Bloomsbury is a busy area in the centre of London. It is known for attractive old buildings and squares: open patches of grass and trees with roads and houses on all four sides. In the early twentieth century many writers and artists lived there, and people still talk about that circle. The British Museum sits nearby, and university buildings fill a lot of the streets, so it feels bookish as well as busy. The name looks as if it came from bloom, like a flower, but that is a trap. In 1291 it was recorded as Blemondesberi, the manor held by the Blemond family, who took their name from Blémont in France. The bury piece is the old word for a manor — land held by a family.