These gardens, entered from the Wyndham Road, Camberwell, had a brief but lively existence from 1849 till about 1857. A central walk, adorned with fountains and lawns on either hand, led to a ball-room on the right, and on the left to a maze described as ‘the nearest to that of Hampton Court.’ This maze was intricate and verdant, and provided with a competent guide, while in the middle—in which respect it surpassed ‘that of Hampton Court’—it had a magic hermitage inhabited by a learned Chaldean astrologer.

Concerts and dancing took place every evening in the summer, the admission being sixpence. On special occasions there were costume balls with a large band. From 1851 to 1854 James Ellis, the former lessee of Cremorne, was manager. He gave a ball À la Watteau, and in 1854 repeated Lord Chief Baron Nicholson’s ‘1,000 guineas fÊte,’ [79] which had the genuine, and slightly risky, Nicholson flavour. It lasted three days, and included a steeplechase by lady jockeys, a Coventry procession by torchlight, with Lady Godiva and other characters sustained ‘by artists’ (presumably not R.A’s) ‘from the Royal Academy.’ There were also Arabian Nights’ entertainments, and a mock election for Camberwell, in which the candidates addressed the free and independent voters from the hustings.

On Sundays the Flora Gardens granted free admissions, and a representative of Paul Pry who visited the place in 1857 describes the local frequenters. Polly P*rs*ns was, he tells us, quite up to the door in her summer turn-out, while that pretty, gazelle-like girl from the ‘Manor,’ Lizzie B., accompanied by her particularly especial friend Polly P*rk*r, amused themselves by firing at targets for nuts. [80]

[Plan of Gardens in 1855 (W.); bills, advertisements, etc. (W.); Theatrical Journal, 1851.]