What is Vauxhall Gardens?

Vauxhall Gardens /vɒks'hɔ:l/ was a pleasure garden, one of the leading venues for public entertainment in London, England from the mid 17th century to the mid 19th century. It was in Kennington on the south bank of the River Thames, which was not part of the built up area of the metropolis until towards the end of the Gardens' existence. Vauxhall Gardens was known as New Spring Gardens until 1785 and part of the site is now a small public park called Spring Gardens.

History

The Gardens are believed to have opened just before the Restoration of 1660, on property formerly owned by Jane Fauxe, or Vaux, widow, in 1615; it is highly probable, according to John Nichols that she was the relict of the infamous Guy Fawkes. They consisted of several acres laid out with walks. Initially admission was free, the proprietors making money by selling food and drink. John Evelyn described it as a "very pretty contrived plantation" in 1661. John Aubrey, in his Antiquities of Surrey gives us the following account:

At Vauxhall, Sir Samuel Morland built a fine room, anno 1667, the inside all of looking-glass, and fountains very pleasant to behold, which is much visited by strangers: it stands in the middle of the garden, covered with Cornish slate, on the point of which he placed a punchinello, very well carved, which held a dial, but the winds have demolished it.

Sir John Hawkins, in his History of Music, says:

The house seems to have been rebuilt since the time that Sir Samuel Morland dwelt in it. About the year 1730, Mr. Jonathan Tyers became the occupier of it, and, there being a large garden belonging to it, planted with a great number of stately trees, and laid out in shady walks, it obtained the name of Spring Gardens; and the house being converted into a tavern, or place of entertainment, was much frequented by the votaries of pleasure. Mr. Tyers opened it with an advertisement of a Ridotto al Fresco, a term which the people of this country had till that time been strangers to. These entertainments were repeated in the course of the summer, and numbers resorted to partake of them. This encouraged the proprietor to make his garden a place of musical entertainment, for every evening during the summer season. To this end he was at great expense in decorating the gardens with paintings; he engaged a band of excellent musicians; he issued silver tickets at one guinea each for admission, and receiving great encouragement, he set up an organ in the orchestra, and, in a conspicuous part of the garden, erected a fine statue of Mr. Handel.

Popular with all classes of society, the Gardens were a noted venue for romantic assignations in the "dark walks". A footnote in a 2002 publication ^[1] provides an unattributed and double-edged quote, noting that the gardens were "so intricate that the most experienced mothers often lost themselves in looking for their daughters". In 1732, their fashionable status was confirmed by a fancy dress ball attended by Frederick, Prince of Wales. At that time access from the West End was by water, but the opening of Westminster Bridge in the 1740s made access easier. In 1749 a rehearsal of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks attracted an audience of 12,000, and in 1786 a fancy dress jubilee to celebrate the proprietor's long ownership was thronged with 61,000 revellers. Many of the best known musicians and singers of the day performed at the Gardens, for example Sophia Baddeley. The main walks were lit at night by hundreds of lamps. Over time more features and eyecatchers were added: supper boxes, a music room, a Chinese pavilion, a gothic orchestra that accommodated 50 musicians, and ruins, arches, statues and a cascade. An admission charge was introduced in the 1730s and later James Boswell wrote:

Vauxhall Gardens is peculiarly adapted to the taste of the English nation; there being a mixture of curious show, — gay exhibition, musick, vocal and instrumental, not too refined for the general ear; — for all of which only a shilling is paid.

Grosely, in his Tour to London published in 1772 says, relating to Ranelagh and Vauxhall:

These entertainments, which begin in the month of May, are continued every night. They bring together persons of all ranks and conditions; and amongst these, a considerable number of females, whose charms want only that cheerful air, which is the flower and quintessence of beauty. These places serve equally as a rendezvous either for business or intrigue. They form, as it were, private coteries; there you see fathers and mothers, with their children, enjoying domestic happiness in the midst of public diversions. The English assert, that such entertainments as these can never subsist in France, on account of the levity of the people. Certain it is, that those of Vauxhall and Ranelagh, which are guarded only by outward decency, are conducted without tumult and disorder, which often disturb the public diversions of France. I do not know whether the English are gainers thereby; the joy which they seem in search of at those places does not beam through their countenances; they look as grave at Vauxhall and Ranelagh as at the Bank, at church, or a private club. All persons there seem to say, what a young English nobleman said to his governor, Am I as joyous as I should be?

The new name Vauxhall Gardens, long in popular use, was made official in 1785. After Boswell's time the admission charge rose steadily: to 2/- in 1792, 3/6 in the early 19th century, and 4/6 in the 1820s. Season tickets were also sold. [1] Entertainment in this period included hot air balloon ascents, fireworks, and tightrope walkers. In 1813 there was a fete to celebrate victory at the Battle of Vittoria, and in 1827 the Battle of Waterloo was re-enacted by 1000 soldiers.

The author of the 1830 edition of the Edinburgh encyclopedia comments that:

the garden's great attraction arises from their being splendidly illuminated at light with about 15,000 glass lamps. These being tastefully hung among the trees, which line the walks, produce an impression similar to that which is called up on reading some of the stories in the Arabian Nights Entertainments. On some occasions there have been upwards of 19,000 persons in them, and this immense concourse, most of whom are well dressed, seen in connection with the illuminated walks, add not a little to the brilliant and astonishing effect of the whole scene.

Charles Dickens wrote of a daylight visit to Vauxhall gardens, in ''Sketches by Boz, published in 1836:

We paid our shilling at the gate, and then we saw for the first time, that the entrance, if there had been any magic about it at all, was now decidedly disenchanted, being, in fact, nothing more nor less than a combination of very roughly-painted boards and sawdust. We glanced at the orchestra and supper-room as we hurried past—we just recognised them, and that was all. We bent our steps to the firework-ground; there, at least, we should not be disappointed. We reached it, and stood rooted to the spot with mortification and astonishment. That the Moorish tower—that wooden shed with a door in the centre, and daubs of crimson and yellow all round, like a gigantic watch-case! That the place where night after night we had beheld the undaunted Mr. Blackmore make his terrific ascent, surrounded by flames of fire, and peals of artillery, and where the white garments of Madame Somebody (we forget even her name now), who nobly devoted her life to the manufacture of fireworks, had so often been seen fluttering in the wind, as she called up a red, blue, or party-coloured light to illumine her temple!^[2]

The Gardens passed through several hands. In 1840, the owners went bankrupt and the Gardens closed. They were revived the following year, and again in 1842 under new management, but in 1859 they closed for good.

Further reading

• Scott, Walter Sidney, Green retreats; the story of Vauxhall Gardens, 1661–1859 (London: Odhams Press, 1955

Trivia

• The Gardens are the scene for a brief but pivotal turning point in the fortunes of anti-heroine Becky Sharp in William Makepeace Thackeray's 19th-century novel Vanity Fair.

References

• The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 262, July 7, 1827

See also

• Ranelagh Gardens — Vauxhall Gardens' rival, which operated from 1742 to 1803.
• Cremorne Gardens — 19th century public gardens in Chelsea.
• Cuper's Gardens — 18th century tea garden in Lambeth.
• Charles Green - record-making balloonist in the "Royal Vauxhall" 1836
• Marylebone Gardens - musical gardens in Marylebone, 1738-1781.

External links

• A selection of poems inspired by Vauxhall Gardens
• Details on Vauxhall Gardens maintained by the Vauxhall Society
• Website on Vauxhall Gardens from David Coke, FSA, a curator and expert on the pleasure gardens
• The Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens Detailed History from vauxhallandkennington.org.uk
• The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 262, July 7, 1827

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