Left: The Queen Mother opens the Tradescant Garden 1983
Right: Mrs Rosemary Nicholson MBE, Co-founder of the Museum of Garden History
A History of the Museum
The Museum is housed in the former church of St Mary-at-Lambeth.
This lies adjacent to Lambeth Palace on the banks of the Thames, and almost opposite the Houses of Parliament. The first of the five successive churches on the same site was built in 1062 by the Countess Goda, sister of Edward the Confessor. The tower of the church is 14th century but the rest of the building is 19th century, rebuilt by Philip Charles Hardwick.
The Birth of the Museum
In 1972, after 910 years as the parish church of Lambeth, St Mary's was deconsecrated and became increasingly derelict. By 1976 plans had been made for its demolition. But in the same year John and Rosemary Nicholson visited the churchyard and sought support to turn the church building and its surroundings into a Museum of Garden History. They drew attention to the fact that the church was on the route of the walkway to be built to celebrate H.M.The Queen's Silver Jubilee and eventually persuaded the Church Commissioners and the Borough of Lambeth of their determination, saving St Mary's from destruction with just 5 days before the demolition order was served.
In 1977 the Tradescant Trust was formed, with Sir David Piper, Director of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, as its first trustee. The Trust was able to secure a 99-year lease from the Church Commissioners with the aim to create the world's first Museum of Garden History. Within three years enough money had been raised to provide a roof for the church, clean the building inside and out and clear out the churchyard - making accessible once more, among other things, the graves of Bligh of the Bounty and the Tradescants. By 1981 the Museum was ready for its first exhibition, which celebrated the 350th anniversary of Captain John Smith. Later that year, work began on restoring the church's 14th century tower. In 1983, H.M. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother opened the garden.
When the Tradescant Trust took over the lease of St Mary-at-Lambeth, the building was a near ruin. The internal and external restoration has been completed, largely by voluntary contributions. A £3 million Appeal was launched by our Patron, H.R.H. The Prince of Wales in 1989 for the completion of the Museum. The daily running of the Museum is managed from voluntary contributions.
The Ark
In 1993, the Museum acquired the freehold of the former St. Mary's Infant School, 220 Lambeth Road, a listed Victorian building built in 1880 near to the Church. It was renamed The Ark, in honour of the Lambeth home of John Tradescant, and provided much-needed additional space to house the Museum's growing archive, library and reserve tool collection. It also provided facilities for our educational courses, lectures, plant fairs as well as generating income from hire events. In 1995 a garden was created in the former asphalt playground with the generous support of Haddonstone and the Museum's friends.
Above and below : The Ark garden created in 1995 featured a lily pool, arbours and mosaics
Events at The Ark. Below left : The Marchioness of Salisbury (centre) at the Museum's 20th anniversary party 1997. Below right : Autumn Cornucopia Fair 1997, display by Stephen Crisp
The Infant School's first Head Mistress, Mercy Weller, has a memorial Doulton plaque in the Museum made by George Tinworth. She died in her rooms at the school and it is claimed that it is her ghost that haunts the building.
The Ark was sold by the Museum's Directors in 2005.
