Garden Museum facts for kids
The Garden Museum in London is a really cool place! It's the only museum in Britain that focuses on the art, history, and design of gardens. The museum had a big makeover and reopened in 2017.
The museum is actually inside an old church called St Mary-at-Lambeth. This church was mostly rebuilt during the Victorian times. It's right next to Lambeth Palace on the south side of the River Thames in London. In 1972, the church was no longer used and was almost torn down. But in 1976, a couple named John and Rosemary Nicholson discovered the tombs of two famous 17th-century gardeners, John Tradescant the Elder and his son, in the churchyard. This inspired them to save the church and create the world's first museum about gardening history!
The main part of the museum is on the first floor, where the church's main area used to be. You can see old gardening tools, art, and other items related to gardens. There's even a special area that looks like Tradescant's 17th-century "Ark" – a collection of amazing things he found. The museum shows how gardening has changed over time and how it connects to people's lives. There are also three temporary exhibits that change every six months, showing different parts of plants and gardens. As part of the 2017 makeover, two new gardens were added: the Sackler Garden, designed by Dan Pearson, and the museum's front garden, designed by Christopher Bradley-Hole.
Since 2006, Christopher Woodward has been the director of the Garden Museum.
Contents
How the Museum Grew
The Garden Museum is a charity, which means it doesn't get money from the government. It relies on donations from supporters and income from tickets and events. In 2002, for its 25th birthday, the museum started a campaign to raise money for improvements.
First Big Changes (2008)
In 2008, the museum's inside was completely changed to create new spaces for exhibitions and events. This work was designed by Dow Jones Architects. The museum, now called the Garden Museum, reopened on November 18, 2008.
Second Big Changes (2015–2017)
From 2015 to 2017, the museum had a second phase of work to finish restoring the old church and turn it into an even better museum. In 2014, the museum received a large grant of over £3.5 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The newly improved museum reopened in 2017 with more galleries and spaces for learning and events. This design, also by Dow Jones Architects, won awards.
This second phase doubled the space for showing the museum's permanent collection, as 95% of it was stored away before. It also created more room for schools and community projects, plus a bigger cafe and better visitor services. A main goal was to create the country's first public archive of garden and landscape design. The museum now also has a recreated "Tradescant's Ark" thanks to objects loaned from the Ashmolean Museum. These items were originally part of Tradescant's own collection.
The makeover also added a viewing platform to the medieval tower. This means visitors can now climb the tower and enjoy amazing views across the Thames towards Westminster for the first time!
In 2020, Dan Pearson designed a new courtyard garden for the museum. He got his ideas from modern-day explorers and collectors, much like the Tradescants were in their time.
About St Mary-at-Lambeth Church
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The Garden Museum is located in the old church of St Mary-at-Lambeth. The first church on this spot was built even before the Norman Conquest in 1066! It was an important religious center for the Archbishops of Canterbury starting in the 12th century. The church stopped being used in 1972 and was saved from being torn down by the museum's founder, Rosemary Nicholson. The museum opened in 1977, and the churchyard was redesigned as a garden.
This church is the oldest building in the London Borough of Lambeth, except for the crypt of Lambeth Palace. It has a rich history, with burials and monuments that tell stories from 950 years of the community.
Around 1062, a wooden church was built here by Goda, who was the sister of Edward the Confessor. The Domesday Book of 1086 mentions 29 homes in her area. Later, it was rebuilt as a stone church. It was very grand in the 12th century, serving as the church for the Archbishops' London home next door.
The stone tower of the church was built in 1377. It was repaired in 1834–1835 but is still mostly original. Visitors can climb the tower for views across London. The main part of the church was rebuilt and improved over many centuries. In 1851–1852, the aisles and nave (the main body of the church) were rebuilt by Philip Charles Hardwick, an architect known for banks and railway stations. This was almost a complete rebuild of the old church. Some interesting parts that survived are four of the eight decorative supports in the ceiling of the nave, which are a mix of medieval and Victorian styles.
Around 1900, a special font for full-body baptisms was added at the base of the tower. This is one of only two such examples in Anglican churches in England.
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During World War II, the stained glass windows were badly damaged by bombs. In the 1950s, they were replaced with plain glass or new panels, including a copy of the famous "Pedlar's Window." The bombs also broke the altar, which was given by Sir Henry Doulton in 1888 to remember his wife. His ceramic factory was nearby.
In 1972, the church was no longer needed because it was in poor condition and the local population had moved away from the riverside area. In 1969, Lambeth Council made the area around Lambeth Palace one of its first conservation areas, meaning it would be protected.
Soon after, the altar, bells, and pews were removed, and the church was set to be demolished. But in 1976, Rosemary Nicholson visited to see the tomb of John Tradescant the Elder and was shocked to find the church boarded up. She started the Tradescant Trust, which was given a 99-year lease for the church. Saving and repairing the church became a famous project in architectural conservation, and the church became the museum we see today.
Churchyard and Burials
The churchyard was used for burials until 1854, and it's estimated that over 26,000 people are buried there! Many important people chose to be buried here, especially inside the church. These include the tombs of Hugh Peyntwyn (died 1504) and John Mompesson (died 1524), which are unique examples of a new type of wall monument from that time. The Garden Museum is special because it has two of these monuments.
The church also used to hold the tombs of many members of the Howard family from the 15th and 16th centuries. Anne Boleyn's mother, Elizabeth Boleyn (died 1538), was also buried here. Elias Ashmole (who helped start the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford) was buried in the church in 1692. Later, the famous singer Nancy Storace was also buried inside.
Outside in the churchyard, you can find the burials of John Sealy from the Coade Stone Manufactory and Vice-Admiral Bligh of Bounty fame. The churchyard is special because it has Grade II* listed tombs (meaning they are very important historical structures) for the Tradescants, Sealy, and Bligh. Lambeth grew quickly in the 1800s, and about 15,900 burials happened in the two decades after 1790. The churchyard was made bigger in 1814 but was closed in 1854, like many other city churchyards at that time.
The Tradescants' Tomb
Five members of the Tradescant family are buried here: John Tradescant the Elder; John Tradescant the Younger with his two wives, Jane and Hester; and his son, also named John, who died at 19. The original design for the tomb from the 1600s can be seen in the Pepys Library in Cambridge, and a picture of it is also at the National Portrait Gallery.
The tomb you see today is the third one on the Tradescant grave site, and it looks just like the original design. It was restored in 1853 with money from public donations.
On the east side of the tomb, you can see the family's coat of arms. On the west side, there's a skull and a seven-headed hydra (a mythical monster). The south side shows broken columns, fancy capitals, a pyramid, and ruins. On the north side, there are shells, a crocodile, and a view of some Egyptian buildings.
The poem on top of the tomb was written by Tradescant's friend, John Aubrey:
- Know, stranger, ere thou pass, beneath this stone
- Lie John Tradescant, grandsire, father, son
- The last dy'd in his spring, the other two,
- Liv'd till they had travelled Art and Nature through,
- As by their choice Collections may appear,
- Of what is rare in land, in sea, in air,
- Whilst they (as Homer's Iliad in a nut)
- A world of wonders in one closet shut,
- These famous Antiquarians that had been
- Both Gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen,
- Transplanted now themselves, sleep here & when
- Angels shall with their trumpets waken men,
- And fire shall purge the world, these three shall rise
- And change this Garden then for Paradise.
There's a local legend in Lambeth that says if you dance around the tomb twelve times while Big Ben strikes midnight, a ghost will appear!
Coffins Found During Renovation
During the renovation work in 2016, workers found a hidden vault with 30 coffins inside. These included the coffins of five Archbishops of Canterbury, who are important leaders of the Church of England. Among them were: Richard Bancroft (who helped with the King James Bible), John Moore, Frederick Cornwallis, Matthew Hutton, and Thomas Tenison. They also identified Catherine Moore, John Moore's wife, and John Bettesworth, a church official.
Images for kids
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The entrance to the Garden Museum.
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A part of the museum's permanent gallery.
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One of the temporary exhibition spaces.
