Estate in central London, England
Entrance to the Bedford Estate office in Montague Street
Looking north across
Bloomsbury Square
on the Bedford Estate with Bedford House behind, c. 1725, London
town house
of the Dukes of Bedford
Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford
, statue by
Richard Westmacott
in
Russell Square
on the Bedford Estate
John Norden
's map of 1593 map, showing the Bedford
Covent Garden Estate
not long after it was acquired by
John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford
(c. 1485?1554/55), granted by
King Henry VIII
after the
dissolution of the monasteries
in 1540
The
Bedford Estate
is an estate in
central London
owned by the Russell family, which holds the
peerage title
of
Duke of Bedford
. The estate was originally based in
Covent Garden
,
[1]
then stretched to include
Bloomsbury
in 1669.
[2]
The Covent Garden property was sold for £2 million in 1913 by
Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford
, to the MP and land speculator
Harry Mallaby-Deeley
, who sold his option to the
Beecham
family for £250,000; the sale was finalised in 1918.
[3]
History
[
edit
]
In 1669, the Bloomsbury Estate came into ownership of the Russell family when William, son of
William Russell, 1st Duke and 5th Earl of Bedford
(1616?1700), married Lady Rachel Vaughan, one of the daughters of
Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton
(1607?1667).
[2]
She had recently inherited the agricultural fields now known as Bloomsbury from her father.
Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford
(1765?1802) came of age in 1786. He was a spendthrift gambler, with an interest in farming on the
Woburn
estate. However, he was not interested in Bedford House in Bloomsbury, instead living in the
West End
. In 1800, the contents of Bedford House were put up for auction and the house was demolished. It was replaced by a wide avenue,
Bedford Place
, leading north to the large
Russell Square
, with
Montague Street
running parallel to the west. Francis Russell commissioned
James Burton
, the pre-eminent property developer of Georgian London, to develop the land into a residential area in which Russell Square would be the focal point, and which would be landscaped by
Humphrey Repton
, who had impressed Francis Russell with his work on the Woburn estate.
The development of Bloomsbury was continued by Francis Russell's brother,
John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford
(1766?1839). The firm of
Thomas Cubitt
(1788?1855) were involved towards the end of the development. Eventually, the entire estate north of Russell Square was filled with squares and houses. John Russell was also responsible for the building of the
Covent Garden Market
to the south of the main estate.
[4]
Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford
(1858?1940) succeeded to the title in 1893. By then, there was a move against the owners of large estates. Herbrand Russell began to sell off the estates under his control. The sale contract for
Covent Garden
was signed in 1914 and finalised with
Sir Thomas Beecham
(1879?1961) in 1918.
The Bedford Estates
[
edit
]
The
British Museum
and the
University of London
replaced large parts of the estate and the remnants are owned by
The Bedford Estates
,
[5]
mainly residential property that has been converted for office and hotel use, together with private residential property.
[2]
The company is the largest private landowner in Bloomsbury and is managed from the Bedford Office in Montague Street, within the estate.
[5]
Geography
[
edit
]
The main Bedford Estate originally extended between
Tottenham Court Road
,
Euston Road
,
Southampton Row
, and
New Oxford Street
.
[2]
There were also two separate parts on the other side of Tottenham Court Road and Euston Road. To the south, the
Covent Garden Estate
north of the
Strand
was also part of the Bedford Estate.
[4]
Garden squares
in the main Bedford Estate include:
In the northern separate part of the Bedford Estate is
Harrington Square
. The neighbouring
Ampthill Square Estate
is built on what was previously another garden square, Ampthill Square.
See also
[
edit
]
Other large privately owned historic estates in London include:
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"The Bedford Estate - Covent Garden and the seven acres in Long Acre"
. British History Online
. Retrieved
23 August
2010
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
History
Archived
2010-06-16 at the
Wayback Machine
, The Bedford Estates, Bloomsbury, London, UK.
- ^
"The Bedford Estate ? The Sale of the Estate"
. British History Online
. Retrieved
27 July
2010
.
- ^
a
b
The Bedford Estate: Covent Garden and the seven acres in Long Acre
. In F. H. W. Sheppard (editor),
Survey of London: volume 36: Covent Garden
, pages 19?21.
British History
,
English heritage
, 1970.
- ^
a
b
What we do
Archived
2010-08-28 at the
Wayback Machine
, The Bedford Estates, Bloomsbury, London, UK.
External links
[
edit
]
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51°31′09″N
0°07′29″W
/
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