Seven Dials Covent Garden is a unique quarter of London whose star-shaped layout remains as constructed in the early 1690s. It was brought back to life largely through the dedication of the Seven Dials Trust, working in partnership with the local authorities and landowners for nearly forty years.

Just west of Covent Garden, Seven Dials is one of the great architectural set pieces of London. It was laid out c. 1693 by Thomas Neale, MP, ‘The Great Projector’.  Neale was a renowned entrepreneur, the organiser of England’s first lottery, a member of no fewer than 62 parliamentary committees, Groom Porter to Charles II, James II and William III,…

William Hodges' 1776 painting, just after the removal of the Sundial Pillar. 1658 Faithorne and Newcourt map. Shows the site of the Seven Dials development as fields on the edge of farmland. Courtesy of Camden Local History Library. 1723 John Strype St Giles Parish map, showing the final layout of Seven Dials and the orientation of the Sundial Pillar. Courtesy…

The Seven Dials Conservation Area is one of the most compact and distinctive pieces of townscape in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century patchwork that makes up the West End of London. Most London estate developments in the late seventeenth and eighteenth century were planned around a square.Seven Dials is unique, however, in having a radiating pattern of seven streets…

The terms broadsheet or broadside refer to both a format and a type of print - a sheet of paper printed on one side and not folded. They carried news, royal proclamations, public announcements as well as popular ballads and sensational court reports and can be seen as a precursor to the tabloid newspaper. Before 1800 broadsheets were printed on…

'The Great Projector', creator of Seven Dials, Thomas Neale was an MP for 30 years, Master of the Mint and of the Transfer Office, Groom Porter, gambler and entrepreneur. His projects ranged from the development of Seven Dials, Shadwell (including brewing and Navy victualling), East Smithfield and Tunbridge Wells, to land drainage, steel and papermaking, mining in Maryland and Virginia,…

Thomas Neale's principal projects   Development of Shadwell — June 1670Mine drainage — June 1675Ballast shore at Jarrow Slake — March 1677Development of Tunbridge Wells — c. 1680Wreck recovery off Bermuda — September 1680Dice to check cheating at gaming — September 1690Recovery of silver from wrecks — September 1690Making verdigris — July 1691Mines in Maryland & Virginia — August 1691Tapestry…

Edward Pierce (1630-1695) designed the centrepiece of Seven Dials - its elegant sundial pillar. Pierce was the leading sculptor of the seventeenth century and a renowned architect and stonemason. He came to prominence as a sculptor after the Great Fire of London, when he was ‘much employed by Sir Christopher Wren in his carvings and designs.’ Pierce’s best-known works as…

Edward Pierce as sculptor The portrait bust of Sir Christopher Wren by Edward Pierce is the greatest work of its kind in the 17th century. Portrait bust of Sir Christopher Wren, courtesy of the Ashmoleum Museum Oxford.   Portrait bust of Oliver Cromwell, courtesy of the Ashmoleum Museum Oxford.   Edward Pearce as architect The Bishops Palace Lichfield    

For many years, until finally defeated, there were plans to demolish much of Covent Garden and most of Seven Dials. Seven Dials was regarded as 'a redevelopment opportunity...a mixed use zone with obsolete property...with an urgent need for redevelopment.'. The plans, originally proposed by the London County Council, were continued by the Greater London Council (GLC) in tandem with Westminster and…