Visit Bloomsbury Places

Welcome to Visit Bloomsbury Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Bloomsbury

  

Bloomsbury Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Bloomsbury

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Bloomsbury history

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Bloomsbury (including the closely linked St Giles area) has a long association with neighbouring Holborn; but is nearly always considered as distinct from Holborn.

Origins and etymology

The area appears to have been a part of Holborn when St Giles hospital was established in the early 1100s. The earliest record of the name, Bloomsbury, is as Blemondisberi in 1281. It is named after a member of the Blemund family who held the manor. Edward III acquired Blemond’s manor, and passed it on to the Carthusian monks of the London Charterhouse.

Administrative history

The area was part of the Ancient Parish of St Giles, served by St Giles in the Fields. Some sources indicate that the parish was in place before 1222 while others suggest 1547. From 1597 onwards, English parishes were obliged to take on a civil as well as ecclesiastical role, starting with relief of the poor. In 1731 a small independent parish of Bloomsbury was created, based on a small area round Bloombury Square. The area of the combined civil parish was used for the St Giles District (Metropolis)

Boundaries

The formal historic boundaries of the combined parish of St Giles in the Fields and St George Bloomsbury (as adjusted in some places to reflect the modern street pattern) include Tottenham Court Road to the west, Torrington Place (formerly known, in part, as Francis Street) to the north, the borough boundary to the south and Marchmont Street and Southampton Row to the east.

London Beer Flood

A large vat of porter at the Horse Shoe Brewery burst open, releasing a 15-foot wave of beer onto the surrounding streets, killing eight people. The disaster occurred in October 1814.

Bloomsbury culture & places

Historically, Bloomsbury is associated with the arts, education, and medicine. The area gives its name to the group of artists, Virginia Woolf and the Gang of Whigs. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded in John Millais’s parents’ parents’ house on Gower Street in 1848.

Educational institutions

Bloomsbury is home to Senate House and the main library of the University of London. Birkbeck College, Institute of Education, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, School of Pharmacy and School of Oriental and African Studies.

Museums

The British Museum first opened to the public in 1759 in Montagu House. At the centre of the museum the former British Library Reading Room is today the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court. The Foundling Museum tells the story of the Foundling Hospital opened by Thomas Coram for unwanted children in Georgian London.

Churches

St. George’s Church, Bloomsbury, was built by Nicholas Hawksmoor between 1716 and 1731. Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath married on Bloomsday in 1956. The church of St George the Martyr Holborn was built 1703–06.

Bloomsbury geography / climate

Bloomsbury’s topography is largely flat, being situated in the Thames basin. The area is surrounded by four major roads, with Euston Road in the north, Gray’s Inn Road to the east, High Holborn/New Oxford Street to the south, and Tottenham Court Road to the west. It is also bisected north to south by the main road Southampton Row/Woburn Place, which has several large tourist hotels.

You can visit Bloomsbury places with Walkfo Bloomsbury to hear history at Bloomsbury’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Bloomsbury has 3465 places to visit in our interactive Bloomsbury map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Bloomsbury, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Bloomsbury places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Bloomsbury & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 3465 audio facts unique to Bloomsbury places in an interactive Bloomsbury map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Bloomsbury Places Map
3465 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Bloomsbury historic spots	Bloomsbury tourist destinations	Bloomsbury plaques	Bloomsbury geographic features
Walkfo Bloomsbury tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Bloomsbury

  

Best Bloomsbury places to visit

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Bloomsbury has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Bloomsbury’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Bloomsbury’s information audio spots:

Kronenburgerpark The Kronenburgerpark is a park in the center of Nijmegen . It is close to the Central Railway Station and the Lange Hezelstraat . It touches the Parkweg are the remains of the medieval walls with the Kruittoren (powder tower)

Great Pilgrimage The Great Pilgrimage of 1913 was a march in Britain by suffragists campaigning non-violently for women’s suffrage, organised by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). Women marched to London from all around England and Wales and 50,000 attended a rally in Hyde Park.

Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk is a 7-mile (11 km) long circular walking trail in central London, England, dedicated to the memory of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Royal Parks Half Marathon The Royal Parks Half Marathon, first held in 2008, takes place each October, starting and finishing in Hyde Park. It is the only half marathon that travels through central London and four of the Royal Parks and is one of London’s largest half marathons, with over 16,000 participants.

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October 1851. It was the first in a series of World’s Fairs, exhibitions of culture and industry that became popular in the 19th century. The event was organised by Henry Cole and by Prince Albert, husband of the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria. Famous people of the time attended the Great Exhibition, including Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Michael Faraday (who assisted with the planning and judging of exhibits), Samuel Colt, members of the Orléanist Royal Family and the writers Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, George Eliot, Alfred Tennyson and William Makepeace Thackeray. The opening music, under the superintendence of William Sterndale Bennett, was directed by Sir George Smart. The world’s first soft drink, Schweppes, was the official sponsor of the event.

Japanese Village, Knightsbridge The Japanese Village in Knightsbridge, London, was a late Victorian era exhibition of Japanese culture located in Humphreys’ Hall, which took place from January 1885 until June 1887. The exhibition employed around 100 Japanese men and women in a setting built to resemble a traditional Japanese village.

Bowater House Bowater House was a 17-floor office block at 68 Knightsbridge in London SW1, completed in 1958. The building occupied a site between Knightsbridge and South Carriage Road, at the southern edge of Hyde Park. It was demolished in 2006 and redeveloped by Candy & Candy to create One Hyde Park.

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End.

Bulgari Hotel and Residences The Bulgari Hotel and Residences is a luxury hotel in Knightsbridge, London. When it opened in 2012, it was the most expensive hotel in London.

Royal Cornwall Yacht Club Situated on the waterfront setting of the Greenbank area in Falmouth, the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club (RCYC) was formed in 1871, and is the 15th oldest “Royal” yacht club in England.

Visit Bloomsbury plaques