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

Bikes and flats

Long ago when I was a student we rented the upstairs floor of a two-storey late Victorian house. We cycled a lot at the time, and there was no ground floor accommodation for our bikes, so I had to carry them up the stairs to where we parked them on the landing. It wasn't the easiest manouevre but it had to be done, so I did it. As we were walking around the canal and marina in Gloucester recently I looked at these nicely lit flats and spotted a couple of balconies with bikes. They were on the first and third floors, I think, and must have needed regular lifting. But, as I thought about it, I pondered two developments that might make the task easier today - electric lifts and lighter-weight cycles.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Worcester umbrellas

Its quite common to see shopping centres and streets decked out with colourful hangings across the summer months. Whether it is lights, pennants, flags, flip flops (yes I've seen those) they all have the same purpose - to brighten up the area and raise the spirits of the buying public. This year Friar Street in Worcester went for umbrellas, a relatively inexpensive and very eye-catching hanging. (Yes I've seen umbrellas before too.)

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Marina reflections, Worcester

A relatively calm and sunny day found us walking through the cathedral city of Worcester near the Diglis Marina and the canal. I've photographed there before, trying to make something of the narrow boats, refurbished warehouses and the new flats that are meant to echo and complement the old buildings.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5