Welcome

The Society formed in 1985, saving from demolition, London's first public library in Great Smith Street (above right).  We respond on behalf of residents and businesses to local planning applications. Our 350+ members enjoy local visits & talks of historic and other interest, social events and an archive of books, prints, plans and ephemera.

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20 mph Throughout Westminster ?

Westminster are seeking opinions on a plan to restrict all their roads to 20mph. There are already some areas, mainly near schools, that already have 20mph restrictions. And there are other areas, for instance round Vincent Square, that have applied to become 20mph areas. The Council has had positive feedback on the experimental areas so far.
 
It may be that the decision is made for them because TfL are contemplating a 20mph speed limit on all their roads in central London. If this goes ahead it would be ridiculous for the main roads in Westminster to have 20mph speed limits while the side streets are 30mph. If TfL decides on 20mph then the whole of Westminster would become a 20mph zone.
 
Whatever happens on the TfL roads, WCC would still like to know people's views on this question. There have been some public consultations, but it is also possible to make your views known on-line at https://www.westminster.gov.uk/20mph. Click on Take the Survey.
 
 

The Society's 33rd AGM, 12th November 2019

 

 

 

The newly elected Executive Committee can be viewed on the "US" page along with our Annual Report and Financial Statements.  The Minutes will follow soon.  It was noted that the Society is in URGENT need of a Membership Secretary.  If you are interested in helping, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

After the business of the meeting, we were treated to a marvellous talk by Professor Warwick Rodwell, consultant archaeologist to Westminster Abbey, on the fruits of recent excavations and finds.  Amongst these was a Roman sarcophagus of Valerius Amandinus which instead of being evidence of Roman occupation on Thorney island, was almost certainly an existing tomb moved from Roman Londinium.  The occupant of which was moved out to provide a resting place for an important Anglo-saxon person in Westminster (possibly Abbot Aelfwig c.1020) - the lid being re-carved with a crucifix.  

 

Professor Rodwell described that the Pyx Chamber in the East Cloister Undercroft was used to measure the purity of gold and silver (now done at the Goldsmith’s Hall) and is the earliest room in London dating back to Edward the Confessor who died in 1066.  The Pyx Chapel altar somehow survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries probably because of its association with gold and silver.

 

We heard that the small door near the Chapter House, marked 'The oldest door in the country', had been dated by Professor Rodwell and a colleague back to Edward the Confessor.  This was done partly by dendrology to age the wood panels and a study of historic ironwork.  By examining bolt and tack holes, the original style could be concluded to have had further ironwork and the whole door covered with hide and probably painted red ochre.  A fine door indeed.

 

Whilst clearing out 'rubbish' swept under the floor of the Triforium in preparation for the Queen's Jubillee Galleries, finds included a C17th Jack of Hearts playing card, a screwed up Virginian tobacco wrapper branded the 'Nag's Head, King Street, Westminster' from 1685-90.  Many other topics and finds were described, including Viking remains.  Professor Rodwell also touched on the history of the Cornonation Chair and the Stone of Scone, which traditionally monarchs would sit directly upon before a wooden seat was added in the C18th and finally his own nine year research into the medieval mosaic pavements in the Abbey, the only ones of their kind outside Italy.  His recent book on this project can be found here: https://amzn.to/2pdZpBs

 

We are most grateful to Professor Rodwell for a memorable and stimulating talk.

 

 

 

The Society's 33rd AGM, 12th November 2019

 

 

The Victoria Tower Gardens & The National Holocaust Memorial & Learning Centre

UPDATE!  November 2019

The application for planning permission for the Holocaust Memorial has been 'called in' by Esther McVey the Housing Minister. This means that a recommendation will be made by a Planning Inspector following a Public Enquiry; Esther McVey will make the final decision. This seems to have happened at the request of the UKHolocaust Memorial Foundation, who understood that WCC were likely to refuse the scheme. So we have many more months of uncertainly, and probably a great deal of work and expense, ahead.

READ MORE:  6 November 2019: Architects’ Journal, Government calls in Holocaust Memorial planning application

 

DONATIONS PLEASE !  The Save VTG campaign are desperately in need of funds for publicity and expert advice. Please do give if you havn't done so already, or give again.  You may donate to the Save VTG campaign by making payment to The Thorney Island Society, and send your contribution and Gift Aid form to TTIS, 10 Old Pye Street, London SW1P 2DG, or via BACS to The Thorney Island Society, Lloyds Bank sort code 30-99-50, account 00355214. Many thanks – and remember that you can greatly enhance the value of any contribution by using Gift Aid. (Click here to download Gift Aid form).


 
WE STRONGLY SUPPORT THE SAVE VICTORIA TOWER GARDENS CAMPAIGN. 

https://www.savevictoriatowergardens.co.uk/

 

 

Visits & Events 2019 & 2020

Our visits and events are open to all unless specified and we hope non-members will enjoy our programme and consider joining the Society. 

To book and read further details, please go to our Eventbrite page   CLICK HERE.

If you do not wish to book online, please contact us and we will be happy to make your booking (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by post to 10 Old Pye Street, London SW1P 2DG)  A full description of visits is on our Events/Visits page.

2019

Tuesday 10th December 2019, 6.30pm      The Society's Christmas Party & Raffle Draw with carols by the South Westminster Community Choir Blue Orchid Rochester Hotel - £14pp (Guests welcome)

2020

Thursday 23rd January 2020, 6.30pm     ‘Christchurch Gardens’ - Short talk by David Beamont.  MEMBERS ONLY.  TTIS Archives, 10 Old Pye Steet, SW1P 2DG - SOLD OUT/WAITING LIST

Tuesday 4th February 2020, 6.30pm        ‘Ignatius Sancho’ - Short talk by Victor Keegan. MEMBERS ONLY.  TTIS Archives, 10 Old Pye Street, SW1P 2DG - SOLD OUT/WAITING LIST

Monday 9th March 2020, 2pm                  Talk and workshop by Master Florist, Jens Jakobsen. MEMBERS ONLY.  The Blewcoat School, 23 Caxton Street, SW1H 0PY – £20-£25pp

Saturday 4th April 2020, 2pm                  Visit to St Stephen’s Church, Rochester Row, SW1P 1LE - £15-20pp

Wednesday 6th May 2020, 12.30pm         Westminster/Kingsway College, Vincent Square, SW1P 2PD     Lunch in The Vincent Rooms Restaurant and tour - £20-£25pp

Tuesday 2nd June 2020, 3pm                  Visit to RUSI (Royal United Services Institute), 61 Whitehall, SW1A 2ET - £15-£20pp 

June 2020, Date & Venue to be confirmed            T@35 Celebrations – The Society's 35th Celebration Summer Party

Saturday 4th July 2020, 2pm                   ‘Caring for the Poor & Vulnerable on Thorney Island’ - A local walk by Michael Marriott. Meeting point in Broad Sanctuary tbc, SW1P 3EE - £15-£20pp

Tuesday 14th July 2020, 2pm                  The IncrEDIBLE RHS Collections Tour, Lindley Library, 80 Vincent Square, SW1P 2PE - £15-£20pp

Tuesday 8th September 2020, 10.15am    Tour of Shepherd’s Bindery and Talk on Antiquarian Books by Anthony Davis, 76 Rochester Row, SW1P 1JU - £15 MEMBERS ONLY

Saturday 19th September 2020, 2pm       T@35 ‘In Celebration of Thorney Island’ - A new local walk by Victor Keegan. Meet at our Archives, 10 Old Pye Street, SW1P 2DG – £15-£20pp

Tuesday 29th September 2020, 12noon   The Guards Museum and Guards Band Recital in Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk, SW1E 6HQ - £15-£20pp

Monday 5th October 2020, 7.30pm                      T@35 Celebrations - Cocktails and Canapés at The Cinnamon Club, Old Westminster Library, 30-32 Great Smith Street, SW1P 3BU – Further details to follow.

Tuesday 10th November 2020, 6.30pm     The Society’s 34th AGM and Talk, Blue Orchid Rochester Hotel, Vincent Square (entrance in Vane Street) SW1P 2PA – Free of charge.

Monday 7th December 2020, 6.30pm       T@35 Celebrations - Christmas Party, Carols & Raffle Draw, The Chapel, Blue Orchid Wellington Hotel, (entrance on Vincent Square) SW1P 2PA - £14pp

 

 

 Visits & Events 2019 & 2020

 

Autumn-Winter 2019 Newsletter

 

 

Visit to the Palace of Westminster & Jewel Tower - October 2019

All Thorney Island visits are full of interest and our specially organised tour of The Palace of Westminster was as challenging as it was fascinating since it coincided with the first day of two weeks of protests by Extinction Rebellion. The streets and bridges around the Palace were occupied by protesters who laid down in the streets, made speeches, chanted and drummed. Loudly.

Our tour began in the grand medieval Westminster Hall and we looked up at the carved angels 'holding up the ceiling' and learned that their faces were modelled on the carpenters' own wives and sweethearts.  So many important historic events had taken place in the Hall including the meeting of Parliament and Simon de Montfort who led the rebels who defeated King Charles I in 1265.

We learned that the Parliamentary Estate has one thousand rooms, and that the architect Charles Barry gave the trade mark of the portcullis to Parliament. Jostling with school groups we visited both the Commons and the Lords chambers, passing through the 'nay' lobby and saw where we can petition our MP in the Central Lobby.  After the Second World War the Commons needed to be rebuilt and the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill insisted that not only should the bomb-damaged arch leading into the chamber be retained, but that the design of the chamber should be 'intimate and adversarial'.  We wonder whether he would do the same thing now? The coat of arms designed by the children of the murdered MP Jo Cox, hangs alone on the wooden panelling behind the seat where Jo Cox sat as a back-bencher. A moment when we all reflected.

What would be the same for a Prime Minister was for all MPs - the Division Bell which rings across the parliamentary estate, giving 8 minutes to get to the Commons to vote.  Said to be the time it takes for a PM 'to walk briskly' from Downing Street. Another quirky custom takes place to commemorate the Gunpowder Plot. In 1605 the plot was uncovered under the Princes Chamber and each year before the Opening of Parliament a search is made to make sure there is no repeat of the plot.

We heard so many details about the history of the buildings and finished by seeing the statue to which suffragettes chained themselves in pursuit of the vote and finally the inspiring art installation in recognition of the many organisations who fought for women's rights in the 20th century. The installation lights up with the ebb and flow of the Thames and makes up the symbol of the portcullis. A fitting end way to end an illuminating tour.

Then off across the road to The Jewel Tower, the only other medieval building of the Palace, built between 1365-6, under the direction of William of Sleaford and Henry de Yevele, to house the personal treasure of King Edward III.  We admired the wooden and stone roof and walls of the ground floor room and up the tiny staircase to further rooms above.  With thanks to all those who made these tours possible.

 

Visit to the Palace of Westminster & Jewel Tour

Thorney Tales (18) The Buxton Memorial Fountain

One of the gems of Victoria Tower Gardens (VTG) is the Buxton Memorial Fountain built in Gothic revival style to celebrate the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. It was constructed, and partly designed, by Charles Buxton the son of Thomas Buxton who was William Wilberforce’s designated successor to carry the anti-slavery movement to a successful conclusion. The Act, which came into force in 1834, made the ownership of slaves throughout the British colonies illegal.

The monument itself originated with the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain Association, which wanted to build “a costly and handsome fountain in Palace Yard”.  Buxton took the idea over and in 1865 it was first placed at the far end of Parliament Square where apparently it created a dramatic presence for anyone coming from St James’s Park towards Parliament.

When Parliament Square was reconstructed in 1949 as part of the plans for the Festival of Britain and designed in a classical mode, it was felt that a Gothic fountain would be out of place and also unfashionable as tastes had changed. 

In 1949 Herbert Morrison, deputy Prime Minister, is believed to have been the first to suggest it could be located in VTG but it was kept in storage until 1957 when Parliament eventually decided to place it there. 

Viscount Simon described the anti-slavery legislation as “one of the greatest Parliamentary events in our history”.  Few would disagree with that even though Parliament had been complicit until the movement got underway.  Some MPs, such as Sir James Penny of Liverpool (later unintentionally immortalised in the Beatles’s song Penny Lane) strongly resisted the movement. In 1792 Penny was given a silver bowl by the City of Liverpool for defending the slave trade before a Commons committee.

The memorial is octagonal in shape with eight bronze figures representing past rulers of England including Britons, Danes, Saxons and Normans and ending with Queen Victoria. 

At the time it was thought fitting to be placed in VTG because of the deep connection to Parliament which, as one observer noted “cleansed the country of its terrible inheritance of the slave trade”.  This is one of the reasons The Thorney Island Society has advocated that the proposed Holocaust Memorial be sited somewhere else nearby rather than in VTG because there is no direct link with Parliament as there is with the Buxton Memorial.

 

Thorney Tales (18) The Buxton Memorial Fountain

 

Mission: Invertebrate, The Green Park - August 2019

Rare breed sheep have grazed a set-aside wild meadow area in The Green Park for the last week along with a rare breed Dexter miniature cow called Twiglet.  The livestock belong to Mudchute Farm on the Isle of Dogs and are transported daily to their central London pasture where they are hugely popular with visitors and perform good work fertilising and spreading seed.  Tom from Mudchute explained how their arrival was timed after the flowering and setting seed of the meadow for maximum efficiency in attracting invertebrates.  This is the third year of the grazing project and there has been a visable increase in the numbers of flying and other insects but a more in depth audit would be carried out next year.  Another meadow area for wild flowers is located near Hyde Park Corner which we had seen in flower during our Tree Walk in May but at this time of year was short following one of its thrice yearly mows.  Many thanks to Tom and the Royal Parks' Mission: Invertebrate team for their work to enrich the bio-diversity of this challenging park with no flowerbeds.

 

Mission: Invertebrate, The Green Park - August 2019

 

Tour of Buckingham Palace Gardens - August 2019

Members of the Thorney Island Society have been blessed with many splendid visits this year but none was looked forward to more than our trip to the gardens of Buckingham Palace.  We were particularly fortunate to be shown around by Mark Lane, the Head Gardener, who freely shared his encyclopaedic knowledge of gardens assisted by his deputy, Clare.

As the tour began, we learned we were standing on what was once part of the four acres of mulberry garden that James I had planted in the early 1600s as part of his plan to create a new silk industry in Britain. Sadly, he chose the wrong sort of mulberry not eaten by silkworms and what could have been a major new industry bit the dust. 

But the gardens still have a strong connection with this wonderful tree as the National Mulberry Collection is housed here in the gardens with 40 different taxa. None of them are direct survivors of James I’s efforts except one has been grown from a cutting of the famous heritage mulberry at Charlton House which is believed to have been planted at the behest of James I. 

Mr Lane then walked us by the 156 metre long herbaceous border bristling with colourful plants and shrubs punctuated by an occasional banana plant and leading to 100 plane trees. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert planted two of these trees, though no-one knows which was which.

Among other highlights were an avenue of Indian chestnut trees which flower a month later than the Horse Chestnut and a lovingly tendered rose garden beyond a subtly camouflaged camomile lawn. There is a fine sundial nearby which was moved after a television programme in which David Attenborough pointed out to The Queen that its position then was too much in the shade.

The gardens used to have a hundred elms which were all lost when Dutch elm disease destroyed them - but a new disease-free variety is now being planted. 

Past the lovely lake with two islands much loved by dragonflies, damselflies and insects.  Pollen producing flowers are encouraged to thrive in the garden to provide a source of nectar for bees living in the garden’s hives. Almost 200 jars of honey have already been produced this year.   There is also a tennis court where Fred Perry played against the Duke of York, later George VI (who also played in the doubles at Wimbledon).

We had a very pleasant tea afterwards on the long terrace of the Palace itself which is open for visitors during the Summer Opening of the Palace.

Our deepest thanks to Her Majesty The Queen for granting permission, and to Mr Lane and his team for organising such a delightful afternoon.

 

Tour of Buckingham Palace Gardens - August 2019

  1. From Beer to the Bard - A Victoria Walk by Anthony Davis - July 2019
  2. Special Tour of Westminster Abbey - July 2019
  3. Duck Island Volunteer Project
  4. Gems of Thorney Island, A Walk by Victor Keegan - July 2019

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