Crossness Open Day Celebrating the Thames

About

As part of Totally Thames 2024, a festival celebrating the River Thames, we present a unique opportunity to explore a blend of 19th century design and engineering, beautiful choral music and works by three exciting and wonderfully contrasting artists whose works are sympathetic, in different ways, to the ornate and industrial aesthetic of the Crossness Pumping Station.

Francis Payne is a contemporary artist working within the tradition of painting but using new technologies such as scanners, laser cutters and 3D printers to create striking and intricate works of art: instagram.com/jfpayneartist/

Anna Keen, working primarily in oils and inks, has been painting for over 30 years and in her own words “wander(s) around peripheral wastelands and intertidal zones with my sketchbook, observing Nature’s Beauty and Man’s Architecture of Power and Waste”: annakeen.com

Mhairi Vari is Crossness's Artist-in-Residence. She has been actively involved in the conservation of Crossness while conducting her PhD studies on site. On the day Mhairi will present an intimate site-specific video installation: mhairivari.com

PWOS Musical Theatre group, founded in 1935, will join us and perform at set times throughout the day in the iconic Beam Engine House. Here you'll be surrounded by the ornate ironwork, majestic beam engines and heavenly voices: pwos.org.uk

We will be running a vintage Routemaster shuttle bus from and to Abbey Wood Station and our narrow-gauge RANG railway will bring you from the main gates to our site.

As well as this musical and artistic celebration, the 'Great Stink' exhibition is available to show why Crossness and the sewerage system designed by Bazalgette was so badly needed.

Please note that the Prince Consort engine will NOT be in steam.

The cafe will be open serving tea, coffee and soft drinks as well as a range of pre-packaged snacks and sandwiches and you'll find it hard to resist a souvenir in our Gift Shop.

To find out more about Crossness Pumping Station, please visit crossness.org.uk