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Museum of Garden History (also known as The Garden Museum)

Introduction

The Garden Museum explores and celebrates the art, history and design of British gardens and their place in our lives today.

The garden has been laid out on the site of the graveyard associated with the church of St. Mary-at-Lambeth. There is a reproduction 17th-century knot garden laid out by the Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury. The plants featured in the garden would have been available in 17th-century gardens. Features include topiary, with a spiral at the centre of the knot.

The Museum was set up to save an abandoned church and knot garden where gardener John Tradescant was buried. The Museum has 'The Archive of Garden Design' which was opened in 2019 to preserve for posterity and provide access to the working records of the 20th – and 21st -century’s leading British garden designers, together with the writers and photographers who have interpreted their work.

Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts

Access contact details

Open Monday – Sunday

10am – 5pm

Open on bank holidays excluding Christmas Day and Boxing day

Associated People
Features & Designations

Features

  • Church (featured building)
  • Now Museum
  • Description: Edward the Confessor gave the Manor of Lambeth to his sister, Countess Goda, in 1062. She built the first of five churches on the site.
  • Earliest Date:
  • Topiary
  • Hedge
  • Description: Box hedging
  • Rose Border
Key Information

Type

Garden

Purpose

Ornamental

Principal Building

Education

Survival

Extant

Open to the public

Yes