Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for VAUXHALL

VAUXHALL, a metropolitan suburb and a chapelry, in Lambeth parish, Surrey; on the river Thames and on the Southwestern railway, 2½ miles SSW of St. Paul's, London. It has a post-office‡ under London SE, and a r. station with telegraph; and it communicates, by an iron bridge, with Pimlico. The bridge was constructed in 1811-6; has 9 equal arches; is 798 feet long, and 36 feet wide; and belongs to a private company. The manor belonged once to the Riverses, Earls of Devon; was given, by the Black Prince, to the Archbishops of Canterbury; and belonged, in the early part of the 17th century, to the Vauxes. A seat of the Archbishops was here; bore the name of Fauxes or Fox Hall; gave place to another mansion called Copt Hall, the residence of the mechanical amateur Sir S. Morland; and that, in its turn, gave place to a distillery. Famous gardens, long a place of public resort for amusements, were formed in 1615 by the Vauxes; assumed new features, under the new name of Spring Gardens about 1660; figured in the "Spectator" of 20 May 1712, as the scene of a visit of Sir Roger de Coverley; were revived in 1732 by Jonathan Tyers; became eclipsed by Cremorne gardens; and were finally closed in Aug. 1859. The chapelry bears the name of St. Peter. Pop. in 1868, about 8,000. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Winchester. Value, £300.* Patrons, Trustees. The church stands on the site of the quondam gardens; was built in 1 864, at a cost of £7,800; and is in the French first-pointed style.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a metropolitan suburb and a chapelry"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Lambeth St Mary Vest/AP/CP       Surrey AncC
Place: Vauxhall

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