Russell Square

Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, built predominantly by James Burton. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Museum. To the north is Woburn Place and to the south-east is Southampton Row. Russell Square tube station is nearby to the north-east.

It is named after the surname of the Earls and Dukes of Bedford; the freehold remains with the Bedford Estate, though the square is managed by Camden Council.

The square is named after the surname of the Earls and Dukes of Bedford, who developed the family's London landholdings in the 17th and 18th centuries, beginning with Covent Garden (Bedford Street). Russell Square was formed when new streets were laid out by the 5th Duke on the site of the gardens of his former home Bedford House, their London house. Other local street names relating to the Duke of Bedford include Bedford Square, Bedford Place, Bedford Avenue, Bedford Row and Bedford Way; Woburn Square and Woburn Place (from Woburn Abbey); , Tavistock Place and Tavistock Street (), and Thornhaugh Street (after a subsidiary title Baron of Thornhaugh). William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh is interred at St. Andrews Church Thornhaugh in Cambridgeshire. The street lamps around this area carry the Bedford Arms.

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