Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens [Spring Gardens]

The Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens

Balloon Ascent

The Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens (also known as Spring Gardens) were opened in 1661 and reached the height of their popularity in the early 1800s, with 20,000 visiting on one night in 1826. Their winning formula combined music, illuminated fountains, fireworks and light refreshments in an Eden-like atmosphere. They were particularly famous for balloon ascents:- see 1849 engraving, above.

London had three particularly prominent pleasure gardens at Vauxhall, Marylebone and Ranelagh. (Ranelagh Gardens remain very attractive to this day - they are next to Chelsea Bridge Road on the other side of the Thames - and can be seen as part of a trip round the Chelsea Flower Show.) They all thrived as a result of the prosperity of the 1700s which in turn resulted from a relatively stable and democratic British Government and thriving international trade, much of it passing through London. As a result, many merchants and professionals found that they had the time and money to visit the opera and pleasure gardens, of which Vauxhall was the most fashionable. The Vauxhall gardens therefore became a model for the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, and numerous other pleasure gardens around Europe.

As a result, "Vauxhall" became a generic term for other pleasure gardens. The following is a list of those that I know of. I would be very glad to hear from local historians with who may have further information - see contact details at the end of this page.

Sydney Gardens Vauxhall in Bath, much visited by Jane Austen - see 1810 map and modern photo, left
the gardens which gave their name to the Vauxhall area of Birmingham - third down on the left,
the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens in Great Yarmouth. See Great Yarmouth Museums' c.1829 watercolour, bottom left, of Vauxhall Gardens and Vauxhall Suspension Bridge, and
Bristol's New Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens on the slopes of the hill between Dowry Square and the river. These were opened in the 1700s but were fairly short-lived as Bristolians could see the fireworks and the lanterns in the trees, and hear the concerts, from further up the hill, and were therefore understnadably reluctant to pay for entry! There were other problems too:- Newspapers of the time were full of the owner's apologies for "last Saturday's weather", for a carpenter letting him down, for "enemies" luring his staff away, and so on. It is interesting that Bristol's Vauxhall (pedestrian) Bridge is a little distance away, across the Avon New Cut at the end of Mardyke Ferry Road, with "Vauxhall House" a short distance to the west, between the New Cut and Coronation Road. I do not know why this is.
The Vauxhall Gardens in Boston, Lincolnshire opened in May 1815 and closed in 1857. It had a maze, marine grotto, a 'theatre of arts' and 'an elegant saloon'. (Thanks to Karen Shanahan for this information.)

Vauxhall also gave the Russians their word for "railway station" which is pronounced "vokzal". I am indebted to Professor John Tingley of York University, Toronto, Canada drawing my attention to the explanation for this in an article by Lucien Tesnière:- “Les antécédents du nom russe de la gare” in “Revue des études slaves XXVII (1951) pp 255-266. Tesnière explains that the "Vauxhall" at Pavlovsk was the destination of the first Russian railway line (from nearby St Petersburg) and so the word Vauxhall became synonymous with railway station. Professor Tingley is not aware that anyone has questioned M. Tesnière's explanation, and it is repeated in all Russian etymological dictionaries.

(There is another theory, which is that Vauxhall station was visited in the late 1800s by a delegation sent to Britain by Tsar Nicholas I. The delegation learned that Vauxhall, the last stop before Waterloo, was a ticket collecting point and perhaps thought that "Vauxhall" meant this, rather than being a place name. But I am not aware of any evidence (as distinct from frequent repitition) which supports this theory.)

Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens were, however, certainly was visited by Russians. You might like to look at a delightful letter from the Russian historian Karamzin.

I have often wondered whether there were once pleasure gardens in:

the Vauxhall area of Liverpool,
the Vauxhall Street area of Norwich,
the Vauxhall Street area of Plymouth, and near
Vauxhall Road in North-east Canterbury.

Can anyone help me answer these questions? My contact details are below.

Thackery extolled the virtues of the pleasure gardens in "Vanity Fair" although they had by then begun to acquire an unsavoury reputation, and a number of brothels became well established in the surrounding streets, including at "Sluts Hole" - now a stables in Fitzalan Street. One visitor told the owner that "he should be a better customer ... if there were more nightingales and fewer strumpets". Ironically, the advent of the railways killed off the gardens and they closed in 1859. The site was subsequently built upon and I suspect that the present Spring Gardens were created by wartime bombing, aimed at the railway line.

Caneletto painted this famous view of the Grand Walk in 1751.

Here is a another view of the Grand South Walk around 1790.

And here is a view of Spring Gardens in April 2002, looking East.

Further Information

A more detailed history is elsewhere on this website.
David Coke, who is writing a comprehensive history of Vauxhall Gardens, has put up a website which accommodates all the detailed information for which he will not have space in his book. It includes, for example, extensive lists of the singers, musicians and performers who appeared at Vauxhall over the years, as well as a list of the known names of subscribers to the various season tickets. The website also includes a short list of links to other sites, together with useful information and/or illustrations related to the gardens. Click here if you want to email David.
A large number of beautiful prints are available from The Collage Collection of the Guildhall Library.
And a 16 page history of the gardens is available from the Vauxhall Society.

Please contact Martin Stanley by email if you can add to the information on this page.