About Us
About Friends of Crescent Garden
About Friends of Crescent Garden
The Friends of Crescent Garden work hard to preserve the historic character of this evocative small Regency Garden and to keep the garden at the centre of the local community. To ensure the sustainability of the Garden’s Regency character, only plants introduced before 1850 are used. The maintenance of the garden is carried out in partnership with Gosport Borough Council and the Friends of Crescent Garden, who share the labour and the funding as a team effort.
The Friends of Crescent Garden is a thriving community group of members. There is an annual Garden Party, a plant sale, and an AGM attended by the mayor. The Friends also arrange regular visits to other gardens of interest.
In recent years the Friends of Crescent Garden have worked hard to achieve annual Green Flag Awards and Green Heritage Awards, as a historic garden.
The Friends of Crescent Garden have three main ambitions for the future:
▪ To maintain Crescent Garden to the highest possible standards in partnership with Gosport Borough Council.
▪ To keep Crescent Garden in its place at the heart of the community it serves, as a welcoming, historic, and refreshing community.
▪ To concentrate on the sustainability of the enterprise. This requires the active good will of not only the Community and Council, but particularly the volunteers, whose recruitment and management are of the utmost importance.
If the Garden remains volunteer-friendly and environmentally friendly, there is every hope it will continue to flourish.
The Friends of Crescent Garden work hard to preserve the historic character of this evocative small Regency Garden and to keep the garden at the centre of the local community. To ensure the sustainability of the Garden’s Regency character, only plants introduced before 1850 are used. The maintenance of the garden is carried out in partnership with Gosport Borough Council and the Friends of Crescent Garden, who share the labour and the funding as a team effort.
The Friends of Crescent Garden is a thriving community group of members. There is an annual Garden Party, a plant sale, and an AGM attended by the mayor. The Friends also arrange regular visits to other gardens of interest.
In recent years the Friends of Crescent Garden have worked hard to achieve annual Green Flag Awards and Green Heritage Awards, as a historic garden.
The Friends of Crescent Garden have three main ambitions for the future:
▪ To maintain Crescent Garden to the highest possible standards in partnership with Gosport Borough Council.
▪ To keep Crescent Garden in its place at the heart of the community it serves, as a welcoming, historic, and refreshing community.
▪ To concentrate on the sustainability of the enterprise. This requires the active good will of not only the Community and Council, but particularly the volunteers, whose recruitment and management are of the utmost importance.
If the Garden remains volunteer-friendly and environmentally friendly, there is every hope it will continue to flourish.
Friends of Crescent Garden Constitution
1. NAME
The name of the association shall be the Friends of Crescent Garden (“the Friends”).
2. AIMS AND OBJECTS.
The aim of the Friends is to cultivate, evolve and improve Alverstoke Crescent Garden in Hampshire (“the Garden”) in the manner of the Regency period through the activities of the Friends whose objects are:
a) Promote the community’s interest and pleasure in the Garden as a historic, beautiful, social, and educational asset to the Borough of Gosport.
b) Work with, encourage, support and co-ordinate with Gosport Borough Council (“the Council”) as Owner of the Garden in support of the aim.
c) Encourage and promote the association of the Friends.
d) Carry out works by volunteers or through paid Contractors and pay for services, plants, materials, and other things.
e) Form and foster collaborative and enabling contacts with relevant organisations in order to achieve this end, appointing representatives to them when expedient.
f) Undertake research into the Garden and its context in the local history of the Angleseyville area.
g) Publish and otherwise disseminate information.
h) Provide educational and social events for the Friends and others.
i) Raise funds and otherwise assist in support of the objects.
3. LIMITATIONS.
All activities in relation to the Garden carried out by the Friends to be subject to the consent of the Council as the Owner of the Garden.
4. MEMBERSHIP
a) Membership is open to any individual having an interest in the Garden.
b) The privileges of membership include.
i. Attending and voting at meetings of the Friends
ii. Attending social and educational functions of the Friends.
iii. Receiving Newsletters and other material.
iv. The privileges of membership may only be exercised if a member has paid the current year’s subscription.
c) Membership shall cease if the subscription is more than 12 months in arrears.
d) Honorary members may be appointed at the discretion of the Committee. Honorary members shall not be entitled to vote at meetings, but a person may be a full member in addition to being an honorary member.
5. MEETINGS
a) An Annual General Meeting shall be held in or about February, of each year to receive the Committee’s report and accounts and to elect Officers and members of the Committee.
b) The Committee shall determine the time and place of the meeting giving the members at least two weeks’ notice.
c) A General Meeting of members shall be called at the written request of twenty-five or more members to be held within one month of the request. The request shall state the purpose for which the meeting is to be called. The time and place of the hearing of the meeting shall be determined by the Committee who shall give members at least two weeks’ notice.
6. OFFICERS.
a) The Officers of the Friend shall be a Chairman, Hon. Secretary and Hon. Treasurer who shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting. Nominations for the election of Officers shall be made in writing and signed by a proposer and seconder and contain the consent of the nominee. Nominations shall be delivered to the Hon Secretary not later than noon two days before the Annual General Meeting.
7. COMMITTEE.
a) The Committee shall be responsible for the management and administration of the Friends.
b) It shall comprise of the Officers and up to nine members elected at the Annual General Meeting. Nominations shall be made in the same manner as for the election of Officers (except that nominations may be delivered at the Meeting).
c) It shall hold four minuted meetings a year at which an officer of the Council shall be invited to attend and represent the interests of the Council.
d) It may hold such other meetings as it decides.
e) Four members shall form a quorum.
f) It shall have the power to co-opt further members and to fill any casual vacancy.
g) It may appoint Sub-Committees.
h) It shall set the Annual Subscription payable by members to cover the estimated administrative costs of the Friends.
8. PROCEDURE AT MEETINGS
a) The Chairman shall chair meetings, and in his absence, those present shall elect a chairman.
b) Except where otherwise provided each question shall be determined by a majority of the vote. In the event of equality, the chairman of the meeting shall have an additional and casting vote.
9. FUNDS
a) The Committee shall pay out of the funds of the Friends all proper expenses of the Friends and funds for the furtherance of the aims.
b) The money of the Friends shall be paid into such account(s) as the Committee shall decide from time to time and shall be withdrawn on the authority of the following Officers:
i. one of the Chairman, the Hon. Secretary and Hon. Treasurer for payments by cheque (but not to cash) or bank transfer not exceeding the amount fixed by the Committee from time to time.
ii. two of the Chairman, the Hon. Secretary and Hon. Treasurer for all other payments.
c) A profit and loss account and a balance sheet to the 31st of December shall be drawn each year. The Accounts shall be audited by an auditor elected at the Annual General Meeting in the same manner as for Committee members.
d) If the Friends are dissolved, any surplus funds should be given to the Council for expenditure on the Garden or if not accepted by the Council on such terms to one or more institutions having similar objectives to those of the Friends and approved by a meeting of the Friends.
10. NOTICES
a) Any notice required to be given by this constitution should be deemed to have been duly given if left or sent by pre-paid post to the address last notified by the member to the Committee.
b) Any accidental omission to give notice or the non-receipt of notice by any member shall not invalidate any meeting, resolution or purpose set out in the notice.
11. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION
a) Amendments may be made by a majority of not less than two-thirds of those members attending an Annual General Meeting, or a General Meeting called for such a purpose.
12. DATA PROTECTION ACT
a) By joining the Friends members will be deemed to consent to the holding of relevant personal data by the Friends.
Draft by John Donnelly vl. 14th January 2002.
Amended 20th February 2002 and 25th February 2023
Ratified at AGM February 2002 and February 2023.
The name of the association shall be the Friends of Crescent Garden (“the Friends”).
2. AIMS AND OBJECTS.
The aim of the Friends is to cultivate, evolve and improve Alverstoke Crescent Garden in Hampshire (“the Garden”) in the manner of the Regency period through the activities of the Friends whose objects are:
a) Promote the community’s interest and pleasure in the Garden as a historic, beautiful, social, and educational asset to the Borough of Gosport.
b) Work with, encourage, support and co-ordinate with Gosport Borough Council (“the Council”) as Owner of the Garden in support of the aim.
c) Encourage and promote the association of the Friends.
d) Carry out works by volunteers or through paid Contractors and pay for services, plants, materials, and other things.
e) Form and foster collaborative and enabling contacts with relevant organisations in order to achieve this end, appointing representatives to them when expedient.
f) Undertake research into the Garden and its context in the local history of the Angleseyville area.
g) Publish and otherwise disseminate information.
h) Provide educational and social events for the Friends and others.
i) Raise funds and otherwise assist in support of the objects.
3. LIMITATIONS.
All activities in relation to the Garden carried out by the Friends to be subject to the consent of the Council as the Owner of the Garden.
4. MEMBERSHIP
a) Membership is open to any individual having an interest in the Garden.
b) The privileges of membership include.
i. Attending and voting at meetings of the Friends
ii. Attending social and educational functions of the Friends.
iii. Receiving Newsletters and other material.
iv. The privileges of membership may only be exercised if a member has paid the current year’s subscription.
c) Membership shall cease if the subscription is more than 12 months in arrears.
d) Honorary members may be appointed at the discretion of the Committee. Honorary members shall not be entitled to vote at meetings, but a person may be a full member in addition to being an honorary member.
5. MEETINGS
a) An Annual General Meeting shall be held in or about February, of each year to receive the Committee’s report and accounts and to elect Officers and members of the Committee.
b) The Committee shall determine the time and place of the meeting giving the members at least two weeks’ notice.
c) A General Meeting of members shall be called at the written request of twenty-five or more members to be held within one month of the request. The request shall state the purpose for which the meeting is to be called. The time and place of the hearing of the meeting shall be determined by the Committee who shall give members at least two weeks’ notice.
6. OFFICERS.
a) The Officers of the Friend shall be a Chairman, Hon. Secretary and Hon. Treasurer who shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting. Nominations for the election of Officers shall be made in writing and signed by a proposer and seconder and contain the consent of the nominee. Nominations shall be delivered to the Hon Secretary not later than noon two days before the Annual General Meeting.
7. COMMITTEE.
a) The Committee shall be responsible for the management and administration of the Friends.
b) It shall comprise of the Officers and up to nine members elected at the Annual General Meeting. Nominations shall be made in the same manner as for the election of Officers (except that nominations may be delivered at the Meeting).
c) It shall hold four minuted meetings a year at which an officer of the Council shall be invited to attend and represent the interests of the Council.
d) It may hold such other meetings as it decides.
e) Four members shall form a quorum.
f) It shall have the power to co-opt further members and to fill any casual vacancy.
g) It may appoint Sub-Committees.
h) It shall set the Annual Subscription payable by members to cover the estimated administrative costs of the Friends.
8. PROCEDURE AT MEETINGS
a) The Chairman shall chair meetings, and in his absence, those present shall elect a chairman.
b) Except where otherwise provided each question shall be determined by a majority of the vote. In the event of equality, the chairman of the meeting shall have an additional and casting vote.
9. FUNDS
a) The Committee shall pay out of the funds of the Friends all proper expenses of the Friends and funds for the furtherance of the aims.
b) The money of the Friends shall be paid into such account(s) as the Committee shall decide from time to time and shall be withdrawn on the authority of the following Officers:
i. one of the Chairman, the Hon. Secretary and Hon. Treasurer for payments by cheque (but not to cash) or bank transfer not exceeding the amount fixed by the Committee from time to time.
ii. two of the Chairman, the Hon. Secretary and Hon. Treasurer for all other payments.
c) A profit and loss account and a balance sheet to the 31st of December shall be drawn each year. The Accounts shall be audited by an auditor elected at the Annual General Meeting in the same manner as for Committee members.
d) If the Friends are dissolved, any surplus funds should be given to the Council for expenditure on the Garden or if not accepted by the Council on such terms to one or more institutions having similar objectives to those of the Friends and approved by a meeting of the Friends.
10. NOTICES
a) Any notice required to be given by this constitution should be deemed to have been duly given if left or sent by pre-paid post to the address last notified by the member to the Committee.
b) Any accidental omission to give notice or the non-receipt of notice by any member shall not invalidate any meeting, resolution or purpose set out in the notice.
11. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION
a) Amendments may be made by a majority of not less than two-thirds of those members attending an Annual General Meeting, or a General Meeting called for such a purpose.
12. DATA PROTECTION ACT
a) By joining the Friends members will be deemed to consent to the holding of relevant personal data by the Friends.
Draft by John Donnelly vl. 14th January 2002.
Amended 20th February 2002 and 25th February 2023
Ratified at AGM February 2002 and February 2023.
A History of a Regency Garden
Alverstoke Crescent Garden for “Anglesey Ville”
Alverstoke Crescent garden of 1.36 acres was part of the design by 21-year-old architect Thomas Ellis Owen (1804-1862) for “Anglesey Ville” in 1826. Owen was commissioned by Robert Cruickshank, a notable Gosport entrepreneur (1785-1853) who wanted to create a fashionable new watering place like Brighton.
This Ornamental Garden was laid out for a double Crescent but only the first half was built. Its raised Terrace Walk commanded views of the Isle of Wight and kept out the cattle that grazed between the Garden and the sea. At its centre was a small Neoclassical building: a curved Reading Room with Bath Houses on each side, where warm and cold sea water baths could be taken, often medically prescribed in those days.
Alverstoke Crescent garden of 1.36 acres was part of the design by 21-year-old architect Thomas Ellis Owen (1804-1862) for “Anglesey Ville” in 1826. Owen was commissioned by Robert Cruickshank, a notable Gosport entrepreneur (1785-1853) who wanted to create a fashionable new watering place like Brighton.
This Ornamental Garden was laid out for a double Crescent but only the first half was built. Its raised Terrace Walk commanded views of the Isle of Wight and kept out the cattle that grazed between the Garden and the sea. At its centre was a small Neoclassical building: a curved Reading Room with Bath Houses on each side, where warm and cold sea water baths could be taken, often medically prescribed in those days.
Robert Cruickshank’s vision for “Anglesey Ville”, illustrating the Bath Houses
The water, supplied by the Pump House still to be seen in St. Marks Road, was drawn from Haslar Creek. Residents of Crescent Road rented keys for their use of the Garden, which paid for the gardener, Henry Cooper, who lived under the Reading Room. (Census, 1841 and 1851). The fixed rent of thirty shillings was not enough to meet the rise in labour costs after WW I: in WW II, the iron railings were taken as scrap metal, to make munitions.
By 1949, the Garden had become a wilderness, and Cruickshank’s great granddaughter Pauline handed over its control to the Borough Council, as an open space for the enjoyment of the people of Gosport. (News. 22/6/49) The Reading Room and Bath houses were demolished in 1950.
Crescent Gardens Restoration
In 1989, the Borough Council, working with the Hampshire Garden Trust, and with funding from English Heritage and Hampshire County Council through the Re-Generation of Older Areas Programme, began to reclaim the Garden. The Anthemion-headed railings were re-made and paths were restored and gravelled and the site of the vanished Reading Room and Bath houses.
In 1991 residents formed the Friends of Crescent Garden and Wendy Osborne devised a central planting plan based on a villa garden in the picturesque style by J C Loudon, in the Suburban Gardener and Villa Companion, 1838; Gosport Borough Council then supported this plan. The Friends grew in number and encouraged by the Hampshire Garden Trust and the Garden History Society. The Friends decided that the Garden’s Regency character should be restored with no plants used that were not in this country by 1850.
By 1949, the Garden had become a wilderness, and Cruickshank’s great granddaughter Pauline handed over its control to the Borough Council, as an open space for the enjoyment of the people of Gosport. (News. 22/6/49) The Reading Room and Bath houses were demolished in 1950.
Crescent Gardens Restoration
In 1989, the Borough Council, working with the Hampshire Garden Trust, and with funding from English Heritage and Hampshire County Council through the Re-Generation of Older Areas Programme, began to reclaim the Garden. The Anthemion-headed railings were re-made and paths were restored and gravelled and the site of the vanished Reading Room and Bath houses.
In 1991 residents formed the Friends of Crescent Garden and Wendy Osborne devised a central planting plan based on a villa garden in the picturesque style by J C Loudon, in the Suburban Gardener and Villa Companion, 1838; Gosport Borough Council then supported this plan. The Friends grew in number and encouraged by the Hampshire Garden Trust and the Garden History Society. The Friends decided that the Garden’s Regency character should be restored with no plants used that were not in this country by 1850.
A Regency style seat in Crescent Garden
The Friends began planting in December 1992 and all plants for the garden were carefully researched before planting. Informal curving beds flowed round the shape of the Reading Room, making grassy bays arid inlets. Repton iron baskets at each end of the garden were reminders of the vertical columns that once echoed the pillars of the Crescent building. Seats of an early 19th century design and colour recalled the social relaxation of the Reading Room and were placed around the Bath house area and other parts of the garden. Hampshire County Council gave the larger seats to the garden when the Friends were first founded.
The Garden’s Period Character
The Friends work hard to preserve the historic character of this evocative small Regency Garden, partly because it reflects that of the Crescent opposite, but also because examples of Regency Gardens are comparatively rare – and this pre-Victorian style has a natural informality that has wide appeal to people today.
The Garden is designed to be strolled through and enjoyed at a leisurely pace. The layout of the paths, the placing of the benches, is as it was in the earliest maps of the site. Plants have been carefully researched to ensure that everything you see - trees, flowers, shrubs, and old roses, could have been growing here by 1850. A fountain has been placed in the centre of the Bath House site where patrons used to bathe in sea water baths.
Captain Charles Austen of the Royal Navy, Jane Austen’s younger brother, lived at number 2 Crescent Road and he would certainly have strolled in the Garden with his visiting sister Cassandra. In October 1827 he gave an after-dinner speech at the Anglesey Arms Hotel, in honour of Robert Cruickshank, in which he said: “It is no small gratification to me, to leave those who are dear to me in a neighbourhood where so much good and generous feeling exists”. The goodwill and helpfulness shown by all concerned in the maintenance of this small but significant Regency Garden shows that it still exists today.
Crescent Garden: Regency Character
A natural look is the aim of the garden; this is not a rigorously formal Garden, like the later regimented Victorian Parks where a leaf out of place was a blot on an impeccable landscape, and where an imposed order was imperative for any garden of quality. Leafy scenes, drifts of one colour into another, flowing curves and trailing climbers that imitated glades in New Forest landscapes, were the gardeners’ delight before the young Queen Victoria came to the throne, and Prince Albert made such a virtue of order.
The Garden’s Period Character
The Friends work hard to preserve the historic character of this evocative small Regency Garden, partly because it reflects that of the Crescent opposite, but also because examples of Regency Gardens are comparatively rare – and this pre-Victorian style has a natural informality that has wide appeal to people today.
The Garden is designed to be strolled through and enjoyed at a leisurely pace. The layout of the paths, the placing of the benches, is as it was in the earliest maps of the site. Plants have been carefully researched to ensure that everything you see - trees, flowers, shrubs, and old roses, could have been growing here by 1850. A fountain has been placed in the centre of the Bath House site where patrons used to bathe in sea water baths.
Captain Charles Austen of the Royal Navy, Jane Austen’s younger brother, lived at number 2 Crescent Road and he would certainly have strolled in the Garden with his visiting sister Cassandra. In October 1827 he gave an after-dinner speech at the Anglesey Arms Hotel, in honour of Robert Cruickshank, in which he said: “It is no small gratification to me, to leave those who are dear to me in a neighbourhood where so much good and generous feeling exists”. The goodwill and helpfulness shown by all concerned in the maintenance of this small but significant Regency Garden shows that it still exists today.
Crescent Garden: Regency Character
A natural look is the aim of the garden; this is not a rigorously formal Garden, like the later regimented Victorian Parks where a leaf out of place was a blot on an impeccable landscape, and where an imposed order was imperative for any garden of quality. Leafy scenes, drifts of one colour into another, flowing curves and trailing climbers that imitated glades in New Forest landscapes, were the gardeners’ delight before the young Queen Victoria came to the throne, and Prince Albert made such a virtue of order.
Crescent Garden with the fountain.
A Regency Garden flowed into the surrounding countryside seemingly part of nature itself: while the Victorian parterre garden was unnaturally regimented to impress, contrived in the teeth of Nature. As well as being an ornamental Garden for the double Crescent originally planned, it was a place where convalescents, the elderly and the young could take exercise and the sea air, sheltered from rigours they would face on the seashore itself.
The Reading Room gave the whole a social dimension, now echoed in the larger benches on its site, given by Hampshire County Council when the Friends were founded. It is satisfying to consider how the intention of the architect (Thomas Ellis Owen) has been revived and the same sections of the community benefit from his design today, though on a wider scale.
Acknowledgement: This text is an abridged version of an article by Wendy Osborne on the history of Alverstoke Crescent Garden.
The Reading Room gave the whole a social dimension, now echoed in the larger benches on its site, given by Hampshire County Council when the Friends were founded. It is satisfying to consider how the intention of the architect (Thomas Ellis Owen) has been revived and the same sections of the community benefit from his design today, though on a wider scale.
Acknowledgement: This text is an abridged version of an article by Wendy Osborne on the history of Alverstoke Crescent Garden.
Rules of Anglesey Crescent Gardens in 1930
Poster Defining rules of use of Anglesey Crescent Gardens, c1930.
© 2023 Hampshire Cultural Trust.
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Crescent Garden, Crescent Road, Alverstoke, Gosport, Hampshire PO12 2BB