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Thorney Tales (14) Siegfried Sassoon

If you walk down Bennett’s Yard off Tufton Street, you will be able to glimpse over the high wall a dignified, if lonesome, plane tree. It is located in what was the garden of the great First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon who lived there for over five years. It was believed to have been planted by Winston Churchill in memory of the poet, Col. d'Arcy Hall and their comrades of The Great War, though this has not been conclusively proved.

That it is there at all is thanks to a forceful campaign led by our co-founder June Stubbs, which failed to save the nearby houses (Sassoon’s house had been all but destroyed in the 2nd World War) but at least they preserved the tree, though sadly without public access. He lived for five productive years at 54 Tufton Street where he entertained many celebrated friends including T E Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia - who lived nearby in Barton Street, E M Forster and W J Turner who lived with his wife in Sassoon’s house. Turner is not much known about these days but Yeats was “lost in admiration” at his work.

Sassoon is remembered by a plaque on the wall of the new house on the site which was sponsored by the Thorney Island Society and the City of Westminster.

Proposed memorial statue to Lady Margaret Thatcher in Parliament Square

UPDATE ! January 2018 - Westminster Council have turned down the application for this statue. They feel less strongly about the ten-year rule, and have based their decision more on the quality of the sculpture.

July 2017 STATUE BLOCKED ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40529770

May 2017 - Our response to Westminster City Council (Nelson Mandela statue details corrected 7th July 2017)

We acknowledge the significance of Lady Thatcher as the first female Prime Minister and the longest serving of the twentieth century, but we feel that the principle of leaving a ten-year gap between the death of a subject and the erection of a public memorial should in this case be adhered to. We note that the statue of Nelson Mandela was erected before he died but that should not set a precedent, especially as Mandela was an entirely uncontroversial figure, respected throughout the world. While Lady Thatcher was also widely respected it cannot be said that she was uncontroversial in this country. There is a strong case for the ten-year rule to be respected - there should be a decent interval before permanent statues are erected, especially when they are controversial enough to risk vandalism.

We also feel that the quality of the sculpture does not do justice either to the subject or the site. The understated and reverential character of the statue is disappointing given that the Churchill statue is so much more interesting. We understand that Lady Thatcher's daughter dislikes the statue.

For further details or to give your own comments to WCC, follow this link (CLICK HERE)

AGM 2017 & Talk

On Wednesday 15th November 2017, the Society held its 31st AGM with the generous support of Grange Hotel Rochester. Following the business of the meeting Caroline Shenton spoke on her fascinating new book "Mr Barry's War", sequal to "The Day Parliament Burned Down".

Tour of St James the Less church in Pimlico - September 2017

Saint James the Less, off the Vauxhall Bridge Road, is a gem of a Gothic revival church which 30 of our members were privileged to be shown around by the vicar Lis Goddard.

It was designed in the late 1850s down to the last detail by GE Street who was also responsible for the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand. It is not only Grade 1 listed in its own right but the adjoining school is also Grade 1 and even the two sets of railings outside are separately listed as well.

It is unusual enough to look at from outside with its freestanding tower or campanile but inside it is a treasure trove of sculpted brickwork, tiles and stained glass windows with biblical narratives made by the celebrated Victorian firm Clayton and Bell. It is difficult to believe that it was built in little more than two years. Funded by three sisters – Jane, Penelope and Mary – in honour of the memory of their father Bishop Henry Monk, which may help to explain why, highly unusually, there are depictions of eight women on the wall behind the high altar. Another feature is a mosaic made of Venetian glass which replicated a mural, which had deteriorated, of the same scene by the celebrated painter GF Watts on the chancel arch.

Small wonder that this church has been praised to the skies by celebrated writers from Ian Nairn to Sir John Betjeman who helped to save it when it was threatened with demolition. We are most grateful to Lis Goddard for sharing her extensive knowledge of the church with us.

Tour of St James the Less church in Pimlico - September 2017

Local Tree Walk with Paul Akers, WCC Arboriculturalist - September 2017

A fascinating tour around the local streets with Paul, sharing his vast experience and knowledge. Trees and shrubs from the Mediterranean, New Zealand, Nova Scotia, China, Japan & Iran are to be found in our streets. Carefully chosen for their trunks, flowers, colour of foliage, height, shape, roots and always a tolerance to pollution and pavements !

Who would have thought there were Olive trees in Abbey Orchard Street, a Tulip tree (first introduced in the UK in 1650) in Wilcox Place, a Myrtle and a Loquat in Howick Place and a Japanese Pagoda and a Strawberry Tree in Thirleby Road ?

Many thanks to Paul for introducing us to them and general fascinating discussion on these lovely trees and plants that he and his team look after.

Thorney Tales (13) - Elizabeth Woodville

Elizabeth Woodville is one of the most fascinating, if transient, inhabitants of Thorney Island. She was a queen in her own right (wife of Edward IV), mother of another king (Edward the V, albeit uncrowned) and her daughter married yet another king (Henry VII) which resulted in her being declared Dowager Queen. But it is for her stay on Thorney Island – where she twice took sanctuary to avoid prison during the Wars of the Roses – that she is chiefly remembered. After her husband Edward IV was forced to flee the country she escaped from the Tower of London at night and claimed sanctuary in the Abbey on October 1st, 1470.

She occupied rooms in the Dean's quarters known as Cheyneygates, which still exists (see photo) despite being bombed during the Second World War. The future King Edward V was born in the Sanctuary. He later became notorious as one of the Princes in the Tower who were - probably - murdered on the orders of Richard III who was desperate to eliminate rival claimants to his throne.

Elizabeth was duped into letting her son leave the sanctuary during her second stay there in order to join his brother in the Tower of London, as dramatically told by Shakespeare in Richard III, on the spurious grounds that he would be looked after and that sanctuaries were for criminals not innocent chilldren.

As the Duke of Buckingham put it to Cardinal Bourchier,

"This prince hath neither claim'd it (sanctuary) nor deserv’d it,

And therefore, in mine opinion, cannot have it.

Then taking him from thence that is not there,

You break no privilege nor charter there.

Oft have I heard of sanctuary men,

But sanctuary children never till now."

This gives only a fleeting glimpse of an extraordinary life. Elizabeth retired to the Royal apartments in Bermondsey Abbey in 1490 where she died two years later apparently destitute. She is buried beside her husband, Edward IV in St George's Chapel at Windsor.

Lambeth Bridge Roundabout

August 2017 We object to plans to remove the roundabout and replace it with traffic lights. Read OUR RESPONSE HERE

Proposed

Existing

Suffragist Millicent Fawcett - First women honoured in Parliament Square ?

July 2017: Following an announcement in April 2017 (Read BBC article here), a planning application has now been made. Millicent Fawcett may have pipped Lady Thatcher to the post ! See our Planning page for link to WCC to make a comment.

Our response to the planning application: "Although we have no objection to the subject matter of this statue, which is not controversial, we have strong reservations about the current rapid increase in the number of monuments in an area that has been declared a Monument Saturation Zone. This Westminster City Council policy should be adhered to, both now and in the future."

Visit to HM Treasury building - July 2017

Many thanks to Dan & Rebecca for their tour and commentary as we wandered the corridors and courtyards of the Treasury building.

Work started at 100 Parliament Street in 1899 to John Bryden's design. Stately, spacious and light with sweeping stairs and statues. But it was not until 1907 that the land was purchased for the 2nd half of the building, demolishing narrow streets, houses and churches. Sir Henry Tanner, a Government Architect, incorporated & finished the new building quickly and cheaply by 1917, ditching some of Bryden's original ideas including 580 fireplaces. So a building of two halves.

Moving swiftly forward, it received a much needed revamp in the early 2000's, sympathetically given by (Sir Norman) Foster & Partners via a PFI initiative, including the addition of a new mansard roof and opening up inner courtyards with gardens, ponds and benches. Today it is an exciting, efficient workplace with every desk having natural light and lots of it ! Although much is open plan now, one cannot avoid the corridors, one is even Listed as a 'heritage corridor'.

Some ordinary meeting rooms, off our first corridor, were used by Sir Winston & Lady Clementine Churchill as their private living and bedrooms during WW2, not wanting to sleep in the Cabinet War Rooms underneath and underground. See photo below. The building has 3 levels of basements and there is a constant flow of water through a channel in the sub-basement. Our river Tyburn perhaps ? Now up to the 'heritage corridor', past the Chancellor's enormous, carved office door ! Each current chancellor may choose what artwork they would like from the Government's extensive collection (on view near Tottenham Court Road - a Pippa visit a few year's ago !). Mr Hammond is said to prefer large, classical pictures but some of Gordon Brown's more smaller, modern pieces are still to be seen. Now into the very grand Old Chancellor's Room (see photo below) and then the Churchill Room where the creation of the NHS and the Independence of the Bank of England, amongst other monumental plans, were worked on and signed. Glimpsing, through the net curtains, the narrow balcony where Churchill delivered his VE day speech, which at the time was the Ministry of Health's boardroom. Then out into 'the Drum', the huge round central courtyard, with tremendous echoes, used for filming The Fast & The Furious and for speeches by George Osborne and the Pope ! Not missing a view, through tall iron gates, past the FCO, straight to No.10 Downing Street. During the war, the Drum had been covered in anti-torpedo netting. Very successfully, as a torpedo sat on it from 1914 to 1950 when it was eventually removed.

We didn't meet Gladstone, the Treasury cat, but his reputation was hailed of catching 14 mice since he had been in residence. Thank you again to the organisers for their time and enthusiasm. Congratulations too on the 100th birthday of the building.