See the six dials at Seven Dials

The original layout of Covent Garden's Seven Dials area was built in the early 1690s, with six streets emanating from a central point. The spot is still marked by a pillar topped with six sundials, a replacement of the original built in 1694 by Edward Pierce and Thomas Neale. A seventh road was added later to maximise the houses which could be fitted on the site.

By the nineteenth century, the area had become a slum, and was featured by Charles Dickens in his collection Sketches by Boz, and impoverished until the 20th century, when Agatha Christie set The Seven Dials Mystery around the area.

For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Dials