Place Name
Morwell on the Devon-Cornwall border was owned by the dukes of Bedford who developed the manor of Bloomsbury after it came into their possession in 1669. At the time, despite its relative closeness to both the City and Westminster it was relatively unimportant marsh land and the estates themselves used for orchards, or pasture. They would, however, go on to yield more profit to the family than any other of their numerous properties. It was developed in the late 18thCentury, and although it appears to have been laid out – between Bedford Street and Bedford Avenue (which at the time was called Tavistock Street, after another of the family’s Devon properties) on Horwood’s Plan of 1792 – 1799, it first appears named on Cary’s map of 1795. The UCL Bloomsbury Project, citing the Camden History Society says: “It was one of the three streets of coach houses and stables designed for the coachmen and horses belonging to Bedford Square, the others being Caroline Mews to the west and Gower Mews to the north.”
