Vauxhall Gardens, later Royal Vauxhall Gardens, was a pleasure garden in the Duddeston area of Aston (now Birmingham), England. It operated from 1758 to 1850. Nothing remains of the gardens today.
The gardens, named after London's Vauxhall Gardens, originated as the grounds of Duddeston Hall, which opened as a public house on 4 June 1758, leased from Sir Lister Holte. At that time, the area was rural, but close to the growing industrial town of Birmingham. The hall was demolished in 1781.
The gardens included statues, a bowling green, and venue for orchestral concerts, with an organ. Other events held there included fairs, firework displays, balloon ascents and cock-fights.
The Grand Junction Railway's original terminus, the first station serving Birmingham, opened nearby in 1837 under the name "Vauxhall station",. This facilitated day-visits by people in outlying towns such as Wolverhampton, Walsall and by the 1840s Lichfield, Burton-upon-Trent, and Dudley.
Some time in the early or mid 1800s, more respectable people stopped attending the gardens and the entertainments changed to include athletic events for monetary prizes.
In 1846, the proprietor was a Mr. Stewart, and the site known as "Royal Vauxhall Gardens"
The gardens were closed with a farewell dinner and ball on 16 September 1850. The ball ended at 6am the following morning, at which time the first tree was symbolically felled. The site was acquired by the Victoria Land Society, a mutual building society.
Despite this, gardens under the same name were operating again in subsequent years, with events advertised, for example, in Aris's Birmingham Gazette in July 1853, under a new proprietor, John Henry Bradshaw.
Nearby, Aston Lower Grounds, another pleasure garden, also now defunct, were opened to the public by Queen Victoria on 16 June 1858.
Just prior to the 1850 closure the gardens were painted in a bird's-eye view by J.L. Pedley.
The gardens are the subject of the poem ', by Ned Farmer, lamenting their impending closure, which was written there on 6 March 1850.