Seaside Gardens and Promenades
From soon after the emergence of sea-bathing and seaside resorts in the C18, gardens were used to enhance the genteel settings desired by promoters and visitors alike. One early example is the Pleasure Gardens in Bournemouth (Dorset; registered Grade II*), laid out down the sides of the Bourne Stream from the 1840s.
In the later C19 gardens running alongside elevated sea-edge promenades became commonplace, typically enlivened with spectacular summer displays of formal floral bedding.
The English seaside remained a favoured destination in the first half of the C20, and resorts continued to invest in gardens and landscaping. The 1930s saw the introduction of modernist and Art Deco-style pavilions, lidos and designated bathing stations. Their setting consisted predominantly of hard landscaping with walks, sun terraces, balustraded promenades and lawns, with limited planting.
The Isle of Wight has had a reputation as a bathing resort and holiday destination from the late C18 but does not have large seaside pleasure gardens comparable with Bournemouth. Nevertheless, the main resorts do have esplanades or promenades, often associated with small seaside gardens and piers. (Historic piers survive today at Yarmouth, Ryde, Sandown and Totland but those at Seaview, Shanklin and Ventnor no longer exist.) Moreover, many of the public parks and municipal gardens are in coastal locations and are used by tourists as well as by local residents.
Children’s playgrounds are provided both within the Island’s public parks and within seaside pleasure gardens but boating lakes, miniature golf ranges, crazy golf facilities and commercial children’s funfairs are associated particularly with its seaside gardens and esplanades.
The large-scale commercial attractions at Blackgang Chine and the Needles Pleasure Park are associated with Isle of Wight seaside holidays and could be considered as landscapes designed for pleasure but are outside the remit of this study.
Some research into seaside gardens and promenades has been done by the Isle of Wight Gardens Trust but more remains to be done. Conservation Area Appraisals by the Isle of Wight Council also describe some seaside gardens and promenades.
Princes Green (LL) in Cowes is a grassed open space sloping down from Queens Road to the seafront promenade of Egypt Esplanade and providing Solent views. It was presented to the town of Cowes in 1863 by George Stephenson to mark the occasion of the wedding of the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) to Princess Alexandra of Denmark. By the late C19 Princes Green had a fountain (cast by the Saracen Foundry of Glasgow), a bandstand and a ‘Statue of Liberty’ (now in Northwood Park). Shelters located on the edge of the promenade were provided n the early C20. The fountain (LBII) and shelters survive.
Egypt Esplanade at Cowes was laid out by the Local Board of Health in 1894 and Victoria Parade was constructed to mark the Diamond Jubilee in 1894. Princes Esplanade, linking Cowes and Gurnard, was built in the early C20.
East Cowes Esplanade was extended in the early C20 when Sir George Shedden presented the Council with a stretch of sea frontage from his Springhill estate.
Esplanade Gardens at Ryde, later known as Eastern Gardens, were laid out on land which was reclaimed from the sea in the 1850s or later. The gardens are first marked on the 25 inch Ordnance Survey map of 1897/8 which shows curving paths, a bandstand, fountain and shelters. The fountain is thought to be the only example of artificial stonework by Pulham and Sons on the Isle of Wight.
A pavilion of Art Deco style by McFarlanes of Glasgow was built within the Esplanade Gardens in 1926-7. Much of the designed layout of the gardens was lost after World War II but the site remains in use as public gardens. The pavilion (LB II) survives (now attached to a late C20 bowling alley) as does the fountain, although not in its original location.
Ryde Boating Lake (*) lies to the east of the Esplanade Gardens. It was constructed in 1880 when the esplanade was extended from Cornwall Street to Appley Slipway and survives to the present day.
The Western Esplanade at Ryde lay to the west of the pier and was developed from 1900.
Sandham Grounds, located at the northern end of Sandown’s seafront on Culver Parade, is on the site of the former Sandham Fort which was built between 1626 and 1649 to protect Sandown Bay. This was demolished in the early 1860s but it was not until the early 1920s that Sandown Council created the recreational facilities which opened in 1924. Shortly afterwards, the attractions of Sandown Canoe Lake and Brown’s Family Golf Course were developed nearby.
The significance of Sandham Grounds lies in the fact that it is a rare example of early C20 municipal design on the Isle of Wight. It has a strong axial layout and hierarchy of ornamental and recreational spaces which survive, albeit with new recreational uses and equipment. The axial layout of the recreation ground is in strong contrast to, and deliberately shielded from, the generally informal open character of the seafront, with the design punctuated by the novel, two-storey pavilion/bandstand designed to provide views out to sea, over the park and to the inland countryside beyond.
The close proximity of Sandham Grounds to Sandown Canoe Lake and Brown’s Family Golf Course, both typical examples of early C20 seaside attractions, gives a ‘group value’ to all these sites.
Sandown Canoe Lake sited to the north-east of Sandham Grounds, was built in 1929. It became a substantial commercially-run visitor attraction and the location for an annual sports day/regatta.
During World War II equipment for the PLUTO pipeline was housed in the cafe/bakery buildings at the canoe lake.
After the war the canoe lake became part of Brown’s Golf Course but was later run by South Wight Borough Council and then the Isle of Wight Council. It ceased operation in the late 1990s and is currently unused.
Brown’s Family Golf Course lies behind Culver Parade at the northern end of Sandown Bay, beyond the public park of Sandham Grounds and Sandown Canoe Lake.
The site was originally developed as a commercial tourist attraction in the 1930s and this is reflected in the distinctive wood and glazed tile clubhouse, the course layout and the two fountains.
A turbine house and ice cream works were located in two large outbuildings but during World War II these buildings were used to house some of the machinery for the PLUTO wartime fuel line.
Brown’s Golf Course was altered in the late 1990s with the extension of the clubhouse building and the addition of a large new Dinosaur Isle exhibition building. The Isle of Wight Council currently owns the golf course (which still operates) but in 2011 the running of the attraction was transferred to the nearby Isle of Wight Zoo.
Sandown Esplanade lies on either side of Sandown Pier and is first shown on the 1898 25 inch Ordnance Survey. Historic sources illustrate the high quality of the Esplanade and the extent of natural stone paving (now replaced with tarmac). The original sea wall, steps, boundary railing and original width of the esplanade survive intact although the stone piers along the sea wall have been reduced in height.
Sandown Bay has a cliff-top walk with sea views. This walk runs from the south- west of Sandown Pier to Keats Green at Shanklin. Beside this cliff-top walk lie Ferncliff Gardens (a small public park which was formerly the private garden to a C19 house), Battery Gardens and Lake Cliff Gardens.
Battery Gardens are on the site of a Palmerstonian battery (SM) built in the 1860s and associated with the adjacent Sandown Barracks. The battery was sold to the Sandown Town Council in 1930. The gardens feature terraced ‘rockeries’ and a circular plant bed created in the 1930s, using rubble from the Battery buildings. The seaward side of the Battery consists of the cliff path which is backed by the wall of the Battery. This wall has a number of seating areas recessed into it which afford panoramic views across Sandown Bay.
Keats Green extends the route of the cliff-top walk almost as far as Shanklin Chine. It is named after John Keats, the romantic poet who made several visits to Shanklin in 1817 and 1819. This grassy cliff top space is backed by gabled Victorian buildings (including several hotels) and their private front gardens. The southern part of the green is shown on the 6 inch Ordnance Survey of 1862-3 but by 1898 it had been extended northward to Osborne Road.
Keats Inn (LB II), built in 1885, lies at the north end of Keats Green. This chalet-style building with iron-framed verandas and gables with fretted bargeboards was built as the Shanklin Club and is now residential.
Shanklin Esplanade runs southward from the bottom of Hope Road to the base of Shanklin Chine. The esplanade had been developed by 1898, partly on land reclaimed from the sea. Esplanade gardens and a putting green were developed in the early C20 between the esplanade and the cliff at the northern end of the site near Hope Road.
Ventnor Esplanade existed by the 1870s and is shown on the 1st edition 25 inch Ordnance Survey.
Ventnor Cascade was designed in the 1890s by Edgar Harvey, Town Surveyor for Ventnor Urban District Council, and is now in the care of the Isle of Wight Council.
A stream (formerly associated with Ventnor Mill) plunges precipitously down towards the sea front beside the equally steep and winding road at Shore Hill, tumbling over ornamental rockwork amidst floral bedding.
This miniature recreation of a natural waterfall is unique on the Isle of Wight. It was included in the Isle of Wight Unitary Development Plan of 2001 (now superseded by The Island Plan) on a list of historic parks and gardens of local importance (Appendix D). However, it appears to have been omitted from the current Local List. The inclusion of Ventnor Cascade in the Local List is strongly recommended as it is a significant site within the category of Seaside Gardens and Promenades.
Immediately above Ventnor Cascade is the former Winter Gardens Pavilion of 1935 by A D Clare, ‘a smaller scale reverberation from the then new Bexhill Pavilion in Sussex’. This provides good viewpoints over the seafront.
Beneath the cascade is a ‘Children’s Boating Pool’ shown on the 25 inch Ordnance Survey of 1946-7, in the centre of which lies a model of the Isle of Wight.
An informal coastal walk connects Ventnor Bay with Steephill Cove to the west and along the route of this walk lies an open space known as Flowers Brook (*) which formed part of the Steephill Castle Estate at the end of the C19. On the eastern edge of the site was a small stream. This was planted up as an ornamental feature and the area was opened to the public.
Ventnor Urban District Council leased the site of Flowers Brook in 1910 and purchased it in 1919. Between the wars a pond and a bridge were constructed. Before and after World War II the area possessed a tea garden and a putting green.
The landscape at Flowers Brook was altered by coastal protection works in the 1990s but voluntary action in 2014 has led to the restoration of the stream, which flows down to the pond and the cliff edge over small waterfalls.
From soon after the emergence of sea-bathing and seaside resorts in the C18, gardens were used to enhance the genteel settings desired by promoters and visitors alike. One early example is the Pleasure Gardens in Bournemouth (Dorset; registered Grade II*), laid out down the sides of the Bourne Stream from the 1840s.
In the later C19 gardens running alongside elevated sea-edge promenades became commonplace, typically enlivened with spectacular summer displays of formal floral bedding.
The English seaside remained a favoured destination in the first half of the C20, and resorts continued to invest in gardens and landscaping. The 1930s saw the introduction of modernist and Art Deco-style pavilions, lidos and designated bathing stations. Their setting consisted predominantly of hard landscaping with walks, sun terraces, balustraded promenades and lawns, with limited planting.
The Isle of Wight has had a reputation as a bathing resort and holiday destination from the late C18 but does not have large seaside pleasure gardens comparable with Bournemouth. Nevertheless, the main resorts do have esplanades or promenades, often associated with small seaside gardens and piers. (Historic piers survive today at Yarmouth, Ryde, Sandown and Totland but those at Seaview, Shanklin and Ventnor no longer exist.) Moreover, many of the public parks and municipal gardens are in coastal locations and are used by tourists as well as by local residents.
Children’s playgrounds are provided both within the Island’s public parks and within seaside pleasure gardens but boating lakes, miniature golf ranges, crazy golf facilities and commercial children’s funfairs are associated particularly with its seaside gardens and esplanades.
The large-scale commercial attractions at Blackgang Chine and the Needles Pleasure Park are associated with Isle of Wight seaside holidays and could be considered as landscapes designed for pleasure but are outside the remit of this study.
Some research into seaside gardens and promenades has been done by the Isle of Wight Gardens Trust but more remains to be done. Conservation Area Appraisals by the Isle of Wight Council also describe some seaside gardens and promenades.
Princes Green (LL) in Cowes is a grassed open space sloping down from Queens Road to the seafront promenade of Egypt Esplanade and providing Solent views. It was presented to the town of Cowes in 1863 by George Stephenson to mark the occasion of the wedding of the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) to Princess Alexandra of Denmark. By the late C19 Princes Green had a fountain (cast by the Saracen Foundry of Glasgow), a bandstand and a ‘Statue of Liberty’ (now in Northwood Park). Shelters located on the edge of the promenade were provided n the early C20. The fountain (LBII) and shelters survive.
Egypt Esplanade at Cowes was laid out by the Local Board of Health in 1894 and Victoria Parade was constructed to mark the Diamond Jubilee in 1894. Princes Esplanade, linking Cowes and Gurnard, was built in the early C20.
East Cowes Esplanade was extended in the early C20 when Sir George Shedden presented the Council with a stretch of sea frontage from his Springhill estate.
Esplanade Gardens at Ryde, later known as Eastern Gardens, were laid out on land which was reclaimed from the sea in the 1850s or later. The gardens are first marked on the 25 inch Ordnance Survey map of 1897/8 which shows curving paths, a bandstand, fountain and shelters. The fountain is thought to be the only example of artificial stonework by Pulham and Sons on the Isle of Wight.
A pavilion of Art Deco style by McFarlanes of Glasgow was built within the Esplanade Gardens in 1926-7. Much of the designed layout of the gardens was lost after World War II but the site remains in use as public gardens. The pavilion (LB II) survives (now attached to a late C20 bowling alley) as does the fountain, although not in its original location.
Ryde Boating Lake (*) lies to the east of the Esplanade Gardens. It was constructed in 1880 when the esplanade was extended from Cornwall Street to Appley Slipway and survives to the present day.
The Western Esplanade at Ryde lay to the west of the pier and was developed from 1900.
Sandham Grounds, located at the northern end of Sandown’s seafront on Culver Parade, is on the site of the former Sandham Fort which was built between 1626 and 1649 to protect Sandown Bay. This was demolished in the early 1860s but it was not until the early 1920s that Sandown Council created the recreational facilities which opened in 1924. Shortly afterwards, the attractions of Sandown Canoe Lake and Brown’s Family Golf Course were developed nearby.
The significance of Sandham Grounds lies in the fact that it is a rare example of early C20 municipal design on the Isle of Wight. It has a strong axial layout and hierarchy of ornamental and recreational spaces which survive, albeit with new recreational uses and equipment. The axial layout of the recreation ground is in strong contrast to, and deliberately shielded from, the generally informal open character of the seafront, with the design punctuated by the novel, two-storey pavilion/bandstand designed to provide views out to sea, over the park and to the inland countryside beyond.
The close proximity of Sandham Grounds to Sandown Canoe Lake and Brown’s Family Golf Course, both typical examples of early C20 seaside attractions, gives a ‘group value’ to all these sites.
Sandown Canoe Lake sited to the north-east of Sandham Grounds, was built in 1929. It became a substantial commercially-run visitor attraction and the location for an annual sports day/regatta.
During World War II equipment for the PLUTO pipeline was housed in the cafe/bakery buildings at the canoe lake.
After the war the canoe lake became part of Brown’s Golf Course but was later run by South Wight Borough Council and then the Isle of Wight Council. It ceased operation in the late 1990s and is currently unused.
Brown’s Family Golf Course lies behind Culver Parade at the northern end of Sandown Bay, beyond the public park of Sandham Grounds and Sandown Canoe Lake.
The site was originally developed as a commercial tourist attraction in the 1930s and this is reflected in the distinctive wood and glazed tile clubhouse, the course layout and the two fountains.
A turbine house and ice cream works were located in two large outbuildings but during World War II these buildings were used to house some of the machinery for the PLUTO wartime fuel line.
Brown’s Golf Course was altered in the late 1990s with the extension of the clubhouse building and the addition of a large new Dinosaur Isle exhibition building. The Isle of Wight Council currently owns the golf course (which still operates) but in 2011 the running of the attraction was transferred to the nearby Isle of Wight Zoo.
Sandown Esplanade lies on either side of Sandown Pier and is first shown on the 1898 25 inch Ordnance Survey. Historic sources illustrate the high quality of the Esplanade and the extent of natural stone paving (now replaced with tarmac). The original sea wall, steps, boundary railing and original width of the esplanade survive intact although the stone piers along the sea wall have been reduced in height.
Sandown Bay has a cliff-top walk with sea views. This walk runs from the south- west of Sandown Pier to Keats Green at Shanklin. Beside this cliff-top walk lie Ferncliff Gardens (a small public park which was formerly the private garden to a C19 house), Battery Gardens and Lake Cliff Gardens.
Battery Gardens are on the site of a Palmerstonian battery (SM) built in the 1860s and associated with the adjacent Sandown Barracks. The battery was sold to the Sandown Town Council in 1930. The gardens feature terraced ‘rockeries’ and a circular plant bed created in the 1930s, using rubble from the Battery buildings. The seaward side of the Battery consists of the cliff path which is backed by the wall of the Battery. This wall has a number of seating areas recessed into it which afford panoramic views across Sandown Bay.
Keats Green extends the route of the cliff-top walk almost as far as Shanklin Chine. It is named after John Keats, the romantic poet who made several visits to Shanklin in 1817 and 1819. This grassy cliff top space is backed by gabled Victorian buildings (including several hotels) and their private front gardens. The southern part of the green is shown on the 6 inch Ordnance Survey of 1862-3 but by 1898 it had been extended northward to Osborne Road.
Keats Inn (LB II), built in 1885, lies at the north end of Keats Green. This chalet-style building with iron-framed verandas and gables with fretted bargeboards was built as the Shanklin Club and is now residential.
Shanklin Esplanade runs southward from the bottom of Hope Road to the base of Shanklin Chine. The esplanade had been developed by 1898, partly on land reclaimed from the sea. Esplanade gardens and a putting green were developed in the early C20 between the esplanade and the cliff at the northern end of the site near Hope Road.
Ventnor Esplanade existed by the 1870s and is shown on the 1st edition 25 inch Ordnance Survey.
Ventnor Cascade was designed in the 1890s by Edgar Harvey, Town Surveyor for Ventnor Urban District Council, and is now in the care of the Isle of Wight Council.
A stream (formerly associated with Ventnor Mill) plunges precipitously down towards the sea front beside the equally steep and winding road at Shore Hill, tumbling over ornamental rockwork amidst floral bedding.
This miniature recreation of a natural waterfall is unique on the Isle of Wight. It was included in the Isle of Wight Unitary Development Plan of 2001 (now superseded by The Island Plan) on a list of historic parks and gardens of local importance (Appendix D). However, it appears to have been omitted from the current Local List. The inclusion of Ventnor Cascade in the Local List is strongly recommended as it is a significant site within the category of Seaside Gardens and Promenades.
Immediately above Ventnor Cascade is the former Winter Gardens Pavilion of 1935 by A D Clare, ‘a smaller scale reverberation from the then new Bexhill Pavilion in Sussex’. This provides good viewpoints over the seafront.
Beneath the cascade is a ‘Children’s Boating Pool’ shown on the 25 inch Ordnance Survey of 1946-7, in the centre of which lies a model of the Isle of Wight.
An informal coastal walk connects Ventnor Bay with Steephill Cove to the west and along the route of this walk lies an open space known as Flowers Brook (*) which formed part of the Steephill Castle Estate at the end of the C19. On the eastern edge of the site was a small stream. This was planted up as an ornamental feature and the area was opened to the public.
Ventnor Urban District Council leased the site of Flowers Brook in 1910 and purchased it in 1919. Between the wars a pond and a bridge were constructed. Before and after World War II the area possessed a tea garden and a putting green.
The landscape at Flowers Brook was altered by coastal protection works in the 1990s but voluntary action in 2014 has led to the restoration of the stream, which flows down to the pond and the cliff edge over small waterfalls.