Tag: waterlogged

Thanet – Monday 4th December 2023

Thanet is an area of Kent which was once an island before the Wantsum Channel was reclaimed in the Middle Ages.  The three main towns in this district are Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate.  Waterstones Thanet is located in an out-of-town shopping centre called Westwood Cross, which was built on the site of an old Edwardian hospital.

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Thanet map

Another Time

In the morning, before arriving at the Waterstones we had been to Margate to look at the Antony Gormley artwork Another Time.  Gormley is one of my favourite artists, and Another Time is one of a series of sculptures in various locations, based on Gormley himself.  The figure reveals itself three hours before low tide. 

Broadstairs

Later that day, we visited Broadstairs for lunch. The town has strong connections to the author Charles Dickens, who owned a house there.  The character of Betsey Trotwood from David Copperfield was based on a friend of his who lived in the town.  The animator and writer Oliver Postgate, who created some famous children’s TV shows for the BBC from the 1950s to the 80s, including Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine and The Clangers also lived in Broadstairs for many years before his death in 2008.  His former home has a blue plaque and a Clangers mosaic on the front.

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Below, clockwise from top left (all photos of Broadstairs).  1. Viking Bay. 2. A decorative street lamp.  3, 4 & 5. York Gate.

 

Croydon – Sunday 3rd December 2023

Croydon is a large commuter town in south London. It was home to London Croydon Airport – the UK’s first purpose-built airport terminal.  We were staying overnight in Leatherhead in order to visit the Airport Visitor Centre the following morning.    After our visit, and before heading to Canterbury for a few nights, we had time to quickly pop into the town to visit the Waterstones, which is located in a large indoor shopping centre, and is set over two floors.  We had to get on the road quite swiftly after our visit, so sadly didn’t have time to explore the town.

Croydon map

Historic Croydon Airport Visitor Centre

Croydon Airport opened in 1928 and was operational until 1959.  It had the UK’s first control tower and is where Air Traffic Control first started.  It also had the first British airline called Imperial Airways. As well as that, the distress call “Mayday” was conceived here when a radio controller was asked to come up with a word as a distress signal.  Mayday is the phonetic equivalent of the French term m’aidez, which means help me.  

The centre, which opened in 2000 is run by volunteers and opens on the first Sunday of every month. At a recommended minimum donation of just £6.00, is definitely worth a visit.

Sutton – Saturday 2nd December 2023

We stopped for a quick visit to the town of Sutton on our way to an overnight stay in Leatherhead, so didn’t have time to have a proper look round the town.  Sutton is the main town in the London borough of Sutton.  Originally a village, it grew in population with the arrival of the railway in 1847.  The Waterstones is located in a modern building in the High Street. 

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Sutton map

Murals

The first is the Twin Towns Mural, which celebrates the town’s links to their twin towns of Gagny in Paris, Gladsaxe in Copenhagen, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlinand Minden in Germany.  The artists are Rob Turner and Gary Drostle.

The second, by the same artists and called Sutton Heritage Mosaic is located opposite the Waterstones and measuring 9 x 5 metres, this was unveiled in 1994 and, as the name suggests, reflects the town’s heritage.  At the centre is Nonsuch Palace, a Tudor building built for Henry VIII in 1538, and the outside edges depict coats of arms and local buildings. 

The Millennium Dial armillary

This artwork was funded and presented to the town by the Rotary Club.  It functions as a timepiece (we didn’t know this until we’d left, so we didn’t see if we could actually tell the time by using it!).  The inscription on the piece reads:

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“Service Above Self” *

Rotary Armillary

 This Armillary was presented to the people of the London Borough of Sutton in grateful thanks for their generosity in supporting Rotary Charities and to mark the new Millennium. The Rotary Club of Cheam has joined with the Rotary Clubs of Carshalton, Carshalton Beeches, Sutton, Sutton Nonsuch and Wallington. December 2000

 The Project was made possible by the following Sponsors: Securicor plc. Holiday Inn Sutton London. The Crown Agents. South Sutton Neighbourhood Association. Sutton & Cheam Society.

The London Borough of Sutton.

*Service Above Self is the Rotary Club’s motto.

Currently reading: The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman and The Winter Spirits: Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights – short stories by various authors

Foyles Birmingham New Street – Friday 15th September 2023

Birmingham New Street is one of the busiest railway stations in the UK. It has undergone major renovation in recent years, and the Foyles’ bookshop is bright and airy and a perfect place to grab a book before catching a train!

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Foyles Birmingham map

Ozzy the Bull

Ozzy was created for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.  He was named after Ozzy Osbourne, the singer for Black Sabbath, after a public vote.  The mechanical bull is huge, and he comes alive on the quarter hour between 8.15am to 20.15 when he moves his head and swishes his tail!

Crewe – Thursday 14th September 2023

Crewe is a town in Cheshire which is probably most famous for its connection to the railway industry.  The Grand Junction Railway arrived in Crewe in the late 1830s. Before this time, it was just a small village, but by the 1871 census it had grown into a town with a population of approximately 40,000 people. For a long time, the Crewe Works were one of the biggest locomotive building works in the country employing thousands.  This number declined over the years and some of the land now houses a heritage centre, but it only opens at weekends, so sadly we weren’t able to visit.   The Waterstones is in a red-brick building in the main shopping area and is set over two floors.  It was previously an Ottakar’s book shop.

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Crewe map

Lyceum Theatre

A theatre known as the Lyceum opened in Crewe in 1887, the building having previously been a church.  The building burnt down in 1910 and was rebuilt, opening the following year – it is Grade II listed.  We popped our heads in the door to take a look, expecting to just see the lobby, but a staff member took us into the auditorium.  The building is just stunning as you can see from the photos. 

Crewe Market Hall

A cheese hall was built in Crewe in 1854 for the storage of Cheshire cheese. Later a Corn Exchange and a butter and bacon warehouse were added to form what is now Crewe Market Hall.  Today the market offers food and goods for sale, and also hosts events. 

The photo below shows the weathervane on top of the Municipal Council Building in Crewe in the shape of a train, echoing that town’s railway heritage.

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Wilmslow – Monday 11th September 2023

Wilmslow is an affluent market town in Cheshire full of chain shops and independent stores, and is known for being a popular place to live for footballers and actors.  Alan Turing OBE lived in the town from 1950 to 1954 and it was here that he lost his life to suicide following his conviction for gross indecency and subsequent chemical castration.  We had spent most of the day at the National Trust’s Quarry Bank industrial heritage site a few miles away so we didn’t have time to explore the town.  The Waterstones is located in the main shopping street, but as you can see from the photo, the building is being worked on at the moment, so was covered with scaffolding and polyethene sheeting.

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Wilmslow map

Quarry Bank

Built in 1784 by entrepreneur Samuel Greg, the cotton mill at Quarry Bank at Styal in Cheshire is now a Grade II listed building.  Greg built houses in Styal for his staff to rent and provided health care and education for them, and at one point this was the largest mill in the UK.  Samuel’s ancestor Alexander Carlton Greg left Quarry Bank to the National Trust in 1939, and they later purchased the Greg’s family home which was next door to the mill.   The mill’s equipment and the machinery that drove it is still in situ and we very much enjoyed our visit to it, and to Quarry Bank House.

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Grove Street

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Altrincham – Sunday 10th September 2023

Altrincham is a market town in Greater Manchester.  It was given a market charter in 1290, and permitted to hold a market on a Tuesday. When the Bridgewater Canal arrived in Altrincham in 1765 it encouraged a growth of market gardening in the town, and the later arrival of the railway made the area popular with the middle-classes.  Altrincham is frequently voted one of the best places to live in the North East of England and is said to have the highest proportion of millionaires as residents outside of London.  The Waterstones is located in a modern shopping centre.

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Altrincham map

Altrincham Market

Altrincham Market (or Alty Market as the locals call it) has seen a revival in recent years, and the indoor market is now home to various eateries with communal tables seating nearly 200 people, whilst the outdoor covered section has various stalls from clothing and pottery to cheese, and opens on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.  It’s a very attractive building in a pretty area of the town.

The Eudaemonium

This is a living sculpture in the form of a book and made from metal and wood intended to promote well-being.  It has a locked cupboard behind the metal panel with the wording on, which contains recipes and tips for health. It’s a nice idea, although I’m not sure how this helps people as they can’t access the items, as far as I can tell. It’s an attractive statue though. 

The wording in the centre reads:

Altrincham Eudaemonium

Note the spelling of Altrincham with a ‘g’ instead of a c.  This is the spelling of the town as it would have ben in the year 1290. 

Knutsford – Sunday 10th September 2023

Knutsford is an affluent market town in Cheshire with a mix of upmarket independent shops and larger national stores, and there are more than 100 listed buildings in the town.   We arrived by train, and the first thing we saw was a man riding a Penny Farthing bike!  Shortly afterwards we saw another, and it turned out that we’d timed our visit well, as “The Knutsford Great Race” was taking place, and it is only held every 10 years – in total 102 Penny Farthings took part!  Local legend has it that the town was named Knutsford after the English King Canute, who is said to have forded the river there, although this is disputed.  After coffee and a spot of bike watching we went for a stroll around the town, visiting the Waterstones, which is located in a red brick building in the middle of the main shopping street.

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Knutsford map

Elizabeth Gaskell

Knutsford’s most famous resident is the Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell and the titular town in her novel Cranford is based on Knutsford.  Many of the locations in the book are here and have blue plaques on them. There are lots of references to Mrs Gaskell in Knutsford including a Gaskell Avenue in the town, a Cranford Drive just outside, and even a café bearing her name.  She married unitarian minister William Gaskell in the chapel here in 1832 and the pair are buried in the chapel’s graveyard along with two of their daughters.

Gaskell Memorial Tower

Opened in 1907, this was originally council offices, a coffee shop and a ballroom and was designed by Richard Harding Watt as a memorial to Elizabeth Gaskell.  Titles of some of her novels are carved into the building, and there is also a bust and a carving of her on the outer walls.

Brook Street Unitarian Chapel

Some of Knutsford’s many listed buildings

Penny Farthings in ‘The Great Race’

King Canute

Manchester Trafford Centre – Saturday 9th September 2023

The Trafford Centre is a large out of town shopping centre which opened in 1998 – it’s currently the third largest in the UK.  The style of the centre was chosen to prevent it looking dated, and it really is quite spectacular!  The centre boasts the largest chandelier in the world, which hangs in front of a staircase based on one from the Titanic, and the main dome was modelled on St Paul’s Cathedral.   I forgot to take photos of the outside, and I could kick myself as that is also highly decorative.  The Waterstones here is located on the ground floor of the centre.

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Manchester Trafford Centre map

The Chandelier and Staircase

The Dome

Arthur Brooke

Arthur Brooke founded the tea trading business Brooke, Bond & Company and opened his first shop in Manchester in 1869.  This sculpture, by Anthony Stones, was donated to the centre by the Brooke Bond Tea Company. 

Various Statues

Stockport – Saturday 9th September 2023

Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester which, in the 1800s, was famous for its hat-making industry which gave the town’s football team, Stockport County, its nickname of ‘The Hatters’.  At the height of the industry the town exported over £6 million hats a year!  The last factory closed in 1997. There is a Hat Works Museum in the town but it’s currently closed for refurbishment, which is a shame as I should have liked to have gone.  Stockport is also the location of the start of the River Mersey, which is formed by the meeting of the Rivers Tame and Goyt, and is the location of the largest brick structure in the UK – the Stockport Viaduct – which was built in 1840 and contains some 11 million bricks!  The Waterstones is located in the Merseyway Shopping Centre in the heart of the town.

Stockport map

Stockport Plaza

This stunning Grade II listed Art Deco building first opened as a cinema in 1932, and its equipment included a Compton organ which is still used today.  It was refurbished in the 1950s to include a stage for performances.  It became a bingo hall in 1967.  More restoration work took place in 2009 with some of the funding coming from the National Lottery, and further renovations took place between 2012 and 2016 and is now fully restored to the original 1932 décor.  As well as being used as a cinema and theatre, the Plaza has been used as a filming location for various TV shows.   We timed our trip to Stockport perfectly, as the Plaza was open for the Heritage Open Day scheme so we got to look round it.  It’s absolutely stunning as you can see from the photos.  I took LOTS! 

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Below, clockwise from top left

Underbank Hall (a 15th century town house), Two of Stockport Market (1962), the Stockport Viaduct (1840) and The Stockport Pyramid (1992 – originally offices for the Cooperative Bank, but currently empty).