Ten of Hatton Garden’s hidden gems

There’s no doubt that during Coutts London Jewellery Week you’ll be drawn to London’s own jewellery quarter - Hatton Garden. For centuries, diamond dealers, craftspeople and retailers have clustered in this vibrant corner of EC1 - a stone’s throw from Grays Inn’s courts and trendy Clerkenwell. But behind the elegant shop windows, Hatton Garden has its own unique heritage waiting to be discovered.
 
Hatton Garden’s hidden gems

The name Hatton Garden

Hatton Garden takes it name from a favourite courtier of Elizabeth I, Sir Christopher Hatton. When the queen fell head over heels for Hatton, she gave him a home to rent in the grounds at Ely Place, owned by the Bishops of Ely. The gardens here were renamed Hatton Garden.

Bleeding Heart Yard

Sir Christopher Hatton’s family fell on tragic times when his beautiful daughter-in-law was murdered. Her dead body was found on the yard now named Bleeding Heart Yard in 1626, located next to Hatton Garden. It was rumoured that she had been whisked away by a mysterious stranger at her annual ball the night before her death. The elegant, French restaurant, The Bleeding Heart now draws discerning diners to the courtyard.

Hatton Garden in literature

In Shakespeare’s Richard II, his well-known, patriotic speech - This Sceptr'd Isle by John of Gaunt - was made in Ely Court just off Hatton Garden.
 
Charles Dickens lived in close proximity to Hatton Garden and based some of his landmarks on Hatton Garden. Dickens refers to Bleeding Heart Yard in Little Dorrit. Pay a visit to the author’s home at 48 Doughty Street, which is now the Charles Dickens Museum, during Coutts London Jewellery Week.

Fun and games

The oldest sports and games manufacturer in the world, Jaques of London, hatched the ideas for Tiddlywinks, Ludo and Happy Families in Hatton Garden. Jaques introduced the game of croquet to the UK and invented the first version of table tennis.

Inventors

The American engineer Hiram Maxim, famous for inventing the machine gun, ran his workshop at 57 Hatton Garden in the late 1800s. A plaque with his name marks the spot. He was also one of the original aviation pioneers and impressed the Victorians when he took off in a steam-powered aircraft.

The shops

There are around 55 shops and 400 jewellery businesses in the Hatton Garden area making it the largest nucleus of jewellery retailers in the UK. Hatton Garden caters for every kind of jewellery shopper – from the antique collector, the fashion conscious looking for contemporary, handmade or bespoke pieces, to the newly engaged couple looking for a diamond set in platinum or 18 ct gold.

The diamonds

When diamonds were discovered in South Africa in the 1870’s during The Kimberley Diamond Rush, Hatton Garden became a busy hub of dealers and traders. The De Beers headquarters is just around the corner from Hatton Garden on Holborn Viaduct in one of the highest security buildings in London.

Hatton heists

One of the biggest jewellery robberies in UK history took place in 1993 when £7 million worth of jewels were stolen from Graff’s workshop in Hatton Garden. Hatton Garden was also the setting for the fictional scam in Guy Ritche’s 2000 gangster diamond heist Snatch.

Ye Olde Mitre

Stop off for a drink in Hatton Garden during Coutts London Jewellery Week. Another of Hatton Garden’s historical gems is a 16th century public house, tucked down a narrow side alley, Ely Court. Ye Olde Mitre, was originally built by the resident Bishops of Ely as an inn for their servants in 1547, and rebuilt in 1772. Legend says that Elizabeth I performed a May pole dance around the cherry tree (formerly a district boundary marker) that remains in the bar.

Hatton Garden in Coutts London Jewellery Week

Hatton Garden will be transformed into a bejewelled garden in collaboration with Central St Martin’s students during the Week. Visitors will get an exciting insight into the workshops of some of the country’s top jewellery talent.

The garden will mark the start of a trail through Hatton Garden, showing the end to end process of jewellery creation. A Garden Festival will also take place on the Saturday with champagne and oysters, music and children's activities, plus jewellery making workshops.  

To view the full Coutts London Jewellery Week event website, visit www.londonjewelleryweek.co.uk

For further media information on Coutts & Co contact: Jo Thorne, Press Office on +44 (0) 207 957 2650 or
e-mail joanna.thorne@coutts.com

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