A walk through Vauxhall Gardens and a talk about Samuel Johnson’s connection

Friends of Tate South Lambeth Library are cooperating with  the Vauxhall Society and Vauxhall History  on a linked talk and walk as part of this year’s Lambeth Heritage Festival in September. (You can find the whole Festival programme at www.lambeth.gov.uk/heritagefestival.)

Here are the details of our linked talk and walk, both on Monday September 2^nd.

2.30pm The Heyday of Vauxhall Gardens

David E. Coke, co-author of Vauxhall Gardens: a History, is your guide on a walk back through time to the 18th century and the days of the visionary entrepreneur Jonathan Tyers, creator of the fabled pleasure gardens that put English art, music and song on the map.

Meet at Starbucks, Vauxhall Station, SW8 1SP at 2.30 sharp, for the walk which lasts around one hour.

No booking is required, and the event is free. But a £5 contribution to the Friends of Tate South Lambeth Library would be welcome.

7pm at Tate South Lambeth Library

 Samuel Johnson and the Lambeth Mysteries

Did the young Samuel Johnson hide out in Lambeth to dodge arrest by government agents? And, asks Dr Ross Davies of The Vauxhall Society and Vauxhallhistory.org and author of Vauxhall: A Little History, did Sam (now Doctor) Johnson – ‘the greatest Englishman’ and compiler of the Dictionary of the English Language – later hold court in Vauxhall Gardens, as depicted in Thomas Rowlandson’s masterpiece Vaux-Hall?

Again the event is free and no booking is required. Refreshments are available and a £5 contribution to the Friends would be appreciated.