Rosherville Gardens was a 19th-century

pleasure garden A pleasure garden is a park or garden that is open to the public for recreation and entertainment. Pleasure gardens differ from other public gardens by serving as venues for entertainment, variously featuring such attractions as concert halls, ...

in a disused chalk pit in Northfleet, Kent,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. After being laid out in 1837, it stood for seventy years, and was finally closed to the public just before the First World War. Structures currently still surviving at Rosherville Gardens are a Grade II-listed

bear pit A bear pit was historically used to display bears, typically for entertainment and especially bear-baiting. The pit area was normally surrounded by a high fence, above which the spectators would look down on the bears. The most traditional form o ...

, a Grade II-listed clifftop entrance and tunnelled stairway through the cliff, a hermit cave in a chalk grotto, an Italian garden central feature which also formed part of the Broadwalk, and the Grade II-listed Enigmatic Cavern, drawdock and quay which was the river entrance to the gardens.

The gardens

The gardens were laid out in 1837 by George Jones (a businessman from

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

in north

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

) in one of the disused chalk pits in Northfleet, covering an area of 17 acres (69,000 m²). Their full title was the 'Kent Zoological and Botanical Gardens Institution’. The gardens were built on a chalk pit owned by Jeremiah Rosher who, from 1830, started building a new town, Rosherville, taking advantage of Gravesend's popularity with Londoners visiting for the day by steamboat along the Thames. They became a favourite destination for thousands of Londoners during good weather, many travelling by paddle steamer down the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

to disembark at the pier built to service the gardens. One of the steamboats from Rosherville Gardens met a horrific accident in 1878. The passenger steamer, after leaving Rosherville pier, was in a collision with the collier ''Bywell Castle'' at Tripcock Point, a mile downstream from

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

. 640 people died from the collision, 240 being children. An inquest was held at Woolwich, but no conclusive reason was ever established as to the cause of the disaster at the Devils Elbow on the Thames. At one time the gardens were managed by Barnet Nathan, brother of the musician and 'friend of

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

Isaac Nathan Isaac Nathan (15 January 1864) was an English composer, musicologist, journalist and self-publicist, who has been called the "father of Australian music". Early success Isaac Nathan was born around 1791 in the English city of Canterbury to a '' ...

. Barnet, who was known professionally as 'Baron Nathan' (in mockery of Nathan Rothschild), was renowned for his act of dancing a

hornpipe The hornpipe is any of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and Ireland and elsewhere from the 16th century until the present day. The earliest references to hornpipes are from England with Hugh Aston's Hornepype of 1522 and others r ...

, blind-folded, across a stage laid out with eggs. On his death he merited an obituary in ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

''. In 1886 a nearby railway station opened on the Gravesend West branch railway. However, the advent of the railways led to the gardens' demise, as Londoners were then able to reach coastal resorts such as

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

and

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

. Robert Hiscock, in his ''A History of Gravesend'' (Phillimore, 1976) describes the gardens thus: In 2012 during excavation prior to redevelopment, the original bear pit located at the centre of the gardens was exposed, and was

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in 2014. In 2016, plans for a residential estate on the site proposed to leave the pit buried and commemorate it with a plaque.

In literature

Rosherville is mentioned in ''

The Newcomes ''The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family'' is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published in 1854 and 1855. Publication ''The Newcomes'' was published serially over about two years, as Thackeray himself says in one of t ...

'' (vol. 2 chapter 6) by

William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...

, where its Gothic Hall is singled out for its gaudiness. It is referred to in

Francis Burnand Sir Francis Cowley Burnand (29 November 1836 – 21 April 1917), usually known as F. C. Burnand, was an English comic writer and prolific playwright, best known today as the librettist of Arthur Sullivan's opera ''Cox and Box''. The son of ...

and

Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...

's 1866

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

Cox and Box ''Cox and Box; or, The Long-Lost Brothers'', is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce '' Box and Cox'' by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan's first successful comic o ...

'' "Visions of Brighton and back, and of ROSHERVILLE, Cheap fare excursions already the squash I feel" It is referred to in

Gilbert & Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ''H.M.S. Pina ...

's 1877

The Sorcerer ''The Sorcerer'' is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of ''The Sorcerer'' is based on a Christmas story, ''An Elixir of Lo ...

" Act 2. Mr Wells sings "Hate me! I sometimes go to ROSHERVILLE!", to which Lady Sangazure responds "Love me! that joy I'll share!". It is referred to in

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...

's first

Jeeves Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Bertie W ...

story, ''

Jeeves Takes Charge "Jeeves Takes Charge" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, and features the young gentleman Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves. The story was published in the ''Saturday Evening Post'' in the United States in November 1916, and in ''The Strand ...

'': "There is a story about Sir Stanley Gervase-Gervase at Rosherville Gardens which is ghastly in its perfection of detail. It seems that Sir Stanley – but I can't tell you!" It is also mentioned as a "place to spend a happy day" in chapter 13 of

E. Nesbit Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English writer and poet, who published her books for children as E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 such books. She was also a political activist a ...

's ''

The Story of the Amulet ''The Story of the Amulet'' is a children's literature, novel for children, written in 1906 by English author Edith Nesbit. It is the final part of a trilogy of novels that also includes ''Five Children and It'' (1902) and ''The Phoenix and t ...

''. George Gissing's short story ''Lou and Liz'' (1893) is almost entirely set in Rosherville Gardens. It is further mentioned as "the place whereat to spend a happy day" in Chapter XV of R.S.S. Baden-Powell's 1915 ''Memories of India''. Mentioned in

Michael Sadleir Michael Sadleir (25 December 1888 – 13 December 1957), born Michael Thomas Harvey Sadler, was a British publisher, novelist, book collector, and bibliographer. Biography Michael Sadleir was born in Oxford, England, the son of Sir Michael ...

's '' Fanny by Gaslight'', ''1940, Constable'' pp 175–176 In the

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

story ''An International Episode'' Lord Lambeth says to an American tourist, "I wonder you don't go to the Rosherville Gardens." James also mentions the Gardens in his travel piece "London in the Dead Season - September 7, 1878" and describes an excursion he made to visit them. Footnoted in Anthony Trollope “The Way We Live Now” page 565 “Rosherville” Parts 1 and 2 appear on the 2019 album ‘Depth of Field’ by Kaprekar's Constant. Part 1 tells of the building of the Gardens and how they fell out of favour, Part 2 includes reference to the Princess Alice Disaster

References

External links

Map of Rosherville Gardens

Remnant of Rosherville gardens in the 1930s

Article at KentOnline
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