"The passageway sits to the south of Soho Square, and the block of buildings directly to the south had been laid out as houses with gardens behind. It was in the early 1680s that James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth (the illegitimate son of King Charles II) bought up the northern row of houses and all the back gardens to build a manor house."
"The building was still being built when the Duke got embroiled in the Exclusion Crisis, which arose from King Charles II's ability to have illegitimate children, but not to produce a legitimate heir to the throne. Parliament was determined to stop Charles's Catholic brother, James from taking the crown and was pushing for the Duke of Monmouth to be named the heir instead."
"But King Charles prevailed, and the Duke was exiled to the Netherlands and was declared a conspirator in the Rye House plot to kill the King. When King Charles II died (of natural causes) in 1685, the Duke returned to lead the Monmouth Rebellion and overthrow the new King James II. My favourite fact about the Monmouth Rebellion is that in seeking to depose the newly crowned King James II, the rebellion's leader, James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, was also self-anointed as King James II."
The passageway lies south of Soho Square on land formerly occupied by houses with gardens. In the early 1680s James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, purchased the northern row and the back gardens to build a manor house. Political conflict during the Exclusion Crisis and accusations in the Rye House plot led to Monmouth's exile, return, rebellion, and execution after proclaiming himself as King James II. The incomplete manor became a Huguenot chapel and was sold in 1716 to Sir James Bateman, later remodeled, leased as an ambassador's residence, demolished in 1773, and replaced by a long narrow passage and small houses.
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