Seven Dials Covent Garden is a unique quarter of London whose star-shaped layout remains as constructed in the early 1690s. It was brought back to life largely through the dedication of the Seven Dials Trust, working in partnership with the local authorities and landowners for nearly forty years.

We are always happy to be in touch, just drop us a line at your convinience.

If you would like further information on any of the following please let us know:

  Buying from our Greetings Cards Collection

  Purchasing a David Gentleman Lithograph

  How to help with "Completing the Renaissance"

  Becoming a Year Donor

  Street History Plaque Sponsorship

  People's Plaque Sponsorship

  Sundial Sponsorship

  Time Plaque Sponsorship

Newsletter

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  The Seven Dials Trust

68 Dean Street, London W1D 4QJ, United Kingdom. Registered Charity No 297350. Company No 2125701.

Shaftesbury Plc Security

Please note the Shaftesbury contacts are different from the Trust. As we often get asked, here is the number for Shaftesbury Plc Security: 020 7242 1210

  Website lovingly hosted by trustee Jamal Uddin MIET FRSA

The 1998 Exhibition : History | Architecture | Horology

The Seven Dials Trust's exhibition was sponsored by English Heritage (now Historic England) and local companies. It is available for loan in its entirety or by section for a small fee to cover insurance. We are keen for it to be seen as widely as possible.

The exhibition consists of display boards, size 29" x 30½", and falls into 11 sections which illustrate the principal characters who created Seven Dials and the Sundial Pillar, a brief history of the area itself and the genealogy of Sundial Pillars and gnomonics (the art of time keeping). These sections are followed by a series of boards explaining the problems in designing the Pillar, how we calculated the orientation of the Pillar and the hour lines on the dial faces, how the foundations were designed and built to straddle the mass of services beneath the streets, as well as the construction and erection of the Pillar by youth trainees. There is a diary of the Trust's fundraising events and a section on the unveiling by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

A small grant from the St Giles Section 106 Fund is enabling us to work on updating the sections which cover traffic management and street improvements. In the meantime, virtually all of the material is also included on this website. 

The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of the late Sir John Summerson (1904–1992), one of the 20th century's most eminent architectural historians and an inspiring colleague as a founder trustee of the Seven Dials Trust.

View full contents of the Exhibition: History | Architecture | Horology 

“I write to congratulate the Seven Dials Monument Charity… this initiative… is a first for Camden and I believe for possibly for Greater London… It seems the financing of a Study by local interests can produce a degree of discussion on issues affecting the character and appearance of an area, and a commitment to proposals for enhancement, which the received wisdom of the Local Authority preparing proposals for consultation, will not match.”

The first study was published in 1991 and was widely acclaimed as the first of its kind in London if not the UK. This led to a short congratulatory debate in the House of Lords and Government funding for the second edition in 1997, designed to provide a national exemplar of how to care for inner city conservation areas.

Both editions comprise sections on: 

  Download the Current Print edition of the Seven Dials Renaissance Study (published 1998)

  Download the Supplementary Volume to the First edition (published 1990)

The Seven Dials Trust is currently working on amalgamating, extending and up-dating the current editions, and producing a web-based edition.