After the
dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540,
Henry VIII confiscated the land belonging to
Westminster Abbey, including the convent garden of
Covent Garden and land to the north originally called the Elms and later Seven Acres. In 1552, his son,
Edward VI, granted it to
John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford. The Russell family, who in 1694 were advanced in their
peerage from Earl to
Duke of Bedford, held the land from 1552 to 1918. At the time of
Charles I it was renamed Long Acre after the length of the first pathway constructed across the land. This licence allowed the development of Covent Garden Square to the south of Long Acre. showroom, at 134 Long Acre, The coach-building trade dominated Long Acre in the 19th century – in 1906, there were 41 buildings in the street occupied by firms associated with transport, a mixture of traditional coach-builders and those connected with the motor trade. By 1916 the transition to motor cars and related trades was almost complete. The
Austin Motors showroom was at 134, and
Mercedes-Benz's at No. 127–130, close to
Daimler and
Fiat. The section on the north side from Neal Street to Arne Street was occupied by
Odhams Press from about 1890 to 1970. It published
John Bull, which was the most popular magazine in Britain from 1916 to 1934. Odhams also published
The Daily Herald, ''
Woman's Own, Debrett's and Sporting Life'' (founded 1859). Odhams was bought by the
International Publishing Corporation in 1961 and the site was closed down in 1969. Prior to Odhams, the site was occupied by the
Queen's Theatre (1867–1878), the second-largest theatre in London at the time, after
Drury Lane. It was here that
Ellen Terry first met
Henry Irving in a
Shakespearean role. There is a plaque to commemorate the theatre, but it has been placed on the wrong block — the theatre was to the east of Endell Street, not the west. On Acre House (No. 69–75) is a green plaque commemorating
Denis Johnson's workshop. He lived to 1833 and had a workshop here in 1819, selling
"hobby horse" bicycles, the first to be sold in the
United Kingdom.
Emma Martin, author, socialist and free thinker worked as a midwife from No. 100, where her daughters ran a surgical bandage shop. No. 16 was, from the 1950s to early 20th century, the very successful wrought iron and metal workshop of Thomas John Gawthorp later joined by his two sons Thomas George et Walter Edmund; his work was sold far and wide, such as the wrought iron grid in the Stanley Chapel of
St Cybi's Church (
Holyhead on
Holy Island, Wales). Their work was very much in the style of the
Arts and Crafts movement; they were art metalworkers to Edward VIII and George V. At No. 132,
John Logie Baird made the first British television broadcast in 1929. Just off Long Acre is Langley Street, home of the
Pineapple Dance Studios and
London Film School, the oldest such school in the world. Just opposite, until 2000, was Paxman, one of the leading English manufacturers of
French horns. It is said that the poet
Richard Lovelace spent his final years in Long Acre, in great poverty. As a young man,
Thomas Paine worked as a
corset maker in Long Acre. In 1896, the Freemason's Arms was built; it still stands on Long Acre. Masonic symbols adorn the façade. at the eastern end of Long Acre ==Geography==