i 3 4 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 
an island by means of the dock canal, made in 1800. 
A quotation from a play of Middleton and Dekker, 
in 1611, shows that then, at any rate, it was associated 
with actual dogs. 
“ Moll 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 ^200, and by a trust-deed dated 
1690 conveyed the land to trustees, to be administered 
