is an area of central
London , in the
London Borough Of Camden . It is supposedly named after a Norman landowner
William De Blemund (''Blemondisben'') who acquired the land in
1201 , but is also said to be named from the village 'Lomesbury' which formerly stood in the area. The land in question remained largely rural/agricultural until the early 1660s when the then Earl of Southampton constructed what was eventually to become Bloomsbury Square.
The area was laid out mainly in the 18th century, largely by landowners like the
Wriothesley Russell, 3rd Duke Of Bedford who built Bloomsbury Market which opened in March 1730.
The area contains some of London's finest parks and buildings, and is particularly known for its formal squares. These include the large and orderly
Russell Square , with its gardens originally designed by
Humphry Repton , the smaller unusual round
Bedford Square (built between
1775 and
1783 ),
Bloomsbury Square , dominated by the grand Victoria House,
Queen Square , home to many hospitals,
Gordon Square ,
Woburn Square and Torrington Square, which are home to parts of
University College London .
Tavistock Square , home to the
British Medical Association , was the site of one of the
7 July 2005 London Bombings .
Historically Bloomsbury is associated with the arts, education and medicine. It is home to
Senate House , the library of the
University Of London ,
University College London ,
SOAS ,
Slade School Of Fine Art ,
Birkbeck, University Of London , and the
Royal Academy Of Dramatic Art . The
British Museum , which first opened to the public on January 15, 1759 in
Montagu House , is at the heart of Bloomsbury. At the centre of the museum around the former
British Library Reading Room where
Karl Marx was a reader, the space formerly filled with the concrete storage bunkers of the
British Library is today the Great Court, an indoor square with an amazing glass roof designed by British architect
Norman Foster . It houses displays, cinema, a shop, cafe and restaurant. The
British Library now has a new purpose-built home on the north edge of Bloomsbury, just across
Euston Road .
One of London’s most famous hospitals,
Great Ormond Street Hospital for children, is located just off
Queen Square , which is home to the
National Hospital For Neurology And Neurosurgery (formerly the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases) and the
Royal London Homeopathic Hospital . Bloomsbury is also the location of
University College Hospital , which re-opened in 2005 in new buildings on Euston Road, built under the government’s Private Finanace Initiative (PFI). The
Eastman Dental Hospital is located on Gray’s Inn Road close to the
Royal National Throat, Nose And Ear Hospital administered by the
Royal Free Hospital .
Nearby areas include
Somers Town and
King's Cross to the north,
Fitzrovia to the west,
Clerkenwell to the east,
Covent Garden and
Holborn to the south and
Soho to the southeast.
Bloomsbury, as an area, is best explored on foot. Its numerous squares, alleyways and Georgian terraces are all waiting to be discovered. You should not miss
St Georges Bloomsbury built by
Nicholas Hawksmoor between 1716 and 1731, with its steeple based on the
Tomb Of Mausolus at
Halicarnassus and topped with a statue of King
George II . Literary fans will want to visit
Dickens House in Doughty Street. One of London’s most surprising museums is the
Foundling Museum close to
Brunswick Square ; it tells the story of the Foundling Hospital opened by
Thomas Coram , for unwanted children (foundlings) in Georgian London. The hospital, now demolished but for the Georgian colonnade, is now a playground and outdoor sports field for children, called Coram’s Fields; adults are only admitted with a child. It is also home to a small number of sheep, which are quite a surprise when wandering in central London. The nearby Lamb’s Conduit Street is a pleasant thoroughfare with independent shops, cafes and restaurants.
In
Lincoln's Inn Fields , the largest square in London, is the
Sir John Soane's Museum . Soane was, amongst other things, the architect of the
Bank Of England , and a free thinker and collector. His house is filled with paintings by artists such as
William Hogarth (''
A Rake's Progress ''),
Canaletto ,
Turner , Sir
Thomas Lawrence and Sir
Joshua Reynolds , as well as many Egyptian, classical, medieval, and Renaissance antiquities.
The area gives its name to the
Bloomsbury Group (also ''Bloomsbury Set'') of artists, the most famous of whom was Virginia Woolf, who met in private homes in the area in the early
1900s , and to the lesser known
Bloomsbury Gang of
Whig s formed in 1765 by
John Russell, 4th Duke Of Bedford .
For those visiting, Bloomsbury is served by numerous ,
Euston Square ,
Goodge Street ,
Warren Street ,
Tottenham Court Road ,
Russell Square and
King's Cross St. Pancras . The mainline rail stations
Euston ,
King's Cross and
St. Pancras are all located on the northern edge of Bloomsbury. It is also home to the disused
British Museum Tube Station .
Notable residents have included:
Philip (1792-1870) and Philip Charles Hardwick (1822-1892), father and son architects lived at 60 Russell Square for over ten years.
John Shaw Senior (1776-1832) and John Shaw Junior (1803-1870), father and son architects lived on Gower Street.
George Dance (1741-1825), architect lived at 91 Gower Street.
Thomas Henry-Wyatt (1807-1880), architect lived at 77 Great Russell Street.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870), novelist lived at 14 Great Russell Street and 48 Doughty Street.
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), poet, dramatist and prose writer lived at Woburn Walk.
The main community reference group in the area is:
- the Bloomsbury Association http://www.bloomsburyassociation.org.uk
who are members of:
- Bloomsbury Improvement Group http://www.casweb.org/big
