Vauxhall
Vauxhall, or Fox Hall(originally ‘Falkes Hall’, said to be from Falkes de Breauté, captain of King John's mercenaries, and lord of the manor in the early 13th cent.), famous for the gardens laid out there in the middle of the 17th cent., and at first called ‘the New Spring Gardens’, because they replaced the old Spring Gardens adjoining St James's Park. Vauxhall Gardens are frequently referred to from that time by dramatists and other writers, including Pepys . Sir Roger de Coverley visited them with Mr Spectator (he commented on the scarcity of nightingales in the gardens as compared with less desirable visitors— Spectator , No. 383). Thackeray in chapter vi of Vanity Fair and Fanny Burney in Evelina describe the visits to them of certain of their characters. The gardens were finally closed in 1859 .
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