Early History
The abbey of St Mary Graces stood near Tower Hill until the dissolution of the monasteries. An old map shows a river running down each side of "Nightingall Lane" (now called Thomas More Street). In 1954 Kenneth Reid suggested this was one of London's "lost rivers" and that it ran from Well Street into the Thames. In 1686 the "Tower Liberty" was extended beyond the Tower of London to include Minories, the Old Artillery Ground and Wellclose. The word "Wellclose" was used to indicate the whole area until the middle of the nineteenth century.
Daniel Defoe mentions the square is his book "A tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain" (1724). He says that there used to be a well in the centre of the square. It was also known as Goodman's Field's Well.
Read more about this topic: Wellclose Square
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or history:
“The conviction that the best way to prepare children for a harsh, rapidly changing world is to introduce formal instruction at an early age is wrong. There is simply no evidence to support it, and considerable evidence against it. Starting children early academically has not worked in the past and is not working now.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“As History stands, it is a sort of Chinese Play, without end and without lesson.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)