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The large Accomodator storm drain, was awesome! This cast iron roofing section was defiantly the best part. We decided to bring out the fire monster, and create a inferno!
Ashford Castle on the bank of Lough Corrib, where we had our afternoon tea, County Galway, Ireland
Some background information:
Ashford Castle is a large medieval and Victorian castle that has been expanded over the centuries and turned into a five star luxury hotel. It is located near the village of Cong on the County Galway side of Lough Corrib, directly bordering the County Mayo side of the lake. Today, Ashford Castle, which was previously owned by the Guinness family, is a member of the Red Carnation Hotels organisation.
We just had an afternoon tea in the castle’s Connaught Room. The afternoon tea offers guests a wide selection of speciality teas, delicate finger sandwiches, freshly baked scones and delectable pastries, presented on a silver three-tier stand,. whereby every guest is served their own three-tier stand. On the lowest tier, there are the sandwiches. On the middle tier, guests will find three different scones, served with two types of clotted cream. And on the top tier, the elegantly presented pâtisserie is displayed.
I had an Irish Whiskey Cream Tea accompaning the delicacies and if you don’t manage to eat all of them, the leftovers are packed for you in a neat box, so that you can take them home. We had our afternoon tea at a table next to one of the windows, with view into the gardens and onto Lough Corrib. By the way, if you want to take your afternoon tea there, you have to order it in advance. Just dropping by would be pointless and you wouldn’t even be able to pass the gatekeepers of the estate.
In 1228, Ashford Castle was built on the perimeter of a monastic site by the Anglo-Norman noble House de Burgo. After having been more than three-and-a-half centuries in possession of the Burke family, the castle passed into the hands of Sir Richard Bingham, Lord President of Connaught, in 1589. A battle between the forces of the de Burgo family and those of Bingham had been preceded the change of the owner. Following the battle and thereby also the owner change, Bingham added a fortified enclave within Ashford Castle‘s precincts.
In 1670, Dominick Browne, Baron Oranmore and Browne, received the estate in a royal grant. In 1715, the estate of Ashford was established by the Browne family and a hunting lodge in the style of a 17th-century French chateau was constructed. In the late 18th century, a branch of the family inhabited the castle.
In 1852, the Irish brewer and philanthropist Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, who later received the title 1st Baronet of Ashford, purchased the estate. He added two large Victorian style extensions, extended the estate to 110 square kilometres (26,000 acres), built new roads and planted thousands of trees. After Sir Benjamin's death in 1868, the estate passed to his son Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun, who expanded the building further in the neogothic style.
Arthur Guinness was an avid gardener who oversaw the development of massive woodlands and rebuilt the entire west wing of the castle, designed by architects James Franklin Fuller and George Ashlin. The new construction connected the early 18th-century part in the east with two de-Burgo-time towers in the west. Additionally, battlements were added to the whole castle. After being rebuilt, Ashford Castle welcomed many famous guests such as the British King George V, among others who stayed with the Guinness family.
After having been sold to Noel Huggard in 1939, the new owner opened the estate as a hotel. Since then, the hotel has hosted many famous guests, such as Queen Mary, the author Oscar Wilde, the actors Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne, UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US President Ronald Reagan, US Senator Ted Kennedy, Prince Rainier III of Monaco and his wife Princess Grace, Prince Edward, the Beatles members John Lennon and George Harrison, as well as the actors Robin Williams, Pierce Brosnan and Brad Pitt. Professional golfer Rory McIlroy even married there in 2017.
In July 2015, Ashford Castle was voted third best world hotel by "Travel + Leisure magazine", US. In August 2015, it was voted world's best hotel during "Virtuoso Travel Week". Furthermore, in 2020 and 2022, the hotel claimed top spot in the prestigious World’s Best Resort Hotel in the UK & Ireland awards. And in 2023, it has been hailed as one of the world's best hotels by "Forbes Travel Guide", from which it received the maximum rating of five stars – just like only a handful of other hotels.
Lough Corrib, on whose bank Ashford Castle is located, is a lake in the west of Ireland connected to the sea at Galway by the River Corrib. It is the largest lake within the Republic of Ireland and the second largest on the island of Ireland (after Lough Neagh). Lough Corrib covers 176 km² and lies mostly in County Galway with a small area of its northeast corner in County Mayo. The main tributaries draining into Lough Corrib include the Cornamona, Bealanabrack, Owenriff, Drimneen, Cong, Clare, Annacourta, Black and Cross rivers.
The lake is rather popular with anglers because it has a large fish population. Among the fishes in the lake are trouts, pikes, perches and salmons. Furthermore, the wildlife in Lough Corrib includes birds and hawks, otters, mink, stoat, frogs and bats. In 1996, Lough Corrib was designated a Ramsar site and it has also been designated a Special Area of Conservation.
The lake is also of international importance as a marine archaeological site. Surveys have uncovered a number of objects of historical significance, which have been investigated by the Underwater Archaeology Unit of the National Monuments Service. These include Bronze Age and Iron Age vessels as well as the "Carrowmoreknock Boat", a well preserved 10th century vessel carrying three Viking battle axes. There are also a lot of islands on the lake. Among them are Inchagoill with ist Early Christian abbey ruins, Inishquin, Inishmicatreer, Inishdoorus and Rabbit Island, to name just the largest ones.
The autotrain passes an accommodation crossing on the Severn Valley Railway during the recent photo charter. A lovely rural setting to capture a typical service as seen on a number of former Great Western branches in the 1950s.
Certain trains from Cornwall had a buffet car and extra carriages added at Plymouth. This train, the 1025 Penzance-Bradford (The Cornishman) has just arrived behind no. D1052 WESTERN NOBLEMAN: at the adjacent platform Brush Type 4 no. 47 152 waits with the additional carriages. After detaching, the "Western" waited in the station to take forward the following train, the 1100 Penzance-London Paddington (Cornish Riviera Limited). I travelled aboard the latter train as far as Exeter, window-hanging from the forward vestibule for much of the journey. I remember the satisfying thrum of the engines when the locomotive was attached, transmitted through the couplings, the floor and the soles of my shoes. At eye-level on the Formica trim of the vestibule, some posterity-minded gricer had written "1071 pulled this train 11/10/74 Penzance-Padd."
"005" "Spire" "118 Pictures in 2018"
The newly constructed Beckley Point Building, now the tallest building in Plymouth, standing at a height of 256ft... The spire can be seen from the A38 Devon Expressway approaching Plymouth on the 3 lane carriageway section between Deep Lane and Marsh Mills
Constructed for its primary use as student accommodation, conveniently situated close to the Plymouth University & city centre...
172326 is trailing 2J81 with the 21.27 Stratford-upon-Avon to Stourbridge Junction service.
The train is viewed from the drafty waiting shelter its Perspex roof stained with slimy green algae. The human element has also left their mark with fast food wrapping and a couple of cans, given that the rubbish sack is less than 4 metres away it is a shame people are so damned bone idle.
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Location, location, location........
I must admit I wasn't expecting to find this tent opposite the street from the Langham Hotel whilst exploring this rather upmarket part of Marylebone....... to be fair though it does look like a smart new tent.
Some more 'alternative' London shots here : www.flickr.com/photos/darrellg/albums/72157647920607519
From Wikipedia : "Langham Place is a short street in Westminster, central London, England. Just north of Oxford Circus, it connects Portland Place to the north with Regent Street to the south in London's West End. It is, or was, the location of many significant public buildings, and gives its name to the Langham Place group, a circle of early women's rights activists.
There are several major buildings on Langham Place, including All Souls Church, Broadcasting House, and the Langham Hotel. Queen's Hall and St. George's Hall were also here until their destruction during World War II. The area is associated with the architect John Nash, although all but one of his original buildings have been replaced."
© D.Godliman
This accommodation at Shad Thames in London, near Tower Bridge. These are the water side view of Java wharf and Jamaica wharf.
I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.
Excellent Double Bay Hotel accommodation in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. The Savoy Hotel is in Knox Street, the heart of Double Bay Sydney. We are a small, tranquil oasis and the best value small hotel in Sydney.
Original RAF file processed with newly-released DXO PureRAW 2, before creation of JPEG in Lightroom 5.2.
Back to microscale : I just thought my Micropolis needed a university campus.
This is the Student accommodation. More buildings to come in the next few weeks (hopefully)
Details of the rock art station 'Vente Bourbon 3' found by D. Caldwell around 2014 (published 2015) - one of many important new and pristine stations found in the forest of Fontainebleau.
From the remains of the homo erectus Terra Amata abris/tent in Nice up into the medieval ages: proto abris-tent to frame tent - portable hut. Covered in raw hide, greased leather or woven material, a tent can be packed away and re-positioned at speed and without the unknowns that come with the need to look for thatch.
Both post 'transport dragon' and aside, the tent that is today referred to as a Canadian tent (triangular with poles) is in truth from a wide geographical range. Simple triangular tents with either vertical poles, possibly with a ridgepole or even side frames, were regularly documented from early medieval finds and manuscripts. Nordic and Viking finds offer further details and the simple form will have ornamented through into prehistory.
Square box tents and tents with central poles simply add to the range of imaginative solutions each with a pro and a con.
Whilst there is little in the schematic rock art lines to strongly suggest tents, the interpretation of the adjacent schematic stage (see below) seems to be, in my mind, solid. A stage suggests other activities of rite or festivity, and one by one interpretations for other glyphs are suggested (see asociated posts below). Festivities were often on rises or fields aside villages. Temporary tent villages for persons following flocks or logging, or temporary festive sites drawn towards lyrical and 'meaningful' monoliths, or clandestine celebrations behind the backs of authoritarian clergy - these are all potential narratives.
The small scale of the 'glyphs' might suggest a date where the influence of writing and runes is apparent, which may suggest a date between the iron age and the early medieval. Late neolithic, chalcolithic and bronze age dates cannot be excluded, but weathering rates on the fine sandstone edges needs to be found. To respect a wide calibration, I have tried to draw the tents in a way that might evoke both leather or woven material.
There are some words that say everything and nothing: 'it', 'truc', 'thing'... An equivalent in rock art would be a mark that signifies something, with the context assigning the final definition. In the context of a stage and a tent, a 'dot' may be a person, in the context of a boundary line with an image of oxen pulling a plough, the same dot may be a 'seed'. Today people do not like to be refereed to as an 'it', or worse still, a 'thing' - but t can happen.
If dots are people in tents, then there is one tent that has a dot with a tail. The same 'tent' also has lines or 'streamers' attached. If the general scene is a proto or historical schematic visualisation of a festival (May day or Solstice) then there should be a tent that holds the 'May Queen' or other persons of significance. Going to see the 'May Queen' may be the line to the 'dot' and the lines of decoration may be either from the tent down to the ground, or as decorative lines of significance and ornamentation on the ground surface itself. This tent may also be aside a path into the site (see the two lines to the right of the said triangle), and an alternative explanation might be that people are verified at this tent before entering the festivities - and here the lines may even be projected queues of people.
AJM 04.02.20