The Eagle Vaults pub

click photo to enlarge

I've photographed the Eagle Vaults pub in Worcester before, focussing on the details of the colourful glazed tilework that covers the exterior of the ground floor. On a recent visit to the city the light was right for a shot of the whole of the street elevation. Brightly coloured umbrellas that hung along Friar Street crept into the shot too.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Pigeon shower

Feral pigeons successfully maintain urban populations in Britain because they find all they need in our towns and cities. Food is plentiful, whether discarded by people or deliberately bought and fed to them in the form of corn and specially prepared feed. Our buildings effectively mimic the cliffs that the ancestor of the feral pigeons (the rock dove) favoured for nest sites and safe refuge. And, as we discovered in Worcester recently, they even have showers provided by thoughtful urban planners, places where they can keep cool, have a drink and make themselves look their best!

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Memorial to Henry Skillicorne

It is common to find memorials to wealthy departed people in churches. Many convey only the basic details of the person - name and date of death are the minimum. Most, however, include more information such as the spouse's name, their occupation, notable offices held by the individual etc. These offer fascinating insights into the period and person they describe. Sometimes, however, the eulogising goes way over the top making the deceased seem like a latter-day saint and giant of the community. This memorial, in Cheltenham Minster, to a Manx sea captain, Henry Skillicorne, is reputed to be the longest memorial in the country and a fascinating insight into the busy life of someone who was instrumental in establishing Cheltenham as a spa town.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham

Pittville Pump Room in Cheltenham is a mineral spa building commissioned in 1825 by the landowner and developer, Joseph Pitt. It was to be the focal point of Pittville, his new town, and features Ionic columns based on the Temple of Illisus in Athens. The architect was John Forbes of Cheltenham. He completed the £90,000 building in 1830 just at the point when "taking the waters" began to decline in popularity. In 1889 Cheltenham borough council bought the Pump Room. After being used as a store during WW2 restoration work was undertaken and it was re-opened in 1960. Today it is a venue for concerts and other events and the mineral water may still be sampled.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

A window and a print

We were recently in the Italianate church of St Catherine, Hoarwithy in Herefordshire. As we walked through the relatively dark and narrow narthex we came upon this stained glass window near which someone had propped a framed print of a Renaissance "Adoration". The print benefitted from the window light and it made a nice, asymmetrical composition that prompted me to take this photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Trabeated and arcuated

For much of human history significant buildings were either arcuated or trabeated. That is to say, the structure was dependent on either arches or posts and lintels to provide the walls and interior spaces. Romanesque and Gothic architecture, for example, are arcuated. Stonehenge, Ancient Greek and much early industrial architecture is trabeated. These two words came to mind as we walked past the John Lewis department store in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire recently. The concrete outer frame and columns of the facade appear to be trabeated. But then we have curves and pointed arches in each segment of the facade. As I studied the arrangement of the materials it occurred to me that probably neither word applied here and a modern steel and concrete frame underpinned the building. What ever the construction the building presents a welcome break from the rendered and painted Regency style that dominates the town.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Approachable goosanders

All birds have what can be called a "scare distance" i.e. the distance at which they will take flight due to the approach of a person. For a robin this is typically three or four yards. For a magpie or a jay will be a much greater distance; perhaps thirty yards or more. With all species this distance tends to be reduced during the nesting season or if food is scarce and they are eating something. Recently we have seen a couple of female goosanders, birds that typically fly when you get to within twenty or so yards, joining in with mallards (a bird with a short scare distance) and feeding really close to people. So close that I could fill the frame with the bird using the 24-200mm lens that was on my camera. I haven't been able to do this with goosanders before. I wonder what has made them so "tame".

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Castles and country houses

In the UK it's not unusual to come across a country house that is based on a former castle. After explosives and cannons became widely used in warfare castles were no longer the safe haven they were formerly. The English Civil War of the C17 was the last time armies grappled for control in fighting on UK soil. When peace came many castles were "slighted" (i.e. blown apart) so they could not be used in any future warfare. Some country houses were made from these remains, others were made by building living accommodation and stately rooms in existing, undamaged castles so that they became homes rather than military architecture. Chirk Castle dates from 1295 and was designed to suppress part of the Marches, the border area between England and Wales. It was bought by Sir Thomas Myddleton in 1593 for £5000 and successive owners converted it to the grand house we see today. The photograph shows the main entrance of the original castle was adapted to be the main entrance of the house, and the adjoining walls were pierced by mullioned and transomed windows to let light into the new rooms.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Regency shadows, Cheltenham

The Gloucestershire town of Cheltenham is a product of the Regency period (c.1795-1837). In 1788 George III stayed in the then market town. This event alongside the discovery of mineral springs and the construction of buildings to facilitate "taking the waters" led to a rapid expansion of the town. Today much of the private housing, parks, hotels, shops and civic buildings of that period remains and is a major attraction that draws visitors to the town. Most of the Regency houses are in the Renaissance style and many are rendered and painted. As we walked near Prittville Park I photographed this detail of one such house. The photograph may look like a black and white shot but I can assure you that it is colour.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Photographing stairs

I've always liked stairs, and like many others, I've always liked photographing stairs. Stairs vary from the utilitarian to the highly decorative, from those designed to impress to those built with the minimum cost and materials that simply aim to get people from one storey to another. Over the centuries architects have come up with ever more inventive designs for stairs and they are a subject I've posted on this blog reasonably regularly. The example above is in the museum and gallery in Cheltenham. I like the materials used and how the stairs' change of direction is handled. I also liked the pair of legs visible at the ground floor level!

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

The grapes are ripening

In recent years the number of vineyards in the UK has grown considerably. It has been known for a long time that there were warmer periods of the historic past when vines were grown in (mainly) England. Now, thanks in part to global warming, they are being grown quite widely in southern England and can be found, in smaller numbers, further north, west and east. The nearest vineyard to where we live in Herefordshire is only three miles distant. Our county, with Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and south east Wales offer many more vineyards. Moreover, it isn't unusual to see grape vines growing in gardens in this part of the world. These grapes, hanging over a wall in Ross on Wye, are ripening nicely in the warm early autumn weather.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Costa not a lot

I've seen these Costa mobiles in quite a few of the coffee chain's stores. Someone came up with the clever and inexpensive idea of using the branded mugs cups and bowls as the main elements, with a few lights and steel or nylon wires on which to hang them. The effect is better than might be imagined.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Circular stained glass window

This circular Gothic window is in the east wall of the north transept of Tewkesbury Abbey, Gloucestershire. I recently posted a photograph of its "partner", a window on the east wall of the south transept, that is a spherical triangle. Today's window comprises a large circle within which are six smaller circles each containing a quatrefoil. In the centre is a smaller still circle containing a sexfoil. Unusually, I haven't been able to find out much about the designer or maker of the stained glass, nor do I know its date. It's not medieval and is probably from the late C19 or first half of the C20. The main, central subject is the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God). It is surrounded by angels, one in each quatrefoil swinging a censer. The text that runs around two circles is derived from Revelations 5:12 “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

A new view of an old subject

Sometimes its hard to see the possibilities in a photographic subject and it pays to return to it at different time of day, in a different season, or in different weather. Or you can search for a different point of view. I did that recently with Webbe's Almshouses in Ross on Wye. These old buildings are opposite an interesting set of curved steps that lead to the graveyard of St Mary's church, and I've combined them before in this shot.  I felt sure I could combine them in a different way and, as we passed by recently I took out my iPhone and came up with this photograph. It adds a third element - a Georgian doorway on an adjacent building.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

New sculpture in the Forest of Dean

On a recent walk in the Forest of Dean we came across a new addition to the Sculpture Trail. The work called "Gathering" is by the Gloucestershire sculptor, Julian Wild. Its striking colours caught our eye, as did the reflective metal blobs on the surfaces of the poles. You can read more about the sculpture in the sculptor's own words here.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone