Myddelton Square, Islington-geograph-2823209-by-Stephen-McKay

Myddelton Square, the largest square in

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redisco ...

, is a residential public

garden square A garden square is a type of communal garden in an urban area wholly or substantially surrounded by buildings; commonly, it continues to be applied to public and private parks formed after such a garden becomes accessible to the public at large. ...

of the 1820s to 1840s, with playground, with many trees; its houses are built with exposed brickwork,

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

style, with high-ceilinged ground and first-floor storeys. Two of its houses were obliterated and rebuilt, and two declared unsafe and rebuilt, due to the

London Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Internally, with roads and pavements, it spans , as measures by from one set of houses fronting, to another.

Architecture

It was laid out by

William Chadwell Mylne William Chadwell Mylne, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (6 April 1781 – 25 December 1863) was an English people, English civil engineer and architect. He was descended from a Scottish family of masons and architects, and was the second ...

. It still presents as a set of 73 large townhouses of its original style but many have been internally subdivided. The houses were firstly built by 13 building firms, then that chosen in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

for 11A and 12A on the south side, plus another commissioned from the

-related reconstruction of two north-side houses. All are constructed in a

style of "yellow" stock brick (often now slightly darkened) in Flemish bond and a white banded, stuccoed, to resemble stone-built, ground floor, and save for those stated as replacements, from 1822 to 1843. The square has St Mark's fronting the street on the west side of its garden. All of the houses are

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, as is the church (protected and recognised in the initial, mainstream statutory category).

The square is named after Sir Hugh Myddelton (1560–1631), the founder of the

New River Company The New River Company, formally The Governor and Company of the New River brought from Chadwell and Amwell to London, was a privately-owned water supply company in London, England, originally formed around 1609 and incorporated in 1619 by roy ...

, whose family sold the land on which it was built, drawing a profit by way of overseeing and granting building leases, meaning the upmarket builders shouldered the risk, when built up in later years.

Layout

Three main approach ways, the broadest being east, are added to by Myddleton Passage, which removed №s 3 and 4 (access to two apartment blocks and their landscaped grounds), but an earlier access to the same side was filled in to become new houses, in the same style, 11A and 12A.

Notable residents

The dramatist, actor and theatre manager,

Thomas John Dibdin Thomas John Dibdin (21 March 1771 – 16 September 1841) was an English dramatist and songwriter. Life Dibdin was the son of Charles Dibdin, a songwriter and theatre manager, and of "Mrs Davenet", an actress whose real name was Harriett Pit ...

(1771–1841) was of the first residents, as to № 7 in 1826-27.

Events

№s 43–53 on the north side became rubble from bombing, mentioned above, on 11 January 1941. They were rebuilt by the New River Company in 1947 and 1948 which took government compensation, the frontages differ by having full-height brickwork, no ground floor stone-like dressings, of the others. №s 3 and 4 were demolished as lesser-damaged by the same bombing campaign.

Drama set

A BBC adaptation of ''

Howards End ''Howards End'' is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. ''Howards End'' is considered by many to be Forster's masterpiece. The book was ...

'', by

EM Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly '' A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stor ...

, in 2017 used a house as the London home of the central Schlegel family (suggestive of fictional "Wickham Place").

References