What was Covent Garden originally before it became a tourist shopping haven?

Strolling through Covent Garden today, trying to get passed all the annoying tourists I thought to myself - what was it originally?

What was Covent Garden originally before it became a tourist shopping haven?
A fruit %26amp; veg market





Originally (and not surprisingly) a part of Westminster Abbey, Covent Garden was developed into a piazza-style market in the 17th century by architect Inigo Jones. The square held a fruit and veg market since 1649, and although it headed for Vauxhall in 1973, the area still continues to draw shoppers.
Reply:Covent Garden, originally called 'Convent Garden', used to be London's main fruit, vegetable and flower market. It moved to Nine Elms [Vauxhall] sometime in the late 1960s early 1970s.





Covent Garden is now just a tourists show piece, plus the Royal Opera House and lots of over priced restaurants.





The Covent Garden site dates back to the Middle Ages.





In Victorian times, 300 varieties of mushrooms [fungi] were on sale each morning in Covent Garden. Now we only eat one, the boring as hell cultivar.
Reply:markets and a red light distrcit
Reply:As its name suggests Covent garden was once the vegetable garden of the local convent whose name escapes me at this point.
Reply:Covent Garden is a district in London, located on the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwest corner of the London Borough of Camden. The area is dominated by shopping, street performers and entertainment facilities and contains an entrance to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, which is also widely known simply as "Covent Garden", and the bustling Seven Dials area.





The area is bounded by High Holborn to the north, Kingsway to the east, the Strand to the south and Charing Cross Road to the west. Covent Garden Piazza is located in the geographical centre of the area and was the site of a flower, fruit and vegetable market from the 1500s until 1974, when the wholesale market relocated to New Covent Garden Market in Nine Elms. Nearby areas include Soho, St James's, Bloomsbury and Holborn.





For more info, pls refer to:





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covent_Gard...
Reply:wasn't it a farmers' market?


I believe so...
Reply:A Red Light District for the wealthy.
Reply:A flower market
Reply:it wa a fruit and veg market. i think part of it was called the apple market or something.
Reply:I remember it as a thriving market (stalls with fruit and veges, etc). Now, if you are sitting comfortably, I'm about to copy from "The London Encyclopaedia"


"The area in which Covent Garden stands once belonged to the Abbey (or Convent) of St. Peter at Westminster" ......


"Covent Garden Market, London's best-known fruit and vegetable market began in 1656 as a few temporary stalls erected in the garden of Bedford House (the latter was built on the original Abbey lands after the Dissolution of the Monasteries).


In 1670 a licence was granted by Charles II to hold a market every day of the year except Sunday and Christmas."


Then there is a whole lot of interesting reading, which concludes with:-


"In 1961 the Covent Garden Estate Company owned by the Beecham family was taken over by the Covent Garden Market Authority by Act of Parliament ........ in 1973 the veg market moved to a 64 acre site at Nine Elms, Battersea"


Unfortunately I can't find an ISBN number for this book.
Reply:Im guessing it was a garden?
Reply:I think it's just about covered on the market, and it is the place of the first showing of Punch and Judy. the Punch and Judy pub marks the spot!
Reply:It was the main wholesale Flower, fruit and veg market for London.