A full twenty years before steam trains started arriving at the new station of King’s Cross, a small monorail suspension railway had operated on the opposite side of the road. Not only was it an early form of suspension railway – but it was also human powered – by a man spinning a wheel at the front of each carriage.

In use for barely two years, it has been seemingly lost to common knowledge – this was the Suspension Railway at the Royal Panarmonion Gardens.

Suspension railway, Royal Panarmonion Gardens

King’s Cross station stands on what was at the time a Smallpox Hospital, and opposite it sat a great “dust heap” of rubble and burnt cinders from the coal fires. There also appears to have been another unrelated dust heap sited behind the hospital as well – according to this painting.

In fact, a description in The Antiquary magazine (Vol XLIV 1908) suggests the area at the time as having several “huge cinder-hills that formed a small alpine range”. The site, described in the magazine as 277 Gray’s Inn Road, and bounded to the west by Argyle Street, was sold in 1826 for £15,000 to the Panarmonion Company.

A guide to Marylebone and St Pancras by George Clinch, published in 1890 also makes mention of nursery grounds belonging to, or occupied by a Mr Collins. It would seem that the whole area bought by the company comprised of some 10 acres of land. You can see the “dust ground” in the lower right of this map.

This company, largely promoted by Professor Gesualdo Lanza, described as a master of elocution who aimed to rise £20,000 in £100 shares to provide “extensively ornamented gardens which will be judiciously planted and pleasingly interspersed with Fountains, Cascades, Temples, etc.,a neat and elegant Theatre, a Botanical Bazaar, Bathing Rooms,and even an Hotel.”

It would seem however that of the buildings, only the Theatre was built. The gardens were laid out – as was the premier attraction – Thorrington’s Suspension Railway – described in the magazine as half a mile in length, and also lost to history, the only hints of its existence being the illustrated handbills that were handed out (a copy above).

The prospectus cited by Clinch noted that “The amusements in the Gardens, independently of the ingenious Rail-way already constructed, will comprehend Concerts, Reading Rooms,” etc. Worth noting then that at the time, the railway already existed and was presumably pulling in enough visitors to make the rest of the Pleasure Garden development seem viable.

The railway seems to have consisted in suspending a boat-shaped car from a substantial level bar, along which it travelled upon small wheels. The motive power was supplied from the car by means of a wheel which was worked by hand, and by which means the rate of progression was regulated.

“No one can believe,” says a contemporary account, “that this Car travels with such ease and rapidity without being a witness of the fact. The idea is a very ingenious one, and does great credit to Mr. H. Thorrington, who is the inventor.

The gardens opened on the 4th March, 1830, and entry cost One Shilling, which included a ride in the railway.

Advert in The Morning Post - Tuesday 20th July 1830

The Morning Post of the 19th July 1830 wrote that “Since we last notices this tasteful erection, the proprietors have substituted an elegantly decorated boat or car, capable of containing eight persons, for the chair, which was intended for only two.”

“The person who manages the crank is concealed under a cover in the stern of the car, and when going at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour, it slides gracefully along without any visible propelling power, and produces a very agreeable effect.”

I would presume that the illustration given at the top of this blog post is possibly a slightly earlier version, between the small 2-person chair and the version described with the man hidden behind the carriage.

Certainly to sit at the front of the carriage and to be propelled along without noise or discomfort must have been a wondrous sight to Victorian visitors.

However, despite much admiration, the Gardens were not a commercial success. On the 28th February, 1832, a notice was published announcing the sale of the assets of the Garden, and their demolition followed within a few weeks.

A brief note in the Bury and Norwich Post of December 1831 notes that many London Theatres are to be shut down due to censorship of their plays. That may have also played a part in the demise of the whole project.

Advert in the Morning Post - Thursday 4th March 1830

A reminiscence of Beer Gardens in the October 1920 issue of The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser waxes about several of the Pleasure Gardens in London, but barely mentioned the Panarmonion Gardens – and only in reference to its former life as a dust heap. Maybe the area’s unsavoury history was also still a deterrent to visitors.

The area was was divided up into streets – or seemingly more accurately, side streets that lead to the gardens were extended into the land. A Victorian garden square was laid out, and genteel houses built around it.

Old map linkModern map link

The houses still exist, as does Argyll Square Gardens, but there is no record of the remarkable railway on the site.

Alas.

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8 comments
  1. Cindy Eve says:

    Great post Ian. I really love this type of article about the history of our amazing city. thanks for this delightful snippet. 🙂 you do visit the most interesting places
    Regards
    Cindy
    @3days_in_london

  2. Lee Jackson says:

    There were lots of ‘Pleasure Gardens’ of this type in Islington in the 18th and, to a lesser extent, the early 19th century. St. Chad’s Wells was just across the other side of Gray’s Inn Road, and Bagnigge Wells just down the road – both of these were spa gardens, for ‘taking the waters’ but also drinking, dancing etc. but closed in the 1840s – the area had just got too industrial and suburbanised (when built, in the 18th C., such gardens were still in relatively rural locations). Perhaps this company hoped to profit from the other gardens’ proximity, but it was a bad time to open a new venue.

    The dust-heaps were simply for all the household rubbish of the district, albeit that was mainly ash and cinders – King’s Cross had several, because of the proximity of the canal for shipping re-cyclable materials, especially ashes, for use in brick-making. If you’re interested in dust (ahem) then my mini-ebook ‘Dust, Mud, Soot and Soil’ will tell you all you need to know. And perhaps too much more. 😉

  3. Jimmy says:

    Amazing. Just … unbelievable. Why does it say Liverpool Street?

    • IanVisits says:

      Because that is the name of the street next to it – look at the old map and you can just make it out on the east side of the open space.

    • Jimmy says:

      Ah, so they renamed it Birkenhead St. That’s quite funny!

  4. Bob Stuckey says:

    Hi Ian, thanks for this post. The timing of the opening of the Royal Panarmonion Gardens is fascinating. They opened on 4th March 1830 and George IV died on 26 June so he would have agreed to the “Royal” label and must have been aware its planning and also if the area’s renaming Kings Cross (previously Battlebridge) as the map you reproduced is Greenwoods of 1830.

    I have designed a historical blue plaque to be mounted around Kings Cross station with an image of George IV in classical laurels taken from coinage and his dates as Prince of Wales, Regent and King. Such a plaque should revive the links between this junction and the last of the Georgians. Please could any readers contact me if they would like to subscribe and be present at the eventual unveiling

    Bob

  5. Bob Stuckey says:

    Hi Ian

    I took the first plaque design along to Network Rail and the response was lukewarm. I have since made some revisions which can be seen on the art and design page of my website. I have put the design on fridge magnets, mugs and T shirts so that it gets a bit of exposure before resuming negotiations. These examples are to be found at the Canal Museum, Things British in St Pancras and the Kings Cross Food Assembly. Proceeds will go towards the manufacture and placement of the plaque when the position has been agreed. At this stage I would greatly appreciate letters of support for the placement of this plaque on King’s Cross station, I suggest at the corner of Euston Road and York way, thus close to the original monument.

    The Panarmonion opened in March 1830. When George IV died in June perhaps the architect , Stephen Geary, thought it was a great opportunity to add another feature to the pleasure gardens and designed the George IV monument. It must have been a bureaucratic feat to get the name changed from Battlebridge to King’s Cross. There seem also to have been discussions with William IV in order to get his support and add the prefix “Royal”.

  6. Em Dee says:

    Dear Ian,

    Your newsletters are really interesting and helpful. Thanks.
    I am happy to give a donation but use the computer
    in the library and don’t want to give my address
    in such a public place.
    Any way round this?

    Wishing you a happy new year.

    Em

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