Description
Ridgmount Gardens is an elongated private garden for the use of residents of the imposing Ridgmount Mansions apartment building that overlooks it, built in the 1890s. Stretching from Chenies Street to Tavistock Place, the garden has a path that leads alongside a series of miniature lawns interspersed by shrubbery borders. At either end of the garden are ornamental bird baths set off by lavender and wisteria.
Practical Information
| Site location | Ridgmount Gardens |
|---|---|
| Postcode | WC1E 7AU |
| What3Words | ///runner.golf.hotels |
| Type of Site | Private Garden |
| Borough | Camden |
| Open to Public | Occasionally |
| Opening Times | Has opened for London Open Gardens. Otherwise private, for keyholders only |
| Public Transport | Tube: Goodge Street (Northern). Bus: 10, 24, 29, 73, 134, 390 |
| Research Updated | 1 June 2008 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
This elongated residential garden sits opposite the imposing Ridgmount Mansions, a Victorian-era red-brick mansion block built in the 1890s, which comprises 149 apartments. In 1972 Bob Marley was a resident of Flat 34 Ridgmount Gardens, for whom a Blue Plaque was unveiled in 2006. Prior to the 1890s this was Chenies Mews, developed in the late C18th, but when leases fell in in the 1880s the street was redeveloped. The narrow strip of private gardens presumably created at the same time, remains for the private use of residents of Ridgmount Mansions. Stretching from Chenies Street to Tavistock Place, the garden has a path that leads alongside a series of miniature lawns interspersed by shrubbery borders. Robins are frequent visitors to the garden, thriving amongst the ivy that adorns the border wall. At either end of the garden sit ornamental bird baths set off by lavender and wisteria.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ296819 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | The Bedford Estate |
| Site Management | The Bedford Estate |
| Dates | 1890s |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Camden |
| In Conservation Area | Yes |
| Tree Preservation Order | No |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | Yes - Central London Area (Clear Zone Region) |
| Other LA Designation | Private Open Space |
Gallery
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Nearby parks and gardens
Torrington Square was originally laid out as part of the Bedford Estate development in 1821-25, named after the father-in-law of the 6th Duke of Bedford. On the east side a terrace of 6 original houses remains, Nos. 27-32; No.30 was once the home of Christina Georgina Rossetti. The terraces overlooked a long narrow garden enclosure for the private use of residents and had lawns, a shrubbery border and fine trees. The square was purchased in the early C20th for the new University of London and was largely built over in the 1930s. It is now publicly accessible and partly hard landscaped, although some mature trees remain.
This small public garden was once the site of a large pond called The Little Sea. In 1756-58 it became the site for Whitfield's Tabernacle and Almshouses, and Whitfield's half-acre Burial Ground, which was in two parts, one each side of the Tabernacle. In 1853 it was closed to burials and cleared in 1856. The LCC acquired the site in 1894 and in 1895 opened it as a public garden, laid out as a smaller area with a central path and a larger tar-paved area surrounded by planted borders. In the early C21st it was substantially re-landscaped by Camden Council.
Malet Street Garden was formerly rear gardens of Nos. 2-20 Gower Street, a terrace built c1780 for the Bedford Estate.The site was purchased by the University of London in 1951, the sunken gardens to the rear becoming a private garden for the university. It is possibly sunken because brickearth here was of good quality and dug out for local building. There are original wrought-iron railing stubs on the garden's boundary walls but all the original railings were removed during WWII to assist the war effort.
