Ranelagh

Ranelagh, a building erected in 1742 on the gardens of the last Earl of Ranelagh at Chelsea, had a rotunda 150 feet in diameter, with an orchestra in the centre and tiers of boxes all round. The chief amusement, promenading round and round the area below and taking refreshments in the boxes, the orchestra performing meanwhile, is often alluded to by Smollett, Johnson, and Walpole. Its older rival, Vanxhall (q.v.), survived it, for it was closed in 1803, and built upon the next year. Its site is now part of the Chelsea Hospital garden.—The name of RANELAGH, North and South, is given to two southern suburbs of Dublin.