The Museum’s garden was created in 1980.  At its heart is a knot garden designed by the Museum’s President, The Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury, who was at the time also re-making the gardens at Hatfield House. The reason for the seventeenth-century spirit of the design is that our garden also houses the tomb of the great plant-hunters, gardeners and collectors, John Tradescant the Elder (c.1570-1638) and Younger (1608-1662). The rediscovery of these tombs inspired the creation of the Museum in the deconsecrated and derelict church of St Mary-at-Lambeth.

The knot garden and its surrounds are planted with species introduced by the Tradescants, such as the scarlet runner bean, red maple and tulip tree which they grew in their Lambeth garden. It is not only historically significant but also a lush and beautiful spot in the centre of London, cared for by a small horticultural team of staff and volunteers.