Mitre Square is a small square in the City of London

City of London

The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

. It measures about 77 feet (23.5 m) by 80 feet (24.4 m) and is connected via three passages with Mitre Street to the SW, to Creechurch Place to the NW and, via St James's Passage (formerly Church Passage), to Duke's Place to the NE.

History

The square occupies the site of the cloister of Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate

Aldgate

Aldgate was the eastern most gateway through London Wall leading from the City of London to Whitechapel and the east end of London. Aldgate gives its name to a ward of the City...

 which was demolished under Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries

Dissolution of the Monasteries

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...

. The south corner of the square was the site of the murder of Catherine Eddowes

Catherine Eddowes

Catherine Eddowes was one of the victims in the Whitechapel murders. She was the second person killed on the night of Sunday 30 September 1888, a night which already had seen the murder of Elizabeth Stride less than an hour earlier...

 by "Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper

"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...

". Her mutilated body was found there at 1.45 in the morning of the 30th September 1888. This was the westernmost of the Whitechapel Murders

The Whitechapel Murders (1888-91)

The Whitechapel murders were committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel District in the East End of London between 3 April 1888 and 13 February 1891. Eleven women were killed; the crimes remain unsolved...

 and the only one located within the City.

Eddowes' murder on the site of the old monastery is ascribed to an ancient curse in a contemporary penny dreadful

Penny Dreadful

A penny dreadful was a type of British fiction publication in the 19th century that usually featured lurid serial stories appearing in parts over a number of weeks, each part costing an penny...

entitled The Curse Upon Mitre Square A.D. 1530-1888 by J.F. Brewer.

One Mitre Square

A 19-story, 79m high office development is proposed for the square, known as One Mitre Square.