Thirteenth century capital, Much Marcle

The decorative top of a column is known as the "capital". Down the ages people used different designs so consistently that the period in which they were carved can be determined by the style. The capital shown above is in the style known as "stiff leaf", a decorative form favoured in Britain in the thirteenth century. Further stylistic and written evidence enable the capitals to be dated more specifically to c.1230-1240. This example is one of a number of capitals of this period that can be seen in the church of St Bartholomew at Much Marcle, Herefordshire.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Coffee shop water

My preference, when looking for somewhere to sit in a coffee shop, is a seat by a window. That way I can watch the world go by. But, now that the festive season is upon us that rule does not apply. Why? Because the windows have become sites for Christmas advertising - loaded drinks and calorie-packed pastries are urged upon us and the outside world becomes somewhere only glimpsed beyond the notices. The bottles and glasses were by a small window sill where the adverts wouldn't fit and offered a modest still life.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

An approachable drake goosander

I recently posted a piece about how female goosanders are overcoming their reticence and are swimming nearer to people, joining the mallards being fed by people on the River Wye in Ross. A few days ago I noticed that a solitary male goosander was also overcoming its caution and doing the same. It's interesting to speculate on why a predominantly fish-eating bird should eat seeds and bread, and overcome its natural reserve and spend time much closer to people.

 I've usually found it difficult to get a photograph of a male goosander  - the best I'd done thus far was this example. The newly obliging drake enabled a couple of much better images.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Nativity

The nativity seen above can be found in the church of St Wulfram, Grantham, Lincolnshire. It is by the stained glass artist, Leonard Evetts (1909-1997). He was a prolific designer and his very attractive style - a mixture of tradition and modernity - is relatively easy to pick out among C20 artists. This is a detail of a larger work of 1969 called the Porter Window that commemorates a member of a shoe-making family.

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

Chocolate snowmen

During my lifetime, and in the places I have lived, snow has made only an occasional appearance at Christmas. When I was young that was a source of disappointment: these days I'm rather glad. That's not to say I dislike snow entirely. It suits me fine to have a few days of snow that doesn't hang about too long. Or to live near mountains where I can see and visit the snow when it suits me. You'd think the reality of the relative absence of snow in England would be reflected in popular culture, but no, the Victorian imagery of a white winter continues, even if its only in the wrappers of chocolate snowmen.

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

Christmas tree decorations

Each time I see a Christmas tree that is "tastefully" decorated I cringe. By tastefully decorated I mean a tree that has multiple examples of the same cololoured baubles. I've seen lots this year - one with only the same silver and blue baubles, one with only the same matt red and glossy red baubles, one with only gold baubles and silver masks - I could go on. I abhor such minimalist "tasteful" (!) tree decoration. I much prefer trees with a wide range of baubles and other hangings that have grown up over the years, and including child-made decorations dating from years past. That being the case it will come as no surprise that our tree exhibits the latter kind of decoration, as shown in the photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Sunset and mist by the River Wye

At first glance, this photograph of the sun going down behind the River Wye at Ross on Wye looks like an entirely natural scene comprising the sun, sky, mist, water, a tree and bushes. But, look closely and you'll see a boulder that is part of the bank reinforcement round an outfall. You'll also notice that the tree is pollarded to keep it anchored to the bank where it can help prevent the river channel from widening. That too is the purpose of the willows along the river banks - they are regularly cut to keep a full root system and branches to slow the flow. Then there is the vapour trail, like a knife slash in a canvas, aiding the composition but adding, remorselessly to climate change.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Foggy December graveyard

click photo to enlarge
There are few places that so readily evoke a sense of mystery, whatever the weather, than a graveyard. If you add to the tombs some trees, mist, frost and a late afternoon watery sun trying, and failing, to penetrate the gloom, then the scene can quite easily convert into a characterful photograph. This image shows part of the Victorian extension to the churchyard that surrounds St Mary, the parish church of Ross on Wye in Herefordshire.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

The Prospect south gateway, Ross on Wye

The south gateway is the smaller of the two remaining gateways that date from the creation of The Prospect, a public park and viewpoint in Ross on Wye. It links the area with the extended churchyard of the parish church of St Mary. The year, 1700, is prominently placed between the capitals of the Corinthian pilasters. In the pediment is the coat of arms of the donor of The Prospect, John Kyrle. My photograph was taken as the sun was going down towards the end of a cold and frosty December day.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

WW1 soldier's memorial

Most churches have memorials to members of the armed forces who died in WW1. Sometimes it is a list of all those in the parish who were killed. Then there are the stained glass windows commemorating an individual. But, by far the most numerous style of memorial are those in the form of a wall plaque in stone, brass or, sometimes, mosaic. The example above is a brass on marble memorial. What caught my eye here was the composition including the Lee Enfield rifles propped against the cross - something I've not seen before. It can be viewed at All Saints church at Hollybush, Worcestershire.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Font, Hereford Cathedral

Fonts are frequently the oldest feature in a church, often surviving refurbishments and rebuilds. Congregations and clergy seem to value the continuity that the font brings to the building. Hereford Cathedral's stone font dates from the Norman period (C12), as does much of the building itself. It is circular with twelve figures (the Apostles) under arches that rest on spiral carved columns. Above is a key pattern. The base is simpler, made of different stone and features four carvings of lions. The coloured mosaic looks to be nineteenth century.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Mossy forest floor

The Forest of Dean is a mixture of ancient forest and small plantations. The latter are mainly coniferous, and often so densely planted that the forest floor is little more than an accumulation of pine needles in which little grows. But, in a few places the light is able to illuminate the ground and that, combined with moisture leads to an attractive forest floor of moss, as in the photograph above.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Mallards

Most of the domestic ducks that are farmed today are descended from the wild mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). Presumably the mallard was chosen for domestication because many of the wild population tolerate the close proximity of humans, unlike other ducks. Being of the same species enables domestic ducks and mallards to interbreed and produce progeny of varying colours. This pair exhibit the colours of wild mallard but permitted a quite close approach.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Raindrops on purple sage

I've featured purple sage on the blog before. Unsurprisingly it's a plant I like a lot. But I have to say that I like it best in summer when it is flourishing and showing off its subtle colours and bushy growth to best effect. The photograph above shows one of our plants after drizzle of the sort that usually keeps me indoors. As I drew the car out of the garage I noticed the effects of the droplets on the leaves and I took this photograph.

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

Ledbury lights

I've always thought that Christmas celebrations should not begin until the month begins with "D". This year they were in full swing well before Halloween and Bonfire Night. Herefordshire's towns have got in on the acttoo. This year Ross on Wye and Ledbury (to name those I know), were singing Christmas carols and turning on the Christmas lights on 26th November!

photo © T. Boughen

Resting rowers on the River Wye

A cold, early morning walk that took in the River Wye at Ross presented an opportunity for a photograph that included the mist over the water and the rowers from the nearby rowing club. But they made me wait for it, almost to the point where I couldn't include both subjects in my shot. However, with some judicious movement on my part and a period of recuperating rest on the part of the rowers, I managed it.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

View over Herefordshire

click photo to enlarge
On a recent walk on the Malvern Hills I was reminded how sunlight and clouds can enrich a view of the landscape. Not only do they make it feel more three-dimensional, they focus the viewer's eyes on elements that might otherwise offer less interest. On this shot they also make the foreground, the main subject, feel separate from the bluish, hazy distant landscape.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Mallards Pike, Forest of Dean

Mallards Pike in the Forest of Dean is a small lake with nearby parking, a cafe and a tree climbing facility. The name seems to reference the ducks most commonly seen on the water and a type of fish that lurks beneath the surface. But apparently this isn't so. Mallard in this instance is a corruption of the surname Maller, the person who owned not only land in the area in the 1950s but specifically, a turnpike road and toll house. Maller's turnpike, in time, became Mallards Pike.

 photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Water surface semi-abstract

There is often a disconnect between what the eye sees when looking at water and what the camera sees. This happens most frequently when a high shutter speed freezes the movement of water or a deliberately slow shutter speed blurs it. Today's example does neither of these things. Rather, the meniscus effect of leaves touching the water surface and the reflections are emphasised, revealing a quite pleasing semi-abstract effect that wasn't easy to see with the naked eye.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Return to Speech House Lake

Three years ago I took a photograph from approximately this point on the edge of Speech House Lake in the Forest of Dean. On a recent walk that went by the lake I took another photograph in the same area. The reflections of the small islands of pines were better this time and the presence of clouds improved the shot considerably, as did the seasonally yellow tinge of the light. I had hoped to make more of the flock of mandarin ducks on the water but they quickly fled and were soon barely visible  (centre right).

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Silver birch avenue

The small, closely growing, silver birch avenue in this photograph must have been deliberately planted because it runs along the top of an embankment of a disused railway near the edge of the Forest of Dean. It is now one of the footpaths that runs from Cinderford's Linear Park into the forest. 

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Shop front automata, Gloucester

Gloucester's Southgate Street features a "Watchmaker, Jeweller and Optician" shop of 1904. It retains the original name and today still sells watches, clocks and jewellery. When it was erected the owners had an ornate clock manufactured by Niehus Brothers of Bristol built into the facade. This features, from the top going downwards, a celestial finial, a bracketed clock, a large bell and 5 automata figures, each with a bell.

The figures represent (left to right) an Irish woman in traditional dress, John Bull of England, Father Time with an hour glass, a Scottish military bagpiper and a Welsh woman in traditional dress. They still move their arms to strike the time. I was prompted to take my photographs because I could see that the clock had been recently painted and was looking, as well as sounding, its best.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Fungi again

I've said elsewhere in this blog that my knowledge of fungi is quite limited. Like a lot of people I find them somewhat repellent, partly due to their association with dead and dying wood. But, if I come across field mushrooms - an occurence that happens less and less - I'm happy to pick them and eat them. There are people who have a deep interest in fungi and I'm glad that's the case. It means I can use their expertise to identify those that I come across on our travels. Or at least I think I can because with 15,000 or so species in the UK there are many that are similar. The example in the photograph seem to be one of the bracket fungi, possibly Hairy Curtain Crust, but I'm happy to be corrected!

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Autumn trees

I can't imagine what it is like to live in a place where there are no clearly defined seasons. For the photographer spring, summer, autumn and winter can offer the same subject clothed in different ways and so a simple walk in the woods can differ markedly depending on the time of year. Trees the colour of those above can only be seen in autumn. In winter they will offer their black skeletons, in spring fresh, light greens filtering the brighter skies, and in summer dense foliage will block much of the light reaching the forest floor.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Autumn beeches

Arboriculturists seek to breed ever more beautiful trees. Over the years we have visited a number of arboretums and have been impressed by the variety of colours that have been coaxed out of tree families. Acers, in particular, have been the focus of plant breeders and a vast range of leaf shapes and colours have been drawn from this variety. But, every autumn, as I gaze upon the native beech trees' leaves changing from green to brown to orange then gold, I remind myself that there are few finer sights than the autumn sunlight seen through the leaves of Fagus sylvatica. These examples were photographed in the Forest of Dean.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Worn leather upholstery

One of our favourite coffee chains is called Coffee #1. It started life in Cardiff, Wales, and has spread to south Wales and parts of south west England. The chain makes commendable efforts to celebrate the town in which each shop is based, decorating interiors with paintings, quotations and photographs related to the locality. Another characteristic is the heavy use of second-hand furniture - you don't often see more than one or two of each design of chair in a shop. Recently we were having a coffee whilst sitting on a red leather, buttoned Chesterfield sofa. The worn and cracked leather appealed to me and I took this photograph of it with my phone.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Town Trail, Ross on Wye

In the 1960s a large section of Britain's railways network was declared surplus to need. The tracks that faced the axe were, in the main, rural lines or those where passenger traffic was sparse. The metal rails were taken up and the land on which they lay faced a number of new uses. One of the best was conversion into a public footpath and cycle track. Today's photograph was taken on one such at Ross on Wye, Herefordshire. Here the Town Trail passes along the edge of the built-up area and offers a quiet and leafy route fror walkers and cyclists.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Young herring gull

Young gulls can be difficult to identify - they are nearly all white with brown flecks over much of their bodies. If you have one of each common species all together (unlikely) you can usually make an identification by size. I took into account the size of this young bird and, with other features concluded it is a 1st winter herring gull. It was standing on some rocks in the River Monnow at Monmouth, one of several youngsters more interested in being fed scraps by people on the bridge than scavenging in the shallows of the river.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Great White Egret

I've posted a number of photographs of the Little Egret, a bird that is increasingly common in the UK. Today I post my first photograph of a Great White Egret, a bird that is nowhere near as common as its diminutive relative but which was, until relatively recently, a rarely seen vagrant rather than a breeding resident. My first sighting of the species was several years ago in Lincolnshire. This bird was in Ross on Wye, Herefordshire.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Flooded Severn Ham, Tewkesbury

The Severn Ham is a piece of pasture in a loop of the River Severn at Tewkesbury. During the dry months sheep are kept on the Ham. However, when the rivers Severn and Avon that flow through Tewkesbury burst their banks it becomes a shallow lake with none of the pasture visible. Today it is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) with protection afforded to the flora and fauna that thrive on this interesting piece of land. On  a recent visit to the town we found the Ham under water. This photograph was taken from a slightly higher area of the pasture, looking back at the town and its abbey.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

A chimneypiece at Worcester Guildhall

Worcester's Guildhall is a Grade 1 building that dates from 1721. The exterior exhibits many features characteristic of the Queen Anne and early Georgian periods. Moreover, it is still a functioning civic building with rooms of varying sizes including a large and imposing assembly room on the first floor. On a recent visit I was particularly drawn to the two large chimneypieces of the assembly room that are clearly of a later date than the setting. Are they part of the remodelling of 1791 by George Byfield? Clearly not. They probably date from the restoration by Henry Rowe and George Gilbert Scott in 1877-80. The wooden surround is topped by a swan-neck pediment and a shield with the city's coat of arms. Within is marble edging and tiles. The tiles to left and right of the fireplace are pictorial. On the left are poppies and a butterfly with, on the right, irises and a dragonfly. These have an oriental feel more in keeping with a later C19 date. The whole of the chimneypiece may be the work of the sculptor William Forsyth (1833–1915).

A chimneypiece at Croome Court

The marble chimneypiece above is in the long gallery at Croome Court, Worcestershire. It is sometimes erroneously attributed to the famous neo-classical architect, Robert Adam (1728-1792). However, though Adam did design some of the decoration in this room (and elsewhere at Croome) this is actually the work of the sculptor Joseph Wilton (1722-1803). His composition dates from c.1764 and features two similar but not identical caryatids supporting the mantelshelf. They hold a festoon of flowers, suggesting that the figures may represent Flora. Ornament typical of the time edges the essentially rectagular chimneypiece and includes egg and dart and bead and reel.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Coade stone

Coade stone was an artificial stone used to cast sculptures and garden ornaments. It is named after Eleanor Coade (1733-1821) who in 1769 bought an artificial stone manufacturing company and set about improving the product and dominating the British market. The stone has proved to be longer lasting than much natural stonework and over 650 pieces have been recorded still in use. Coade stone comprised 60-70% ball clay from Devon and Dorset, 10% crushed soda lime glass, 5-10% fine quartz, 5-10% crushed flint and 10% grog (crushed shards of pottery).

 The examples shown here are part of a garden arch at Croome Court, Worcestershire, and date from 1797.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

An obliging pigeon

I've photographed pigeons before. I've also photographed block paving before. But, I've never photographed a pigeon and block paving together before. It wasn't my intention to do so here. I'd seen a cyclist with a strong silhouette pass over the paving and I was waiting for the next cyclist to appear. But none did and the pigeon obliged. So that became my shot.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

The Shell Store revisited

click photo to enlarge
In November 2021 we made our first visit to the Shell Store, a refurbished building on an industrial estate in Hereford.

 

At that time it was almost completed and we made a mental note to go back again when it was open for business. The link above briefly summarizes the history of this remarkable building so I won't repeat myself here.

 What I will say is I really like the saw-tooth roof line of the Shell Store, and I'm fascinated by the translucent material that forms its cladding. Thay both look great on a bright, clear(ish) day.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Views of Croome

Croome is an eighteenth century country house in Worcestershire. It is now in the care of the National Trust and one of the most visited of that organisation's properties. The builders of mansions like Croome invariably spent more money on the main elevation of the house (usually the south-facing front) and less on the elevation that had more utilitarian uses (usually the north front). At Croome the north elevation (shown above) could be mistaken for the most imposing south front (shown below). Perhaps this is because this is the visitor's first view as the road winds its way to the building.

 However, once the south elevation, with its portico, comes into view it is clear which is which. Lancelot "Capability" Brown was responsible for the landscaping around Croome. He widened the Croome River at a couple of points to make it more like a lake against which the house could be seen.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

43 Portland Street, Cheltenham

My first thought on seeing 43 Portland Street, Cheltenham was "Why would you do such a thing?" Here we have a pleasant enough stone-faced villa in the classical style, dating from around 1830 or 1840, with a plain pediment above a three-bay front, four full-height Ionic pilasters, a central entrance and ground floor rustication. On to this carefully composed building someone, probably in the C19, added rendered wings that in no way complement the original building and succeed in making it look like it is being squashed from both sides. The perpetrator of this crime didn't even make it completely symmetrical - spot the first floor drip-mould on the left wing that is missing from the right wing. Amazing!

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Yellow electricity helicopter

Walking on the eastern edge of Ross on Wye we became aware of a low flying, noisy helicopter hidden behind a row of trees. As it rose above them its yellow colour and manner of flight - hovering round an area then moving on to hover again - became apparent. It was one of a fleet of five Airbus 135s that are used to check the pylons and electricity distribution wires across the region. We've seen these before, and as it slowly went on its way I wondered how long it would be before quieter, semi-automatic drones took over this potentially dangerous job.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

The Triumph wordmark

The first time I became aware of the design of the name of the British Triumph motorcycle company was when I glimpsed it on Bob Dylan's T-shirt on the cover of his 1965 album "Highway 61 Revisited". Thereafter my eye was drawn to it whenever I saw this make of motorcycle parked  in the market town where I lived. What I particularly liked was the way the letter "R" was extended so that it met up with the horizontal bar of the "H" and in so doing formed a curved underline. It forms a distinctive wordmark* that, very wisely, the company retained and still uses today. We came across this new Triumph motorcycle in a Hereford car park. Two things prompted my photograph - the strong colours and the water droplets from a light shower that had just passed over.

* A wordmark is a type of logo that uses only text to distinctively represent a particular organisation. It is usually copyrighted to protect its use.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Complementary colours

On a simple colour wheel blue is the complementary of orange. On a wheel with double the complementaries blue-green is the complementary of red-orange. These are both pairings for which I have a liking. So it wasn't a surprise that I should stop by an old blue-green door in a garden wall made of orange brick with Boston Ivy that was starting to acquire its autumn colours and take this photograph.

 photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Narrowboat, Worcester

The Worcester & Birmingham Canal flows through the city of Worcester until it joins England's longest river, the Severn. From what I can see it is mainly the haunt of narrowboats, recreational vessels based on the design of eighteenth and nineteenth century work barges that carried goods around Britain on the canal network. Narrowboats are built to the following dimensions to enable them to navigate through locks - width no more than 7 feet (2.13m), length no more than 72 feet (21.95m). Many of the vessels are painted with traditional colours and designs, are named, and often display the place of their home berth. We came upon this ncely painted example as it passed a berthed boat and approached a lock.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Art Deco celluloid lady

This nude figure entwined with celluloid film is one of two that have been mounted in a wall in a new retail development in Cheltenham. They are Art Deco style sculptures made of stone, the work of Newbury Abbot Trent (1885-1953) and were originally on the front elevation of the 1932 Odeon cinema. They were saved when the cinema was demolished in 2014 and placed in their current location in 2015. The ladies make a striking pair and re-using them in this way was the right thing to do. It's just a shame that they have to be covered with plastic sheets. Perhaps a higher location that didn't necessitate a covering would have been better.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Pershore Abbey revisited

Passing through Pershore recently we stopped to have a look at the abbey. The first time I visited this building was in 2010 and here's what I had to say in a blogpost about this "ugly duckling" of a building.

"The church is the former abbey at Pershore in Worcestershire. This building, originally an Anglo-Saxon foundation, rebuilt c.1100, and extended in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was severely reduced in size at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. The monastic outbuildings were destroyed and the nave and Lady Chapel were taken down completely. The north transept subsequently collapsed and in 1686 the crossing tower had to have supports constructed on that side. An east apse (shown in the photograph) was built in 1847. There was a general restoration in 1862-5 and in the early twentieth century when two massive flying buttresses (dated 1913) were placed against the tower to help to hold it in position (see smaller photograph)."

 You might want to click the link to the 2010 post to find out more and make more sense of the above. 

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5