The information available in the writings of such laborious topographers as Wilkinson, Pinks, and Nelson is, of course, indispensable, and has not been here neglected; yet even in the treatment of old material there seemed room for improvement, at least in the matter of lucidity of arrangement and chronological definiteness. For, if the older histories of the London parishes have a fault, it is, perhaps, that, owing to their authors’ anxiety to omit nothing, they often read more like materials for history than history itself. Thus, we find advertisements and newspaper paragraphs set forth at inordinate length and introduced without being properly assimilated with the context, and the reader is often left to find his own way through a mass of confusing and trivial detail.
The principal sources of information consulted are named in the notes and in a section at the end of each notice, and, wherever practicable, a list has been added of the most interesting views of the various gardens. The Introduction contains a brief sketch of some of the main characteristics of the pleasure resorts described in the volume, and it is only necessary here to add that even our long list of sixty-four gardens does not by any means exhaust the outdoor resources of the eighteenth-century Londoner, who had also his Fairs, and his Parks, and his arenas for rough sport, like Hockley-in-the-Hole. But these subjects have already found their chroniclers.
In preparing this work for press I have had the assistance of my brother, Mr. Arthur E. Wroth, who has, moreover, made a substantial contribution to the volume by furnishing the accounts of Sadler’s Wells, White Conduit House, Bagnigge Wells, and Hampstead Wells, and by compiling ten shorter notices. For the remaining fifty notices, for the Introduction, and the revision of the whole I am myself responsible.
Although the book has not been hastily prepared, and has been written for pleasure, I cannot hope that it is free from errors. I trust, however, that the shortcomings of a work which often breaks new ground and which deals with many miscellaneous topics will not be harshly judged.
WARWICK WROTH.
London,
September, 1896.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
|---|---|
| Preface | [v] |
| Introduction | [1] |
| I. CLERKENWELL AND CENTRAL GROUP | |
| Islington Spa, or New Tunbridge Wells | [15] |
| The Pantheon, Spa Fields | [25] |
| The London Spa | [29] |
| The New Wells, near the London Spa | [33] |
| The English Grotto, or Grotto Garden, Rosoman Street | [37] |
| The Mulberry Garden, Clerkenwell | [40] |
| Sadler’s Wells | [43] |
| Merlin’s Cave | [54] |
| Bagnigge Wells | [56] |
| “Lord Cobham’s Head” | [68] |
| “Sir John Oldcastle” Tavern and Gardens | [70] |
| St. Chad’s Well, Battle Bridge | [72] |
| Bowling Green House, near the Foundling Hospital | [75] |
| Adam and Eve Tea Gardens, Tottenham Court Road | [77] |
| The Peerless Pool | [81] |
| The Shepherd and Shepherdess, City Road | [86] |
| The Spring Garden, Stepney | [88] |
| II. MARYLEBONE GROUP | |
| Marylebone Gardens | [93] |
| § 1. Origin of Marylebone Gardens | [93] |
| § 2. Marylebone Gardens, 1738–1763 | [95] |
| § 3. The Gardens under Thomas Lowe | [101] |
| § 4. Later History, 1768–1778 | [103] |
| The Queen’s Head and Artichoke | [111] |
| The Jew’s Harp House and Tea Gardens | [113] |
| The Yorkshire Stingo | [115] |
| Bayswater Tea Gardens | [117] |
| III. NORTH LONDON GROUP | |
| Pancras Wells | [123] |
| Adam and Eve Tea Gardens, St. Pancras | [127] |
| The Assembly House, Kentish Town | [129] |
| White Conduit House | [131] |
| Dobney’s Bowling Green, or Prospect House | [141] |
| Belvidere Tea Gardens, Pentonville Road | [145] |
| The Castle Inn and Tea Gardens, Colebrooke Row, Islington | [147] |
| Three Hats, Islington | [148] |
| Barley Mow Tea House and Gardens, Islington | [153] |
| Canonbury House Tea Gardens | [154] |
| Copenhagen House | [156] |
| Highbury Barn | [161] |
| The Devil’s House, Holloway | [167] |
| Hornsey Wood House | [169] |
| The Spring Garden, Stoke Newington | [172] |
| The Black Queen Coffee House and Tea Gardens, Shacklewell | [173] |
| IV. HAMPSTEAD GROUP | |
| Hampstead Wells | [177] |
| The Spaniards | [184] |
| New Georgia | [187] |
| Belsize House | [189] |
| Kilburn Wells | [194] |
| V. CHELSEA GROUP | |
| Ranelagh House and Gardens | [199] |
| § 1. Origin of Ranelagh | [199] |
| § 2. The Rotunda | [201] |
| § 3. The Entertainments and the Company | [203] |
| § 4. Annals of Ranelagh, 1742–1769 | [208] |
| § 5. Later History, 1770–1805 | [212] |
| Strombolo House and Gardens | [219] |
| Star and Garter Tavern and Gardens, Chelsea | [220] |
| Jenny’s Whim, Pimlico | [222] |
| Cromwell’s Gardens, afterwards Florida Gardens, Brompton | [225] |
| VI. SOUTH LONDON GROUP | |
| Bermondsey Spa Gardens | [231] |
| St. Helena Gardens, Rotherhithe | [238] |
| Finch’s Grotto Gardens | [241] |
| Cuper’s Gardens | [247] |
| “The Folly” on the Thames | [258] |
| Belvedere House and Gardens, Lambeth | [261] |
| Restoration Spring Gardens, St. George’s Fields | [263] |
| The Flora Tea Gardens (or Mount Gardens) Westminster Bridge Road | [265] |
| The Temple of Flora | [266] |
| Apollo Gardens (or Temple of Apollo) | [268] |
| Dog and Duck, St. George’s Fields (St. George’s Spa) | [271] |
| The Black Prince, Newington Butts | [278] |
| Lambeth Wells | [279] |
| Marble Hall, Vauxhall | [281] |
| The Cumberland Tea Gardens, Vauxhall (Smith’s Tea Gardens) | [283] |
| Vauxhall Gardens | [286] |
| § 1. 1661–1728 | [286] |
| § 2. 1732–1767 | [290] |
| § 3. 1768–1790 | [305] |
| § 4. 1791–1821 | [311] |
| § 5. 1822–1859 | [316] |
| INDEX | [327] |