St Paul Covent Garden was a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the metropolitan area of

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 ...

, England. The former area of the parish now corresponds to the Covent Garden market and surrounding streets in the City of Westminster.

History

It was created in 1645 from part of the ancient parish of St Martin in the Fields, and was within the

Liberty of Westminster The City and Liberty of Westminster was a unit of local government in the county of Middlesex, England. It was located immediately to the west of the City of London. Originally under the control of Westminster Abbey, the local authority for the ...

. The parish was included in the returns of the bills of mortality. St Paul Covent Garden was completely surrounded by the parish of St Martin in the Fields. It was grouped into the Strand District in 1855 when it came within the area of responsibility of the

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the principal instrument of local government in a wide area of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent, defined by the Metropolis Management Act 1855, from December 1855 until the establishment of the London Cou ...

. In 1889 the parish became part of the

County of London The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...

and in 1900 it became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. It was abolished as a civil parish in 1922.

Poor law

The parish workhouse in Cleveland Street, Marylebone became the workhouse of the

Strand Poor Law Union The Cleveland Street Workhouse is a Georgian property in Cleveland Street, Marylebone, built between 1775 and 1778 for the care of the sick and poor of the parish of St Paul Covent Garden under the Old Poor Law. From 1836, it became the workhou ...

in 1836.

References

{{coord , 51, 30, 42, N, 0, 7, 25, W, type:adm3rd_region:GB-WSM, display=title History of local government in London (pre-1855) History of the City of Westminster Parishes united into districts (Metropolis) Former civil parishes in London Bills of mortality parishes 1645 establishments in England