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East window of the south aisle by Ninian Comper, 1920.
St Mary's church in Clifton upon Dunsmore has a small, box-like late medieval west tower (an odd carving of a bear halfway up the west side is now worn beyond recognition) and largely 13th/14th century nave and aisles with evidence of Norman work in the earlier chancel. The church has been much restored and the interior now has a very Victorian feel to it (new chancel arch and the one Norman window virtually renewed).
There are some quaint corbel heads supporting the nave roof, but otherwise the only antique element is a not very elegant Baroque memorial in the chancel (Orlando Bridgeman 1721). There is a mixture of Victorian stained glass of decent quality, Hardmans in the chancel and north aisle, some Burlison & Grylls, a fine St Paul & Timothy by Kempe and one by Comper. The font is a curious block-shaped thing c1900.
The church is usually kept open for visitors 10am - 4pm most days.
For more detail on this church see it's entry on the Warwickshire Churches site below:-
warwickshirechurches.weebly.com/clifton-upon-dunsmore---s...
"Erm... 404? Isn't this some kind of... error?"
Trippy's first stop in Costa Rica: the Britannia Hotel.
"The Ultimate Costa Rican Experience" boasts the web site for this hotel; and depending upon one's expectations, this could be accurate. You want drugs? You got it! You want hookers? You got it! You want a gun-toting night porter? You got it! You want a snack or a cup of coffee after dark? In that case, your life is in your hands.
Yeah, we fell for the web site hype (via Orbitz -- never booking through those lying scumbags again).
"Close to airport," it said. "Close," the night clerk informed us when we arrived after a forty-five minute taxi ride, means "anything within twenty kilometers of the airport."
"Airport shuttle," they claim. "You have to call a day in advance for the shuttle, and the cost is twenty-five dollars American." Or... you can take a taxi, for twenty dollars.
The entire building is surrounded by a stone wall. The sides and rear of the building are enclosed in a huge glass and steel structure, kind of like a giant terrarium. Across the street there's a charming local corner bar, in front of which rough looking street people and "professional workers" ply their trades.
During the day, the neighborhood is kind of a run-down but otherwise typical noisy city block, with broken pavement and uneven sidewalks. After dark... "we recommend you do not go outside after dark," intoned the desk clerk, the armed security guard / night porter nodding quiet assent to her warning. So... food? The hotel restaurant, a fancy joint with linen napkins on the tables and serving escargot, was empty except for one bored girl in jeans and a midriff-baring t-shirt slouched over the bar watching television. The desk clerk informed us that take-out delivery places do not deliver to this neighborhood at night.
On the way to the hotel, through a warren of narrow, twisting streets lined with scary looking characters, hemmed in by dark, shuttered, barred windows looming sightlessly from broken brick facades on either side, the taxi driver explained as best he could through his limited English and our fractured Spanish that "Columbians" and "Nicaraguans" had taken over the area, and that it was rapidly deteriorating. "Problems, big problems, very bad, very bad," he said as he cautiously navigated the pot-holed route.
The hotel is located on the edge of the "bad part" of this neighborhood. The rooms are pleasant enough, clean and comfortable. Obviously some effort has gone into keeping the building secure and safe. But... close to airport? No. "Ultimate Costa Rican Experience?" Despite Trippy's urgings, I did not venture outside to make the acquaintance of any of the "experienced Costa Ricans" working the night shift, so I can't comment with authority as to the "ultimateness" of any potential "experiences." Other than to offer that ultimately, I'd expect to lose, if nothing else, my wallet.
Perhaps I'm simply not adventurous enough, but my initial impression of Costa Rica was... that I was not impressed. Perhaps I'd have been more bold had I been packing a revolver -- and it was one hefty revolver -- like the night security guy.
Presenting... my new business mobile phone: an O2 XDA Mini S. It's rubbish: but more of that later. First, O2's customer service.
Oh, my God. Up until now I'd been a customer of Orange since it launched, with a short unfaithful affair with Virgin Mobile. While Orange are a shadow of their original loveliness, O2 really takes the biscuit in crappy, crappy, customer service.
First, this is my business mobile phone. I can't receive or send picture messages, and I have a legitimate business requirement to do both. The O2 contract is dealt with by head office in Scotland, but my only contact is with our own office in London.
So, I ask the people in London to get picture messaging working on my phone. They ring Scotland. Scotland rings O2. I get a direct call from O2's customer services. I explain the problem ("It says 'user barred' when I try to send an MMS, and sends me a text message when I receive an MMS asking me to log onto a website."). They promise to send me the settings to correctly send an MMS message. I point out that I'm running an O2 phone and that I've checked the preset settings on their website. They say they'll send me the settings. "How will this help when my account is not set up to allow me to even receive picture messages?" They say they'll send me the settings, and that somehow it will. "Will the email have your contact details on it?" Yes, I'm assured.
The email arrives, from a send-only email address which has no contact details. It contains "How to send a picture message" from my phone. That's not, in any sense, 'settings', and not, in any sense, relevant to my enquiry.
Instead of wasting my team's time who'll then have to ring Scotland to ring O2, I look on O2's website to discover the customer services number, and ring it. "Please enter your mobile phone number," says the machine. I do. It tells me that for my account, please "ring the number on the last invoice". I don't sign off the invoices. I have no such number.
I email London, who email Scotland, who reply to tell me that it is now being provisioned on my account and that it'll work in 24 hours.
I try sending a picture message 24 hours later. I get the above message.
Clearly it's an impossible task for O2 to suitably understand a chinese whisper via our London and Scotland offices; or clearly it's impossible for them to understand a simple request to switch on a service that will inevitably mean that they will earn more money. I have no idea which, but I'm bored trying to find out.
(Please don't send me picture messages any more, not that anyone does anyway.)
[Disclaimer: I am responsible for a unconnected business relationship with O2, and have enjoyed some hospitality from the company.]
An echo to another "echo" (the original danish design"
Through the windows of an old deserted hotel in S'Chanf, Engadine, Switzerland The trees in the white part are actually showing through the window of the other side of the hotel... I wanted to get a picture of them but this was the best view of them I could find.
St Peter, Blaxhall, Suffolk
A remote church in a large, sparsely populated rural parish.
Blaxhall is famous for two reasons. It is the setting for George Ewart Evans' books, including The Pattern under the Plough and Ask the Fellows who Cut the Hay.
It is also the home parish of the Rope family. The stained glass work of the cousins Margaret Edith Aldrich Rope and Margaret Rope is now considered to be among the finest of the 20th century, and some of it can be found here, as well as more glass and bas-relief work by Dorothy Rope and Ellen Rope.
The Quay Merchant’s Bar of The Star Hotel on Hall Quay in Great Yarmouth
In ABCs and 123s: W is for Window
Sitting on window sill, will probably paint the frame black , hard to get a good photo as it is quite large. Done in recycled window frame.
I am a BIG fan of window lighting. It softens everything, and adds a warm glow. Here, there are 3 different windows one looks through.
Predjama Castle
Predjama Castle is situated in the middle of a towering cliff, a mere 9 km from Postojna Cave. Picturesque, magnificent, defiant, mysterious and impregnable, it has been dominating the surrounding area, perched high up in the 123-metre high cliff, for more than 800 years. It is listed among the Guinness World Records as the largest cave castle in the world.
Predjama Castle with its location and mysterious tunnels is truly something special. It impresses visitors with how well the natural cave and the man-made castle walls are interwoven, sometimes making it difficult to see where the former ends and the latter begin.
In the past, the castle provided the venue for the filming of several science documentaries and feature films. A few years ago, the castle was visited by a Discovery Channel team that was in search of any unexplained events and managed to capture a number of visual images and sounds that could not be quite clearly specified. In 1986, Predjama Castle was one of the filming locations of the film Armour of God with Jackie Chan in the starring role.
Its picturesque interior and exterior would make a perfect venue for the filming of historical and fantasy films such as Harry Potter or Game of Thrones. In 2011, the castle was visited by the famous writer and screenwriter George R. R. Martin, and who knows when he might return to Predjama with a new screenplay in hand.
The castle offers a unique insight into the construction techniques and ingenuity of medieval people who came here searching for a safe haven right at the entrance to the cave. During a siege in the 15th century, the castle offered refuge to its most famous and notorious owner - Erazem of Predjama. The appealing and inspiring legend about the brave robber baron Erazem, who had remained undefeated until he was betrayed by one of his servants, still lives on in the common lore, and rightly so as the gallant knight resisted the besiegers inside his safe castle for over a year without any major problems.
The karstic terrain beneath the castle with its cave system was an excellent choice. It provided Erazem and his people with a secret passage that lead to freedom, a source of drinking water, a further place for hiding and storage of food - everything that turned out to be indispensable, invaluable and essential during the siege.
Between May and September, visitors are also able to have a look around the picturesque Cave under Predjama Castle. Due to its location and favourable temperatures the cave is inhabited by a colony of bats, as a result of which visitors have no access to it during the bats' hibernation.
Armoury
Visitors to Predjama Castle now have the opportunity to see a renovated room inside the main castle attic. Back in the day, the room, which boasts a superb view of the entire valley and the roads leading to the castle, served both as an area from where the castle’s defence crew defended the castle and their dwelling place. Nowadays, the room gives an insight into the castle area once used by the team tasked with the castle’s defence. Visitors can have a look at a number of replicas of various weapons, including spears and halberds, swords, war hammers, bows and crossbows, as well as quite likely the most noteworthy and most valuable ones, i.e. armours. Medieval weapons, which were cold weapons for the most part, often required users to possess a lot of strength, experience and skill. As is the case with everything else, the weapons highlighted a significant difference between the nobility and the peasants. As their acquisition imposed a heavy financial burden, armours and swords were almost always owned and used by the noblemen. The late Middle Ages saw the arrival of firearms, some of which are on display in the castle as well. Within a period of a few decades, the firearms completely changed the combat methods and equipment.
Church of Our Lady of Sorrows and Erazem's Linden Tree
They are located in the middle of the village of Predjama. Legend has it that the knight Erazem used to rest under the linden tree and that the tree was planted on the grave by a grieving girl.
The church is mentioned in documents dating back to 1549, when it was consecrated by the then Bishop of Trieste, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II. Its Gothic design is attested by the nave, the bell tower and the chancel, with traces of Renaissance reconstructions performed at a later time clearly visible. The frescoes from the 15th century, destroyed by humidity, were attributed to the Master Painter of the village of Srednja vas near
East window of St Mary's, Bloxham.
An early work dating from 1869 by Morris, Marshall & Faulkner (founded 1861, later to become Morris & Co in 1875) and one of the best examples of the early stained glass.
This design was a collaboration of Philip webb, Edward Burne Jones, and William Moris himself, each responsible for specific elements or figures within the window.
MONTEVIDEO
Uruguay’s capital and by far its largest city, Montevideo is a vibrant, eclectic place with a rich cultural life. Stretching nearly 20km from east to west, the city wears many faces, from its industrial port to the exclusive residential suburb of Carrasco near the airport.
In the historic downtown business district, art deco and neoclassical buildings jostle for space alongside grimy, worn-out skyscrapers that appear airlifted from Havana or Ceauşescu’s Romania, while across town the shopping malls and modern high-rises of beach communities like Punta Carretas and Pocitos bear more resemblance to Miami or Copacabana.
If you’re coming from Colonia or Uruguay’s northern beaches, Montevideo’s polluted air and honking taxis may feel a bit jarring, but stick around. The capital’s active and resurgent urban culture is a palpable force, and locals are justifiably proud to share it with you. In Ciudad Vieja, the heart of historic Montevideo, old buildings are being restored to make room for boldly painted cafés, hostels and galleries, while down by the port the municipal administration has spruced up the Mercado del Puerto to accommodate a new city tourist office and Carnaval museum.
Montevideo serves as administrative headquarters for Mercosur, South America’s leading trading bloc, and the capital’s many embassies and foreign cultural centers add to the international flavor. Meanwhile, the city’s music, theater, art and club scenes continue to thrive, from elegant older theaters and cozy little tango bars to modern beachfront discos.
Excerpt from lonelyplanet.com
This 16th C. glass is probably originally from St John's Rouen. The outer panels depict scenes from the life of St John as in s.VII.
The central panels were acquired in 1973.
Detail of the east window at Oadby, probably the work of Powells and perhaps even designed by Henry Holiday, but sadly suffering from severe paint loss.
St Peter's church at Oadby is distinguished by a tall early 14th century broach spire and a later Perpendicular nave with clerestorey (whose height clearly exceeds that intended by the builders of the earlier tower).
The sense of height is apparent inside where the nave appears tall for its short length. The walls have been scraped back to the stone during the Victorian restoration but luckily the clerestorey admits enough light to compensate for this (aside from in the chancel).
There are a few decent late 19th/early 20th century windows.
I believe the church is normally kept locked outside of services.
Chancel window designed by John Piper and made by Patrick Reyntiens 1985. The window commemorates 1300 years since the founding of the Jarrow monastery by Benedict Biscop, whose initials are shown below the cross.
St Paul's in Jarrow was the site of one of the most famous Anglo Saxon monasteries in England, famed as the residence of the Venerable Bede. The monastery was founded by Benedict Biscop in c681 and its church survives as the chancel of the present building (with a few later modifications). A few years later a second church (a larger building with aisles) was built on the site of the present nave which remained a separate building until the two were linked by the construction of what is now the lower half of the central tower in c800, but the upper half wasn't built until shortly after the Norman Conquest in 1072, and thus is still decidedly Anglo Saxon in design (the lower half of the structure wasn't originally intended to become a tower which accounts for its unusual rectangular design).
Following the Reformation the monastery was dissolved and St Paul's became a parish church. Substantial ruins of the old monastic buildings remain on the south side of the nave, mostly dating from the Norman period. The old Saxon nave had sadly fallen into disrepair by 1782 and was demolished; it was rebuilt in 1866 by George Gilbert Scott in a simplified early Gothic style with a north aisle. Externally the two halves have weathered harmoniously and the newer parts are less obvious.
Inside the church the eye is drawn to the ancient chancel beyond the mysterious space beneath the low arches of the tower. The original tiny window-openings remain in the side walls and one is even glazed with a roundel of Anglo Saxon glass excavated at the site and leaded into an abstract composition in more recent years, and is thus the oldest coloured glass to be seen in any British church. Further pieces from the site (including some leaded into more complete patterns and even a figure) can be seen at the nearby Bede Museum at Jarrow Hall a short walk to the north.
St Paul's is one of the most historic and ancient churches in the country and is well worth a visit. The church is open most days, though it is currently struggling to raise money for urgent repairwork to the ancient tower. Opening times are given on their website.
www.jarrowparish.info/our-churches-and-congregations/st-p...
For more on this fascinating ancient church see the link below:-