Activities

The Thames Luminaries is a series of nine virtual lectures, beginning Wednesday 27 January, exploring the rich heritage along this section of the Thames and focusing on the iconic gardens at each site.

The talks will be delivered by experts in their field.

The lectures will all be about 20 minutes and delivered over Zoom at 7-8pm , followed by a Q&A chaired by Professor Judith Hawley of Royal Holloway.

Tickets are free, but a £5 donation is encouraged for each talk, or alternatively a £25 donation to attend all nine talks. The donations will be equally divided between the nine participating organisations.

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/popesgrotto

Zoom links will sent by email an hour before each talk begins.

The full running order is below:

7pm – Wed 27th January – ‘Within the garden walls at Hogarth’s House‘ with Val Bott

7pm – Thurs 28th January – ‘A painter’s garden: J.M.W. Turner and the grounds of Sandycombe Lodge‘ with Catherine Parry-Wingfield

7pm – Friday 29th January – ‘Alexander Pope: the poet and the poetic landscape‘ with Dr Marion Harney

7pm – Wed 3rd February – ‘Chiswick House, William Kent, and the birth of the English Landscape Movement‘ with John Watkins

7pm – Thurs 4th February – ‘Marble Hill: Howard and her garden of grottos and groves‘ with Emily Parker

7pm – Friday 5th February – ‘Strawberry Hill: the open grove in which Walpole explored the ‘gaiety in nature’‘ with Henrietta Gentilli

7pm – Wed 10th February – ‘Fishponds, great cedars and Jayne Mansfield – Boston Manor Park‘ with Sion Thaysen and David Stockdale

7pm – Thurs 11th February – ‘Pleasure Garden to Parkland: the Changing Landscape of Orleans House‘ with Minna Anderson

7pm – Friday 12th February – ‘17th to 21st Century – is Ham House Garden still a garden of contemporary ideas?‘ with Rosie Fyles

Full details of the lectures and speaker bios can be found here: https://popesgrotto.org.uk/luminaries/