Come away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o
Paula’s Thursday Special this week is twilight. I wasn’t going to post this week, because any photos I take at twilight tend to be beside the sea or river, and I’ve posted similar many times. But, I had a quick flick through and decided I like this shot of the Exe, taken at 9pm close to the longest day in June.
You have until Thursday to join Paula’s challenge, meanwhile she has a gorgeous twilight photo of Florence.
As someone who likes sculpture, I have to confess to being a complete idiot. You know how you walk past something regularly and don’t even notice it? well this is one of those things. Commissioned in 1977 by Exeter city Council, for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, it’s one of a series by Peter Thursby, and named Looking Forward.
The sculpture depicts a Podman, they were ‘Little men on scaffolding, constructing buildings. They appeared to be framed in boxes, like peas in a pod’. Thursby made a full sized model from polystyrene in his Exeter studio. The finished work was cast by the Chris Blackmore foundry near Ashburton.
Will any of you confess to discovering something that you’ve walked past hundreds of times and not seen?
It isn’t often that Exeter makes the national news, which is a good thing. We’re a small city with mostly well behaved citizens, where bad things rarely happen. Last week though the unthinkable happened, a fire in the very heart of the city. At 5.20 in the morning, the Royal Clarence Hotel in Cathedral Yard caught fire, it’s believed that the fire began two doors down in the upper floors above a prestigious gallery, and the flying debris caused it to spread. More than 100 fire fighters worked to contain the blaze, and were still working three days later.
The Clarence was the first in the country to take call itself a hotel, a term copied from the French, prior to that there were only inns. The hotel was built in 1769, on the site of an earlier tavern and had a reputation for being haunted.
I’ve finally been to Cathedral yard to see the site for my self, here are some photos.
There were no injuries and for that we must be thankful. Quite a few shops around the hotel, including on the High street were slightly damaged and remain closed. Demolition work began this week, and owner has pledged a sensitive re-build, we have to hope.
I’ve posted both of these photos before, but first the hotel in the centre, with the cathedral green on the left and the buildings on the right date from 1500.
The hotel has always looked splendid at night. To the right 15th century St Martins,built on the site of a previous church from 1065, and Mol’s Coffee House, built in 1596 with it’s Dutch style gables.
Exeter suffered a great deal of damage during the blitz, including to the cathedral, but nearly all the buildings along the Yard survived, it’s desperately sad to see this part of our heritage destroyed.
“Home” is more than where we sleep at night. It is a place that is familiar and comforting, and it gives us a sense of belonging. Home is what and who is local — the places and people we know by heart.
Jen’s challenge this week is local. Those of you that have followed Lucid Gypsy for a while know that I have a deep attachment to my local area, the city and surrounding county. It isn’t grand, posh or showy, just very beautiful, and it isn’t difficult to show it off.
I hope you like what you see, are you sharing what local means to you?
Soft glowing street light
at St Catherine’s chapel
ancient and modern
Sorry Paula, I’m last as usual. You’ll be pleased to know I don’t get vertigo and heights don’t bother me.
Paula is way higher than me, in Lisbon, with view I’d like to see. But I’m rather fond of Exeter Quay and you might like it too.
You can join Black and White Sunday at Lost in Translation.
Three years ago, Rob Heard was feeling really low while recovering from an accident. Watching soldiers returning from Afghanistan on TV, led to him thinking about the loss of lives in wartime and the incredible numbers involved. He found it impossible to imagine the 19,240 men who died in just one day, July 1st 1916, at the battle of the Somme.
From a list of the names of every one of the 19240, he created a hand stitched shroud containing a 12 inch figure, crossing off names as he went. Rob didn’t have a plan when he began the project, but a friend, Steve Knightly a musician from the band Show of Hands, contacted the city council, the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Exeter Chiefs rugby foundation. This has become the UK’s largest WW1 commemoration and has featured in the national news this week.
If you’re in the area, the 19240 Shrouds of the Somme can be seen at Northernhay Gardens, Exeter until July 7th. I’d recommend it, it’s a highly emotional commemoration to a part of history that must never be repeated.
Lucid Gypsy 