Vincent Square
Grass-covered square in London, United Kingdom
Vincent Square is a grass-covered square in Westminster, London, England. It is London's largest privately owned square, covering 13 acres, lined with mature trees including London planes. In among a network of backstreets, it chiefly provides playing fields for Westminster School, who own it absolutely; otherwise, it functions as a green lung and a view for the homes, hotel and other organisations adjoining. Nine of its adjoining buildings have been given strict statutory architectural recognition and protection. The Liberal Democrat Headquarters, housing one of Parliament's three largest political parties, was based at 1 Vincent Square, until September 2025.
01History and use
It was appropriated in the 18th century on land originally known as Tothill Fields, by William Vincent, a former Dean of Westminster and headmaster of Westminster School who simply paid a man with a horse and plough to enclose the square with a mound and ditch. Previous uses include a death camp and cemetery for 1,200 Scottish prisoners starved to death after the Battle of Worcester in 1651, a large burial pit for victims of the Great Plague of London in 1665/6, a jail named Tothill Fields Bridewell, and a well-known bear-baiting den recorded in the reign of Queen Anne. The space, facing buildings and certain others surrounding form the Vincent Square Conservation Area.
The square contains a cricket pavilion, four football pitches, about 10 tennis courts, and the groundsman's house, and is used on school weekdays by Westminster Under School. Other buildings fronting the square include the headquarters of the Royal Horticultural Society. Outside of school bookings the courts host many fixtures of the Lords and Commons Tennis Club.
02Notable buildings
Numbering is from the east corner, clockwise (3 to 87) and applies to fewer than 87 buildings, from great mergers and additional road openings. Those listed in the initial, mainstream category of statutory recognition and protection ("Grade II listed") are:
- №s 3 and 4.
- №s 7 and 8.
- Royal Horticultural Society Old Hall (designed in 1904 by Edwin James Stubbs)
- №s 84 and 85. (terraced buildings of circa (about) 1800)
- №s 86 (a corner house of about 1800)
At rarer Grade II* level is:
- the former Westminster College
In 1981, Westminster Under School opened in the building of the former Grosvenor Hospital for Women which had closed in 1976.
03Indirect use
Vincent Square lends its name to a current electoral ward of the local authority, Westminster City Council. Its bounds are thus drawn up for approximately equal representation of the electorate. At the 2011 Census its population was 9,988.
04Notable residents
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Vincent Square”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Vincentsquare.jpg by Ewan-M, CC BY-SA 2.0
- View from Westminster Cathedral 2011 Vincent Square.jpg by Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0
- Vincent Square in mid September - geograph.org.uk - 2659799.jpg by Basher Eyre, CC BY-SA 2.0
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