Welcome

The Society was formed in 1985 to save from demolition London's first public library in Great Smith Street (above right).  Since then we have kept a watchful eye on developments in this area, which includes the World Heritage Site encompassing the Abbey and Houses of Parliament. 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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Urban Tree Festival 2020 - Online

The talks and discussions that took place during the Festival week are available on their Youtube channel:  CLICK HERE

A great event finishing with "Write About Trees" and Victor Keegan's superb poem on the Ginkgo Biloba.

A couple of our favourites :

Greg Packman, who has guided walks through St James's and The Green Parks for us, talking 'Ancient Trees in London'. 

 

Hannah Sylvester talking about the Hawthorn: How to forage, pick and dry the leaves and berries to make tinctures and teas, hawthorn brandy and hawthorn vodka tincture !  Also the plant's medicinal properties, uses in heart conditions and its value for the 'emotional heart' because it is cooling and calming. 

 

 

 

Live Video of Feeding St James's Park Pelicans

Watch Hugh Smith, Park's Wildlife Officer, feeding the pelicans which happens daily at 2.30pm.  Today, 7th May, we had the pleasure of watching the fun live filmed by Mark Wasilewski, Park Manager.  Follow the link to watch the video:

https://www.facebook.com/TheRoyalParksLondon/videos/246109969937935/

 

 

 

Westminster Kingsway College

Today, 6th May, we had planned to visit and enjoy lunch at the catering college in Vincent Square to support students on the Professional Chefs Diploma.  We look forward to visiting you next year instead.

 

 Westminster Kingsway College

 

St Stephen's Church, Rochester Row

We had been looking forward to member John Turpin's talk and visit to St Stephen's on 4th April, but it's back in the diary for 2021 !

 

St Stephen's Church, Rochester Row

 

 

Save Victoria Tower Gardens - Planning Inquiry Postponed

UPDATE!  APRIL 2020

The Planning Inspector has decided to postpone the UK Holocaust Memorial Planning Inquiry until further notice (most likely Autumn 2020). The Inspector thought it was difficult to envisage how this inquiry could be effectively handled digitally, without the risk of prejudicing anyone's chance to fully engage. The Inspector does not think it is appropriate for this appeal to be part of the initial trials of electronic inquiries as urged by The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

A case of this importance requires a reliable process, close scrutiny and full public access. In the meantime the SVTG campaign continues to prepare the necessary Witness Statements and Proof of Evidence.

 Save Victoria Tower Gardens - Planning Inquiry Postponed

 

 

Visits & Special 35th Anniversary Celebrations 2020

As you would expect, The Thorney Island Society has re-scheduled all visits and events for the next three months and most likely until September or beyond.

We will run the postponed programme as soon as it is safe and practicable to do so.

In the meantime we shall send out more e-newsletters to our members with links to interesting articles. Please follow us on Twitter @ThorneyIslandSo and Instagram #thethorneyislandsociety and continue to look at the website for local history news and Thorney Tales.

When we are though all this we shall be having a 36th Anniversary Birthday Party rather than the 35th we planned!

Stay well
Sue Ball
Chair

 

 

Spring-Summer 2020 Newsletter

 

Spring-Summer 2020 Newsletter

Thorney Tales (19) Revd James Palmer and Palmer's Village

 
If you chanced to visit James Palmer at St Bride’s Church in Fleet Street in the early 17th century you may have found him asleep in the steeple. This was not because he was eccentric but because as vicars go he was very frugal - and Thorney Island was the beneficiary of this.
 
The Revd James Palmer was born in 1585 and baptised in St Margaret’s Church where he is also buried. At the north end of the church there is a rather blackened memorial to him as a priest and philanthropist, praising him as “a most pious & charitable man”.  His priesthood was mainly spent at St Bride’s but he gave regular sermons on Thorney Island including to both houses of Parliament. 
His philanthropy is still remembered today by Palmer Street which runs from Victoria Street by the side of the Albert pub to Caxton Street - close to the almshouses he established for 12 elderly men and women and the school for 20 pupils (boys). They occupied the land between today’s Palmer Street and Christchurch Gardens (currently in the course of reconstruction). The school, known as the Blackcoat school - not to be confused with the Bluecoat, Greencoat or Browncoat schools - was one of the founding parents of today's Westminster City School. (For more on the history of local schools, please see articles in our Newsletters Autumn/Winter 2018 and Spring/Summer 2019)
 
To ensure the survival of his endowment, the Revd Palmer established an extraordinary venture called Palmer’s Village nearby (roughly between Victoria Street and Howick Place - see map) which has been described as a recreation of Merrie England complete with pub, village green, blacksmith and even a maypole. It was all the more remarkable for being encroached on one side by the squalid deprivation of what came to be known as the Devil’s Acre (between Christchurch Gardens and the Abbey) and on the other by the swamps of Tothill Fields. Palmer’s Village lasted until Victoria Street blasted its way through in the mid 19th century. 
 
James Palmer’s almshouses eventually merged with others including one set up by Emery Hill (who also has a thoroughfare named after him, Emery Hill Street). Both charities were incorporated in Westminster Almshouses which can be seen on the corner of Rochester Row and Emery Hill Street. Looking some way up the wall, you will see memorials to them both.  A fitting reminder of how the philanthropy of a bygone age is still producing benefits today.
 
  
 
 
 

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

UPDATE!  February 2020

On February 11th, WCC Planning Applications Sub-Committee unanimously supported the principle of building a Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre but REFUSED the application to do so in Victoria Tower Gardens. 

The main issues of planning policy were loss of protected park space, risk to the mature trees and negative impacts on two conservation areas, the World Heritage Site and several listed buildings and monuments (including the Buxton Memorial and Spicer wall).  Here is the summary of the event and decision by WCC:  https://www.westminster.gov.uk/opinion-holocaust-memorial-planning-application

The application will now be reviewed by the Planning Inspectorate from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.  An inquiry will spend 12 days in total before making a decision at the end of May.  The cost of legal advice to continue the fight to protect Victoria Tower Gardens is being funded by donations to a CrowdJustice site.  Please give generously to help save this precious park.  Thank you.    https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-victoria-tower-gardens/
 
 

Environmental Statement, Our Response - December 2019

We have now submitted our response to the new Environmental Statement documents, submitted by MHCLG/UKHMF in October 2019 as part of the planning process.  To view our response, CLICK HERE

 

 
WE STRONGLY SUPPORT THE SAVE VICTORIA TOWER GARDENS CAMPAIGN. 

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

 

 

  1. Workshop by Jens Jakobsen, Master Florist at the Blewcoat School - March 2020
  2. House of Fraser building Victoria Street
  3. Ignatius Sancho, Short Talk by Victor Keegan - February 2020
  4. Visits & Events 2020 - Special 35th Anniversary Celebrations

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