Rosherville Gardens Bear Pit

DATE: circa 1837 bear pit with dens.

MATERIALS: brick with slate floor.

PLAN: circular structure about 6.5 meters in diameter and 2 meters deep with four rectangular rooms of varying sizes leading off to the north-east. The bear pit is currently (2013) infilled with earth and not visible above ground.

EXTERIOR: the bear pit is a circular brick structure originally open to the elements retaining its original round-headed entrance to the south-west for the bears to enter the pit. The base of the pit retains its original slate floor. The outside and inside of the pit still bear the original white paint. A semi-circular brick and chalk passage connects from the south-west entrance to the series of brick individual rooms to the north-east which were originally located underneath the main walkway in Rosherville Gardens. On the outside wall of the bear pit towards the north-east side is a pulley wheel attached by a bracket to the wall which may have been part of the door opening mechanism or used for chaining the bear. Rooms 1 and 2 retain some of the springing of the semi-circular roof vaults but the remaining parts of the roofs were removed to prevent voids when the area was levelled in 1939.

MAPPING: the mapped area is intended solely to identify the location of the bear pit, but not the plan and extent of the buried structure which also includes four attached chambers or dens.