Purcell Musical Tour of Westminster Abbey - June 2018

With thanks to the Purcell Club singers, prodominantly members of the Westminster Abbey Old Chorister's Association, for a wonderful evening of music and history.  We have already put our name down on the waiting list to go again in 4 years time ! 

Proposals for Christchurch Gardens, Victoria Street - June 2018

If you missed the public exhibition of the plans, you may view the exhibition boards and make comment CLICK HERE

Reception to mark the opening of The Queen's Jubilee Galleries, Westminster Abbey - June 2018

‘It’s not every day you get to add a new tower to Westminster Abbey.'  So said the Dean as he urged guests to climb up to the new triforium galleries, seven stories above the nave at a reception to mark their completion.  The lift shaft is clad with 17 different stones with each band representing the type of stone used in the Abbey over the years. From pinkish Purbeck Marble in 1000 to Clipsham in 1900.  A geological tour de force.

What is extraordinary and wonderful about the galleries is the view of the glorious vaulted ceiling and down onto the nave 16 metres below with light streaming through the west door providing a glimpse of the busy world outside.

In the ‘Abbey Attic’ visitors step over and under ancient diagonal oak beams and rafters, thrilling in itself.  The sight-lines across and through the galleries are positively an invitation to explore the views out to Parliament Square and the Palace of Westminster.  In the galleries themselves over 300 objects from the Abbey’s collection are presented in four sections: Building Westminster Abbey, Worship and Daily Life, Westminster Abbey and the Monarchy, The Abbey and National Memory.

There are swords and shields, corbel heads and graffiti, memorials and wall monuments.  Funeral effigies of Kings and Queens, side by side which are quite unnerving. Queen Elizabeth I’s corset made of fustian, whalebone and leather gives a rather jarring jolt.  Carved Caen stone sculpture, possibly of Abbot John Islip is a reminder of the street names of Thorney Island.... and back down to earth.

We are in the process of arranging a tour of the galleries for Members and guests in September. 

The Queen's Jubilee Galleries, Westminster Abbey - June 2018

Tour of Westminster Archives - June 2018

Gathering in what was the old wash-house, adjacent to what were the Great Smith Street public baths, we were introduced to the building. Opened in 1995 and housing Westminster's parish, council, church, school and business records, some dating back to the 1450's, they are still accepting items of importance.  With the resurgence in interest, via the Find My Past website, visitors most popular searches are the records of Births, Marriages and Deaths, the Adoption Indexes, Electoral Registers and Censuses. Particular building searches are also popular although most of the original planning records did not survive the LCC clear-out, but Victorian surveyors added drainage details to plans and these can be viewed for thousands of properties.  They have some 7,000 digitised images which can be accessed via their online catalogue WestCat and cabinets full of microfiche and an extensive library.

We first visited the busy Conservation Studio, where work was underway cleaning old maps delicately with special rubbers, carefully removing crumbling mounts and remounting on handmade Japaneese acid-free paper.  The Studio and volunteers had just finished restoring what is the largest public collection of Victorian West End theatre programmes.

Then we were treated to a special selection of Thorney Island material in the Search Room.  Maps, watercolours, etchings, books, photographs and plans.  What a treat and we spent a good amount of time studying closely these fascinating items.  We finished our tour in the Strong Rooms and were shown the oldest item in the Archives, a Henry III Charter of 1256, granting "...the Abbey of Westminster a weekly market every Monday in Tothill, and an annual fair for 3 days...". 

Many thanks to the staff of the Archives for their time, enthusiasm, knowledge and this very special tour.

Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Henry III 1256

Millbank Street before Victoria Tower Gardens c1863

Faithhorne Map 1658

Bomb damage to Old Pye Street and St Matthew's Street 1940

Grant of Arms to the City of Westminster 1601

View of Millbank and Vauxhall Bridge from the Horseferry on the Lambeth shore

Tour of Westminster Archives - June 2018

Visit to the Institution of Civil Engineers - May 2018

We had an enjoyable visit to the handsome Institution of Civil Engineers at 1 Great George Street. This year they are celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of their founding, by eight civil (as opposed to military) engineers at Kendall’s coffee house in Fleet Street. As the Institution grew they moved premises several times. The last move, which was caused by the demolition of their building for the construction of the present Treasury Building, was across Great George Street, where the present stone-clad building was completed in 1913, incorporating the very fine wooden panelling from their old headquarters, only finished in 1986.

We were lucky to be able to see all the ground floor rooms, in which the earlier panelling was installed. These are often used for conferences, and are each called after a distinguished early engineer and feature many portraits of past presidents – there were many familiar names: Brunel, Stephenson and Telford among them. We then proceeded up the magnificent stairs to the first floor, where there is a lecture theatre and a very sumptuous reception room, previously used for engineering examinations and their annual ball, as well as the old library in which the Institution puts on exhibitions open to the public. We were also taken upstairs to their excellent modern library, which is much used by their 90,000 members.

On the way the portrait of a past president was pointed out: Mr Brodie, who was president from 1920 to 21 and solved the problem of disputes over whether football goals had been scored or not, by proposing the attachment of nets to the back of goals! A good example of the wide-ranging problem-solving that engineers are trained for.

The main entrance, staircase and exhibition room are open to the general public, Monday to Friday and are well worth a visit, especially to view their bi-centenial "Invisible Superheroes" exhibition.