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Sydney Gardens

Pgds 20071009 230607 P1010013
Pgds 20071009 233504 P1010060
Pgds 20071009 174607 P1010006

Introduction

Sydney Gardens occupy a 4 hectare elongated hexagon-shaped site in a residential area to the north-east of Bath. The gardens were opened as a public pleasure ground on the 11th May 1795. They have since been subject to a series of alterations.

The most impressive approach to the Gardens is from Great Pultney Street, which has the Holburne of Menstrie Museum at its head. The site is a neat hexagonal design surrounded by a stone wall. The Holburne Museum is at the south-west corner and is divided from the main part of the Gardens by a low wall.

There are two principal entrances to the Gardens, which slope upwards to Sydney House. Like the Holburne Museum, Sydney House is separated from the main body of the Gardens. A wide path leads diagonally (south-west / north-east) across the centre of the site up to the rotunda. The gardens are cut north-south by the railway and the Kennet and Avon Canal. Whilst they obviously dramatically alter the original design of the Gardens, the canal and railway are screened by their cuttings and form interesting features. There are a large number of mature trees and shrubs.

The following is from the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. For the most up-to-date Register entry, please visit The National Heritage List for England (NHLE):

Late-18th century commercial pleasure grounds designed by Thomas Baldwin and Charles Harcourt Masters, opened by Bath City Council as a public park in 1913.

Location, Area, Boundaries, Landform and Setting

Sydney Gardens occupy a 4ha elongated hexagon-shaped site situated in Bathwick, a residential area to the north-east side of Bath. The site is ringed by public roads: Beckford Road to the north, Sydney Place to the south and west, and Sydney Road to the east, from which the Gardens are screened by an encircling stone wall, erected c 1880.

Entrances and Approaches

The main entrance is situated in the north-west corner of the site on Sydney Place. It is marked by four square pillars, possibly dating from the 1880s, which formerly had gates hung between them. Immediately to the south-west of the entrance stands a ticket kiosk, introduced in the 1930s.

The site can also be entered via the entrance to the west of the Holburne Museum, situated on the junction between Great Pulteney Street and Sydney Place. This entrance is flanked by two identical late C18 watchman's boxes (listed grade II) which give access to a straight path that runs north-east to the museum, bisecting an oval-shaped lawn. The lawn was formerly surrounded by railings of which now only the stone base remains.

In front of the museum runs a coach drive which sweeps around the lawn and links up with Sydney Place to the north and south. This entrance was formerly the main entrance to the Sydney Hotel and its pleasure grounds. In the late C19 a separate gate to the pleasure grounds was added immediately west of the southern branch of the carriage drive. This entrance was closed off by 1932 (OS), and now (2001) only the late C19 ticket kiosk which flanked this entrance, and marked the starting point of the former ride, remains.

There are two additional late C19 entrances, one situated to the south along Sydney Place, flanked by two square pillars, and one to the north-east along Sydney Road, from where steps lead into the Gardens.

Principal Building

The main building is the Holburne Museum of Art (listed grade I), standing in the south-west corner of the site. It was built c 1796 as a tavern, to a design by Thomas Baldwin, which was amended by Charles Harcourt Masters. The alterations of 1913-15 by Sir Reginald Blomfield were mainly carried out to the rear of the building: formerly it had a loggia with a covered balcony above, from where the orchestra could play to the audiences in the Gardens below.

Gardens and Pleasure Grounds

A broad walk, originating from the late C18 layout, marks the main axis of the design. It runs south-west to north-east across the site, linking the Rotunda (listed grade II), which provides the entrance from Sydney House (listed grade II) in the north-east corner of the site, to the gate piers which form the entrance in the wall separating off the gardens of the Holburne Museum. The Rotunda, which is attached to the rear of Sydney House, includes the remains of a late C18 loggia which, having become unsafe, was truncated in 1938 and re-erected as the Rotunda minus its two flanking wings.

To the north side of the central walk, marking its halfway point, stands Minerva's Temple (listed grade II). This temple came from the Empire Exhibition held in the grounds of Crystal Palace (qv) in London in 1911 and was re-erected in Sydney Gardens in 1912, with a new plaque paid for by the Bath Pageant Committee. Some 8m to the west of the temple is the site of the former bandstand.

The enclosed garden to the east and south of the Holburne Museum forms a semicircular plan and is laid to lawn, with the area to the north of the Museum in use as a car park. Some 10m south-east of the Museum stands the Gothic Tea House, a former air-raid shelter dating from the Second World War that was converted in the early 1980s by the architect David Brain. The lawn enclosing the Museum is screened by shrubs and trees to the east and closed off by a stone wall, with a central gate, reinstated in 2001, once again giving access to the public gardens. Formerly, up to the late C19, this area was open to the east and linked up with the central walk. It was covered in gravel and lined by wooden refreshment boxes (see views by Nattes, 1805; Wise, c 1820; Hollway, c 1840).

The Kennet and Avon canal cuts from north to south through the eastern half of the Gardens. It is sunk below the level of the Gardens, with an iron bridge dated 1800 (listed grade II) carrying the main walk across it, and to the south of this, a single-span iron bridge (listed grade II) supporting a lesser path. Both bridges have fine decorative railings in the Oriental style and were cast in Coalbrookdale. The Canal Company built their headquarters, called Cleveland House (outside the area here registered), just off Sydney Road on top of the canal tunnel (listed grade II). The building, the rear windows of which overlook the Gardens, forms an important focus in views from the two canal bridges in the Gardens.

The Great Western Railway (started in 1839) runs to the west of the canal and is sunk in a cutting, with low retaining walls (listed grade II) on either side of the tracks. A walk runs along the west side of the track, separated from it by a balustraded section in the wall. The central walk across the Gardens forms a bridge (listed grade II) over the railway, to the south of which is a second bridge (listed grade II) with cast-iron balustrading, which carries another of the garden paths.

A series of winding paths reflecting the original layout provides walks through the gardens, which are laid out as lawn and planted with specimen trees and beds of shrubs. Remains of the perimeter ride can be seen in the south-west corner of the site, near the former late C19 entrance. The ride skirted round the Gardens providing a half-mile (c 0.8km) long circuit, twenty feet (c 6m) wide. Unlike the other paths, which were gravelled, it was macadamised from the start (Colvin and Moggeridge 1993).

A tennis court, bowling greens, and a children's playground, introduced in the late C20, abut Beckford Road. At their southern end stands the former lodge (listed grade II) introduced by 1854, with immediately to its south a toilet block introduced in the late C20. Immediately south of this stands a pair of cast-iron public lavatories of c 1910 (listed grade II), now (2001) no longer used. Immediately to the east of the lodge is a flower garden covering a former tennis lawn which was again laid out on part of the perimeter ride. It is enclosed by shrubs and was laid out in the late 1960s and has subsequently been remodelled. The tennis courts along the north-west boundary were first laid out in the late C19. The bowling green and children's playground to their north-east replace a late C19 nursery established on part of the C18 ride (OS 1885). The hard tennis courts at the east end of the gardens, alongside the Sydney Road boundary, were laid out in 1924.

Description rewritten: July 2000

Amended: May 2001, November 2003

Edited: November 2021

Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts

Telephone

01225 394041

Website

https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/sport-leisure-and-parks/parks-opening-times-and-locations/sydney-gardens

Access contact details

This is a municipal park, open daily for general public use.

Directions

The park lies between the A4 and the A36 in Bath. From the A4 London Road take the A36 onto Bathwick Street. Continue on the A36 along Beckford Road to Sydney Road.

Owners

Bath & North East Somerset Council

The Guildhall, High St, Bath, BA1 5AW

Other Websites

History

18th Century

Sydney Gardens were designed by Charles Harcourt Masters, a Bath architect, and opened in 1795. During the final years of the 18th century and the first few decades of the 19th century, the commercial pleasure grounds enjoyed great popularity as a place of entertainment for the residents of the elegant and fashionable town of Bath. They provided a site for public breakfasts, evening promenades, special galas with illuminations and fireworks. This was all set to musical accompaniment. Jane Austen came to live across the road at No. 4, Sydney Place in 1801, and was a keen admirer of Sydney Gardens.

19th Century

The original features of the Gardens, which remained until about 1840, were a sham castle, a maze, a grotto, swings and a hermitage, which consisted of a miniature hermit's cell. A carriage ride encircled the whole, though this was later divided up into building plots in 1850. There was also a ‘mill-scene', which consisted of a representation on canvas with a wheel turned by water, and a ‘cascade', which consisted of painted rollers with mechanical figures passing over a bridge.

From the Sydney Hotel (now the Holburne of Menstrie Museum), a semi-circle of refreshment boxes either side formed the Poultney Street boundaries. Attached to the hotel was a bar and over this the concert orchestra played. The Gardens also had waterfalls, stone and thatched pavilions, alcoves and serpentine walks. Today, the pattern of the original system of paths remains largely intact, and parts of the original planting pattern remains.

The Kennet and Avon Canal was laid through the Gardens in 1810. This was followed in 1840-1 by the railway. An octagonal rustic temple was built at this time, though it no longer exists. In the 1860s a bandstand (demolished 1948) was erected, together with a gymnasium and facilities for croquet, archery and lawn tennis.

The Gardens were taken over by Bath City Council soon after World War 1. In 1924, hard tennis courts were laid out at the top of the Gardens. Entertainments in the Gardens were ended in 1956 because they were running at a loss.

The following is from the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. For the most up-to-date Register entry, please visit The National Heritage List for England (NHLE):

Sydney Gardens were laid out as commercial pleasure grounds between 1792 and 1794. The initial design was by the architect Thomas Baldwin, who, after he went bankrupt, was replaced by Charles Harcourt Masters in 1794. The Gardens were funded by the sale of shares and built on land leased from the local Pulteney family. They were opened on 11 May 1795 as the Sydney Gardens Vauxhall, and rapidly became a popular place of entertainment, providing a site for public breakfasts, promenades, and galas. Jane Austen, who came to live at 4 Sydney Place in 1801, thought highly of them and attended a gala held at Sydney Gardens on 18 June 1799. The walled pleasure grounds were surrounded by a ride or carriage drive, had bowling greens laid out on either side of a central walk, and a Labyrinth (Plan, 1795).

The main building was the Tavern, also known as Sydney House (the current Holburne Museum), which stood at the west end of the central walk and contained tea and card rooms, a ballroom, a coffee room, and a public house.

In about 1799 a section of the Kennet and Avon Canal, adorned with ornamental bridges and tunnels designed by John Rennie, was cut through Sydney Gardens. At the time the introduction of the Canal was seen as a novelty, adding to the 'Picturesque Beauties' for which the Gardens were known (Snaddon 2000).

During the first quarter of the 19th century various new attractions were introduced in Sydney Gardens. These included a Cascade (1810), an artificial rural scene with figures and water falling down a ravine, moved by a clockwork mechanism; an Aviary (1824); a Cosmorama (about 1824), where pictures of distant places or dramatic scenes were lit and then seen through convex glass windows so as to appear life-size; a Hermit's Cot including a robed puppet figure as the hermit; a Watermill or Miller's Habitation, powered by water from one of the natural springs in the upper part of the Gardens; and a Theatre.

In 1834, the Bath Horticultural and Floral Society was formed and Sydney Gardens became the venue of their annual shows. In about 1836, Sydney House, a private villa with garden, was built behind an existing loggia, marking the east end of the central walk (outside the area here registered). Subsequently, the existing tavern became known as the Pulteney Hotel.

In about 1839 work started on the section of the Great Western Railway that runs through the Gardens, effectively cutting the Gardens in half. Various garden features and buildings were destroyed including a tea house, part of the Labyrinth, the Castle, and the 18th century perimeter walk. Two new bridges were built over the railway to connect the footpaths in the Gardens.

In the same year, the Horticultural Society split up following a disagreement and one section formed a separate society which purchased its own garden in Royal Victoria Park in Bath, the current Botanic Garden. The other section remained at Sydney Gardens and in 1840 they introduced a new refreshment room, known as the Octagonal Rustic Pavilion (demolished about 1896). In 1842 the two societies merged again and held annual shows at Sydney Gardens and Royal Victoria Park alternately until 1853. In that year the Bath Proprietary College became the tenant of the former Pulteney Hotel and Gardens. Because of financial difficulties further land was leased out and a pair of private semi-detached villas with enclosed gardens was introduced along Sydney Road, covering the site of the former Labyrinth (outside the area here registered).

By 1854, a lodge had been introduced at the north-west entrance, probably for use as a dwelling for a gardener, and a year later a fence was erected to enclose the College grounds separating it from the main Gardens. In 1861 a bandstand or orchestra was built along the central walk; this was demolished in 1950. During the late 19th century a gymnasium and croquet, archery, and tennis lawns were also laid out; these were all cleared away after the Second World War.

In 1891, when the ninety-nine-year lease of Sydney Gardens expired, the site (including the College) was sold. By 1894 plans had been drawn up to replace the College building with a large hotel including seventy-five guest rooms, a dining room seating 150 people, and a Winter Garden overlooking Sydney Gardens. This plan was abandoned, however, and the Empire Hotel was built at Orange Grove in the centre of Bath instead.

In 1908 Bath City Council purchased Sydney Gardens (including the former College), which were subsequently managed by the council's Parks and Cemeteries Committee. The council opened the Gardens to the public in 1913. A year earlier the council had sold the former College and its immediate grounds and following alterations and renovations by the architect Sir Reginald Blomfield in 1913-15, it reopened in 1916 as the Holburne of Menstrie Museum (later called the Holburne Museum), housing the art collection of the late Sir William Holburne.

During the early 20th century and the Second World War, some features and garden buildings fell into disrepair and were subsequently demolished. Between 1952 and 1956 a series of illuminated festivals was held at Sydney Gardens, organised by the Spa Committee who also organised the Bath Assembly, a forerunner of the Bath Festival. In the late 20th century, a formal flower garden, tennis courts, a bowling green, a playground, and new toilet facilities were introduced.

In the early 1990s Bath City Council commissioned a historical survey, and since then proposals have been made for the restoration and renovation of Sydney Gardens. The site remains (2001) in council ownership and is open to the public.

Period

  • 18th Century
  • Late 18th Century
Associated People
Features & Designations

Designations

  • The National Heritage List for England: Register of Parks and Gardens

  • Reference: GD2273
  • Grade: II

Features

  • Museum (featured building)
  • Description: The principal building is the Holburne of Menstrie Museum, which was built by Harcourt Masters in 1796 as the Sydney Hotel to serve the Gardens. It had tea and card rooms, a ballroom, a coffee room and, in the basement, a public house. It later became a residential hotel and an attic storey was added in 1840. From 1843-53 it functioned as the Water Cure Establishment. From 1853-83 it was in the hands of the Bath Proprietary College. In 1913, after the building had been standing derelict for some years, it was acquired by the Holburne Museum Trustees to house their fine art collection. Sir Reginald Blomfield renovated and adapted the building for use as a museum.
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  • Building
  • Description: This feature is Sydney House, which dates to the late-18th or early-19th century. It stands at the opposite end of the Gardens from the Holburne Museum.
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  • Rotunda
  • Description: The rotunda dates to the 18th or 19th century. It is at the rear of Sydney House looking out over the Gardens. It is a semi-circular open bow.
  • Garden Building
  • Description: This feature is a garden shelter dating to the early-20th century. It is said to be a reproduction of the Temple of Sul Minerva (which lay beneath the site at Stall Street). It is open-fronted with a portico looking out over the gardens. A bronze tablet on the inner wall reads: 'This building and tablet commemorate the great Historical pageant held at Bath, July 19th to 24th, 1909'. The feature is spolied by graffiti and litter.
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  • Structure
  • Description: This feature is the railway. It was built in 1840-41 in a deep cutting. There are shrubs and trees on the northern end of west side of the cutting.
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  • Canal
  • Description: This feature is the Kennet and Avon Canal, opened in 1810. There is also a tow path.
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  • Ornamental Bridge
  • Description: This feature is the railway bridge. It was built around 1840, and is a single span structure built of stone.
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  • Ornamental Bridge
  • Description: This featue is a railway bridge. It has a single span, stone abutments, cast iron arch and ornamental cast iron balustrading.
  • Ornamental Bridge
  • Description: This feature is the canal bridge. It is dated 1800, although the canal was not opened until 1810. It is a single span structure.
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  • Ornamental Bridge
  • Description: This is a canal bridge. It is a single span iron bridge, with ornamental wrought and cast iron balustrades.
  • Pavilion
  • Description: This is a one storey Italianate ashlar building. It is now rather shabby.
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  • Wall
  • Description: This feature is the retaining wall west of the railway line. It is a low ashlar wall with balustraded sections.
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  • Wall
  • Description: This feature is the retaining wall east of the railway line. It is an ashlar retaining wall with shallow buttress piers, cornice and parapet.
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  • Bowling Green
  • Building
  • Description: This feature relates to Ravenswell and Lonsdale, Sydney Road. These are ornate Italianate paired villas.
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  • Wall
  • Description: This feature is the garden wall to Ravenswell and Lonsdale, Sydney Road.
Key Information

Type

Park

Purpose

Recreational/sport

Principal Building

Parks, Gardens And Urban Spaces

Period

18th Century

Survival

Extant

Hectares

4

Open to the public

Yes

Electoral Ward

Bathwick

References

References

Contributors

  • Avon Gardens Trust

  • Myna Trustram

Related Documents
  • CLS 1/13/65

    Report: Sydney Gardens, Bath: a survey of the landscape Part1 - Hard copy

    Colvin & Moggridge/Debois Landscape Survey Group - 1993