In photos: Tavistock Square – a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

Designed as a companion park to the nearby Gordon Square,  Tavistock Square is a compact green space in Bloomsbury, central London.

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

Tavistock Square was built shortly after 1806 by the property developer James Burton and the master builder Thomas Cubitt for Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford, and formed part of the Bedford Estate in London, owned by the Dukes of Bedford.

The square takes its name from Marquess of Tavistock, a courtesy title given to the eldest sons of the Dukes of Bedford.

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

Created by Hugh Court  and installed in 1994,  the Conscientious Objectors Commemorative Stone commemorates “men and women conscientious objectors all over the world and in every age.”

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

Planted in 1967, this cherry tree memorialises the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

The centrepiece of the park is a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, sculpted by Fredda Brilliant and installed in 1968.

The pedestal contains a space for people to leave floral tributes to the peace campaigner.

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

A carpet of autumn leaves.

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

A crow rests on the memorial to the surgeon Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake (1865 –1925).

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

A bust of the writer Virginia Woolf, cast from a 1931 sculpture by Stephen Tomlin (1901–1937), was unveiled in 2004 in the southwest corner of the square.

Woolf lived at 52 Tavistock Square between 1924 and 1939.

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

In photos: Tavistock Square - a public park in the heart of Bloomsbury, London

More info

Tavistock Square on Wikipedia

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