppose 500l. is the nearest sum to be taken for an accurate return.'"

Of the Street Sellers of Live Birds. (Volume 2): "The places where the street-sellers more especially offer their birds are—Smithfield, Clerkenwell-green, Lisson-grove, the City and New roads, Shepherdess-walk, Old Street-road, Shoreditch, Spitalfields, Whitechapel, Tower-hill, Ratcliffe-highway, Commercial-road East, Poplar, Billingsgate, Westminster Broadway, Covent-garden, Blackfriars-road, Bermondsey (mostly about Dock-head), and in the neighbourhood of the Borough Market."

The Negro Crossing-Sweeper, who had lost both his Legs. (Volume 2): "'Even if I had a coffee-stall down at Covent-garden, I should do; and, besides, I understand the making of eel-soup. I have one child,—it is just three months and a week old. It is a boy, and we call it James Edward Albert. James is after my grandfather, who was a slave.'"

Phase 2

Of the Uneducated State of Costermongers. (Volume 1)

Of the Quantity of Shrubs, "Roots," Flowers, etc., sold in the Streets, and of the Buyers. (Volume 1)

Of Two Orphan Flower Girls. (Volume 1)

Of the Irish “Refuse”-Sellers. (Volume 1)

Of the Life of a Tin-Ware Seller. (Volume 1)

Of the Children Street-Sellers of London. (Volume 1)

Of a Public Meeting of Street-sellers. (Volume 1)

Of the Old Clothes Exchange. (Volume 2)

Of the Trades and Localities of the Street-Jews. (Volume 2) [as Covent-garden market]

The Whistling Man. (Volume 3)

Of Prostitution in London (Volume 4)

Txllxt TxllxT, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Places in this Map

Webform: Contact

About COVE

What is COVE?