Church photography and trees

Seeing, appreciating and photographing the exterior of English churches is made much more difficult by people's enthusiasm for tree planting around the building. A few well-chosen and thoughtfully sited specimens invariably adds to the churchyard and surroundings. But the species, and more especially the position chosen for them, all too often blocks the best or often the only remaining good view of the church. St Margaret at Welsh Bicknor is a case in point. The building of the church was funded locally by an individual who chose a particular architect who produced a beautiful building. Since then trees have been planted that impinge on our appreciation of the structure. The latest is in the centre foreground of the photograph with a guard round it. Imagine its effect on this view when it is fully grown.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Mariners' Church, Gloucester Quays

Before it became a place for shopping and leisure boating Gloucester Quays was called Gloucester Docks and it functioned just as you would imagine a place with that name would. Ships and barges from near and far carried goods to and from markets in this country and beyond. All this required manpower for the operation of the port and mariners for the boats, barges and ships. And in 1848-9 it seemed quite natural that a church should be built to support and sustain this population. It was stone-built in contrast to the brick-built warehouses that surrounded it. The architect, John Jacques, chose the cusped lancet style of the late 1200s and wisely avoided the expense and incongruity of a tower, giving it a simple bellcote.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Victoria Place, Newport

Walking up the hill out of the centre of Newport, through unremarkable and past its best Victorian workers' housing, we came upon the surprise that is Victoria Place.This is two terraces of six houses that face each other across a short street. The builders levelled this site before building - there is the first surprise. Subsequent owners have treated both terraces as the unity they are and painted them with a single colour scheme - the second surprise. They date from 1844 and were built by Rennie Logan & Company, contractors for the Town Dock. Would that more such buildings were maintained with the sensitivity accorded to these rows.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Eagle Vaults pub ornament

Britain's Victorian public houses come in many shapes and sizes. As far as decorative embellishments go they range from the sparse to the exuberant. The Eagle Vaults pub in Worcester falls into the latter category. The ground floor is faced with reddish-brown high gloss tiles with areas displaying iridescent highlights. The inspiration is classical architecture but overlaid with hints of Art Nouveau and music hall fancifulness - what in the 1890s-1900s was described as Mannerist. Tile lettering proclaims its name and the range of drinks on offer. Too often such facades have been modernised, but sufficiently frequently they have been valued for the brightness they bring to the streetscape and remain undisturbed.

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

Morning, Leadenhall Market, London

Leadenhall Market in London's financial district has the most decorative architecture of all the purpose-built London markets. It was built on the site of Roman London's basilica in 1881. However, the site had been in use as a market since at least the fourteenth century. It is essentially a collection of glazed arcades of the type that Victorian Britain erected in major cities for covered shopping. I came upon it during the morning, before the cafes and pubs had sprung into life, and enjoyed the shadows and pools of light that illuminated this section of the market.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100