High Street and The Homend, Ledbury

Ledbury's town centre main street has two names, the High Street and The Homend, the change coming at Bye Street, a side street by the clock tower across from the Market House. High Street is one of the two most common road names in England (the other being Church Street). However, The Homend is the only such named street that I can find, though the name is used by a cottage in the nearby Herefordshire village of Stretton Grandison. The Victoria County History says this about the probable derivation: "The name of The Homend is first recorded in 1288 derived from an Old English word 'hamm'  or 'hom' probably meaning ‘land hemmed in by water or marsh’, or perhaps ‘river meadow’. Interestingly, the other end of the High Street connects with a road called The Southend.

 The first photograph shows the Market House and part of the north side of the High Street. The second shows the Market House and The Homend.

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

Lockdown High Street, Ross on Wye

The terms of the most recent Covid 19 lockdown severely restrict the circumstances under which people may leave their home. For someone of my age the two main reasons are shopping and physical exercise. I combine photography with the latter. But, a further restriction - the requirement to remain "local" to my home - limits the subjects on which I can focus my camera. Consequently one has to look more carefully at the immediate surroundings and search out subjects that, in more relaxed circumstances, might not be considered worthy of a shot. Not a bad discipline. Today's image was taken because of the way the sunlight was reflected from buildings across the street and from the damp road and pavements. The normally busy High Street at Ross on Wye is usually thronged with shoppers and visitors but on this occasion there were only two.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

High St and Market House, Ross on Wye

Most UK towns have a "High Street". It is the name that is usually applied to the settlemen's first and principal shopping street. Consequently, as in Ross on Wye, today it may be a relatively smaller street that in later years was replaced or augmented by adjacent streets that could accommodate the increasing number of shops. In Ross on Wye two contiguous, larger streets were developed with shops but the presence of the old Market House (late C17, poss. 1660-1674), an adjacent market space (out of shot to the right), and the continued use of the space under the Market House by market stalls, ensured that the High Street remained one of the focal points of the town. The normally bustling scene is deserted because the shot was taken during the coronavirus "lockdown".

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Monnow Street, Monmouth

I've commented before how essential vertical accents are in townscapes, and in the area in which I now live I see confirmation of this almost daily. Herefordshire and Monouthshire has but one small city and only a relatively small number of towns. Consequently there are no real tower blocks of flats or glass-walled skyscraping offices. The tallest buildings are churches and cathedrals and most of these make their statement with tapering spires or stepped towers. The contribution that the church spire makes to this view of Monnow Street in Monmouth becomes apparent if you mentally remove it from the scene.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100