Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Pleasure gardens laid out by H E Kendall in 1840s on south bank of Thames. In 1837 Rosher, an entrepreneurial chalk merchant, leased the large excavated chalk pit for 99 years to George Jones, a businessman from Islington, who formed he Kent Zoological and Botanical Gardens Company. Gardens were laid out with a terrace, a bear pit, an archery ground, a lake, a maze, flower beds, statues, a lookout tower on a spur of rock ad a winding path.

Monument Types

• MAZE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1837 AD to 1939 AD)
• PLEASURE GARDEN (Post Medieval to Modern - 1837 AD to 1939 AD)
• THEATRE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1900 AD? to 1939 AD?)

Full description

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In the 1940s H E Kendall laid out a series of Italianate villas and terraces as part of a Thames riverside estate developed by Jeremiah Rosher, an entrepreneurial chalk merchant. When this was not a success he turn the worked-out chalk pits to the west into Rosherville Gardens, a pleasure gorund with zoo, botanical garden and fun fair that became one of London's popular playgrounds. (1)

From the listing text of the former cliff top entrance:

In 1837 Rosher leased the large excavated chalk pit for 99 years to George Jones, a businessman from Islington, who formed he Kent Zoological and Botanical Gardens Company. Gardens were laid out with a terrace, a bear pit, an archery ground, a lake, a maze, flower beds, statues, a lookout tower on a spur of rock ad a winding path. The gardens were originally intended to appeal to wealthy, cultured visitors, but as these never came in sufficient numbers, Mr Jones was forced to lower the prices and import more varied entertainment. From 1842 the gardens were renamed Rosherville Gardens and became an enormous success. Visitors arrived by steamboat, landing at the nearby Rosherville Pier, entering the gardens through the original entrance a short walk from the pier on the north-east side of the gardens.

In 1869 a new entrance was made from the London Road to the south of the gardens and steps inside a cliff tunnel led down to the gardens below. The firm of James Pulham and Son is recorded as having completed work at Rosherville Gardens in 1869 and the cliff entrance includes Pulhamite, their artifical stone. A C19 photograph of the cliff top entrance shows a large platform at the top of the cliff with balustrading and piers, which form the plinths for four classical style statues and urns flanking the staircase into the tunnel. A circular temple with domed roof and Ionic columns is shown at a height midway down the flight of steps. Lower down is the cambered lower entrance giving access to the gardens in the excavated quarry at the base of the chalk cliffs.

In 1872 George Jones died and the gardens passed into the hands of the Rosherville Gardens Company Ltd. In 1878 the sinking of the Princess Alice paddle steamer with the loss of more than 640 people stated the decline of the gardens, which were also affected by affordable trips to the seaside by railway. However, in 1886 a railway station, Rosherville Halt, was constructed nearby, specifically to bring visitors to Rosherville Gardens, who entered through the 1869 south entrance.

In 1900 Rosherville Gardens went bankrupt and re-opened folllowing changes in 1903. Despite these changes Rosherville Gardens continued to lose money and closed as a pleasure gardens in 1913. In 1914 they were the location of a film made by the Magnet Film Company, which planned to make more films there, but the gardens were closed completely by the First World War. In 1924 five acres of land were sold to T Henley's Cable Works, which had occupied the land between the gardens and the Thames since 1906. In 1939 Henley's bought the rest of the land and the site of the gardens was completely cleared and the clifftop entrance sealed off. Recently all C20 building on the site of the Rosherville Gardens have also been completely removed. (2)

In 2012 Oxford Archaeology carried out a two stage evaluation. The truncated remains of the bear enclosure were found, along with a network of possible subterranean cages. (3-4)

A cave in the former chalk quarry was converted into an attraction in the pleasure gardens. There is a graffito dated 1834 (probably carved by a quarryman). After 1837 the structure was adapted to form a visitor attraction at Rosherville Gardens, pleasure gardens which opened in 1837 and survived until 1914. (5)

<1> RCHME, 1994, The Lower Thames in 1994, a photographic survey from the river Blackwell to Tilbury and Greenwich to Gravesend, Neg: AA94/3441 (Photograph). SWX9333.

<2> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<3> Oxford Archaeology, 2012, Stage 1 Trial Trenching, North East Embankment, Former Henley Cable Works, Northfleet, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation Report (Unpublished document). SKE18081.

<4> Oxford Archaeology, 2013, Stage 2 Trial Trenching - North East Embankment, Former Henley Cable Works, Northfleet, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation Report (Unpublished document). SKE25157.

<5> English Heritage, 2013, English Heritage (Listing) Advice Report for Rosherville Gardens Bear Pit (Unpublished document). SKE26018.

Sources and further reading

Related records