The Thames Discovery Programme mobilises volunteers to investigate the archaeology of the Thames tidal shores. These excellent videos of their activities were shot by Anies Hasan. The Thames shore is terribly evocative; read TS Eliot or Dickens. And the river is the very lifeblood of the city - although it threatens to overwhelm it too. Take a quick ramble along the Thames, with the Thames Discovery Programme....
observations on landscape character and the relationship between people and place, between people with each other, in the environment they live in, through time....
Friday, 11 November 2011
The Thames Discovery Programme, archaeology on the Thames tidal shore
The Thames Discovery Programme mobilises volunteers to investigate the archaeology of the Thames tidal shores. These excellent videos of their activities were shot by Anies Hasan. The Thames shore is terribly evocative; read TS Eliot or Dickens. And the river is the very lifeblood of the city - although it threatens to overwhelm it too. Take a quick ramble along the Thames, with the Thames Discovery Programme....
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Stonehenge, Northern Ireland conflict and Epping Forest
Thanks to
http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/views-of-stonehenge-henry-mark-anthony-1817-1886/
http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/collections/browse_collections/art/victorian_landscapes/000634.html
...at last "bucolic"
http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/views-of-stonehenge-henry-mark-anthony-1817-1886/
and thanks to Wolvo Art Gallery staff, who I met down the Halfway House / Tettenhall Road....
Henry Mark Anthony (1817-1886) was considered in his time the second best British landscape artist after John Constable. He exhibited at many major art institutions and travelled widely, being credited with being one of the first to introduce to Britain the en plein air style of painting advocated by the Impressionists – Monet, Pissarro and Renoir. Working outdoors and direct from nature, he painted on the large scale, introducing into painted landscape melancholic mood, nostalgic feelings, and atmospheric effects often enhanced by the light of dawn or early evening. However, new developments in British art after 1860, and his failure to be elected to the Royal Academy, led to a solitary later career.
The above depiction of Stonehenge and a number of his other works can be seen at Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
--------------------------
PS - they've a significant Northern Ireland collection too (dave)
mood still melancholic... bit of a theme
And 19th-century landscapes
In Epping Forest by Benjamin Shipham, Oil on Canvas, Mid 19th CenturyAnd 19th-century landscapes
http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/collections/browse_collections/art/victorian_landscapes/000634.html
...at last "bucolic"
Monday, 7 November 2011
Burlington Arcade last chance to object to cheap-and-nasty proposal
2 proposals:
1] Burlington Arcade. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41483 Burlington Arcade was bought for £104 million last year, split equally between Joseph Sitt, a New York-based property investor who runs "Thor Equities" (sic), a hedge fund with lots of shopping malls in America, and Meyer Bergman, a European real estate investment and fund management firm. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/8848920/Battle-lines-drawn-in-the-Burlington-Arcade.html
As part of plans to spruce up the listed Regency arcade of shops - grabbit-and-scarper intend to introduce garish bright light within the arcade, stick a Gormley-bloke statue on top of the facade and relight the facade to make it more prominent - and kick out traditional firms like Daniel Bexfield Antiques to stick in Jimmy Choos and other chain trash (expensive tat for the vacuous perpetual shoppers). 8th November is last day to object to the local Westminster Council
Case numbers, Titles & Links
11/08786/FULL - Installation of sculpture on parapet of north entrance - Burlington Arcade London
http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LRM95FRP01R00
11/08787/LBC - Installation of sculpture on parapet of north entrance and within the arcade - Burlington Arcade London
http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LRM9FBRP01R00
11/08794/FULL - Installation of external lighting - Burlington Arcade London
http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LRMDSIRP14X00
11/08795/LBC - Installation of lighting - Burlington Arcade London
http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LRME01RP14X00
11/08791/FULL - Redecoration including re-painting of columns, wall elements and soffit's to Arcade, removal of 1990's floor finish
http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LRMC87RP14X00
11/08792/LBC - Redecoration including re-painting of columns, wall elements and soffit's to Arcade, removal of 1990's floor finish
http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LRMCIERP14X00
-their constant refernces to the 2012 Olympic Games is enough to make me object-
2] Gaby's Restaurant to close
Okay, I'll declare an interest - this is my favourite eatery in the West End. Salt beaf sarnies, Kleftiko falling off the bone and a big selection of vegetarian dishes, falafels etc. And at reasonable prices. Grabbit-and-scarper Garscoyne Holdings have planning permission to knock it dopwn and get in a chain restaurant that will pay bigger rents. part of the local character/colour and point of actually visiting the area will be removed. If I want chains I can go to Westfield (either/any Westfield) right.
There's a facebook group and petition to sign if you too want to save one of my favourite eating places
You can check out the Facebook campaign here – . And you can sign the protest petition here –
1] Burlington Arcade. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41483 Burlington Arcade was bought for £104 million last year, split equally between Joseph Sitt, a New York-based property investor who runs "Thor Equities" (sic), a hedge fund with lots of shopping malls in America, and Meyer Bergman, a European real estate investment and fund management firm. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/8848920/Battle-lines-drawn-in-the-Burlington-Arcade.html
As part of plans to spruce up the listed Regency arcade of shops - grabbit-and-scarper intend to introduce garish bright light within the arcade, stick a Gormley-bloke statue on top of the facade and relight the facade to make it more prominent - and kick out traditional firms like Daniel Bexfield Antiques to stick in Jimmy Choos and other chain trash (expensive tat for the vacuous perpetual shoppers). 8th November is last day to object to the local Westminster Council
Case numbers, Titles & Links
11/08786/FULL - Installation of sculpture on parapet of north entrance - Burlington Arcade London
http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LRM95FRP01R00
11/08787/LBC - Installation of sculpture on parapet of north entrance and within the arcade - Burlington Arcade London
http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LRM9FBRP01R00
11/08794/FULL - Installation of external lighting - Burlington Arcade London
http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LRMDSIRP14X00
11/08795/LBC - Installation of lighting - Burlington Arcade London
http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LRME01RP14X00
11/08791/FULL - Redecoration including re-painting of columns, wall elements and soffit's to Arcade, removal of 1990's floor finish
http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LRMC87RP14X00
11/08792/LBC - Redecoration including re-painting of columns, wall elements and soffit's to Arcade, removal of 1990's floor finish
http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LRMCIERP14X00
-their constant refernces to the 2012 Olympic Games is enough to make me object-
2] Gaby's Restaurant to close
Okay, I'll declare an interest - this is my favourite eatery in the West End. Salt beaf sarnies, Kleftiko falling off the bone and a big selection of vegetarian dishes, falafels etc. And at reasonable prices. Grabbit-and-scarper Garscoyne Holdings have planning permission to knock it dopwn and get in a chain restaurant that will pay bigger rents. part of the local character/colour and point of actually visiting the area will be removed. If I want chains I can go to Westfield (either/any Westfield) right.
There's a facebook group and petition to sign if you too want to save one of my favourite eating places
You can check out the Facebook campaign here – . And you can sign the protest petition here –
Saturday, 5 November 2011
The Gunpowder Plot, Terrorism, Westminster and Holbeche House, Kingswinford
What would link a centre for power like Westminster and the sleepy village of Kingswinford? Terrorism. Not modern-day terrorism but the 17th-century kind, driven by religious fanaticism, prejudice and the suppression of catholics by a newly invented, protestant "United Kingdom of Great Britain" (formerly seperate kingdoms of England and Scotland). The plot was genuinely Big. If it had been successful the results would have decapitated the elite of the new kingdom, opening the way to a revolution or foreign intervention
But it failed (or was sabotaged?). And so the plotters fled back to the home of one of them, Stephen Littleton, Holbeche House near Wall Heath, Kingswinford. Thomas Wintour, Jack Wright, Kit Wright and Ambrose Rookwood were soon shot in the courtyard, perhaps attempting to quell a fire that Walsh and his men had started in an attempt to drive the conspirators from the house. The two Wrights were moribund, but Thomas Wintour managed to make it back to the house, where Robert Catesby and Thomas Percy were the only defenders left who were not incapacitated by their injuries.
a map of the prominent places associated with the Gunpowder Plot, click on blue blobs for info and use arrows/slider to navigate
View Gunpowder Plot in a larger map
"Stand by me, Mr. Tom," said Catesby, "and we will die together."The three men stood close inside the door of the house, and went outside to face their death. Catesby and Percy, standing side by side, were supposedly felled by a single shot. According to the account by Father Oswald Tesimond, Robert Catesby managed to crawl back inside the house, and finding a picture of the Virgin Mary, clutched it in his arms until he died. Littleton was captured later and hung at Worcester as was his kinsman Humphrey Littleton (who Jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton was named after, they're the same family) Both Humphrey and John were relatives of John Lyttelton, Catholic, who'd rebelled against Elizabeth I a few years earlier http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/lyttelton-john-1561-1601 .
Holbeche House - the plotters last stand, now a nursing home, a photo by John Smart http://www.panoramio.com/photo/20634320
But it failed (or was sabotaged?). And so the plotters fled back to the home of one of them, Stephen Littleton, Holbeche House near Wall Heath, Kingswinford. Thomas Wintour, Jack Wright, Kit Wright and Ambrose Rookwood were soon shot in the courtyard, perhaps attempting to quell a fire that Walsh and his men had started in an attempt to drive the conspirators from the house. The two Wrights were moribund, but Thomas Wintour managed to make it back to the house, where Robert Catesby and Thomas Percy were the only defenders left who were not incapacitated by their injuries.
a map of the prominent places associated with the Gunpowder Plot, click on blue blobs for info and use arrows/slider to navigate
View Gunpowder Plot in a larger map
"Stand by me, Mr. Tom," said Catesby, "and we will die together."The three men stood close inside the door of the house, and went outside to face their death. Catesby and Percy, standing side by side, were supposedly felled by a single shot. According to the account by Father Oswald Tesimond, Robert Catesby managed to crawl back inside the house, and finding a picture of the Virgin Mary, clutched it in his arms until he died. Littleton was captured later and hung at Worcester as was his kinsman Humphrey Littleton (who Jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton was named after, they're the same family) Both Humphrey and John were relatives of John Lyttelton, Catholic, who'd rebelled against Elizabeth I a few years earlier http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/lyttelton-john-1561-1601 .
Holbeche House - the plotters last stand, now a nursing home, a photo by John Smart http://www.panoramio.com/photo/20634320
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Write Down, Speak Up, Love Where you Live - at Blakesley Hall
Before folk'll look after their neighbourhood, they've got to learn to love it
and
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Artistic sense.Inis Meáin
Artistic sense.Inis Meáin A page from Elizabeth Koopman's blog - a person who has moved to Irish Speaking Inis Meáin in Galway Bay -- Please go to her blog for more like this -- SHE SAYS,
"...that part of Inis Meáin between the airstrip and Trá Leithreach is where I experience a very lively aspect of the landscape of Inis Meáin. It is here that I feel and see the freshness of the everlasting renewal of her appearance.
First of all there are the dunes with their beautiful mix of colours varying from light grey via vivid green to a pale sort of green. And when the sun is shining upon them the colour of the dunes even turns out to get a yellow glance… The dunes themselves radiate strength and power.
The only sign of a human touch here is the growth of a specific sort of grass to keep the sand in place. Furthermore the airstrip would probably be covered by sand sooner or later. When I take one of the paths leading to the upper part, I have a lovely view over the sandy beach and the ocean with its impressive waves. Looking at my right hand there is a part of the beach where there is a large collection of stones of all sorts and sizes. In between there are little ponds in which carrageen moss of an almost artificial looking green colour grows
. I see magnificent looking shells stuck on the rocks. Looking closely at their various prints you easily become overwhelmed with emotion: every tiny line on the shield is worked out completely and together they show a master piece in itself.
Walking on towards Trá Leithreach a sort of enlightened happiness comes over me. Here too there is that special sort of liveliness in the landscape. It expresses the ultimate vitality of youth; freshness, a sense of freedom and even a little bit of provocative attitude; the playful lines of the stone walls winding themselves through the landscape ending in a joyful meeting of three or four lines together in a victorious gesture.
Slán go fóill,
Elisabeth from Inis Meáin"
International Conference: Landscape of Everyday Life
Yves Luginbühl
Agronomist and geographer, research director emeritus of the French National Centre for Scientific Research
Where do most people live? In general, they do not live in those landscapes that appear on lists of the most beautiful places in the world, as in the case of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Most people live in landscapes that have been transformed by social activities, industry, housing, services and modern, intensive farming. Though some measures have been taken to preserve the places that are considered of greatest interest, not much has been done for these peri-urban landscape of everyday life, where industrial buildings, suburban structures and social housing units tend to be surrounded by different kinds of infrastructure. Nor has anything been done about landscapes where farming has been replaced with tourism facilities that have transformed the seaside and mountain slopes.
The conference is organized by the French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing and the French Institute of Research on Environmental Sciences and Technologies (CEMAGREF) with the collaboration of the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia. It will be held in Perpignan and Girona on 16 to 18 March 2011 with the aim of examining what are considered landscape of everyday life by millions of people from the perspective of the improvement projects implemented there, bearing in mind the values attributed to these places by stakeholders and the people who live there and the efforts made to revitalize them.
More than 100 speakers from all over the world (from Argentina to China, including nearly all the countries of Europe) will read papers at the conference, the aim of which is to contribute new knowledge on landscape development projects and the role of stakeholders, the people who live in these locations and experts on these projects. Other aims include providing new information on the participation of people in the process of political decision making; offering data on the environmental factors in these development projects; discussing new methods of assessing the implementation of these policies; and providing new data on the relationship between landscape and sustainable development.
The papers were selected by an international scientific committee and all focus on specific landscape development projects and theoretical reflections on the contribution made by landscape to sustainable development. Some of the topics to be discussed will be the process of installing windmills in different locations in Europe and North America, and urban and peri-urban landscape projects in which the people who live there have been able to participate. The conference will be organized in thematic workshops and sessions with group discussions to exchange current ideas on landscape development.
Yves Luginbühl
Agronomist and geographer, research director emeritus of the French National Centre for Scientific Research
Agronomist and geographer, research director emeritus of the French National Centre for Scientific Research
Where do most people live? In general, they do not live in those landscapes that appear on lists of the most beautiful places in the world, as in the case of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Most people live in landscapes that have been transformed by social activities, industry, housing, services and modern, intensive farming. Though some measures have been taken to preserve the places that are considered of greatest interest, not much has been done for these peri-urban landscape of everyday life, where industrial buildings, suburban structures and social housing units tend to be surrounded by different kinds of infrastructure. Nor has anything been done about landscapes where farming has been replaced with tourism facilities that have transformed the seaside and mountain slopes.
The conference is organized by the French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing and the French Institute of Research on Environmental Sciences and Technologies (CEMAGREF) with the collaboration of the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia. It will be held in Perpignan and Girona on 16 to 18 March 2011 with the aim of examining what are considered landscape of everyday life by millions of people from the perspective of the improvement projects implemented there, bearing in mind the values attributed to these places by stakeholders and the people who live there and the efforts made to revitalize them.
More than 100 speakers from all over the world (from Argentina to China, including nearly all the countries of Europe) will read papers at the conference, the aim of which is to contribute new knowledge on landscape development projects and the role of stakeholders, the people who live in these locations and experts on these projects. Other aims include providing new information on the participation of people in the process of political decision making; offering data on the environmental factors in these development projects; discussing new methods of assessing the implementation of these policies; and providing new data on the relationship between landscape and sustainable development.
The papers were selected by an international scientific committee and all focus on specific landscape development projects and theoretical reflections on the contribution made by landscape to sustainable development. Some of the topics to be discussed will be the process of installing windmills in different locations in Europe and North America, and urban and peri-urban landscape projects in which the people who live there have been able to participate. The conference will be organized in thematic workshops and sessions with group discussions to exchange current ideas on landscape development.
Yves Luginbühl
Agronomist and geographer, research director emeritus of the French National Centre for Scientific Research
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Spitalfields Jewish Maternity Hospital - an inglorious ending?
Spitalfields has variously been home to predominantly Huguenot French, Ashkenazim Jews and now Bangtladeshi communities. Naturally, buildings that can adapt to change do, the Jamme Masjid was formerly a Synagogue and before that a Huguenot chapel. Slowly now the remnants of the Jewish East End of London are fading. When I started living nearby, Bloom's was a kosher restaurant, now it is a chain burger joint.
The local planning authority, Tower Hamlets, planning brief specifies
"1.3 In summary, the statement seeks to guide the redevelopment of the site for residential uses. Any redevelopment at this site must consider:
• The amenity of surrounding residential development;
• The relationship of any development on the site with Osmani School; and
• The potential to convert the existing building to residential uses"
http://moderngov.towerhamlets.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=7804
Peabody are ‘proposing to begin demolition prior to the submission of the planning application‘ for their five- or six-storey replacement building (13 October letter from Peabody to Dr. Kadish), Peabody can do this by applying for ‘prior notice of demolition’. The proposed demolition would be what is called ‘permitted development’ and officers would simply have to give ‘prior approval of the method of demolition’. ‘The Council acknowledges that the buildings do represent a non-designated heritage asset in accordance with PPS5‘ http://residents-first.co.uk/ This would normally entail a detailed survey of the historic building as apart of the decision-making process. Residents efforts to save a couple of cottages in Underwood Road -- as a memorial to the pioneering work of the Maternity Hospital (before state provision) have so far been rebuffed
see also http://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/10/17/tom-ridge-the-jewish-maternity-hospital/
If you - like Arnold Wesker - are concerned about these proposals - or about the way the process is being pursued, you can write to Stephen.Howlett@peabody.org.uk and owen.whalley@towerhamlets.gov.uk
I suspect no-one is against affordable housing or mixed schemes, but the compromise of keeping the cottages as a memorial is helpful in retaining a local landmark which contributes to the character of the area - as one where waves of refugees have settled and built better lives.
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