Covent Garden and the Seven
Acres in Long Acre
The garden of the Convent of St. Peter, Westminster, consisted of about 40 acres (ref. 1) between St.
Martin's Lane and 'Aldewichstrate' (now Drury
Lane). (ref. 2) The boundary is roughly defined by
Drury Lane, Floral Street, St. Martin's Lane and
a line drawn south of Chandos Place, Maiden
Lane, Exeter Street and thence via Aldwych
back to Drury Lane. It was marked by an earth
or mud wall, the top of which was thatched with
straw. (ref. 3) There was at least one gate on the east
side, (ref. 2) probably where Aldwych now meets Drury
Lane, near the east end of White Hart Yard (see
Plate 7), and it is likely that another gate stood
where later (Little) Chandos Street entered St.
Martin's Lane.
At what time these 40 acres came into the
possession of the monastery is not known, but the
earliest document which refers to the convent
garden is attributed to the time of King John
(1199–1216). (ref. 4) During the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries the garden was a mixture of
orchard, arable, meadow and pasture land. The
orchard yielded apples, pears, and probably
cherries, plums, medlars and nuts, which the
'gardinarius' supplied to the monks' table. (ref. 5)
Surplus produce such as fruit, barley, dredge, (fn. a)
hay, vetches and straw was sold, and additional
income was derived from the rents of pasturage
and the occasional sale of trees blown down by the
wind. (ref. 6) The earliest known 'keeper' of the garden
was Reginald de Hadham, who in 1307 was
accused of having expropriated 100 marks
(£66 13s. 4d.) out of the profits. (ref. 7) The largest
annual receipt recorded was nearly £12 in 1327–
1328; (ref. 8) later income varied from £4 14s. in
1336–7 to £8 2s. 4d. in 1398–9. (ref. 9) By 1336 the
custody of the garden had been allocated to the
cellarer and so continued for the duration of the
abbey's ownership. (ref. 10)
The monks of Westminster retained the convent garden in their own hands much later than
the manors and estates which they owned outside London. (ref. 11) What appears to have been the
first lease was granted by the abbot and convent
in 1465 to George Neville, who was enthroned in
that year as Archbishop of York. The lease,
which was for life, included 7 acres attached to
the garden on the north side, but outside the enclosing wall (the first mention of this piece of
property which has been found); the rent for the
whole was 66s. 8d. a year. (ref. 12) Neville died in 1476
and a lease was granted to (Sir) John 'Forthku'
(i.e. Fortescu), his wife, Alice, and William
Boleyn for thirty years at an increased annual
rent of 100 shillings. (ref. 13) A new lease was granted
in 1492 to Fortescu (then knight of the King's
body) and to his son John, for sixty years at a
further increased rent of £5 6s. 8d. (ref. 14) This is the
earliest lease of which full details survive, and it
presumably repeats what earlier lessees had agreed
to, namely, to send every year, on the feast of St.
James (25 July), one measure of apples and one of
pears to the high altar of the abbey church for
blessing. It was no doubt the Fortescus' tenancy
which gave rise to their name being applied during
the early part of the sixteenth century to Drury
Lane; they also allowed the citizens of London to
convey part of the City's water supply through
Covent Garden (see page 31).
Figure 1:
The Bedford Estate
By 1516 the Fortescus' interest in Covent
Garden and the 7 acres had evidently lapsed,
for in that year a new lease was granted to the
Prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem,
(Sir) Thomas Docwra, (ref. 15) and in 1530 another
lease was granted to Sir Richard Weston, UnderTreasurer of England. (ref. 16) Weston was the convent's last lessee. On 1 June 1536 Henry VIII
took possession of Covent Garden and the 7
acres, giving the abbey, in exchange, lands in
Berkshire which had formerly belonged to Hurley
Priory. (ref. 17) But Weston had conveyed his interest
to one Henry Dingley who had granted a lease to
Richard Broune or Browne, a servant to the King.
Browne was ordered to quit, 'for that the same
premysses lyeth so nygh to the kinges manor of
Westm. verey myche Comodious for his grace
sundry ways', (ref. 18) and accepted the offer of an
annuity of £10 as recompense. (ref. 19)
For the rest of Henry VIII's reign Covent
Garden and the 7 acres were in the charge of (Sir)
Anthony Denny, bailiff of the King's Manor of
Westminster, who rendered accounts annually for
the fixed rent of £5 6s. 8d. (ref. 20) Denny continued
to account for the property to King Henry's son,
Edward VI, and recorded in his last account, for
1547–8, that the land had been reserved for his
Majesty's use and that 'certain large sheep' had
been grazing there. (ref. 21) The sheep may have belonged to the King's uncle, Edward Seymour,
Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector, who on
22 July 1547 was granted Covent Garden and
the 7 acres with other lands, in fulfilment of
Henry VIII's dying wish, (ref. 22) and who, at the
beginning of 1548, began to build Somerset House
on the opposite side of the Strand. Nothing more
is heard of Covent Garden until, after Somerset's
execution, 'le Covent Garden' and the - acres
'called Long acre' were granted by the King on
28 May 1552 to John Russell, Earl of Bedford,
Lord Privy Seal, to hold to him and his lawful
male heirs for ever. (ref. 23)