Welcome to tradescant.net, the website of the Tradescant Area Residents Association (TARA) for people living in Tradescant Road, Walberswick Street, Meadow Place, Old South Lambeth Road, Heyford Terrace, Heyford Avenue, and the western end of Dorset Road – all in South Lambeth, London SW8.
We aim to improve our environment and develop a sense of community in the area.
We plant things, hold social events, and liaise with the council and the police. Join us today or email tara@tradescant.net.
Why are we called the Tradescant Area Residents Association?
Did you know that our streets are built on what used to be the gardens of the famous plant explorer, John Tradescant (c.1570–1638) and his son also called John (1608–1662)? As well as collecting plants, seeds, and bulbs on their travels, they assembled a collection of curiosities known as ‘The Ark’ in Turret House which was roughly behind where Estrela is. The ‘Musaeum Tradescantianum’ was the first museum in England to be open to the public. Between them they introduced many plants to England that have become part of the modern gardener’s repertory including, of course, Tradescantia, or spiderwort.
Where in the Tradescants’ gardens was your home? Use our before-and-after slider at tradescant.net/slider
Clockwise from top left: John Tradescant the Elder, Turret House, John Tradescant the Younger.
From The Times, 31 October 1881:
“The Tradescant Gardens – The gardens through which King James I wandered with his courtiers, and Charles I and Villiers strolled with the frail beauties of those monarchs’ Courts to view the strange rarities which had been brought from foreign parts into “Tradescant’s Ark,” have at length yielded to the speculative spirit of the modern builder, and the four acres of land which they comprised have just been covered with houses.”