Abney Park celebrates 184th birthday
Abney Park celebrates 184 years
On May 20th 1840 Abney Park Cemetery opened and the first foundation stone was laid in the chapel by the then Lord Mayor of London.
Last weekend, 184 years later, we hosted a series of events in the beautifully restored chapel to mark the occasion.
On Saturday night we held a beautiful evening sunlit reception allowing people to come in, enjoy a glass of fizz or juice and hear a history talk about the Abney site from pre-medieval times to the recent restoration project and modernisation of the chapel.
Accompanied by a set of historic images of the chapel in its ruinous state since the 1990s, the talk marked a fitting celebration of over four years of work to complete the project and bring visitors back into the chapel.
The talk is available here.
This was part of a series of fundraising events and a National Lottery Heritage Fund programme of activities to bring people from across our community into the park to appreciate its history and ecology.
This included:
· Two afternoon jazz concerts by Ukrainian born Alina Bzhezhinska (one the world’s greatest modern harp players) and Denys Baptiste (one of the most revered saxophonists of his generation) playing the music of John and Alice Coltrane
· A free Saturday walking tour on the history of the park by local historian Alan Gartrell
· A free Sunday walking tour on the life of the great Georgian satirist William Hone, again by Alan Gartrell
Abney Park Trust has a programme of rolling activities which are advertised on our website here.
Forthcoming events include:
· Family bird identification walks
· A soil séance – listening to the mysteries of Abney’s subterranean landscape
Abney Park Trust works with Hackney Council to promote the history and ecology of Abney and bring the community into the park. We have twelve days a year to programme events in the chapel and we are always looking for ideas and local collaborators who want to work with us.
Further information at abneypark.org and queries to info@abneypark.org.