| Chelsea Physic Garden | |
|---|---|
 Chelsea Physic Garden, London | |
 Interactive map of Chelsea Physic Garden | |
| Location | Chelsea, London |
| Coordinates | 51°29′6″N0°9′46″W / 51.48500°N 0.16278°W /51.48500; -0.16278 |
| Area | 3.5 acres (1.4 ha) |
| Created | 1673 (1673) |
| Founder | Worshipful Society of Apothecaries |
| Species | 5,000 |
| Website | Official website |
TheChelsea Physic Garden was established as theApothecaries' Garden in London, England, in 1673 by theWorshipful Society of Apothecaries to grow plants to be used as medicines.[1] This four-acrephysic garden, the term here referring to the science of healing, is among the oldestbotanical gardens in Britain, after theUniversity of Oxford Botanic Garden. Itsrock garden is the oldest in Europe devoted toalpine plants and Mediterranean plants. The garden has high brick walls which trap heat, giving it a warm micro-climate, and it claims the largest fruitingolive tree in Britain and the world's northernmostgrapefruit growing outdoors.[2] Jealously guarded during the tenure of theWorshipful Society of Apothecaries, the garden became aregistered charity[3] in 1983 and was opened to the general public for the first time.
The garden is a member ofthe London Museums of Health & Medicine.[4] It is also Grade I listed in theRegister of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England byEnglish Heritage.[5]
TheWorshipful Society of Apothecaries initially established the garden on a leased site of SirJohn Danvers' well-established garden inChelsea, London. This house, called Danvers House, adjoined the mansion that had once been the house of SirThomas More. Danvers House was pulled down in 1696 to make room for Danvers Street.
In 1713, SirHans Sloane purchased from Charles Cheyne the adjacent Manor ofChelsea, about 4 acres (1.6 ha), which he leased in 1722 to the Society of Apothecaries for£5 a year in perpetuity, requiring in the Deed of Conveyance that the garden supply theRoyal Society, of which he was a principal, with 50 goodherbarium samples per year, up to a total of 2,000 plants.[6]
That initiated the golden age of the Chelsea Physic Garden under the direction ofPhilip Miller (1722–1770), when it became the world's most richly stocked botanic garden. Its seed-exchange programme was established following a visit in 1682 fromPaul Hermann, a Dutch botanist connected with theHortus Botanicus Leiden and has lasted until the present day. The seed exchange programme's most notable act may have been the introduction ofcotton intothe colony of Georgia and more recently, the worldwide spread of the Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus).[citation needed]
Isaac Rand, a member and a fellow of the Royal Society, published a condensed catalogue of the garden in 1730,Index plantarum officinalium, quas ad materiae medicae scientiam promovendam, in horto Chelseiano.Elizabeth Blackwell'sA Curious Herbal (1737–1739) was illustrated partly from specimens taken from the Chelsea Physic Garden. In 1781, the collection of specimens was donated by the Royal Society to the British Museum in Bloomsbury, then moved in 1881 to the Department of Botany of the British Museum in Kensington, now theNatural History Museum.[6]
Sir Joseph Banks worked with the head gardener and curator John Fairbairn during the 1780–1814 period. Fairbairn specialized in growing and cultivating plants from around the world.
Parts of the garden have been lost to road development – the river bank during 1874 construction of theChelsea Embankment on the north bank of theRiver Thames, and a strip of the garden to allow widening ofRoyal Hospital Road. What remains is a 3.5 acres (1.4 ha) patch in the heart ofLondon.[7]
The Trustees of the London Parochial Charities took over management of the garden in 1899 and for the majority of the twentieth century, it was used for scientific research and was not open to the public.[8] In 1983, the garden became a charity and was run by a private board of trustees, and a few years later in 1987, it was open to the general public for the first time.[9]
In 2001 the then director Rosie Atkins led changes that improved the educational role of the garden.[10]
As of 2025, the chair of the trust that manages the Garden is Sarah Flannigan. Since 2014, the garden director is Sue Medway MBE.
As of October 2017, the garden included 5,000 plants, in areas such as:[11]
Notes
Further reading
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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