English Civil War re-enactor

It has always struck me as odd that quite a large proportion of the public in England do not know about the English Civil War. Moreover, that many know more about the American Civil War than ours. If pushed, most can recall a king being beheaded and factions called Roundheads and Cavaliers, but not much else. What are the reasons for this? Well, if it is taught in schools it isn't a focus of much attention, and one is drawn to the conclusion that many don't like to be reminded of it. Revolution is something the English see as afflicting other nations, not their own. And then there is the fact that its effects were transitory and a monarch returned to the throne and all was more or less as it had been. This side-lining of the Civil War hasn't stopped re-enactors dressing up and acting out the episode. I think this re-enactor attending Armed Forces Day was dressed in the costume of that period. 

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Conservation workers, Salisbury Cathedral

I've always had something of an admiration for those who work at heights. Not only do such people need to master the technicalities of their job, they also have to overcome the difficulties of doing it high above the ground. Consequently, when I see workers engaged in in this way and in this kind of location, I invariably take a shot or two of them. I've photographed wind turbine engineers, big wheel erectors, church spire repairers and conservation workers. I came across the latter again quite recently. They were on the west front of Salisbury Cathedral and seemed to be checking the statues and carved stonework, removing any loose debris.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Waterloo-era re-enactor, Ross on Wye

In June the town of Ross on Wye was the official host for Herefordshire's 2022 Armed Forces Day. A number of military and other organisations took part including some re-enactors. This photograph is of one of a small group of Waterloo-era re-enactors who showed off their uniforms and gave a noisy display of firing their "ancient" guns. The badge on the uniform appears to be that of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, Welch being the archaic spelling of Welsh.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Vaulting, Salisbury Cathedral

One of the finest views in any cathedral is that seen when you stand underneath the crossing tower and look upwards. What grabs the eye are the patterns of rib vaulting that are used to transfer the weight of the roof to the columns and piers of the arcades in the nave, chancel and transepts. The patterns chosen vary with the period in which they were built - fashions changed as architectural skills developed. At Salisbury Cathedral quadripartite rib vaults were used throughout, giving uniformity to the interior. Under the tower, in the 1400s, lierne vaulting replaced the earlier work and here the greater complexity makes the tower a focus for the eye.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Maple leaves in August

Recently I stood and looked at the maple tree in the corner of our garden. Like many plants in this exceptionally dry summer it is looking a little distressed. The absence of rain, the high temperatures, the clear blue skies and the regular, strong and drying winds have all taken their toll. And yet, standing below the branches and looking upwards through the leaves there was still plenty to delight the eye - subtle complementary colours, delicate outlines, cellular details, overlapping shapes and deep shadows. So, I mounted a macro lens on a camera and took a few shots before any further deterioration set in.

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

Cloister, Salisbury Cathedral

The presence of a cloister at a cathedral usually signifies that the building was originally built by a monastic order (Franciscans, Carthusians, Cistercians etc). Salisbury Cathedral is an exception to this rule. But, the purpose of the cloister remains the same - to provide a sheltered (often south-facing) enclosed, covered quadrangle around which monks could walk and which kept them separate from wider society. The cloister at Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire, dates from the thirteenth century and features large, alternating cinquefoils and sexfoils.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Car with longest production run

Which model of car has had the longest production run? Is it the Citroen 2CV? What about the VW Golf or, perhaps the VW Beetle? Or how about the Mini? Well, all of these cars were produced for decades but the car with the longest production run is, I believe, the Morgan PlusFour, a roadster still made today in the Worcestershire town of Great Malvern where it was first made in 1950. I read this information on the owners descriptive note fixed to this 2008 version of the PlusFour. If you'd like a brand new one the factory charge £64,995.00 for a manual shift model and £67,495.00 for an automatic.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Nave, Salisbury Cathedral

The thirteenth century nave of Salisbury Cathedral is built in what nineteenth century writers called the "Lancet" style but which today is more usually referred to as the Early English style. The nave arcades and most arches elsewhere are tall and pointed. Dark, polished Purbeck marble shafts flank these arches, a motif common to this period, and at Salisbury the light grey Chilmark stone adds further emphasis. As is commonly seen today, an altar has been placed where the nave meets the choir, making the congregation closer to this focal point.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

A River Wye convergence

Areas of the River Wye in Herefordshire are focal points for recreational activities. In recent months canoeists and paddle boarders have outnumbered the sleek craft of the rowing club at Ross on Wye, and the swans, ducks and riverside birds have had to get used to their fair weather companions. However, when I saw this convergence of a mute swan with four cygnets and the canoeists with his dog, I did wonder if the current amity was going to be broken. I foresaw the swan reacting forcefully to the threat it perceived in the dog and its owner as they got ever nearer. It was not to be, however, and with a few strokes of their webbed feet the birds moved away and the photographer/canoeist turned around and paddled off upstream.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

West front, Salisbury Cathedral

For centuries most buildings have had a front and a back (and sides too, of course!) The front has always been the favoured elevation, the one that aims to impress, the one where the architect (or builder or owner) have given greatest consideration, and where most money per square foot has been spent. Cathedrals are no exception to this general rule though its true to that all elevations are designed to be seen and to impress. However, the west front is usually the most favoured elevation, is often symmetrical, and has the main processional entrance. Many cathedrals have west fronts decorated with statues of biblical figures and saints. This is the case at Salisbury where this approach is thought to have been borrowed from not too distant Wells Cathedral. At Salisbury, however, fewer of the statues are original, with many being Victorian in age.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Salisbury Cathedral

Cathedrals are big. Moreover, the space around them is often limited. Consequently fitting the building into the viewfinder can frequently be a challenge. If you haven't got a very wide lens then you either have to accept massively converging verticals or you have to move back as far as you can. On the evening of our visit to Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire, a building with a much larger "close" than is usual, this was the position where I could just about get the verticals to be vertical, with the trees making a dark, detailed "frame". This building was erected relatively quickly compared with many cathedrals. The main body of the church was built between 1220 and 1258. The chapter house was added around 1263 and the tower and spire were completed by 1320. Incidentally, it's the height of that spire, Britain's tallest at 404 feet (123m) that accentuates the photographer's problem described above.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Water lilies

The white water lily (Nymphaea alba) is the UK's largest wild flower. It is a very popular plant and is more usually found in garden ponds than the cultivated varieties that have coloured petals. A number of ponds in the Forest of Dean and surrounding areas have the wild lilies in them.

 However, when we were walking in the nearby Dymock Forest we came upon a pond that had a water lilies with pink petals as well as the commoner white variety. They must have been an introduction by someone seeking to beautify the stretch of water.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Salisbury Cathedral through a sexfoil

If you were a bit concerned reading the title of this post let me set your mind at rest. A sexfoil is a 6-petalled (or 6-leafed) shape. Gothic architecture features a lot of different numbered foils - trefoil, quatrefoil, cinquefoil, septfoil etc. In this instance the sexfoil is one of many that alternate with cinquefoils in the cloisters of Salisbury Cathedral. The reason I photographed the top of the cathedral tower and the bottom of the spire through it is for compositional reasons but also because it's difficult to get sufficiently distant to fit the whole building in the frame.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Abergavenny seen from The Blorenge

click image to enlarge

The Blorenge is a summit at the south-eastern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park. It is one of the most accessible peaks in the Park, with a minor road zig-zagging past the high-points. The area around the top gives fine views of the town of Abergavenny, the summit called The Skirrid and the distant Severn estuary. There is something satisfying about looking down on a town from above, trying to correlate what you know from ground-level with the very different experience of seeing it from on high.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Last Judgement, St Mary, Fairford

In the west window of the church of St Mary, Fairford, Gloucestershire (see previous post), the stained glass depicts The Last Judgement. In the bottom right is a portrayal of Hell and its denizens. Here the glazier seems to have indulged his imagination and as well as showing the usual horned creatures with pitchforks there is a fearsome two-headed Devil (?) swallowing the condemned souls. Against the dark red background of the glowing fires of hell it makes for an unforgettable image.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Crucifixion, St Mary, Fairford

The stained glass windows in the church of St Mary, Fairford, Gloucestershire, are unique. They fill all the windows of the building in a planned sequence of religious subjects, were made around the same date (c.1500-1505), and were probably designed and made by the same glazier - Barnard Flower, the King's Glazier. The people of the town managed to protect them from the puritanical iconoclasts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and so we are able to appreciate them today. The crucifixion scene above (often called The Passion) is in the top of the east window above the altar.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300