A Corner of Lambeth Elizabeth Fleming invites us to take a stroll round historic Lambeth.
Mary of Modena, second wife of King James II, sought shelter, it is said, at Morton’s Gateway whilst waiting for a coach to take her to the coast in her escape to France. James II had two Protestant daughters, Mary and Anne, both married and living abroad but then Mary of Modena gave birth to a son – Roman Catholic! James’ daughter Mary’s husband, William of Orange, was asked to invade and take joint power with his wife, so in November James II fled the country. Mary did the same at the beginning of December. She crossed the river at Horseferry Road and landed at Lambeth Stairs. It was a wet and windy night and shelter was needed, because she was carrying her baby of six months ‘wrapped round like a bundle of washing’ (Terry Waite, Travels with a Primate).
The church of St Mary the Virgin, adjacent to Morton’s Gateway, also has an absorbing history. A small wooden (it is believed) building was erected here by Countess Goda (c.1001-1055) , sister to Edward the Confessor, and mentioned in the Domesday survey. A stone church replaced this three hundred years later and rebuilding and restoration took place in 1851. Five Archbishops are buried here, and one, Thomas Secker of Canterbury, was buried outside (his wish) in 1768.
In the garden at the back of the church is the carved stone tomb of the seventeenth century royal gardeners, the Tradescants, father and son; also the family tomb of Admiral William Bligh FRS, who died in 1817.
Just a few steps down Lambeth Road, turning left leaving by the garden’s back gate, still stands Archbishop Tait’s Church School of 1837: Mercy Weller became its first headmistress – later she was buried within the church. The school’s Victorian building (listed Grade 2) is long and low with a ridged roof, chimneys, gabled church-like windows and a stunted turret at one end. This building is now Fairley House Upper School with its name on the central glass-panelled door. Children with special needs are taught here.
The original church School had closed in 1970 and two years later the parish church was deconsecrated; this was all due to the depopulation after the bomb damage of World War II and the church was in a bad state of disrepair. In 1976 plans were being made for the church, including its medieval tower, to be demolished but, due to the ever amazing efforts of Rosemary and John Nicholson, this order was lifted and the church was saved. At the end of 1977 the Museum of Garden History was created within the old walls. Money was raised to do the needed repairs and volunteers readily came forward to help man the shop and the cafe inside and see to the garden outside. The people who worked under such difficulties, and in very cold surroundings at first, were part of this incredible story.
Just a short way along Lambeth Road is the entrance to the Archbishop’s Park, once part of the Palace grounds but then given to the public. The Council has made a wonderful children’s playground here with swings, slides and frames for climbing. At the millennium a curving elegant pathway was laid out over the trodden-down footpath across the big grassy area. Sixteen roundels were set in here to show some of the important people and happenings in Lambeth’s last thousand years. The first one reads: 1000. Lambeth is mainly marshland and open countryside punctuated by Roman roads and a few settlements.
Elizabeth Fleming’s book Founding the Museum of Garden History was published in 2006 by the Museum of Garden History and costs £5.
See also Founding the Museum of Garden History by Elizabeth Fleming, published 2006 by the Museum of Garden History, £5.