Gardens, ROTHERHITHE, St Helena Tavern and Gardens, white metal Sixpence by W.J. Taylor, archway leading to garden, building in background, st helena tavern on archway, dinners dress’d, tea gardens on pillars, rotherhithe in exergue, rev. refreshment to the value of sixpence within wreath, 38mm, 17.34g (W 1341; Hayes 191; D & W 81/259; cf. Todd 1320). Light tin pest, otherwise very fine and very rare £50-£70

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Tickets and Passes of London from the David Young Collection.

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Provenance: Bt Baldwin December 1990.

The gardens associated with the St Helena tavern opened in 1770 and later became popular with the dockyard population of the neighbourhood, but it had closed by the end of the 1860s. Re-opened by Messrs. William and John Carter in 1874, admission was fixed at sixpence – almost certainly the metal tokens by Taylor were struck at that time. The gardens finally closed in 1881 and the site built over