Vauxhall, a public garden in London, opened immediately after the Restoration (May 1660), and closed on 25th July 1859, the site being sold for building purposes. It was situated in Lambeth, opposite Millbank, and near the manor called
Fulke's Hall (the residence of Falkes de Breauté, a follower of King John), from which is derived its name. Pepys, writing May 28, 1667, describes the garden and its entertainments as 'nighty diverting.' But the eating, drinking, dancing, and flirtation that continually went on there led also to much quarrelling and dissipation. The loose character of the amusements it afforded is freely sketched by the dramatists and novelists of the 18th century, and is again revived in Thackeray's Vanity Fair. In 1823 the total number of visitors was 133,279, and on the one night of 2d August 1833, 20,137 (both maximum figures).