A one-hour talk by Victor Keegan, former Guardian journalist and author of 'Lost London', on the ancient road of Petty France and its historic discoveries.
Victor Keegan is talking about the history of Petty France at The Thorney Island Society on Saturday 24 October, from 11 am to 12 pm. It's part of Collected: Centuries of art, saved and shared, a series of events the Society is putting on.
Petty France is one of those London roads you might walk down without thinking twice, but it's got a surprising amount of history packed into it. It helped shape the health service and served as a haven for famous philosophers and poets. The most striking claim, though, comes from recent research: it was likely the site of what was the world's first skyscraper. One of the biggest buildings in the world stood within 100 yards of a pioneering hospital, right there in the middle of the city.
Keegan is well-placed to tell the story. A former Guardian journalist, he's written three books on Lost London, and his latest, Thorney, London's forgotten Island, came out this year. The talk takes the road and the research behind it and lays it out for an hour on a Saturday morning.
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It runs from 11 am to 12 pm at The Thorney Island Society, 10 Old Pye Street, London SW1P 2DG, and tickets are £12.
Date
Saturday, 24 October 2026
11:00
Price
Paid
Recommended Age
+14 years
