Crook House & Gardens~ November 2019

Categories: Adventures · Anglo~Saxon · architecture · FujiX-T2 · Georgian era · History · medieval · photography · stately homes & estates · UncategorizedTags: · · · · · · · 45 Comments

On a rather miserable showery day, Sophie and I went off to Framwellgate in County Durham, to visit Crook Hall. As always, I will edumacate you firstly with…. The History Bit ☕️ 🍪 Crook Hall was built around 1217 and is one of the oldest inhabited houses in Durham City. The oldest part is an open hall, built in sandstone and with a Welsh slate roof. In the 17th Century the hall was extended forming a Jacobean manor house, and in the 18th Century a large brick Georgian house was appended to the Jacobean part. A fair hotchpotch that. Originally…

Newcastle- Sept 2019 – St.Marys Cathedral

Categories: Adventures · architecture · Church · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · photography · UncategorizedTags: · · · · · · 59 Comments

St. Mary’s Cathedral in Newcastle is a grade 1 listed building, catholic cathedral and the mother church of the Dioscese of Hexam & Newcastle and seat of the Bishop of the diocese. The cathedral was designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, an English architect, designer,artist and critic and was a pioneer of the Gothic Revival style of architecture. He designed many churches in England, Ireland and as far as Australia, but also the interior of the Palace of Westminster, and its iconic clock tower, later named the Elizabeth Tower which houses the bell known as Big Ben. Construction of the…

Newcastle Upon Tyne ~ September 2019 ~ 2

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Part 1 HERE After our somewhat disappointing ‘tour’ around All Saints, Sophie and I went off to find an interesting building Sophie had spotted from a train. According to Sophie it wasn’t too far away, so we left All Saints and headed down to the quayside. We walked down the quayside and I was amused to see that a temporary beach had been set up for summer. You may notice an elephant in the middle of the picture, this is something that happens every year in the North East, and will have a post of it’s own next time.  In…

Seaton Delaval Hall~ Feb 2019 ~ Part 2

Categories: Adventures · architecture · castles & ruins · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · History · landscape · nature · photography · stately homes & estatesTags: · · · · · · · · · 31 Comments

Part 1 HERE The marble floor in the great hall was open to the elements after the fire of 1822,the slabs were loose and the underneath screed worn away. They have all been uplifted, the screed replaced, and the tiles put back in their original position. The cracked ones have been bonded back together with resin adhesives mixed with pigment and stainless steel dowels have been added to give them strength. Some were too damaged and had to be replaced, but they managed to find Carrera Marble and black limestone that seems to match the originals closely. There are 3…

The Art of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne – Jan 2019

Categories: Adventures · architecture · art · Fuji · Fujifilm X100F · photography · Uncategorized · urban · urbanTags: · · · · · 23 Comments

Back in January Sophie and I decided to visit a couple of the art galleries in Newcastle, The Biscuit Factory –  the biggest commercial art, craft and design gallery in the UK, and The Laing, home to an internationally important collection of art, focusing on British oil paintings, watercolours, ceramics, silver, and glassware. But before we get to the galleries, we must get off the metro at Central station and walk to Ouseburn, there’s plenty of photo ops along the way.  We get to the crossing over the central motorway, and before the crossing, we see The Oxford. The Oxford…

Shrewsbury ~ November 2018 ~ part 1

Categories: Adventures · Anglo~Saxon · architecture · B&W · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · History · medieval · photography · UncategorizedTags: · · · · · · · · · · 49 Comments

A little break from our North Eastern adventures, as Phil and I went off to Shrewsbury to a model show Phil wanted to attend, and we took an extra day there for me to wander around Shrewsbury and take some photos of course. Shrewsbury is a market town, on the River Severn, 9 miles from the border with Wales.It has a largely unspoilt medieval street plan and over 660 listed buildings, including several examples of timber framing from the 15th and 16th centuries, so I knew it would be a fab place to photograph. The (potted) History Bit Originally the…

Raby Castle ~ August 2018 ~ Interior part 3

Categories: Adventures · architecture · castles & ruins · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · History · medieval · photography · Victorian era · WW2Tags: · · · · · · · 32 Comments

EXTERIOR…..PART 1 HERE   PART 2 HERE.   PART 3 HERE INTERIOR…….PART 1 HERE ~ Entrance Hall, Chapel, Baron’s Hall. INTERIOR……PART 2 HERE ~ Small drawing room, Octagon Room, Dining Room   Today we’ll start in the Blue Bedroom. Guess why it’s called the blue bedroom :). This bedroom was added as a guest bedroom by John Carr in the 18thC and has a Four poster bed which was the marriage bed of the Duke of Cleveland,  It has a handmade bedspread made in Turkey.   Of course servants quarters would not be so swish, but even so, not too bad, The kitchen…

Raby Castle ~ August 2018 ~ Interior Part 1

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The History and external shots of the grounds can be accessed thusly:- EXTERIOR….Part 1 HERE.  Part 2 HERE. Part 3 HERE Now we get to the inside of the castle and will start off in the Entrance Hall, described as “one of the boldest conceptions of its age and the first truly dramatic interior of the Gothic revival” due to its elegant Gothic vaulting.  I’m not sure why, but it was decided to construct a carriageway through the castle, presume they were too lazy to ride around the outside. John Carr of York got the job and did it by…

Newcastle Guild Hall, and Quayside ~ December 2017

Categories: Adventures · architecture · B&W · Fuji · fujiXT1 · History · people · photography · uncategorisedTags: · · · · · · · 54 Comments

On my last post, The Camel Parade, I said that that was the last report for a while as I’ve posted everything for my outings in 2017. Well I lied. 🙂 Not so much lied really, as completely overlooked mine and Sophies day out to see the Guildhall in Newcastle.  Usually you are not allowed in the building, but there are Heritage Open days where you can get a guided tour of it, and Sophie booked us to go on one. The History Bit The building was designed by Robert Trollope and completed in 1655. Trollope was a 17th-century English…