Two years after the place was opened by a Mr. Ellis, I think, a musical man connected with Drury Lane Theatre; regular entertainments were provided, and a band stand erected with a circular dancing platform round it, and a lot of alcoves and nooks for refreshments under the band stand and round the platform and in various parts of the gardens. A pavilion for concerts was afterwards added. Before these arrangements were made the dancing was in the long room of Cremorne House, which was turned into the supper room. The House was kept open during the summer in a languishing sort of way till about 1848, when it came to grief and was closed. About 1849 it was purchased by a Mr. Simpson, I believe, a hotel keeper from near Covent Garden Theatre, and the whole thing was greatly improved and decorated and opened with some first-class music and popular artistes. Two of the leading cornet players were engaged, Coney and Arbin, and a great amount of vigour and energy were thrown into its management, and from that time it became the most popular place of amusement and appeared to be vieing with Vauxhall Gardens, which were then on the wane of their popularity. The land on the river front was taken in and converted into a pleasure garden, and a rustic bridge thrown across the road, connecting it with Cremorne proper, and river fetes were given, with fireworks and the assistance of steamboats. An hotel was built on the river front, and a grand panorama of the Siege of Sebastopol, was shown with the assistance of some of the Foot Guards. An accident happened by the falling of a platform and several were injured. The balloon ascents were a great feature by Lieutenant Gale, Adam, and Coxwell taking up acrobats who performed on the trapeze in mid air. A Madam Potoven ascended sitting on the back of a white heifer fixed on a platform suspended from the car, and a Frenchman came down in a parachute, falling opposite Chelsea Church in Robert (now Sydney) Street, and was killed. The gardens went on successfully for many years under the able management of Bishop, Partridge, and Adams, until the alteration in the licensing laws, when the time of closing was fixed at twelve, the beginning of the most profitable time. The concern then fell into the hands of E. T. Smith, and was carried on by him for a few years without any very marked results—it appeared to have passed its pristine glory. It then passed into the hands of the proprietor of the Glove and Scents Emporium in the Gardens, who was the last proprietor, for it was soon after closed for good, and the land, together with the Ashburton estate and the Lots or Lammas Lands were laid out and let for building purposes. The only part left uncovered by buildings is the Ashburton Nursery on the King’s Road front. Vauxhall Gardens had been closed some years so Cremorne was the only public gardens near London of any account.