Vauxhall City Farm

The Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens were the first public gardens to be opened and, originally known as the New Spring Garden, were at their peak of popularity in the C18th. They were laid out with walks and flower gardens and the public was not charged for admission. Samuel Pepys, John Evelyn and Jonathan Swift were among the many visitors, who included royalty and the aristocracy. Ownership of the land passed to Jonathan Tyers in 1728 who is commemorated in the name of a local street. On 7 June 1732 Tyers and the painter William Hogarth, who had moved to the area, spectacularly re-launched the park as a place of entertainment after which an entrance fee was charged and all manner of entertainments laid on, particularly musical events, which were patronised by high society. Frederick Prince of Wales was patron until his death in 1751. Various exuberant buildings and structures were built to house these events, and the gardens were laid out with new tree-lined walks and gardens. Tyers' sons Jonathan and Thomas took over managing the pleasure gardens after their father's death in 1767. In 1792 the Barratt family, related by marriage to the Tyers, took over ownership and continued to provide new entertainments, which included fireworks from 1798, Balloon Ascents from 1802, and later tightrope performances by Mme Saqui. Under new ownership again in 1821, the gardens were then re-opened the following year, permitted by the King to be re-named The Royal Gardens, Vauxhall. Over the next decades they continued under different owners, with brief periods of closure, but in 1859 they finally closed for good. Their decline was particularly affected by the building of the railway viaduct from Nine Elms to Waterloo that severed the gardens from the river, but it was not unrelated to the popularity of the new Crystal Palace (q.v.) at Sydenham.

The site and its contents were sold by auction for £800 on 22 August 1859 and all traces of Vauxhall Gardens soon disappeared as the land was re-developed for housing. In the 1970s these houses, by all accounts cheaply built, and now badly neglected and having suffered severe damage during the war, were demolished in the post-war slum-clearances. At that time the creation of inner-city parks was on the national agenda, as a result of which part of the former site of the famous pleasure gardens was cleared and laid out as a park, Spring Gardens, which opened to the public in 1976. This was later re-landscaped and opened as Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens (q.v.).

When this large-scale demolition was taking place in the area, local residents protested by setting up the North Lambeth Neighbourhood Council (NLNC), which encouraged people to take responsibility for their area. As a result, community and youth projects began springing up on unused land in and around Vauxhall. By 1976, a group of architects squatting at St Oswald’s Place began working on a small vacant plot. This became Jubilee City Farm as it was then known, a collaborative project with local residents growing vegetables, providing for themselves and caring for livestock. It was one of the Jubilee City Farms with funds from the Silver Jubilee Celebration Committee. In 1977 Vauxhall City Farm registered as a charity in Lambeth. Since then, the farm has grown but it still relies on the commitment and enthusiasm of volunteers and still encourages community involvement. Today, the farm is home to over 100 animals, a riding centre, dozens of education and youth projects, and a cafe. The farm continues to rely on visitors’ donations to survive and its support from a wide range of local businesses, individual and corporate supporters, and grant-giving organisations who recognise and champion the impact of educational, therapeutic, and recreational experiences in nature.