advertisements, songs, &c., relating to Marybone Gardens
(1763–1775), Brit. Mus. (840, m. 29); Newspaper advertisements,
songs, &c., in W. Coll. Newspaper cuttings, &c., relating to
London Public Gardens in the Guildhall Library, London; Smith’s
_Book for a Rainy Day_, p. 40, ff.; Thomas Smith’s _Marylebone_;
Blanchard, in _Era Almanack_, 1869, p. 32, ff.; Grove’s
_Dict. of Music_ (1880), art. “Marylebone Gardens,” by W. H.
Husk. Angelo’s _Reminiscences_, ii. p. 3; Timbs’s _Romance of
London_; Walford, iv. 431, ff.; Thomas Harris’s _Historical and
Descriptive Sketch of Marylebone Gardens_, London, 1887.]
VIEWS.
1. A view of Marybone Gardens and orchestra, J. Donnowell del.
1755; published by J. Tinney. Crace, _Cat._ p. 566, No. 74.
2. Modifications of 1, published by R. Sayer, 1755, and by
Bowles and Carver. Crace, _Cat._ p. 566, Nos. 75, 76. Also
1761, published by J. Ryall [W. Coll.].
3. Views of Rose of Normandy. Crace, _Cat._ p. 566, Nos.
79–81; p. 567, No. 82.
THE QUEEN’S HEAD AND ARTICHOKE
In the neighbourhood of the Marylebone Gardens were a few much humbler
places of entertainment, standing in what in the last century was a
rural district; the Queen’s Head and Artichoke, the Jew’s Harp house
and, farther west, the Yorkshire Stingo.
The Queen’s Head and Artichoke was in Marylebone Park, nearly opposite
Portland Road, and about five hundred yards from the north side of the
New Road (Marylebone Road). It was a small and picturesque old inn,
standing in a meadow to which a footpath led, and displaying a portrait
of Queen Elizabeth as its sign. Tradition attributed the building of
the house to a gardener of the Queen, and the curious combination of
the sign was believed to have something to do with this. The inn is
marked in Rocque’s map of 1745, and it probably then possessed, as it
did at the beginning of the present century, a ground for skittles and
“bumble-puppy,” and shady bowers, in which cream, tea and cakes were
served.
It was pulled down about 1811, and the Colosseum afterwards occupied
part of the site. A new tavern was then built near the site of the old
inn, and this is probably identical with the public-house called the
Queen’s Head and Artichoke, which is now No. 30 Albany Street, east
side.
[_Gent. Mag._ 1819, pt. 2, p. 401; Larwood and Hotten, _Hist. of
Signboards_, pp. 311, 312; Walford, v. p. 255; Smith, _Book for
a_
_Rainy Day_; Wheatley, _London P. and P._, s.v. “Jew’s Harp,”
and “Albany Street”; Hone’s _Year Book_, p. 318; Clinch’s
_Marylebone_, pp. 40 and 45.]
VIEWS.
1. A water-colour drawing by Findlay, 1796. Crace, _Cat._
p. 569, No. 104; cp. an engraving of the inn in Walford, v. p.
258, and a small sketch in Clinch’s _Marylebone_, p. 45
(dated 1796).
2. An engraving published in _Gent. Mag._ 1819, pt. 2, p.
401; reproduced in Clinch’s _Marylebone_, facing p. 40.
THE JEW’S HARP HOUSE AND TEA GARDENS
The Jew’s Harp House was in Marylebone Park, a little to the north-west
of the Queen’s Head and Artichoke, from which it was separated by
fields. It is marked in Rocque’s map of 1745, and while still a quiet
inn, is said to have been a favourite haunt of Arthur Onslow, the
famous Speaker (_b._ 1691, _d._ 1768), who used to take his pipe
and glass in the chimney corner. One day when driving to the House
of Commons in his coach, he was recognised by the landlord, and on
his next visit to the inn was welcomed by the family as befitted Mr.
Speaker. His incognito was thus betrayed, and he returned no more.
By 1772 it had become a recognised place of amusement provided with
“bowery tea-gardens,” skittle-grounds,[119] a trap-ball ground
and a tennis court. A large upper room, reached by a staircase
from the outside, was used as a dining-room for large parties and
occasionally for evening dances. Facing the south of the premises was a
semi-circular enclosure with boxes for ale and tea drinking, guarded by
painted deal-board soldiers.
The place was in existence till about 1812, when it was removed for
the formation of Regent’s Park. It stood between the present Broad Walk
of the Park, and the north-east corner of the Botanic Gardens.
[Illustration: JEW’S HARP HOUSE, 1794.]
[J. T. Smith’s _Book for a Rainy Day_, pp. 17, 18 (ed. 1833);
Hone’s _Year Book_, p. 318; Larwood and Hotten, _Signboards_,
pp. 340, 341, where J. T. Smith’s description of the Jew’s Harp,
Marylebone, is wrongly referred to the Jew’s Harp, Islington;
Timbs’s _Club Life_ (1866), ii. p. 236; Chambers’s _Book of
Days_, ii. p. 74; Wheatley’s _London_, s.v. “Jew’s Harp”;
Walford, v. p. 255; Clinch’s _Marylebone and St. Pancras_, p.
48; _Picture of London_, 1802, p. 370.]
VIEWS.
The Jew’s Harp public-house in Marylebone Park. A water-colour
drawing by Bigot, 1794. Crace, _Cat._ p. 569, No. 106; cp.
a sketch in Clinch’s _Marylebone_, p. 48.
THE YORKSHIRE STINGO
The Yorkshire Stingo, a public-house on the south side of the
Marylebone Road, nearly opposite Chapel Street and the entrance to
Lisson Grove, is the modern representative of a rural inn of the same
name that was in existence at least as early as 1733.
From 1770 (or earlier) extensive tea gardens and a bowling green were
attached to the place.[120]
During the first forty years of the present century the gardens were
much frequented by the middle classes, especially on Sundays, when
admittance was by a six-penny ticket including refreshments. For
several years, from about 1790, a fair was held on the first of May at
or near the Yorkshire Stingo, and the May-dance with Jack-in-the-Green
took place.[121] This fair was suppressed as a nuisance in the early
part of the present century.
In 1836 and for a few years following, the Yorkshire Stingo had its
Apollo, or Royal Apollo, Saloon, in which concerts, vaudevilles and
comic burlettas were given every evening.[122] On gala nights, balloon
ascents, fireworks and other entertainments took place in the grounds.
The admission was one shilling.
The tea-gardens and bowling green were closed about 1848, and the
present County Court and the Marylebone Baths and Wash-Houses,[123]
nearly adjoining the present Yorkshire Stingo on the east were built on
their site.
[Thomas Smith’s _Marylebone_, p. 185; Walford, iv. 410; v. 256;
Larwood and Hotten, _Signboards_, p. 384; _Picture of London_,
1802 and 1829; Wheatley’s _London P. and P._ “Yorkshire Stingo.”]
VIEWS.
1. “The Yorkshire Stingo in 1770,” a small sketch in Clinch’s
_Marylebone_, p. 46, showing the tavern and the entrance to
the tea-gardens.
2. View of the new County Court and the Baths and the
Wash-Houses, built upon the ground of the late tea-gardens,
&c., of the Yorkshire Stingo Tavern. A woodcut, 1849. Crace,
_Cat._ p. 567, No. 89.
BAYSWATER TEA GARDENS
The Bayswater Tea Gardens, situated in a region once noted for its
springs and salubrious air, were originally the Physic Garden of “Sir”
John Hill, botanist, playwright, and quack doctor:--
“His farces are physic, his physic a farce is,”
and in this garden he grew the plants for his wonderful Water Dock
Essence and Balm of Honey.
Hill died in 1775, and his garden was (some years before 1795) turned
into a place of amusement, known as the Bayswater Tea Gardens, and much
frequented by the denizens of Oxford Street and neighbourhood.[124]
Views of 1796 show the boxes and arbours, and a family party, more
plebeian than that in George Morland’s “Tea Garden,” in full enjoyment
of their tea. Waiters are bustling about with huge kettles crying
“’Ware kettle, scaldings!”
The Bayswater Tea Gardens are mentioned in the _Picture of
London_, 1823–1829, among those frequented by Londoners of the
middle classes. From about 1836 they appear to have been called the
Flora Tea Gardens, Bayswater.
[Illustration: THE BAYSWATER TEA GARDENS, 1796.]
For the 27th June, 1836, Mrs. Graham was announced to make her ascent
from the gardens at five o’clock, in her silk balloon. In the evening
were fireworks, the admission being one shilling. In August 1839,
Hampton, the aëronaut, made an ascent about seven in the evening
in his Albion balloon from these gardens, which were crowded by “a
fashionable and respectable company.” The balloon moved over the
Kensington Gardens, and Hampton then descended in his safety parachute,
this descent being the feature of the performance. The parachute struck
against a tree and fell. Hampton was extracted from the tackle in a
shaken condition, but was borne on the shoulders of four men into the
Flora Gardens amid loud applause, and a grand display of fireworks
concluded the entertainment.
At a later date the place was called the Victoria Tea Gardens, and
became well known for running matches and other sporting meetings. The
gardens continued open till 1854, but their site, together with that of
Hopwood’s Nursery Grounds, was afterwards (from about 1860) covered by
the houses of Lancaster Gate.
[Art. “Hill John, M.D.” in _Dict. of Nat. Biog._; Lysons’s
_Environs_, iii. p. 331; _Era Almanack_, 1871; Faulkner,
_Kensington_, p. 420; Wheatley, _London P. and P._ s.v.
“Bayswater” and “Lancaster Gate”; Walford, v. pp. 183, 185, 188;
newspaper cuttings, W. Coll.]
VIEWS.
“View of the Tea Gardens at Bayswater,” two oval prints in
Woodward’s _Eccentric Excursions_, plate v. Woodward del.,
J. C. sculp. London, published 1796 by Allen and West.
III
NORTH LONDON GROUP
PANCRAS WELLS
These Wells were situated close to old St. Pancras Church on its south
side. In connection with them was a tavern originally called the Horns,
and its proprietor, Edward Martin, issued in 1697 a handbill setting
forth the virtues of the water, which he declares to have been found
“by long experience” a powerful antidote against rising of the vapours,
also against the stone and gravel. It likewise cleanses the body and
sweetens the blood, and is a general and sovereign help to nature.
For the summer season of this year (beginning on Whit-Monday) Martin
promised to provide dancing every Tuesday and Thursday. The charge
for the “watering” and such other diversions as were obtainable was
threepence.
In 1722 a proprietor of the Wells laments that the credit of the place
had suffered for many years “by encouraging of scandalous company”
(probably some of “the pretty nymphs” mentioned[125] by Thomas Brown)
and by making the Long Room a common dancing room. He promises to
prevent this in the future, and to exclude undesirable characters from
the garden walks.
About 1730 Pancras Wells seem to have regained their reputation; at any
rate they were industriously advertised, and the London print-dealers
sold views of the gardens and the rooms. The water could be obtained
at the pump-room, or a dozen bottles of it might be purchased for
six shillings of Mr. Richard Bristow, goldsmith.[126] At this time,
and for forty or fifty years later, the surroundings of the Wells
were completely rural, and visitors might be seen coming across the
fields by the foot-paths leading from Tottenham Court, Gray’s Inn, and
Islington. The gardens and premises had now (1730) reached their full
extent. Facing the church was the House of Entertainment, and behind
this was the Long Room (sixty feet by eighteen) with the Pump Room at
its west end. The gardens lay further south, in the rear of these and
other buildings. A pleasant stroll might be taken in the New Plantation
or in the shaded, but formal, garden known as the Old Walk. Little is
heard of the Wells during the next thirty or forty years. But in June
1769 the proprietor, John Armstrong, advertised the water as being in
the greatest perfection. The place, however, was probably now chiefly
frequented as a “genteel and rural” tea garden, with its hot loaves,
syllabubs, and milk from the cow. Dinners were also obtainable, and
the powerful refreshments of “neat wines, curious punch, Dorchester,
Marlborough, and Ringwood beers.”
[Illustration: BILL OF PANCRAS WELLS, _circ._ 1730, SHOWING
THE WELLS, AND THE ADAM AND EVE TAVERN NEAR ST. PANCRAS CHURCH.]
According to Lysons, the Pancras water continued in esteem till some
years before 1795, but when he wrote (1795–1811) the Well appears to
have been enclosed in the garden of a private house. Part of the site
of the old Wells and walks was formerly occupied by the houses in
Church Row, but these have been swept away for the premises of the
Midland Railway connected with the St. Pancras Terminus.[127]
[T. Brown’s _Letters from the Dead to the Living_, part ii.
first published 1702, “Moll Quarles to Mother Creswell”;
Dodsley’s _London_, 1761, s.v. “Pancras”; Lysons’s _Environs_,
iii. (1795), p. 381; Supplement (1811), p. 283; _Gent. Mag._
1813, pt. 2, p. 556; _Beauties of England and Wales_, x. part
iv. (1816), p. 175; Clinch’s _Marylebone and St. Pancras_;
Palmer’s _St. Pancras_; Miller’s _St. Pancras_; Roffe’s _St.
Pancras_ (1865), p. 10; Lewis’s _Islington_, p. 37, note;
Walford, v. 339.]
VIEWS.
1. A bird’s-eye view of St. Pancras Wells, showing the garden,
house, &c., the old church, &c., with a description of the
mineral waters. A tinted drawing, 1751, Crace, _Cat._ p. 580,
No. 57. The original engraving is of _circ._ 1730; _see_
Palmer’s _St. Pancras_, p. 246, ff.; Clinch’s _Marylebone_, p.
156; Walford, v. 336.
2. “The south-west view of Pancras Church and Wells.” Chatelain
del., J. Roberts sc., 1750. Crace, _Cat._ p. 579, No. 45; W.
Coll. (Pl. 30 in Chatelain’s _Fifty Views_); also the south-east
view, Chatelain’s _Fifty Views_, pl. 29, with “Adam and Eve.”
3. Pancras Wells. A north view of the garden, house, &c. Copy of
an old drawing, 1775, Crace, _Cat._ p. 580, No. 58.
4. A view of the Long Room at St. Pancras, and the Trap-Ball
Ground. Copy of an old drawing, 1775. Crace, _Cat._ p. 580, No.
59.
5. Colonel Jack robbing Mrs. Smith going to Kentish Town (near
the Wells). W. Jett del., J. Basire sc., 1762. Crace, _Cat._ p.
580, No. 60.
ADAM AND EVE TEA GARDENS, ST. PANCRAS
The Adam and Eve Tavern, situated near the west end of old Saint
Pancras Church, was in existence at least as early as 1730[128],
and is mentioned in 1754[129] as a resort of the London “cit.”
In 1778 it could boast of a long room adorned with gilt-framed
oval pier-glasses;[130] and in 1786 the landlord, Charles Eaton,
advertised[131] the attractions of his gardens and pleasure grounds.
About the beginning of the present century it could still be described
as an agreeable retreat “with enchanting prospects,” and the gardens
were well laid out with arbours, flowers and shrubs. Cows were kept for
making syllabubs, and on summer afternoons a regular company met to
play bowls and trap-ball in an adjacent field. One proprietor fitted
out a mimic squadron of frigates in the garden, and the long room was a
good deal used for bean-feasts, and tea-drinking parties.[132]
In 1803, about three and a half acres of the Adam and Eve tea-gardens
were taken to form the St. Giles-in-the-Fields Cemetery (adjoining the
old St. Pancras Churchyard), though the tavern still lingered on. In
later years (_circ._ 1865–1874) the Adam and Eve was an ordinary
public-house. It still retained (1874) a portion of its old grounds,
which were used by its frequenters for bowl-playing. This ground,
however, was enclosed by a high wall, and was overlooked by the mean
houses that formed Eve Place. The building has since been taken down.
[F. Miller’s _St. Pancras_, pp. 45 and 49; Palmer’s _St.
Pancras_, pp. 244, 245; Roffe’s _St. Pancras_, p. 3; _Picture of
London_, ed. 1802, p. 370; Wheatley’s _London_, III., 20, 22,
23; _see also_ notes.]
VIEWS.
The Adam and Eve is shown in the 1730 view of Pancras Wells,
and in the views of old St. Pancras Church, _e.g._, in the
“South view of the Church of St. Pancras,” printed for Bowles
and Carver (W. Coll.).
THE ASSEMBLY HOUSE, KENTISH TOWN
The Assembly House was in existence in 1725[133] or earlier, and
consisted of a large inn, partly built of wood, with a Long Room on
the south, entered from outside by a covered staircase. This room
for many years continued to be used for dancing by the élite of the
neighbourhood.
By about 1776 the village of Kentish Town had become a somewhat
populous place, and in the summer-time was much resorted to by
Londoners, who took lodgings there, or made brief excursions thither.
In 1788 the Assembly House was taken by a Mr. Thomas Wood, who
specially advertised his trap-ball and skittle-ground, pleasant
summer-house, and extensive garden.
The house was pulled down in 1853, and its site and that of the garden
covered by houses. The Assembly House tavern (No. 298 Kentish Town
Road) and a police station have been built on the baiting ground and
yard that were formerly in front of the old house.
[Miller’s _St. Pancras_, p. 294, ff.; Roffe’s _St. Pancras_, pp.
10, 11; Walford, v. p. 320; Palmer’s _St. Pancras_, p. 62, ff.]
VIEWS.
1. “The Assembly Rooms, Kentish Town, 1750,” Walford, v. p. 313.
2. “The Old Assembly House, Kentish Town,” May 1853; drawn and
etched by W. B. Rye, _Etchings_, London, 1857.
WHITE CONDUIT HOUSE
White Conduit House was originally a small ale-house of the seventeenth
century, and, according to tradition, the workmen who built it were
carousing there to celebrate its completion on the day of the execution
of Charles I.
It derived its name from the water-conduit, faced with white stone,
which stood in a field nearly opposite. In 1731 White Conduit House was
still a one-storied building, but between that date and about 1745 it
was pulled down, or altered,[134] and a Long Room added.
From about 1745 the garden was well laid out, and possessed a circular
fish-pond and a number of pleasant arbours. Robert Bartholomew, the
proprietor in 1754, added a long walk, and, to prevent his visitors
being in the “least incommoded from people in the fields,” constructed
a fence some seven feet in height. Hot loaves, tea, coffee and liquors
‘in the greatest perfection’ were the refreshments offered, and he
assured those who drank his milk, procured directly from the cow, that
his animals “eat no grains.” Cricket was played at this time (1754)
in a meadow adjoining the house; bats and balls being provided by the
proprietor.[135]
The house contained rooms for tea-drinking, and also the Long Room,
from whence “is the most copious prospects and airy situation of any
now in vogue,” a description ungrammatical but correct, for White
Conduit House at this time, and until about 1775, was picturesquely
situated. Standing on rising ground, and environed by pleasant country
lanes and pastures, it commanded towards the north fine views of
Hampstead and Highgate.
In 1774 the gardens at the back of the house were described as being
laid out with several pleasing walks, prettily disposed, with the
pond in the centre, and an avenue of trees. For the accommodation of
the tea-drinkers, there were “genteel boxes” let into the hedges, and
decorated with Flemish paintings. A large painting was placed at the
far end of the avenue, and seemed to increase its length.
Under Robert Bartholomew (who was probably proprietor until his death
in 1766) White Conduit had become a popular tea-garden, and till about
the end of the eighteenth century, its visitors, though never in the
least people of fashion, were on the whole of a respectable class. The
favourite day was Sunday in the spring and summer-time, when large
numbers of holiday-folk crowded the house and gardens. The ‘City prig,’
in white satin waistcoat and scratch wig; the graver man of business,
clad in brown, his wife and family, were persons of consequence here;
while their dependants also spent their holiday at the same place:--
Wish’d Sunday’s come, mirth brightens ev’ry face,
And paints the rose upon the housemaid’s cheek,
Harriot, or Mol, more ruddy. Now the heart
Of ’prentice, resident in ample street,
Or alley, kennel-wash’d, Cheapside, Cornhill,
Or Cranbourne, thee for calcuments renown’d,
With joy distends. His meal meridian o’er
With switch in hand, he to White Conduit House
Hies merry-hearted. Human beings here
In couples multitudinous assemble,
Forming the drollest group that ever trod
Fair Islingtonian plains. Male after male,
Dog after dog succeeding, husbands, wives,
Fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters, friends,
And pretty little boys and girls. Around,
Across, along the gardens’ shrubby maze
They walk, they sit, they stand. What crowds press on,
Eager to mount the stairs, eager to catch
First vacant bench, or chair in long room plac’d.
Here prig with prig holds conference polite,
And indiscriminate the gaudy beau
And sloven mix. Here he who all the week
Took bearded mortals by the nose, or sat
Weaving dead hairs, and whistling wretched strain,
And eke the sturdy youth, whose trade it is
Stout oxen to contund, with gold-bound hat
And silken stocking strut. The red-arm’d belle
Here shows her tasty gown, proud to be thought
The butterfly of fashion.[136]
Curtseys, bows and compliments were the order of the day. A White
Conduit method of effecting an introduction was for the gallant
’prentice to tread on the lady’s train, to apologise profusely, and
finally to suggest an adjournment for tea in one of the arbours. By
five o’clock on a fine Sunday afternoon a seat was hardly procurable;
for the tea-drinking was then in full vigour, and the famous White
Conduit loaves[137] in great request.
Among its frequenters White Conduit House could number Oliver
Goldsmith, who was wont (_circ._ 1768) to call there at tea-time
on his “shoemaker’s holidays.”[138] (cp. Highbury Barn, _infra_).
On one occasion, meeting in the gardens the wife and daughters of a
tradesman to whom he was under some obligation, he treated the ladies
handsomely to refreshments; only to find when the reckoning came, that
his purse was empty.[139] Abraham Newland, the famous cashier of the
Bank of England, was also a visitor at White Conduit, and, at a later
time George Cruikshank[140] made many of his character sketches there.
The visitors came to dread his sketchbook, and children who made faces
were set on their good behaviour by the threat that Mr. Cruikshank
would put them in his book.
In 1794, or earlier, the owner of White Conduit was Mr. Christopher
Bartholomew,[141] a man of considerable means, who did much to improve
the grounds. At one time he owned the freeholds of both the Angel Inn,
Islington, and White Conduit House, and was said to be worth £50,000.
Having won a lottery prize, he gave a public breakfast in the Conduit
gardens “to commemorate the smiles of fortune,” as the invitation
tickets expressed it. Unfortunately his taste for gambling in the
Lottery increased, and soon his entire fortune was squandered, and he
ultimately died in poverty at a mean lodging in March, 1809, at the age
of sixty-eight.
The surroundings of White Conduit House were still agreeable, and in
1803 we find references to the fine prospect, and the mild refreshing
breezes from the abundant hay crops for which the district was noted.
By about 1833, however, brickfields and rows of houses had destroyed
its rural aspect.
Until about the beginning of the present century, White Conduit House
appears to have had no entertainments apart from its tea-gardens,
and from the organ performances[142] in the house. But under the
proprietorship of Sharpe and Warren (from about 1811, or earlier, till
1828) several changes took place. The pond was filled in and planted
over, and a new tea and dancing saloon, dignified by the name of the
Apollo Room, and subsequently converted into a billiard-room, was
erected in the north-west angle of the gardens. The tea-boxes were
enlarged, and the old paintings removed or defaced. A pretty miniature
steeple, set up in the last century, and a maze were still to be
seen in the garden. From about 1825 White Conduit House possessed a
band-stand, and a small stage erected at the north-east end of the
grounds, which were further embellished with fountains and statuary.
Bowls and dutch-pins were played, and archery (in 1827) was a popular
amusement. Balloon-ascents were also a feature; the most important
being those made by Graham (1823–1825); Mrs. Graham (1826); Charles
Green (1828); and John Hampton in 1842, and on 19 August 1844 when
Hampton was accompanied by “Mr. Wells” (Henry Coxwell). In 1824
(September) at a Benefit and Gala Fête thirty kinds of fireworks were
displayed: fiery pigeons flew across the gardens, and two immense
snakes went in pursuit of one another.