The square occupies the site of the cloister of
Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate which was demolished under
Henry VIII at the time of the
Dissolution of the Monasteries. The south corner of the square was the site of the murder of
Catherine Eddowes by
Jack the Ripper. Her mutilated body was found there at 1:44 in the morning on 30 September 1888. This was the westernmost of the
Whitechapel murders and the only one located within the City of London. Eddowes' murder on the site of the old monastery is ascribed to an ancient curse in a contemporary
penny dreadful entitled
The Curse Upon Mitre Square A.D. 1530–1888 by J.F. Brewer. ==One Mitre Square==