The Trent Building, the formal centre piece of the University of Nottingham ‘University Park Campus’. Constructed between 1922 and 1928 and very typical of the period. Reminiscent of the  Ulster Museum and some of the London town halls - like Hackney. A classical building in Portland stone with an elegant and formal relationship to the boating lake below. The narrow clock tower, however, bringing a strong vertical emphasis, marks the building out as early 20th century. A pleasant place to visit.

Heritage Angels NI is on this Tuesday in the Guildhall. It should be a great night with specially comissioned songs and video clip associated with each of the awards. Last year in Belfast was inspiring. There may be some free tickets left at: https://www.ulsterarchitecturalheritage.org.uk/event/heritage-angel-awards-2018/ …

The dramatic hillside of Cifton Wood in Bristol, marked by its colourful houses, looks accross the ‘Floating Harbour’ to Brunel’s SS Great Britain on Spike Island. The harbour is so named because dams at each end prevent the loss of water at low tide. This allows ships to remain afloat in the harbour. Its completion in 1809 was a major innovation for a city where  water levels can change by 12 metres between tides. Half way up the hill is Old School Lane, a residential development of the mid 2000′s. It picks up the colour and plot width of the terrace above while being boldly of its own time. It is a very successful insertion into a sensitive context.

Water Tower Great Western Works, Swindon.

I was over in Swindon last week for a meeting and had time to do a quick sketch of this structure. It is a  water tower at the end of an elegant street of workers houses built by the former Great Western Railway Company. The tower was built in 1870 and provided a high pressure water supply for fire fighting within the adjacent GWR works yard. It was conserved in 2014 and the surrounding saw mills converted to house the University Technical College Swindon. This describes itself as ‘an innovative, employer-focused, high-tech school for students aged from 14 to 19, specialising in engineering'. The structure is quite dramatic- an intrusion of 'steam punk' in an otherwise carefully designed streetscape of Tudor Gothic workers houses to one side and the stone and brick boundary wall of the works on the other.  Today, the works are no longer used for repairing and constructing engines and rolling stock and its buildings have largely been converted into residential and office uses. The headquarters of the National Trust and Historic England's Archive are both located within the grounds.

The Ha’penny Bridge, Dublin. A great place to rest if you are a seagull. Otherwise a nice place to walk over the Liffey. Built in 1816 and officially named the Liffey Bridge its more common name refers to the toll required to cross it until 1919. The bridge was manufactured in Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, England, and it was shipped in parts to be assembled in Dublin. It was restored by Harland and Wolff of Belfast in 2001.

Vinegar Hill above Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. Location of a major battle in the 1798 Rebellion which is well interpreted in an excellent visitor centre in the town. Now a fine viewpoint with the picturesque ruins of a windmill.  This mill is depicted intact in drawings of the battle - If stones could speak

An afternoon to be inside in a place like this. This is Racy Byrne’s Bar, Carlow town. Tiled floor, timber ceiling, a long bar with plenty of tall stools and with walls full of sporting memorabilia,- full of atmosphere - The footbal match? England v Sweeden in the quarter finals of the World Cup - 7 July 2018.  The building?  Now a long pub on Tullow Street which appears to have been once two buildings (different heights) with a very long shopfront in a traditional style linking the two. Outside, the shopfront is modern, sash windows have gone and the roof is manmade slate but  the inside of the main building retains its period fittings in the main bar area. It is likely that the building dates from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century.

Lismore Castle Co Waterford, hugely impressive  overlooking the River Blackwater. Said to date from the late Twelfth century, the present appearance dates from a comprehensive and picturesque rebuilding between 1811 and 1822.

 Daffits Quay, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, showing the north side of the town’s Castle - an Anglo Norman construction commenced in the 1180′s which has an eighteenth century military barrack inside.

The Ritz Bar in Tramore Co Waterford.  A long linear pub with hipped thatch roof dating from the late nineteenth century. Aparently once three fishermens cottages but renovated in the 1920′s to become a public house.  Further renovated and extended to the rear in 1995, today it retains its charm to the road with 1920's shopfront details around the entrance door and a roof  covered in water reed with a block ridge of straw. It adds interesting charcter to the road above this popular seaside resort.