St Giles-in-the-Fields

St Giles-in-the-Fields: History of a London Parish resurrects a neglected area of Central London, rich in history and incident. St Giles is at the centre of one of the greatest cities in the world - but you've probably never heard of it. But it is an area with a dense and tangled history that tells us a great deal about the experience of living in London across the span of time from the twelfth century to today. This history has rarely been glamorous, but it is packed with the stories of lives touched by many of the most momentous events in British history. St Giles began as a mediaeval leper hospital. After the Reformationitgrewinto one ofLondon's largestparishes, stretching east to Lincoln's Inn Fields and north to Bedford Square and Bloomsbury. Aristocrats, poets, musicians,artists andlawyerslivedhere. St Gileswasnotorious too for its slums - notably the Rookery where Centre Point now stands. Its streetsalsoboasteda hive of industry, printing, brewing andcrafts. Latercamemusic shops inCharing Cross Road and Denmark Street. Asitspopulation dwindled, St Gileslost heart. But vitality returnedfrom the 1970s,withthe renaissance of nearby Covent Garden and theboomofoffice employment. Far more than afringe part of Covent Garden, Soho or Bloomsbury, thisbook re-establishesthe individuality of St Giles, centred on its noble and enduring Georgian parish church.