Vauxhall Gardens (Birmingham)

Vauxhall Gardens
Bird's-eye view of gardens, in watercolour
Vauxhall Gardens, Saltley (1850) by J.L. Pedley
TypePleasure garden
LocationDuddeston
Nearest cityBirmingham
Coordinates52°29′11″N 1°52′29″W / 52.486454°N 1.874716°W / 52.486454; -1.874716
Created4 June 1758 (1758-06-04)
StatusFirst closure 16 September 1850 (1850-09-16)

Vauxhall Gardens, later Royal Vauxhall Gardens, was a pleasure garden in the Duddeston area of Aston (now Birmingham[a]), England. It operated from 1758 to 1850. Nothing remains of the gardens today.

History

The gardens on J. Henshall's map of Birmingham (1839), shown west of the Grand Junction line into Curzon Street station

The gardens, named after London's Vauxhall Gardens,[1] originated as the grounds of Duddeston Hall[b], which opened as a public house on 4 June 1758, leased from Sir Lister Holte.[1][3] At that time, the area was rural, but close to the growing industrial town of Birmingham[c].[3] The hall was demolished in 1781.[3]

The gardens included statues, a bowling green, and venue for orchestral concerts, with an organ.[1][3][4] Other events held there included fairs, firework displays, balloon ascents and cock-fights.[1][3][4]

The Grand Junction Railway's original terminus, the first station serving Birmingham, opened nearby in 1837 under the name "Vauxhall station"[d],[5]. This facilitated day-visits by people in outlying towns such as Wolverhampton, Walsall and by the 1840s Lichfield, Burton-upon-Trent, and Dudley.[6]

Some time in the early or mid 1800s, more respectable people stopped attending the gardens and the entertainments changed to include athletic events for monetary prizes.[7][8]

In 1846, the proprietor was a Mr. Stewart, and the site known as "Royal Vauxhall Gardens"[9]

The gardens were closed with a farewell dinner and ball on 16 September 1850. The ball ended at 6am the following morning, at which time the first tree was symbolically felled.[1] The site was acquired by the Victoria Land Society, a mutual building society[e].[1][3]

The second gardens, fronting what became Duddeston Mill Road (at 52°29′17″N 1°52′15″W / 52.48811°N 1.87087°W / 52.48811; -1.87087), mapped in the "New Survey of the Borough of Birmingham" (surveyed from 1851, published 1855, sheet 82), east of the adjacent railway station. As of 2025, this site is occupied by a factory.[11]

Despite this, gardens under the same name were operating again in subsequent years, with events advertised, for example, in Aris's Birmingham Gazette in July 1853, under a new proprietor, John Henry Bradshaw.[6]

Nearby, Aston Lower Grounds, another pleasure garden, also now defunct, were opened to the public by Queen Victoria on 16 June 1858.[12]

Just prior to the 1850 closure the gardens were painted in a bird's-eye view by J.L. Pedley.[13]

The gardens are the subject of the poem Impromptu, by Ned Farmer, lamenting their impending closure, which was written there on 6 March 1850.[14]

Notes

  1. ^ Aston, including Duddeston, became part of Birmingham in 1911
  2. ^ Duddeston Hall was also known as "Dudston Hall", and at some point as "Vaux-Hall". It was the seat of the Holte family until they moved to nearby Aston Hall.[2]
  3. ^ Birmingham became a city in 1889
  4. ^ now Duddeston railway station
  5. ^ The Victorian housing built on the site is now also gone, replaced by a circa 1970s housing estate.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Thomas T. Harman (1885), Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham: A history and guide, arranged alphabetically: containing thousands of dates and references to matters of interest connected with the past and present history of the town – its public buildings, chapels, churches and clubs – its Friendly Societies and Benevolent Associations, philanthropic and philosophical institutions – its colleges and schools, parks, gardens, theatres, and places of amusement – its men of worth and noteworthy men, manufactures and trades, population, rates, statistics of progress, &c., &c., Cornish Brothers, p. 331, Wikidata Q66438509
  2. ^ Mitchell, Elaine (2018). "Duddeston's Shady Walks and Arbours': The Provincial Pleasure Garden in the Eighteenth Century". In Dick, Malcolm; Mitchell, Elaine (eds.). Gardens and Green Spaces in the West Midlands since 1700. Birmingham: West Midlands Publications. ISBN 9781909291553.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Dargue, William. "Duddeston". History of Birmingham Places A to Y. Retrieved 19 July 2025.
  4. ^ a b Mitchell, Elaine. "Duddeston's 'Shady Walks and Arbours'" (PDF). West Midlands History. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 August 2019.
  5. ^ Drake, James (1838). Drake's Road Book of the Grand Junction Railway (1838). Moorland Reprints. p. 12. ISBN 0903485257. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  6. ^ a b "Royal Vauxhall Gardens". Aris's Birmingham Gazette. 4 July 1853. p. 3.
  7. ^ "Musical Notes. Birmingham Concerts of the Eighteenth Century. Memories of Vauxhall Gardens". Birmingham Evening Mail. 4 November 1925. p. 2.
  8. ^ "Chronology of Pedestrianism for 1844". The Era. 9 February 1845. p. 12.
  9. ^ "Royal Vauxhall Gardens". Aris's Birmingham Gazette. 13 July 1846. p. 3.
  10. ^ "Street View". Google Maps. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
  11. ^ "Google StreetView". March 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2025.
  12. ^ "The progress to the Park". Supplement to the Birmingham Journal: 3. 19 June 1858.
  13. ^ "Vauxhall Gardens, Saltley, Birmingham". Watercolour World. Retrieved 19 July 2025.
  14. ^ Edward Farmer (1863), A Selection of Original Songs, Scraps, Etc., by Ned Farmer (3rd ed.), Birmingham, p. 12, Wikidata Q135415983{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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