Rugby

I had to visit Rugby today and had a chance to walk round the town to look at the architecture.

First we have Crown House – a fine example of the delights of 1960’s building.



Luckily Rugby has a lot more to offer – starting with Rugby School. I didn’t really see much but the Edwardian Grade II listed Temple Speech Room was unusual. It is named after former Head Master of Rugby and Archbishop of Canterbury Frederick Temple (1858–69) and is now used for whole-School assemblies and Speech Days.



The chapel was impressive. It was designed by the well-known Victorian Gothic revival architect William Butterfield in 1875. The style is described as polychromatic Gothic.



Just along from the chapel is a statue commemorating William Webb Ellis (1806 – 72) the English Anglican clergyman who has gone down in folklore as the founder of the game of Rugby Football while a pupil at Rugby School.
The bronze plaque says: 'THE LOCAL BOY WHO INSPIRED / THE GAME OF RUGBY FOOTBALL / ON THE CLOSE AT RUGBY SCHOOL IN / 1823. / SCULPTOR: GRAHAM IBBSEON / 1997'



The Parish church of St Andrew’s is famous (and unique ?) for having two towers each with a peel of bells - The older set of five bells are hung in the West Tower which dates from about 1350.These bells were cast in 1711 by Joseph Smith of Edgbaston. They are hung in a frame which dates from about 1620. In 1929 they were rehung by John Taylor and Co. of Loughborough. The church was rebuilt in its present form by William Butterfield in 1877–9. The North East Tower was built in 1895-6 as the final stage of the rebuilding. It contains 8 bells.



The most impressive building I visited in company with my excellent guide (JPHF) was The Merchant’s Inn. According to their website since opening at Easter 2002 they have sold over 2000 different Ales! This has led to numerous awards including Warwickshire Pub of The Year (2003 & 2007), Rugby CAMRA Pub Of The Year (2003, 2006 & 2007). Well worth a visit. http://www.merchantsinn.co.uk/



On the corner of Henry Street and Regent Street is an owl – I would be interested in its history.

Mushrooms and Chainsaws

An early morning walk in Buchan Park near Crawley. If you look closely there is the face of a Green man looking out from the bottom of this stump.




Early October is clearly mushroom time at Buchan Park with signs up warning you not to pick. I have identified the obvious poisonous mushroom but I’m open to suggestions as to what the others are.




















This next one is easily recognisable and (according to http://www.mushrooms.org.uk/) this is Amanita Muscaria

Common Name: Fly Agaric
Edibility: Poisonous and hallucinogenic, contains muscarine and ibotenic acid
Season: Late Summer - Autumn




This is possably Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus)- if I'm correct you can eat it!




This is a new chainsaw sculpture (by www.woodlandcentre.co.uk) which stood out in the early morning sunlight.




Just to prove I wasn’t alone…

St Pancras International

I needed to catch a train from here this morning and had time to take a few pictures of this stunning old/new station.

St Pancras train station was designed by William Barlow in 1863 with construction commencing in 1866. When the station first opened in 1868 William Barlow's train shed was a spectacular feat of Victorian engineering and held the world record for the largest enclosed space for many years. The roof is 689 ft long by 100 ft high and with a 243 ft span. Restoration work has seen the Barlow Shed completely reglazed and the paint work taken back to its intended pale sky blue. The ridge and furrow glazing of the Barlow shed contains 14,080 glass panels, giving a total glassed area of nearly 10,000m2... Almost 2 football pitches - or 38 tennis courts. The bottom third of the roof is finished with 300,000 slates hand crafted and supplied from Wales.



The famous St Pancras clock has been reconstructed by the original makers Dent, and now can be seen at the apex of the Barlow arch once more.






Sir John Betjeman was responsible for saving both the St Pancras chambers and the station from demolition in the 1960s. In tribute to the famous poet and railway lover a sculpture by Martin Jennings stands at platform level to celebrate the man and his poetry. The sculpture features the poet looking up in awe at the splendour of the Barlow shed whilst catching hold of his hat.

The 8 1/2ft high statue stands on a flat disc of Cumbrian slate inscribed with lines from Betjeman's poem Cornish Cliffs:

“ And in the shadowless unclouded glare / Deep blue above us fades to whiteness where / A misty sea-line meets the wash of air. ”

It was was unveiled on 12 November 2007 by Betjeman's daughter, the author Candida Lycett Green



The Meeting Place is a 9m high, 20-tonne bronze of a couple by British sculptor Paul Day. It is intended to evoke the romance of travel through the depiction of a couple locked in an amorous embrace. The couple stand underneath the famous St Pancras clock.

Views across the River Thames from the O2

Actually the first view is not across the river but in the river.

Antony Gormley's Quantum Cloud was commissioned for a site next to the Millennium Dome in London. At 30 metres high, it is Gormley's tallest sculpture to date (taller than the Angel of the North). It is constructed from a collection of tetrahedral units made from 1.5 m long sections of steel. The steel sections were arranged using a computer model with a random walk algorithm starting from points on the surface of an enlarged figure based on Gormley's body that forms a residual outline at the centre of the sculpture.

The sculpture was completed in 1999 in time for the opening of the Millennium Dome.

The idea for Quantum Cloud came from a comment about algebra made by Basil Hiley, quantum physicist (and long-time colleague of David Bohm), in which he said that "algebra is the relationship of relationships". The comment was made during a conversation between Gormley, Hiley and writer David Peat at a 1999 London gathering of artists and scientists, organized by Peat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Cloud



A view across to the old lighthouse



A couple of views across to Canary Wharf





The Peninsula Spire - a 45m high stainless steel structure in the middle of the newly created Peninsula Square by the O2 Arena. New campus under construction for Ravensbourne College of Design and Communications is to the left of the spire. Designed by Foreign Office Architects it is not my cup of tea.

A walk through Battersea Park

I have worked a couple of miles away from Battersea Park for over 25 years but have never been there. A morning meeting at Fosters Riverside finally gave me the opportunity. Fosters is an awkward place to get to from Clapham (long smelly bus ride) so by working at Victoria first and then a short train journey I have been able to walk through the park without spending any more time on the journey (honest).

First up a Barbara Hepworth sculpture ‘Single Form ‘ 1961-62 dedicated to Dag Hammarskjold. This sort of thing doesn’t normally do anything for me but in this setting on a nice sunny day it does seem to be the right thing in the right place. There is also a Henry Moore sculpture somewhere but I missed that.



Lots of ducks on the lake as well as a heron that flew over my head before it landed.




No park would be complete with out a little formal bedding.



A very peaceful scene of the footbridge



The park also has a number of War Memorials; the most visible is the Sculpture by Kennington, to commemorate the 24th London Division



This one is to remember the ANZAC forces in the Gallipoli Campaign during 1915 in WW1



The Peace Pagoda by the river was very impressive.




From the park you get a good view of the beautiful Albert Bridge (which is causing a lot of problems at the moment as it is shut for repairs).



Someone was more interested in the fishing prospects (I’m told it’s a cormorant).




The end of my journey – Albion Riverside by on the south side of the river by Battersea Bridge. Fosters is the building on the left.