London’s Alleys: Hanover Place, WC2

This is an alley in Covent Garden that seems to have slipped through history barely leaving a mark, but it’s also an alley that’s had many names over its long life.It first shows up on William Morgan’s map of 1682 as Queen’s Head Alley. It’s likely, in line with common tradition at the time, that the alley was named after a local pub, as there was a pub called the Crown in the alley, later known as the Poet’s Head, after John Taylor, the water poet who managed