The View from Clifford’s Tower looking towards Skeldergate Bridge, York, 27/12/15.

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Clifford's Tower, English Heritage, flooding, floods, River Fosse, River Ouse, rivers, Skeldergate Bridge York, Tower Street York, views, York, York Castle, Yorkshire

The row of trees, reflected in the flood water, usually mark the bank along the River Ouse. The ground between the trees and Tower Street is usually occupied by a park. Beyond the Skeldergate Bridge the flood waters of the Ouse have joined those of the Fosse.

Clifford’s Tower, one of a group of buildings and green spaces that form an area known as York Castle, affords excellent views of York and I should think it has done since the reign of King Henry III. Clifford’s Tower, currently maintained and garrisoned by the staff of English Heritage, seemed to be a popular spot to stand and try and absorb the enormity of the situation.

Clifford’s Tower.

 

The View from The Keep, Conisbrough Castle, Conisbrough, 22/09/15.

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Castle, clouds, Conisbrough, Conisbrough Castle, English Heritage, Medeival, Middle Ages, Ruins, views, windows

Temporary Additional Defences, Conisbrough Castle, Conisbrough, 22/09/15.

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British History, Castle, cones, Conisbrough, Conisbrough Castle, English Heritage, Fortifications, Medeival, Middle Ages, Ruins

Traffic cones – The first line of defence.

Photo Archive: The Statue of Abbot Samson, Moyse’s Hall Museum, Bury St. Edmunds, 2013.

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Abbey Gardens Bury St Edmunds, Abbot Samson, architecture, Bury St Edmunds, English Heritage, Moyse's Hall Museum, Museums, Ruins, sculpture, statue

One of the walls marking the former abbey precincts.

To quote from English Heritage’s website, “The spectacular west front [of the Benedictine Abbey at Bury St. Edmunds] was completed around the turn of the 13th century under Abbot Samson, who added a great central tower and lower octagonal towers to either side. He also improved the accommodation including a new hall, the Black Hostry, to house the abbey’s many monastic visitors“. Abbot Samson can be seen here, in a corner of the Moyse’s Hall Museum, which sits at the heart of Bury St. Edmunds, holding a model of his creation.

To quote from the description of the former abbey site today on English Heritage’s website, “Enough remains of the abbey church to suggest it was an impressive structure. At over 150 metres long the church was one of only a few of its date to be built on such a large scale in this country” and I would agree that what ruins point to Abbot Samson’s Abbey being as grand as English Heritage and the statue in the Moyse’s Hall Museum suggest.

Photo Archive: The Library, Stoke-on-Trent, c.2007.

Tags

architecture, Charles Lynam, Colin Minton Campbell, English Heritage, Grade II listed building, library, Library and Shakespeare Institute Stoke-on-Trent, Minton, Shakespeare, Stoke-on-Trent, The Potteries, Victorian., Victoriana

English Heritage Building ID: 384432.

To quote from British Listed Buildings. co. uk, “Library, purpose-built as library and Shakespeare Institute in 1878. By Charles Lynam. Brick with stone dressings, enriched
with tiled panels and mosaics. 2-storeyed over a basement, 5 bays, stepped in plan. Red brick to basement, then white brick above, with rubbed red brick pilasters and architraves to windows in the advanced 3-bay section to the SW. 3 oculi, with tiled panels over, and mosaic depicting Shakespeare in the central panel“.

The Stoke-on-Trent: Breaking The Mould website informs me that the Minton family, Colin Minton Campbell to be exact, donated the site for the Library. His other achievements, listed on The Potteries. Org, he introduced the “acid gold process“, served as Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent between 1880 and 1883 and served as a Captain in the Stoke Rifle Volunteers, amongst many other things.

According to the BBC News website “Stoke-on-Trent’s former library has been sold for £128,000 – £40,000 more than expected“.

Nymph Wearing a Scarf, Leeds City Square, Leeds, 20/12/14.

Tags

Alfred Drury, architure, Colonel Thomas Walter Harding, Edward The Black Prince, English Heritage, Grade II listed building, Leeds, Leeds Artillery Volunteers, Leeds City Square, nymph, Queens Hotel, scarf, The Black Prince, Thomas Brock, Tower Works Holbeck

It was a bit chilly out.

Nice knitwear.

I always find that a walk around City Square settles my stomach after the train journey to Leeds and I never tire of the statues that stand in front of the Old Post Office, particularly the nymphs. I noticed that one of the nymph has acquired a scarf since my last visit to Leeds!

The nymphs are the work of Alfred Drury who, a certain on-line encyclopaedia informs me, did some work on the main entrance of the Victoria and Albert Museum, including a statue of the Prince Consort.

Amongst the nymphs stand beside an equine statue of Edward the Black Prince, which was covered in pigeons at the time. The statue was commissioned by Leeds based industrialist Colonel Thomas Walter Harding, who inherited a pin factory which became known as the Tower Works in Holbeck, because of its Italianate chimneys, which can still be seen on the skyline from the train (if you’re coming in from the direction of Wakefield Westgate, as I often do).

The Prince and the pigeons.

Thomas Walter Harding started to style himself The Colonel following his retirement from the local artillery volunteers after 33 years service, when the volunteers made him their Honorary Colonel. Leeds Art Gallery have a portrait of him by Hubert Von Herkomer, when The Colonel was Mayor of Leeds. The Black Prince was work of Thomas Brock, who would go on to create the Imperial Memorial to Queen Victoria, which stands outside Buckingham Palace.

Behind the Black Prince can be seen the Art Deco, Grade II listed, Queens Hotel (English Heritage Building I.D 465900), which opened in 1937. If you arrive in Leeds by train, it will be the first thing you see; you can’t miss it!

Norman Archways, The Great Gatehouse, College Green, Bristol, 18/08/14.

Tags

Abbeys, architecture, Bristol, Church architecture, English Heritage, gatehouse, Grade I listed, Great Gatehouse Bristol, Listed building, Monastic buildings, Norman, Norman arches

The carriage gateway.

This magnificent archway, which once formed part of St. Augustine’s Abbey and now finds itself adjoining Bristol Central Library, opposite College Green. Bristol Past.com informs me that this was once the inner gate of the Abbey. The outer gate would have let in any weary traveller, but the inner gate would have reserved the inner courtyard for members of the monastic community and noble visitors.

The postern gate.

This gatehouse has two archways, one for wheeled traffic and one for pedestrians, which is something I haven’t noticed anywhere else before. If you are planning a visit to Bristol Cathedral make sure you don’t miss this English Heritage Grade I listed architectural wonder, which is just next door, but could be easily missed if you are not aware of it.

The Tower of St. Peter’s Church, Barton-Upon-Humber.

Tags

architecture, Barton-Upon-Humber, Churches, English Heritage, Saxon, Saxon Church Towers, St Peter's Church Barton_Upon_Humber

“Often rising to seventy feet or more, there is generally real dignity in their rough-hewn austerity, in which collectively may be recognised one of the earliest monuments of English art” or at least that is what Cox and Ford have to say about Saxon towers, like this one at Barton-Upon-Humber, in their book “Parishes Churches of England“. The “pilaster-strip” (or the pilaster strips in this case) are a “characteristic feature” of such towers and are purely ornamental (perhaps they were meant as a reference to the timber framed building techniques uses on their domestic buildings).

To quote from “The Observer’s Book of Architecture” by Penoyre and Ryan, “The exteriors of the churches were sometimes decorated with a criss-cross pattern, formed of long, thin stones let into the face of the rubble wall, that seems to have little meaning or purpose“. 

Whatever the architect’s intentions, I’ve grown to love this tower over the years. The Church is now maintained by English Heritage, so you can find out for about on their website, if you’re interested. If you’re driving the the area it might be worth taking a detour into Barton-Upon-Humber, because the Church is right in the middle of Town and you will be able to see the tower, in all its glory, from the road.

Former Tramway Generating Station, Bristol, 06/08/14.

Tags

architecture, Bristol, English Heritage, Former Tramway Generating Station, historic buildings, Listed building, Trams

A Grade II listed building according to britishlistedbuildings.com. English Heritage reference 379462.