Abandoned coal trucks

Part of the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape World Heritage Site is the Big Pit National Coal Museum. This was a working coal mine from 1880 until 1980. In 1983 it opened as a a place that the public can visit in order to experience the industry that was pivotal to the industrial revolution and part of the life of all who lived in South Wales. The pit was closely connected to the Blaenavon iron works which is also open to the public. Visitors to Big Pit can go down the mine, explore the ancillary buildings of the site and see exciting audio visual displays. And they can also see some of the detritus associated with mining that was, presumably, left where it was when the pit closed; such as these mine trucks and bogeys.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Bracken and horizons

The ascent to the summit of Sugar Loaf takes the walker through an area of bracken with grass tracks criss-crossing it. On the day of our climb the unseasonal weather contrasted with the brown of the fading plants. However, it did make for great skies and successive, beautiful and subtly graduated horizons. I took this shot from about half way up and included my wife and grand-daughter for scale and as a point of interest.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Hanging on to summer

With wife, oldest son and oldest grandaughter I climbed Sugar Loaf in the last week of October. We set off in the morning carrying jackets and as we ascended our exertions made us remove the outer layer leaving single, summer-weight garments. However, once we had clambered up to the summit, looked around and taken some photographs we replaced our discarded layer and donned jackets to eat our lunch. What had looked and felt like summer soon changed to autumn chill as the wind struck. The photograph shows nothing of this. Only the brown of the bracken and the tints of the trees give away the season.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

River Avon and Pulteney Bridge, Bath

These days I'm very much an "incidental" photographer. What do I mean by that? Well, the OED defines it nicely, thus - "Occurring or liable to occur in fortuitous or subordinate conjunction with something else of which it forms no essential part; casual" In other words photography is secondary to the main purpose at the time. A visit to Bath involved us looking at some of the architecture that we last saw about forty five years ago. It also involved regular showers of rain and dark skies alongside sun, the latter being something that I particularly like in my images, and which prompted this shot of the River Avon and Pulteney Bridge.

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

A wet street

Bridge Street, Crickhowell is an unexceptional narrow road. It winds down from near the centre of the small town to the longest stone bridge in Wales, a thirteen arched structure that spans the River Usk. As with many such narrow streets a majority of the buildings are colour-washed to reflect light in an attempt to brighten the rooms of the houses. On the day I photographed it a heavy shower had recently abated and the puddles and wet surfaces bounced even more light around, elevating this modest thoroughfare into something of greater visual interest.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Odeon Cinema, Weston-super-Mare

When the Odeon cinema was built in Weston-super-Mare in 1935 (architect T. Cecil Hewitt) it must have looked like the future had arrived. Its size, its Art Deco/Streamline aesthetic, its presence on the street corner, and the virtual absence of ornament, all marked it as different from most of the buildings being erected around that year. Only some of the blocky "Moderne" houses with their flat roofs, horizontal windows and glazing bars, and their stark white paint could compete. The Odeon still looks great today. The faience tiles in basket weave pattern have lasted well, as has the original windows and glazing and the lettering on the tower. The crowning glory (literally) is the tower with its twelve short columns and flat roof, the climax of a necessary vertical accent among all the horizontals.

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

Knightstone Island, Weston-super-Mare

Knightstone Island was originally connected to the mainland at Weston-super-Mare by a natural pebble ridge that was submerged at high tide. in 1824 the owner built a causeway above high tide and a low pier for boats. In subsequent decades successive owners built hotels, swimming baths, a theatre and other buildings on the island. The whole development struggled in the second half of the twentieth century. The main Pavilion closed and plans for leisure developments came to naught. However, in 2006-7 the whole island was redeveloped, old buildings were refurbished and many flats were built to complement the commercial properties. Today it is an asset to the town.

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

Birnbeck Pier, Weston-super-Mare

The sad sight seen in this photograph is the slowly collapsing Birnbeck Pier at the northern end of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset. It was built in 1867 and is the only pier in Britain that links the mainland to an island. Unusually, it has a jetty that projects from the main pavilion that was used by ships bringing day visitors to the pier from towns along the Bristol Channel. The pier was initially popular but suffered steady decline over the years, despite successive attempts to revive it. It finally closed to the public in 1994. A lifeboat station used the pier for much of its life but this closed in 2015. The Grade 2 listed structure is, unsurprisingly, on Historic England's "Heritage at Risk" register.

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

Clevedon Pier, Somerset

One of Britain's most attractive piers, and the only protected by Grade 1 Listing, is Clevedon Pier on the Severn Estuary in Somerset. It was opened in 1869 as both a tourist attraction and a point at which ferries could tie up to take on rail passengers going to South Wales. It is 312m (1024 feet) long and has eight elegant, arched spans, the feature that distinguishes it from more utilitarian structures. The tidal range of the estuary is the second highest in the world (15m, 48 feet), and consequently a number of platforms are available to ensure ease of embarking and disembarking boat passengers.

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

Grand Pier, Weston-super-Mare

The piers of the British Isles give visitors a feeling of being at sea without leaving dry land. They also offer a range of seaside entertainments. However, their location makes them subject to damage by stormy seas, and their lightweight structure means they are susceptible to fire. Many have been lost and seriously truncated by such events. Weston-super-Mare's Grand Pier was opened in 1904. In 1930 the seaward end, including the pavilion, suffered a major fire. It was restored at a cost of £60,000. Rebuilding took three years. In 2008 the seaward pavilion was again destroyed by fire, and once again it had to be rebuilt, this time after only two years, but at a cost of £39 million.

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