Seven Dials

(WC2) Now mostly cleared away to make room for Charing Cross Road and Shaftesbury Avenue. The column which bore the seven dials which gave the place its name now stands on the green at Weybridge, Surrey, where it was placed in commemoration of Frederica, Duchess of York, who for many years resided at Oatlands Palace, Weybridge, and was greatly respected. The great factory of ballads was long Seven Dials, where Pitt employed Corcoran, and was the patron of "slender Ben." Mr. Catnach, another noted printer of ballads, lived here. He was the first ballad printer who published yards of songs for one penny. (Reference: Timbs's Curiosities of London, p. 10)