Mayfair
Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park. It is one of the most expensive districts in London and the world. The area was originally part of the manor of Eia and remained largely rural until the early 18th century. Mayfair was mainly open fields until development started in the Shepherd Market area around 1686–88 to accommodate the May Fair.
About Mayfair in brief
Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster. It is one of the most expensive districts in London and the world. The area was originally part of the manor of Eia and remained largely rural until the early 18th century. Mayfair was mainly open fields until development started in the Shepherd Market area around 1686–88 to accommodate the May Fair that had moved from Haymarket in St James’s. The 8-acre Grosvenor Square is roughly in the centre of Mayfair, and its centrepiece, containing numerous expensive and desirable properties. It has been speculated that the Romans settled in the area before establishing Londinium. The theory was developed in 1993, with a proposal that a town grew outside the fort but was later abandoned as being too far from the Thames. If there was a fort, it is believed the perimeter would have been where the modern Green Street, North Audley Street, Upper GrosVENor Street and Park Lane now are. Beyond the bounding roads, to the north is Marylebone, to east Soho, and to the southwest Knightsbridge and Belgravia. The district is bordered on the west by Park Lane, north by Oxford Street, east by Regent Street, and the south by Piccadilly. The fair was established during the reign of Edward I in 1560.
It was postponed in 1603 because of the plague, but continued throughout the 17th century until 1686, when it moved to what is now Mayfair. By the 18th Century, it had attracted showmen, jugglers and fencers and numerous fairground attractions, including bare-knuckle fighting, women’s foot racing and women’s semolina eating contests. The 6th Earl of Coventry, who lived on Picadilly, considered the fair to be a public nuisance and led to it being disrepute and regarded as a public scandal. The May Fair was held every year at Great Brookfield from 1–14 May, and was recorded as ‘Saint James’s Westminster’ It was recorded that the fair was recorded in 15 60, and recorded as ‘Saint James’s Westminster’ in 1563. It continued until 1588, when the fair moved to Mayfair and was otherwise known as the ‘May Fair’ It was also recorded that it was held in 1590, and 1594, and in 1599, it was called ‘The May Fair of London’. In 1596, it became known as “The Mayfair of London,’ and in 1601 it was renamed ‘the May Fair.’ By the end of the 19th century, the fair had become a ‘public nuisance’, and by 1764 it had been renamed the “Mayfair of the World”. It became well known for the annual ‘mayfair’ that took place from 1686 to 1764 in what are now Shepherd Market.
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This page is based on the article Mayfair published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 08, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
