Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Beau Brummell knew this area well. This is a detail from Irena
Sedlecka's statue, erected in 2002 at the end of the Piccadilly Arcade,
which we visit in Walk 4
Hill Street leads us to South Audley Street, always a mixed street of houses and high-
class shops. Turn right to Grosvenor Chapel, one of the eighteenth-century 'chapels of
ease' built to serve the upper-class inhabitants of the new developments. Private pews were
charged for annually - pew rents - and this gave the speculative builders their profit.
Opposite is Aldford Street, originally Chapel Street. Beau Brummell lived at No. 13 in
1816 and Harriet Westbrooke was residing at No. 23 when Shelley eloped with her in 1811.
Purdey's, the gunsmiths, dates from 1814. James Purdey had made gunstocks for Joseph
Manton's as chief stocker and any gentleman who could afford it would buy his guns from
Purdey or from one of the Manton brothers.
The present premises of Purdey's were built by James Purdey the
Younger in 1880 and the damage to the marble pillars was caused by a
bomb in 1941.
An antique painted sign on St Mark's Church advertising pews to rent.
Every respectable family would expect to occupy its own pew with the
servants sitting separately at the back of the church or in a gallery.
