Cadogan Place Gardens *

Site on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens, for Register Entry see https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England was established in 1984 and was commonly called English Heritage. In April 2015 it split into 2 separate entities, Historic England (HE), which continues to champion and protect the historic environment, and the English Heritage Trust, whose role is to look after the 400+ historic sites and monuments owned by the state. HE manages the National Heritage List for England (NHLE) that includes over 400,000 items ranging from prehistoric monuments to office blocks, battlefields and parks, which benefit from legal protection.

This area was once within the Manor of Chelsea, whose owners included Westminster Abbey and Henry VIII, which was purchased by Hans Sloane in 1712. When Sloane died his estate was divided between his daughters, one of whom, Elizabeth, was married to Charles Cadogan, taking the eastern part, which became the Cadogans' London estate. Cadogan Place was developed along with Sloane Street and Sloane Square on land leased from Lord Cadogan by Henry Holland for his Hans Town development from 1777 onwards. On the east side are terraced houses of the early C19th.

The gardens were not laid out until the early C19th. The North Garden, which used to be called Cadogan Square, was landscaped by Humphry Repton, who was called in by the first Lord Cadogan. Repton completed his work by 1806: 'gently winding paths given variety by excavation of the soil to form small valleys and ridges in the unrealised hope that the gardens might have the overflow of the Serpentine as a stream or lake' (EH Register). Repton's undulating contour plan has been eroded by later alteration; further development of the gardens took place post 1874 and again from 1978 after the underground car park was made underneath this northern section, although this enabled comparable mounding and 'valley' effects to be recreated.

The South Garden used to be the London Botanic Garden, and the 300-year-old mulberry trees on the south lawn are thought to have been grown for the silk trade; an interesting mixed border is now planted opposite the mulberries. Cadogan Place Gardens is a long rectangular site bounded by Sloane Street to the west; Pont Street divides the smaller northern section from the main area to the south. Both areas are railed with boundary shrubberies enclosing lawns, with clumps of shrubbery and mature trees including London plane and ailanthus.

There has been extensive enrichment of trees and shrubs since the late 1970s, the gardens now have catalpa, ginkgo, redwood, maples, various flowering cherries, hydrangea, laburnum, vibernum. On the east side of the South Garden, a walk running the length of the garden is being developed for spring interest, along with a fern garden. Near the tennis courts, a water garden is partially hidden by black bamboo and willows, while the centre south garden displays the Hans Sloane Garden, created for the 2005 Chelsea Flower Show. A bronze sculpture by David Wynne of c.1980 has been erected in the North Garden. Dickens describes Cadogan Place in 'Nicholas Nickleby' as the connecting link between the aristocratic pavements of Belgrave Square and the barbarism of Chelsea. Dorothy Jordan (1762-1816), actress, lived at Nno. 30, and William Wilberforce (1759-1833), opponent of slavery, lived at No. 44.