134 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



an island by means of the dock canal, made in 1800. 

 A quotation from a play of Middleton and Dekker, 

 in 161 1, shows that then, at any rate, it was associated 

 with actual dogs. 



''Mo// Cutpurse : O Sir, he hath been brought 

 up in the Isle of Dogs, and can both fawn like a 

 spaniel and bite like a mastiff, as he finds occasion." 



The ground in those days and until much later 

 times was a fertile marsh, subject to frequent inunda- 

 tions, but affording very rich pasture. Breaches in the 

 embankment occurred at intervals until a solid pile and 

 brick wall was made in the last century, above which 

 the "Island Gardens" were laid. 



Further along the north bank of the river there is 

 another and a larger garden, kept up by the London 

 County Council, although it is in East Ham and not 

 within the County of London. This was made on 

 the site of the North Woolwich Tea Gardens, which 

 enjoyed a kind of popularity for some fifty years. 

 Having been started in 1851, they kept up their repu- 

 tation for '* Baby Shows," " Beard Shows," and such- 

 like attractions, until the ground became too valuable 

 for building, and too heavily rated for them to exist, 

 and, but for timely interference, this open space would 

 have been converted into wharves. 



The story of the Bethnal Green Gardens is very 

 different. Although it was only in 1891 that the 

 present arrangements with regard to keeping up the 

 Gardens were established, the 15^ acres of which they 

 form part has a long history. As far back as 1667 

 the land was purchased by a group of residents, who 

 collectively suscribed £100^ and by a trust-deed dated 

 1690 conveyed the land to trustees, to be administered 



