Seven Dials, London
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Seven Dials is a road junction and neighbourhood in the
St Giles Saint Giles (, la, Aegidius, french: Gilles), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 6th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly lege ...
district of the
London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...
, within the greater
Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
area in the
West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buil ...
. Seven streets of Seven Dials area converge at the roughly circular central roundabout, at the centre of which is a column bearing six
sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...
s – with the column itself acting as the seventh sundial. The Seven Dials Trust owns and maintains the column and the sundials and looks after the public realm in collaboration with the local authorities, major land owners, Historic England and other stakeholders. The Seven Dials area retains the original 17th century layout and is the only area of London remaining from the Stuart England. A time plaque nearby helps visitors of all ages to deduce the time of the day fairly accurately.


History

In the middle ages, the area was owned by the monastic hospital of St Giles which specialised in treating lepers, but it was expropriated by Henry VIII in 1537 and later passed into private hands. In the 17th century, a local estate known as Cock and Pye Fields belonged to the
Worshipful Company of Mercers The Worshipful Company of Mercers is the premier Livery Company of the City of London and ranks first in the order of precedence of the Companies. It is the first of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies. Although of even older origin, the c ...
, which, to maximise its income in the burgeoning West End, allowed building licences on what until then was open farmland near the developing metropolitan area. The original layout of the Seven Dials area was designed by
Thomas Neale Thomas Neale (1641–1699) was an English project-manager and politician who was also the first person to hold a position equivalent to postmaster-general of the North American colonies. Neale was a Member of Parliament for thirty years, Maste ...
during the early 1690s. His plan had six roads converging, although this number was later increased to seven. The sundial column was built with only six faces, with the column itself acting as the
gnomon A gnomon (; ) is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The term is used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields. History A painted stick dating from 2300 BC that was excavated at the astronomical site of Taosi is the ol ...
of the seventh dial. This layout was chosen to produce triangular plots, in order to minimise the frontage of houses to be built on the site, as rentals were charged per foot of frontage rather than by the square footage of properties. After the successful development of the Covent Garden Piazza area nearby, Neale hoped that Seven Dials would be popular with wealthy residents. This was not to be, and the status of the area gradually went down. At one stage, each of the seven apex buildings facing the column housed a
pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
. By the 19th century, Seven Dials was among the most notorious
slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...
s in London, as part of the slum of St Giles. The area was described by
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
in 1835: In his collection ''
Sketches by Boz ''Sketches by "Boz," Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People'' (commonly known as ''Sketches by Boz'') is a collection of short pieces Charles Dickens originally published in various newspapers and other periodicals between 1833 and ...
'', Dickens remarks, The poet
John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...
described the area as the last resort for the poor and the ill. The relatively low status of the location is also stated by
W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most f ...
in the operetta ''
Iolanthe ''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...
'' It remained a byword for urban poverty during the early 20th century, when
Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
set ''
The Seven Dials Mystery ''The Seven Dials Mystery'' is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by William Collins & Sons on 24 January 1929 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. In this novel, Christie bri ...
'' (1929) there. The original sundial column was removed in 1773. It was long believed that it had been pulled down by an angry mob, but recent research suggests it was deliberately removed by the Paving Commissioners in an attempt to rid the area of "undesirables". The remains were acquired by architect James Paine, who kept them at his house in
Addlestone Addlestone ( or ) is a town in Surrey, England. It is located approximately southwest of London. The town is the administrative centre of the Borough of Runnymede, of which it is the largest settlement. History The town is recorded as ''Attels ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, from where they were bought in 1820 by public subscription and re-erected in nearby
Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...
as a memorial to
Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia (Friederike Charlotte Ulrike Katharina; 7 May 1767 – 6 August 1820) was a Prussian princess by birth and a British princess by marriage. She was the eldest daughter of King Frederick William II of P ...
, Duchess of York and Albany. The badly weathered dialstone was not reinstalled on the monument and can be seen adjacent to Weybridge Library. During the 1840s Seven Dials was a major gathering area for the
Chartists Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of 1838 and was a national protest movement, w ...
in their campaign for electoral reform. However, the illegal activities of some (plans for armed uprisings) were thwarted by the recently established police force. By 1851 sewers were laid in the area, but poverty intensified in St Giles and in the Seven Dials, although the population began to decrease as workshops and breweries started occupying some of the houses. The model developed by Margaret Frere was established here to support poor children in education; it was adopted throughout London for school social work. The seven streets at Seven Dials originally had quite different names from what they have now. They were Great Earl Street, Little Earl Street, Great White Lion Street, Little White Lion Street, Great St Andrew's Street, Little St Andrew's Street and Queen Street. In the 1930s, their names were changed: Great and Little Earl Streets became Earlham Street, Great and Little White Lion Streets became part of an extended Mercer Street, Great and Little St Andrew's Streets became Monmouth Street, and Queen Street became Shorts Gardens. Today, only two houses remain from the original Thomas Neale development of the 1690s; 61 Monmouth Street and 64 Neal Street.


Seven Dials, 1974 to 2018

According to Camden Council, the currently defined area "can be found to the north west of Covent Garden Market, and just to the south of
Shaftesbury Avenue Shaftesbury Avenue is a major road in the West End of London, named after The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. It runs north-easterly from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus. From Piccadilly Cir ...
. The Dials comprise Earlham Street, Monmouth Street, Mercer Street and Shorts Gardens. The area now known as Seven Dials also includes Neal Street and Neals Yard." Monmouth Street is the only street in Seven Dials to have an official
number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers c ...
; the B404. The others are unclassified. During 1974, Seven Dials was named a Conservation Area with Outstanding Status and during 1977 it was declared a Housing Action Area. By 1984, the Housing Action Area Committee ensured that all of the vacant homes were in some use and was encouraging business to locate in the area. An increasing number of buildings have been restored over the years. Since 1974, over 25 percent of the area's buildings have been listed. Presently Seven Dials is a prosperous, largely commercial neighbourhood in the WC2 postcode area between the
West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1 ...
district of Shaftesbury Avenue and the fashionable shopping district around nearby
Neal's Yard Neal's Yard is a small alley in London's Covent Garden between Shorts Gardens and Monmouth Street which opens into a courtyard. It is named after the 17th century developer, Thomas Neale. In 1976, alternative activist and entrepreneur Nichol ...
. It is dominated by generally slow-moving traffic in the narrow streets, which are usually crowded with people. The replacement sundial pillar, commissioned by The Seven Dials Trust, (formerly The Seven Dials Monument Charity), was constructed during 1988–89 to the original design. It was unveiled by
Beatrix of the Netherlands Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husband ...
during June 1989, on a visit to commemorate the tercentenary of the reign of
William III William III or William the Third may refer to: Kings * William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198) * William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702) * William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...
and
Mary II Mary II (30 April 166228 December 1694) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, co-reigning with her husband, William III & II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. Mary was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, and his first wife ...
, during which the area was developed. The monument is owned by, and continues to be maintained by, The Seven Dials Trust whose mandate also includes improving the area, working with landowners as well as national and local agencies. By late 2017, investment company
Shaftesbury plc Shaftesbury PLC was a British real estate investment trust which invests exclusively in the heart of London's West End. It was headquartered in London and was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it merged with Capital & Counties Properties ...
owned an increasing number of the buildings, a "huge chunk" of the area, according to one news report. At that time, significant changes were occurring in the business properties including the conversion of a mall owned by Shaftesbury plc, Thomas Neal's Warehouse, into a single store that might become the main store for a major retailer and the conversion of a warehouse into office space. On one of the seven apexes remains a pub, ''The Crown''. On another apex is the
Cambridge Theatre The Cambridge Theatre is a West End theatre, on a corner site in Earlham Street facing Seven Dials, in the London Borough of Camden, built in 1929–30 for Bertie Meyer on an "irregular triangular site". Design and construction It was des ...
, and on a third the Radisson Edwardian Mercer Street Hotel. On another is the
Comyn Ching Triangle Comyn Ching Triangle is a triangular city block at the Seven Dials junction in Covent Garden, London. It is bounded by Monmouth, Mercer and Shelton Streets, and comprises a perimeter of terraced buildings surrounding Ching Court, a public space. ...
, a block of old buildings renovated during the 1980s. Despite some redevelopment, many original buildings remain. There are two historic plaques in the area, one at 13 Monmouth Street, where
Brian Epstein Brian Samuel Epstein (; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was a British music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1962 until his death in 1967. Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put him i ...
managed his company and another in Neal's Yard, at the "Animation, Editing and Recording Studios of
Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...
", actually the studios and offices of
Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries. Palin w ...
and
Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including ''Time Bandits'' (1981), ''B ...
from 1976 to 1987. A November 2017 report describes Seven Dials as follows:


The monument

Neale commissioned the architect and stonemason Edward Pierce to design and construct a sundial pillar during 1693–94. The original drawing in brown ink with a grey wash is in the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
collection. On top of an eight-foot (2.4m) tall plinth, there is a 20-foot (6.1m) tall
Doric column The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of col ...
. The sculpture that contains the six sundials and the pinnacle is ten foot (3m) tall. This block is arranged with direct north and south facing vertical dials, and four vertically declining dials. The monument was erected during 1694, but removed during 1773. Reconstruction of the replica was launched by the Seven Dials Trust during 1985 and erected during 1989. It was the first project of its kind in London since the erection of
Nelson's Column Nelson's Column is a monument in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, Central London, built to commemorate Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's decisive victory at the Battle of Trafalgar over the combined French and Spanish navies, during whic ...
in the 1840s. The dials were designed, carved and gilded by Caroline Webb, while the astronomer Gordon Taylor verified the mathematics. Each of the faces is accurate to within ten seconds. The dials give local
apparent solar time Solar time is a calculation of the passage of time based on the position of the Sun in the sky. The fundamental unit of solar time is the day, based on the synodic rotation period. Two types of solar time are apparent solar time (sundial ti ...
, so a correction must be made using the conversion graph displayed on the plinth to work out clock time. Seven dials is 0° 07' geographical degrees to the west of Greenwich – that is 3.048 seconds behind
Greenwich Mean Time Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the Local mean time, mean solar time at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, i ...
.


In popular culture

*"The Monmouth Street Cap", an 1819 poem by
Elizabeth Beverley Elizabeth Beverley (1792 – 19 November 1832, in Lambeth) It is not known who R. Beverley was, but his wife wrote a poem on "my Child's being unfortunately burnt to death," implying that grief at this hastened her husband's death as well.''The F ...
, is a satirical account of public charity. *One of the pieces in
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
' collection ''
Sketches by Boz ''Sketches by "Boz," Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People'' (commonly known as ''Sketches by Boz'') is a collection of short pieces Charles Dickens originally published in various newspapers and other periodicals between 1833 and ...
'' (1837–1839) is named " Seven Dials". * In
H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
The Crystal Egg "The Crystal Egg" is a science fiction short story written by H. G. Wells in 1897. The story tells of a shop owner, named Mr. Cave, who finds a strange crystal egg that serves as a window into the planet Mars. The story was written the same yea ...
", the eponymous object is owned by the proprietor of "a little and very grimy-looking shop near Seven Dials." *In
Pio Baroja Pio may refer to: Places * Pio Lake, Italy * Pio Island, Solomon Islands * Pio Point, Bird Island, south Atlantic Ocean People * Pio (given name) * Pio (surname) * Pio (footballer, born 1986) Felipe Anselmo Viciano (born 6 January 1986 in Sant ...
’s 1908 novel “La ciudad de la niebla”, near the house which is rented by the protagonist María Aracil “se hallaba la plaza de Seven Dials o de los Siete Cuadrantes, adonde convergían siete callejuelas, en otro tiempo rincón de mala fama, especie de corte de los Milagros londinense y hoy ya un sitio sin carácter alguno y con el aspecto de una plazuela concurrida y animada” *
Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
's 1929 work, ''
The Seven Dials Mystery ''The Seven Dials Mystery'' is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by William Collins & Sons on 24 January 1929 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. In this novel, Christie bri ...
''. In 1981,
London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...
televised an adaptation of the book, with well-known actors, including
John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Briti ...
. *
C. S. Forester Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (27 August 1899 – 2 April 1966), known by his pen name Cecil Scott "C. S." Forester, was an English novelist known for writing tales of naval warfare, such as the 12-book Horatio Hornblower series depicting a Roya ...
's novel ''
Mr. Midshipman Hornblower ''Mr. Midshipman Hornblower'' is a 1950 Horatio Hornblower novel written by C. S. Forester. Although it may be considered as the first episode in the Hornblower saga, it was written as a prequel; the first Hornblower novel, ''The Happy Retur ...
'' (1950) features a duchess, in the chapter "The Duchess and the Devil", who speaks in a "startlingly vulgar" accent from the Seven Dials. *The name of the police station in the British television series ''
The Gentle Touch ''The Gentle Touch'' is a British police drama television series made by London Weekend Television for ITV which began on 11 April 1980 and ran until 1984. The series is notable for being the first British series to feature a female police off ...
'' (1980–1984) was Seven Dials. *"I could be a rambler from the Seven Dials" is the opening lyric of
Stephen Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has com ...
's 1991 song " Treetop Flyer". *Several episodes of the 2008 British television series ''
City of Vice ''City of Vice'' is a British historical crime drama television series set in Georgian London and first screened on 14 January 2008 on Channel 4. Premise The series mixes fiction with fact following the fortunes of the famous novelist Henry Fi ...
'' are set around Seven Dials. *'' Slammerkin'', a 2000 novel by
Emma Donoghue Emma Donoghue (born 24 October 1969) is an Irish-Canadian playwright, literary historian, novelist, and screenwriter. Her 2010 novel ''Room'' was a finalist for the Booker Prize and an international best-seller. Donoghue's 1995 novel ''Hood'' w ...
, is partly set in Seven Dials. *In
Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first nov ...
's 2012 novel '' Dodger'', Seven Dials is the setting for much of the action and where the eponymous hero lives. *''
The Bone Season ''The Bone Season'' is a supernatural dystopian novel by British writer Samantha Shannon and is her debut novel. The novel was published on 20 August 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing and is the first of a seven book series. Television rights to ' ...
'', a 2013 novel by
Samantha Shannon Samantha Shannon (born 8 November 1991) is a British author of dystopian and fantasy fiction. Her debut novel, '' The Bone Season'', was published in 2013 and is the first of a seven-book series. Life and career Shannon was born in Hammersmith ...
, is partly set in Seven Dials. *
Roddy Frame Roddy Frame (born 29 January 1964) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. He was the founder of the 1980s new wave band Aztec Camera and has undertaken a solo career since the group's dissolution. In November 2013, journalist Brian Do ...
's fourth solo studio album, released in 2014, is entitled ''Seven Dials''. Frame explained in a radio interview that he has spent much time there. *
Brenda Hiatt Brenda Hiatt is an American, ''New York Times'' and ''USA Today'' bestselling author of romantic adventure novels, including traditional Regency romance, time travel romance, historical novels, contemporary humorous mystery, and most recently yo ...
's five-book
Regency romance Regency romances are a subgenre of romance novels set during the period of the British Regency (1811–1820) or early 19th century. Rather than simply being versions of contemporary romance stories transported to a historical setting, Regency rom ...
''Saint of Seven Dials'' series features rogue heroes who rob from the rich to help the poor in the notorious Seven Dials slum of
Regency era The Regency era of British history officially spanned the years 1811 to 1820, though the term is commonly applied to the longer period between and 1837. George III of the United Kingdom, King George III succumbed to mental illness in late 18 ...
London. * The 23rd book (2003) in
Anne Perry Anne Perry (born Juliet Marion Hulme; 28 October 1938) was convicted of murder in New Zealand when a teenager, later moved to England and became an author. In 1954, at the age of fifteen, she and her 16-year-old friend Pauline Parker were tried ...
's historical fiction series featuring Charlotte & Thomas Pitt, set in the late 1800s, is titled ''Seven Dials''. A part of the book takes place in that slum area. * The final book in the Williamson Papers series, ''Back Home'' by Tom Williams, is also set in 19th-century London; a character has gotten into trouble in the Seven Dials. * In
Robert Tressell Robert Noonan (17 April 1870 – 3 February 1911), born Robert Croker and best known by the pen name Robert Tressell, was an Irish writer best known for his novel ''The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists''. Tressell spent his entire early adult w ...
's novel ''
The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists ''The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists'' (1914) is a semi-autobiographical novel by Irish house painter and sign writer Robert Noonan, who wrote the book in his spare time under the pen name Robert Tressell. Published after Tressell's death fro ...
'', the
Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two Major party, major List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, in the 19th and early 20th centuries. ...
candidate's campaign in Mugsborough is enforced by bullies from Seven Dials paid ten shillings a day *Famous punjab super star singer and rapper sidhu moose wala picturised his US song in seven dials in May 2022


Property development

Seven Dials is predominantly owned by
Shaftesbury PLC Shaftesbury PLC was a British real estate investment trust which invests exclusively in the heart of London's West End. It was headquartered in London and was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it merged with Capital & Counties Properties ...
, which also have a joint venture with the Worshipful Company of Mercers at the adjoining St Martin's Courtyard.


References


External links


Commercial guide to the Seven Dials shopping area

The Seven Dials Trust
{{Coord, 51, 30, 49.5, N, 0, 07, 37.3, W, region:GB_type:landmark_dim:3km, display=title Streets in the London Borough of Camden Road junctions in London Covent Garden