The grounds of Bagnigge Wells were behind the Long Room, and were laid out in formal walks, with hedges of box and holly. There were a number of fine trees, some curiously trimmed, and a pretty flower garden. Ponds containing gold and silver fish, at that time a novelty, were in the gardens; and the pond in the centre had a fountain in the form of a Cupid bestriding a swan from whose beak issued streams of water.
Parallel with the Long Room, and separating the eastern part of the grounds from the western (and by far the larger) portion, ran the river Fleet, with seats on its banks, for such as “chuse to smoke or drink cyder, ale, etc., which are not permitted in other parts of the garden.” Willows, large docks and coarse plants, elder bushes and other shrubs in luxurious profusion, fringed the banks; and we hear of Luke Clennell, the artist, making studies of the foliage.
Three rustic bridges spanned the stream, and amid the trees were two tall leaden figures; one a rustic with a scythe, the other a Phyllis of the hay-fields, rake in hand.
Arbours for tea-drinking, covered with honeysuckle and sweetbriar, surrounded the gardens; and there was a rustic cottage and a grotto. The last named, a small castellated building of two apartments open to the gardens, was brightly decorated in cockney fashion with shells, fossils, and fragments of broken glass. A bowling-green and skittle-alley were among the attractions of the Wells, and a bun-house or bake-house was erected (before 1791) on the south side of the house, but not immediately contiguous to it.
Hughes, the original proprietor, appears to have remained at the Wells till about 1775; and a Mr. John Davis was subsequently the lessee till his death in 1793. During the last twenty years of the eighteenth century the company, for the most part, seems to have consisted of persons of lower rank than formerly:—
Cits to Bagnigge Wells repair
To swallow dust and call it air.
Prentices and their sweethearts, and city matrons with their husbands, frequented the place; while unfledged Templars paraded as fops, and young ensigns sported their new cockades. The morning water-drinking was not neglected, but the full tide of life at Bagnigge was from five to eight p.m. on Sundays, when the gardens were crowded with tea-drinkers. A prentice-song sets forth the delights of the Wells:—
Come prithee make it up, Miss, and be as lovers be
We’ll go to Bagnigge Wells, Miss, and there we’ll have some tea;