So, is this one of the secret underground passages?

You know the fenced off building site area in the Pavilion Gardens, right? Now this is not explained or signposted… but if you sneak a look and peek through the fencing, just to the left of the entrance to Brighton Museum, you’ll see they’ve dug a large, long trench which seems to uncover a huge pipe-shaped (roof-shaped?) thing, running directly towards the Royal Pavilion.

Here’s a photograph of the trench, which I took through the railings, in a gap in the green building site cloth.

So what on earth is that, just underneath the surface? I reckon it’s a very rare glimpse from above ground of one of the Royal Pavilion’s infamous secret underground tunnels, which has been exposed as they do repair work, either on the pipework around it, or on the roof of the tunnel itself. This looks way too big to be a sewage pipe or just housing for cables; in fact it looks a perfect size for human beings doing some sneaking from one building to another. Given George IV’s surreptitious history, anyway.

No, I haven’t actually asked anyone; I don’t want to spoilt the mystery with the truth, if it turns out to be a boring cellar or full of poo.

But if you make it down to the Pavilion Gardens while this building work is still ongoing, before they cover everything up again, take a peak through the fencing and judge for yourself: perhaps we’re the first people to ever see that bit of secret passageway roof, since it was built.

Chris T-T, Blogger in Residence

Favourites from the Royal Pavilion Gardens — Budleja globosa, The Orange Ball Tree

Buddleja Globosa

Buddleja Globosa is also refered to as the Orange Ball Tree.

It was first introduced to the UK from Chile in 1774 and has established itself as a frost hardy plant. This species was first named under the genus Hopea after the Scottish botanist John Hope.

Buddleja globosa is a large semi-evergreen shrub. It is the only Buddleja to bear alternate dark green leaves that are oval with a short point to them. The orange / yellow cluster-like flowers give off a honey-like scent and give the plant an architectural shape with its globose heads.

Buddleja Globosa

In the Royal Pavillion Gardens it can be seen being used as an ornamental landscaping plant in the shaded corners of the Gardens, and in the borders along the paths.

It also serves the puropse of being beneficial to many species of birds as well as butterflies, bees and other insects making use of its nectar.

Maria, Volunteer Gardener, Royal Pavilion Gardens

Set for a King

Beginning as a circular rented lawn in front of the Steine, the gardens of the Royal Pavilion eventually comprised over seven acres of grounds. The changes to these grounds reflected the life and fortunes of George IV as Prince of Wales, Prince Regent, and King. The site continued to respond to changing fashions long after it passed out of Royal ownership in 1850.

West View of the Pavilion from Views of the Royal Pavilion, John Nash, 1826

The Development of the Garden

Repton was succeeded by John Nash in the Prince’s affections. Nash is better-known as an architect rather than a landscape gardener, but both he and Repton saw buildings and landscape as a picturesque whole. Nash was no horticulturalist, and he was assisted in his plans for the Pavilion grounds by William Townsend Aiton, royal gardener and founder of the Royal Horticultural Society.

When finally developed in the 1820s, the plans provided a picturesque setting for Nash’s Pavilion. The aim was a succession of interesting views of the buildings skyline from the carriage drives combined with forest lawn scenery in the landscaped park. The latter took ideas from the form and groupings of forest plantations, adapting them to make irregular shrubberies projected into the lawns, forming a series of changing patterns as one approached the building.

The landscape was also meant to be viewed from the Pavilion itself. With its rows of windows opening directly on to the lawn, George’s palace resembled an overblown garden building looking out on a landscape which we take for granted, but which was then highly innovative: a combination of trees, shrubs and plants, arranged to provide year-round interest. The idea was to recreate in the garden, in an extremely sophisticated way, the accidental effects of the countryside.

Royal Pavilion Gardens

After the Pavilion was sold, new paths and seats were provided and the grounds used for Victorian promenading. Fashionable bedded-out plants in garish colours were placed in borders. A tarmac road led to the front of the Pavilion. In 1984 work started on the restoration of the grounds so that they resembled the plan in Nash’s Views of the Royal Pavilion. The work was substantially completed by 1995.