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Victoria Tower Gardens, poem by Elizabeth Witts

This Royal Park beside the River Thames
Is an oasis full of shady trees
Within the sound of Big Ben's steady chimes.

Young people have their picnics on the grass
Or sit on benches by the Embankment wall
To watch the gulls and cormorants fly by.

A fountain honours anti-slavery,
The children have a playground to themselves
And visitors go back to work refreshed
By all the peace and beauty of this place.

 

Victoria Tower Gardens, poem by Elizabeth Witts 2019

 

The Guards Museum, Wellington Barracks - Volunteers

We have been contacted by the museum who are seeking a number of volunteers and we think this would be an interesting opportunity for our members, and anyone living locally with some extra time, commitment and a real interest in military history.

Volunteers staff the admissions desk, introduce visitors to the museum and help with any questions they may have. They are also required (unofficially) to be experts on the local area and help with directions, transport advice, etc.

Please contact us and we will put you in touch with the museum curator.  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

The Guards Museum, Wellington Barracks - Volunteers  

 

 

The Green Park Tree Walk - May 2019

With thanks to Royal Parks arboriculturist, Greg Packman, who shared his wealth of knowledge as we walked the smallest of the Royal Parks.

Due to Charles II getting caught picking flowers here for his mistress, his queen had all the flower beds removed and its current name was born.  At the time of our walk, various hawthorns were in flower and Greg reminded us that we were standing on what had been the banks and marshy swamps of the river Tyburn running towards the Thames and the 'thorney island'.  Suggesting these thorn bushes and trees were decendents of those in the ancient landscape. 

The current design of the park dates back to 1820 when the avenues of planes were planted because of their resistance to smoke and pollution.  Growing tall and straight and now in their prime, with high canopies creating a 'cathedral' effect down the avenues.  Dispite the planes popularity in London, it is actually the hornbeam that is the clay loving native tree of London.  We looked at a rare wild poplar, also native, that was commonly used as an area boundary marker and we learned how the female of the species was now endangered due to its drain-blocking fluffy flowers, being replaced in great numbers by hybrids.  In an enclosed area, the Royal Park's Mission Invertebrate is experimenting to see if by grazing rare breed sheep once a year, the insect and wild flower populations increase.

The Green Park has many different landscapes and moods, from the wooded hills and avenues to secluded thickets of thorns, open close-cropped grassland and wild flower meadows.

Greg described the challenges his team face, juggling the landscape with risk management to keep the park safe and useable for the 15 million visitors each year. 

 The Green Park Tree Walk - May 2019

 

 

 

 

Visit to Bonhams Auctioneers - May 2019

Our member Colin Sheaf, Deputy Chairman of Bonhams, gave a fascinating tour of the Bond Street salerooms and we viewed the beautiful objects in the upcoming sale of Fine Chinese Art. 

Colin, an international authority on Chinese art, explained how the Chinese have been creating works of art for 7,000 years - Before the Egyptians!  The three categories are:  That made for export to the West (a colourful pair of C18th goose terrines), that of archaeological significance (Tang horses for example) and that made for the imperial Chinese market of which we saw examples of beautiful porcelain, jadite and jade (jade having a spiritual significance).  The animal carvings were chosen for their ancient symbolic meaning and the colours ranging from 'spinach' green to pure white, semi-opaque. 

The highlight of the auction will be 'An exceptionally rare and large blue and white 'immortals' double-gourd vase', about 3ft high.  Colin explained that with the rise in the Chinese economy over the last 20 years and the emergence of more Chinese collectors, prices are always on the up!  A bowl with a green dragon embossed into the porcelain was valued between £10,000 and £15,000 but could well reach £200,000.  A very special priviledge visit and many thanks to our expert guide.

 Visit to Bonhams Auctioneers - May 2019

Visit to Westminster Cathedral - May 2019

Many thanks to our guides John and Bernie and to the Cardinal Archbishop for the tour of this wonderful 'modern' Cathedral on Victoria Street.  Completed in 1903 in a neo-Byzantine style to be different from the Abbey and St Paul's, we were shown beautiful examples of Cosmati marble floors, Arts and Crafts carved furniture, lanterns copied from the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and of course the famous mosiacs.  The views from the top of the Campanile tower were still wide reaching despite a grey day!

 

 Visit to Westminster Cathedral - May 2019

 

Visit to The Speakers House - April 2019

One of the delights of being a member of the Thorney Island Society is that we visit places that are not normally open to the public. On this memorable visit we we were shown around the hallowed crimson-tinted state rooms of the Speaker of the House of Commons. 

The walls are festooned with magnificent portraits of previous Speakers ranging from Lord Addington (the only one to be both Speaker and Prime Minister) to the present incumbent John Bercow who has broken with tradition by having an action/working portrait of himself in the Chair rather than a formal one in state robes.

Among the highlights were an impressive dining room and a magnificent bed which heirs to the throne have the right to sleep in before their Coronation if they so wish but which hasn’t been used since George lll, quite possibly because, as our guide discreetly pointed out, it is not ensuite. However, in the same room, a large standing mirror is used by the Queen when she dresses for the State Opening of Parliament.

These are formal state rooms in which the spirit of Pugin, who designed the interior, is apparent everywhere, though he never lived to see it for himself. The rooms can only be visited with the permission of the Speaker and his family actually live in separate accommodation upstairs. Our sincere thanks to the Speaker and his Trainbearer, our excellent guide Jim Davey.

 



Visit to The Speakers House - April 2019 

 

Ann Carlton our Co-founder

With great sadness we report the death on the 9th March of Ann Carlton, who co-founded The Thorney Island Society with June Stubbs in 1985. Her funeral was held in Bury Port, Carmarthenshire on 30th March.  Please contact the Society if you would like to send condolences to her family.

 

Thorney Tales (17) Westminster Coke and Gas Company

In Great Peter Street, a stone’s throw from The Thorney Island Society’s archive up St Ann’s Lane, there is a plaque commemorating the site of the gasworks of the world’s first public supply of gas from coal.
 
This is only part of the story though. There were actually two huge gas holding tanks next to the company’s head office and the whole complex stretched from Great Peter Street to Horseferry Road. The Gas Light and Coke Company expanded rapidly eventually to become the company we know today as British Gas. 
 
It was all due to a German called Frederick Winsor (née Winzler) using disputed French patents.  On 4th June 1807 his carbonising furnace in Pall Mall dispatched gas along small pipes to illuminate gaslights in the nearby Carlton House, the home of the Prince Regent and a new industry was born.  
 
There had been instances of individual factories or houses using gas as a source of energy but these were one-offs. The kudos for creating widespread public lighting from a single central source must be given to Frederick Winsor.
 
In May 1808 he issued a prospectus to raise money which gives a clear idea of his project, “providing streets, squares, and houses with gaseous lights, by means of conducting tubes underground from distant furnaces, on the principles as houses are now supplied with water“.
 
The gaslights in Pall Mall burned brightly until recently when they were replaced as part of 'improvements' to the neighbourhood. But there are thousands of working gaslights in central London. The nearest ones are in and around St James’s Park.
 
Winsor died in Paris where he also worked and was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery but he is remembered by Winsor Terrace near Beckton Gas Works in east London as well as the gas lights that still light up parts of central London to this day. 
 
 
 
 
Thorney Tales (17) Westminster Coke and Gas Company
 
 

Spring-Summer 2019 Newsletter

Illuminated River

We have been consulted about this interesting new project, the Illuminated River. The idea is to enliven all 15 bridges between Albert Bridge and Tower Bridge at night with a lighting scheme that celebrates each particular bridge’s characteristics. Because LED lights will be used the total energy consumption will be less than the current lighting schemes and will also be less intrusive to the wildlife in the river, which depends on natural darkness.

If you want to read more about the project, and watch an animated visualisation go to: https://illuminatedriver.london/project#about-project

 

 

 

  1. Dolphin Square Redevelopment
  2. Townsend House, Greycoat Place
  3. Autumn-Winter 2018 Newsletter
  4. AGM 2018

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Articles

  • Events 2021-2022 Details
  • St John's Smith Square Online Concert - Recording from 15th February 2021
  • The Buildings of Green Park, A talk by Andrew Jones, February 2021
  • Events 2021 - New Programme of Talks via Zoom
  • LIVE Carols & Thorney Christmas Quiz via Zoom - December 2020
  • Thorney Tales (20) A History of Parliament in Two Glimpses
  • Refurbishment of 7 Millbank
  • The Society's 34th AGM & Talk via Zoom - Tuesday 10th November
  • The definitive book on the history of VTG ......
  • A History of St James's Park through Trees, Talk by Greg Packman - October 2020
  • Westminster Coroner's Court
  • 10 Greycoat Place - Developer's Consultation
  • Visit to the RHS Lindley Library
  • St. James's and The Green Park Update and Movement Strategy - 10th July 2020
  • Caring for the Poor and Vulnerable on Thorney Island, Guided Walk
  • Stephen Myers
  • The Truth behind the National Holocaust Memorial in Victoria Tower Gardens
  • Bearskins, Bayonets and Bravery - New Guards Museum podcast
  • Victoria Tower Gardens - Judicial Review brought by the London Gardens Trust
  • Two Africans with strong links to Thorney Island escaped slavery to become role models in London over 250 years ago
  • Collecting fine bookbindings Zoom Talk - June 2020
  • RUSI, The Royal United Services Institute, Whitehall
  • London History Day, 31st May 2020 - 10 Old Pye Street
  • Urban Tree Festival 2020 - Online
  • Live Video of Feeding St James's Park Pelicans
  • St Stephen's Church, Rochester Row
  • Westminster Kingsway College
  • Save Victoria Tower Gardens - Planning Inquiry 6th October - 13th November
  • Thorney Tales (19) Revd James Palmer and Palmer's Village
  • Workshop by Jens Jakobsen, Master Florist at the Blewcoat School - March 2020
  • Consultation Begins - Southside, Victoria Street
  • Ignatius Sancho, Short Talk by Victor Keegan - February 2020
  • Christchurch Gardens Reconstruction Short Talk - January 2020
  • Christmas Party 2019
  • 55 Broadway - Planning application
  • Richmond House, Whitehall - The Northern Parliamentary Estate
  • 20mph Throughout Westminster ? YES !
  • The Society's 33rd AGM, 12th November 2019
  • Visit to the Palace of Westminster & Jewel Tower - October 2019
  • Thorney Tales (18) The Buxton Memorial Fountain
  • Mission: Invertebrate, The Green Park - August 2019
  • Tour of Buckingham Palace Gardens - August 2019
  • From Beer to the Bard - A Victoria Walk by Anthony Davis - July 2019
  • Special Tour of Westminster Abbey - July 2019
  • Gems of Thorney Island, A Walk by Victor Keegan - July 2019
  • The Guards Museum, Wellington Barracks - Volunteers
  • Victoria Tower Gardens, poem by Elizabeth Witts
  • The Green Park Tree Walk - May 2019
  • Visit to Bonhams Auctioneers - May 2019
  • Visit to Westminster Cathedral - May 2019
  • Visit to The Speakers House - April 2019
  • Ann Carlton our Co-founder
  • Thorney Tales (17) Westminster Coke and Gas Company
  • Duck Island Volunteer Project
  • Illuminated River
  • Dolphin Square Redevelopment
  • AGM 2018
  • Centenary of Armistice Cenotaph Service and Exhibition in St James's Park
  • Visit to The Queen's Jubilee Galleries, Westminster Abbey - September 2018
  • Thorney Tales (16) College Hall, Westminster Abbey / School
  • Relocation of Emmeline Pankhurst statue from Victoria Tower Gardens
  • Visit to The Church House - August 2018
  • "The Devil's Acre before Peabody" Talk - August 2018
  • Visits to Westminster School - July 2018
  • Purcell Musical Tour of Westminster Abbey - June 2018
  • Reception to mark the opening of The Queen's Jubilee Galleries, Westminster Abbey - June 2018
  • Proposals for Christchurch Gardens, Victoria Street - June 2018
  • Thorney Island Sources Tour of Westminster Archives - June 2018
  • Visit to the Institution of Civil Engineers - May 2018
  • St James's Park Tree Walk - May 2018
  • Unveiling of Millicent Fawcett Statue in Parliament Square - April 2018
  • Visit to Watts & Co, Ecclesiastical Furnishers & Outfitters - April 2018
  • Broadway & Carteret Street
  • Thorney Tales (15) Henry Purcell's Birthplace
  • AGM 2017 & Talk
  • Townsend House, Greycoat Place
  • Thorney Tales (14) Siegfried Sassoon
  • Chelsea College of Art & Design Collaboration
  • Introducing our New Chair
  • Lambeth Bridge Roundabout
  • Tour of St James the Less church in Pimlico - September 2017
  • Local Tree Walk with Paul Akers, WCC Arboriculturalist - September 2017
  • Visit to HM Treasury building - July 2017
  • Thorney Tales (13) - Elizabeth Woodville
  • Suffragist Millicent Fawcett - First women honoured in Parliament Square ?
  • Visit to St Margaret's Church - July 2017
  • Parks: Our Shared Heritage Exhibition - July/August 2017
  • Consultation by WCC on Future Growth/Building Height
  • Proposed memorial statue to Lady Margaret Thatcher in Parliament Square
  • Thorney Tales (12) The Jerusalem Chamber
  • 61-71 Victoria Street
  • Vauxhall Bridge Road/Tachbrook St Draft Development Opportunity
  • Visit to Tate Britain's Archives & Library, November 2016
  • Thorney Tales (11) - The Abbey Garden
  • St Andrew's Club - 150th Anniversary, October 2016
  • June Stubbs 1927 - 2016
  • Henry V's Chantry Chapel Visit, October 2016
  • Thorney Tales (10) - Oliver Cromwell v Charles I
  • The Victoria Tower Gardens & The National Holocaust Memorial & Learning Centre
  • Old War Office, 57 Whitehall
  • Our visit to Parliament's hidden medieval places, 28th July 2016
  • Westminster Fire Station
  • Thorney Tales (9) - Governor of Duck Island
  • Thorney Tales (8) Westminster Opera House
  • Fundraising Gala Dinner September 2016
  • Fundraising Gala Dinner September 2016
  • New Scotland Yard, 10 Broadway
  • What is Thorney Island ?
  • Millbank Tower grows taller
  • Welcome
  • Thorney Tales (7) - Storey's Gate
  • Thorney Tales (6) - St Margaret's Church, the amazing history of a window
  • Paddington Tower
  • WCC say "No" (AGAIN!) to proposed sculpture outside Westminster Central Hall
  • Objection to proposed cycle stands in Queen Anne's Gate
  • A visit to the hidden archives of Westminster Abbey, 4th November 2015
  • Visit to new Parliamentary Education Centre, 28th October 2015
  • Thorney Tales (5) - Westminster Hall Roof
  • Thorney Tales (4) - The tomb behind one of Britain's biggest fortunes
  • Thorney Tales (3) - The Jewel Tower
  • Visit to the RHS Lindley Library, 14th July 2015
  • Thorney Tales (2) - The River Tyburn
  • The Garden Bridge Controversy
  • Visit to Bridgewater House
  • Queen's Walk Cycle Route, The Green Park
  • Thorney Tales (1) - Britain's Hidden Treasure Trove
  • AGM 2016 & the Panorama of The Thames Project
  • Annual Review 2014-15

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