The
plans for building this beautiful Georgian square, as also several streets
on the north of Tyburn Road, were drawn up in 1715. The square was named
after the Earl of Oxford's wife, Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles. In
1717 the ground was laid out, the circle in the centre enclosed and
surrounded with a parapet, wall and palisades. In the Regency
period only three houses stood on the west side of the square, the centre
(and most gloomy) house being built by Lord Bingley. The north side
(pictured above) contained four houses. The two brick houses at either
end of the row belonged to the Earl of Hopetown and the Earl of Gainsborough,
the two central portland stone houses were built to be the eventual
wings of the palace of the Duke of Chandos (then the Earl of Carnarvon),
which was never completed.
In
1770 a gilt equestrian statue, made of lead and representing William
Duke of Cumberland,was erected in the centre of the square
