Lost Gardens of London

23 Oct 2024-2 Mar 2025

Overview

Did you know that Southwark once had a zoo? That for a short spell Britain’s first ecological park was built within a stone’s throw of Tower Bridge? Or that one of the capital’s most celebrated botanical gardens now lies beneath the platforms of Waterloo station? Our next exhibition Lost Gardens of London will reveal the secret history of some of London’s most beguiling forgotten gardens.

Thousands of gardens have vanished across London over the past five hundred years – ranging from princely pleasure grounds and private botanical gardens, to humble allotments and defunct squares, artists’ gardens, eccentric private menageries and the ecological parks of the twentieth century. Guest curated by landscape architect and historian Dr Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, Lost Gardens of London will explore this legacy and reveal tantalising glimpses of some of the rich and varied gardens that once embellished the metropolis.

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