Gardens -- England -- London; London (England) -- Description and travel; Parks -- England -- London
The site of these Gardens, which covered some twelve acres with groves,
avenues, dining-halls, the famous Rotunda and caverns, cascades and
pavilions, is now all built over. It lay about as far to the south-east
of Vauxhall Bridge as the little Park is to the south-west. In name
Vauxhall sounds quaint and un-English. In earlier times it was known
as Foxhall, or more correctly Foukeshall, from Foukes de Breant, who
married a sister of Archbishop Baldwin in the latter half of the
twelfth century.
The land of the present Park was purchased in May 1889.[8] Then it
was covered by houses standing in their own grounds. The largest of
these was Carroun or Caroone House, which had been built by Sir Noel
de Caron, who was Ambassador of the Netherlands for thirty-three
years, during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.--the others, a row
of eight with gardens, were known as “The Lawn.” In front of them was
a long pond, said to have been fed by the Effra River. This stream,
which rose in Norwood and flowed into the Thames at Vauxhall, has,
like most of the other streams of London, become a sewer, and the pond
is no more. In one of these houses (51 South Lambeth Road) Mr. Henry
Fawcett resided, and when the houses were pulled down to form the Park
his was left, the intention being to make it into some memorial of
him. It was found to be too much out of repair to retain, and had to
be pulled down. With the sum which the sale of materials from the old
house realised, it was proposed to erect a memorial drinking-fountain.
This idea bore fruit, as Sir Henry Doulton sold one to the vestry
for less than one-third of its value, and moreover gave a further
memorial to the courageous blind Postmaster-General of a portrait
statue by Tinworth, with appropriate allegorical figures. This fine
group recording the connection of Henry Fawcett with the place is
the most conspicuous feature of the Park. The trees are growing up,
and an abundance of seats and dry walks made it an enjoyable if not
beautiful garden. The swings and gymnasiums are numerous and large,
but what gives most pleasure is the sand-garden for little children.
For hours and hours these small mites are happily occupied digging
and making clean mud pies, while their elders sit by and work. It is
touching to see the miniature castles and carefully patted puddings
at the close of a busy baby’s day. In the summer, when the sand is
too dry to bind, some of the infants bring small bottles, which they
manage to get filled at the drinking-fountain, and water their little
handfuls of sand. These children’s sand-gardens, common in parks in
the United States, are a delightful invention for the safe amusement
of these small folk, and the delight caused by this one, which was
only made in 1905, shows how greatly they are appreciated. Many of the
parks and some of the commons now have their “sea-side” or “sand-pit,”
and probably not only do they give immense pleasure, but they act as
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