The Parish of St George, Bloomsbury

Antiques from London on eBay

London 1898 Silver APOSTLE SPOON Boyston & Son St. Luke
1 Mar 2010 at 9:00pm
US $95.00
End Date: Thursday Jul-29-2010 20:05:26 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $95.00
Buy it now | Add to watch list
VINTAGE CABINET PLATE CRIES OF LONDON BLACK CHERRIES
30 Jun 2010 at 5:00am
US $44.65
End Date: Friday Jul-30-2010 3:00:38 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $44.65
Buy it now | Add to watch list

W. J. Loftie, adding to the incomplete work of Sir Walter Besant, in The Fascination of London, published in 1903, continues his survey of London with this look at the parish of St George's Bloomsbury:

The parish of St. George, Bloomsbury, which lies westward of St. George the Martyr, is considerably larger than its neighbour.

The derivation of this name is generally supposed to be a corruption of Blemund's Fee, from one William de Blemund, who was Lord of the Manor in Henry VI.'s reign.

Stow and others have written the word "Loomsbury," or "Lomesbury," but this seems to be due to careless orthography, and not to indicate any ancient rendering.

The earliest holder of the manor of whom we have any record is the De Blemund mentioned above.

There are intermediate links missing at a later date, but with the possession of the Southampton family in the very beginning of the seventeenth century the history becomes clear again.

In 1668 the manor passed into the hands of the Bedfords by marriage with the heiress of the Southamptons.

This family also held St. Giles's, which, it will be remembered, was originally also part of the Prebendary of St. Paul's.

The Royal Mews was established at Bloomsbury (Lomesbury) from very early times to 1537, when it was burnt down and the mews removed to the site of the present National Gallery.

The parish is largely composed of squares, containing three large and two small ones, from which nearly all the streets radiate.

The British Museum forms an imposing block in the centre.

This is on the site of Montague House, built for the first Baron Montague, and burnt to the ground in 1686.

It was rebuilt again in great magnificence, with painted ceilings, according to the taste of the time, and Lord Montague, then Duke of Montague, died in it in 1709.

The house and gardens occupied seven acres.

The son and heir of the first Duke built for himself a mansion at Whitehall, and Montague House was taken down in 1845, when the present buildings of the Museum were raised in its stead.

Next: Bloomsbury: The British Museum: Sir Hans Sloane