Celebrating 50 years
In 2022, the Amwell Society celebrated its 50th anniversary. For half-a-century, members of the Society have been helping to protect and preserve the heritage and character of the environment of our much beloved Amwell area.
The weekend kicked off with a Prosecco Party in the St Mary Magdalene 6th Form Campus in Amwell Street.
Although the 6th Form only moved there in September 2021, the building has been an educational establishment since 1830, saw Charles Dickens give public readings of his works and boasts the Amwell Fig, a magnificent specimen, planted in 1828 and one of the 61 Great Trees of London.
The party was opened by Emily Thornberry MP and attended by the Mayor of Islington, our local councillors, members and guests of the Society. The pianist Alexsander Ribeiro de Lara played. Two out-of-town members, David and Davina who came down from Yorkshire, had been to the school over 50 years ago were delighted to join us for the whole weekend and attended almost all the planned events. Davina had worked at The Metropolitan Water Board in the 1960s and she and David grew up on Wharton Street. She told us how proud she was to have been part of that great and benign and friendly service industry.
Saturday morning started with a tour of Sadler’s Wells Theatre led by David Sulkin with the help of Kenny James.
Noted architect, John Allan, gave a fascinating talk in the afternoon on the doyen of modernism Berthold Lubetkin‘s work, which was followed by a visit to Lubetkin’s masterpiece, Bevin Court. Initially called Lenin Court to celebrate the Soviet leader’s association with the area, the powers that be had a last-minute rethink and went for the safer option of naming it after the erstwhile Foreign Secretary.
On Sunday morning, another excellent talk: this one from Alec Forshaw on the Georgian houses built by the local land-owning Lloyd Baker family (including the imaginatively named Lloyd Square and Lloyd Baker Street) and the New River Company, which was, from 1613, responsible for the water supply to the City. The Society was also lucky to be given access to the Oak Room, carved by Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721) saved from destruction and installed in the new Metropolitan Water Board’s building in 1925.
The final talk was combined with a tour of the New River Head, led by structural engineer Andrew Smith.
From eight vantage points across the site, Andrew explained how the New River had brought fresh water into London since the early 17th century for distribution to the growing metropolis. The tour ended at the cluster of listed buildings on the northern boundary of the site, where for 150 years steam engines pumped water up to the reservoir at Claremont Square. These buildings have now been acquired by the House of Illustration, and work will start shortly on their conversion into the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, as centre Director, Lindsey Glen explained to the group.
The weekend finished with a delicious community picnic held in Myddelton Square and attended by over 100 people, old and young, with music provided by Rosina Acosta (violin) and Lucas Robson (cello)