In 1824 “a very large and old mulberry tree” was standing at the end of a long range of wooden tea-rooms formerly belonging to the gardens and converted into inferior cottages. Behind the cottages was a water-course derived from Loman’s Pond dividing them from a field, once part of the gardens, though only occupied at that time by dust and rubbish. The tavern attached to the Gardens continued to be carried on under the sign of the Grotto till 28 May, 1795, when it was destroyed by fire. The new tavern erected in its place bore the sign of The Goldsmith’s Arms, and afterwards of the “Old Grotto new reviv’d.” In the front of this house was inserted a stone bearing the inscription:-- Here Herbs did grow And Flowers sweet, But now ’tis call’d Saint George’s Street.[271] This building was removed for the formation of the present Southwark Bridge Road in 1825 and a public house named The Goldsmith’s Arms--still standing--was built on the western side of the new road, more upon the site of the old Grotto Gardens. The main site of the gardens is now occupied by the large red-brick building, which forms the headquarters of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. [Wilkinson’s _Londina Illustrata_, vol. ii., “Finch’s Grotto Gardens”; Manning and Bray’s _Surrey_, iii. 591; Brayley and Mantell’s _Surrey_, v. 371; Rendle and Norman’s _Inns of Old Southwark_, 360–364; Walford, vi. 64; newspaper cuttings, W. Coll.] VIEWS. The only view is one of the second tavern published in Wilkinson’s _Londina Illustrata_, 1825:-- “South-east view of the Grotto, now the Goldsmith’s Arms in the Parish of St. George’s, Southwark.” This shows the inscription: “Here Herbs did grow.” CUPER’S GARDENS Cuper’s Gardens, a notable resort during the first half of the last century, owe their name and origin to Boyder Cuper, who rented, in the parish of Lambeth on the south side of the Thames opposite Somerset House, a narrow strip of meadow land surrounded by water-courses. About 1691 or earlier he opened the place as a pleasure garden with agreeable walks and arbours and some good bowling-greens. As an old servant of the Howard family he obtained the gift of some of the statues that had been removed when Arundel House in the Strand was pulled down. These, though mutilated and headless, appeared to the proprietor to give classic distinction to his garden, and they remained there till 1717, when his successor, a John Cuper, sold these ‘Arundel Marbles’ for £75.[272] During the first twenty or thirty years of the last century, Cuper’s was a good deal frequented in the summer-time. A tavern by the waterside, called The Feathers, was connected with the grounds.