Wellclose Square - A Playwright, Two Mystics and A Poet

A Playwright, Two Mystics and A Poet

Caius Gabriel Cibber was the architect of the Danish church, built in the centre of the Square in 1696. He was the father of the playwright Colley Cibber. According to the website www.poetsgravesco.uk, Colley Cibber was buried in either this church, or Grosvenor chapel, Mayfair. The church was demolished in 1870. The Danish Church was depicted in paintings many times. The scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688 - 1772) lived in ths square during the last year of his life. When Swedenborg came from Sweden to London in 1710 he went to the Swedish church in Princes Square, which used to be located to the east of Wellclose Square. The area is now called Swedenborg Gardens, and the tower block overlooking Wellclose Square is called Stockholm House. Swedenborg arrived in the same year as the Ulrika Eleanora Church was built in Princes Square. He was buried there. It closed in 1910, and in 1912/13 his remains were transferred to Uppsala Cathedral in Sweden. The church was demolished in 1921.

Hayyim Samuel Jacob Falk (1708 - 1782), a Rabbi and Kabbalist, moved to Wellclose Square in 1742 after narrowly escaping being burnt at the stake by the authorities in Westphalia who charged him with sorcery. He was known as the "Baal Shem of London" because of his reputation as a practical Kabbalist who worked miracles and appeared to have magical powers.

Thomas Day (1748 - 1789) was born in Wellclose Square. He was a poet who wrote "The Dying Negro" about the death of a runaway slave. Later he wrote "The History of Sandford and Merton" (1783).