The Angel of the North by Antony Gormley (Sir)

The Sculptor Antony Gormley has been knighted in the New Year's Honours List.

The Angel approves.

Fog In The Shire

The view from Barbury Castle today as the fog lingered.

Right Beneath Our Feet : Swindon's Lost Library

It's not every day you discover a library lost for decades whilst walking to buy a loaf of bread.

But at the back of Aspen House, in the alleyway that links Regent Street and Granville Street, just a few inches below where the tarmac has broken away, is a double-line of bricks.

Looking at this map from the Swindon Collection, it's marked in 1956 as a 'Arts Centre and Junior Library'. It's shape and location makes it seem to be the Northern wall, running South-West to North-East.

In a similar way to the remains of Byron Street that we found just a few inches below the street surface, it makes you wonder how many other buildings in Swindon lie just below our feet, waiting to be discovered...

The broken red brick sits clearly amongst the broken tarmac and fag-ends.

To give some context, the close-up picture is about an inch to the left of the left gate-post of the back of the Aspen House site.

RAF Bomber Command Memorial

Gotta See The Show

Don't forget about the Christmas at Steam event this weekend at the Steam Museum. The Kentwood Show Choir will be singing on the Saturday, making a good reason to post this photo taken during rehearsals at the Wyvern Theatre last year.

Shiny Pictures To Let

From a perfect day in March at Kembrey Park

New & Old History

It's only been two years since these photographs were taken and already the regeneration has taken a bite out of the past. Some places and views have changed markedly, and others are exactly the same.

For New Falcon House, time stands still.

Whalebridge with the roundabout slowly vanishing. This view is no longer possible as the first stage of the Kimmerfields development sits in the wasteground at the front of the picture.

Don't trip over the kerb.

Broadgreen.

1980s Brutalism

1980s Brutalism (with shoulder pads)