Crosby Square

City, 34, Bishopsgate (EC3) Takes its name from Crosby Place, which was built in the reign of Edward IV, on ground rented from Alice Ashfield, Prioress of the adjoining convent of St. Helen's. The founder was Sir John Crosby, whose monument is still a conspicuous object in St. Helen's Church. Crosby Place was purchased about 1516 by Sir Thomas More, and here he is supposed to have written his Utopia and his Life of Richard the Third. (Reference: Jesse's London, vol. II, pp. 390, 391-3) In February 1860, Henry Irving read "Virginius" at Crosby Hall (now re-erected at Chelsea) . This was the great actor's first public appearance in London. (Reference: Welch's Modern History of the City of London, p. 224) Charles Dickens also gave public readings at Crosby Hall.