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A commercial district and street, Hatton Garden is situated in the London Borough of Camden’s Holborn area near the City of London’s boundary. Hatton Garden got its name from Queen Elizabeth I’s favorite, Sir Christopher Hatton, who built a mansion in the area and acquired ownership of Ely Place’s orchard and garden.
Hatton Garden is renowned for being the jewelry quarter of London and UK’s center of the diamond trade. There are more than 55 shops and almost 300 companies that represent the jewelry industry. The area has an elaborate underground infrastructure of offices, workshops, tunnels, and vaults. Currently, it is home to numerous creative, media and publishing companies including Grey Advertising and Blinkbox.
Early residents of Hatton Garden were Captain Thomas Coram, a philanthropist who established the London Foundling Hospital to care for abandoned children; William Whiston, an English mathematician, theologian, and historian; John Flamsteed, an English astronomer; and Christopher Merret, an English scientist and physician.
The inventor of the Maxim gun, Hiram Maxim owned a factory in the area. Hatton Garden is the setting for an episode of The Avengers.
Ely Place in Hatton Garden EC1 is the last private street in London. The historic pub Ye Olde Mitre is a grade II listed building found on this street.