The Vere Street Coterie

has just put up an interesting post on the White Swan in Vere Street, which operated as a male brothel (or ‘molly house’) for about six months early in 1810.  It’s not entirely clear to me at this point which building on Vere Street the White Swan was, but Vere Street itself was a couple of blocks north of Drury Lane Theatre, near the entertainments clustered around Covent Garden, the bustling trade of the Strand and just west of the Inns of Court and the Inns of Chancery, the centre of the business of the law in London.  The street was demolished in the 1900s to make way for Kingsway.

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White Swan, Vere Street

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White Swan, Vere Street 51.514371, -0.118456 Vere Street, the location of the White Swan, which operated as a molly house for around six months early in 1810.

 

Turley has just published a historical crime novel, The Cunning House, which takes the Vere Street coterie as one of its centres.  You can also find out more in Rictor Norton’s online essay on the coterie and its contexts, which includes details of the principal primary sources.

Project and Plan

This site is still in the early stages of its development, but I’ve now put up a number of pages discussing the rationale for the project and various aspects of Horwood’s Plan.  These examine the Plan’s qualities and the process of its creation; discuss the digital version hosted here and the means by which this was produced; and consider the scant biographical evidence about the life of its creator.  The pages are all linked in the top menu bar and will be updated as the project progresses and as new thoughts and evidence come to light.