flaneurs | Entries tagged with themes: architecture

Worcester, built across the River Severn near its confluence with the River Teme, flooded on two separate occasions last winter. I thought some photos might have a cooling and soothing effect on anyone currently caught in a heatwave.

http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/445335.html

Enjoy!

spiralsheep

As a change from the June Challenges, I indulged in a vertical walk up the tower of the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick. Report with eight small images at my journal:

http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/441263.html

Enjoy!

spiralsheep

Having earlier failed to find Swindon engaging, I was determined to try again. June challenge II.(b), walking within predefined map lines, report at my journal:

http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/440227.html

Enjoy!

spiralsheep

June challenge II.(a), walking alongside a railway line, report at my journal:

http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/440023.html

Enjoy!

spiralsheep

Inspired by this community, I walked a line up the Tything in Worcester in July 2011. I wanted to see the parallel streets too. In April 2013 I finally managed to complete the walk. Parallel lines walk report with 15 small images at my journal. Enjoy!

spiralsheep

Having been challenged to get high in Worcester, but without the energy to climb the cathedral tower, I attempted to scale the city centre multi-storey car park via a strenuous ascent of the East Face from my base camp in the underground bus station.

Report @ my journal with 12 images from two visits.

spiralsheep

I went for a second walk in Worcester as another II(a) for the June challenge. This time I began on the west or "Welsh" side of the River Severn in St John's (aka Bedwardine), south of the railway, with the intention of walking west along the south side of the railway to the point where the main road, aka A44 the Bromyard Road, crosses north under the railway at more or less the outer edge of the city then crossing to the north side of the railway and walking back to my starting point. It'd be about 3km as the crow flies but city streets and flaneurs tend to wander much more than figurative crows.

Report at my journal with 15 small images.

spiralsheep

I went for a walk in Worcester as II(a) of the June challenge. I began on the east side of the River Severn, south of the Worcester viaduct, with the intention of walking east along the south side of the railway until after the lines split then walking north crossing to the north side and walking back to my starting point. I chose to attempt the longest track-side variation of this route because I also wanted to visit both of the city's stations. It'd be about 4km as the crow flies but city streets and flaneurs tend to wander much more than figurative crows. My route also included height variation of 50m between the lowest point by the river and the highest point of Rose Avenue in Tolladine.

Report with 17 small images (at my journal). As ever, feel free to ignore the commentary and enjoy the pictures. :-)

spiralsheep

I went for a walk in Worcester as I(a) of the June challenge in a repeat of my identical flanage last June because I wanted to re-cap "the Hive" from the same angles now the building is finished.

Report at my journal with 8 small images.

spiralsheep

I went for a walk in Birmingham as III(c) of the June challenge. I arrived, randomly, at New Street Station and had decided to walk as far as possible through pedestrianised Brum to Brindleyplace and the Ikon Gallery cafe (note: measured by distance walked not crow flies as the pedestrianised area isn't a straight line).

Report at my journal (with 16 small images). (As always, feel free to just enjoy the photos and skip the commentary.)

spiralsheep

I was in Ledbury and had more than an hour to wait for my bus, AND there was a momentary lack of torrential cats-n-dogs and/or flying trees, so I decided to drag my disinclined self on a modified version of

flaneurs's June challenge II(b). I walked from the bus stops in the centre of town along the straight main streets, south-ish and then north-ish, until I reached the end of the shopping area in each direction. That's about 2km + detours and, yes, as I wasn't well it took me over an hour.

Report with photos at my journal (and if you're into early modern English provincial architecture then Ledbury is heritage central).

Enjoy!

Current Location: Herefordshire, England

spiralsheep

It rained so I wandered around inside Worcester Cathedral. That's what ambulatorys were designed for after all. Report with twelve small images (@ my journal).

Garden with grave markers, surrounded by stone-arched cloisters

nanila

Hello, flaneurs! I recently completed a photography/walking project in which I visited all of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries in London. These were established from 1832 to 1841 as a result of a Parliamentary bill designed to deal with the problem of overcrowding in inner London churchyards. Each has a unique character and they are as follows:

Kensal Green (1832) - Still open for burials, with a straightforward layout and very well kept grounds. Rather sterile in comparison to the others although still beautiful, probably because it lacks overgrown vegetation at its borders to keep it feeling remote and enclosed from the city. The catacombs are accessible via guided tour.
West Norwood (1837) - Similar to Kensal Green, with the additional caveat that the new burials are entirely integrated into the old monuments, creating a rather hodge-podge appearance.
Highgate (1839) - Probably the most famous of the Magnificent Seven and a perennial favourite of mine. Both the Eastern and Western Cemeteries have the haunting, melancholy charm of overgrowth and gentle decay.
Abney Park (1840) - This cemetery has been closed to new burials for decades. It’s easy to find, accessible and wonderfully atmospheric. It features a variety of grave markers and a beautiful abandoned chapel at its heart.
Nunhead (1840) - Feels like an appropriate setting for a murder mystery with its circling bands of calling rooks and confusing, myriad paths. It must be terrifying to be trapped here after dark.
Brompton (1840) - Much like Kensal Green, with the addition of a staggeringly high concentration of angel statuary.
Tower Hamlets (1841) - Like Abney Park, Tower Hamlets has been closed to new burials for quite some time and a large percentage of it was never used. It feels more like a wildlife haven that happens to contain some Victorian monuments than a cemetery.

Each of these links will take you to a Dreamwidth post containing a selection of photographs from that cemetery. I’ve also included a few samples, one from each cemetery, below.

(For people who like to know about methodology/constraints and kit: I restricted myself to one hour per visit, to a 35mm prime lens on my dSLR, to black and white, and to a square format for my chosen images.)

Kensal Green Cemetery

( +6 )

spiralsheep

This month I was challenged by

kake to visit the Cider Museum in Hereford. Naturally, I managed to walk past almost ALL the Hereford with the exception of the Cider Museum.

I've only been to the city twice before but I have a theory that Hereford is the closest point of overlap between Terry Pratchett's Discworld and our roundworld. The chained library in the cathedral is only the beginning....

My report is at my dw journal:

http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/372640.html (7 images)

(Yes, I've seen the kind modly extension but I reject it and embrace my failure! And I'd already written my report....)

marymac

Right, so,

spiralsheep gave me three old mill chimneys. Finding myself dog-sitting a hyperactive mutt on the appropriate side of the river for one of them, my glamorous assistant and I went for a walk. Twice. Because I can find my way back to anything but the getting to is sometimes an issue and I may have gone the opposite direction to where I thought I was going. I thus did it slightly backwards, but it was a nice meander round Pottinger Ward, and the dog made lots of new friends, so. This was my technical start point, Owen O'Cork Mill:

Because we were dead close already, I went for cutting from Woodstock onto Beersbridge - two main roads and some side streets over. First time I did this I failed to read the map properly and went the wrong way, heading over to the Ravenhill Road instead. The dog, however cute, was singularly useless as a navigator:
( Navigational failure, mills, terraces and small blurry dog. )

I have a mad plan for the other two, but that's for next week.