Vigo Street (originally Vigo Lane) is a short street in central

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

that is named after the Anglo-Dutch naval victory over the French and Spanish in the 1702 Battle of Vigo Bay. It has important literary connections.

Location

The street runs between Regent Street and the junction of

Burlington Gardens Burlington Gardens is a street in central London, on land that was once part of the Burlington Estate. Location The street is immediately to the north of the Royal Academy of Arts and joins Old Bond Street and New Bond Street in the west and ...

and

Savile Row Savile Row (pronounced ) is a street in Mayfair, central London. Known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men, the street has had a varied history that has included accommodating the headquarters of the Royal Geographical ...

. Sackville Street leads south, half way along Vigo Street. The rear entrance to Albany is wedged between the end of Vigo Street and the start of Burlington Gardens at 10 and 12 Burlington Gardens.

History

Originally, the whole roadway from what is now Bond Street to the current Glasshouse Street, including the current Vigo Street, was called Glasshouse Street. Following the Anglo-Dutch naval victory over the French and Spanish in the 1702 Battle of Vigo Bay, part of Glasshouse Street was renamed Vigo Lane. Later it became Vigo Street, but the name "Vigo Lane" was still used in ''Elmes's London Streets'' as late as 1831. Finally, the part of Vigo Street behind Burlington House was renamed Burlington Gardens by 1831.

Literary connections

Publishers John Lane and Elkin Mathews were in partnership in Vigo Street. Together they published the infamous literary journal '' The Yellow Book'' volumes one and two in 1894. Later they founded

The Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name was used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books from 1987 to 2008. In April 2008, it was revived as an adul ...

and continued to publish the work until it ceased in 1897. When the partnership between Lane and Mathews ended, both continued to have premises in Vigo Street and Mathews published the first editions of a number of important literary works, including ''The Wind Among the Reeds'' by W.B. Yeats in 1899 ''Chamber Music'' by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

in 1907. He also published Lionel Johnson,

John Masefield John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Among his best known works are the children's novels ''The Midnight Folk'' and ...

, J.M. Synge and Ezra Pound. It was from 8 Vigo Street that Allen Lane founded

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Here fifty years ago Allen Lane published his first paperbacks thereby changing reading habits throughout the English speaking world
Open Plaques, 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2014. In Conan Doyle's ''The Lost World'', 1912, a South American adventure, Lord John Roxton, based on Irish human rights activist Roger Casement, turns down Vigo street and 'through the dingy portals of the famous aristocratic rookery' to his Albany chambers. Doyle describes his rooms, art and gun collection, in great detail. In Graham Greene's ''The End of the Affair'', 1951, the private detective agency Bendrix approaches is located at 159 Vigo Street.

References

{{coord, 51.5103, -0.1390, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Mayfair Streets in the City of Westminster Burlington Estate