Comments on: A Visit to Vauxhall Gardens by Tony Grant

By: A Regency Primer on Vauxhall Gardens | Kristen KosterKristen Koster

A Regency Primer on Vauxhall Gardens | Kristen KosterKristen Koster — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:40:51 +0000

[...] 1660 to the present of these pleasure gardens, Jane Austen’s World has a wonderful blog post, A Visit to Vauxhall Gardens by Tony Grant, that includes a detailed map of Vauxhall dating from [...]

By: A Regency Primer on Vauxhall Gardens « Impulsive Hearts

A Regency Primer on Vauxhall Gardens « Impulsive Hearts — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 18:41:59 +0000

By: Grace Kone

Grace Kone — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:27:51 +0000

Magnificent post, more than I’ve ever seen on Vauxhall. A real treasure. Thank you! Turning miraculously clairvoyant : I can see Vauxhall in my next Regency.

By: CathyAllen

CathyAllen — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 23:55:54 +0000

Thanks, Tony. I don’t expect it to come up in conversation, :-) but when I read, I like to know, for my own enjoyment, how an unusual word is pronounced. I appreciate your help. Partly because of this story, I’ve got Mr. Coke’s book on my wish list at Amazon.com. Thanks again.

By: Tony Grant

Tony Grant — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 08:05:19 +0000

Last thought I promise. If anybody living in Nashville or New York can get some pictures of where their respective Vauxhall gardens were situated could you send copies to me or Vic. They would make a great post.

There may be no more more than street or road names to go by.

Thanks,
Tony

By: Tony Grant

Tony Grant — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 07:43:06 +0000

Above, in my reply to David Coke I asked him about the possibility of Vauxhall type Gardens in the States. Well it seems that there were.
Here is one link that describes Vauxhall Gardens which include in their number, Sydney Gardens in Bath opposite one of the houses Jane Austen lived in,but it also describes a Vauxhall gardens in Nashville Tennessee.

I then went on to discover that New York not only had a Vauxhall Gardens but a Ranelagh gardens too.

I didn’t mention Ranelagh Gardens in my article but it was created as a rival to Vauxhall. It was across the river in Chelsea at the end of Cheney Walk. Cheney Walk having a whole mass of literary and artistic connections is worth a post , possibly a book, take note David , all of it’s own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Vauxhall_Gardens

http://www.vauxhallandkennington.org.uk/springgardens2.shtml

By: Tony Grant

Tony Grant — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 21:01:30 +0000

David, Just realised, I got some of my facts from your website.

All the best,
Tony

By: Tony Grant

Tony Grant — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:33:27 +0000

Thank you everybody for your interest and kind comments.

All the best,
Tony

By: Tony Grant

Tony Grant — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:31:55 +0000

Well where I come from, South London, we pronounce Vauxhall as Voxhall.
The H is just about sounded,so you might here it as Voxall.

All the best,
Tony

By: Tony Grant

Tony Grant — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:28:14 +0000

Hi David, I have just returned from the wilds of Wales. Whilst Tenby is well served with broadband access I was staying in a farm house some miles from Tenby with very poor internet access, merely a telephone line.

Thank you for your interest in my post. I have only just looked into the fascinating history of Vauxhall Gardens and so thank you for the points you have made. I will get Vic to change the comment concerning Robert Adam and just say that he was asked to design a building for the gardens. Vic has already changed the spelling of Tyers’s name. You mention the railway viaduct, it is just about visible in one of my pictures. MI6 is off picture to the left. This must have been the site of the main entrance with all those supper booths bordering the pathway.

I have this really off the wall thought. Charlie Chaplin grew up in Lambeth. There were various theatres he performed in in Lambeth. He also joined a circus troop. If any of these venues were spin offs from Vauxhall Gardens then there is inevitably a link, somewhat tenuous I know, with Hollywood!!! Well it’s just a thought. I also read in my wanderings around various websites that Vauxhall Gardens were copied around the world eg the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. I wonder if there were any Vauxhall style gardens in the States?

18th century toilets? They were mainly cess pits into which buckets were poured. I should imagine the upper classes had servants who poured the buckets into the Thames for them. If Vauxhall worked on the principal of Versailles,, then any convenient curtain, corner, tree, as you say, or rival in loves leg!!!Ha!Ha! would be the place to relieve oneself. You say there were toilets on the site. I can just see them being used !!!!!!!!

I shall read your website with interest, David.

By: Hope Tarr

Hope Tarr — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 19:13:06 +0000

Wonderful post and very interesting followup comments. My debut romance novel, A Rogue’s Pleasure, first published in 2000, has a pivotal scene that takes place in Vauxhall. I knew the gardens were in Lambeth but not much more beyond anecdotal reports gleaned from visitors of the era. I recall now pouring over maps, both contemporary and historical, laboring to pinpoint the exact breadth and location. Google wasn’t then what it now, so I largely relied on research books–of the paper kind. :) How lucky we are today. I am bookmarking this post for certain. :)

By: Karen Field

Karen Field — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 19:08:57 +0000

Thanks for all of the information on Vauxhall Gardens! I’ve often wondered what happened to it. The article, and the comments by Mr. Coke were really i interesting. I’m interested in anything to do with the period our Jane lived in and most certainly knew about. Isn’t it just possible that her brother would have taken her there just once so she could see and hear and experience it? I can imagine Henry and his wife (Fanny? memory phail at the moment) taking her there because Henry’s wife did everything fashionable. Doesn’t this seem plausible?