Kensington Palace, the birthplace of the Queen: being an historical guide to the state rooms, pictures and gardensLaw, Ernest
History
Kensington Palace, the birthplace of the Queen: being an historical guide to the state rooms, pictures and gardens
Law, Ernest
Kensington Palace (London, England) -- Guidebooks; Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901
Queen Anne's inclosure of a hundred acres from Hyde Park to form a
paddock for deer we have already noted.
Faulkner's exaggerated statement that nearly three hundred acres were
taken in and added to Kensington Gardens by Queen Caroline has been
confuted by Mr. Loftie; but he has gone to the other extreme in
declaring that no alteration whatever was, at any time, made in the
boundary between the park and the gardens. Nevertheless, it is still
doubtful whether Queen Caroline is to be held responsible for any
"rectification" of these frontiers. The reference already quoted, in the
Treasury Papers of the year 1729, for an allowance of £200 to the ranger
"in consideration of loss of herbage of that part of the said park,
which is laid into His Majesty's gardens at Kensington," may of course
refer to the portion previously taken in by Queen Anne.
=Queen Caroline's Improvements in Kensington Gardens.=
To Queen Caroline, however, is certainly due the main credit of the
creation of Kensington Gardens, as we now know them; for it was her
reforming and transforming zeal which made the great "Basin" or "Round
Pond;" turned a string of small ponds, in the course of the "West
Bourne," into the Serpentine; laid out the "Broad Walk," and designed
the diverging and converging vistas and avenues of trees intersecting
the grounds in all directions.
In all these extensive works of improvement Charles Bridgeman, the
King's gardener, was employed; and we find from the old Treasury Minute
Book that in 1729 no less a sum than £5,000 was due to him "for works in
the paddock and gardens at Kensington."
About the same date, Queen Caroline, during one of George II.'s absences
in Hanover, issued an order that:
"The King's ministers being very much incommoded by the dustiness
of the road leading through Hyde Park, now they are obliged to
attend Her Majesty at Kensington, it was her pleasure that the
whole of the said road be kept constantly watered, instead of the
ring in the Park; and that no coaches other than those of the
nobility and gentry be suffered to go into or pass through the
Park."
Kensington Gardens in the Nineteenth Century.
At that period the gardens were opened to the public only on Saturdays,
when the company appeared in full dress. This was the time of the great
fashionable promenade. During the reign of George III. they were opened
every day in the week, summer and winter, under certain regulations,
"and the number of the gatekeepers," says Faulkner, writing in 1819,
"have lately been increased, who are uniformly clothed in green." He
adds: "The great South Walk, leading to the Palace, is crowded on Sunday
mornings in the spring and summer with a display of all the beauty and
fashion of the great metropolis, and affords a most gratifying
spectacle, not to be equalled in Europe."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account