Events
The Victorian Society organises a wide variety of events. They are publicised first to members in the 'Blue Sheet' with our mailings in February, June and October. Some require booking, others you can just turn up on the day. When they are oversubscribed, a ballot is held, and members get first preference.
For events organised by our regional groups, please see the regional group pages.
Visit to the Reform Club, Pall Mall
Wednesday 17 March:
10am to 12 noon. A tour of the Reform Club, Charles Barry’s masterpiece, ‘one of the most important classical ensembles in Britain’.
Sold out
Visit: Paddington Station
Saturday 27 March:
2pm to 5pm. Dr Steven Brindle leads a tour of Brunel’s great terminus for the Great Western Railway of 1851-5, considering its design, the contributions by architect Matthew Digby Wyatt and the contractors Fox, Henderson & Company, its relationship to the Crystal Palace, its original planning, and the major alterations of the early 1900s, 1930s, and 2000s.
Sold out
Ernest George in the North Downs
Friday 9 April:
10.30am to 5.30pm. A tour arranged by Michael Whitaker taking in four of Ernest George's major country house commissions of the 1880s, in conjunction with Hilary Grainger, author of a forthcoming monograph on George. The houses are all within a short distance from each other on the wooded slopes of the North Downs.
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A mansion, a cathedral and a church in Hove
Saturday 10 April:
11am to 3.30pm (Group A) or 1.45pm to 5pm (Group B). A guided tour led by Geoff Brandwood of 33 Palmeira Mansions offering an opportunity to see an eclectic mix of original interior fittings from the 1890s plus visits to the churches of All Saints and St Barnabas.
Sold out
Pub Crawl: Hampstead to Belsize Park
Monday 12 April:
6.30pm to 8.30pm. A new crawl (and one bus journey) led by Geoff Brandwood to three classic pubs which still retain much of their Victorian interiors and
which say much about how pubs were planned and fitted a century or more ago.
Book now
Supper Lecture: London Inside and Out: Some Victorian Rooms
Tuesday 13 April:
6.45pm for 7pm. A supper lecture by Professor Andrew Sanders.
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Victoria and Albert and Architecture: a study day
Saturday 24 April:
6.30pm to 8.30pm (Friday, private view) and 10am to 5pm (Saturday, study day). A study day organised by Michael Hall in collaboration with the Royal Collection.
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Visit to 39 Harrington Gardens
Tuesday 27 April:
6.30pm to 7.30pm. A tour by kind invitation of Haskoll Architects.
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Visit to Kensal Green Cemetery
Saturday 15 May:
2.30pm to 5pm. A tour led by Henry Vivian-Neal, chief guide for the Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery.
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Flintham and Prestwold
Monday 17 May:
10.55am to 5pm. A tour of country houses and churches in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire organised by Michael Whitaker.
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Walk: Docklands
Saturday 29 May:
2pm to about 5pm. Dr Steven Brindle leads a tour through Docklands.
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Steel, Railways, the Sea and Wide Open Spaces: North Yorkshire and Darlington
Tuesday 1 June:
To Friday 4 June. This 3½-day weekday tour organised by Geoff Brandwood takes in a surprising number of buildings by top-name Victorian and Edwardian architects. We stay at the Hall Garth Country Club Hotel set in 67 acres of grounds at Coatham Mundeville near Darlington (swimming pool and, if you can find the time, golf).
Sold out
Walk: Noel Park, North London’s Forgotten Artisans’ Suburb
Saturday 5 June:
10.30am to about 12.30pm. A walk led by Caroline Welch, author of 'Noel Park: a Social and Architectural History'.
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Pub Crawl: Hampstead to Belsize Park
Monday 7 June:
6.30pm to 8.30pm. A new crawl (and one bus journey) led by Geoff Brandwood to three classic pubs which still retain much of their Victorian interiors and
which say much about how pubs were planned and fitted a century or more ago.
Book now
Walk: The Other Windsor
Saturday 19 June:
2pm to about 5pm. An afternoon walk around the Victorian attractions of Windsor town led by Dr Simon Bradley, co-author of the forthcoming revised Buildings of England, Berkshire.
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Visit to Brompton Cemetery
Monday 21 June:
5.30pm for 6pm to 8pm. A guided tour of Brompton Cemetery, the most central, and one of the best maintained, of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries which were created in the countryside outside London between 1830 and 1841.
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Visit to Brompton Cemetery
Saturday 26 June:
2.30pm for 3pm to 5pm. A guided tour of Brompton Cemetery, the most central, and one of the best maintained, of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries which were created in the countryside outside London between 1830 and 1841.
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Visit to Whitechapel Bell Foundry
Saturday 10 July:
9.45am to 12 noon. A guided tour of Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
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AGM Weekend: Wolverhampton and the Black Country
Friday 23 July:
2pm Friday to 4.30pm Sunday. A weekend in the Black Country organised by the Birmingham and West Midlands Group of the Victorian Society.
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Long Weekend in Lancashire
Thursday 12 August:
2pm Thursday to about 3.30pm Sunday. A repeat of the very popular Central Lancashire weekend which sold out in 2008.
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Two Great Estates: A tour around Chester
Wednesday 29 September:
2pm Wednesday to about 5pm Friday. Led by Dr Colin Cunningham, this 3-day tour explores the architectural heritage of the estates of the Duke of Westminster at Eaton and Lord Egerton of Tatton Park.
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