BOTANIC GARDENS, SLOANE STREET.—This garden was first planned and laid out in 1807, by Mr. Salisbury. The extent of ground was about six acres, and formed a delightful promenade for company. In the original plan the whole collection of plants was arranged according to the system of Linnæus, and was disposed of in seventeen different compartments. When Mr. Tate, in the year 1820, took possession of the premises, the inhabitants, wishing to make it a public promenade, the above arrangement was entirely superseded, and the interior of the ground laid out and converted into a Nursery. Mr. Tate, however, still devoted the hothouses and greenhouses to the raising of curious and rare exotics. Mr. Tuck, nurseryman and seedsman, is now in possession of a portion of the ground, but the whole presents a very different appearance to what it did many years ago.
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPEL, situated in Cadogan Street, was built in 1811, by voluntary subscriptions. Previous to the erection of this Chapel, the Irish poor and others in Chelsea, as well as the Roman Catholic veterans in the Royal Hospital, had not any place to resort to on Sundays, or at such other times as they deemed it necessary to attend. Besides, there were several families in the locality who considered the erection of the Chapel indispensable. The Clergyman’s house adjoins the Chapel, and was built at the expense of the Rev. Abbé Voyaux de Franous, D.D. On the south of Cadogan Street, some short distance west of the Chapel, are the Convent, the Schools, and the Burial Ground, the latter being now closed for interments.
Upon the site of the west end of Cadogan Street stood an ancient house, inhabited, in Bowack’s time, by Lady Matthews; it was afterwards known for many years as the Marlborough Tavern and Cricket Grounds. It is probable that the house was first established as a tavern during the life-time of the great Duke of Marlborough, who, it is said, resided at one time in Chelsea; hence Blenheim Street, &c., all contiguous.
The old Admiral Keppel Inn, with its tea gardens, was pulled down in 1856, on the site of which is now a large tavern.
CHELSEA COMMON was called in ancient records Chelsea Heath. It was bounded on the north by the Fulham Road; on the east by Blacklands Lane, now Marlborough Road; on the south by College Place, abutting on the King’s Road; and on the west by Sydney Street. It was attached to the Manor. Certain ancient houses, cottages, and farms, had a right of pasturage for forty cows and twenty heifers. To keep these there was always a cowkeeper, whose business it was to mark the cattle, to drive home the cows at night to the several owners, and to impound all cattle unmarked, or any horses which broke into the Common, or were found there.