St Mary, Fairford, Gloucestershire

The church of St Mary in Fairford, Gloucestershire, can be dated by documentary evidence to a rebuilding of c.1490. Its style is what architectural historians would describe as Late Perpendicular. Noteworthy are the distinctive and very individual sculptures of the exterior, and, on the morning I took my photograph, the warm, creamy Cotswold stone. However, what informed visitors usually come to see at this church is the most complete sequence of stained glass windows of its date in England (see next post).

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Great Coxwell tithe barn, Oxfordshire

The tithe barn at Great Coxwell in Oxfordshire was built by the Cistercian monks of Beaulieu Abbey in about 1292. Dendrochronology has dated some of the timbers of the structure to 1253 and ensuing years, as well as to the winter of 1291-2. The walls are built of Cotswold stone and the roof is tiled with Stonesfield slate.

It measures 152 feet (46m) long and 48 feet (15m) high. It has a small east porch (shown above) and a larger west porch. The south elevation (above) received most attention from the builders with the buttresses, ventilation holes and great doorway being completely symmetrical. William Morris said it was "as noble as any cathedral". The barn is a Grade 1 Listed structure and since 1956 it has been in the ownership of the National Trust.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Worcester Cathedral and King John

This photograph was taken from in front of the high altar in Worcester Cathedral. It is a fine prospect showing off many of the best features of medieval architecture (and the careful work of Victorian restorers). In the foreground, in a place of honour, is the tomb of King John. Amongst English monarchs King John is possibly the most reviled. Successive tellings of the story of Robin Hood have him as the usurper of King Richard I, and his quarrels with the barons leading to Magna Carta frame him as quarrelsome, spiteful and reluctant to relinquish any of his powers. More recently historians have credited his hard working nature, administrative skills and generalship. None of this has affected his resting place; he was placed in the cathedral in 1216 and he remains there still.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

The balloon seller

Helium is the second most common element in the universe but on earth is relatively rare. It occurs in natural gas deposits and is gathered as a by-product of that industry. It used to be known as the filling of airships but today it has many uses including in the manufacture of semi-conductors and as an essential in MRI scanners. It is a finite product on earth, found in a few concentrated pockets. When it is released it is one of the few elements that escapes from the earth's atmosphere. One day it will all be gone and our descendants will be incredulous at some of the trivial uses to which it was put in the twentieth and twenty first centuries. Giving people funny, squeaky voices and filling party balloons with it will be viewed as scandalous.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Rimski and Handkerchief

Rimski and Handkerchief are two musicians quite unlike any others. Rimski plays the bicycle piano and Handkerchief plays the double basscycle, two unique, pedal-powered vehicles that are also musical instruments. They usually play while riding through and around their audience and, occasionally, when stationary.

Their songs are humorous ditties that suit their eccentric dress and ornate vehicle/instruments. When I saw them in Ross on Wye I marvelled at their abilty to pedal, steer, play and sing at the same time. Not once did they crash into each other or a member of the public. Find out more about this duo here.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Gloucester - warehouse flats and narrow boats

Gloucester Quays is the fancy name given to the restoration of an area of Gloucester Docks. It includes a large shopping centre, places to eat, many flats (in converted warehouses as well as new-build), a college, ship repairers, museums etc. All this stands alongside the actual docks themselves which are home to sailing ships, motor boats and lots of narrow boats, virtually all being pleasure craft. The docks were originally built to connect the city to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and the River Severn, which they still do. However, their commercial purpose is no longer required and they have found a new purpose in the activities described above.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Rainbow houses, Gloucester

"Rainbow houses" was the way the local paper in 2020 described the transformation of some aged Gloucester houses by brightly coloured paint. It's not unusual to see terraces where each house is painted a different colour but usually those colours are taken from the tasteful and traditional selection that established paint manufacturers offer. I'm not aware that the screaming colours of these houses are widely sold: they must have been specially mixed.

I quite like what has been done here in small doses in a few locations. But if it were to be more widespread I'm sure it would soon lose its charm.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

The Hive, Worcester

The Hive is a building by the architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. It opened in 2012 and is the UK's first joint-use library building, housing both the University of Worcester library and Worcester County Library. It also accommodates the county archive, a local history centre, the county archaeologist's team and a multi-agency customer service centre. It has a distinctive seven part roof design clad in a scale-like covering of copper alloy. I don't know what the concrete block houses but it does have seating and trees on top. The landscaping is subtle to the point of being barely noticeable. Perhaps it is clearer when the plants are in flower.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Wide angle iPhone photographs

The extreme wide angle lens on my iPhone is 13mm (35mm equivalent), 2mm wider than the widest lens on the other camera systems I use. I learned many years ago that when it comes to wide angle lenses even a small amount of width is noticeable. Recently I thought I'd try out the phone in Gloucester Cathedral. The results, though deficient in a couple of ways (including being oversharpened), are better than I expected and the extra width brings more drama to the compositions.

 

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Inside the gardeners' shed

In their heyday large country houses employed an army of gardeners. Their job was to grow flowers for display in the big house, to grow fruit and vegetables for its table, and to maintain the grounds around the house in a manner befitting a place of high standing. The gardens and grounds at Berrington Hall, Herefordshire, are maintained by volunteers and employees of the National Trust, in whose care the house now rests. In a long garden shed they have placed a collection of old tools that the house's original gardeners would have used. I particularly liked the old wooden wheelbarrow and made sure it was prominent in my photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

The Gloucester big wheel

Well, not that big really, but looking quite big against the backdrop of the regenerated docks. The weather was very changeable on the day we visited and the owners of the attraction seemed to be putting the finishing touches to the construction of the wheel. The first photograph I took presented itself to me with the white wheel emphasising the dark grey of the water-laden clouds. The wheel's reflection in the dock added to the visual interest.

 The second shot appeared as I looked up at the hub of the wheel, my eye catching the movement of a workman connecting wires to the structure. He obligingly looked down at me and shouted "cheese"!

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

The old Bulmers cellars, Hereford

Herefordshire was, and still is, a county that produces cider. This alcoholic drink based on apples (pears for perry) comes and goes as fashions change. However, there is sufficient demand that the drink is always being produced somewhere in the country. The county's and the country's largest producer is Westons of Much Marcle. The photograph above was taken in the cellars of the Hereford Cider Museum, an enterprise that was created out of the old Bulmers Cider works. Today visitors can tour the museum and learn about cider production and taste samples. They can also see the rooms and very extensive cellars where Bulmers produced the drink. The bottles in the photograph are empty but would have had sparkling cider maturing before being sold.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Church flowers

If you want to see cut flowers in their wide variety of colours and forms you can do no better than visiting a good florist's shop. If you want to photograph them, however, you'll need a more sympathetic location because not too many florists welcome people photographing their stock unless they are going to buy it. In my experience the second best show of cut flowers is to be found at church flower festivals where the many individual displays are often themed in imaginative ways. In fact, churches in general and cathedrals in particular usually have several good displays most of the year round. The example in today's photograph, strongly featuring lilies as they often do, was in Hereford Cathedral. I used a bright lens to get a nice out of focus background that hinted at the religious location.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Chinese Bridge in the landscape

In the eighteenth century, just as today, fashions and styles came and went. One style  that lingered a while was a liking for all things Chinese: what came to be called "chinoiserie". Blue and white pottery, painted wall-paper depicting Chinese scenes, birds etc, Chinese motifs in chairs and other furniture, mirror frames with oriental decoration and much else was bought from the far east or manufactured nearer to home. A particular favourite was a footbridge based on the ones painted on the scenes that decorated the blue and white plates and saucers. This example at Croome Court, Worcestershire, is a reconstruction of one built there in the eighteenth century. You can find out more about that bridge here.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Country house compositions

The great temptation when photographing a large, ornate, historic country house is to let the architect's symmetrical facade speak for itself. In other words, fill the frame with the facade of the front of the house, the place where all the money was spent. There's nothing wrong with this approach. However, it's an interesting challenge to find a composition that gives less emphasis to the facade. These two shots of Croome Court, Worcestershire, a house completed in 1760 to the designs of Lancelot "Capability" Brown, a man better known for his landscape gardening, do just that. The first retains a measure of symmetry - the house in the centre glimpsed between two trees with a path leading to it. It also contextualises the house in its grounds with the nearby Gothick church built in 1763 for the then owner (also by Brown). 

The second photograph puts the house on the right of the frame with balance achieved by the tree on the left.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300