Christopher Hatton brass plaque

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# Christopher Hatton brass: 4 Leather Lane, Farringdon Standing at 4 Leather Lane, you're standing on ground that once held Hatton House—the magnificent residence that Queen Elizabeth I gifted to her favored Lord Chancellor as a personal token of royal affection, a generosity that set London's goss...

Location

4, Leather Lane, Farringdon

Inscription

Sir Christopher Hatton was born in 1540 and died in 1591. He was Lord Chancellor of England and according to some, a secret lover of Elizabeth I. She granted him the grounds of Ely Palace on which Hatton House was built, a generous gift which did much to fuel the rumours. Hatton House was demolished in the late 1600s to make way for a new small town called Hatton Garden: this became the centre of London's jewellery trade. By 1850 all of the houses in the area had become a workshop or a diamond merchant's. In 1987 , 80% of the world's diamonds passed through Hatton Garden where De Beers has its headquarters.