North West – David Robert Morris

James Redbanks is one of the small number of Lakeland shepherds and farmers who have popular social media presences. James’ beautiful photographs show how a traditional pictorial approach still has much to offer and that photographing intensively in one place brings a special depth and quality to one’s work.

Here he is, with photos, writing about his experience of 2020.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-55415496

Sunset on Solway

It was a nice sunset at Bowness-on-Solway yesterday.

The Cumbrian Solway is famous for its bird reserves of which there are ten, including RSPB Campfield Marsh. This is more than in any other place in England.

It is also an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty characterised by cattle which freely graze along the coast road.

The hill in the distance is Mount Criffel in Dumfries and Galloway. Nobody knows how the name Criffel came about though it may be derived from Crowfell.

St. Martin’s Church, Low Marple, Cheshire is open for Heritage Open Days

For Arts & Crafts Movement lovers, St Martin’s Church, Low Marple, Cheshire will open for two days of Heritage Open Days.

Friday 18 September 2020, 14.00-18.00

Saturday 19 September 2020, 10.00-15.00

St.Martin’s Church, Brabyns Brow, Marple Bridge, Marple, Stockport SK6 5DT

Next to Marple Railway Station.

Covid-secure arrangements observed.

Saint Martin’s Church is a blend of early and high Arts & Crafts design. The main part of the church was built around 1870 by John Dando Sedding while the famous Lady Chapel designed by his successor, Henry Wilson, is a ‘high period’ Arts & Crafts design of 1895-1905.

The church contains a series works by famous artists – William Morris, Dante Gabrielle Rosetti, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Maddox Brown and Christopher Whall.

Great to be helping out at Hale again

As chair of the Edgar Wood Society, I sometimes help out at Hale in Trafford Borough which has a remarkable heritage of Edgar Wood houses. Here is a post about Greystoke on Hale Road.

Accrington THI – first shop restoration on site

Today, Accrington Townscape Heritage Initiative began conserving the town’s historic shops. This shop on Blackburn Road was built as a printers a few years after 1900 and now houses AYA, a firm of accountants.

As seen in the old photo, there was originally a sunblind which pulled out from behind the shop sign. The sign was rounded to accommodate the roller and the result cleverly emulates a classical pulvinated or ‘cushion’ frieze.

When the modern box sign was removed, we were delighted to find the timber frieze was still intact. It is beautifully joined to stone cushion friezes atop the pilasters at each end of the shop.

We exposed Edwardian paint layers which will be sampled before overpainting. By doing so on each THI project, we can build up a record of the various historic colours used on Accrington shops. The stone pilasters were overpainted brown followed by red and other colours. However, we could see smoke blackening beneath the brown paint indicating that the stone was not originally painted. We will therefore clean back to restore the original stone surface using Torc equipment.

Unfortunately, the underside of the cornice has almost completely eroded but there is just enough of the original moulding to create a template for new stone indents.

Other work includes further stone repair and a traditional styled replacement shop front.

The contract administrator is Craig Buck, IDC Architects, and the contractor is Rosslee Construction. Both are local Accrington firms.

Meeting Lee of the Edgar Wood Society

Lee Wolf is treasurer and member secretary of the Edgar Wood Society. He’s a lover of Arts & Crafts architecture, archaeology and most things to do with the local heritage of Middleton. We met up to chat about a Heritage Lottery Fund bid for a photography and website project.