Cecil Court
Encyclopedia
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
shop-frontages in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England linking Charing Cross Road
Charing Cross Road
Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus and then becomes Tottenham Court Road...
and St. Martin's Lane
St. Martin's Lane
St. Martin's Lane is a street on the edge of Covent Garden in Central London, which runs from the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, after which it is named, near Trafalgar Square northwards to Long Acre.A narrow street with relatively little traffic, St...
. Since the 1930s it has been known as the new Booksellers' Row and it is sometimes used as a location by film companies. In 2011, the President of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association
Antiquarian Booksellers Association
The Antiquarian Booksellers Association is the senior trade body in the British Isles for dealers in antiquarian and rare books, manuscripts and allied materials.-History:It was founded in 1906 and is the oldest organization of its kind in the world...
, Laurence Worms, described the street as an "Island of Civilization" in contemporary London.
Background
One of the older thoroughfares in Covent GardenCovent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, Cecil Court dates back to the end of the 17th century and earlier maps clearly identify a hedgerow running down the street's course. A tradesman's route at its inception, it later acquired the nickname Flicker Alley from the concentration of early film companies in the Court. It is now known to bibliophiles as home to nearly twenty antiquarian and second-hand independent bookshops, including specialists in modern first editions, collectible children’s books, early printing, rare maps and atlases, antique prints, theatrical ephemera, and esoterica , as well as a contemporary art gallery, an antiques shop, shops specializing in philately
Philately
Philately is the study of stamps and postal history and other related items. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting, which does not necessarily involve the study of stamps. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps...
, numismatics
Numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...
and art deco jewellery and an Indian restaurant
Indian cuisine
Indian cuisine consists of thousands of regional cuisines which date back thousands of years. The dishes of India are characterised by the extensive use of various Indian spices, herbs, vegetables and fruit. Indian cuisine is also known for the widespread practice of vegetarianism in Indian society...
.
It has been suggested that the street was named after Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...
, the 1st Earl of Salisbury, an important courtier to Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
and renowned as a trailblazing spymaster. However, it seems to be one of a number of nearby streets and places that have been named for the land-owning family including Cranbourn Street and the Salisbury pub on St Martin's Lane.
A substantial part of Cecil Court was razed to the ground in 1735, almost certainly arson on the part of a tenant, Mrs Colloway, who was running a brandy shop/brothel in the street at the time: she purchased kindling, emptied her brandy barrels, over-insured her stock and made certain that she was drinking nearby with friends at the time the fire took hold. However, she was acquitted.
The street rose from the ashes to become the temporary home of an eight-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
while he was touring Europe
Mozart family grand tour
The Mozart family grand tour was a journey through western Europe, undertaken by Leopold Mozart, his wife Anna Maria, and their musically gifted children Maria Anna and Wolfgang Amadeus from 1763 to 1766. At the start of the tour the children were aged eleven and seven respectively...
in 1764. For almost four months the Mozart family lodged with barber John Couzin. Tickets for Mozart's first London concerts were sold from Couzin's shop and, while living there, the young Mozart performed twice for King George III
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
and was tested for his musical ability by Dr Charles Burney
Charles Burney
Charles Burney FRS was an English music historian and father of authors Frances Burney and Sarah Burney.-Life and career:...
. According to some modern authorities, Mozart composed his first symphony while a resident of Cecil Court. In September 2011, the Cecil Court Traders' Association installed a plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
commemorating Mozart's relatively brief, but significant, period of residence in the street. The plaque sits at Number 9 Cecil Court, which - contrary to earlier assumptions placing the Mozart lodgings at Number 19 - has been confirmed as the site of John Couzin's barber shop. Cecil Court bookseller Tim Bryars consulted original source material, including the parish rate books of the time and a number of antique maps, to establish where in the street the young Mozart lived. The plaque was unveiled by actor and author Simon Callow
Simon Callow
Simon Phillip Hugh Callow, CBE is an English actor, writer and theatre director. He is also currently a judge on Popstar to Operastar.-Early years:...
, who created the role of Amadeus on stage
Amadeus
Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer.It is based on the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, highly fictionalized.Amadeus was first performed in 1979...
. The ceremony was accompanied with music from members of Opera Holland Park
Opera Holland Park
Opera Holland Park is a summer opera company which produces an annual season of opera performances staged under a temporary canopy in Holland Park, a public park in a wealthy district of west central London of the same name. The venue is fully covered but is open at the sides.The canopy was...
and the City of London Sinfonia
City of London Sinfonia
The City of London Sinfonia is an English chamber orchestra based in London. In London, the CLS performs regularly at Cadogan Hall and St Paul's Cathedral. It is also the resident orchestra at Opera Holland Park. The CLS has annual residencies in four towns in Southern England: Ipswich, King's...
including pieces from Mozart's London Sketchbook which it is quite possible might have been composed during his stay in Cecil Court.
The street is still owned by the Cecil family and the buildings one can see today were laid out c. 1894 during the tenure of long serving British Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC , styled Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and Viscount Cranborne from June 1865 until April 1868, was a British Conservative statesman and thrice Prime Minister, serving for a total of over 13 years...
. Today Cecil Court is part of the Jubilee Walkway
Jubilee Walkway
The Jubilee Walkway is one of the official walkways in London, England. It was originally opened as The Silver Jubilee Walkway to commemorate that event of Queen Elizabeth II's accession; the Queen herself opened it on 9 June 1977...
(opened in 1977 as the Silver Jubilee Walkway). The nearest Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
station is Leicester Square
Leicester Square tube station
Leicester Square is a station on the London Underground, located on Charing Cross Road, a short distance to the east of Leicester Square itself....
.
Trivia
- In 1776 Abraham RaimbachAbraham RaimbachAbraham Raimbach , was an English line-engraver of Swiss descent.He was born in Cecil Court in the West End of London. Educated at Archbishop Tenison's Library School, he was apprenticed to the engraver J. Hall from 1789 to 1796...
the line engraver of "Village Politicians," "Blind Man's Buff" and others, after David WilkieDavid Wilkie (artist)Sir David Wilkie was a Scottish painter.- Early life :Wilkie was the son of the parish minister of Cults in Fife. He developed a love for art at an early age. In 1799, after he had attended school at Pitlessie, Kettle and Cupar, his father reluctantly agreed to his becoming a painter...
, was born in Cecil Court. Macmichael, J. Holden (1906): The Story of Charing Cross and its Environs, p. 190. - The AestheticistAestheticismAestheticism was a 19th century European art movement that emphasized aesthetic values more than socio-political themes for literature, fine art, the decorative arts, and interior design...
periodical The DomeThe Dome (periodical)The Dome published in London at 7 Cecil Court by the Unicorn Press and subtitled consecutively "A Quarterly Containing Examples of the Arts" and "An Illustrated Monthly Magazine and Review" was a literary periodical associated with the "Nineties" scene, edited by Ernest J. Oldmeadow. It ran for...
was published at number 7 between March 1897 and July 1900. - Watkins BooksWatkins BooksWatkins Books is London's oldest esoteric bookshop specializing in esotericism, mysticism, occultism, oriental religion and contemporary spirituality....
, the oldest bookshop in London to specialise in esoterica, has the longest continuous business history on the street, having occupied their current premises at 21 Cecil Court since 1901. - Harry Potter's Diagon Alley is widely believed to be inspired by Cecil Court just off Charing Cross Road, London.
- Booksellers William and Gilbert Foyle, founders of the world famous FoylesFoylesW & G Foyle Ltd. is a bookshop at 113–119 Charing Cross Road, London, England. Foyles was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest bookshop in terms of shelf area and number of titles on display...
, opened their first West End shop at 16 Cecil Court in 1904, before moving onto the current site in Charing Cross RoadCharing Cross RoadCharing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus and then becomes Tottenham Court Road...
in 1906. Low, David (1973): With All Faults, pp 16–20 - In the 1930s Cecil Court became a well known meeting place for Jewish refugees, which in 1983–84 inspired R.B. Kitaj to paint Cecil Court W.C.2. (The Refugees), a work now in the TateTate-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
Collection. - In March 1961 Elsie Batten, a 59 year old assistant in an antique shop at 23 Cecil Court, was stabbed to death. Her murderer, Edwin BushEdwin BushEdwin Bush was 21 when he was executed at Pentonville Prison in London on July 6, 1961. He was the first British criminal to be caught through the use of a facial recognition system called the Identikit system....
, was identified and caught within days (he confessed and was hanged) following the circulation of identikit pictures — the first case to be solved using identikit in the UK. - In 1967 David Drummond opened Pleasures of Past Times at 11 Cecil Court, specializing in memorabilia of the performing arts and "printed items evocative of a leisured age", making him the longest-serving bookseller on the street.
- In 2006 Cecil Court was a location for the filming of Miss Potter, starring Renée ZellwegerRenée ZellwegerRenée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress and producer. Zellweger first gained widespread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire , and subsequently received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles as Bridget Jones in the comedy Bridget Jones's Diary ...
and Ewan McGregorEwan McGregorEwan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
. - In 1983 the BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
commercial telephoneTelephoneThe telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
directory company Yellow PagesYell GroupYell Group plc is a multinational directories company headquartered in Reading, United Kingdom. As well as the United Kingdom, it has operations in the United States, Spain and some countries in Latin America...
filmed their famous Fly Fishing by J. R. HartleyJ. R. HartleyJ. R. Hartley is both the name of a fictional character and an author's pseudonym inspired by it.- Fictional author :The fictional character appeared in television advertisements for British commercial telephone directory company Yellow Pages, first shown in 1983...
in Cecil Court. The character was played by the actor Norman LumsdenNorman LumsdenNorman Lumsden was a British opera singer and actor. He first came to prominence during the 1940s and 1950s in several operas by composer Benjamin Britten, often performing at Covent Garden and the Aldeburgh and Glyndebourne festivals. He later began a television acting career during the 1970s...
. - In July 2010, TenderpixelTenderpixelTenderpixel is a contemporary art gallery located in central London. In addition to monthly shows throughout the year, it holds an annual experimental film festival, Tenderflix, each summer....
Gallery organized the Flicker Alley Festival in Cecil Court, which celebrated the heritage of early British Cinema. Vinyl stickers in the style of blue heritage plaques were put on shop windows across the court, indicating which productions companies were located in each address between 1900 and 1915. Several lectures were organized, and the first Alice in Wonderland film (Hepworth, 1903) was screened in Tenderpixel Gallery with live musical accompaniment. - Cecil Court appeared in the 1 December 2010 episode of The Apprentice.
External links
- Cecil Court The official website for the street, organized by the Cecil Court Association, gives details of most the bookshops and other businesses on Cecil Court today, with articles about the history of the street, news and forthcoming events.
- The London Project, a major study of the film business in London, 1894–1914, organised by the AHRB Centre for British Film and Television Studies has a searchable database, useful for researching 'Flicker Alley'.
- The Metropolitan Police website has a full account of the Cecil Court antique shop murder.