Kensington and Sloan Square in the Regency, and an Interview

History

The location of the lord or ladies home in London is always something I spend time over. And each time I then research the square I use or re-research it. This week I look at two squares, Kensington and Sloan. Kensington is the oldest square in London.

It was founded in 1685 by a wood carver and joiner named Thomas Young, and so by the regency it is well established. However at first it was so far from the action of established London that it might have been doomed to fail if not for the Crown. They established the Royal Palace of Kensington and thus saved the square. It was too late for Thomas Young though. He was deep in debt and imprisoned before this came to pass.

At the time of the Regency Era the Palace is used for minor royalty and it is the home of the young Victoria prior to her ascension to the throne. That the monarchs had left for St. James in the middle of the seventeen hundreds caused the square to go into a slow and gentle decline.

Notables of the Square during the later Regency Era are philosopher John Stuart Mill at #18, and starting in 1830 the Kensington School at #31. By the early 1830s eight academies were in the square, seven of them for boarders.

Sloan Square is not as old as Kensington, developed from 1771 and is closer to the center of things. Named after Sir Hans Sloane whose heirs owned the property. Sir Hans was a collector, who bequeathed his items which became the foundation of the British Museum. The square was developed by the father and son architects Henry Holland Senior and Junior. Henry Holland would later work on Prinny's Brighton Pavilion and Carlton House.

Sir Hans Sloane

Henry Holland the Architect

Interview

Once again I was Interviewed, this time at My Jane Austen Book Club. I have been interviewed a few times these last months. I will provide here the post of that interview for your entertainment in the next blog. Though please click on the hyperlink and have a visit at Maria's site.

Jane Austen and Ghosts

The Kindle version has been out for two weeks. It is also available now at Barnes and Noble for your Nook, or at Smashwords. The iTunes edition is also available as is the trade paperwork version so Jane Austen and Ghosts is now physically in print.

You can purchase your copy today at Amazon for $4.99. Or you can purchase at Smashwords, or at Barnes and Noble.

With the availability on the iBookstore for your iPad, and in Trade Paperback, Jane Austen and Ghosts is available at all the outlets that Regency Assembly Press publishes to. The Trade Paperback is now available for $8.99 US and of course available in other currencies for other countries based on that US price. Digital versions across all platforms are $4.99.

Click here to be taken to the webpage on Amazon

A brief synopsis of the story:

In the world of moviemaking, nothing is as golden as rebooting a classic tale that has made fortunes every time before when it has been adapted for the silver screen. Certainly any work by Jane Austen made into a movie will not only be bankable, but also considered a work of art.

That is of course until the current wave of adaptations that unite her classic stories with all the elements of the afterlife is attempted to be created. That these have found success in the marketplace amongst book lovers may not be quite understood by those who make movies. But that they are a success is understood and a reason to make them into movies.

All that being said, perhaps it would also be fair to say that the very proper Jane, were she present to have anything to say about it, would not be pleased. Of course she has been away from this Earth for nearly 200 hundred years. But does that mean were she upset enough, she wouldn't come back?

Ellis Abbot found stories for tinseltown to make into movies. His most recent find were the batch of stories set in the regency world of Jane Austen. Jane Austen and Monsters.

Meeting with the various authors of those works, it did not seem that Ellis could get one coherent plot of script out of any of them. At least not until he got help from the best source of all.