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www.aurora-service.eu/aurora-forecast/
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Photographer / Valokuvaaja:
Markus Kauppinen
My websites / Verkkosivuni:
My web gallery / Kuvagalleriat:
www.valonkuvaaja.com/kuvagalleria
My blog / Blogini:
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www.facebook.com/Valonkuvaajacom
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Bird migration forecast maps show predicted nocturnal migration 3 hours after local sunset and are updated every 6 hours. Colorado State University and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology currently produce these forecasts.
___________
Lots of birds in the air tonight, although migration will be interrupted by a large band of thunderstorms.
© Austin Sullivan 2010
The forecast predicts it's going to be raining all week :(
But it hasn't rained in a long time, so the grass needs it.
Planning on posting a bird shot from a photo shoot tomorrow!
33/100
©David Henderson – All Rights Reserved
The weather forecasters got it a little wrong today. After morning rain it should have been sunshine with a few showers, but it turned out to be heavy showers all day with a few bursts of sunshine. The heavy cloud at the top of the image was the last major downpour to move through just as the sun was going down.... and was it heavy...........
The image was taken at Strand on the Green looking upstream towards Kew Bridge. This is a great summer evening spot, wonderful views while drinking a refreshing beer at one of the riverside pubs.
Design: Stefanie Japel;
Yarn: Red Heart Soft Yarn - 4.5 skeins
Size: 39";
Needle sizes: US 8 and 5 circular and double pointed;
MODIFICATIONS: Added some length, 2 more buttons, and skipped the collar in the pattern and substituted for my own, more traditional collar.
Read more on my blog www.StylishKnits.blogspot.com.
Find this collection of images from the Royal Visit to Expo 88 in our catalogue:
www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/items/ITM436213 Dept No CN88-695B
The Birth of South Bank (or, why one should always read the legislation)
Anthony S Marinac
This article speaks only of the modern history of the area now known as South Bank. The author respectfully acknowledges the Yuggera and Turrbal people, who first occupied the lands now constituting South Bank.
As we press towards 2020, it has become difficult to imagine a Brisbane without the South Bank parklands. The parklands have become the city’s playground; a garden and exercise space; a space for public performance; an important restaurant quarter; and an urban beach for a city which has ideal beach weather, but which lacks a Bondi or a St Kilda. With the release of the 1988 Queensland cabinet papers, it has become possible to take a deeper look at the genesis of this key feature of modern Brisbane. In reality, South Bank began with three key events which live in Brisbane’s historical memory: the 1974 floods, the 1982 Commonwealth Games, and the 1988 World Expo.
Early history
For much of its early European history, the southern side of the Brisbane River’s city reach was a commercial hub. The interstate railway terminal was located adjacent to where the South Brisbane railway station still stands, and the southern side of the city had wharves, and warehouses, and the infrastructure which went along to support them, including some of the less legitimate types of business: “Between the wharves and the interstate railway station built in the 1880s, were streets of sly grog and loose women, dance halls and theatres, a place where local mixed with foreign. In the years after the second world war, however, the area fell into something of a decline. 3 By the later 1960s, there were plans to redevelop part of the area into a cultural precinct. The Exhibition Building on Gregory Terrace, which housed the Queensland Art Gallery and the Queensland Museum, had been well and truly outgrown, and was damaged by winds in Brisbane’s 1974 flood crisis. The South Brisbane site was purchased in 1969, and the Art Gallery opened there in 1982.
The Queensland Performing Arts Centre followed in 1985, the Queensland Museum in 1986, and the State Library of Queensland in 1988. The latest addition, the Gallery of Modern Art, opened in 2006. During the era of the cultural centre’s development, the South Brisbane area lost its centrality as a transport hub, when the interstate rail terminus shifted to the Roma St Transit Centre in 1986. To make matters worse, South Brisbane was inundated by the cataclysmic Brisbane River flood in 1974. Following the flood, it was clear that some form of redevelopment was going to be necessary in the South Brisbane area, well beyond the cultural centre. In 1982, Brisbane hosted the Commonwealth Games, a major international event which began the city’s transition into a modern, world city. One of the defining moments of the Commonwealth Games was the victory, in the Marathon, of Australia’s Robert de Castella. The marathon began and ended on what is now South Bank, in the shadow of the cultural centre. 5 Almost immediately after the Commonwealth Games, bolstered by the confidence engendered by the games itself, planning began in earnest for the World Exposition – Expo.
Expo
The Queensland Parliament passed the Expo ’88 Act 1984, which created the Expo Authority, properly titled the “Brisbane Exposition and South Bank Redevelopment Authority” although virtually everyone, it seems, immediately forgot the second half of the title. The authority, under the leadership of former Liberal leader Sir Llewellyn Edwards, had extensive powers to enable the Expo to be undertaken, including the power to resume land. Many of those who were moved on for the purpose of Expo were essentially voiceless, however close to the opening of Expo, the Courier Mail newspaper gave attention to renters in the surrounding areas of South Brisbane and West End, who were being squeezed out of rental markets by demand from, for instance, delegation staff from overseas. Section 30 of the Expo ’88 Act 1984 gave the Expo Authority the power to dispose of the lands resumed for the purpose of Expo. During initial planning for the Expo, these land sales were expected to form a substantial proportion of the income which would make Expo financially viable, hence the requirement that the Expo authority “secure for itself the maximum return that is reasonable to expect at the material time.”
Even in the immediate leadup to Expo, there was widespread concern about its potential success or failure. It was, however, a triumph, and a halcyon moment for the city. Its success appeared to occur at two levels: as a purely commercial venture it was successful, both in its own terms and in terms of generating longer term investment; but at a social level, Expo became a place to meet and socialise, particularly for the many thousands of Brisbane residents who had purchased season passes. Somewhere along the line, Queenslanders became proprietorial about Expo itself, and there was a substantial public desire to retain something of the spirit of what had become, in essence, an open and beloved public space.
Cabinet’s approach to redevelopment
At this point, we turn to the Cabinet documents, and things become somewhat odd. In 1986, expressions of interest were invited for the redevelopment of the site by private development consortia.8 Based on the Expo ’88 Act 1984, one would have expected those expressions of interest to have been assessed by the Expo Authority, most likely with input from the Brisbane City Council.9 However Cabinet called for these expressions of interest – it is not clear by what authority – and Cabinet established a committee to evaluate those proposals and to report back to Cabinet. The Committee was chaired by the Director General of the Premier’s Department, and included the Under Treasurer, the Chairman of the Expo Authority, and the Town Clerk of the Brisbane City Council. It is worth noting, as an aside, that the Council’s concerns were quite different from those of the Expo authority. Had South Bank become a rival commercial precinct across the river from the Brisbane CBD, there was the possibility of massive reductions in the commercial viability of office space in the CBD. The Council’s later push for open public space may therefore not have been entirely altruistic. The fact that Cabinet had absolutely no authority to call for, or assess these tenders, and that the Expo Authority had the right, if it wished, to simply proceed with the disposition of the land, does not seem to have occurred to anybody. Indeed the legislation itself is not mentioned anywhere in the Cabinet submission. Four submissions were shortlisted by the committee and considered by Cabinet: they were offered by the Kern Corporation, the CM Group, the World City 2000 Consortium, and the River City consortium. Cabinet considered the pros and cons of each submission, but it was always clear that budget considerations would take priority. At this stage (February 1988) it was not yet known whether Expo would be a success, and budgeting for the event required site sales of $150 Million in order for Expo to break even. Ultimately Cabinet settled on the proposal by River City 2000 consortium. The consortium included the Roma Street Development Group, Kern Corporation (which had also put in a separate bid), and the Conrad Hilton/Conrad Jupiters Group. The net present value of the offer was $136.83 Million, to be made as $200 Million in staged payments between 1989 and 1995. The general proposal was for two harbours and a substantial canal to be cut into the foreshore at South Bank, and the spill to be used to create a large island, to be called Endeavour Island, on the southern side of the river. Endeavour Island was to be dominated by an exhibition and convention centre, a hotel, a casino, and a proposed World Trade Centre. The shore-side of the canal was to include further office buildings, and the southern end was to include residential complexes. There were three immediate complications with this proposal. First, there were reservations expressed by the Brisbane City Council about the total amount of commercial and office floor space which was proposed by the River City consortium. Second, Cabinet had no capacity to influence the location of a World Trade Centre in the city. The World Trade Centres Association had granted to a company called the Fricker company the exclusive right to develop a world trade centre in Brisbane. Fricker was examining a number of sites in the Brisbane CBD and on Kangaroo Point. Cabinet could (and did) encourage the Fricker company “to examine the possibility of developing [a] World Trade Centre or associated facilities on the Expo site”10 but that was as far as Cabinet could go. Third, there was little appetite in the conservative Cabinet for a new casino. The Jupiters Casino had opened on the Gold Coast in 1985, and held a guarantee that no other casino would be developed in south-east Queensland until at least 1992 (although this may not have been insisted on since Conrad Jupiters were part of the River City consortium). Instead, Cabinet decided:
That no action be taken at this time to enter into any arrangement with the “preferred developer” for granting a casino licence for the site, but that the “preferred developer” be required to [include] provision for a casino facility within the site, at a location and under conditions acceptable to the Government. That the Under Treasurer be asked to investigate all aspects of the granting of a casino licence for the site and report back to Cabinet through the Cabinet Budget Committee.
Public reaction to the proposal was swift and negative. Neither the committee proposal nor the cabinet process had included any public consultation at all; the Endeavour Island concept failed to capture the public imagination; and the Courier Mail newspaper led a campaign sharply critical of the proposal. The title of its editorial said it all: South Bank – selling the city’s birthright. Sir Llew Edwards tried to distance the Expo Authority from the decision, but the Courier Mail was having none of it – and clearly journalist Don Petersen had read the legislation: The seven-member board of the Expo Authority meets today to vote on the State Government’s preferred developer for the post-Expo site … Authority Chairman Sir Llew Edwards said last week the vote was not necessary because responsibility for the decision rested with the Governor in Council. This is strange since the Expo 88 Act of 1984 specifically charges the authority with “disposing” of the land in an endeavour to gain the best possible price that might reasonably be expected. Public reaction became even more important after Expo commenced at the end of April 1988. As noted above, Expo exceeded all possible expectations, and despite its entry fees, the expo park became in essence a public space, with the many season pass holders making repeated visits. The lack of public input into the plan was a decisive aspect of its eventual downfall. The other key feature was the conduct of the River City consortium itself. Despite section 30, Cabinet continued to be the lead agency on behalf of government, and the River City consortium began immediately to push for government commitments in relation to both the World Trade Centre and the casino. Just a week after the initial decision, Cabinet made a curious decision, on the basis of an oral submission by the Premier, that the initial cabinet decision “be confirmed” and that “the River City 2000 Consortium be advised accordingly.” Once can only surmise that Cabinet had been asked to review its earlier decision, Cabinet not being in the habit of routinely reaffirming earlier decisions. Initially, Cabinet had set a deadline of 18 February 1988 to finalise agreement with the River City Consortium on outstanding issues. On that date, a two week extension was granted. A further extension was granted on 29 February 1988, setting the deadline at 8 April, and when it became clear that this deadline, too, would be missed, the Premier returned to Cabinet with a substantive report. Unsurprisingly, two of the three outstanding matters were:
negotiations with Fricker Developments regarding a World Trade Centre or a component thereof on the site; (iii) the interpretation of Cabinet’s decision regarding a Casino facility on the Expo site. The Premier asked for the timing of negotiations to be left to his discretion “in view of my continuing personal involvement in the negotiations, which I consider is necessary now.”
The fall of River City and the birth of the South Bank Development Corporation
The Premier’s involvement turned out to be decisive. Somewhere along the line, after the Premier became personally involved, someone finally seems to have fully grasped the importance of section 30 of the Expo ’88 Act. The Premier met with Sir Llew Edwards, and then returned to Cabinet to sound the death knell for River City 2000: Arising from my detailed involvement in the negotiations, I have become very much aware of the legislative requirements regarding the disposal of the Expo site. These requirements, in effect, are that the Expo authority shall dispose of the site in a way which will achieve a net financial result that will not impose a burden of cost on the Government of Queensland … in dealing with these details, I questioned why the Government is, in fact, embroiled in much of this public debate and criticism, when in fact most of the matters should be negotiated between the Expo Authority, Brisbane City Council, and the preferred developer, for submission in due course to the Government.19 Cabinet decided to withdraw preferred developer status from River City 2000, and to instruct the Expo Authority to commence the tender process all over again. This second process was to be based on the clear understanding that the Government had no capacity to influence the location of a World Trade Centre, and that any question of a casino licence would be completely divorced from South Bank redevelopment. This approach relieved pressure on the government in terms of the casino and World Trade Centre, but there remained the issue of public expectations. By this stage, Expo was well underway, and the enthusiasm of the people of Brisbane was a key element in its success. Expo forecasts required approximately 8 million visitors through the gate in order to meet its budget; it quickly became apparent that this number would be comprehensively surpassed. In the end, more than 18 million visitors passed through the gates. This, in turn, relieved financial pressure on the sale of the site. Thus the people themselves, in the process of falling in love with Expo, had helped to create the economic circumstances which allowed the government to seek a path other than a real estate fire sale. After the Expo Authority took responsibility for the tender process, it “subsequently became apparent that under this [tender] approach, it would be very difficult to meet public expectations for significant open space on the site with minimal commercial development together with the need for a financial return sufficient to enable the Expo Authority to break even.”
Instead, at the end of June 1988, the Premier joined with the Expo Authority Chairman and the Lord Mayor of Brisbane to announce the formation of the South Bank Development Corporation, which would take possession of both the assets and the liabilities of the Expo authority, including the land space, and which could then develop the site. Having learned from the first process, the Expo Authority produced a:
Statement of Development Principles for the South Bank together with some graphics showing the conceptual proposal for development of the main Expo site plus a land use proposal for the broader area. This material together with further graphics will be presented to the public as a set of eighteen display panels of which it is proposed that ten such displays be manned at various centres throughout Brisbane for a month within which the public will have the opportunity of commenting on the proposals. A press and media campaign will complement the static displays.
The public reception on this second occasion was far more positive, and the following year, Ahern introduced the South Bank Corporation Bill. In his second reading speech, he stated that the Act: provides the necessary statutory foundation from which the Expo South Bank area in particular, as well as the surrounding area, can be developed to produce a result of outstanding merit. Such a result will bring benefits not only to the City but to the State as a whole through tourism and its ability to identify Queensland to the World.
It need hardly be stated that this was far from the end of the South Bank story. The legislation has been repeatedly amended, and South Bank itself has continued to evolve in the three decades since its foundation. It is, however, well to remember the fact that the site was very nearly sold to private developers, and that the South Bank of today exists in its current form only because some anonymous angel on Ahern’s staff remembered to read the relevant legislation, and discovered section 30 of the Expo Act.
Story source: Queensland State Archives: 1988 - The birth of Southbank
,Hello winter - again! Our forecast is "Temperature deep dive, snow on the horizon for Alberta." This morning, it is -1C (windchill -4C) and it has just started snowing at 10:00 am. Looks like we should have this kind of temperature for the next two weeks. I'm so glad I went on a birding walk yesterday and did some grocery shopping.
The cat in this photo was the mother of three young kittens that my daughter and I saw at the Saskatoon Farm almost a year ago, on 21 December 2015. They were the cutest little things, having free run of the place. One spot, that was very obviously a favourite, was the pile of boxes in bright, shiny, sparkling wrapping, placed under the Christmas tree. Constantly on the move, the kittens were not easy to photograph at all. The 'gifts', loosely joined together by a string of tree lights, gradually moved away from the tree, sliding over the wooden floor. What absolute fun for these little kittens - and for any young girls that came to visit the Farm and were drawn like magnets to these irresistible cuties. I have posted a previously posted photo of one of her kittens in a comment box below.
On 21 December 2015, my daughter and I had our Christmas get-together. Like last year, she asked if I wanted to spend the day out of the city, looking for Snowy Owls (and other things). We were both so happy to at least see a (very distant) Snowy Owl, which she cleverly spotted, even though we had hoped to find a much closer one. Thank goodness, the previous year, my daughter and I did see and photograph beautiful Snowies E and NE of the city that were nice and close.
Finding one of these magnificent birds of prey was not the only purpose in our minds, though. It was our Christmas get-together, and we had a great day, in beautiful sunshine and in one of my favourite areas to explore. We had first planned to go NE of the city, but my daughter, waiting for her surgery on 11 January 2016, didn't feel up to travelling that far.
So, plans changed and instead, we went to the Saskatoon Farm for breakfast. This interesting place is maybe a 20-minute drive SE from the southern edge of Calgary. You can collect your own Saskatoon berries in season, look around their outside green houses, and their inside gift shop full of unusual things, and buy special baking, jams, teas and so on. They also have a restaurant that offers delicious food.
Afterwards, we then went a bit further, to drive some of the roads east of High River, hoping to possibly find a Snowy Owl. We went as far as Mossleigh, where we stopped to take a few quick photos of the three grain elevators and then found a group of several old barns that I don't remember seeing before. They were off the main road, but fortunately the narrow gravel road had enough snow packed on it that the short drive was very smooth. From there, we also stopped at the little wooden church at Dinton.
Later in the afternoon, we couldn't resist the temptation to call in at Glamorgan Bakery on the way home and buy a few Christmas goodies, followed by a desperately needed food shopping trip. I just hadn't had a chance to go grocery shopping and had run out of even basic things. This was a huge relief, especially as I knew that I would be having a very long day on 23rd December, taking part in the Drumheller area Christmas Bird Count.
Thanks so much for a great day out, Rachel. The best kind of day, as far as I am concerned : ) Many thanks, too, for the beautiful, very carefully chosen (as always!) Christmas gifts.
Michael Hanley, Head of Digital Communications, Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum and Philip Tetlock, Leonore Annenberg University Professor in Democracy and Citizenship, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA and Molly Crockett, Associate Professor of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom at the Annual Meeting 2017 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 18, 2017
Copyright by World Economic Forum / Walter Duerst
Have I put this compilation up too early? The last day of the year is forecast to be full bling! Some of my good rail friends have anxiously been waiting for this compilation of failed shots this year. I am a great believer of people doing this hobby to suit themselves including those who take pictures predominantly in the dull. From my experience there are definitely more photographers out when the sun is out rather than when not. That indicates that most want their desired result in good light. I would count myself in that category which is why I have compiled this list. The reason for this was because in 2024 I was certain that I had lost up to 150 intended shots to various types of bowlage, mainly due to cloud intervention but other factors as well. There are many variables that can prevent the photographer getting the desired shot which is why I have compiled this presentation at the end of the year. In reality this year wasn’t the best to portray the downside to this hobby because it has been the sunniest on record but the fact that I lost around 60 good shots shows throughout the year how much effort can be given with no reward. Also, I have not included the mundane shots lost whilst out. This compilation refers to all decent shots showing classes of loco plus celeb liveried ‘sheds’ that were in charge of workings.
As much as I get annoyed at being ‘done’ for various reasons I do laugh it off afterwards. I don’t go along with “You’ll get to do it again” because much of what we shoot is unrepeatable if you take time to look back. The only time I have ever beat myself up about missing a shot was when I missed 37403 (I think) in green livery leaving Solihull on a railtour approaching Hatton Bank due to a longer than expected ‘58’ hauled engineers train going the other way on a Sunday thus blocking the view completely!
Have a great New Year all.
̶
List of Bowlage for 2025
1.2/1/2025: 66420 tnt 66414 6E41 Kings Norton – York Thrail at Bromford Bridge (ran too early).
2.3/1/2025: 47727 5Q87 Long Marston – Reading at Besford (late runround at Worcester).
3.7/1/2025: 37402 tnt 37057 1Z77 Derby RTC – Cardiff at Lea Marston (cloud cover).
4.7/1/2025: 37611 5Q58 Crewe – Old Dalby at Atherstone (cloud cover).
5.7/1/2025: 68034 4M27 Coatbridge – Daventry at Atherstone (cloud cover).
6.15/1/2025: 66734 6V84 Clitheroe – Avonmouth at Bredicot (patchy fog).
7.16/1/2025: 66847 6X50 Hinksey – Bescot at Hatton North Junction (patchy fog).
8.6/2/2025: 33207 33029 5M43 Southall – Carnforth at Lichfield TV (cloud cover).
9.24/2/2025: 57310 5Q89 Long Marston – Eastleigh at Lower Moor (cloud cover).
10. 24/2/2025: 57310 5Q89 Long Marston – Eastleigh at Defford (cancelled at Worcester TC).
11. 25/2/2025: 43484 43465 6Q39 Kings Norton – Old Dalby at Bromford Bridge (Volume of traffic prevented me getting to location in time).
12.25/2/2025: 69012 5Q91 Worcester TC – Wimbledon at Abbotswood (early running and cloud didn’t clear in time).
13. 28/2/2025: 37884 5Q59 Doncaster Works – Leicester at Breaston (cloud cover).
14. 3/3/2025 68002 4E49 Daventry – Doncaster at East View Rd, Sutton Coldfield (9 minutes early, cloud didn’t clear in time).
15. 16/3/2025: 86259 1Z35 Liverpool South Parkway – Euston at Atherstone (cloud cover).
16. 16/3/2025: 87002 1Z31 Liverpool Lime St – Euston at Atherstone (cloud cover).
17.1/4/2025: 37800 5Q76 Walton Old Junction –Newport at Marston Jabbett (back bowled by pendolino in full sun).
18. 4/4/2025: 56301 6L92 Chaddesden – Ely at Raynesway (stubborn High cloud not clearing in time).
19. 5/4/2025: 56301 6M89 Middleton Towers – Ravenhead at Lichfield TV (back bowled by a pendolino in full sun).
20. 11/4/2025: 66501 4M41 London Gateway – Lawley St at Whitacre (back bowled by liner going the other way in full sun).
21. 3/5/2025: 88010 68018 4Z43 Daventry – Coatbridge at Lea Marston (forgot to put camera in car, oh yes! Cloud wouldn’t clear anyway).
22. 3/5/2025: 37240 tnt 7029 1Z31 Birmingham NS – Llandudno at Whitacre Junction (same reason as above).
23.6/5/2025: 66117 60103 5Z81 York NRM – Didcot at Elford (cloud cover).
24.10/5/2025: D1015 1Z77 Birmingham NS – Plymouth at Hatton (bowled by liner on nearside line).
25.10/5/2025: 68016 4Z27 Coatbridge – Daventry at Water Orton (cloud cover).
26. 13/5/2025 43423 43467 5Q88 Eastriggs – Long Marston at Sadlers Crossing, Worcs (wrong setting on camera in full sun).
27.25/5/2025: 66760 tnt 57310 5Z77 Ribblehead – Princes Risborough at Bentley Heath (missed it due to very early running).
28. 3/6/2025: 69005 6O01 Scunthorpe – Eastleigh at Widney Manor (cloud cover).
29. 11/6/2025: 43465 43484 47715 0Z47 Princes Risborough – Northallerton at Water Orton (cloud cover, full sun at booked time).
30.11/6/2025: 37501 5Q77 Gascoigne Wood – Bletchley at Water Orton (cloud cover, full sun at booked time).
31. 11/6/2025: 37405 97303 5Z15 Barmouth – Oxford at Cofton Hackett (went off route ending up late. Stayed in bed ahead of work so missed it).
32.16/6/2025: 66727 4H33 Banbury – Hindlow at Tyseley (cloud cover).
33.19/6/2025: 66710 in consist of 6O01 Scunthorpe – Eastleigh at Lapworth (left 15 Dorridge loop minutes early so missed it).
34.26/6/2025: 66719 tnt 66710 3Z21 Paddington – Kidderminster SVR at Crookbarrow Bridge, Worcester (cloud cover).
35.30/6/2025: 37608 5Q60 Ilford – Barton u Needwood at Barton (cloud slow to clear with early passing. Stood at signal in full sun!).
36.7/7/2025: 66701 6O01 Scunthorpe – Eastleigh at Widney Manor and then Lapworth (cloud cover).
37.14/7/2025: 50008 5E50 Alton – Derby Litchurch Ln at Tyseley (cloud cover, full sun seconds after passing).
38.2/8/2025: 69013 1Z30 Paddington – Derby Litchurch Ln ay Lea Marston (cloud cover, no chance in this area).
39. 2/8/2025: 33029 33025 1Z30 Eastleigh – Derby Litchurch Ln at Whitacre Junction (cloud cover, full sun 5 minutes after).
40.5/8/2025: 69004 6O01 Scunthorpe – Eastleigh at Lapworth (cloud cover, sun out at booked time just 3 minutes later).
41.6/8/2025: 33012 Derby Litchurch Ln – Strawberry Hill at Barrow u Soar (high cloud build up, full sun at booked time).
42. 8/8/2025: 66301 6G99 4F33 Banbury – Wellingborough at Tyseley (cloud cover).
43.22/8/2025: 66791 6X01 Scunthorpe – Eastleigh at Widney Manor (6M40 came the other way blocking the intended shot in full sun).
44.26/8/2025: 66301 6G99 Tunstead – Banbury at Shrewley (cloud cover. Attempted later that week but it ran early with little chance of sun).
45.16/9/2025: 37116 tnt 37667 1Z75 Derby RTC – Canton at Stoke Prior (persistant cloud build up over sun).
46.22/9/2025: 37510 5Q86 Long Marston – Eastleigh at Husum Way, Kidderminster (cancelled in full sun before reinstatement later that day).
47.24/9/2025: 66780 4E36 Southampton – Masborough at Bromford Bridge (clouded over).
48.24/9/2025: 37501 5Q16 Soho – Gascoigne Wood at Bromford Bridge (38 minutes late so passed when that cloud built up).
49.24/9/2025: 66734 4M54 Cardiff – Burton at Bromford Bridge (another casualty of that wretched cloud build up. Missed 3 celebs that morning!).
50.25/9/2025: 66703 66715 66004 66553 6O01 Scunthorpe – Eastleigh at Whitacre Junction and Bentley Heath (sun dipped out both occasions).
51.30/9/2025: 37407 5Q35 Barrow Hill – Long Marston at Wylds Ln, Worcester (cloud cover).
52.30/9/2025: 68026 Long Marston – Eastleigh at Saddlers Crossing, Worcs (cloud cover).
53.6/10/2025: 70008 6G65 Hope – Walsall at Lea Marston (cloud cover).
54. 27/10/2025: 68031 5Q67 Eastleigh –Long Marston at Bissel wood, Blakedown (cloud cover).
55.27/10/2025: 68029 3N06 Birmingham Moor St – Bicester at Tyseley (blocked by 6E11, sun not out at the time in any case).
56.29/10/2025: 37884 with 323221 5Q94 Derby Litchurch Ln at Cofton Hackett (Stubborn black cloud).
57.17/11/2025: 37407 5Q38 Northampton – Long Marston at Selly Oak (intended shot spoilt by disturbed pigeons).
58.15/12/25: 37800 with 769421 5Q94 Allerton – Long Marston at Northfield Station (cloud cover after promising full sun).
Thank you for finding the time to view this list.
happy New Year to all those who take the time to view my pictures.
Based on the forecast before going to bed the night before, I decided to wake up at 2 am and set up a telescope at a site with a clear northeastern horizon for observing C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), which was to rise at 04:07 that morning. Since I do not have my trusted alignment points in the back yard that result in a very close polar alignment every time, I installed PoleMaster to verify that I was on Polaris before putting the telescope on the mount. After completing my setup, I returned to PoleMaster to complete a more precise polar alignment. The display was blank, so I checked for the lens cap, checked my connections, and scratched my head. I looked up, and could not see a single star. The clouds had rolled in while I was setting up. I was hopeful that the sky would clear while I was waiting. As I was impatiently watching my PoleMaster display, I saw Polaris occasionally peek through small breaks in the clouds, but I never saw the reference stars around Polaris that are needed to finish up the polar alignment. To occupy myself while continuing the wait, I took a screen shot of PoleMaster as Polaris was peeking through one of the small breaks in the clouds, and annotated it in MS Paint. Oh well, at least I have a photo of Polaris to show for my effort.
We decided to go for a city break rather than sun in Tenerife again this September. Other than a few days in the North East we haven’t been away since last March and wanted a change and hopefully some sun. The problem is getting flights from the north of England to the places we want to go to. We chose Valencia as we could fly from East Midlands – which was still a pain to get to as it involved the most notorious stretch of the M1 at five in the morning. In the end we had a fairly good journey, the new Ryanair business class pre-booked scheme worked quite well and bang on time as usual. It was dull when we landed with storms forecast all week, the sky was bright grey – the kiss of death to the photography I had in mind. I was full of cold and wishing I was at work. It did rain but it was overnight on our first night and didn't affect us. There has been a drought for eleven months apparently and it rained on our first day there! The forecast storms didn't materialise in Valencia but they got it elsewhere.
You May notice discrepancies in the spelling of some Spanish words or names, this is because Valencian is used on signs, in some guide books and maps. There are two languages in common use with distinct differences. There may also be genuine mistakes - it has been known!
Over the course of a Monday to Sunday week we covered 75 miles on foot and saw most of the best of Valencia – The City of Bell Towers. The Old City covers a pretty large area in a very confusing layout. There was a lot of referring to maps – even compass readings! – a first in a city for us. The problem with photography in Valencia is that most of the famous and attractive building are closely built around, some have poor quality housing built on to them. Most photographs have to be taken from an extreme angle looking up. There are no high points as it is pan flat, there are a small number of buildings where you can pay to go up on to the roof for a better view and we went up them – more than once!
The modern buildings of The City of Arts and Sciences – ( Ciutat de Las Arts I de les Ciencies ) are what the city has more recently become famous for, with tourists arriving by the coachload all day until late at night. They must be photographed millions of times a month. We went during the day and stayed till dark one evening, I gave it my best shot but a first time visit is always a compromise between ambition and realism, time dictates that we have to move on to the next destination. I travelled with a full size tripod – another first – I forgot to take it with me to TCoAaS! so It was time to wind up the ISO, again! Needless to say I never used the tripod.
On a day when rain was forecast but it stayed fine, albeit a bit dull, we went to the Bioparc north west of the city, a zoo by another name. There are many claims made for this place, were you can appear to walk alongside some very large animals, including, elephants, lions, giraffe, rhino, gorillas and many types of monkey to name a few. It is laid out in different geographical regions and there is very little between you and the animals, in some cases there is nothing, you enter the enclosure through a double door arrangement and the monkeys are around you. It gets rave reviews and we stayed for most of the day. The animals it has to be said gave the appearance of extreme boredom and frustration and I felt quite sorry for them.
The course of The River Turia was altered after a major flood in the 50’s. The new river runs west of the city flanked by a motorway. The old river, which is massive, deep and very wide between ancient walls, I can’t imagine how it flooded, has been turned into a park that is five miles long. There is an athletics track, football pitches, cycle paths, restaurants, numerous kids parks, ponds, fountains, loads of bridges, historic and modern. At the western end closest to the sea sits The City of Arts and Sciences – in the river bed. Where it meets the sea there is Valencia’s urban Formula One racetrack finishing in the massive marina built for The Americas Cup. The race track is in use as roadways complete with fully removable street furniture, kerbs, bollards, lights, islands and crossings, everything is just sat on the surface ready to be moved.
We found the beach almost by accident, we were desperate for food after putting in a lot of miles and the afternoon was ticking by. What a beach, 100’s of metres wide and stretching as far as the eye could see with a massive promenade. The hard thing was choosing, out of the dozens of restaurants, all next door to each other, all serving traditional Paella – rabbit and chicken – as well as seafood, we don’t eat seafood and it constituted 90% of the menu in most places. Every restaurant does a fixed price dish of the day, with a few choices, three courses and a drink. Some times this was our only meal besides making the most of the continental breakfast at the hotel. We had a fair few bar stops with the local wine being cheap and pleasant it would have been a shame not to, there would have been a one woman riot – or strike!
On our final day, a Sunday, we were out of bed and down for breakfast at 7.45 as usual, the place was deserted barring a waiter. We walked out of the door at 8.30 – in to the middle of a mass road race with many thousands of runners, one of a series that take place in Valencia – apparently! We struggled to find out the distance, possibly 10km. The finish was just around the corner so off we went with the camera gear, taking photos of random runners and groups. There was a TV crew filming it and some local celebrity (I think) commentating. Next we came across some sort of wandering religious and musical event. Some sort of ritual was played out over the course of Sunday morning in various locations, it involved catholic priests and religious buildings and another film crew. The Catholic tourists and locals were filling the (many) churches for Sunday mass. Amongst all of this we had seen men walking around in Arab style dress – the ones in black looked like the ones from ISIS currently beheading people – all carrying guns. A bit disconcerting. We assumed that there had been some sort of battle enactment. We were wrong, it hadn’t happened yet. A while later, about 11.30 we could hear banging, fireworks? No it was our friends with the guns. We were caught up in total mayhem, around 60 men randomly firing muskets with some sort of blank rounds, the noise, smoke and flames from the muzzles were incredible. We were about to climb the Torres de Serranos which is where, unbeknown to us, the grand, and deafening, finale was going to be. We could feel the blast in our faces on top of the tower. Yet again there was a film camera in attendance. I couldn’t get close ups but I got a good overview and shot my first video with the 5D, my first in 5 years of owning a DLSR with the capability. I usually use my phone ( I used my phone as well). Later in the day there was a bullfight taking place, the ring was almost next to our hotel, in the end we had other things to do and gave it a miss, it was certainly a busy Sunday in the city centre, whether it’s the norm or not I don’t know.
There is a tram system in Valencia but it goes from the port area into the newer part of the city on the north side, it wouldn’t be feasible to serve the historic old city really. A quick internet search told me that there are 55,000 university students in the city, a pretty big number. I think a lot of the campus is on the north side and served by the tram although there is a massive fleet of buses as well. There is a massive, very impressive market building , with 100’s of stalls that would make a photo project on its own, beautiful on the inside and out but very difficult to get decent photos of the exterior other than detail shots owing to the closeness of other buildings and the sheer size of it. Across town, another market has been beautifully renovated and is full of bars and restaurants and a bit of a destination in its own right.
A downside was the all too typical shafting by the taxi drivers who use every trick in the book to side step the official tariffs and rob you. The taxi from the airport had a “broken” meter and on the way home we were driven 22 km instead of the nine that is the actual distance. Some of them seem to view tourists as cash cows to be robbed at all costs. I emailed the Marriot hotel as they ordered the taxi, needless to say no answer from Marriot – they’ve had their money. We didn’t get the rip off treatment in the bars etc. that we experienced in Rome, prices are very fair on most things, certainly considering the city location.
All in all we had a good trip and can highly recommend Valencia.
Forecast is threatening rain for most of the day. Thankfully, my friend the Red Kite made an appearance in the treetops again. So able to maintain my view from the garden this morning.
I have a friend who will visit Canterbury Cathedral once the scaffolding has been taken down from outside.
I had tried two weeks ago to check, but found the cathedral closed for a conferance.
Last week the weather was most inclement, apart from Wednesday when there just wasn't time, as it opens at 10:00 for the winter months, not an hour earlier like in summer on previous visits.
The forecast changed for Monday, so plans we made to head to the city once the rush hour ended, and get there at about ten when the cathedral would be quiet.
Jools went swimming first thing, I went back to sleep and woke at six with Jools having already left, and me being used as a kitty bed.
I got out from beside Cleo, got dressed and made a coffee. Downstairs I found one of the cats had used the litter tray for "number 2s", and had wandered off halfway, so there was a train of poo across the carpet. Jools had cleaned the carpet, but I would change the litter and the remains of the cat's eggs.
Once daylight arrived, the litter was emptied, the tray cleaned, dried and refilled. Bird seed refilled too, and then to catch up on stuff online, wait for Jools so we could have breakfast.
We were all set for a half nine departure, a quick blast up the A2 in damp conditions, along New Dover Road to the ring road, then to the parking garage where we would pay a nice chap to clean the car whilst we went about our stuff.
I went straight to the Cathedral. Its always a wonderful sight, seeing the towers rise above the timber-framed houses along the narrow cobbled streets as you approach the Christchurch Gate. I always take a shot or two, and did again.
I paid to get in, and walked into the Close, and saw that indeed the scaffolding had all gone.
It loos splendid, all clean stone and repaired carvings.
I walk in and see the Nave empty of chairs, not sure I've seen that before. A guide asks if I needed help or guidance, but I was good.
She did tell me to make sure I saw the newly carved updated list of Archbishops, as the new one was in vestured last week at St Paul's in that London.
I took shots.
And I went round taking shots of memorials and views I hadn't snapped before, or love taking.
The cathedral was pretty empty still, so I admire the windows, especially now the west window is free of scaffolding and all glass has been replaced. These are the oldest stained glass in England, dating from the 12th century.
On leaving, two groups of schoolchidren are entering, their voices filling the large empty space of the Nave. I wait for them to pass, then go to sit in the Close, message Jools as to where we should meet.
I get no answer, so exit through the shop, and walk up to Tiny Tim's Tearooms, where I order a beef and cheese bagel and a pot of tea, as I had come suddenly hungry.
At midday, I get a message from Jools, we would meet back at the car. So I walk to Whitefriars, and wait for her before we took the lift to where our car was waiting, all gleaming and looking like new.
We drove home in the rain, which had began again, this time set in for the day.
I had bought two cheese scones from Tiny Tim's, so that was our lunch. Though in truth there were like small loaves. So much so, in fact, we wanted nothing else to eat that day.
I sat on the sofa with Scully to keep her company, so we watch Bangers and Cash for 90 minutes.
Its great that we can just write the day off because either we want to or the weather is crap.
There was Sunderland v Burnley on the tellybox to entertain me, though it was pretty much one way traffic. So much so I went to bed at half time, but the cheers from next door woke me up with Sunderland scored their third and last goal of the night.
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History of the cathedral
THE ORIGIN of a Christian church on the scite of the present cathedral, is supposed to have taken place as early as the Roman empire in Britain, for the use of the antient faithful and believing soldiers of their garrison here; and that Augustine found such a one standing here, adjoining to king Ethelbert's palace, which was included in the king's gift to him.
This supposition is founded on the records of the priory of Christ-church, (fn. 1) concurring with the common opinion of almost all our historians, who tell us of a church in Canterbury, which Augustine found standing in the east part of the city, which he had of king Ethelbert's gift, which after his consecration at Arles, in France, he commended by special dedication to the patronage of our blessed Saviour. (fn. 2)
According to others, the foundations only of an old church formerly built by the believing Romans, were left here, on which Augustine erected that, which he afterwards dedicated to out Saviour; (fn. 3) and indeed it is not probable that king Ethelbert should have suffered the unsightly ruins of a Christian church, which, being a Pagan, must have been very obnoxious to him, so close to his palace, and supposing these ruins had been here, would he not have suffered them to be repaired, rather than have obliged his Christian queen to travel daily to such a distance as St. Martin's church, or St. Pancrace's chapel, for the performance of her devotions.
Some indeed have conjectured that the church found by St. Augustine, in the east part of the city, was that of St.Martin, truly so situated; and urge in favor of it, that there have not been at any time any remains of British or Roman bricks discovered scattered in or about this church of our Saviour, those infallible, as Mr. Somner stiles them, signs of antiquity, and so generally found in buildings, which have been erected on, or close to the spot where more antient ones have stood. But to proceed, king Ethelbert's donation to Augustine was made in the year 596, who immediately afterwards went over to France, and was consecrated a bishop at Arles, and after his return, as soon as he had sufficiently finished a church here, whether built out of ruins or anew, it matters not, he exercised his episcopal function in the dedication of it, says the register of Christ-church, to the honor of Christ our Saviour; whence it afterwards obtained the name of Christ-church. (fn. 4)
From the time of Augustine for the space of upwards of three hundred years, there is not found in any printed or manuscript chronicle, the least mention of the fabric of this church, so that it is probable nothing befell it worthy of being recorded; however it should be mentioned, that during that period the revenues of it were much increased, for in the leiger books of it there are registered more than fifty donations of manors, lands, &c. so large and bountiful, as became the munificence of kings and nobles to confer. (fn. 5)
It is supposed, especially as we find no mention made of any thing to the contrary, that the fabric of this church for two hundred years after Augustine's time, met with no considerable molestations; but afterwards, the frequent invasions of the Danes involved both the civil and ecclesiastical state of this country in continual troubles and dangers; in the confusion of which, this church appears to have run into a state of decay; for when Odo was promoted to the archbishopric, in the year 938, the roof of it was in a ruinous condition; age had impaired it, and neglect had made it extremely dangerous; the walls of it were of an uneven height, according as it had been more or less decayed, and the roof of the church seemed ready to fall down on the heads of those underneath. All this the archbishop undertook to repair, and then covered the whole church with lead; to finish which, it took three years, as Osbern tells us, in the life of Odo; (fn. 6) and further, that there was not to be found a church of so large a size, capable of containing so great a multitude of people, and thus, perhaps, it continued without any material change happening to it, till the year 1011; a dismal and fatal year to this church and city; a time of unspeakable confusion and calamities; for in the month of September that year, the Danes, after a siege of twenty days, entered this city by force, burnt the houses, made a lamentable slaughter of the inhabitants, rifled this church, and then set it on fire, insomuch, that the lead with which archbishop Odo had covered it, being melted, ran down on those who were underneath. The sull story of this calamity is given by Osbern, in the life of archbishop Odo, an abridgement of which the reader will find below. (fn. 7)
The church now lay in ruins, without a roof, the bare walls only standing, and in this desolate condition it remained as long as the fury of the Danes prevailed, who after they had burnt the church, carried away archbishop Alphage with them, kept him in prison seven months, and then put him to death, in the year 1012, the year after which Living, or Livingus, succeeded him as archbishop, though it was rather in his calamities than in his seat of dignity, for he too was chained up by the Danes in a loathsome dungeon for seven months, before he was set free, but he so sensibly felt the deplorable state of this country, which he foresaw was every day growing worse and worse, that by a voluntary exile, he withdrew himself out of the nation, to find some solitary retirement, where he might bewail those desolations of his country, to which he was not able to bring any relief, but by his continual prayers. (fn. 8) He just outlived this storm, returned into England, and before he died saw peace and quientness restored to this land by king Canute, who gaining to himself the sole sovereignty over the nation, made it his first business to repair the injuries which had been done to the churches and monasteries in this kingdom, by his father's and his own wars. (fn. 9)
As for this church, archbishop Ægelnoth, who presided over it from the year 1020 to the year 1038, began and finished the repair, or rather the rebuilding of it, assisted in it by the royal munificence of the king, (fn. 10) who in 1023 presented his crown of gold to this church, and restored to it the port of Sandwich, with its liberties. (fn. 11) Notwithstanding this, in less than forty years afterwards, when Lanfranc soon after the Norman conquest came to the see, he found this church reduced almost to nothing by fire, and dilapidations; for Eadmer says, it had been consumed by a third conflagration, prior to the year of his advancement to it, in which fire almost all the antient records of the privileges of it had perished. (fn. 12)
The same writer has given us a description of this old church, as it was before Lanfranc came to the see; by which we learn, that at the east end there was an altar adjoining to the wall of the church, of rough unhewn stone, cemented with mortar, erected by archbishop Odo, for a repository of the body of Wilfrid, archbishop of York, which Odo had translated from Rippon hither, giving it here the highest place; at a convenient distance from this, westward, there was another altar, dedicated to Christ our Saviour, at which divine service was daily celebrated. In this altar was inclosed the head of St. Swithin, with many other relics, which archbishop Alphage brought with him from Winchester. Passing from this altar westward, many steps led down to the choir and nave, which were both even, or upon the same level. At the bottom of the steps, there was a passage into the undercroft, under all the east part of the church. (fn. 13) At the east end of which, was an altar, in which was inclosed, according to old tradition, the head of St. Furseus. From hence by a winding passage, at the west end of it, was the tomb of St. Dunstan, (fn. 14) but separated from the undercroft by a strong stone wall; over the tomb was erected a monument, pyramid wife, and at the head of it an altar, (fn. 15) for the mattin service. Between these steps, or passage into the undercroft and the nave, was the choir, (fn. 16) which was separated from the nave by a fair and decent partition, to keep off the crowds of people that usually were in the body of the church, so that the singing of the chanters in the choir might not be disturbed. About the middle of the length of the nave, were two towers or steeples, built without the walls; one on the south, and the other on the north side. In the former was the altar of St. Gregory, where was an entrance into the church by the south door, and where law controversies and pleas concerning secular matters were exercised. (fn. 17) In the latter, or north tower, was a passage for the monks into the church, from the monastery; here were the cloysters, where the novices were instructed in their religious rules and offices, and where the monks conversed together. In this tower was the altar of St. Martin. At the west end of the church was a chapel, dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary, to which there was an ascent by steps, and at the east end of it an altar, dedicated to her, in which was inclosed the head of St. Astroburta the Virgin; and at the western part of it was the archbishop's pontifical chair, made of large stones, compacted together with mortar; a fair piece of work, and placed at a convenient distance from the altar, close to the wall of the church. (fn. 18)
To return now to archbishop Lanfranc, who was sent for from Normandy in 1073, being the fourth year of the Conqueror's reign, to fill this see, a time, when a man of a noble spirit, equal to the laborious task he was to undertake, was wanting especially for this church; and that he was such, the several great works which were performed by him, were incontestable proofs, as well as of his great and generous mind. At the first sight of the ruinous condition of this church, says the historian, the archbishop was struck with astonishment, and almost despaired of seeing that and the monastery re edified; but his care and perseverance raised both in all its parts anew, and that in a novel and more magnificent kind and form of structure, than had been hardly in any place before made use of in this kingdom, which made it a precedent and pattern to succeeding structures of this kind; (fn. 19) and new monasteries and churches were built after the example of it; for it should be observed, that before the coming of the Normans most of the churches and monasteries in this kingdom were of wood; (all the monasteries in my realm, says king Edgar, in his charter to the abbey of Malmesbury, dated anno 974, to the outward sight are nothing but worm-eaten and rotten timber and boards) but after the Norman conquest, such timber fabrics grew out of use, and gave place to stone buildings raised upon arches; a form of structure introduced into general use by that nation, and in these parts surnished with stone from Caen, in Normandy. (fn. 20) After this fashion archbishop Lanfranc rebuilt the whole church from the foundation, with the palace and monastery, the wall which encompassed the court, and all the offices belonging to the monastery within the wall, finishing the whole nearly within the compass of seven years; (fn. 21) besides which, he furnished the church with ornaments and rich vestments; after which, the whole being perfected, he altered the name of it, by a dedication of it to the Holy Trinity; whereas, before it was called the church of our Saviour, or Christ-church, and from the above time it bore (as by Domesday book appears) the name of the church of the Holy Trinity; this new church being built on the same spot on which the antient one stood, though on a far different model.
After Lanfranc's death, archbishop Anselm succeeded in the year 1093, to the see of Canterbury, and must be esteemed a principal benefactor to this church; for though his time was perplexed with a continued series of troubles, of which both banishment and poverty made no small part, which in a great measure prevented him from bestowing that cost on his church, which he would otherwise have done, yet it was through his patronage and protection, and through his care and persuasions, that the fabric of it, begun and perfected by his predecessor, became enlarged and rose to still greater splendor. (fn. 22)
In order to carry this forward, upon the vacancy of the priory, he constituted Ernulph and Conrad, the first in 1104, the latter in 1108, priors of this church; to whose care, being men of generous and noble minds, and of singular skill in these matters, he, during his troubles, not only committed the management of this work, but of all his other concerns during his absence.
Probably archbishop Anselm, on being recalled from banishment on king Henry's accession to the throne, had pulled down that part of the church built by Lanfranc, from the great tower in the middle of it to the east end, intending to rebuild it upon a still larger and more magnificent plan; when being borne down by the king's displeasure, he intrusted prior Ernulph with the work, who raised up the building with such splendor, says Malmesbury, that the like was not to be seen in all England; (fn. 23) but the short time Ernulph continued in this office did not permit him to see his undertaking finished. (fn. 24) This was left to his successor Conrad, who, as the obituary of Christ church informs us, by his great industry, magnificently perfected the choir, which his predecessor had left unfinished, (fn. 25) adorning it with curious pictures, and enriching it with many precious ornaments. (fn. 26)
This great undertaking was not entirely compleated at the death of archbishop Anselm, which happened in 1109, anno 9 Henry I. nor indeed for the space of five years afterwards, during which the see of Canterbury continued vacant; when being finished, in honour of its builder, and on account of its more than ordinary beauty, it gained the name of the glorious choir of Conrad. (fn. 27)
After the see of Canterbury had continued thus vacant for five years, Ralph, or as some call him, Rodulph, bishop of Rochester, was translated to it in the year 1114, at whose coming to it, the church was dedicated anew to the Holy Trinity, the name which had been before given to it by Lanfranc. (fn. 28) The only particular description we have of this church when thus finished, is from Gervas, the monk of this monastery, and that proves imperfect, as to the choir of Lanfranc, which had been taken down soon after his death; (fn. 29) the following is his account of the nave, or western part of it below the choir, being that which had been erected by archbishop Lanfranc, as has been before mentioned. From him we learn, that the west end, where the chapel of the Virgin Mary stood before, was now adorned with two stately towers, on the top of which were gilded pinnacles. The nave or body was supported by eight pair of pillars. At the east end of the nave, on the north side, was an oratory, dedicated in honor to the blessed Virgin, in lieu, I suppose, of the chapel, that had in the former church been dedicated to her at the west end. Between the nave and the choir there was built a great tower or steeple, as it were in the centre of the whole fabric; (fn. 30) under this tower was erected the altar of the Holy Cross; over a partition, which separated this tower from the nave, a beam was laid across from one side to the other of the church; upon the middle of this beam was fixed a great cross, between the images of the Virgin Mary and St. John, and between two cherubims. The pinnacle on the top of this tower, was a gilded cherub, and hence it was called the angel steeple; a name it is frequently called by at this day. (fn. 31)
This great tower had on each side a cross isle, called the north and south wings, which were uniform, of the same model and dimensions; each of them had a strong pillar in the middle for a support to the roof, and each of them had two doors or passages, by which an entrance was open to the east parts of the church. At one of these doors there was a descent by a few steps into the undercroft; at the other, there was an ascent by many steps into the upper parts of the church, that is, the choir, and the isles on each side of it. Near every one of these doors or passages, an altar was erected; at the upper door in the south wing, there was an altar in honour of All Saints; and at the lower door there was one of St. Michael; and before this altar on the south side was buried archbishop Fleologild; and on the north side, the holy Virgin Siburgis, whom St. Dunstan highly admired for her sanctity. In the north isle, by the upper door, was the altar of St. Blaze; and by the lower door, that of St. Benedict. In this wing had been interred four archbishops, Adelm and Ceolnoth, behind the altar, and Egelnoth and Wlfelm before it. At the entrance into this wing, Rodulph and his successor William Corboil, both archbishops, were buried. (fn. 32)
Hence, he continues, we go up by some steps into the great tower, and before us there is a door and steps leading down into the south wing, and on the right hand a pair of folding doors, with stairs going down into the nave of the church; but without turning to any of these, let us ascend eastward, till by several more steps we come to the west end of Conrad's choir; being now at the entrance of the choir, Gervas tells us, that he neither saw the choir built by Lanfranc, nor found it described by any one; that Eadmer had made mention of it, without giving any account of it, as he had done of the old church, the reason of which appears to be, that Lanfranc's choir did not long survive its founder, being pulled down as before-mentioned, by archbishop Anselm; so that it could not stand more than twenty years; therefore the want of a particular description of it will appear no great defect in the history of this church, especially as the deficiency is here supplied by Gervas's full relation of the new choir of Conrad, built instead of it; of which, whoever desires to know the whole architecture and model observed in the fabric, the order, number, height and form of the pillars and windows, may know the whole of it from him. The roof of it, he tells us, (fn. 33) was beautified with curious paintings representing heaven; (fn. 34) in several respects it was agreeable to the present choir, the stalls were large and framed of carved wood. In the middle of it, there hung a gilded crown, on which were placed four and twenty tapers of wax. From the choir an ascent of three steps led to the presbiterium, or place for the presbiters; here, he says, it would be proper to stop a little and take notice of the high altar, which was dedicated to the name of CHRIST. It was placed between two other altars, the one of St. Dunstan, the other of St. Alphage; at the east corners of the high altar were fixed two pillars of wood, beautified with silver and gold; upon these pillars was placed a beam, adorned with gold, which reached across the church, upon it there were placed the glory, (fn. 35) the images of St. Dunstan and St. Alphage, and seven chests or coffers overlaid with gold, full of the relics of many saints. Between those pillars was a cross gilded all over, and upon the upper beam of the cross were set sixty bright crystals.
Beyond this, by an ascent of eight steps towards the east, behind the altar, was the archiepiscopal throne, which Gervas calls the patriarchal chair, made of one stone; in this chair, according to the custom of the church, the archbishop used to sit, upon principal festivals, in his pontifical ornaments, whilst the solemn offices of religion were celebrated, until the consecration of the host, when he came down to the high altar, and there performed the solemnity of consecration. Still further, eastward, behind the patriarchal chair, (fn. 36) was a chapel in the front of the whole church, in which was an altar, dedicated to the Holy Trinity; behind which were laid the bones of two archbishops, Odo of Canterbury, and Wilfrid of York; by this chapel on the south side near the wall of the church, was laid the body of archbishop Lanfranc, and on the north side, the body of archbishop Theobald. Here it is to be observed, that under the whole east part of the church, from the angel steeple, there was an undercrost or crypt, (fn. 37) in which were several altars, chapels and sepulchres; under the chapel of the Trinity before-mentioned, were two altars, on the south side, the altar of St. Augustine, the apostle of the English nation, by which archbishop Athelred was interred. On the north side was the altar of St. John Baptist, by which was laid the body of archbishop Eadsin; under the high altar was the chapel and altar of the blessed Virgin Mary, to whom the whole undercroft was dedicated.
To return now, he continues, to the place where the bresbyterium and choir meet, where on each side there was a cross isle (as was to be seen in his time) which might be called the upper south and north wings; on the east side of each of these wings were two half circular recesses or nooks in the wall, arched over after the form of porticoes. Each of them had an altar, and there was the like number of altars under them in the crost. In the north wing, the north portico had the altar of St. Martin, by which were interred the bodies of two archbishops, Wlfred on the right, and Living on the left hand; under it in the croft, was the altar of St. Mary Magdalen. The other portico in this wing, had the altar of St. Stephen, and by it were buried two archbishops, Athelard on the left hand, and Cuthbert on the right; in the croft under it, was the altar of St. Nicholas. In the south wing, the north portico had the altar of St. John the Evangelist, and by it the bodies of Æthelgar and Aluric, archbishops, were laid. In the croft under it was the altar of St. Paulinus, by which the body of archbishop Siricius was interred. In the south portico was the altar of St. Gregory, by which were laid the corps of the two archbishops Bregwin and Plegmund. In the croft under it was the altar of St. Owen, archbishop of Roan, and underneath in the croft, not far from it the altar of St. Catherine.
Passing from these cross isles eastward there were two towers, one on the north, the other on the south side of the church. In the tower on the north side was the altar of St. Andrew, which gave name to the tower; under it, in the croft, was the altar of the Holy Innocents; the tower on the south side had the altar of St. Peter and St. Paul, behind which the body of St. Anselm was interred, which afterwards gave name both to the altar and tower (fn. 38) (now called St. Anselm's). The wings or isles on each side of the choir had nothing in particular to be taken notice of.— Thus far Gervas, from whose description we in particular learn, where several of the bodies of the old archbishops were deposited, and probably the ashes of some of them remain in the same places to this day.
As this building, deservedly called the glorious choir of Conrad, was a magnificent work, so the undertaking of it at that time will appear almost beyond example, especially when the several circumstances of it are considered; but that it was carried forward at the archbishop's cost, exceeds all belief. It was in the discouraging reign of king William Rufus, a prince notorious in the records of history, for all manner of sacrilegious rapine, that archbishop Anselm was promoted to this see; when he found the lands and revenues of this church so miserably wasted and spoiled, that there was hardly enough left for his bare subsistence; who, in the first years that he sat in the archiepiscopal chair, struggled with poverty, wants and continual vexations through the king's displeasure, (fn. 39) and whose three next years were spent in banishment, during all which time he borrowed money for his present maintenance; who being called home by king Henry I. at his coming to the crown, laboured to pay the debts he had contracted during the time of his banishment, and instead of enjoying that tranquility and ease he hoped for, was, within two years afterwards, again sent into banishment upon a fresh displeasure conceived against him by the king, who then seized upon all the revenues of the archbishopric, (fn. 40) which he retained in his own hands for no less than four years.
Under these hard circumstances, it would have been surprizing indeed, that the archbishop should have been able to carry on so great a work, and yet we are told it, as a truth, by the testimonies of history; but this must surely be understood with the interpretation of his having been the patron, protector and encourager, rather than the builder of this work, which he entrusted to the care and management of the priors Ernulph and Conrad, and sanctioned their employing, as Lanfranc had done before, the revenues and stock of the church to this use. (fn. 41)
In this state as above-mentioned, without any thing material happening to it, this church continued till about the year 1130, anno 30 Henry I. when it seems to have suffered some damage by a fire; (fn. 42) but how much, there is no record left to inform us; however it could not be of any great account, for it was sufficiently repaired, and that mostly at the cost of archbishop Corboil, who then sat in the chair of this see, (fn. 43) before the 4th of May that year, on which day, being Rogation Sunday, the bishops performed the dedication of it with great splendor and magnificence, such, says Gervas, col. 1664, as had not been heard of since the dedication of the temple of Solomon; the king, the queen, David, king of Scots, all the archbishops, and the nobility of both kingdoms being present at it, when this church's former name was restored again, being henceforward commonly called Christ-church. (fn. 44)
Among the manuscripts of Trinity college library, in Cambridge, in a very curious triple psalter of St. Jerome, in Latin, written by the monk Eadwyn, whose picture is at the beginning of it, is a plan or drawing made by him, being an attempt towards a representation of this church and monastery, as they stood between the years 1130 and 1174; which makes it probable, that he was one of the monks of it, and the more so, as the drawing has not any kind of relation to the plalter or sacred hymns contained in the manuscript.
His plan, if so it may be called, for it is neither such, nor an upright, nor a prospect, and yet something of all together; but notwithstanding this rudeness of the draftsman, it shews very plain that it was intended for this church and priory, and gives us a very clear knowledge, more than we have been able to learn from any description we have besides, of what both were at the above period of time. (fn. 45)
Forty-four years after this dedication, on the 5th of September, anno 1174, being the 20th year of king Henry II.'s reign, a fire happened, which consumed great part of this stately edifice, namely, the whole choir, from the angel steeple to the east end of the church, together with the prior's lodgings, the chapel of the Virgin Mary, the infirmary, and some other offices belonging to the monastery; but the angel steeple, the lower cross isles, and the nave appear to have received no material injury from the flames. (fn. 46) The narrative of this accident is told by Gervas, the monk of Canterbury, so often quoted before, who was an eye witness of this calamity, as follows:
Three small houses in the city near the old gate of the monastery took fire by accident, a strong south wind carried the flakes of fire to the top of the church, and lodged them between the joints of the lead, driving them to the timbers under it; this kindled a fire there, which was not discerned till the melted lead gave a free passage for the flames to appear above the church, and the wind gaining by this means a further power of increasing them, drove them inwardly, insomuch that the danger became immediately past all possibility of relief. The timber of the roof being all of it on fire, fell down into the choir, where the stalls of the manks, made of large pieces of carved wood, afforded plenty of fuel to the flames, and great part of the stone work, through the vehement heat of the fire, was so weakened, as to be brought to irreparable ruin, and besides the fabric itself, the many rich ornaments in the church were devoured by the flames.
The choir being thus laid in ashes, the monks removed from amidst the ruins, the bodies of the two saints, whom they called patrons of the church, the archbishops Dunstan and Alphage, and deposited them by the altar of the great cross, in the nave of the church; (fn. 47) and from this time they celebrated the daily religious offices in the oratory of the blessed Virgin Mary in the nave, and continued to do so for more than five years, when the choir being re edified, they returned to it again. (fn. 48)
Upon this destruction of the church, the prior and convent, without any delay, consulted on the most speedy and effectual method of rebuilding it, resolving to finish it in such a manner, as should surpass all the former choirs of it, as well in beauty as size and magnificence. To effect this, they sent for the most skilful architects that could be found either in France or England. These surveyed the walls and pillars, which remained standing, but they found great part of them so weakened by the fire, that they could no ways be built upon with any safety; and it was accordingly resolved, that such of them should be taken down; a whole year was spent in doing this, and in providing materials for the new building, for which they sent abroad for the best stone that could be procured; Gervas has given a large account, (fn. 49) how far this work advanced year by year; what methods and rules of architecture were observed, and other particulars relating to the rebuilding of this church; all which the curious reader may consult at his leisure; it will be sufficient to observe here, that the new building was larger in height and length, and more beautiful in every respect, than the choir of Conrad; for the roof was considerably advanced above what it was before, and was arched over with stone; whereas before it was composed of timber and boards. The capitals of the pillars were now beautified with different sculptures of carvework; whereas, they were before plain, and six pillars more were added than there were before. The former choir had but one triforium, or inner gallery, but now there were two made round it, and one in each side isle and three in the cross isles; before, there were no marble pillars, but such were now added to it in abundance. In forwarding this great work, the monks had spent eight years, when they could proceed no further for want of money; but a fresh supply coming in from the offerings at St. Thomas's tomb, so much more than was necessary for perfecting the repair they were engaged in, as encouraged them to set about a more grand design, which was to pull down the eastern extremity of the church, with the small chapel of the Holy Trinity adjoining to it, and to erect upon a stately undercroft, a most magnificent one instead of it, equally lofty with the roof of the church, and making a part of it, which the former one did not, except by a door into it; but this new chapel, which was dedicated likewise to the Holy Trinity, was not finished till some time after the rest of the church; at the east end of this chapel another handsome one, though small, was afterwards erected at the extremity of the whole building, since called Becket's crown, on purpose for an altar and the reception of some part of his relics; (fn. 50) further mention of which will be made hereafter.
The eastern parts of this church, as Mr. Gostling observes, have the appearance of much greater antiquity than what is generally allowed to them; and indeed if we examine the outside walls and the cross wings on each side of the choir, it will appear, that the whole of them was not rebuilt at the time the choir was, and that great part of them was suffered to remain, though altered, added to, and adapted as far as could be, to the new building erected at that time; the traces of several circular windows and other openings, which were then stopped up, removed, or altered, still appearing on the walls both of the isles and the cross wings, through the white-wash with which they are covered; and on the south side of the south isle, the vaulting of the roof as well as the triforium, which could not be contrived so as to be adjusted to the places of the upper windows, plainly shew it. To which may be added, that the base or foot of one of the westernmost large pillars of the choir on the north side, is strengthened with a strong iron band round it, by which it should seem to have been one of those pillars which had been weakened by the fire, but was judged of sufficient firmness, with this precaution, to remain for the use of the new fabric.
The outside of this part of the church is a corroborating proof of what has been mentioned above, as well in the method, as in the ornaments of the building.— The outside of it towards the south, from St. Michael's chapel eastward, is adorned with a range of small pillars, about six inches diameter, and about three feet high, some with santastic shasts and capitals, others with plain ones; these support little arches, which intersect each other; and this chain or girdle of pillars is continued round the small tower, the eastern cross isle and the chapel of St. Anselm, to the buildings added in honour of the Holy Trinity, and St. Thomas Becket, where they leave off. The casing of St. Michael's chapel has none of them, but the chapel of the Virgin Mary, answering to it on the north side of the church, not being fitted to the wall, shews some of them behind it; which seems as if they had been continued before, quite round the eastern parts of the church.
These pillars, which rise from about the level of the pavement, within the walls above them, are remarkably plain and bare of ornaments; but the tower above mentioned and its opposite, as soon as they rise clear of the building, are enriched with stories of this colonade, one above another, up to the platform from whence their spires rise; and the remains of the two larger towers eastward, called St. Anselm's, and that answering to it on the north side of the church, called St. Andrew's are decorated much after the same manner, as high as they remain at present.
At the time of the before-mentioned fire, which so fatally destroyed the upper part of this church, the undercrost, with the vaulting over it, seems to have remained entire, and unhurt by it.
The vaulting of the undercrost, on which the floor of the choir and eastern parts of the church is raised, is supported by pillars, whose capitals are as various and fantastical as those of the smaller ones described before, and so are their shafts, some being round, others canted, twisted, or carved, so that hardly any two of them are alike, except such as are quite plain.
These, I suppose, may be concluded to be of the same age, and if buildings in the same stile may be conjectured to be so from thence, the antiquity of this part of the church may be judged, though historians have left us in the dark in relation to it.
In Leland's Collectanea, there is an account and description of a vault under the chancel of the antient church of St. Peter, in Oxford, called Grymbald's crypt, being allowed by all, to have been built by him; (fn. 51) Grymbald was one of those great and accomplished men, whom king Alfred invited into England about the year 885, to assist him in restoring Christianity, learning and the liberal arts. (fn. 52) Those who compare the vaults or undercrost of the church of Canterbury, with the description and prints given of Grymbald's crypt, (fn. 53) will easily perceive, that two buildings could hardly have been erected more strongly resembling each other, except that this at Canterbury is larger, and more pro fusely decorated with variety of fancied ornaments, the shafts of several of the pillars here being twisted, or otherwise varied, and many of the captials exactly in the same grotesque taste as those in Grymbald's crypt. (fn. 54) Hence it may be supposed, that those whom archbishop Lanfranc employed as architects and designers of his building at Canterbury, took their model of it, at least of this part of it, from that crypt, and this undercrost now remaining is the same, as was originally built by him, as far eastward, as to that part which begins under the chapel of the Holy Trinity, where it appears to be of a later date, erected at the same time as the chapel. The part built by Lanfranc continues at this time as firm and entire, as it was at the very building of it, though upwards of seven hundred years old. (fn. 55)
But to return to the new building; though the church was not compleatly finished till the end of the year 1184, yet it was so far advanced towards it, that, in 1180, on April 19, being Easter eve, (fn. 56) the archbishop, prior and monks entered the new choir, with a solemn procession, singing Te Deum, for their happy return to it. Three days before which they had privately, by night, carried the bodies of St. Dunstan and St. Alphage to the places prepared for them near the high altar. The body likewise of queen Edive (which after the fire had been removed from the north cross isle, where it lay before, under a stately gilded shrine) to the altar of the great cross, was taken up, carried into the vestry, and thence to the altar of St. Martin, where it was placed under the coffin of archbishop Livinge. In the month of July following the altar of the Holy Trinity was demolished, and the bodies of those archbishops, which had been laid in that part of the church, were removed to other places. Odo's body was laid under St. Dunstan's and Wilfrid's under St. Alphage's; Lanfranc's was deposited nigh the altar of St. Martin, and Theobald's at that of the blessed Virgin, in the nave of the church, (fn. 57) under a marble tomb; and soon afterwards the two archbishops, on the right and left hand of archbishop Becket in the undercrost, were taken up and placed under the altar of St. Mary there. (fn. 58)
After a warning so terrible, as had lately been given, it seemed most necessary to provide against the danger of fire for the time to come; the flames, which had so lately destroyed a considerable part of the church and monastery, were caused by some small houses, which had taken fire at a small distance from the church.— There still remained some other houses near it, which belonged to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine; for these the monks of Christ-church created, by an exchange, which could not be effected till the king interposed, and by his royal authority, in a manner, compelled the abbot and convent to a composition for this purpose, which was dated in the year 1177, that was three years after the late fire of this church. (fn. 59)
These houses were immediately pulled down, and it proved a providential and an effectual means of preserving the church from the like calamity; for in the year 1180, on May 22, this new choir, being not then compleated, though it had been used the month be fore, as has been already mentioned, there happened a fire in the city, which burnt down many houses, and the flames bent their course towards the church, which was again in great danger; but the houses near it being taken away, the fire was stopped, and the church escaped being burnt again. (fn. 60)
Although there is no mention of a new dedication of the church at this time, yet the change made in the name of it has been thought by some to imply a formal solemnity of this kind, as it appears to have been from henceforth usually called the church of St. Thomas the Martyr, and to have continued so for above 350 years afterwards.
New names to churches, it is true. have been usually attended by formal consecrations of them; and had there been any such solemnity here, undoubtedly the same would not have passed by unnoticed by every historian, the circumstance of it must have been notorious, and the magnificence equal at least to the other dedications of this church, which have been constantly mentioned by them; but here was no need of any such ceremony, for although the general voice then burst forth to honour this church with the name of St. Thomas, the universal object of praise and adoration, then stiled the glorious martyr, yet it reached no further, for the name it had received at the former dedication, notwithstanding this common appellation of it, still remained in reality, and it still retained invariably in all records and writings, the name of Christ church only, as appears by many such remaining among the archives of the dean and chapter; and though on the seal of this church, which was changed about this time; the counter side of it had a representation of Becket's martyrdom, yet on the front of it was continued that of the church, and round it an inscription with the former name of Christ church; which seal remained in force till the dissolution of the priory.
It may not be improper to mention here some transactions, worthy of observation, relating to this favorite saint, which passed from the time of his being murdered, to that of his translation to the splendid shrine prepared for his relics.
Archbishop Thomas Becket was barbarously murdered in this church on Dec. 29, 1170, being the 16th year of king Henry II. and his body was privately buried towards the east end of the undercrost. The monks tell us, that about the Easter following, miracles began to be wrought by him, first at his tomb, then in the undercrost, and in every part of the whole fabric of the church; afterwards throughout England, and lastly, throughout the rest of the world. (fn. 61) The same of these miracles procured him the honour of a formal canonization from pope Alexander III. whose bull for that purpose is dated March 13, in the year 1172. (fn. 62) This declaration of the pope was soon known in all places, and the reports of his miracles were every where sounded abroad. (fn. 63)
Hereupon crowds of zealots, led on by a phrenzy of devotion, hastened to kneel at his tomb. In 1177, Philip, earl of Flanders, came hither for that purpose, when king Henry met and had a conference with him at Canterbury. (fn. 64) In June 1178, king Henry returning from Normandy, visited the sepulchre of this new saint; and in July following, William, archbishop of Rhemes, came from France, with a large retinue, to perform his vows to St. Thomas of Canterbury, where the king met him and received him honourably. In the year 1179, Lewis, king of France, came into England; before which neither he nor any of his predecessors had ever set foot in this kingdom. (fn. 65) He landed at Dover, where king Henry waited his arrival, and on August 23, the two kings came to Canterbury, with a great train of nobility of both nations, and were received with due honour and great joy, by the archbishop, with his com-provincial bishops, and the prior and the whole convent. (fn. 66)
King Lewis came in the manner and habit of a pilgrim, and was conducted to the tomb of St. Thomas by a solemn procession; he there offered his cup of gold and a royal precious stone, (fn. 67) and gave the convent a yearly rent for ever, of a hundred muids of wine, to be paid by himself and his successors; which grant was confirmed by his royal charter, under his seal, and delivered next day to the convent; (fn. 68) after he had staid here two, (fn. 69) or as others say, three days, (fn. 70) during which the oblations of gold and silver made were so great, that the relation of them almost exceeded credibility. (fn. 71) In 1181, king Henry, in his return from Normandy, again paid his devotions at this tomb. These visits were the early fruits of the adoration of the new sainted martyr, and these royal examples of kings and great persons were followed by multitudes, who crowded to present with full hands their oblations at his tomb.— Hence the convent was enabled to carry forward the building of the new choir, and they applied all this vast income to the fabric of the church, as the present case instantly required, for which they had the leave and consent of the archbishop, confirmed by the bulls of several succeeding popes. (fn. 72)
¶From the liberal oblations of these royal and noble personages at the tomb of St. Thomas, the expences of rebuilding the choir appear to have been in a great measure supplied, nor did their devotion and offerings to the new saint, after it was compleated, any ways abate, but, on the contrary, they daily increased; for in the year 1184, Philip, archbishop of Cologne, and Philip, earl of Flanders, came together to pay their vows at this tomb, and were met here by king Henry, who gave them an invitation to London. (fn. 73) In 1194, John, archbishop of Lions; in the year afterwards, John, archbishop of York; and in the year 1199, king John, performed their devotions at the foot of this tomb. (fn. 74) King Richard I. likewise, on his release from captivity in Germany, landing on the 30th of March at Sandwich, proceeded from thence, as an humble stranger on foot, towards Canterbury, to return his grateful thanks to God and St. Thomas for his release. (fn. 75) All these by name, with many nobles and multitudes of others, of all sorts and descriptions, visited the saint with humble adoration and rich oblations, whilst his body lay in the undercrost. In the mean time the chapel and altar at the upper part of the east end of the church, which had been formerly consecrated to the Holy Trinity, were demolished, and again prepared with great splendor, for the reception of this saint, who being now placed there, implanted his name not only on the chapel and altar, but on the whole church, which was from thenceforth known only by that of the church of St. Thomas the martyr.
On July 7, anno 1220, the remains of St. Thomas were translated from his tomb to his new shrine, with the greatest solemnity and rejoicings. Pandulph, the pope's legate, the archbishops of Canterbury and Rheims, and many bishops and abbots, carried the coffin on their shoulders, and placed it on the new shrine, and the king graced these solemnities with his royal presence. (fn. 76) The archbishop of Canterbury provided forage along all the road, between London and Canterbury, for the horses of all such as should come to them, and he caused several pipes and conduits to run with wine in different parts of the city. This, with the other expences arising during the time, was so great, that he left a debt on the see, which archbishop Boniface, his fourth successor in it, was hardly enabled to discharge.
¶The saint being now placed in his new repository, became the vain object of adoration to the deluded people, and afterwards numbers of licences were granted to strangers by the king, to visit this shrine. (fn. 77) The titles of glorious, of saint and martyr, were among those given to him; (fn. 78) such veneration had all people for his relics, that the religious of several cathedral churches and monasteries, used all their endeavours to obtain some of them, and thought themselves happy and rich in the possession of the smallest portion of them. (fn. 79) Besides this, there were erected and dedicated to his honour, many churches, chapels, altars and hospitals in different places, both in this kingdom and abroad. (fn. 80) Thus this saint, even whilst he lay in his obscure tomb in the undercroft, brought such large and constant supplies of money, as enabled the monks to finish this beautiful choir, and the eastern parts of the church; and when he was translated to the most exalted and honourable place in it, a still larger abundance of gain filled their coffers, which continued as a plentiful supply to them, from year to year, to the time of the reformation, and the final abolition of the priory itself.
It's just a few day until the participants arrive, the forecast is saying rain today but sun on the opening ceremony. Photo: Jonas Elmqvist/Scouterna
220717 Looking at the satellite maps in the afternoon I wasn't sure if the good weather would reach us in time even at 1830 Plymouth was 7/8 ths cloud,go for it....43304 heads the 1V58 0900 Glasgow Central to Penzance over the Royal Albert bridge and into Cornwall.Must be my week for "big skies" as the clouds were pretty impressive.
Bird migration forecast maps show predicted nocturnal migration 3 hours after local sunset and are updated every 6 hours. Colorado State University and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology currently produce these forecasts.
The forecast was for a very active aurora tonight, so I went to Cleary Summit (a pass in the White Mountains northeast of Fairbanks.
While the forecast wasn't especially accurate, this is a good place to get a view with the higher altitude and a good view to the northeast.
Yesterday I checked the weather forecast and it looked like there were some nice clouds rolling in. I asked Willie if I should head home, grab my gear, and then hit the coast. Willie had been watching the weather satellite all day and it looked like the clouds disappeared as they hit Santa Cruz and he thought it wouldn't be a good day to go shoot. Instead of grabbing my gear I went to the gym and when I walked out of the gym at 5:30pm and looked up at the sky it was *on fire* with some amazing/blazing color. I banged my head against my car for a couple minutes as I watched the beautiful sunset die out.
Today, determined not to make the same mistake again I packed up all my camera gear and threw it in the car … just in case the weather would hold out today and we'd get a nice sunset. Sure enough, at 2:30pm Willie tells me "I'm meeting James Wang at 2:50. Come if you want!" Of course! So I ditch work, hop in my car, and the 3 of us drive down to Santa Cruz.
It was supposed to be high tide and James recommends we head on over to Cripps Beach (popular name because Joshua Cripps/Jim Patterson seem to be the first to photograph it). After parking, walking to the beach, and then climbing down the cliff (there was a rope attached to help out) we scouted around for a while. We walked along the beach for a while and Willie and I eventually found a nice little cove that had some interesting water currents rolling over the rocks. We setup and waited. Unfortunately the tide came in quicker than the sun set and our composition quickly became under water! Doh! Willie and I both left our spot and began to scout new locations. Willie stopped along a beach, and not wanting to take the same photo as Willie, I kept going.
I had seen this little inlet earlier and now that the tide had risen a bit the composition looked much nicer than 30 minutes earlier. I noticed that there were some clouds further to the west so I moved south to face them. Sure enough 10 minutes after the sun had set the sky lit up! I wished the clouds had been a little bit closer to give us more color but there was some beautiful stuff going on along the horizon and for a minute or two the sky above me lit up as well.
While snapping away I noticed a small plume of smoke rising out of the ocean. As I kept watching the sea I noticed that the plume was rising, and rising, and rising, until it eventually pitched and rolled and continued on an upward trajectory. A rocket!!! I just witnessed a rocket launch! I was pretty excited … especially since I work in a similar industry. When I got home I tried to look up what the launch was (I assumed it was from Vandenburg Airforce Base) but I couldn't find any rocket launches scheduled. Must have been some kind of missile test? Who knows. You can see the rocket in the photo, about ⅔ of the way to the right in this image, just above the horizon.
Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S:
19mm, f/13, 3 sec, ISO 200
HiTech 0.9 Reverse ND Grad + HiTech 0.6 Soft Grad ND
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Wednesday, 23 September 2020: our temperature shortly after noon is 17C (windchill 17C)). It is forecast to get up to 22C this afternoon. Sunrise is at 7:25 am and sunset is at 7:30 pm.
Almost three years ago, on 12 November 2017, I went with a group of seven birding friends on a very enjoyable day trip S and SE of Calgary. A beautiful old barn on one of the roads was an unexpected treat (for me) and, as I only managed to take a few rapid shots of it through the windscreen from the back seat, I was determined to one day do this drive myself and take a better look at this fine old barn (from the road, as usual).
The day before yesterday, 21 September 2020, was THE day! It started around 9:00 am with a drive south to the Saskatoon Farm for breakfast. It was very quiet at that early hour and on a weekday, though I knew it would get busier as the day wore on. There are always all sorts of things to photograph there, including colourful flowers, a chicken or two, and various odds and ends. There is sadness at the Farm at the moment, as someone stole one of their much-loved cats, named Alfie, a matter of days ago. He is a pure grey cat and he has a sister at the Farm who looks just like him. She now wanders around the farm grounds, looking for him, in vain. Despite pleas to return Alfie, there has been no response.
From the Farm, the next destination was to go and find the old barn again. When I was there in 2017, I'm not sure if I saw the old rocking horses on each fence post. We were carpooling and I suspect they were out of my view. The barn is certainly weathered, but it is still standing straight and tall.
Driving further S and SE, more barns were to be seen. Part of the drive was in an area that I had explored recently. A few old grain elevators were thrown in for good measure.
As for birds, where were they? Several Mourning Doves, but not a single Hawk of any kind and really no small birds, either. A handful of Grey Partridge taking off were pretty much the only birds we saw. However, this was not planned as a birding day, but as an old barn day, and it turned out to be satisfyingly rewarding!
Dr. Hanan Morsy, Director, Macroeconomic Policy, Forecasting, and Research Department, African Development Bank having a portrait during African Economic Conference (AEC) 2019 - Plenary Session 5 - The Future of Work for Youth Challenges, Opportunities, Policies on December 4, 2019, at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Forecast for the rest of Sunday
Max 29
Showers.
Possible storm.
Possible rainfall: 10 to 40 mm
Chance of any rain: 90%
Forecast of a dry night encouraged us to put out the moth trap
Because we can no longer bend very easily we placed the trap on a picnic table and hoped for something to be trapped.
This is one of the results although very few moths were trapped.
Was that because of the placement of are there fewer moths this year?
St Michael, Woolverstone, Suffolk
It was one of those occasional hot, muggy days in the summer of 2017, and I had take a friend to see Woolverstone church. Despite a number of visits in the past, I had only stepped inside the church for the first time myself some eight months previously, on a crisp, bright morning towards the end of the previous November. It had been a perfect day for a bike ride. I'd had my eye on the weather forecast all week, and first fog and then cloud had been predicted, but Saturday dawned to a crystal clear blue sky. I headed out of town onto the Shotley Peninsula, the first stretch of my journey necessarily along the horrid main road which runs along the south bank of the Orwell. I soon came to Woolverstone, which you can see at once was rebuilt as a late 19th Century estate village. A narrow lane runs between fields and copses northwards to the church of St Michael sitting on its mound above the river.
The setting is idyllic. The great pile of Woolverstone Hall, today home to Ipswich Girls High School, stands beside it, and above me the jackdaws chattered in the skeletal trees, the fields were full of sheep, the damp woods full of the cries of pheasants. Woolverstone Hall was built in the 1770s by John Johnson for William Berners. Johnson had been the main architect of the Berners Estate, an area of London known more commonly today as Fitzrovia, and the fabulously wealthy Berners family took up residence in this remote Suffolk spot above the Orwell. They paid for George Gilbert Scott's restoration of the 1860s, which is pretty much all that can be seen of the church from the south apart from the tower, but in the 1880s they did rather more.
James Piers St Aubyn, one of the most famous architects of the day, was brought in to expand the church massively towards the north, and when you enter you see that the effect is really that of two churches side by side, separated by a fairly low and rounded arcade. The new part was designed to be used for shadowy, incense-led worship, and although that tradition has long gone it is still the main part of the church today.
The wealth of the Berners family means that the restoration was overwhelming, but the quality of it is high. And in any case, there are few medieval survivals anywhere on the Shotley Peninsula. The only old object here is the font, and it is a curiosity. On the face of it, the style is that of a typical East Anglian font bowl, lions alternating with angels, but the carving is quite unlike anything I've seen elsewhere, the crouching lions shown in profile. Pevsner calls the carving 'crude', which is not untrue. Was it done by a local hand, perhaps? It has been reset on a modern stem with upright, alert little lions, 19th Century but much more in the East Anglian medieval style.
The glass is also generally of high quality, or at least expensive, and to various members of the Berners family. Heaton Butler & Bayne's rather alarmingly yellow Saints Martin, Agnes, Margaret and Augustine, installed as a memorial to Archdeacon Henry Berners and his wife, stand proudly in an overwhelmingly wide south nave window which works externally as a kind of optical illusion, making Scott's nave appear wider than his chancel, which it isn't.
The same firm provided the east window in St Aubyn's north aisle to John and Henrietta Berners, which depicts the crucifixion flanked by Joseph of Arimathea, the Blessed Virgin, St John and St Mary Magdalene. It is interesting to note, given the not uncommon conflation of their imagery in medieval times, the similarity between the figures of St John and St Mary Magdalene. The studio might almost have been working from the same cartoon. Both the windows were installed in the 1880s under St Aubyn's direction.
There was once an earlier 19th Century window at Gilbert Scott's east end, of which the upper tracery survives, but the main lights were destroyed by blast damage during the Second World War, a not uncommon fate for church windows on the Shotley Peninsula - indeed, the church in the neighbouring village, Chelmondiston, was completely ruined. The 1947 replacement, by AL Wilkinson, depicts Christ the Saviour of the World flanked by St Michael and St Gabriel.
The High Church, even Anglo-catholic, enthusiasms of the Berners family may be judged by Woolverstone House back in the village, which was built for a community of Anglican nuns based at St Peter, Kilburn. It was intended as their retreat house and school, and the architect was Edwin Lutyens. Today it is a private house, but the church is now open every day. When I'd first visited every Suffolk church in the late 1990s I had found it locked. Coming back in 2006, the interior was full of scaffolding, and I couldn't go in. Curiously, the avenue of yew trees which lined the path up to the south porch at that time have now been reduced to stumps. Despite St Michael being barely five miles from my house, it had taken until this idyllic crisp, sunny day in late November 2016 for me to get back there, discover this, and explore the inside for the first time.
It was time to head on to Harkstead. The view from the south porch back up the hilly lane was breathtaking in the low winter sunshine. I stepped out, wandering down to the east to look across to the Hall.
The Berners family sold it as part of the Estate in 1937, assuming that it would be demolished for farming land, but after a period of requisition by the army during the War the Hall was bought by the London County Council for use as a boarding school. It was intended both for children taken into care and also for those whose parents were working overseas, an odd combination, but people seem to have happy memories of it. The writer Ian McEwan is a famous ex-pupil. The school closed in the 1980s; its massive library was broken up, and you still regularly come across items from it in Suffolk's second-hand bookshops. In a grand sale in the Ipswich Corn Exchange shortly after the closure, I bought the school's copies of McEwan's books for 50p each. The Hall lay empty for several years, until the Girls High School moved out here from central Ipswich, and restored it to something like its former glory. The jackdaws which inhabit the great 19th Century water tower, which stands beside it, wheeled above my head as I cycled back to the Shotley road.
We decided to go for a city break rather than sun in Tenerife again this September. Other than a few days in the North East we haven’t been away since last March and wanted a change and hopefully some sun. The problem is getting flights from the north of England to the places we want to go to. We chose Valencia as we could fly from East Midlands – which was still a pain to get to as it involved the most notorious stretch of the M1 at five in the morning. In the end we had a fairly good journey, the new Ryanair business class pre-booked scheme worked quite well and bang on time as usual. It was dull when we landed with storms forecast all week, the sky was bright grey – the kiss of death to the photography I had in mind. I was full of cold and wishing I was at work. It did rain but it was overnight on our first night and didn't affect us. There has been a drought for eleven months apparently and it rained on our first day there! The forecast storms didn't materialise in Valencia but they got it elsewhere.
You May notice discrepancies in the spelling of some Spanish words or names, this is because Valencian is used on signs, in some guide books and maps. There are two languages in common use with distinct differences. There may also be genuine mistakes - it has been known!
Over the course of a Monday to Sunday week we covered 75 miles on foot and saw most of the best of Valencia – The City of Bell Towers. The Old City covers a pretty large area in a very confusing layout. There was a lot of referring to maps – even compass readings! – a first in a city for us. The problem with photography in Valencia is that most of the famous and attractive building are closely built around, some have poor quality housing built on to them. Most photographs have to be taken from an extreme angle looking up. There are no high points as it is pan flat, there are a small number of buildings where you can pay to go up on to the roof for a better view and we went up them – more than once!
The modern buildings of The City of Arts and Sciences – ( Ciutat de Las Arts I de les Ciencies ) are what the city has more recently become famous for, with tourists arriving by the coachload all day until late at night. They must be photographed millions of times a month. We went during the day and stayed till dark one evening, I gave it my best shot but a first time visit is always a compromise between ambition and realism, time dictates that we have to move on to the next destination. I travelled with a full size tripod – another first – I forgot to take it with me to TCoAaS! so It was time to wind up the ISO, again! Needless to say I never used the tripod.
On a day when rain was forecast but it stayed fine, albeit a bit dull, we went to the Bioparc north west of the city, a zoo by another name. There are many claims made for this place, were you can appear to walk alongside some very large animals, including, elephants, lions, giraffe, rhino, gorillas and many types of monkey to name a few. It is laid out in different geographical regions and there is very little between you and the animals, in some cases there is nothing, you enter the enclosure through a double door arrangement and the monkeys are around you. It gets rave reviews and we stayed for most of the day. The animals it has to be said gave the appearance of extreme boredom and frustration and I felt quite sorry for them.
The course of The River Turia was altered after a major flood in the 50’s. The new river runs west of the city flanked by a motorway. The old river, which is massive, deep and very wide between ancient walls, I can’t imagine how it flooded, has been turned into a park that is five miles long. There is an athletics track, football pitches, cycle paths, restaurants, numerous kids parks, ponds, fountains, loads of bridges, historic and modern. At the western end closest to the sea sits The City of Arts and Sciences – in the river bed. Where it meets the sea there is Valencia’s urban Formula One racetrack finishing in the massive marina built for The Americas Cup. The race track is in use as roadways complete with fully removable street furniture, kerbs, bollards, lights, islands and crossings, everything is just sat on the surface ready to be moved.
We found the beach almost by accident, we were desperate for food after putting in a lot of miles and the afternoon was ticking by. What a beach, 100’s of metres wide and stretching as far as the eye could see with a massive promenade. The hard thing was choosing, out of the dozens of restaurants, all next door to each other, all serving traditional Paella – rabbit and chicken – as well as seafood, we don’t eat seafood and it constituted 90% of the menu in most places. Every restaurant does a fixed price dish of the day, with a few choices, three courses and a drink. Some times this was our only meal besides making the most of the continental breakfast at the hotel. We had a fair few bar stops with the local wine being cheap and pleasant it would have been a shame not to, there would have been a one woman riot – or strike!
On our final day, a Sunday, we were out of bed and down for breakfast at 7.45 as usual, the place was deserted barring a waiter. We walked out of the door at 8.30 – in to the middle of a mass road race with many thousands of runners, one of a series that take place in Valencia – apparently! We struggled to find out the distance, possibly 10km. The finish was just around the corner so off we went with the camera gear, taking photos of random runners and groups. There was a TV crew filming it and some local celebrity (I think) commentating. Next we came across some sort of wandering religious and musical event. Some sort of ritual was played out over the course of Sunday morning in various locations, it involved catholic priests and religious buildings and another film crew. The Catholic tourists and locals were filling the (many) churches for Sunday mass. Amongst all of this we had seen men walking around in Arab style dress – the ones in black looked like the ones from ISIS currently beheading people – all carrying guns. A bit disconcerting. We assumed that there had been some sort of battle enactment. We were wrong, it hadn’t happened yet. A while later, about 11.30 we could hear banging, fireworks? No it was our friends with the guns. We were caught up in total mayhem, around 60 men randomly firing muskets with some sort of blank rounds, the noise, smoke and flames from the muzzles were incredible. We were about to climb the Torres de Serranos which is where, unbeknown to us, the grand, and deafening, finale was going to be. We could feel the blast in our faces on top of the tower. Yet again there was a film camera in attendance. I couldn’t get close ups but I got a good overview and shot my first video with the 5D, my first in 5 years of owning a DLSR with the capability. I usually use my phone ( I used my phone as well). Later in the day there was a bullfight taking place, the ring was almost next to our hotel, in the end we had other things to do and gave it a miss, it was certainly a busy Sunday in the city centre, whether it’s the norm or not I don’t know.
There is a tram system in Valencia but it goes from the port area into the newer part of the city on the north side, it wouldn’t be feasible to serve the historic old city really. A quick internet search told me that there are 55,000 university students in the city, a pretty big number. I think a lot of the campus is on the north side and served by the tram although there is a massive fleet of buses as well. There is a massive, very impressive market building , with 100’s of stalls that would make a photo project on its own, beautiful on the inside and out but very difficult to get decent photos of the exterior other than detail shots owing to the closeness of other buildings and the sheer size of it. Across town, another market has been beautifully renovated and is full of bars and restaurants and a bit of a destination in its own right.
A downside was the all too typical shafting by the taxi drivers who use every trick in the book to side step the official tariffs and rob you. The taxi from the airport had a “broken” meter and on the way home we were driven 22 km instead of the nine that is the actual distance. Some of them seem to view tourists as cash cows to be robbed at all costs. I emailed the Marriot hotel as they ordered the taxi, needless to say no answer from Marriot – they’ve had their money. We didn’t get the rip off treatment in the bars etc. that we experienced in Rome, prices are very fair on most things, certainly considering the city location.
All in all we had a good trip and can highly recommend Valencia.