A unique institution is located within a 13th-century church on the banks of the Thames in Lambeth: the Garden Museum. This deconsecrated medieval Church of St Mary-at-Lambeth has been restored as Britain’s only museum dedicated to the art, history, and design of gardens.
The story of the Garden Museum began in 1976 when John and Rosemary Nicholson discovered that the neglected churchyard of St Mary-at-Lambeth housed the tomb of the renowned 17th-century royal gardeners and plant hunters John Tradescant the Elder and the Younger. The church, slated for demolition after its deconsecration in 1972, was rescued from oblivion when the Nicholsons opened the world’s first museum of garden history in 1977.
The museum’s collections offer a glimpse into the social history of gardening, from the practical to the kitsch and twee. Tools, art, and specimens sit alongside vintage slug-repellent tins, garden gnomes, and plastic flamingos as the museum aims to capture every aspect of gardens and gardening and provide a diverse tapestry of horticultural history. Some of the most curious artifacts include a plant pot made from a German Howitzer shell by First World War soldiers for use in a garden they had established in their trench, a miniature pot of tulips created for Queen Mary’s Doll House, and a gnome of former prime minister Tony Blair.
A highlight of the museum is the recreation of The Tradescant Ark. The museum’s Tradescant Ark Gallery provides a taste of England’s first public museum. The original “Ark,” belonging to the Tradescants, father and son, was housed nearby and showcased a remarkable collection of natural curiosities and cultural artifacts to its 17th-century visitors.
These pioneering naturalists and collectors, serving as gardeners to King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria, traveled extensively, gathering not only plants for the royal gardens but also a fascinating array of craft, creatures, and crystals. Their travels took the gardeners across Europe and Russia to North Africa, while John the Younger even journeyed to Virginia, collecting specimens from the New World.
The recreated gallery, with its dark wood cabinets meticulously reconstructed based on historical descriptions, evokes the spirit of the original Ark. Inside, visitors can marvel at a fascinating, sometimes unsettling, assortment of taxidermied animals, gleaming crystals, shimmering shells, and crafts from around the globe. While not all original items survive, the gallery showcases objects similar to those that would have been present, offering insights into the Tradescants’ 17th-century worldview.
The accompanying labels reveal the blend of scientific observation and imaginative storytelling that characterized the era. For example, the display of the Barometz, or ‘Vegetable Lamb’, in fact, a collection of carefully arranged fern roots, highlights the 17th-century belief that there was a species of sheep that grew on a stalk, consuming surrounding vegetation before dying. The Tradescant collection was ultimately passed to Elias Ashmole, a friend of the family, who donated it to Oxford University, helping to establish the Ashmolean Museum.
One of the museum’s two gardens contains the incredibly elaborate tombs of the Tradescants and Captain William Bligh, who was set adrift during the mutiny on the Bounty.
A 131-step ascent of the building’s medieval church tower rewards visitors with a breathtaking panoramic view of the surrounding area, including a unique perspective of The Palace of Westminster across the Thames and of the museum’s neighbor, Lambeth Palace.
