We began work with students in Ebbsfleet Academy exploring and researching the owners of Rosherville Pleasure Gardens over the years. This was quickly followed by a historical walk, led by local historian, Christoph Bull, via video link for the group to learn from his vast knowledge about the gardens, the people who worked there and what the surrounding local area looked like during Victorian times.

The group decided they wanted to create a theatre piece about the various owners/managers/workers of the gardens and this very soon turned into developing ideas for walkabout characters. An opportunity for audiences at the event to ‘meet’ people from Rosherville past. Lots of work then went into researching, developing ideas and writing short monologues ready for local actors to step into the shoes of these colourful characters from our history.

The final step was for Blueprint Arts Director to take all of the young people’s ideas and writing to a rehearsal with our actors to develop the pieces and bring them to life. 

Please do look out for our Victorian walkabout characters at the event and enjoy some interactions with them as they teach you more about the past of Rosherville Pleasure Gardens.

Meet George Jones who will tell you all about his vision for Rosherville Gardens but may get a little confused about why he can no longer find parts of the gardens…

George Jones had the original vision for the gardens in a disused chalk pit, in 1837 and formed ‘Kent Zoological and Botanical Gardens Company’ and this company leased the site for 99 years. The pit was owned by Jeremiah Rosher, hence Rosherville. George originally created a botanical gardens for scientific research and the vision to attract well-to-do Victorian gentry from London. This didn’t quite pan out and it wasn’t long before George realised offering entertainment was much more lucrative. Over the years there were exotic animals, a maze, a bear pit, vast Italian Gardens, circus acts, theatre acts, regular fireworks shows and many other forms of entertainment. George Jones was formidable and would not waiver from his vision for the gardens often taking trustees who disagreed with him to court and always winning until finally he became sole proprietor. He died in 1872 and he was still managing the gardens until his death.

Meet John Blake, the gardener. Loves his trees, shrubs and plants and treats them like they were his children. If you’re lucky he will even show you how to plant a seed for you to take home.

Throughout the history of the gardens there were many teams of gardeners and a number of notable Head Gardeners. John ‘Old Blake’ was ‘bent nearly to right angles by the toil of years tending to flower beds’. Whilst he wasn’t a head gardener he was remembered fondly enough to have been written about and was quite the character, absolute sweetness and light to the guests but would shout at the younger gardeners and it’s said the animals often got involved in the shouting, creating quite the din. 

Whilst it is unlikely George Jones and Old Blake conversed in real life, we thought they would make a great pairing for some walkabout characters.

Meet the John Nathaniel Willis’ junior and senior, they want you to have ‘FUN’ and will take any means necessary to ensure the Salvation Army don’t arrive and encourage more civilised behaviour… People being good and staying home doesn’t line their pockets…

John Nathaniel Willis Junior was M.C. of Rosherville Gardens from 1875 to 1891. He and his dad were not quite as respectable as George Jones and this was also reflected in visitors who began to frequent the gardens, they were of a ‘lower social standing’. The Willis’ were ringleaders of a mob that attacked the Salvation Army when they came to Gravesend. Junior was somewhat more respectable than his dad, mayor twice and owed a photographic studio and his Dad kept the archery ground for many years but was also in and out of court for domestic violence, brawling and cruelty to animals. What a pair! We have based our walkabout performance on their run in with the Salvation Army and imagined the stories they may have told their friends about what ‘really’ happened.

We would like to offer a huge thank you to Christoph Bull for sharing his knowledge in historical walks and additional consultation and Lynda Smith who wrote a short history about Rosherville Gardens in her book ‘The Place to Spend a Happy Day’, without both of these wonderful local historians we really would have struggled to piece together our characters.