Angleseyville in 1831: ‘Such
an Enchanting Spot’.
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This carefully
researched print
shows Robert
Cruickshank’s
vision of an
elegant resort
on the Solent
springing into
life. It is the
bright morning
of the
enterprise;
everything bids
fair for its
success, and the
reputation of
its young
architect,
Thomas Ellis
Owen, is
becoming solidly
established.
The new Anglesey
Crescent is a
scene of
bustling
activity. Henry
Cooper, the
gardener who
lives under the
Reading Room,
digs in the
Ornamental
Garden, which is
much loved by
key-holding
families and
their dogs.
New
residents
strolling along
the Garden’s
Terrace Walk
enjoy the
panorama of
shipping on the
Solent, and a
young honeymoon
couple, staying
at the Anglesey
Arms hotel,
drive out in a
small carriage
from the hotel’s
livery stable. |
A one-legged
sailor, parrot on shoulder,
has come on hard times; and
a Ratcatcher is seeing off
unwanted inhabitants.
Elegant visitors, down for a
Summer season, show off the
latest fashions: big padded
sleeves and pretty bonnets.
The great Haslar Naval
Hospital (the biggest and
the best in Europe) and the
nearby Dockyard mean there
are always Naval families
about. Captain Charles
Austen has taken one of the
villas beyond the Crescent;
he’s helping to organise a
Regatta in Stokes Bay
shortly.
In an advertisement in the
Hampshire Telegraph for the
6th June 1831, Manageress MA
Young extols the facilities
of the Anglesey Arms Hotel:-
“Numerous Families have
already visited this
interesting spot, in proof
of the salubrity of the air,
of the delightful scenery,
extensive land and sea views
and the accommodation
afforded both to the Invalid
and the Traveller. The
drives in the immediate
vicinity are not to be
equalled.
Warm and Cold Baths, with an
elegant Reading Room
adjoining, situate on a
beautiful Promenade; also
Machine Baths, on the clear
and delightful beach of
Stokes Bay, immediately
opposite Ryde.
The Carriage and Stabling
Departments are greatly
enlarged.
Steam Packets from the
Harbour of Portsmouth, which
is only a short distance
from Anglesey, to
Southampton and all parts of
the Isle of Wight several
times a day; also to
Plymouth twice a week, and
to Jersey, Guernsey and
France. Coaches to
Southampton, London, and the
West of England daily. “
The print is available in a
limited edition of 250,
unframed, price £40. It can
be framed by Richard Martin
to match his framing for the
previous print (which was
somewhat smaller.) If you
would like one, please ring
92-586403 asap.
Newsletter Autumn 2010
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