Click on Image to zoom
RIVERSIDE HOLIDAY RESORT
WHERE DOES THE NAME CREMORNE, COME FROM?
It is a question that we have been asked on so many occasions but up until early 2002 we had no idea other than it was named Cremorne by the above mentioned captain Sidney Turner who came to South Africa in 1864 and is buried in the grounds of Cremorne.
Thanks to Clive and Edith Dennison of Pietermaritzburg the mystery has now been solved. This is an excerpt from a historical book sent to us by Clive and Edith.
In the 18th century there had been a number of public gardens in London where people went to amuse themselves in the afternoons and evenings. Vauxhall and Ranleigh were the most famous, but gradually their popularity declined until in 1850 only two were left, Royal Cremorne at Chelsea and Rosherville Gardens at Gravesend, by an early slogan known as The Place to Spend a Happy Day. All sorts of displays were given; there were fireworks, military tournaments, balloon ascents, dancing marionettes and a host of other amusements.
Cremorne had originally been the private garden of Lord Cremornes riverside house and right up to the end it was a pleasant rural looking place full of green lawns, trees and flowers, but in time it became extremely rowdy, quieter people were afraid to go there because of the noise and vulgarity of the crowds and there were constant complains from local residents about the nightly uproar and disturbances. As a result, partly because of these complaints and partly because of a shocking accident in 1874 when a balloonist was killed, Royal Cremorne was closed in 1877. Today no traces of the original gardens remain, and the area is covered by houses and streets and is now know as Chelsea. The only remaining evidence are a few streets bearing the name Cremorne
We estimate that Sidney Turner settled on this piece of land next to the Umzimvubu River around 1880, and assume that he heard of the closing of Cremorne Gardens in London and felt that this piece of land resembled his childhood memories of Cremorne and therefore decided to use the name here.
© 2009 Cremorne
