This page looks at some of the older physic and botanic gardens which existed in London in the past.
Many of these would have been ones visited by famous and not-so-famous botanical artists of the past.
At leats two contributed plants which were drawn and painted for famous and important publications.
Some no longer exist in any form.
Many of these would have been ones visited by famous and not-so-famous botanical artists of the past.
At leats two contributed plants which were drawn and painted for famous and important publications.
Some no longer exist in any form.
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What distinguishes these gardens is that most no longer exist as they did when they were important - even if they still exist as a garden.
Publications of notable botanic publications - and associated images - are associated with two of the men and their gardens - John Gerard and William Curtis. As such they are also associated with notable developments in the dissemination of botanical art. Kew Gardens is excluded from this page and a seperate page will be developed for Kew. |
Those visiting London may want to take a look at where some of the most important physic/botanical gardens were. These include - in date order:
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The Gardens of John Gerard (1545-1612)
Annotated painting of London from Southwark in 1630 (i.e. prior to the Great Fire in 1666)
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John Gerard (c.1545-1612) was a botanist and herbalist and lived in Holborn, London in the 16th century. He worked as:
He "grew all manner of strange trees, herbes, rootes, plants, flowers and other such rare things" including the first potato grown in England from America. |
Context
To give some context in terms of dates, here are some other events taking place at the same time as some of these gardens were being developed.
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John Gerard. Line engraving by T. Berry after Payne, 1633
The Publications of John Gerard
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Gerard created the very first catalogue of a garden - a list of plants he had grown in his own garden- ever published.
He also created the The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. London - first printed in London in 1597. His Herball is dedicated to Burghley. The problem with this publication is that most of it is not original work by John Gerard - and he is accused of plagiarism by some people. You can read more about this in "The Old English Herbals" section of the Herbals Page on this website. It was essentially an English translation by Sir Robert Priest of highly popular herbal (1554) of Dutch scholar Rembert Dodoen However - and importantly - he also added in:
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Illustration of Potato of Virginia from The herball or, generall historie of plantes / Gathered by John Gerarde
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The Gardens of John Gerard
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He is associated with five gardens. According to Sir Roy Strong, the first two are considered to have been the most influential of Elizabethan gardens.
1577-97 - For 20 years he superintended two gardens belonging to William Cecil, Lord Burghley - Queen Elizabeth 1's chief adviser and Principal Secretary for most of her reign and Lord High Treasurer from 1572 and Privy Councillor Lord Burleigh - until he died. He was in charge of the gardens at:
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In 1586, the College of Physicians wanted to establish a physic garden and appointed John Gerard as its curator of this Physic Garden of medicinal plants - an appointment he kept until 1604, although there's no written evidence that a garden was ever developed..
In 1596 he proposed also creating a Physic Garden for the Barber–Surgeons' Company in the City of London. He was commissioned to look for land however it's unclear he found a new garden. He was granted a lease on a garden next to Somerset House in 1604. It's also worth noting that he also commended himself to the University of Cambridge as a suitable superintendant of a university botanic garden in Cambridge. However the university was extraordinarily slow at founding a botanic garden which probably accounts for why nothing came of this - or maybe why Gerrard volunteered himself in the first place. |
BELOW are descriptions of the four gardens he is most associated with - three of which are in London.
REFERENCE:
- Herball, Generall Historie of Plants by John Gerard, 1597 | University of Virginia - covers the introduction of American plants
- A catalogue of plants cultivated in the garden of John Gerard, in the years 1596-1599 /edited with notes, references to Gerard's Herball, the addition of modern names, and a life of the author, by Benjamin Daydon Jackson
- John Gerard - Herbalist and Scoundrel
- The Agas Map of Early Modern London - an interactive site
Cecil House, The Strand c. 1562
This coloured plan of the house and garden as it was ca 1562–67 was discovered in 1999 at Burghley House. It is said to be the earliest plan known of any English garden.
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Cecil House was located on the north side of The Strand at a time when it was becoming "the place to live" for the nobility. It was also known as also called Exeter House or Burghley House.
It was the principal 'working' household residence of William Cecil, the 1st Baron Burghley (Lord Burghley). He stayed there during the "law terms" and while conducting government business for Queen Elizabeth 1. There was no more prestigious location and the house was to remain his London headquarters throughout his career until he died there in 1598. A coloured plan of the house and gardens discovered at Burghley House (in Lincolnshire) in 1999 is the earliest known design in existence for a known Elizabethan garden. You can compare the house and gardens in the 16th century to the current day buildings using the two images below.
TODAY The Strand Palace Hotel is located on the site of Cecil House and and neighbouring buildings (including the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden) largely occupy the space occupied by the gardens of Cecil House. Below you can see my 'guesstimate' of how the coloured plan above maps on to the current day disposition of buildings and streets between The Strand and Covent Garden.
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The area of London between Covent Garden and the Thames. Cecil House is north of The Strand opposite The Savoy to the South. (Source: Agas Map of Early Modern London - in the 16th century)
REFERENCE:
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Green line provides a rough approximation of the plot of Cecil House and Gardens - bounded by Exeter Street on the west, Covent Garden to the north and Wellington Street to the east. The site of Cecil House - indicated in brown - is now part occupied by The Strand Palace Hotel. The plot is in-between the site of the Savoy Hotel (south of The Stand) and Covent Garden.
Theobalds, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire c.1575
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William Cecil bought the estate at Theobalds in 1564. Given a need to demonstrate both his status and to have a place big enough to entertain Queen Elizabeth I and her travelling court, he built a much larger house. It took over 20 years to build - starting in 1564 and completing in 1585.
Queen Elizabeth I visited eight times between 1572 and 1596. The gardens are cited as being "an important Elizabethan renaissance garden" made by William Cecil, Lord Burghley after 1575 with help from John Gerard. The gardens at Theobalds were large, and ornamented with labyrinths, canals, and fountains. The great garden contained seven acres of ground; besides which there was the pheasant garden, privy garden, and laundry garden. In the former were "nine knotts, artificially and exquisitely made; one of which was sett forth in likenesse of the kinge's armes." The fruit and other trees (fn. also also 30), the materials of the banquetting house, walls, &c. were valued all together at 590l. 1s. |
The garden formerly known as Theobalds Park
TODAY Theobalds is now known as Cedars Park. What remains of the garden and palace is now archeological only. |
John Gerard's Private Herbal Garden c.1590s
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John Gerard had a house in Fetter Lane in Holborn - in the Fraringdon Without Ward on the extreme western edge of the Citiy of London. Here he established a well stocked Physic Garden of c. 1,000 plants.
He published a catalogue of all the plants he had grown in his garden in 1596. The only known copy is in the Sloane collection at the British Library. |
In 1596 Gerard published a catalogue of twenty-four pages of the plants in this garden—the first complete catalogue of the plants in any garden, public or private. |
Fetter Lane in the Farringdon Without Ward | John Strype's ‘A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster’ (1720)
Formerly it was generally supposed that Gerard’s garden was on the northern side of Holborn, but this is unlikely, for during the latter part of Elizabeth’s reign the part which is now known as Ely Place and Hatton Garden was an estate of forty acres belonging to the Bishopric of Ely. Holborn was almost a village then, and Gerard tells us in his Herball that in Gray’s Inn Lane he gathered mallow, shepherd’s purse, sweet woodruff, bugle and Paul’s betony, and in the meadows near red-flowered clary, white saxifrage, the sad-coloured rocket, yarrow, lesser hawkweed and the curious strawberry-headed trefoil. Wallflower and golden stonecrop grew on the houses. |
REFERENCE:
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View of the part of London in which John Gerard worked some 50 years earlier
The Physic Garden of the College of Physicians
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1586 - John Gerard was appointed as the Curator of the Physic Garden of the College of Physicians, a post he held until 1604. At the time they were located in Knightrider Street, south of St Paul’s Cathedral.
As with the Barber-Surgeons Company (see below), it's unclear whether a garden was ever created during Gerrard's time as curator. It seems possible that:
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Gerard (1545–1612) was a surgeon, a liveryman of the Company of Barber-Surgeons. He was also an expert plantsman, or horticulturist as we would say today, then known as a herbarist (not herbalist), and he was the superintendent of Lord Burghley's gardens at Cecil House, in The Strand, and at Theobalds House, in Hertfordshire, where the gardens were reputed to be as fine as those at Hampton Court. Gerard was an ideal person for the RCP to approach and the Annals of 6 October 1587 state, ‘John Gerard, surgeon, promised that he would look after the College garden, and agreed to keep it stocked with all the rarer plants for a reasonable charge’.2 Unfortunately there is no evidence that such a garden was ever planted, but there is an alternative possibility. |
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TODAY there is a Garden of Medicinal Plants at the Royal College of Physicians headquarters overlooking Regents Park. Nearly 1,000 species were sourced and planted between 2005 and 2008. Almost every plant has a link to medicine.
There are free tours of the medicinal garden on the first Wednesday of every month. The Modern Garden of Medicinal Plants has had four artists in residence
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The current garden was created in St Andrews Place in 1965. From 2005 it was extensively replanted - thanks to a grant from the Wolfson Foundation - work which continues today with our dedicated team of gardeners and Garden fellows. The centrepiece is a huge oriental plane tree - a descendant from the famous tree on the island of Cos under which Hippocrates is said to have taught his students. |
REFERENCE:
The Physic Garden of the Barber-Surgeons Company
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John Gerard rose through the ranks of the of the Barber-Surgeon’s Company:
In 1604, he was granted a lease on a garden adjoining Somerset House, by the wife of King James I |
REFERENCE:
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TODAY, there is a Physic Garden behind the Barbers Hall in Monkwell Street. (see photo below). The plants are labelled with comments from 16th century herbalists.
Barbers Physic Garden today - at the rear of the Barber-Surgeons’ Hall in Monkwell Square in the City of London. The wall at the rear is Roman.
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The Illustrated Herbal
by Wilfrid Blunt and Sandra Raphael Read my detailed Book Review - The Illustrated Herbal by Wilfred Blunt The book provides in-depth coverage of the history and development of the "herbal" book and includes excellent illustrations of a number of them and the plants considered to be of medicinal interest. It traces their development from early hand-decorated manuscripts and medieval woodcuts to the metal engravings and botanical prints of the early 18th and 19th centuries. This guide has been revised and updated to take into account the latest discoveries and developments. AUTHORS: Wilfrid Blunt (1901-1987) is very well known as the author of 'The Art of Botanical Illustration which earned him the Veitch Memorial Medal by the Royal Horticultural Society; Sandra Raphael was formerly the Librarian and archivist for the Linnean Society in London and was author of the series of books produced about Bunny Mellon's botanical art collection |
 
Hardcover: 192 pages | 64 colour plates | 80+ black and white woodcuts and engravings Publishers: There are various editions of this book. My copy is a second edition published by Frances Lincoln Publishers in 1994. BUY THIS BOOK The Illustrated herbal
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The Apothecaries Garden - Chelsea Physic Garden (1673 to date)
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The Chelsea Physic Garden is the second oldest botanic garden still in existence in the UK. It can be found between the River Thames / Chelsea Embankment and the Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea. Those involved with the garden reads like a botanical "who's who"!
Below you can find a
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TODAY
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John Haynes' survey of the Apothecaries' Physic Garden at Chelsea - 1751
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The Botanical Garden of the Society of Apothecaries
The physic garden in Chelsea has a long history. A timeline describes the main events below. |
The village of Chelsea "the village had a healthy reputation which contributed to its status as a fashionable suburb in the 17th and 18th centuries and it was favoured for convalescence." |
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1673 - Founded by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London. The purpose of the garden or hortus medicus was to provide a place to train apprentices in developing their knowledge of medical plants and herbs.
A plot of land (c. 1 hectare) was leased. At the time the south east boundary provided a 100m frontage on to the River Thames. As it developed during the late 17th century, the layout became geometrical. The ground was divided by straight paths with a series of rectangular teaching beds on each side. 1676-7 - The wall was constructed around the garden |
Definition of "Physic" - 
Rectangular beds in the Chelsea Physic Garden survive to this day.
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1679 - 1200 different plants are recorded as growing in the garden. Many came from South America and the East and West Indies.
1680 - John Watts, an apothecary, was appointed first director of the garden. Subsequently he was removed from post for neglecting the garden. 1682 - The seed exchange programme was introduced 1680s - trainee physician Hans Sloane studied at the Garden 1695 - 1706, Samuel Doody, an apothecary, cared for and funded the Garden on a short lease. After Doody died, management by committee with funding provided via subscription was tried - without success - as a model of management. |
The Chelsea Physic Garden is bottom left - outlined in green - of this may. The very large area occupied by the Hospital for Chelsea Pensioners and used by the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show every year is on the right of this map.
Chelsea Physic Garden (outlined in green) in 1795 - as shown on part of the "PLAN of the Cities of LONDON and WESTMINSTER the Borough of SOUTHWARK and PARTS adjoining Shewing every HOUSE" By R. Horwood (1795)
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The Physic Garden and Hans Sloane
1712 - Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) purchased the garden - as part of the Manor of Chelsea - from Charles Cheyne. 1722 - a Deed of Covenant was approved and the grounds were leased - as a Physic Garden - in perpetuity to the Society of Apothecaries for £5 a year plus a requirement that 50 new plants (in the form of dried specimens) grown in the Physic Garden were submitted to the Royal Society every year until 2,000 had been submitted (hence the incentive to collect new plants for the garden). At the time, the garden was described as being '3 acres, 1 rood and 35 perches plus greenhouse, stove and barge houses' (Report 1996). 1722 - 1770 Philip Miller (1691 – 1771) was appointed as head gardener in 1722 and continued until 1770. He is buried in Chelsea Old Church. During his time as head gardener he trained many people who subsequently became important in the botanical world. Miller wrote The Gardener's and Florists Dictionary or a Complete System of Horticulture (1724). The eighth edition contains the binomial specific names attributed to Miller. The dictionary provides not only cultural but also descriptive botanical information, including the characters of each genus and diagnoses of the species. |
Hans Sloane by Stephen Slaughter, 1736
(Miller) "has raised the reputation of the Chelsea Garden so much that it excels all the gardens of Europe for its amazing variety of plants of all orders and classes and from all climates..." |
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1720s - Mark Catesby sent seeds from North America and the West Indies to Hans Sloane at the Chelsea Physic Garden
1735 - The famous botanical artist Georg Ehret met Sir Hans Sloane and Phillip Miller and was introduced to the Chelsea Physic Garden. In 1736, he lived with Miller; subsequently married his sister in law and provided illustrations for the edition of his garden dictionary published in 1752. 1750 - The Garden contained an impressive and large range of rare plants which Miller had obtained as plants or seeds from various parts of the world. Botanical Artists, Artwork and Publications 18th Century
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Georg Dionysius Ehret, the greatest botanical artist of the 18th century, Ehret moved to London in the 1730's, where he painted the exotics at the Chelsea Physic Garden and established himself as a teacher of flower-painting and botany. Mezzotint. Plate 402 x 266mm.
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1763 - Joseph Banks (age 20) came to live with his mother in Chelsea and regularly visited the Chelsea Physic Garden to develop his interest in botany and science. He was encouraged in his botany by Miller and subsequently made a number of contributions to the garden - including seeds. The garden now includes plants first named by or named after Banks.
1765 - 1771 - William Hudson was appointed Demonstrator of Plants and Praefectus Horti to 'praefectus horti' to the Apothecaries' Company at Chelsea. He wrote Flora Anglica which is said to mark the establishment of Linnean principles of botany in England. 1771 - 1784 - One of Miller's Pupils William Forsyth became Head Gardener after Miller retired. The genus Forsythia was named after him. Forsyth was also a Scottish botanist. In 1779 he was also appointed as appointed Superintendent of the royal gardens at Kensington and St James'. He was also a founding member of the Royal Horticultural Society. His other interests may account for the beginning of the decline of the garden in the late 18th and 19th centuries. 1771 to 1777 - William Curtis was demonstrator of plants and Praefectus Horti. Curtis began his studies as an apothecary, before turning his attention to botany and natural history. He subsequently started his own Botanic Garden, was the author of Flora Londinensis and started Curtis's Botanical Magazine. [See below with respect to his own Botanic Garden - established in Lambeth before it moved to Brompton and Sloane Street - not far from the Physic Garden] 1773 - The Pond Rockery was constructed (Grade II listed). This is the oldest rockery in the world. The stone includes Icelandic lava donated to the garden by Joseph Banks and stones from the Tower of London. (This was restored in 2001) 1784 - John Fairbairn was elected as Demonstrator |
Joseph Banks as a boy with a botanical illustration
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an early of portrait of William Curtis
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The Pond Rockery at the Chelsea Physic Garden
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The Physic Garden in the 19th Century
1836 - John Lindley, the then Praefectus Hortis, reported on the general poor state of the garden and plant collections. He was very critical of the condition of the garden as a teaching resource. He started the garden's annual flower show in the late 1830s. However the Garden was a very small part of a very busy life, which included holding the Chair of Botany at London University and devoting time to saving Kew Gardens from closure. 1846 to 1848 - The Scottish botanist Robert Fortune was appointed Curator. He was a renowned plant hunter and was responsible for introducing many plants from Asia to the west. In 1842 he was sent by the RHS to collect plants in China. In 1848 he arranged the transport of tea plants from China to India. 1847 - Lindley began to rearrange the garden collection with the help of the curator Robert Fortune. 1848-1887 - Thomas Moore was Curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden. His book The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland was published in 1855. 1853 - the post of Praefectus Hortis was abolished. John Lindley's appointment was terminated. The Society of Apothecaries started to try and dispose of the Garden 1862 - A Fernery was established by Thomas Moore. It was rebuilt on the same site in 1907 1872 - The Garden became completely shut off from the River Thames due to the building of the Chelsea Embankment. 1853-1893- The Garden declined. This was said to be because of the general lack of interest in botany in relation to medicine but its management arrangements and conditions of financial stringency cannot have helped. 1886 - Botany no longer part of the medical curriculum, as determined by the Medical Act 1886. 1887-99 - The post of Gardener/Curator was vacant 1893 - The Apothecaries decide to relinquish their trust. An inquiry reported that the Garden was fit for study and botanical purposes by students at polytechnics and colleges in London. 1899 - The City Parochial Foundation takes over responsibility for providing a place for students to study plants in relation to botany in London. It begins a major rebuilding programme with research and teaching under the curator, William Hales. |
John Lindley
Part of The Fernery at the Chelsea Physic Garden
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The Physic Garden in the 20th Century
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Gardeners in the 20th Century
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1981 - The London Parochial Charities relinquished the Garden in 1981
1983 - The Chelsea Physic Garden became a registered Charity i.e. "The Chelsea Physic Garden Company". Administration of the Garden passing to a new body of trustees, the Management Council of the new charitable company. The Garden opened to the public. |
REFERENCE:
- Chelsea Physic Garden | Historic England
- Chelsea Physic Garden | the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries
- Chelsea Physic Garden - The History of the Garden, Plant Collections and History of Garden Staff
- The Chelsea Physic Garden | A London Inheritance - has some good photos of the garden and some interesting details about its history
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The Apothecaries Garden A History of the Chelsea Physic Garden By Sue Minter This book is a history of the development of the Apothecaries Garden started in 1673 to the Chelsea Physic Garden of today. It's very much a story of the people of the garden as well as the plants. It also includes three appendixes which list the various medicinal plants grown at different times in the garden's history. AUTHOR: Sue Minter is is a semi-retired professional horticulturist. She has an impressive resume having been
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William Curtis and The London Botanic Garden
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The Garden
William Curtis (1746-1799) created a Botanic Garden in London in the 18th century. He was an apothecary and botanist. In 1772, he was made the praefectus horti (or director) of the Society of Apothecaries at the Chelsea Physic Garden and continued in this role until 1777 when his independent gardening and publishing activities became more active.
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The Publications
Curtis had two major publications to his name.
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Extract from the Preface of 'Flora Londinensis' - which makes it clear that there is a connection between making botanical art and awareness of plants more accessible and the development of a garden.
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A timeline for the London Botanic Garden
The timeline for the London Botanic Garden is as follows. It relocated twice.
"By The following year he established a botanical garden for the cultivation and study of native British plants at Bermondsey. This garden was to move twice. The first move was to a larger plot at Lambeth Marsh, situated in the area between present day Westminster Bridge and Waterloo railway station. Curtis named this new garden the London Botanic Garden and opened it to the public on 1 January 1779. However, by 1789, because of smoke pollution, he had to move his plants to a new, even larger garden, in Queen's Elm Brompton, Brompton."
In 1791 it was decided to lay out undeveloped land on the east side of Sloane Street as a long garden, divided into two by Pont Street - the smaller north garden laid out by Repton and a new design for the London Botanic Garden by William Salisbury, who was William Curtis’s partner and successor after his death in 1799 (at the ripe old age of 53…). The new garden was laid out in 1807, including a central glass conservatory, as well as a library, hothouse and a greenhouse. Twice a week, students of horticulture would come for lectures in the garden. |
Curtis in his Proposals for Opening by Subscription a Botanic Garden to be Called the London Botanic Garden declares in the title that it is designed for the ‘use of the Physician, the Apothecary, the student in Physic, the scientific Farmer, the Botanist (particularly the English Botanist,) the lover of Flowers and the Public in General’. REFERENCE:
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Engraving of a plan of the London Botanic Garden (image and border 9.1 x 34.1 cm). Plate to: W. Salisbury, 'Plan of Mr Salisbury's botanic garden explained', The gentleman's magazine, 18 August 1810, vol. LXXX, part the second, pp. 1130114
The same space on Google Maps (Satellite) today - with some of the same paths in place. The road running along the northern edge is Sloane Street - going west towards Sloane Square.
The Royal Botanic Society's Gardens - in Regent's Park
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The Royal Botanic Society of London, founded in 1839. In 1840 it leased land within the Inner Circle of Regent's Park for the Royal Botanic Society Gardens on an area formerly used by Jenkins Nursery
The gardens are a good example of what happens when the original purpose is lost sight due to efforts to entertain the paying public. |
These exhibitions and fetes became very fashionable, and people flocked to them, and numbers joined the Society, It is always difficult to combine two objects, and this is the problem the Botanical Society now has to face. It is almost impossible to keep up the Botanical side and at the same time make a bid for popular public support by turning the grounds partly into a Tea Garden. |
A design for the Royal Botanical Society Gardens in the Inner Circle, Regent's Park, London by Decimus Burton, 1840.
The site of the former Royal Botanical Society Gardens in Regent's Park today (Source: Google Maps Satellite)
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REFERENCE:
Regent's Park section of "Improved map of London for 1833, from Actual Survey.
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