Inventory Site Record

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

Cadogan Place Gardens is a long rectangular site with Pont Street dividing a smaller north section from the main area to the south. The North Garden, formerly called Cadogan Square, was landscaped by Humphry Repton but his work was lost with the installation of the underground car park in 1978. The South Garden used to be the London Botanic Garden and has 300-year old mulberries; in the centre is the Hans Sloane Garden, created for the 2005 Chelsea Flower Show. Both areas are railed with boundary shrubberies enclosing lawns, with clumps of shrubbery and mature trees including London plane and ailanthus. There has been extensive enrichment of trees and shrubs since the late 1970s.

Previous / Other name:

Cadogan Place North and Cadogan Place South

Site location:

Cadogan Place, Sloane Street

Postcode:

SW1X 9PQ

What 3 Words:

gaps.noises.powers

Type of site:

Garden Square

Borough:

Kensington & Chelsea

Open to public?

Occasionally

Opening times:

Has opened for OGSW. Otherwise private, for keyholders only
Has taken part in Open Garden Squares Weekend 7 times, most recently in 2024.

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Public transport:

Tube: Sloane Square (District/Circle), Knightsbridge (Piccadilly). Bus: C1, 19, 22, 137, 452.

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

01/02/2010

Last minor changes:

19/07/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.cadogan.co.uk

Site on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens, for Register Entry see https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England was established in 1984 and was commonly called English Heritage. In April 2015 it split into 2 separate entities, Historic England (HE), which continues to champion and protect the historic environment, and the English Heritage Trust, whose role is to look after the 400+ historic sites and monuments owned by the state. HE manages the National Heritage List for England (NHLE) that includes over 400,000 items ranging from prehistoric monuments to office blocks, battlefields and parks, which benefit from legal protection.

This area was once within the Manor of Chelsea, whose owners included Westminster Abbey and Henry VIII, which was purchased by Hans Sloane in 1712. When Sloane died his estate was divided between his daughters, one of whom, Elizabeth, was married to Charles Cadogan, taking the eastern part, which became the Cadogans' London estate. Cadogan Place was developed along with Sloane Street and Sloane Square on land leased from Lord Cadogan by Henry Holland for his Hans Town development from 1777 onwards. On the east side are terraced houses of the early C19th.

The gardens were not laid out until the early C19th. The North Garden, which used to be called Cadogan Square, was landscaped by Humphry Repton, who was called in by the first Lord Cadogan. Repton completed his work by 1806: 'gently winding paths given variety by excavation of the soil to form small valleys and ridges in the unrealised hope that the gardens might have the overflow of the Serpentine as a stream or lake' (EH Register). Repton's undulating contour plan has been eroded by later alteration; further development of the gardens took place post 1874 and again from 1978 after the underground car park was made underneath this northern section, although this enabled comparable mounding and 'valley' effects to be recreated.

The South Garden used to be the London Botanic Garden, and the 300-year-old mulberry trees on the south lawn are thought to have been grown for the silk trade; an interesting mixed border is now planted opposite the mulberries. Cadogan Place Gardens is a long rectangular site bounded by Sloane Street to the west; Pont Street divides the smaller northern section from the main area to the south. Both areas are railed with boundary shrubberies enclosing lawns, with clumps of shrubbery and mature trees including London plane and ailanthus.

There has been extensive enrichment of trees and shrubs since the late 1970s, the gardens now have catalpa, ginkgo, redwood, maples, various flowering cherries, hydrangea, laburnum, vibernum. On the east side of the South Garden, a walk running the length of the garden is being developed for spring interest, along with a fern garden. Near the tennis courts, a water garden is partially hidden by black bamboo and willows, while the centre south garden displays the Hans Sloane Garden, created for the 2005 Chelsea Flower Show. A bronze sculpture by David Wynne of c.1980 has been erected in the North Garden. Dickens describes Cadogan Place in 'Nicholas Nickleby' as the connecting link between the aristocratic pavements of Belgrave Square and the barbarism of Chelsea. Dorothy Jordan (1762-1816), actress, lived at Nno. 30, and William Wilberforce (1759-1833), opponent of slavery, lived at No. 44.

Sources consulted:

EH Register: Country Life, 13 November 1986, pp1492-94 (describing planting); G Carter, P Goode, K Laurie, 'Humphry Repton', 1982, pp156-7; E Cecil, 'London Parks and Gardens', 1907, p239-240; J Harpur 'The Gardener's Garden', 1985; E Hyams, 'Capability Brown and Humphry Repton', 1971, p183. Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner, 'The Buildings of England London 3: North West' (Penguin, 1999 ed); RBKC Hans Town Conservation Area Proposals Statement, 2000

Grid ref:

TQ279791 (527960,179050)

Size in hectares:

3.5

Site ownership:

The Cadogan Estate

Site management:

The Cadogan Estate

Date(s):

early C19th; later C19th post 1874; 1970s on

Designer(s):

Humphry Repton (c.1806)

Listed structures:

LBII: Nos 21-69; 70-90 Cadogan Place; 2 bollards outside 70 Cadogan Place

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

Yes

NHLE grade:

Grade II

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

Yes

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

Yes

Conservation Area name:

Hans Town

Tree Preservation Order:

Not known

Nature Conservation Area:

No

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

None

Photo: Diana Jarvis

Click a photo to enlarge.