28th December, 2018. History of Public Parks, 9. Metropolitan Pleasure gardens.

The picture above (taken from Wikipaedia) is of Vauxhall Gardens, c. 1751 and was painted by Samuel Wale (another bird’s-eye view). Vauxhall Gardens was a for-runner of the element of later public parks that might be described ‘entertainments’, an element that the concept of ‘Walks’ (s.p.b.) didn’t really embrace, and today is replicated by such park-based activities as; seasonal fairs, music events, sports events and children’s play areas and equipment(?).

Vauxhall Gardens, a name dating from the 1730s when the previous pleasure garden, New Spring Gardens created following the Restoration, was taken over by new management, was a place of resort for fashionable Londoners located on the south bank of the Thames roughly opposite the crumbling Palace of Westminster and accessed either by the ‘Old London Bridge’ or by boat. As may be seen from the above picture the ‘Gardens’ were park-like with promenades for walking and trees and shrubs, although this sylvan area was more noted for extra-marital assignations than ecological appreciation. Mostly the attendees gathered around entertainments in, or under, purpose-built structures with one objective to see, or be seen, by others of one’s class or above. George Fredrick Handel was one such patron with some pieces of his compositions first performed in the Gardens.

Over time growing pressure on south-bank land and changing social habits led to the decline of Vauxhall Gardens although the site limped-on until the 1850s.

On the north bank of the River Thames Ranleigh Gardens, 1742-1803, competed with Vauxhall for customers and held lavish entertainments in a vast ceiled and seated amphitheatre called the Rotunda (painted by Canaletto in 1754).

However, like Vauxhall, with the coming of the age of steam it ran out of steam.

(General theme to be continued).