Vincent Square is a grass-covered square in Westminster, London, England. It is London's largest privately owned square, covering 13 acres, lined with mature trees including London Planes. In among a network of backstreets, it chiefly provides playing fields for Westminster School, who own it absolutely; otherwise, it functions as a green lung and a view for the homes, hotel and other organisations adjoining. Nine of its adjoining buildings have been given strict statutory architectural recognition and protection. The Liberal Democrat Headquarters, housing one of Parliament's three largest political parties, was based at 1 Vincent Square, until September 2025.
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👉 Vincent Square in the context of Squares in London
Squares have long been a feature of London and come in numerous identifiable forms. The landscaping spectrum of squares stretches from those with more hardscape, constituting town squares (also known as city squares)—to those with communal gardens, for which London is a major international exponent, known as garden squares. London's largest privately owned square is Vincent Square, in Westminster, which comprises 13 acres.
A few in the capital of the United Kingdom, such as Trafalgar Square, began as public open spaces in the same way as other city squares worldwide, typically a plaza, piazza and a platz in Spain, Italy and Germany. Most, however, began as garden squares i.e. private communal gardens for the inhabitants of surrounding houses. All types of the space are more prevalent in parts of London with high (urban) density. Some of these gardens are now open to the public, while others, for example around Notting Hill, are railed (a form of fencing) and private.
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Vincent Square in the context of Westminster School
Westminster School is a public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as documented by the Croyland Chronicle and a charter of King Offa. Continuous existence is clear from the early 14th century. Westminster was one of nine schools examined by the 1861 Clarendon Commission and reformed by the Public Schools Act 1868. The school motto, Dat Deus Incrementum, quotes 1 Corinthians 3:6: "I planted the seed... but God made it grow." The school owns playing fields and tennis courts in the centre of the 13-acre (5-hectare) Vincent Square, along which Westminster Under School is also situated.
Its academic results place it among the top schools nationally; about half its students go to Oxbridge, giving it the highest national Oxbridge acceptance rate.In the 2023 A-levels, the school saw 82.3% of its candidates score A* or A. The school is included in The Schools Index of the world's 150 best private schools and among top 30 senior schools in the UK. Among its graduates are three Nobel laureates: Edgar Adrian (Nobel Prize for Physiology in 1932), Sir Andrew Huxley (likewise in 1963) and Sir Richard Stone (Nobel Prize in Economics in 1984). During the mid-17th century, the liberal philosopher of the Enlightenment, John Locke, attended the school, and seven UK prime ministers also then attended, all belonging to the Whig or Liberal factions of British politics: Henry Pelham and his brother Thomas Pelham-Holmes, Charles Watson-Wentworth, James Waldegrave, Augustus Fitzroy, William Cavendish-Bentinck, and John Russell.