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.
Our PRIVACY POLICY can be viewed HERE
JOIN HERE
Please download the form below which can be completed, saved and returned to us as an email attachment to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Alternatively, print, complete and post to us at: The Thorney Island Society, 10 Old Pye Street, London SW1P 2DG
The Victoria Tower Gardens & The National Holocaust Memorial
UPDATE! NOTICE OF MEETING
JANUARY 2019
The Planning Application for the Holocaust Memorial and underground Learning Centre was submitted to Westminster Council on 19th December 2018. The next step is for the Council is to ‘validate’ the application and to assign a Case Officer who will be in charge of the application as a whole, bringing in other team members to advise on specific areas of expertise (conservation, highways, green space etc).
Until the project is officially validated, it is not possible to examine the actual drawings and documentation submitted. Once it is validated, the Council has just 13 weeks to determine the case.
Then follows a period of several weeks in which the Council will be seeking opinions from the general public and from a large number of Statutory Consultees (interested parties such as local amenity groups, Historic England, Royal Parks etc). This is when we will be asking our members and others to write to the Council to state their objections to this project which will drastically alter the gardens and the children's playground and which would be so much more effective if combined with the excellent dedicated galleries at the Imperial War Museum, less than a mile away.
DECEMBER 2018
The second and final public consultation and exhibition was held at Church House, 27 Great Smith Street, from 5th to 8th December. Further information can be found on the Save Victoria Tower Gardens Website www.savevictoriatowergardens.c
Click here to view the EXHIBITION BOARDS
NOVEMBER 2018
As Sir Peter Bottomley said at the Society’s AGM on the 13th November, Victoria Tower Gardens was not initially regarded as suitable for inclusion on the Holocaust Commission shortlist. Suddenly it appeared as the preferred site resulting in the loss of public/green space in the only London park alongside the Thames and adjacent to a World Heritage Site. It will also overshadow the Buxton Memorial Fountain which commemorates the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834.
WE STRONGLY SUPPORT THE SAVE VICTORIA TOWER GARDENS CAMPAIGN.
See their website and sign the petition:
https://www.savevictoriatowergardens.co.uk/
Townsend House, Greycoat Place
UPDATE !
January 2019 This application has been backwards and forwards to WCC with various changes over the past year. The current proposals for the latest planning application were unveiled at a public exhibition on Thursday, 17th January from 3pm to 7pm on site. Further information and our response will follow here shortly.
6th February 2018 Ref: 18/00024/FULL We are sad that this attractive brick-built building is to be demolished; it is surprising and unfortunate that none of the surrounding conservation areas cover this small area, which includes the nearby Grade 2 listed Greycoat Hospital School.
Visits & Events 2019
Our 2019 visits and events programme will be announced in the Spring.
Our events and visits are open to all unless specified and we hope non-members will enjoy our programme and consider joining the Society. To book events 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.
ONGOING ! The Duck Island/Thorney Island Society Project, St James's Park This exciting new collaboration with the park is calling for volunteers from TTIS to help restore and revitalise Duck Island. If you are interested in helping clear brambles and paths, raking and tidying the meadow area and lake edges, making log and deadwood piles, sorting and documenting artefacts in the barn or helping in the cottage garden, please get in touch to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or post us a note to TTIS, 10 Old Pye Street, SW1P 2DG
Autumn-Winter 2018 Newsletter
CLICK IMAGE BELOW TO VIEW:
AGM 2018
The Society's AGM was held on 13th November 2018 at the Grange Rochester Hotel. The meeting was pleased to welcome Ptolemy Dean, architect of the new Weston Tower leading to the Queen's Jubilee Galleries and 19th Surveryor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey, who gave an excellent talk with slides on the background, design and construction of the tower and explained some of the future plans and challenges facing the Abbey in order to improve the overall visitor experience, ticket hall, security check and storage areas.
Please click below to view:
Centenary of Armistice Cenotaph Service and Exhibition in St James's Park
Remembrance Day, 11th November, started at 11am with two minutes silence marked by the firing of guns from the King’s Troop on Horse Guards Parade followed by a service at the Cenotaph. TTIS Vice President, The Right Revd Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London led the service of remembrance which was attended by the President of Germany for the first time.
Relocation of Emmeline Pankhurst statue from Victoria Tower Gardens
UPDATE! The application for the removal of the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst from Victoria Tower Gardens was withdrawn following a very large number of objections and considerable press coverage.
This statue was commissioned by the women who worked with her and its position next to Parliament is symbolic of her significance in British history. It is planned that after she is relocated to Regents University in Regents Park, a larger statue of her be placed in Canning Green, at the back of Parliament Square, but we are still not happy and do not want to lose this particular statue in its current position. Read our objection letter on our Planning page and CLICK HERE to leave your own comment on WCC's website.
Relocation of Emmeline Pankhurst statue from Victoria Tower Gardens
Visit to The Queen's Jubilee Galleries, Westminster Abbey - September 2018
More than 30 members enjoyed a delightful visit to the new Queen’s Jubilee Galleries (or Triforium) in Westminster Abbey. We have already reviewed the opening in June but this took nothing away from a remarkable experience. We were welcomed in the Chapter House by Tony Trowles, Head of the Abbey Collection. He described the work of Ptolemy Dean Architect and exhibition designers MUMA that made the new external access tower and exhibition space possible. He thanked the Society for their valuable contributions at design and planning stages in 2014.
