PLACES

SOHO SQUARE

By Fiona Green

The Square nearest to my old home & closest to my heart;there is a bench I had put here in memory of a friend,Clive Steele (d. 2005) He is in good company with fellow folk singer,Kirsty McColl (1959 - 2000) " One day I'll be waiting here,No empty bench in Soho Square. She was tragically killed in a boating accident.

The Square's original perfumed gardens were designed by Sir Joseph Banks who also lived at No 32 in the Square. Unlike the huge,ugly plane trees there now : "the lungs for London"- he planted low : almond,peach,cherry,rose,lilac,honeysuckle & jasmine.

Imagine it as it was, the heady intoxication of the perfume on the breeze in early summer!

What most people also do not know, is that the huge red brick catholic church of Saint Patrick - next to the gardens - is on the site of Carlisle House,the most fashionable entertainment venue in London in 1760's, which was the mansion of Teresa Imer, aka Mrs Cornelys (the mistress of Casanova) & where Casanova lived when he was in London, & where their daughter,Sophia, was conceived.