London Major Area Walks 3: Mayfair

Focus: Mayfair

Historical Context

• Roman Times: Oxford Street was part of an old Roman road. May Day was a pagan festive holy day celebrating the first spring planting. For Celts and Saxons, May Day was known as Beltane or the Day of Fire, representing the first day of summer (Bel was the Celtic god of the sun).
• Medieval Times: Courtship and love are the themes of May Day. Villages elect a Queen of the May, who rules over the festivals. The maypole (a phallic symbol of renewed fertility and virility) is central to the celebration, around which young single men and women danced, carrying baskets of flowers and holding onto ribbons until they become entwined with their hoped-for love. Sexual promiscuity and the reversal of social norms became the order of the day. Robin Goodfellow (a.k.a. the Green Man, and later Robin Hood) became the Lord of misrule and social reversals, assuming the role of priest, king, and fool for one day. His main role is to poke fun at the clergy and local authorities.
• Tudor Times: May Day Riot (1517) erupted against European immigrants (from Flanders, Italy, France, and the Baltic) in the city. Four hundred rioters are arrested and their leaders hung, drawn, and quartered.
• Stuart Times: May Day Fair celebration moves to May Fare (now Shepherd Market) from Haymarket. May Day was banned in 1644 by an act of the Puritan Parliament because of promiscuity associated with the day. It returned with the Restoration in 1660, but without so much emphasis on sexual license and social reversals. Bond Street laid out. St. James’ Church constructed by Wren.
• Georgian Times: Time of extensive building activity in Mayfair. Burlington House created as town house for Lord Burlington; the Burlington Arcade is attached later. Berkeley Square and Hanover Square laid out. Regent Street and Oxford Street established. Churches banned the May Day pagan-oriented festivals. Some, donning masks so as not to be identified, continued the festival as church and state continued as the butt of jokes.
• Victorian Times: May Day celebration becomes a celebration of innocence, largely centering on children and the tradition of Merry England. Royal Academy of Art moves into Burlington House. Royal Arcade built. Oxford Street becomes a major shopping area.
• Modern Times: Grosvenor Square becomes the nerve center of American forces during World War II. American Embassy constructed. Carnaby Street becomes focal point of youth activity.

Places to Visit in This Area When You Have More Time

Bond Street, Hamley’s Toy Shop, Selfridges, Fortnum and Mason, Tour of the Royal Academy’s permanent holdings, special exhibits at the Royal Academy, Wallace Collection