Our Heritage
London's Premier Diamond & Jewellery Quarter
Hatton Garden Jewellers has served as London's trusted jewellery directory for over two decades. Founded as an independent, editorially curated guide, our directory maintains direct relationships with local businesses across Hatton Garden's historic jewellery quarter.
What began as a simple guide has grown into the most comprehensive resource for discovering exceptional jewellers, master craftsmen, and specialist dealers in London's EC1N district. Every listing is editorially reviewed and personally vetted by our team.
We believe in editorial integrity and genuine quality — a philosophy that has earned us the trust of over one million annual visitors seeking engagement rings, bespoke jewellery, valuations, and repairs.
From medieval gardens to the diamond capital of the United Kingdom — the fascinating story of London's most storied district.
The district takes its name from Sir Christopher Hatton, a favourite of Elizabeth I who was granted a lease of the land surrounding the Bishop of Ely's residence in 1576 — at an annual rent of just ten pounds plus ten loads of hay and a rose picked at midsummer.
Before the diamond trade established itself here, the area had a rich history stretching back centuries. The dragons that stand sentinel outside Chancery Lane station mark the ancient boundary of the City of London, established in 1222. High Holborn itself follows the route of an ancient Roman road.
Charles Dickens lived in the area and drew heavily upon it for his fiction. Gray's Inn features in David Copperfield, Bleeding Heart Yard provides the setting for Little Dorrit, and Saffron Hill — just a stone's throw from today's jewellery workshops — appears in Oliver Twist.
The poet Thomas Chatterton, known as the "Bristol boy poet," lodged in a garret on Brook Street, tragically dying there at just seventeen in 1770. A commemorative plaque marks the spot, one of many blue plaques that trace the district's literary and artistic connections.
Leather Lane market has operated for over one hundred years, and the area's Italian heritage remains visible in institutions like the Italian Church of St Peter, opened in 1863 on Clerkenwell Road. Each July, the church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel with a procession through the surrounding streets.
This Italian influence helped shape Hatton Garden's character as a place where artisanship and commerce intertwined — a tradition that continues today in the skilled jewellers and craftsmen who work in EC1N.
The Gothic Church of St Etheldreda, dating from the thirteenth century and returned to Catholic worship in 1874, is one of the oldest churches in London. Nearby, Ely Place remains a private road — historically beyond the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police — whose residents once included the poet William Cowper and architect Charles Barry.
Shakespeare himself referenced the area: in Richard III, the Duke of Gloucester sends for strawberries from the Bishop of Ely's garden. Thomas Coram established his foundling hospital nearby in 1739, creating a haven for orphaned children that would shape the district's philanthropic traditions.
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