Overview
The Garden Museum occupies the former church of St Mary-at-Lambeth beside Lambeth Palace. Founded around the rediscovered tombs of John Tradescant and his son, it explains British gardening through tools, paintings, designs and the lives of gardeners.
What this place is
The museum joins a national gardening collection to a medieval parish church and its historic churchyard.
People and events
John and John Tradescant collected plants for royal and private gardens; Rosemary and John Nicholson founded the museum after finding their tomb.
How it was used
St Mary served its parish for centuries, while the museum now uses the church for exhibitions, research and teaching about cultivated land.
What survives
The church tower, rebuilt nave, Tradescant tomb, seventeenth-century Ark collection links, gardening tools and design papers remain.
Why it mattered
The site preserves both an old Lambeth landmark and the history of people whose plant collecting reshaped British gardens.
History checked 16 August 2026 against the named sources below.
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