Seven Dials, London

The famous junction in Covent Garden at the meeting of seven roads.

At the centre is a pillar bearing six sundials, one for each of the six roads which met here when the pillar was commissioned. The original pillar was pulled down in 1773, supposedly by an angry mob (even if recent research suggests it was deliberately removed by the Paving Commissioners in an attempt to rid the area of "undesirables"). It was acquired by the architect James Paine and kept in his house in Addlestone, Surrey. The original layout of the junction was designed by Thomas Neale in the 1690s, and only six roads were designed to converge here. The design was intended to limit the number of houses that could be built on the site. Originally intended to be a smart area of town, it became one of the most notorious slums, with a pub on each of the seven roads. It has featured in many books as a place epitomising poverty, referenced by Agatha Christie in her Seven Dials Mystery, and by Charles Dickens in Sketches of Boz.

Today Seven Dials, connects the theatre district and Shaftesbury Avenue with the fashionable shopping district around Covent Garden and Neal's Yard. A replacement column has been erected and was unveiled by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, during her visit to commemorate the tercentenary of the reign of William III Orange and Mary II Stuart (Dutch) in 1988. 

Seven Dials

Seven Dials, London WC2H 9HD

Seven Dials, London
Seven Dials, London
Seven Dials, London
Seven Dials, London
Seven Dials, London
Seven Dials, London
John Sutton / Seven Dials from Monmouth Street
John Sutton / Seven Dials from Monmouth Street
George Cruikshank / Public domain
George Cruikshank / Public domain
ClemRutter / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
ClemRutter / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
ProfDEH / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)
ProfDEH / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

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