The Chelsea Physic Garden was established as the Apothecaries' Garden in London, England, in 1673 by the

Worshipful Society of Apothecaries The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London is one of the livery companies of the City of London. It is one of the largest livery companies (with over 1,600 members in 2012) and ranks 58th in their order of precedence. The society is a m ...

to grow plants to be used as medicines. This four acre

physic garden A physic garden is a type of herb garden with medicinal plants. Botanical gardens developed from them. History Modern botanical gardens were preceded by medieval physic gardens, often monastic gardens, that existed by 800 at least. Gardens o ...

, the term here referring to the science of healing, is among the oldest

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

s in Britain, after the University of Oxford Botanic Garden. Its

rock garden A rock garden, also known as a rockery and formerly as a rockwork, is a garden, or more often a part of a garden, with a landscaping framework of rocks, stones, and gravel, with planting appropriate to this setting. Usually these are small ...

is the oldest in Europe devoted to

alpine plant Alpine plants are plants that grow in an alpine climate, which occurs at high elevation and above the tree line. There are many different plant species and taxa that grow as a plant community in these alpine tundra. These include perennial grass ...

s and Mediterranean plants. The largest fruiting

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ' ...

tree in Britain is there, protected by the garden's heat-trapping high brick walls, along with what is doubtless the world's northernmost

grapefruit The grapefruit (''Citrus'' × ''paradisi'') is a subtropical citrus tree known for its relatively large, sour to semi-sweet, somewhat bitter fruit. The interior flesh is segmented and varies in color from pale yellow to dark pink. Grapefruit ...

growing outdoors. Jealously guarded during the tenure of the

, the garden became a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

in 1983 and was opened to the general public for the first time. The garden is a member of the London Museums of Health & Medicine. It is also Grade I listed in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

History

The

initially established the garden on a leased site of Sir John Danvers' well-established garden in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea histori ...

. This house, called Danvers House, adjoined the mansion that had once been the house of Sir Thomas More. Danvers House was pulled down in 1696 to make room for Danvers Street. In 1713, Dr

Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...

purchased from Charles Cheyne the adjacent Manor of Chelsea, about , which he leased in 1722 to the Society of Apothecaries for £5 a year in perpetuity, requiring only that the garden supply the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

, of which he was a principal, with 50 good

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (calle ...

samples per year, up to a total of 2,000 plants. That initiated the golden age of the Chelsea Physic Garden under the direction of

Philip Miller Philip Miller FRS (1691 – 18 December 1771) was an English botanist and gardener of Scottish descent. Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden for nearly 50 years from 1722, and wrote the highly popular ''The Gardeners Dicti ...

(1722–1770), when it became the world's most richly stocked botanic garden. Its seed-exchange programme was established following a visit in 1682 from Paul Hermann, a Dutch botanist connected with the

Hortus Botanicus Leiden The Hortus botanicus of Leiden is the oldest botanical garden of the Netherlands, and one of the oldest in the world. It is located in the southwestern part of the historical centre of the city, between the Academy building and the old Leiden ...

and has lasted until the present day. The seed exchange programme's most notable act may have been the introduction of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

into the colony of Georgia and more recently, the worldwide spread of the Madagascar periwinkle ('' Catharanthus roseus''). 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's ''A Curious Herbal'' (1737–39) was illustrated partly from specimens taken from the Chelsea Physic Garden. 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 the Chelsea Embankment on the north bank of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

, and a strip of the garden to allow widening of

Royal Hospital Road Royal Hospital Road is a street in Chelsea, London, England. It runs between Chelsea Embankment on the north bank of the River Thames to the southwest and a junction with Lower Sloane Street, Pimlico Road and Chelsea Bridge Road to the north ...

. What remains is a patch in the heart of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. As of 2020, the chairman of the trust that manages the garden is Michael Prideaux. His predecessor was Sarah Troughton. The garden director is Sue Medway. As of 2020 the garden is raising funds to restore the historic glasshouses on the site.

Current garden

As of October 2017, the garden included 5,000 plants, in areas such as: *The Garden of Medicinal Plants *The Pharmaceutical Garden, with plants arranged according to the ailment they are used to treat *The Garden of World Medicine, with medicinal plants arranged by the culture which uses them *The Garden of Edible and Useful Plants *The World Woodland Garden

Associated people

References

Notes Further reading *

External links

{{Authority control 1673 establishments in England Botanical gardens in London

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Gardens in London Parks and open spaces in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Herb gardens Museums in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Medical museums in London Chelsea, London Grade I listed parks and gardens in London