Meet friends and neighbours in Bridgeman Road on Sunday 16 October

On Sunday 16 October, from 14:00 to 17:00, Bridgeman Road will have its first official use as a play street.

Children will be safe to ride bikes and scooters, make new friends, play games and draw on the street. Adults will be able to chat. Everyone will have chances to plant bulbs.  

The road will be closed to traffic temporarily, but residents and visitors will be able to drive in and out at walking speed guided by a steward.

Tours of Thornhill Square

In the annual Open House Festival this year there will be free tours of Thornhill Square, Thornhill Crescent and Saint Andrew’s Church. They will start at 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00 on Saturday 17 September, and at 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00 on Sunday 18 September, and last 30-40 minutes (with refreshments afterwards in the church). Either an architect (James Dunnett) or a resident (Philip Rutnam) will lead them.

The Thornhill Estate is a remarkable example of Georgian town planning, with the gardens of Thornhill Square and Thornhill Crescent as a central feature. It was designed by Joseph Kay, who worked also on the Foundling Estate and in Greenwich and Hastings. However, it was built in the early Victorian era, and later incorporated the unusually eclectic West Library. This was due to Beresford Pite, who was responsible also for another nearby building that is unusual (at least inside), the Paget Centre in Randells Road.. 

The programme of the Open House Festival has many more details here. Booking is not needed but would help the leaders know how many to expect.

Bring your family to Barnsbury Wood on Saturday 28 May

The Garden Classroom, which is organising this event, won the Lisa Pontecorvo Award in 2015 (for its outstanding work and contribution to people and spaces).

Early summer outdoor events nearby

Museums at Night Weekend, London Canal Museum, 12-13 New Wharf Road: Saturday 18 May, 5:30 pm-11:00 pm

Open for Culture24.

• Climb down by ladder into the ice wells (5:30 pm-7:30 pm) if you are more than ten years old.
• See icy works of art, including ice sculpture, film, installation and painting.
• Hear Simon Barraclough present excerpts from Debris Field, words and sights related to icebergs, hypothermia and the cold starlit sky as the Titanic slips beneath the waves.
• Hear Alan Ward perform poems inspired by the ice wells, the people who worked in them and the sensations which are tingled by vast blocks of ice.
• Write your own verse.

The museum is also usually open between Tuesdays and Sundays 10:00 am-16:30 pm and on bank holiday Mondays 10:00 am-16:30 pm. The ice wells were built in 1862-1863 for Carlo Gatti to store ice brought by canal and sea from Norway. The event is the first in a series this year celebrating the conservation work on them described here.

Open Gardens Day, Barnsbury (36 Thornhill Square, 44 Hemingford Road, Barnsbury Wood on Crescent Street and 1 Battlebridge Court on Wharfdale Road): Sunday 19 May, 2:00 pm-6:00 pm

Open for the National Gardens Scheme.

• See contrasting gardens, with old roses, perennials and unusual shrubs at 36 Thornhill Square and 44 Hemingford Road, mature woodland in Barnsbury Wood, and plantsman’s layouts with views to the canal and houseboats in 1 Battlebridge Court.
• Support charity with the combined admission charge of £6 for adults and £0 for children.
• Buy home made teas and plants at 36 Thornhill Square.

Barnsbury Wood is also usually open on Tuesdays 2:00 pm-4:00 pm and in the summer (from July to September) on Saturdays 2:00 pm-4:00 pm. To take part in conservation work there (or in Gillespie Park or Parkland Walk) on Thursdays 10:00 am-4:30 pm call 020 7527 4374; other events organised by the ecology centre are listed here.

Open Squares Weekend, Barnsbury Square: Saturday 8 June, 2:30 pm-4:30 pm

Open for the London Parks and Gardens Trust.

• Get tea, coffee and soft drinks in the hut.

The hut is also usually open on Tuesdays 2:00 pm-4:00 pm and on Saturdays 11:00 am-12:00 noon.

Learn tree spotting in Barnsbury Wood on Sunday 10 February

Early summer outdoor events nearby

Open Gardens Day, Barnsbury (36 Thornhill Square, 44 Hemingford Road, Barnsbury Wood on Crescent Street and 1 Battlebridge Court on Wharfdale Road): Sunday 3 June, 2:00 pm-6:00 pm

Open for the National Gardens Scheme.

• See contrasting gardens, with old roses, perennials and unusual shrubs at 36 Thornhill Square and 44 Hemingford Road, mature woodland in Barnsbury Wood, and plantsman’s layouts with views to the canal and houseboats in 1 Battlebridge Court.
• Support charity with the combined admission charge of £6 for adults and £0 for children.
• Buy home made teas and plants at 36 Thornhill Square.

Barnsbury Wood is also usually open on Tuesdays 2:00 pm-4:00 pm (but not on Tuesday 5 June this year) and in the summer (from July to September) on Saturdays 2:00 pm-4:00 pm.

Jubilee Big Picnic, Thornhill Square: Monday 4 June, 12:00 noon-3:00 pm

Organised for the Huntingdon Street and Crescent Street Residents Association and the Thornhill Square Association.

• Bring food and drink to share and something to sit on.
• Have a free drink on arrival.
• Take part in games in Thornhill Crescent Gardens (surrounding St Andrew’s Church).

Diamond Jubilee Party, Barnsbury Square: Saturday 9 June, 2:00 pm-5:00 pm

Organised for the Friends of Barnsbury Square Gardens.

• Bring cake or biscuits for those who want them.
• Take part in a ‘Costume and Queen’s Beasts Competition’, with dressing up for those who would like to enter themselves, members of their families or their pets as lions, unicorns, dragons or whatever.
• Have free face painting 3:00 pm-4:00 pm.

Open Squares Weekend, Barnsbury Square: Sunday 10 June, 2:30 pm-4:30 pm

Open for the London Parks and Gardens Trust.

• Get tea, coffee and soft drinks in the hut.

The hut is also usually open on Tuesdays 2:00 pm-4:00 pm and on Saturdays 11:00 am-12:00 noon.

See Barnsbury Square on Saturday 11 June

This message comes from the Friends of Barnsbury Square Gardens.

Barnsbury Square will be open from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday 11 June as part of this year’s Open Squares Weekend (in association with the London Parks and Gardens Trust). See the new planting, meet a neighbour, grab a tea/coffee, bring a friend and maybe some cake if you’d like to!

Friends of Barnsbury Square Gardens
www.friendsofbarnsburysqgardens.com

See the garden of a house in Thornhill Square on Sunday 5 June

The beautiful garden of 36 Thornhill Square is open on Sunday between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. for the National Gardens Scheme (£2, mostly to Macmillan Nurses). It's also an opportunity to sample Anna's excellent tea and cakes!