St Stephen's Church, Rochester Row, A Talk by John Turpin - April 2021
Member John Turpin, who attends St Stephen's, described how it was built in the mid-19th century to reclaim and improve the Devil's Acre, the Baroness Burdett-Coutts connection and later developments to the church. A fascinating talk adapted from a postponed in-person visit. A recording will be available on our You Tube channel 3 months after the event.
The History & Restoration of The Queen Anne State Bed - A talk by Ian Block, March 2021
Master Upholsterer and Member, Ian Block, shared with us via Zoom, the history of this fine and rare Angel Bed. Its travels to America to be exhibited in Ford Motor Company Museum, then its journey back to England and its restoration by Ian and his team at A.T. Cronin. A recording will be available here 3 months after the live talk. Many thanks to Ian for this wonderful story.
Plague - A talk by author Julie Anderson, March 2021
Julie is extremely qualified to set her Westminster thriller in the Palace of Westminster and Whitehall having worked in a number of Government Departments. A self confessed history geek, Julie clearly enjoyed the research she carried out to enable accurate historic references to the banks of the River Tyburn, the plague pits, sewers and more (Reading List below). During this very enjoyable talk, Julie discussed how the layers of history and the unique legal position of the Palace of Westminster inspired her book.
Julie also created a self-guided walk to accompany the novel, starting at Bond Street Underground Station and concluding at the Thames on Millbank.
DO YOUR OWN 'PLAGUE' WALK: CLICK HERE
TO PURCHASE THE BOOK: CLICK HERE
JULIE'S BIBLIOGRAPHY / READING LIST FOR 'PLAGUE': CLICK HERE
St John's Smith Square Online Concert - Recording from 15th February 2021
THE PROGRAMME:
I) Brahms - Cello Sonata No.1 in E minor II) Op.38, Schumann - Romances III) Brahms - Cello Sonata No.2 in F major, Op.99
Donations to the Save Victoria Tower Gardens Campaign can be made here: https://savevtg.org/
Raphael Wallfisch, world famous cellist, and son of Holocaust survivor, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, kindly suggested that he would hold a fund-raising concert for the Save Victoria Tower Gardens Campaign and St John’s Smith Square hosted the concert. It will be available to view until mid-March.
Concert in aid of Save Victoria Tower Gardens Campaign - 15th February
The Buildings of Green Park, A talk by Andrew Jones, February 2021
At first sight it might seem strange to be talking about the buildings of The Green Park which doesn't actually have any buildings on it, but as soon as you look around the edges a whole new world springs up as Andrew Jones illustrated in his gripping talk to the Society on 2nd February, the first in our new series of virtual lectures.
He took us along Queen’s Walk, the southern part of which, near the Mall, contains some of the last aristocratic houses in London including Spencer House and Andrew’s favourite, Bridgewater House.
A high point was the circle of 13 plane trees in the park facing Spencer House which attract Druids and other alternative beliefs. Likened to the Pantheon in Rome of the exact same width with a gap in the trees acting as a portico to the house and the space in the canopy above echoeing the Pantheon's roof.
He took us to the northern end of Queen’s Walk guarded by the iconic Ritz Hotel, where among many other glamerous events, the exiled King Zog of Albania lived. His minder named - what else for the Ritz but - Mr Martini, would pay the weekly bills in gold.
From the numerous interesting buildings on the other side of Piccadilly, Andrew singled out the architecturally extravagant edifice which hosts the Hard Rock Café. Replacing Gloucester House where the Elgin marbles were displayed by Lord Elgin when they arrived in Britain.
It was news to most of us that the 4th Marquess of Hertford got Thomas Cubitt to rebuild 105 Piccadilly to house his paintings which were later to form the core of the wonderful Wallace Collection in Manchester Square. Although the Duke of Devonshire's palatial home (which ran almost to Berkeley Square) has long gone, the gates still form one of the entrances to The Green Park and the wine cellars are now the ticket office for Green Park station.
The talk was based on Andrew’s fascinating new book “The Buildings of Green Park” which will be published shortly but is available to purchase from Heywood Hill booksellers in Curzon Street. It is full of anecdotes, research, old photographs, artworks, is beautifully produced and highly recommended. https://www.heywoodhill.com/shop/the-buildings-of-green-park
Refurbishment of 7 Millbank
Thorney Tales (20) A History of Parliament in Two Glimpses
History often comes in glimpses and few are more poignant than what you see from the main cloister of Westminster Abbey. If you go into the cloister, which is free and open to the public most days of the week (though not at the time of writing during 2nd lockdown) you will see the top of the Chapter House in the middle of the picture (below) at the back. This is where the monks used to meet daily to discuss the business of the day. In 1352 it became the first place where the King, whose Palace was nearby, formally met Parliament which usually meant he needed to ask for more taxes. In 1362 a statute established that Parliament must approve of all taxation.
View of the Refectory wall (right) with the Chapter House in the background.
In 1397 Parliament moved from there to the Refectory, or dining hall, of the monastery. A single remaining wall of that medieval refectory is still in existence and can be seen peeping above the wall of the cloister on the right of the photo (above).
The other side of the wall is part of Westminster School in the garden of Ashburnham House and can’t be experienced unless you are lucky enough to get on a tour. But it can be glimpsed if you go to the upstairs section of the Abbey’s Cellarium café where if you look out of the window you will see a small section of the medieval wall in all its pristine glory (photo below). The dining hall was much bigger than the Chapter House and more fit for purpose even though it was inconvenient for the monks to have to clear up to make room for King and Commons.
View from the Cellarium window
After the Reformation Parliament was moved over the road in Old Palace Yard to the chapel of St Stephen’s College after the monks were forced to vacate it as it no longer served any religious purpose. In 1547 the fiercely Protestant Edward VI gave the Commons full use of the chapel where they stayed for nearly 300 years until it burned down in 1834. The Commons retained the shape of the old chapel where monks faced each other in long lines which is why the design of today's Parliament is oppositional rather than circular as in many other countries.
The evolution of Parliament wasn’t quite as linear as it might seem. Assemblies of one kind and another - such as Witans - had existed for centuries. The first recorded use of the word “Parliament” was in 1236 under Henry III but it was not like the Parliament of today any more than Simon de Montford’s was in 1265 which involved imprisoning the king and packing parliament with cronies.
LIVE Carols & Thorney Christmas Quiz via Zoom - December 2020
Our normal Christmas party was cancelled because of Covid-19 so we had an experimental one instead in the lovely garden of the Wellington Hotel in Vincent Square. It started with a live carol performance by a small group from our own local South Westminster Community Choir singing to a Zoom audience such favourites as Silent Night, While Shepherds Watched and Ding Dong Merrily amongst others. There was strong brass instrumental accompaniment aided by an occasional bark from a chorister’s guide-dog and passers-by, including families with children and babies, gathered near the gate to enjoy the rare sight and listen.
After the break, the Zoom continued with a Thorney themed quiz with enough puzzling questions like “What caused the clock in the Elizabeth Tower to lose nearly 5 minutes in 1949?” to stump some of our finest Thorney Island scholars!
It was a special and very enjoyable evening and, hopefully, we will be back to normal next year.
CLICK IMAGE BELOW TO VIEW A SHORT CLIP:
Carols & Thorney Christmas Quiz LIVE via Zoom - Monday 7th December
The Society's 34th AGM & Talk via Zoom - Tuesday 10th November
Our AGM was held on 10th November. After the business of the meeting, we were pleased to welcome historian Dorian Gerhold to talk on The history of Victoria Tower Gardens - From Palace and Abbey to public park. Please click the image below for a recording of the talk. 
The Society's 34th AGM & Talk via Zoom - Tuesday 10th November