10 Historic London Garden Squares…5. Berkeley Square…

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Berkeley-Square

Located in the south-west of Mayfair in London’s West End, Berkeley Square was originally laid out by architect William Kent in the mid 1700s.

It takes its name from the Berkeley family of Gloucestershire (the first Lord Berkeley of Stratton was a Royalist commander in the Civil War) whose London residence, Berkeley House, stood on what is now the south side of the square until it was destroyed in a fire in 1733 (Devonshire House, whose residents included the 5th Earl of Devonshire and his somewhat notorious wife Georgiana, was subsequently built on the site and remained there until it was demolished in the 1920s).

The gardens, which feature some of the city’s oldest London Plane trees (dating from 1789), have a pump house at the centre which was built in 1800 and is now Grade II listed (it stands on the site of an earlier equestrian statue of King George III). Other features including the statue Lady of Sumaria (Water Carrier) – pictured above – which was made by Pre-Raphaelite sculptor Alexander Munro in 1858 and stands at the garden’s southern end.

Among notable buildings which face onto the square are Lansdowne House – located on the south-west corner of the square, it was designed by Robert Adam and now home of the Lansdowne Club – and number 50 Berkeley Square, home of short-lived early 19th century PM George Canning (and said to be the most haunted house in London). The square was also the home of society favorite, Gunter’s Tea Shop, which dated from the mid-1700s.

Famous residents have included wartime PM Sir Winston Church (he lived at number 48 as a child); Horace Walpole, some of the first Prime Minister Robert Walpole (he lived at number 11 during the 1700s), Robert Clive (more famously known as Clive of India, he committed suicide in number 45 in 1774), and the fictional Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves (creations of author PG Wodehouse). The square also featured in the famous wartime song, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.

The square is open from 8am daily with closing times varying based on the season.

Lost London – The Egyptian Hall…

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The-Egyptian-HouseThe Egyptian Hall was a London institution located in Piccadilly. 

Built in 1812, the temple-like structure was drawn up by architect Peter Frederick Robinson and was one of the first buildings in England design in a style resembling that found in ancient Egyptian architecture. It had been commissioned by William Bullock, originally a goldsmith and jeweller who was collector of curiosities and had previously founded a museum in Liverpool.

Having relocated to London in 1809, he established a new museum at an existing property in Piccadilly before deciding to build the Egyptian Hall as a purpose-built museum (shown here is an image of The Egyptian House in Penzance, Cornwall, which was built in 1835 in imitation of The Egyptian Hall and gives some sense of what the Egyptian Hall must have looked like).

Bullock’s collection of thousands of items – including arms and armour and objects brought back by Captain James Cook on his expeditions to the southern hemisphere – was housed in the new museum, also known variously as Bullock’s Museum or the London Museum, after its opening (at least until 1819 when Bullock auctioned the collection off) and the hall was also used to house exhibitions.

Perhaps the most famous exhibition held there was in 1816, when hundreds of thousands visited an exhibition of Napoleonic memorabilia including the bullet-proof carriage of the Emperor Napoleon captured at Waterloo. Other exhibitions included the display of artworks by the likes of Benjamin Haydon and JMW Turner and in 1822, Bullock held an exhibition of some of the artefacts he himself had collected during a visit to Mexico.

Bookseller George Lackington bought the hall in 1825 and continued to use the premises for exhibits but the tone gradually changed and the premises became more associated with the display of such ‘curiosities’ as Siamese twins Cheng and Eng, the ‘living skeleton’ – Frenchman Claude Amboise Seurat, General ‘Tom Thumb’, an entire family of Laplanders (they apparently gave lectures on their lifestyle) and the entire skeleton of a mammoth.

Having already been hired by performers and lecturers for shows relating to magic and spiritualism over the latter half of the 18th century, when the building later came into control of the Maskelyne family this association was formalised and the building was renamed England’s Home of Mystery.

In 1905, the building was demolished and flats and offices built on the site at 170-173 Piccadilly.

For more on William Bullock and the Egyptian Hall, check out William Bullock: Connoisseur and Virtuoso of the Egyptian Hall: Piccadilly to Mexico (1773-1849).

A foody feast at Kew; the Queen goes to Westminster; Morecambe & Wise remembered; and, Francis Goodman on show…

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Bompas-&-Parr-with-pineapples• Kew Gardens is all about food this summer and autumn with the launch of IncrEdibles: A Festival to Feed the Imagination this Sunday. Visitors are being encouraged to take part in a range of food-related activities including taking a fruit-shaped boat on the Palm House Pond around a floating pineapple island (the Tutti Frutti Boating Lake has been designed by “culinary creators” Bompas & Parr – pictured right), checking out a ‘global gastronomic garden’ featuring more than 90 edible plants on the Great Lawn, and listening to volunteer guides in the Palm House discussing how many of our foods have their origins in the rainforest. The festival also features a range of talks, tours and tastings and you can sample some special foods at the onsite eateries. The festival runs until 3rd November. For more, see www.kew.org. PICTURE: Bompas & Parr

• A portrait of Queen Elizabeth II standing on the Cosmati pavement in Westminster Abbey will go on public display for the first time this afternoon at the abbey as part of the celebrations surrounding the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation. The Coronation Theatre: Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, is the work of Australian-born, London-based artist Ralph Heimans and has been acquired by the abbey for its collection. The painting, which was officially unveiled in London for the Diamond Jubilee last year, was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra until the end of March. The painting can be viewed in the chapter house at the abbey from 2pm today and will remain on display until 27th September. For more, see www.westminster-abbey.org.

• A blue plaque commemorating late comic duo Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise has been unveiled at the Teddington Studios in west London. The Heritage Foundation plaque was reportedly unveiled by Morecambe’s widow Joan and daughter Gail. Teddington’s Studio One was where the last four series of the duo’s show were produced.

• On Now: Francis Goodman: Back in Focus. This display at the National Portrait Gallery features more than 40 black and white photographs spanning the career of fashion and society photographer Francis Goodman (1913-1989), from the 1930s to the 1970s and includes portraits of the likes of artists Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud as well as writers including Noel Coward and Nancy Mitford. The exhibition runs until 3rd November. Admission is free. For more, see www.npg.org.uk.

10 Historic London Garden Squares…4. St James’s Square…

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A quiet square at the heart of the area known as St James, the square’s origins go back to the 1660s when King Charles II granted what was initially a lease (and later the freehold) over a section of St James’s Field to Henry Jermyn, a favourite of King Charles I’s queen Henrietta Maria who was created the 1st Earl of St Alban.

William-IIIThe earl began developing the residential square (the original design had houses on the south-side fronting onto Pall Mall) and, thanks to its proximity to Whitehall and St James’s Palace, quickly attracted some of the who’s who of London to live there.

Indeed it’s said that by the 1720s, seven dukes and seven earls were in residence in the square – other residents included PMs William Pitt the Elder and William Gladstone (both lived in Chatham House, at numbers 9 and 10, albeit at different times) as well as two of James II’s mistresses, Arabella Churchill and Catherine Sedley, who apparently lived at number 21 in the late 1600s.

Among the architects who designed houses around the square were Robert Adam, Sir John Soane, and, in more recent times, Edwin Lutyens.

The square – which reached its final layout, designed by John Nash, around 1854 – remained a desirable place to live even as in the 19th century, some of the houses gave way to financial institutions, private clubs, offices and even lodging houses. These days it’s dominated by business and other institutional organisations.

Organisations located in the square today include the Naval and Military Club (number four – former home of Nancy Astor), the East India Club (number 16) and the London Library (located at number 14, it was founded by Thomas Carlyle in 1841) as well as the international headquarters of BP.

The gardens feature an equestrian statue of King William III at their centre (the work of John Bacon Sr and Jr, it was installed in 1808 and is pictured above). Other monuments include The Stag (located in the south-west corner, it is the work of Marcus Cornish and was installed in 2001) and, just outside the garden railings in the north-east corner, a memorial to WPC Yvonne Fletcher who was killed when a gun was fired from the Libyan Embassy (known as the Libyan People’s Bureau, it was located at number 5) during a demonstration on 17th April, 1984. The pavilion on the south side was designed by John Nash.

The gardens are private – managed by the St James’s Square Trust – but open to the public on weekdays from 10am to 4.30pm.

LondonLife – Celebrating 100 years of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show…

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Chelsea2

Queen Mary (wife of King George V) with group at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 1913. The show, which was first held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, in 1913, is celebrating its centenary this year. The 244 exhibitors at the inaugural event have grown to more than 500 today with 161,000 visitors now attending the show each year. Other pictures released to mark the centenary include (see below) gardeners carrying pots at the show in 1931; visitors looking at a display of cacti at the 1964 show; and, an aerial view of the show in the 1990s. The show runs from today until 25th May. For more on the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, see www.rhs.org.uk/Shows—events/RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show/2013. PICTURES: RHS Lindley Library. 

Gardeners-carrying-pots-at-the-Show.-Date-1931.-Credit,-RHS-Lindley-Library

Chelsea3

Chelsea4

Where is it?…#64…And the answer is…

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Where-is-it--#64

Can you identify where in London this picture was taken? If you think you can, leave a comment below. We’ll reveal the answer early next week. Good luck!

Well done to Jamie, this is indeed the tower of St Giles Cripplegate, located  just off Fore Street in the Barbican Estate. The church – the oldest building in the area – dates from about 1090 and was rebuilt in 1545 after it was destroyed by a fire. The new building survived the Great Fire of 1666 but didn’t fare so well in a fire of 1897 or in the Blitz when all but the outer shell was destroyed. Oliver Cromwell was married here in 1620 and the poet John Milton was buried here in 1674 (he had written much of Paradise Lost locally) (interestingly, his body was apparently exhumed about 100 years later, workman took some souvenirs including teeth and a rib). Others buried here include explorer Sir Martin Frobisher, John Foxe, author of The Book of Martyrs, and Bible translator Lancelot Andrews. For more on the church, see www.stgilescripplegate.com.

Treasures of London: The Americus Backers grand piano…

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Americus-Backers-piano

The oldest surviving English grand piano, built in London in 1772 by Americus Backers, has gone on display at Apsley House in London, home of the 1st Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley.

Known to have been played by the Iron Duke’s wife Kitty (nee Pakenham), it has been suggested (although remains unconfirmed) that the piano belonged to the Iron Duke’s father, Lord Mornington, who was politician and a composer.

The piano, which has been loaned to English Heritage by Lord and Lady Douro and is expected to remain at the house for the foreseeable future, is the earliest example of a piano with loud and soft pedals and is illustrative of the impact Backers, described by some as “the father of the English grand pianoforte style”, had on the development of piano design.

While much of the detail of Backers’ life  remains obscured, he was apprenticed to a piano builder in Saxony before coming to England in the 1750s and taking up residence in Jermyn Street in 1763 where he apparently lived until his death in 1778. He is known to have built both pianofortes and harpsicords.

The piano, the only known pianoforte by Backers still existing, was previously on loan to the Russell Collection in Edinburgh.

In celebration of the return of the piano to Apsley House, the residence is hosting a special concert this Tuesday (21st May), between 7pm-9pm – the first time the piano will have been heard for at least 5o years (albeit for a short period only with most of the concert performed on a 1781 Ganer. ‘The Duke of Wellington’s Music of the French Wars’ will be held in the Waterloo Gallery. Tickets are £45 each and limited seats are available. Call English Heritage Customer Services on 0870 333 1183 for bookings or see www.english-heritage.org.uk. PICTURE:  Professor David Owen Norris, who has researched and devised the programme has been devised the programme for the evening, playing the piano.He will be joined by the soprano Amanda Pitt. Image courtesy of English Heritage.

Around London – Museums at night; Propaganda at the BL; MoL Docklands celebrates 10 years; and, Steadman at the Cartoon Museum…

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• Expect people to be out and about around London at all hours this weekend with the kick-off tonight of Museums At Night, Culture24’s annual festival of after hours visits. This year’s packed program features everything from ‘Arts on Ice’ – a look at the Victorian ice trade – at the London Canal Museum to art nights at the Government Art Collection building, nocturnal tours of Greenwich’s Old Royal Naval College, and, for the first time, the chance for adults to sleep over at Hampton Court Palace and kids at Kensington Palace. Other London organisations taking part include the Handel House Museum, the Kew Bridge Steam Museum, Benjamin Franklin House, the National Gallery and Somerset House (and that’s just a few off the list!). For more information on the night – including a full program of events – check out the Culture24 Museums at Night website.

Propaganda-v9-cmyk• Government spin comes under the spotlight in a major new exhibition which opens tomorrow at the British Library in King’s Cross. Propaganda: Power and Persuasion examines how state have used propaganda in the 20th and 21st centuries and features more than 200 exhibits including Nazi propaganda and everyday objects such as banknotes and badges. Admission charge applies. There’s a series of events running to coincide with the exhibition which runs until 17th September. For more, see www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions/propaganda/index.html.

• It’s 10 years since the Museum of London Docklands opened in a converted Georgian warehouse on West India Quay and to celebrate they’re holding an exhibition celebrating the Thames estuary. Titled (appropriately enough), Estuary, the exhibition features the work of 12 artists in a variety of mediums – from film and photography to painting. Entry is free. The exhibition, which opens tomorrow, runs until 27 October. The museum is also holding a special day of family activities to celebrate its creation this Saturday. For more, see www.museumoflondon.org.uk/Docklands/.

• On Now: STEADman@77. This exhibition at The Cartoon Museum in Bloomsbury looks at the work of graphic artist Ralph Steadman (who is celebrating his 77th birthday) and features more than 100 original works published in magazines ranging from Private Eye to Rolling Stone, Punch and the New Statesmen as well as his illustrated books (these include Sigmund Freud, Alice in Wonderland Through the Looking-Glass, I, Leonardo, The Bid I Am, and Animal Farm). Runs until 8th September. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.cartoonmuseum.org.

LondonLife – Paternoster Square from St Paul’s…

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Paternoster-Square

Looking down on Paternoster Square from St Paul’s Cathedral. The 23.3 metre tall pillar at the centre of the square is the  Paternoster Square Column. Designed by architects Whitfield Partners (responsible for the square’s redevelopment in the early 2000s) and topped by a gilded copper urn with flames coming out of the top, it serves as a ventilation shaft for a carpark underneath. The redevelopment of the square – home to the London Stock Exchange since 2004 – followed an earlier redevelopment in the 1960s (needed after aerial bombing destroyed the area in World War II, the second time the area had been destroyed – the first was when the Great Fire of London swept through in 1666). The square takes it name from Paternoster Row which once ran through it. For more, see www.paternostersquare.info.

PICTURE: David Adams

London Pub Signs – East India Arms…

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East-India-ArmsBuilt in 1829 on a site which has apparently hosted a pub since 1630, this red brick pub in Fenchurch Street in the City is named for the East India Company.

Created by a charter signed by Queen Elizabeth I which gave it a monopoly on all English trade east of the Cape of Good Hope, the East India Company was incorporated in 1600.

It dominated British trade in Asia, in particular in India which it ruled over from 1757 until its final demise in the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny in 1857 after which the British Government took direct control of India.

The company headquarters was located in East India House in nearby Leadenhall Street (the rather grand building was demolished in 1861 and the site is now occupied by the architecturally adventurous Lloyd’s Building).

The small, one-roomed pub, at 67 Fenchurch Street, is now part of the Shepherd Neame chain. For more see www.shepherdneame.co.uk/pubs/london/east-india-arms.

Where is it?…#63…And the answer is…

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Where-is-it-#63

Can you identify where in London this picture was taken (a bit harder this week)? If you think you can, leave a comment below. We’ll reveal the answer early next week. Good luck!

It did indeed prove to be a bit harder this week! This decoration can be found on the south side of the exterior of Hampton Court Palace – the clue is in the intertwined initials W and M, standing for King William III and Queen Mary II. The joint monarchs commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to rebuild the entire palace but finances and time meant he only rebuilt the king’s and queen’s apartments which can be visited there today. For more on the palace, see www.hrp.org.uk/HamptonCourtPalace/WilliamandMarybuildanewpalace.

Around London – Tudor and Stuart fashion; Wellington Arch treasures; Hunterian celebrates 200 years; Regent Street and the world; and, Kaffe Fassett at the FTM…

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Queen-Henrietta-Maria-(Royal-Collection)• A landmark exhibition looking at fashion in the Tudor and Stuart eras opens at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, tomorrow. In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion features everything from a diamond ring given by King Charles I to his then 19-year-old wife Henrietta Maria, an ornate set of armour which belonged to 13-year-old Henry, Prince of Wales (the older brother of King Charles I – he died of typhoid fever at the age of 19), and a diamond-encrusted box in which Queen Mary II kept black fabric patches worn to conceal blemishes or highlight the creaminess of skin. A 58.5 carat pearl, named ‘La Peregrina’ (‘The Wanderer’) and given to Queen Mary I as an engagement gift from Philip II of Spain (and later presented to Elizabeth Taylor by Richard Burton on Valentine’s Day, 1969), is also among the objects on show along with a pendant featuring a miniature of Queen Elizabeth I. The exhibition also features more than 60 portraits from the Royal Collection showing the fashions of the time, including a portrait by Sir Peter Lely of court beauty Frances Stuart, Duchess of Richmond, who famously refused to become King Charles II’s mistress. Admission charge applies. Runs until 6th October. For more, see www.royalcollection.co.uk. PICTURE: Sir Anthony van Dyck, Queen Henrietta Maria, 1609-69. Royal Collection Trust/© 2013, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

• A medieval crozier and bejewelled ring discovered in Cumbria in 2010 are on public display for the first time in a new exhibition at Wellington Arch. The artefacts, which were discovered at Furness Abbey, are featured in an English Heritage exhibition, A Monumental Act: How Britain Saved Its Heritage, which explores how the Ancient Monuments Act of 1913 helped protect Britain’s historical fabric. Other objects in display include some of the historic artefacts found in the 20 years following the act – a Roman bronze weight from Richborough Roman Fort in Kent and a 13th century sculpture of Christ found at Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire. Admission charge applies. The exhibition runs until 7th July. For more, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/wellington-arch/.

• The Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons is celebrating its bicentenary this year and to mark the occasion, they’re holding a free exhibition focusing on the museum’s collections of human anatomy and pathology; natural history and artworks. The display will consider how the objects in the collection have informed the medical world and fallen under the gaze of visitors who have included surgeons as well as monarchs. The exhibition in the Qvist Gallery at the museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields opens on Tuesday, 14th May, and runs until 9th November. For more, see www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums/hunterian.

• The world comes to Regent Street this Sunday with the ‘InsureandGo The World on Regent Street’ festival. Representatives from countries including Argentina, Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey and China as well as the UK will showcasing the best of each country’s culture, music and dance, art, food and fashion. Activities will include tango lessons from Argentina, professional henna drawing from Egypt, a steel band from Trinidad and Tobago, and a Chinese drumming performance and lion dancing. The street will be closed for the day. For more, see www.regentstreetonline.com.

• On Now: Kaffe Fassett – A Life in Colour. This exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey Street celebrates the work of American-born artist Kaffe Fassett and features more than 100 works including nine foot wide knitted shawls, coats and throws, patchwork quilts and a ‘feeling wall’ where visitors can touch the textiles on display. Admission charge applies. Runs until 29th June. For more, see www.ftmlondon.org.

10 Historic London Garden Squares…3. Soho Square…

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Soho-Square

Originally named King’s Square in honour of King Charles II, Soho Square was laid out on what had been known as Soho Fields as a residential square with a garden at its centre in the late 1670s – part of the general demand for homes that came about after the Great Fire of London in 1666.

A fashionable place to live when built, among the early mansions was Monmouth House, a grand mansion originally built for James Scott, the Duke of Monmouth (and illegitimate son of King Charles II who lost his head after leading a rebellion against King James II) and later used by the French ambassador before it was demolished in the 1770s. Two of the square’s original homes are located at numbers 10 and 15.

A number of trees and shrubs were recorded as being planted here including cherry, peach and almond trees as well as lilacs, jessamine and honeysuckle – it’s suggested these may have been chosen by botanist Sir Joseph Banks who lived at number 32 from 1777 until his death in 1820.

King-Charles-IIThe square, which was opened to the public in 1954, is today at the heart of the West-End district of Soho, once synonymous with late night entertainment including the sex industry but also home to a growing number of film and media-related organisations (for a look at the derivation of the name Soho, see our earlier post).

Indeed, a number of media companies are based in the square itself – British Movietone, which was produced the Movietone news, was located here at number 22 for years while current inhabitants include Twentieth Century Fox (located in a building at number 31-32 where the botanically minded Linnean Society once met).

Other buildings of note in the square include the French Protestant Church, built in 1891-93 and located at numbers eight and nine and St Patrick’s Church, located at on the corner of Soho Square and Sutton Row. While a chapel was first consecrated here in 1792, the current building dates from the 1890s (reopened in 2011 after a £3.5 million restoration) and has catacombs which spread a considerable distance under the square. In a nod to less savoury aspects of the square’s past, the White House Brothel was also located here – at number 21 – in the late 18th century (the building is now known as Manor House).

The oldest statue in the square is that of Caius Gabriel Cibber’s King Charles II which dates from 1681 (pictured right) – a reminder of the square’s past name.  Originally part of a larger monument containing a fountain, it was removed in 1875 to make way for the distinctive half-timbered Tudor-style hut (pictured above) used by gardeners which, having been rebuilt in the 1930s, currently sits at the square’s centre and only returned to the gardens in 1938. There’s also a bench in the square which commemorates the late singer Kirsty MacColl, writer of the song Soho Square.

For more on London’s squares, see Gary Powell’s Square London.

LondonLife: Clouds at St Pancras…

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TerraceWires

Lucy and Jorge Orta’s sculpture Cloud: Meteoros is the first sculpture to be unveiled for the ‘Terrace Wires’ project at St Pancras International. The sculpture, which hangs on wires from the station’s roof, features two clouds hovering over the station floor on which figures can be seen looking down. Says artist Lucy Orta: “Our sculpture is symbol the space in between: that of the daily routines of the millions of passengers and visitors to the station and the freedom of our imagination, daydreams – looking up to the sky.” The sculpture will remain in place for the rest of the year. For more on art at St Pancras, see http://stpancras.com/art/ and www.terracewires.com. PICTURE: Sam Lane/HS1 Ltd.

 

Where’s London’s oldest…higher education institution?

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While higher education may something we generally associate with more recent historical eras, London’s oldest higher educational institution in fact was founded in the dying years of the 16th century.

Thomas-GreshamGresham College was founded in 1597 by Sir Thomas Gresham (pictured, right) – son of Lord Mayor Sir Richard Gresham and the man behind the construction of the Royal Exchange (see our earlier post on Sir Thomas Gresham here) – according to instructions in his will (Sir Thomas died in 1579).

Under the terms of the will, part of his estate was left to the City of London Corporation and the Mercer’s Company and it is these who founded the organisation according to his request and still operate via the Joint Grand Gresham Committee.

According to the will’s terms, the corporation were to appoint professors in divinity, astronomy, geometry and music while the Mercer’s Company were given the responsibility of appointing professors in law, physic and rhetoric (a chair in commerce was added in 1985). There are also currently a number of visiting professorships.

The college – which was founded to provide free public lectures on subjects of scientific interest – is  governed by a council with the Lord Mayor of London as its president.

Sir Thomas’ mansion in Bishopsgate (now the site of what was formerly known as the NatWest Tower) was the college’s first home. Professors, whose salaries were met by rental income from the Royal Exchange, continued giving lectures there until 1768.

Various locations around the city were later used for the college before the opening of a new college building in Gresham Street in 1842. It moved again in 1991 and is now based at Barnard’s Inn Hall in Holborn.

Among the professors who have held chairs at the college are architects Sir Christopher Wren (astronomy) and Robert Hooke (geometry) as well as Richard Chartres, current Bishop of London (divinity).

The college, which doesn’t enrol students as such and doesn’t award degrees, continues to provide more than 100 free public lectures every year and is also involved in running seminars and conferences and other initiatives.

For a detailed history of Gresham College, check out Richard Chartres’ and David Vermont’s book on the college’s history – www.gresham.ac.uk/greshamftp/historygreshm_bk2.pdf. For more on the college and its programme of events, see www.gresham.ac.uk. Lectures are available online.

Daytripper – New Forest…

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New-Forest

At roughly 56,000 hectares (about half of which is woodland), the New Forest National Park is the smallest national park in the UK. But it packs a lot into a small space and makes for great daytrip destination from London now that the sun (hopefully) is coming out.

The ‘Nova Foresta’, encompassing a coastal swathe of land located about 65 miles south-west of London, was first designated as a new hunting forest by William the Conqueror in 1079 – indeed, his won, King William II (William Rufus), died there in an apparent hunting accident in 110o (his death is marked by a memorial stone, just off the A31 near Stoney Cross, which tells the story although this is apparently not the site where he actually died).

Later a source of wood for the Royal Navy, the forest gained government protection with the passing of the New Forest Act in 1877. Most the of land is still owned by the Crown whose assets here have been managed by the Forestry Commission since 1923. The forest was designated a national park in 2005.

The journey from London takes about an hour and a half by train – Waterloo to the town of Brockenhurst (buses travel around the forest area including an open top tourist bus). While a car is useful if you want to visit several sites in a single day, traffic can get heavy, particularly if the sun is out.

A good place to start is the New Forest Visitor Centre, located in main town of Lyndhurst, which has plenty of information about the region (including a small museum) and on some terrific walks (included guided walks if you so desire).

New-Forest-ponyA good short walk, starting only a couple of miles out of Lyndhurst, takes in the Knightwood Oak – reputed to be more than 600 year, it’s the largest oak in the forest and boasts a girth of more than 7.5 metres – and the Reptile Centre (inhabitants include adders, the only poisonous snake in the UK) and a walk through some stunning conifers.

One of the highlights of New Forest are the 3,000 free-roaming wild ponies – they can get rather friendly, particularly if you’re having a picnic, and you’re advised not to feed or touch them. They can be seen all over the forest including wandering through some of the villages.

Other attractions in the New Forest include the 26 miles of coastline from where you can get terrific views of the Isle of Wight across the Solent – the coastal village of Buckler’s Hard is also worth stopping by for its maritime history, and car buffs will love the Beaulieu National Motor Museum (complete with the remains of Beaulieu Abbey and the intact Palace House, built in the Abbey gatehouse and home to the Montagu family since 1538), located on land which once housed Beaulieu Abbey (really a day in itself).

There’s also plenty of outdoor activities you can take part in – everything from walking and cycling to horseriding to kayaking.

And if you do decide to stay overnight, there’s plenty of accommodation and the option of camping (designated places only) if you so wish.

For a novel about the forest and its history, check out Edward Rutherfurd’s The Forest.

Around London – Chiswick House furnishings; Miniature German Bibles; free buses to Isabella Plantation; and, marking the 50th anniversary of the Profumo Affair…

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• A collection of furniture originally belonging to the 5th Duke of Devonshire and his wife, Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, has been returned to the Palladian masterpiece, Chiswick House, in west London. The furniture – which includes four French fauteuils (open arm chairs) by the leading Parisian chair maker Jean-Baptiste Tilliard, four neo-classical chairs with caned backs and seats and a ladies’ roll-top writing desk – was purchased by English Heritage at an auction in 2010 with the assistance of Art Fund. It had been removed from the house to the family estate in the late 1800s. Extensive conservation work on the furnishings was carried out thanks to the support of The Art Fund, Chiswick House Friends and The Pilgrim Trust prior to their being restored to the house. They are now displayed in the bedchamber while a mahogany pole-screen – designed in about 1730 by William Kent, protégé and collaborator of the house’s first owner and architect, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington – has also been acquired and will be displayed in Lord Burlington’s Blue Velvet Room. Admission charge applies. For more information, see  www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/chiswick-house/ or www.chgt.org.uk.

• German miniature picture Bibles are the subject of a new exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery. The third display in the gallery’s Illuminating Objects programme, the display centres on Bibles created by two sisters who belonged to a family of printmakers, Johanna Christina (Or Christiana) and Maria Magdalena Kusel, in Augsburg in the late 17th century. While many of the 17th century ‘thumb’ Bibles were created for children, the Kusel sisters most likely made theirs for private devotion. It is believed this is the first time the two Bibles have gone on public display. Visitors to the Courtauld website are also able to turn the Bible’s pages. Runs until 22nd July. For more, see www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/exhibitions/2013/illuminating/bible.

• Royal Parks are offering free travel to the newly improved Isabella Plantation – a 40 acre ornamental woodland garden in Richmond Park – this Sunday. The minibus service, which will travel from the traffic lights on Ham Common to the plantation, will be running between 10am and 4pm. The plantation, which features azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, magnolias, daffodils and bluebells, has recently been the subject of a £1.5 million improvement project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and BIG Lottery Fund. Improvements have included enhancements to ponds and streams and upgrades to the existing path network. For more, see www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/richmond-park.

• A display commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Profumo Affair has opened at the National Portrait Gallery. Scandal ’63: The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Profumo Affair looks in depth at the scandal in which Secretary of State for War John Profumo was found to have had a brief affair with nightclub hostess and model Christine Keeler who happened to also romantically involved with Yevgeny Ivanov, a senior Russian naval attache (rather controversial during the Cold War). The display features a vintage print of one of Lewis Morley’s seated nude portraits of Keeler as well as press images of other key protagonists in the matter including her friends Mandy Rice-Davies and Paula Hamilton-Marshall. Also featured is on-set photographs of Keeler taken to publicise The Keeler Affair, a film which was banned in Britain (and later remade in 1989), images of a now lost work of pop art by Pauline Boty featuring four of the key players (it was titled Scandal ’63), and a pastel of Keeler by Stephen Ward (pictured). Admission is free. Runs until 15th September. For more, see www.npg.org.uk.

10 Historic London Garden Squares…2. Parliament Square

by exploringlondon

Located in one of the most prominent sites in London, Parliament Square is these days perhaps best known as a protest site for those wanting to attract Parliament’s eye. And while, unlike say, Trafalgar Square, many visitors to London may not know its name, its proximity to the Houses of Parliament, Whitehall, Westminster Bridge and Westminster Abbey means it’s rarely off anyone’s tourist agenda.

David-Lloyd-GeorgeThe history of the square goes back to 1868 when architect Sir Charles Barry (responsible for the design of the Houses of Parliament) designed a square to improve traffic flow in the area (and demolished many buildings – apparently the area was a slum – in the process).

The roads around the square featured London’s first traffic signals (it used semaphore arms rather than lights and was installed at the meeting of Great George and Bridge Streets) and in addition the square was originally the location for the Buxton Memorial Fountain which moved to its present position in Victoria Tower Gardens in 1940 (see our earlier post on the fountain here). In 1950, the entire square was redesigned by architect George Grey Wornum.

The square is home to a plethora of statues including former PMs Sir Winston Churchill, a relatively recent statue of David Lloyd George (pictured), Sir Robert Peel (also the founder of the Metropolitan Police Force – see our earlier post here), Benjamin Disraeli, the Earl of Derby and Lord Palmerston as well as South African PM Jan Christian Smuts and, (if you count the space in front of Middlesex Guildhall), US President Abraham Lincoln (a replica of a statue in Lincoln Park, Chicago) and former Foreign Secretary and PM George Canning. Among the last statues added was a nine foot high bronze figure of Nelson Mandela which was placed in the square in 2007 after an unsuccessful push to have it located in Trafalgar Square.

Among the most high profile of protests to have been held there is that of the late peace campaigner Brian Haw who camped on the square for 10 years until 2010. Among the most recent protests this year has been a colourful demonstration by beekeepers, calling for a ban on pesticides.

For more on London’s statues, see Peter Matthews’ London’s Statues and Monuments.

Where is it?…#62

by exploringlondon

Where-is-it--#62

Can you identify where in London this picture was taken and who it’s of? If you think you can, leave a comment below. We’ll reveal the answer early next week. Good luck!

Congrats to all who correctly placed this as a statue of Mahatma Gandhi located in Tavistock Square in Bloomsbury. Sculpted by Polish-born Fredda Brilliant, the statue was installed in the centre of the square’s gardens as far back as 1968.

 

Around London – Workhouse life; funds needed for Salter statues; and Saloua Raouda Choucair at the Tate…

by exploringlondon

• Life as an inmate inside a Victorian workhouse is explored in an exhibition at the Florence Nightingale Museum in Lambeth Palace Road. The exhibition, Workhouse – Segregated Lives, examines the design of the workhouses as well as the inmate’s diet, work and health while living there. Rare artefacts, firsthand accounts, pictorial representations and publications will all help to bring to life the “world of the workhouse” in this display which opened in February and runs until 5th July. There’s a program of events accompanying the exhibition including lectures by historians looking at subjects like the food served in the workhouse and how to find your workhouse ancestors. Admission charges apply. For more, see www.florence-nightingale.co.uk.

• The Salter Statues campaign is appealing for funds for a new statue of former Bermondsey resident Dr Albert Salter after a famous statue of the doctor, known for his work with the area’s poor in the early part of the 20th century, was stolen from its location on Bermondsey Wall in 2011. A fundraising campaign has so far raised more than £16,000 with Southwark Council matching all donations made but £100,000 is needed. As well as a replacement statue of Dr Salter, the funds will also be used to buy a new statue of his wife, Ada, who was the first female Labour councillor in London. The new statues have been designed by artist Diane Gorvin, sculptor of the original group of statues which were erected in 1991 and, as well as the seated statue of Dr Salter, also included the couple’s daughter Joyce – who died aged eight of scarlet fever – and her cat (the statues of Joyce and her cat were removed after the theft and are being held in safekeeping). Donations can be made via www.salterstatues.co.uk.

• The community of a residential complex at the former Arsenal football stadium in North London – Highbury Stadium Square – comes under examination in a new exhibition running at the Geffrye Museum in Hoxton. Photographer Simone Novotny, who is a resident of the complex herself, looks at the lives and stories of residents in 30 of the 700 new homes in a series of intimate portraits. Runs until 26th August. Admission charge applies. See www.geffrye-museum.org.uk for more.

• On Now: Saloua Raouda Choucair. This exhibition at the Tate Modern on South Bank is the first major museum exhibition of the works of Lebanese artist Saloua Raouda Choucair and consists of more than 120 works – many of which have never been seen before – including paintings, sculptures and other objects. The Beirut-born artist, now aged 97-years-old, is credited as being a pioneer of abstract art in the Middle East and her works reflect her diverse interests in science, maths, Islamic art and poetry. Works in display include sculptures in wood, metal, stone and fibreglass (1950s-1980s) as well as early paintings including Self-Portrait (1943) and Paris-Beirut (1948). Runs until 20th October. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.tate.org.uk.