Category: Architecture

Bridges

There are now three crossings on the Forth. The new Queensferry bridge is on the right. But we don’t do new here, so let’s turn to an older bridge.

George Basevi

Wednesday’s post was mostly about the Grosvenors. The architect for Belgrave Square and the classical terraces surrounding it is George Basevi. He gets a mention on the plinth of Robert Grosvenor’s bronze.

What’s Up?

An unusual convention in Bridge is the Lightner double, described by Susanna Gross in The Spectator as “a bolt out of the blue which strikes fear into your heart. There you are, having bid confidently to slam, when suddenly one of your opponents pulls out the red card. Eek! It’s a Lightner double, which means they… Continue reading What’s Up?

Cathedral Crawl

The friends I stay with in Wales are on a mission to visit every cathedral in England and Wales. They have twice come to stay with me, to tick off St Paul’s and Westminster Abbey, a cathedral from 1540 to 1550.

Ding Dong!

Ding Dong! The bridge is dead. Which old bridge? The Garden Bridge! Ding Dong! The Garden Bridge is dead.

Mucking about in Muker

I’m grateful to Ned York both for his slice of Stonington history and for giving me a day off yesterday. But now I’m a bit behind.

An Abbey

Still in Dorset we went on a church crawl today kicking off with Milton Abbey. It is beside what is now Milton Abbey School. 

St Mary Harefield, Part II

It doesn’t look much from the outside, does it? There are, at least, two interesting things outside as it happens but I wanted to see the inside and the church was locked. Lucky me that a gardener was strimming and let me in.

St Mary Harefield, Part I

Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park are crammed with dogs. Why are there no dogs in the Green Park, that has a dog fountain, or St James’s Park? This is one of life’s unsolved mysteries. Another is why a gem like St Mary, Harefield is “undiscovered”.

West Horsley Revisited

One Sunday in October last year I went to look around the house and grounds at West Horsley (So you want to put on an Opera?). It is a Tudor house that the Gascoignes inherited and where Wasfi Kani OBE, of Grange Park Opera, was building an opera house. I went back on Saturday afternoon… Continue reading West Horsley Revisited