Outdoor Parties in the 1800s vs Now
Sasha Semjonova, a student from Bath Spa University’s Journalism & Publishing BA course, writes the social history of parties and parks.
All throughout history, we have been celebrating. We have partied our way through the decades and now party culture is very much ingrained into society. We celebrate birthdays, holidays, graduations, and the New Year –
we even party for the hell of it because hey, who can resist a drink and a jive every now and then?
It is difficult to tell when we began partying outside, but we have an idea as to when it became classy: the Regency era. Forget the roaring 20s and the swinging 60s because the mid-1800s paved the way. With the introduction of pleasure gardens, partying outside had never been bigger.
What is a Pleasure Garden?
A pleasure garden is park or garden that is open to the public for recreation and entertainment. They typically differ from other gardens as they serve specifically as venues for entertainment such as music or theatre. You could expect live music in a concert hall or from a bandstand; amusement rides; zoos and menageries, and sometimes even live theatre. Even taking a stroll through the gardens at night was an experience.
“A popular form of aristocratic entertainment in mid-eighteenth century London was to stroll round the city’s ornamental pleasure gardens.”
David Blackwell, Head of Music Publishing at Oxford University Press
The Party Scene of Bath
Sydney Gardens was one of the main hot spots for partying in Bath in the mid-1800s. The gardens are the fine work of four designers: Thomas Baldwin, Charles Harcourt Masters, John Rennie, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The gardens initially included the Tavern House which had meeting rooms, two arms of dining cubicles on the side, and plenty of circular space for people to walk and talk. Aristocratic, finely dressed men and women would gather on the garden grounds for galas and parties galore. Being a place where you could celebrate a birthday in typical, 18th century, extravagant style, Sydney Gardens became a heavily popular spot for party-goers.
The Holburne Museum that we see standing today was first made up of a banqueting room and a tavern in the cellar. Later, a billiard room and coffee room were added. When the lease expired in the 1830s, the building was sold off and first became a hotel and spa, and then a school before it became the museum there today.
In 2019 and 2020, Netflix transported The Holburne Museum back to the Regency era as it was used for the character Lady Danbury in the show. The beautiful Grade I listed building really exudes the atmosphere of that era so it seemed like a very natural choice to use it.
Although very popular, Sydney Gardens wasn’t the first pleasure garden that opened in Bath — before that was Spring Gardens which opened in circa 1735. These gardens held music concerts and dancing shows, as well as amusements such as bowling, labyrinths, swings, grottos, and firework displays. Jane Austen also famously attended galas in the gardens in the 1800s, so its reputation was certainly solid.
The First Hot Air Balloon
An event that made Sydney Gardens stand out from its glittering competitors was Bath’s first hot air balloon ascent in 1802. Although this was a little bit before the show-stopping Regency era, it was a real precedent for the kind of entertainment that would draw crowds in for an entire century.
The rising of hot air balloons at the gardens garnered a steady fan base over the 1800s, and people would pay just to see it rise.
Sydney Gardens Now
Around the mid 1800s, pleasure gardens like Sydney Gardens saw a decline in popularity due to the rise of new entertainment and leisure venues. Pleasure gardens in London like Vauxhall and Ranelagh Gardens got lucky and sustained their popularity for a bit longer due to their location in the capital and larger percentage of wealthy merrymakers.
In 1910, Sydney Gardens was bought by the Bath Council and reopened in 1913, where it began to regain its iconic status once again. The gardens have seen a lot of change and continue to develop, and without the help and support of the local council and community, Bath might have just lost something special.
Now Sydney Gardens is a beautiful place to relax, unwind and spend with friends and family. Wild raves and parties are a thing of the past as it has become more popular with dog walkers and art history enthusiasts than the wealthy aristocrat, but the event Party In the Park which is part of Bath Carnival takes place on the grounds in the summer.
The Holbourne Museum also hosts weddings, private events, and parties, paying homage to the party scene that once was.
Sydney Gardens is currently undergoing a £3.4 million restoration. If you would like to volunteer to help with this and learn more about Bath’s local history then find out more here.
Any views expressed in this article are the views of the author and are not necessarily representative of the Sydney Gardens Project team. Although every effort has been made to ensure that all articles are factually correct at the time of writing, we trust that our authors have thoroughly researched their articles.
