The London pleasure gardens of the eighteenth centuryWroth, Warwick William
History
The London pleasure gardens of the eighteenth century
Wroth, Warwick William
London (England) -- History -- 18th century; Parks -- England -- London -- History
J. T. Smith[283] tells us that he walked over the place when occupied
by the Beaufoys, and saw many of the old lamp-irons along the paling
of the gardens, humble reminders of the days when the walks of Cuper’s
Gardens were “beautifully illuminated with lamp-trees in a grand taste,
disposed in proper order.” In 1814 part of the ground was required
for making the south approach to Waterloo Bridge. The “fireworks”
building and the rest of Messrs. Beaufoys’ works were then taken down
and the Waterloo Road, sixty feet in width, was cut through the three
acres, thus passing through the centre of Cuper’s Gardens which had
extended up to the site of the present St. John’s Church (built in
1823) opposite Waterloo Station.
The Royal Infirmary for Children and Women erected in 1823 on the
eastern side of the Waterloo Road stands on (or rather _over_) the
centre of the site of the gardens. The Feathers was used during the
building of the bridge for the pay-table of the labourers, and when it
was taken down (about 1818?) its site was occupied by a timber-yard,
close to the eastern side of the first land-arch of the Waterloo Bridge.
The public-house now called the Feathers, standing near the Bridge and
rising two stories above the level of the Waterloo Road was built by
the proprietor of the old Feathers in 1818.
[Wilkinson’s _Londina Illustrata_, vol. ii. “Cuper’s Gardens,”
Public Gardens Coll. in Guildhall Library, London (newspaper
cuttings, &c.); Charles Howard’s _Historical Anecdotes of the
Howard Family_ (1769), 98, ff.; Pennant’s _Account of London_,
3rd ed. 1793, 32–34; _Musical Times_, February 1894, 84, ff.;
Hone’s _Every Day Book_, i. 603; E. Hatton’s _New View of
London_, 1708, ii. 785; Lysons’s _Environs_, 1792, i. 319, 320;
Walford, vi. 388, 389; _The Observator_, March 10, 1702-3;
newspaper cuttings, W. Coll.]
VIEWS.
1. View of the Savoy, Somerset House, and the water entrance
to Cuper’s Gardens, engraved by W. M. Fellows, 1808, in J. T.
Smith’s _Antiquities of Westminster_, from a painting (done
in 1770, according to Crace, _Cat._ 188, No. 219) by Samuel
Scott.
2. Woodcuts in Walford, vi. 391, showing entrance to the gardens
(the back entrance) and the “orchestra” during the demolition
of the buildings; cp. _ib._ 390. Walford also mentions,
_ib._ p. 388, a view showing the grove, statues, and
alcoves, of the gardens.
3. Water-colour drawings of Beaufoys’ and Cuper’s in 1798 and in
1809 (Crace, _Cat._ 648, Nos. 49, 50).
4. Wilkinson, _Lond. Illust._ (1825), vol. ii. gives three
views, Pl. 155, view of the Great Room as occupied for Beaufoys’
manufactory, with a plan of the gardens; Pl. 156, another
similar view; Pl. 157, view of the old Feathers Tavern.
“THE FOLLY” ON THE THAMES
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