Mitre Square

Mitre Square is a small square in the City of London. It measures about 77 feet (23 m) by 80 feet (24 m) and is connected via three passages with Mitre Street to the SW, to Creechurch Place to the NW and, via St James's Passage (formerly Church Passage), to Duke's Place to the NE.

History

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.^[1] 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 1.45 in the morning of the 30th September 1888. This was the westernmost of the Whitechapel Murders and the only one located within the City.^[2]

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.^[3][4]

One Mitre Square

A 19-story, 79m high office development is proposed for the square, known as One Mitre Square.^[5][6]

Image gallery

• 

  Mitre Square, viewed from near the site of the Eddowes murder.

• 

  Mitre Square.

• 

  'Ripper's Corner' in Mitre Square, scene of Eddowes' murder.

• 

  The Whitechapel murders — Mitre Square is the red dot to the bottom left corner.

Coordinates: 51°30′50″N 0°04′41″W / 51.5138°N 0.078°W / 51.5138; -0.078

References

1. ^ A.G. Robertson (1968) Tudor London: 47-50
2. ^ Stewart Evans and Donald Rumbelow (2006) Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates: 114-40
3. ^ Brewer, John Francis (1889). The curse upon Mitre square. A.D. 1530-1888. New York: J.W. Lovell Company. OCLC 43935642. 
4. ^ Donald Rumbelow (2004) The Complete Jack the Ripper: 284-5
5. ^ Leytonstonia One Mitre Square
6. ^ Skyscrapernews.com Mitre Square