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CREMORNE AND THE LATER LONDON GARDENS
CREMORNE AND THE LATER LONDON GARDENS
BY WARWICK WROTH ASSISTANT-KEEPER OF COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM; AUTHOR OF ‘THE LONDON PLEASURE-GARDENS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY’ WITH TWENTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 1907 Waterside entrace, Cremorne. From an etching by W. Greaves, 1871...
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PREFACE
PREFACE
The open-air resorts described in this volume lack the romantic associations of the classic pleasure-gardens of the eighteenth century, and it is impossible to impart to Cremorne or the Surrey ‘Zoo’ the historic dignity of a Vauxhall or a Ranelagh. Yet, if these places are undeserving of the detailed treatment that has been accorded to their prototypes, they may claim at least a brief and modest chronicle, which may seem the more necessary because it has mainly to be constructed, not from books
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CREMORNE GARDENS
CREMORNE GARDENS
The old house by the river had often changed hands, but the new possessor, who was reputed to be a Baron, somewhat puzzled the quiet inhabitants of Chelsea. Great oaks and elms surrounded the grounds, but through the fine iron gates, which were left half open, it was not difficult—as on this summer morning of 1830—to catch a glimpse of the owner, engaged, apparently, in the survey and measurement of his estate. He was a man of over sixty, dressed in a faded military uniform of no known pattern
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MANOR-HOUSE BATHS AND GARDENS, CHELSEA
MANOR-HOUSE BATHS AND GARDENS, CHELSEA
Towards the end of the thirties there stood in the King’s Road, Chelsea, between the present Radnor Street and Shawfield Street, a deserted mansion known as the Manor-House. It was spacious, if not lofty, and had apparently nothing to do with the two historical manor-houses of Chelsea. [25a] For some years it had been unoccupied; its windows were broken, its railings rusty, and weeds luxuriated in its front-garden. Manor-House Garden, Chelsea, circa 1809 Behind the house there had once been a
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BATTY’S HIPPODROME AND SOYER’S SYMPOSIUM, KENSINGTON
BATTY’S HIPPODROME AND SOYER’S SYMPOSIUM, KENSINGTON
The Great Exhibition of 1851 was indirectly responsible for the existence in Kensington of two short-lived institutions—a circus and a restaurant. They are rather outside our subject, but, as having something of an open-air character, may be briefly described. In the autumn of 1850 William Batty, a famous circus proprietor, acquired some land within five minutes’ walk of the new world-wonder, the ‘Crystal Palace,’ and erected thereon an elliptical-roofed pavilion which accommodated many thousan
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THE HIPPODROME, NOTTING HILL
THE HIPPODROME, NOTTING HILL
This was a race-course of some two and a half miles in circuit. In 1837 a Mr. John Whyte had turned his attention to the slopes of Notting Hill, and to the Portobello meadows west of Westbourne Grove, and prepared a course, not for golf, but for horse-racing and steeple-chasing, with the accompaniments of a training-ground and stables for about eighty horses. The Hippodrome was opened on June 3, 1837. The public were admitted for a shilling, and those who could not enter the carriage enclosure
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THE ROYAL OAK, BAYSWATER
THE ROYAL OAK, BAYSWATER
In the twenties this was still a rural inn, with sloping, red-tiled roof and dormer windows, standing quite alone. [37a] A visitor coming from Paddington Green passed to it by a quiet field-path—the Bishop’s Walk, now Bishop’s Road—through a region of pleasant pastures and hedgerow elms. A weeping ash and the sign of the Boscobel Oak stood on a green in front of the house, and there were benches for the wayfarer and a tea-garden. In 1837, with the advent of the Great Western Railway, all thes
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CHALK FARM
CHALK FARM
This was a favourite tea-garden from the latter part of the eighteenth century till the fifties. An inn, originally called the White House, had long existed near the foot of Primrose Hill, and probably first gained custom by its proximity to the hill, which (about 1797) is described [39] as a ‘very fashionable’ Sunday resort of the modern citizens, who usually ‘lead their children there to eat their cakes and partake of a little country air’—a truly idyllic performance. Chalk Farm had also its
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THE EEL-PIE (OR SLUICE) HOUSE, HIGHBURY
THE EEL-PIE (OR SLUICE) HOUSE, HIGHBURY
This tavern on the New River, between Highbury and Hornsey Wood House, was well known to Cockney visitors from early in the nineteenth century till its demolition about 1867. [42] It was famous for its tea and hot rolls, but still more for its excellent pies made of eels, which were popularly supposed to be natives of Hugh Myddelton’s stream, though they came in reality from the coast of Holland. Unambitious anglers of the Sadler’s Wells type frequented the river near here, and on popular holid
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WESTON’S RETREAT, KENTISH TOWN
WESTON’S RETREAT, KENTISH TOWN
This garden in the present Highgate Road had a brief existence circa 1858–1865, under the management of Edward Weston, the proprietor of Weston’s (afterwards the Royal) Music Hall in Holborn. A good deal was crowded into a small space, for besides the choice flowers, shrubs, and fruit-trees, there was a conservatory, a cascade, a racquet-court, a small dancing-platform and orchestra, and a panorama 1,600 feet long, representing ‘the sea-girt island of Caprera, the home of the Italian Liberator’
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THE MERMAID, HACKNEY
THE MERMAID, HACKNEY
A farthing token of the seventeenth century, issued ‘at the Maremaid Taverne in Hackeny,’ [46a] is a humble relic of the early days of this place, which stood on the west side of the High Street. The assembly-room, connected with the tavern by a covered way, and the extensive grounds, were much frequented during the last century till the forties. The grounds consisted of an upper and lower bowling-green—one of them sometimes used for archery—and an umbrageous ‘dark walk’ encompassing the kitche
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THE ROSEMARY BRANCH, HOXTON
THE ROSEMARY BRANCH, HOXTON
Early in the eighteenth century, in the days when the London archers shot at rovers [48a] in the Finsbury fields, there stood near Hoxton Bridge (at the meeting of the parishes of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, and St. Mary, Islington) an ‘honest ale-house’ named the Rosemary Branch, [48b] which was doubtless ofttimes visited by the thirsty archer for a mug of beer and a game of shovel-board. The place has no history for many years, though in 1764 it emerges for a moment in a newspaper paragraph: [48
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SIR HUGH MYDDELTON’S HEAD
SIR HUGH MYDDELTON’S HEAD
This was a picturesque old inn, built, it is said in 1614, standing by the water-side opposite the New River Head and Sadler’s Wells. It is shown in Hogarth’s ‘Evening’ (1738)—a gable-ended, vine-clad house with the portrait of the great Sir Hugh as its pendent sign. It will be remembered that this picture represents a portly dame, accompanied by an evidently ill-used husband and two crying children, passing by the tavern, wherein a merry drinking-party is seen through the open window. Perhap
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THE PANARMONION GARDENS, KING’S CROSS
THE PANARMONION GARDENS, KING’S CROSS
The formation of the pleasure-garden that we know as Earl’s Court out of the coal-yards of the North End Road has a parallel in the origin of some ephemeral gardens which arose at Battle Bridge (King’s Cross) on or near the site of mountainous heaps of dust and ashes. The place was recalled by the ‘Literary Dustman’ when he sang: ‘My dawning genus fust did peep Near Battle Bridge, ’tis plain, sirs; You recollect the cinder-heap Vot stood in Gray’s Inn Lane, sirs.’ Now, when these historic
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THE EAGLE AND GRECIAN SALOON
THE EAGLE AND GRECIAN SALOON
The Eagle tavern and Grecian theatre which stood till lately at the corner of the dreary City Road and Shepherdess Walk were developed out of a quiet eighteenth-century pleasure-garden known as the Shepherd and Shepherdess, which had its arbours, skittle-ground, and small assembly-room. [57a] About 1822 a rather remarkable man, named Thomas Rouse (born in 1784), came into possession of the premises. [57b] He is said to have begun life as a bricklayer; at any rate, he had a turn for building,
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THE ALBERT SALOON AND ROYAL STANDARD PLEASURE-GARDENS
THE ALBERT SALOON AND ROYAL STANDARD PLEASURE-GARDENS
In his own Shepherdess Walk—a little to the north of the Eagle—the enterprising Thomas Rouse had a not unsuccessful imitator in the person of one Henry Bradley, the proprietor of the Royal Standard tavern and pleasure-gardens. Some entertainments and concerts were given here in the early thirties, but the fame of the place, such as it was, belongs to the forties. At the end of 1838 Bradley began to adorn his gardens somewhat in the manner of the Eagle, surrounding them with boxes, alcoves, and
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NEW GLOBE PLEASURE-GROUNDS, MILE END ROAD
NEW GLOBE PLEASURE-GROUNDS, MILE END ROAD
The New Globe tavern, No. 359, Mile End Road, was and is (though somewhat altered)—a substantial building, with a fine golden globe still keeping its balance on the roof. From the twenties or thirties [70a] till the sixties it had some spacious grounds in the rear, entered from an archway beside the tavern. These grounds contained fine trees, and were prettily laid out with many fountains, statues, and rustic boxes. On the west of the grounds was the Regent’s Canal, and the whistling and puff
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THE RED HOUSE, BATTERSEA
THE RED HOUSE, BATTERSEA
To picture the Red House and its surroundings, one must put out of sight the fine park of Battersea, and go back to the first fifty years of the nineteenth century. At that time there stood near the riverside, facing the south end of the present Victoria (or Chelsea Suspension) Bridge, a picturesque tavern of red brick, with white pointings and green-painted shutters. On a summer day the pleasantest place for alfresco refreshment was a small jetty in front of the tavern, beneath the elm-trees
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BRUNSWICK GARDENS (OR VAUXHALL PLEASURE-GARDENS), VAUXHALL
BRUNSWICK GARDENS (OR VAUXHALL PLEASURE-GARDENS), VAUXHALL
‘ These beautiful grounds, once the resort of Royalty,’ were opened by a Mr. King in 1839, and flourished for a few years, till about 1845. Their famous neighbour ‘Vauxhall’ was no longer what it had been, and in 1840 was actually closed for a year. There was thus an opening for a ‘Minor Vauxhall’ with summer concerts à la Musard . A band of from thirty to fifty performers was engaged under Blewitt as director and composer, and the grand gala concerts twice a week were hardly inferior to those
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FLORA GARDENS, CAMBERWELL
FLORA GARDENS, CAMBERWELL
These gardens, entered from the Wyndham Road, Camberwell, had a brief but lively existence from 1849 till about 1857. A central walk, adorned with fountains and lawns on either hand, led to a ball-room on the right, and on the left to a maze described as ‘the nearest to that of Hampton Court.’ This maze was intricate and verdant, and provided with a competent guide, while in the middle—in which respect it surpassed ‘that of Hampton Court’—it had a magic hermitage inhabited by a learned Chaldea
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MONTPELIER TEA GARDENS, WALWORTH
MONTPELIER TEA GARDENS, WALWORTH
These gardens, attached to the Montpelier House tavern, came into existence in the later years of the eighteenth century. William Hazlitt, the essayist (born in 1778), recalls with pleasure his ‘infant wanderings’ in this place, to which he used to be taken by his father. [81a] In July, 1796, the newly formed Montpelier Club played their first match in their cricket ground at Montpelier Gardens; and on August 10 and 11 of that year the same ground was the scene of a match of a rather painful, i
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THE SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS
THE SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS
A view here reproduced represents these once famous gardens as they appeared in the early thirties. They were in existence, somewhat transformed, as late as 1877, but it is now difficult to imagine that they were situated in a populous region between the Kennington and Walworth Roads. The ‘Zoo’ which found a home in a beautiful garden in the south of London was for some time no mean rival to the Zoo par excellence in Regent’s Park, while, as a place of public entertainment, the Surrey Gardens h
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I.—CHELSEA, PIMLICO, ETC.
I.—CHELSEA, PIMLICO, ETC.
Black Lion , Chelsea.—Church Street (formerly Church Lane), at the corner of Paulton Street ( circa 1820). Admiral Keppel , Chelsea.—Now No. 77, Fulham Road. The gardens lay between Marlborough Road and Keppel Street, and extended to Albert Place at the back of the tavern (1790–1856). Marlborough (afterwards Wellington ) Gardens and Cricket Ground.—West end of Cadogan Street. The gardens and cricket field lay between Cadogan Street and Draycott Place, and part of the Guinness Trust Buildings i
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II.—BAYSWATER, ETC.
II.—BAYSWATER, ETC.
Bott’s Archery Tavern , Bayswater Road.—Now No. 4, Bathurst Street. Bathurst Street is on the site of the bowling-green ( circa 1834–1839). Princess Royal , Bayswater.—See supra , p. 38. New Bagnigge Wells (or ‘ Crown ’ Gardens ), Bayswater Road.—Now Crown Hotel ( circa 1819–1840). Bayswater Tea-Gardens , Lancaster Gate.— Circa 1790–1854. (See London Pleasure-Gardens , p. 117.) The Maze , Harrow Road.—Now No. 6, Chichester Place, Harrow Road ( circa 1842). Ranelagh Gardens , Paddington.— Circa
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III.—NORTH LONDON.
III.—NORTH LONDON.
For White Conduit House, Belvidere Tavern, Canonbury Tavern, Hornsey Wood House, Highbury Barn, and Kentish Town Assembly-House, see London Pleasure-Gardens , Group III. Thatched House , Islington.—Now No. 119, Essex Road ( circa 1810–1830, or later). The Three Compasses , Hornsey, by the New River (1824 and later). (Hone, Every-Day Book , ii., p. 1311; Sherington, Story of Hornsey , p. 43; Thorne’s Environs , s.v. Hornsey.) Bull and Gate .—Now No. 389, Kentish Town Road (1801 and later). Castl
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IV.—CLERKENWELL.
IV.—CLERKENWELL.
Bagnigge Wells , 1759–1841.—See London Pleasure-Gardens , Group I.; also for some other gardens of early nineteenth century. Cherry Gardens , Clerkenwell.—South-west corner of Bowling-Green Lane (eighteenth century to circa 1852). Union Tavern .—Now 2, King’s Cross Road ( circa 1844–1860)....
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V.—EAST LONDON.
V.—EAST LONDON.
Falcon Tavern .—East side of Bethnal Green (1830). Pitt’s Head , Bethnal Green.— Circa 1820–1840. Ben Jonson , Stepney.— Circa 1832. Green Dragon , Stepney (1830). Golden Eagle Tavern , Mile End Road.— Circa 1827. Lusby’s Pleasure-Gardens , Mile End Road.—Now Paragon Theatre of Varieties, 95, Mile End Road ( circa 1874–1877). New Victoria Gardens , Mile End.—The Victoria Tavern, No. 110, Grove Road, Arbery Road, and Medhurst Road, mark the site ( circa 1840–1850). Red Cow , Dalston.— Circa 1801–
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VI.—SOUTH LONDON.
VI.—SOUTH LONDON.
For Vauxhall Gardens ( circa 1661–1859), Cumberland Gardens , etc., see London Pleasure-Gardens , Group VI. Old King’s Arms , Southwark.—Now No. 68, Surrey Row—formerly Melancholy Walk (before 1852). (See Rendle and Norman, Old Inns of Southwark .) The Horns , Kennington.—Now No. 214, Kennington Park Road. Gardens circa 1800–1824. The Beehive , Walworth.—See supra , p. 81. Victoria (or Royal Victoria ) Gardens , Vauxhall.—Separated from Vauxhall Gardens by Miller’s Lane (now St. Oswald’s Place
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