Ranelagh Gardens (; alternative spellings include Ranelegh and Ranleigh, the latter reflecting the English pronunciation) were public pleasure gardens located in Chelsea, then just outside

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, England, in the 18th century.

History

The Ranelagh Gardens were so called because they occupied the site of Ranelagh House, built in 1688–89 by The 1st Earl of Ranelagh, an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

peer who was the Treasurer of

Chelsea Hospital The Royal Hospital Chelsea is a retirement home and nursing home for some 300 veterans of the British Army. Founded as an almshouse, the ancient sense of the word "hospital", it is a site located on Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea. It is an in ...

(1685–1702), immediately adjoining the hospital; according to Bowack's ''Antiquities of Middlesex'' (1705), it was "Designed and built by himself". Its actual builder and owner was one Solomon Rieti, an Italian Jewish immigrant. Rieti's niece, Rebecca Rieti, was the grandmother of

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation ...

. Ranelagh House was demolished in 1805 (Colvin 1995, p. 561). The original Ranelagh ( ga, Raghnallach) was one of the Earl's Irish estates: a similar pleasure garden was opened near Dublin city, and this gives its name to the present-day suburb of Ranelagh. In 1741, the house and grounds were purchased by a syndicate led by the proprietor of the

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...

, and Sir Thomas Robinson MP, and the gardens opened to the public the following year. Ranelegh was considered more fashionable than its older rival

Vauxhall Gardens Vauxhall Gardens is a public park in Kennington in the London Borough of Lambeth, England, on the south bank of the River Thames. Originally known as New Spring Gardens, it is believed to have opened before the Restoration of 1660, bein ...

; the entrance charge was two

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence ...

s and sixpence, compared to a shilling at Vauxhall.

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twi ...

wrote soon after the gardens opened, "It has totally beat Vauxhall... You can't set your foot without treading on a Prince, or Duke of Cumberland." Ranelagh Gardens introduced the

masquerade Masquerade or Masquerader may refer to: Events * Masquerade ball, a costumed dance event * Masquerade ceremony, a rite or cultural event in many parts of the world, especially the Caribbean and Africa * Masqueraders, the performers in the West ...

, formerly a private, aristocratic entertainment, to a wider, middle-class English public, where it was open to commentary by essayists and writers of moral fiction. Canaletto Ranelegh 1754

The centrepiece of Ranelagh was a

rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

rotunda, which figured prominently in views of Ranelagh Gardens taken from the river. It had a diameter of 120 feet (37 metres) and was designed by William Jones, a surveyor to the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

. The central support housed a chimney and fireplaces for use in winter. From its opening, the Rotunda at Ranelagh Gardens was an important venue for musical concerts. In 1765, the nine-year-old

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

performed in this showplace.

Canaletto Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. Painter of city views or ...

painted the gardens, and painted the interior of the Rotunda twice, for different patrons. The rotunda was closed in 1803 and demolished two years later. The organ was moved to

All Saints Church, Evesham All Saints Church is an active Anglican church in the centre of the town of Evesham, Worcestershire, England. All Saints and its neighbour St Lawrence's Church were built by the Benedictine monks of Evesham Abbey in the 12th cent ...

. There was also a Chinese pavilion, which was added in 1750, an ornamental lake and several walks. Ranelagh was a popular venue for romantic assignations.

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, '' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, i ...

wrote that it was, "the most convenient place for courtships of every kind — the best market we have in England." Chelsea Hospital Ranelagh

Such was the renown of the gardens and the vogue for music in the open air that a New York Ranelagh Gardens was opened in New York, in the former Rutgers house, as a rival to the

New York Vauxhall Gardens The Vauxhall Gardens (in New York City), was a pleasure garden and theater. It was named for the Vauxhall Gardens of London.Ogasapian, John (2004). ''American History through Music: Music of the Colonial and Revolutionary Era''. Westport, Conne ...

; its proprietor John Kenzie posted an advertisement for it during the occupation of the city in the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, in hopes of attracting the British soldiers, as well as "the Respectable Public",Advertisement quoted in Michael Batterberry and Ariane Batterberry, ''On the Town in New York'', 1999, p. 2. and a Jardin Ranelagh was created in Paris' fashionable 16th arrondissement in 1870. Ranelagh Gardens were redesigned by John Gibson in the 19th century. It is now a green pleasure ground with shaded walks, part of the grounds of

and the site of the annual

Chelsea Flower Show The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the ''Great Spring Show'',Phil Clayton, ''The Great Temple Show'' in ''The Garden'' 2008, p.452, The Royal Horticultural Society is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural ...

Notes

References

* Colvin, Howard. ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840'', 3rd edition, 1995. * Melanie Doderer-Winkler, ''Magnificent Entertainments: Temporary Architecture for Georgian Festivals'' (London and New Haven: Yale University Press for The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, December 2013). and . * Weintraub, Stanley. ''Disraeli: A Biography'', New York: Truman Talley Books, 1994.

External links

{{commons category
A selection of items about Ranelagh Gardens at victorianlondon.org

So What Was Wrong With Ranelagh?

Jane Austen's London
, May 8, 2016 Buildings and structures completed in 1689 Former parks and open spaces of London Former buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Rococo architecture in England Pleasure gardens in England Entertainment in London Gardens in London Rotundas in the United Kingdom 1689 establishments in England

History

See also

Notes

References

External links