CREMORNE GARDENS

cremorne gardens, formerly a popular resort by the side of the thames in chelsea, london, england. originally the property of the earl of huntingdon (c. 1750), father of steele's "aspasia," who built a mansion here, the property passed through various hands into those of thomas dawson, baron dartrey and viscount cremorne (1725-1813), who greatly beautified it. it was subsequently sold and converted into a proprietary place of entertainment, being popular as such from 1845 to 1877. it never, however, acquired the fashionable fame of vauxhall, and finally became so great an annoyance to residents in the neighbourhood that a renewal of its licence was refused; and the site of the gardens was soon built over. the name survives in cremorne road. crenelle (an o. fr. word for "notch," mod. _creneau_; the origin is obscure; cf. "cranny"), a term generally considered to mean an embrasure of a battlement, but really applying to the whole system of defence by battlements. in medieval times no one could "crenellate" a building without special licence from his supreme lord.