COVENT GARDEN, a site north of the Strand, London, England, occupied by the principal flower, fruit and vegetable market in the metropolis. This was originally the so-called "con vent garden" belonging to the abbey of St. Peter, Westminster. In the first half of the I7th century the garden was laid out as a square by Inigo Jones, with a piazza on two sides ; this garden is mentioned in Restoration plays as a fashionable resort. The first stalls and sheds were set up there about 1656. Covent Garden Theatre (1858) is the chief seat of grand opera in London. The site has carried a theatre since 1733, but earlier buildings were burnt in 1809 and 1856.