Vincent Square is a large grass-covered square in Westminster, London, England, covering 13 acres. It provides playing fields for Westminster School, which privately owns it.
It was created by Dean Vincent, Headmaster of Westminster School, a few hundred yards away, who, on seeing that development was beginning to encroach on the wastelands of Tothill Fields (which was a former plague pit), paid for a bank and ditch to enclose a suitable playing area for the schoolboys.
After the Second World War, the school resisted the efforts of the local authority to make the square available for public use.
The square contains a cricket pavilion, four football pitches, several tennis courts, and the groundsman's house, and is used every weekday by Westminster Under School during breaks.
Famous quotes containing the words vincent and/or square:
“Parrots, tortoises and redwoods
Live a longer life than men do,
Men a longer life than dogs do,
Dogs a longer life than love does.”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)
“If magistrates had true justice, and if physicians had the true art of healing, they would have no occasion for square caps; the majesty of these sciences would of itself be venerable enough. But having only imaginary knowledge, they must employ those silly tools that strike the imagination with which they have to deal; and thereby, in fact, they inspire respect.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)