The Ark

IT’S been claimed that the pineapples that top the obelisks at each end of Lambeth Bridge are a tribute to the exploits of the Tradescants, Lambeth’s most important gardening family, believed to have been the first to plant the fruit on English soil in the 17th century. Others dispute this, arguing that the motifs are actually pinecones.

Whatever the truth, crossing to the south side of the bridge, otherwise famed for its views back over the Thames to the Palace of Westminster, certainly brings one into Tradescant