Cake/No Cake, The Cafe at the Museum, Manchester Museum, Oxford Road, Manchester, 28/03/17.

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cake, Chalk board, Food and Drink, Manchester, Manchester Museum, Oxford Road Manchester, Tea and Cake, The Cafe at the Museum

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“What is a whitewashed latte?” Whitworth Street West, Manchester, 28/02/17.

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latte, Manchester, orange, please, Stickers, Street Art, whistle, whitewash, Whitworth Street West Manchester

Souvenirs: Flyer, “Come And Be Riveted”, Imperial War Museum North, Manchester, 2004.

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Art, Imperial War Museum, Imperial War Museum North, Manchester, Second World War, shipbuilding, Shipbuilding on the Clyde, Souvenirs, Stanley Spencer, World War Two

I discovered the works of Sir Stanley Spencer back in 2001, via my Art College’s library no doubt, but I didn’t become aware of his series of works entitled “Shipbuilding on the Clyde“. I seem to think the art reference books I studied at College concentrated on Spencer’s Biblical works set in and around Cookham, which I love, and that it was through the pages of BBC History Magazine that I found out about this exhibition at the Imperial War Museum North. This was my second visit to the museum, which opened in 2002, but it was all still very new to me and most visitors, I expect. There is a very good article on the Art Fund’s website about “Spencer’s War“, which features some of the same works as the exhibition and describes the “Shipbuilding on the Clyde” collection as “one of the most remarkable artistic records of the Second World War“. When I visited the newly reopened Imperial War Museum London last year I’m sure they had some of these works on display, but I can’t recall which ones.

pS. …and note the flyer for the Auld Tram in the background; a souvenir from Dundee.

Souvenirs: A Guide to Manchester Town Hall, Manchester, Date Unknown.

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Alfred Waterhouse, architecture, bee, bees, Gothic Revival, Manchester, Manchester Town Hall, Neo-Gothic, Souvenirs

A remarkable building.

Here are some interesting facts from the guide for your consideration:

• Over the main door is a statue of the Roman General Agricola, who founded Mamuciam in 79 AD.
• [Alfred] Waterhouse designed the ‘easy tread stairs’ to enable Victorian ladies in their finery to ascend the stairs without having to look down.
• The landing area outside the Great Hall is known as “The Bees”. Its mosaic floor features a pattern of bees, a symbol of Manchester’s industry which is found on the City’s coat of arms.

Bee.

I remember “The Bees”! …but what I’m left with is a general impression of the Neo-Gothic grandeur of the place and the feeling that it was very well designed. To quote the guide again, “Waterhouse successfully combined the ceremonial and workaday requirements. The Town Hall was designed in the thirteenth century Gothic style but it was, in Waterhouse’s words, a building ‘essentially of the nineteenth century'”. 

Photo Archive: Reconstruction of a Roman Gateway, Manchester, c.2009.

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Ancient Rome, British History, Fortifications, Gateway, Manchester, Roman Britain, Roman Fort, Romano-British

If memory serves me, this reconstruction of a Roman gateway is only a short walk from Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry, on Liverpool Road. The gateway marks what would have been the North entrance to the fort at Mamucium, a garrison town on the road between the Romano-British centres of Chester and York. The reconstruction is definitely worth investigating, especially if you are visiting the MOS&I anyway.