Estates in Bloomsbury
1 Duke of Bedford
2 City of London Corporation
3 Capper Mortimer
4 Fitzroy (Duke of Grafton)
5 Somers
6 Skinners' (Tonbridge)
7 Battle Bridge
8 Lucas
9 Harrison
10 Foundling Hospital
11 Rugby
12 Bedford Charity (Harpur)
13 Doughty
14 Gray's Inn
15 Bainbridge–Dyott (Rookeries)
Area between the Foundling and Harrison estates: Church land
Grey areas: fragmented ownership and haphazard development; already built up by 1800
|
About the Lucas Estate
This seven-acre estate in the north-east of Bloomsbury was originally part of the Peperfield area of the Harrison estate, but became separated from it in the eighteenth century (Survey of London, vol. 24, 1952)
Its owner at the beginning of the nineteenth century was Joseph Lucas, a tin plate worker, who decided in 1801 to develop the land (Survey of London, vol. 24, 1952)
The estate was a small strip with a curved top, stretching from the area of the Boot pub to Gray’s Inn Road
Its main street when developed was Cromer Street, which was begun in 1801, and known as Lucas Street after the landowner until 1834 (Survey of London, vol. 24, 1952)
The origin of other street names on the estate remains obscure
|
>
Speedy Place
This short street adjoins the Boot pub on Cromer Street in the east of Bloomsbury
There was a trackway here in the nineteenth century leading to the predecessor of the Boot, the Golden Boot alehouse; the track is shown but not named on Cary’s map of 1795
Development of the area appears on the successsive editions of Horwood’s map, but Speedy Place does not appear even on the 1819 version
It appears and is named on Greenwood’s map of 1830
It was named after the family which kept the Boot pub
The alley is now occupied by an independent educational establishment, Tudor College (www.tudorcollege.co.uk), which makes much of its Bloomsbury location
|