Carolineld

LATEST ARTICLES ( 803 )

• Antique Jewellery

  

  Pens, pissoirs - Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter has more to offer than jewellery alone. However, it would be a shame to miss out on the area's most famous... Read more

  Posted on 20 September 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Writing History

  

  Birmingham dominated the world in this trade, with over a hundred factories at its height. Its centre was the Jewellery Quarter - but I'm not talking about... Read more

  Posted on 18 September 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Birmingham's Temple of Relief

  

  Just outside the Jewellery Quarter station in Birmingham is a rather special piece of street furniture, in Victorian cast iron. Read more

  Posted on 15 September 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Ghost Signs (98): Bridgwater Baker

  

  Not only are my parents becoming adept at spotting ghost signs; my brother-in-law is also contributing finds! This one, above a small shop in Bridgwater, is a... Read more

  Posted on 12 September 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Portwey, Steam Tug

  

  Among the guests at this year's Thames Festival is Portwey, Britain's last surviving twin-screw, coal-powered steam tug. She usually lives in South Quay at... Read more

  Posted on 10 September 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Vintage Exide

  

  Today, Exide batteries' logo uses a contemporary, sans-serif typeface. However, their earlier, more calligraphic logo lives on outside a garage in Blackheath... Read more

  Posted on 08 September 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Lettering

  

  As a fan of ghost signs, I'm always looking out for interesting lettering. Here are two examples, not painted onto walls: one historical, the other very... Read more

  Posted on 05 September 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Ghost Signs and Unusual Places

  

  Just to note that my pages on ghost signs and unusual London places to visit have been updated.The ghost signs page offers a useful introduction and index to th... Read more

  Posted on 03 September 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Wood Green Station Explored

  

  When I last visited Wood Green underground station, I had forgotten my camera. This weekend, I had not only my camera but also the opportunity to go behind the... Read more

  Posted on 01 September 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Surviving the Charge of the Light Brigade

  

  Cannon to right of them,Cannon to left of them,Cannon behind themVolley'd and thunder'd;Storm'd at with shot and shell,While horse and hero fell,They that had... Read more

  Posted on 28 August 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Hawksmoor at Somerset House

  

  There is a mystique around Nicholas Hawksmoor, Wren's assistant and architect of churches including St Mary Woolnoth and Christ Church Spitalfields. Read more

  Posted on 25 August 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• East Greenwich Pleasaunce

  

  Tucked away behind Woolwich Road, the East Greenwich Pleasaunce is some way off the Greenwich tourist trail. However, it is not only a popular local park but on... Read more

  Posted on 22 August 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Ghost Signs (96): Westcombe Hill

  

  It was as if Westcombe Hill realised that walking up it in drizzling rain wasn't much fun. To motivate me, it offered not one but two ghost signs on the way. Read more

  Posted on 20 August 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Compton, Artists' Village

  

  G F Watts, one of the most famous of Victorian artists, was also the founder of the Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice at Postman's Park. Much of his art can... Read more

  Posted on 18 August 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• The Guiding Virtues of Queen Alexandra

  

  Outside St James's Palace in the wall of Marlborough House is a sculpted scene showing four female figures, one a child. Its significance is not immediately... Read more

  Posted on 15 August 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Bristol Balloon Fiesta

  

  Every year for the last 35 years, hot air balloons have floated above Bristol for its Balloon Fiesta, the largest in Europe. Half a million people visited the... Read more

  Posted on 13 August 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Two-for-one in Bexley

  

  Among the hidden jewels of South East London is this stately home.And this one.In fact, they're really a single house: Hall Place in Bexley. Read more

  Posted on 11 August 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Ghost Signs (95): George Mence Smith

  

  In Oxford Mews, near Bexley Station, is a large but faded ghost sign headed 'George Mence Smith'. Fading and over-painting have made the rest tricky to read:... Read more

  Posted on 06 August 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Books in Chains

  

  When books were truly expensive, libraries were so careful to prevent theft that they chained each volume to its shelf. Far from borrowing it to take home, a... Read more

  Posted on 04 August 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Top Turrets!

  

  When the City of London very kindly invited me on a tour, a highlight was the opportunity to go into an area of Tower Bridge not open to the public: one of its... Read more

  Posted on 01 August 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY