Lansdowne Square, Gravesend

Image: © Marathon Taken: 5 Apr 2012

Gravesend is a strange place. Often when wandering amongst run-down parts of the town one stumbles across buildings that clearly had some architectural pretension. No part of Gravesend is more run down at present than the area along by the river to the west of the centre, in the area known as Rosherville, and that is why these grand houses in Lansdowne Square come as a surprise. Rosherville Gardens were laid out in 1837 in one of the disused chalk pits just west of here by Crete Hall Road, and covered an area of 17 acres. Their full title was the 'Kent Zoological and Botanical Gardens Institution’. In the Victorian period they became a favourite destination for thousands of Londoners, many travelling by paddle steamer down the River Thames to disembark at the pier built to service the gardens. By 1880 the gardens had reached the peak of their popularity and in 1901 they were closed. The presence of the gardens prompted the development of Lansdowne Square which it was hoped would attract affluent and respectable people to live in a spacious environment with views over the Thames. Four grand villas were set in the centre of a square, three of which can be seen here. However, it did not become the stylish residential area which the promoters had hoped for. In time they became run down and it is only in recent years, following the designation of a Conservation Area, that Lansdowne Square has been tidied up.

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