Pier pavilions, Clevedon

Piers offer something of the feeling of being at sea without the discomforts of wind, spray, and the rolling motion that brings on sea-sickness. In the UK the great era of pleasure piers was the Victorian period. Those that survive from that time help visitors to capture something of the simple pleasures that accompanied a nineteenth century day out at the seaside. The architecture of piers is designed to withstand wind and water whilst providing visitors with shelter on inclement days. The September day of a recent visit to Clevedon Pier on the Severn estuary near Weston-super-Mare, was everything a visitor could hope for and we lingered a while admiring the views and metalwork of the 1869 structure.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Knightstone and Steep Holm

The Bristol Channel between England and South Wales has a number of small, rocky islands. Today's photograph shows Knightstone and, in the distance, Steep Holm. The former is now attached to Weston-super-Mare by a permanent causeway rather than the original shingle bank. Steep Holm is today a bird reserve with no permanent human residents but has been at various times a place for sportsmen, a defensive site with cannons, and part of a chain of fortified sites designed to impede invasion.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

The mandarins' new colours

During summer after the hatching of eggs and the quick growth of ducklings the mandarin, like all other ducks, moults its feathers. This period is also known as "eclipse". It is most noticeable in the brightly coloured males that become predominantly brown though they can still be distinguished from the females by their distinctive beaks.

click image to enlarge
As autumn approaches a new set of feathers grows and quite quickly the males assume their multi-coloured best. On a recent visit to Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean we saw the mandarins by the waters edge, under the overhanging trees. Many birds were perched on the low branches of alders. The second photograph shows a bird standing on a section of submerged branch, its lower body reflected in the water, with real and reflected branches in the background

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Salt-water rusted door

On a walk around Knightstone Island, Weston-super-Mare, we came upon a metal door that must have been regularly lashed by waves and spray for years. The builders had obviously known that the door would be subject to extreme conditions and therefore selected metal for its construction. They must also have known that salt-water corrosion leading to replacement was inevitable and they will have reckoned on a reasonable life-span numbering years for the door. What they probably didn't do is predict that as it started to succumb to the environment it would develop beautiful complementary colours, textures and shapes.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

St Michael's tower, Glastonbury Tor

It is thought that Glastonbury Tor was occupied in the C6. Evidence of occupation between 900AD and 1100AD is said to include a Christian cross head and what may have been monks' cells cut into the rock. The granting of a charter for a fair on the Tor dated 1243 suggests that a monastery dedicated to St Michael existed there at that date. The style of the present tower is late C13 with 15C additions. The top storey of the tower is missing and the floors are no longer there: the view upwards from inside shows the sky. A notable restoration of 1804 preserved what was left of the building. Since 1933 the tower and the Tor have been in the care of the National Trust.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Glastonbury Tor

Glastonbury Tor is a small, steep hill that rises to a height of 518 feet (158m) above the low-lying Somerset Levels, an area of pasture, peat, and marsh. The conical hill is formed of Blue Lias and clay and, with its church tower on the summit, is a notable landmark visible from great distances.

 

click image to enlarge

The Tor is associated with the legend of King Arthur, and is mentioned in many early writings. It is thought to have been used by Iron Age peoples and was England's pre-eminent place of pilgrimage in medieval times along with the adjacent Abbey, Glastonbury Thorn, Chalice Well and the town itself. Today no visit to Glastonbury is complete without enjoying the view from the top of the hill. Both photographs were taken from Wearyall Hill, a low summit of 226 feet (69m) to the west of the Tor.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Pump Rooms, Tenbury Wells

In 1839-40 saline springs were discovered in the Worcestershire town of Tenbury causing it to change its name to Tenbury Wells. In the Victorian period many towns developed such "wells" and "spas" as genteel holiday attractions with an emphasis on visitors being able to "take the waters" for the sake of their health. This often necessitated the construction of buildings that housed the wells and spas, as well as hotels to accommodate the increased number of visitors.

Many of the spa buildings featured traditional classical architectural styles. However, others sought something more novel as at Tenbury Wells. The Pump Rooms here were the work of the Birmingham architect, James Cranston (1821-71), and are quite innovative and light-hearted, using a prefabricated system of his own design that borrowed ideas from large glasshouses. Pevsner thought it "Gothicky" or "Chinese". To my mind the buildings recall English seaside pier pavilions or low-cost eastern European churches.

photo 1 © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2
photo 2 © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Spectacles shadows

As we were sitting at an outdoor cafe waiting for our coffee I placed my spectacles on the slatted, wooden table. The sun threw sharp shadows and bright patches from the lenses and frames. I moved the glasses around to get a better composition then took the shot with my iPhone. Taking a photograph of a subject - whatever it is - increases our understanding of it as we give the motionless image more attention. I had never before noticed the multiple, stacked lines seen on the outer part of the left lens in this photograph. But now I have I notice I can readily position my spectacles to make it visible. What I can't do, however, is explain why it happens.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Parched Malvern Hills

On a recent family walk up to Worcestershire Beacon, the highest point of the Malvern Hills. A strong wind was blowing so we sheltered a little way down from the summit in the lee of some rocks. There we ate our packed lunch as we sat and looked northwards. The extremely dry summer had banished the green of British Isles grass and replaced it with the yellow brown more typical of southern continental Europe. The sunny warmth of the holiday period had brought walkers out in force and they can be seen dotted about the photograph. The view shows North Hill on the right with Table Hill to its left. Green Valley (usually well-named but not on this day) is in the middle distance. The track across the centre of the photograph is Lady Howard de Walden Drive. This is named after a local resident who, in Victorian times, gave £4000 for the construction of footpaths on the Malverns.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Abbey Cottages, Tewkesbury

This continuous, curved row of twenty three timber-framed cottages has been called "one of the earliest surviving English examples of uniform medieval town development". It is on Church Street in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, near the Abbey, which can be seen on the left of the photograph. The row is not perfect; a couple of inserted facades and buildings do mar it, but what remains gives us a good idea of the kind of street frontage that must have featured in many medieval towns. Today it is called Abbey Cottages and that may have been its original name since it was built in the early 1500s as a speculative venture by the abbey's monks. See a further image of the end of the row here.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2