CECIL COURT OFF CHARING CROSS ROAD
Believed to be the inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter
Cecil
Court dates back to the end of the 17th century and earlier maps clearly
identify a hedgerow running down the street's course. A tradesman's route at
its inception, it later acquired the nickname Flicker Alley from the
concentration of early film companies in the Court. It is now known to
bibliophiles as home to nearly twenty antiquarian and second-hand independent bookshops,
including specialists in modern first editions, collectible children’s books,
early printing, rare maps and atlases, antique prints, theatrical ephemera, and
esoterica , as well as a contemporary art gallery, an antiques shop, shops
specializing in philately, numismatics and
art deco jewellery and an Indian
restaurant.
It has
been suggested that the street was named after Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury,
the 1st Earl of Salisbury, an important courtier to Queen Elizabeth I and renowned as a
trailblazing spymaster. However, it seems to be one of a number of nearby
streets and places that have been named for the land-owning family including
Cranbourn Street and the Salisbury pub on St Martin's
Lane.
A
substantial part of Cecil Court was razed to the ground in 1735, almost certainly
arson on the part of a tenant, Mrs Colloway, who was running a brandy
shop/brothel in the street at the time: she purchased kindling, emptied her
brandy barrels, over-insured her stock and made certain that she was drinking
nearby with friends at the time the fire took hold. However, she was acquitted.
 |
| Cecil Court in 1966 |
It has
been suggested that the street was named after Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury,
the 1st Earl of Salisbury, an important courtier to Queen Elizabeth I and renowned as a
trailblazing spymaster. However, it seems to be one of a number of nearby
streets and places that have been named for the land-owning family including
Cranbourn Street and the Salisbury pub on St Martin's
Lane.
A
substantial part of Cecil Court was razed to the ground in 1735, almost certainly
arson on the part of a tenant, Mrs Colloway, who was running a brandy
shop/brothel in the street at the time: she purchased kindling, emptied her
brandy barrels, over-insured her stock and made certain that she was drinking
nearby with friends at the time the fire took hold. However, she was acquitted.
The
street rose from the ashes to become the temporary home of an eight-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart while he was touring Europe in 1764. For
almost four months the Mozart family lodged with barber John Couzin. Tickets
for Mozart's first London concerts were sold from Couzin's shop and, while
living there, the young
performed twice for King George III and
was tested for his musical ability by Dr Charles
Burney. According
to some modern authorities, Mozart composed his first symphony while a resident
of Cecil Court. In
September 2011, the Cecil Court Traders' Association installed aplaque commemorating
Mozart's relatively brief, but significant, period of residence in the street.
The plaque sits at Number 9 Cecil Court, which - contrary to earlier
assumptions placing the Mozart lodgings at Number 19 -
has been confirmed as the site of John Couzin's barber shop. Cecil Court
bookseller Tim Bryars consulted original source material, including the parish
rate books of the time and a number of antique maps, to establish where in the
street the young Mozart lived.
Credits