Marks of Time
Historic Buildings as  illustrations of the past.
  • Home
  • Blog
    • Derry to Strabane
    • Derry to Limavady
    • Kilkenny to Derry
    • Dublin Visit
    • Inishowen Tour
    • Co Down Visit
    • Carrickfergus Tour
    • Stirling
    • Belfast to Derry
  • About
    • Links
    • Further Reading
  • Contact
  • Map Viewer
  • Counties

Wheal coates Tin Mine, Porthowan, Cornwall

14/11/2023

0 Comments

 
Possibly the most dramatically sited of the many tin mines scattered across Cornwall, the Wheal Coates mine operated from 1802 to 1889. This building is the Towanroath Pumping Engine House of 1872 that was used to pump water out of the adjacent mine shaft that extended under the sea. A great steam powered beam engine was once enclosed by the building. Though at third floor the back wall was open to allow the beam to project. Beautiful and full of character today, it would have been an extreme environment to work in, with sheer cliffs below and bog land above. Now part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site
Picture
0 Comments

St Michaels' Mount, Harazon, Cornwall

8/11/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
St Michael's Mount is a dramatic island monastery/fortress connected to the land by a tidal causeway. The island is crowned by a church  and is very similar in appearance to Mont Saint Michel across the English Channel  in Normandy. it was, in fact, a  priory owned by that monastery from the tenth century up to the 1414 when Henry V dissolved the link during  the 100 Years War with France. it became a parish church thereafter. The current church is thought to have been built in the late 14th century following an earthquake. The  defensible position of the island mean that it was involved in a number  of incidents, including being held by Royalists during the English Civil War. In 1659 it was sold to a Colonel John St Aubyn a former soldier in the New Model Army and his decedents adapted and expanded the former monastic buildings into the fine castellated house that now encloses the church.  The most recent works were carried out in the 1870's.  The site is managed by the National Trust
0 Comments

A tour around Cornwall

5/11/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Minack Theatre near Porthcurrno Cornwall is a remarkable place. From a natural amphitheatre overlooking the sea, it was developed from 1932 onwards by Rowena Cade and her gardener.  A delight to the eye, the reinforced concrete interventions are decorated with Celtic motifs and swirls and the names and dates of plays performed. Everywhere are dates recording when a particular piece was added. Rowena kept adapting the place until she was in her 80's and  died in 1983. All built by hand, it shows the quirkiness of a project that was never on a drawing board and just developed organically over time as needs were understood and refined. Visiting is a real experience, driving up the steep narrow road from Porthcurno you arrive at a flat car parking field with expansive views and then walk down to the theatre though  boundary walls and kiosks to a sudden vertiginous view down to the stage. When I was there the sun was very strong, the sea calm and the actors easily heard.  A unique experience in a wonderful place.
0 Comments

April 03rd, 2023

3/4/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Brackfield Bawn, beside Lower Cumber Presbyterian Church. One of two bawns or fortified houses built by the Skinners Company of London on their 'proportion' as part of the Plantation of Ulster in the early Seventeenth Century.  The other bawn was in the village of Dungiven and reused the historic priory in that village. The construction of bawns was.a requirement of the Plantation and provided refuge for the new settlers from Scotland and England in times of  uncertainty. They all tended to have a fortified stone house with a courtyard defended by corner turrets or 'flankers'. The  bawn was the focus of a small settlement and 12 houses and a church are recorded outside its walls in a map of 1622. A mill was also recorded between the village and the nearby Faughan river. Of all this nothing survives above ground. The bawn itself was abandoned by the end of the Seventeenth century. It is now a Monument in State Care.
0 Comments

March 28th, 2023

28/3/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Next door. Lower Cumber Presbyterian church. This dates from 1883 and unusually has a lecture hall underneath which results in the grand stepped entrance up to the front door. 
0 Comments

March 22nd, 2023

22/3/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Out into the country. This is the former Cumber Primary School near Brackfield Bawn off the main road from Derry to Belfast. It dates from 1931 and is an elegant well designed building with simple, sparse, Georgian Revival detailing, a symmetrical  layout, and with a white painted exterior that sits well in its rural surroundings.  It is now used as a rural development centre. Windows unfortunately replaced in PvC and a bit flat, but it still sits very well in its surroundings.
0 Comments

January 24th, 2023

24/1/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Around the corner on Bishop Street is the former Northern Counties Club remodelled in 1902 by the same architect Alfred Forman. Full of spikes and bays this was a gentleman's club until the early 2000's. After a long period of vacancy it was bought by the Inner City Trust and remodelled as a boutique hotel. which opened in 2016.  The works retained the Edwardian grandeur of the interior, with its magnificent staircase, inglenook fire place and fine function rooms on the first floor overlooking the street.
0 Comments

January 23rd, 2023

23/1/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
On the other side of the Diamond, a smaller building from the same period is worth a look. This is Diamond Chambers (1899) another confident piece of architecture. it was designed by Alfred Foreman who was responsible for a number of fine buildings in the city during the following ten years. 
0 Comments

January 18th, 2023

18/1/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Dominating the Diamond today is the Austin's building. Unfortunately vacant for a number of years, following the demise of a company that prided itself in being the 'worlds oldest department store'. Austins is a great, confident building, full of bays, columns, and swagger. Inside, it has a  double height space on the ground floor and a fine, if slightly tilted, staircase. The building was designed by  Matthew A Robinson at the height of the city's economic boom  in the early years of the Twentieth Century and replaced an earlier department store on the same spot.  In December 2022 the Council passed a motion to set up a taskforce to encourage a new use for this important building. Unlocking a new future will not only preserve a historic building, but will add life and activity to the Diamond and enhance the  atmosphere of the city centre.
0 Comments

January 17th, 2023

17/1/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
The market house the centre of the Diamond was destroyed in the Great Siege of 1689 and rebuilt with money donated by William and Mary in thanks for the 108 day defence of the city against King James which had been important in securing their throne. Like many market houses across Ulster it was arcaded at the base with a meeting/ court room over. Over time the arcades were filled in and in the 1830's the building was significantly rebuilt, remodelled and extended to function as the Corporation Hall hall. In the 1890's this function moved to the new Guildhall and the building became an art college. This suffered a fire in 1903 and was repaired but it was  demolished and replaced with a civic garden in 1910. A war memorial was added in 1928. The cellars of the Corporation Hall remain under the surface. This image is based upon a photo of c.1890.
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Marks of Time

    Sketches of buildings in the North West of Ireland and further afield with a little information about their history.

    Search the Categories below for specific places .

    Go to the archives to follow the exploration from 2015

    Go to the  drop down to follow some of the routes explored.

    Categories

    All
    Co Antrim
    Co Armagh
    Co Carlow
    Co Cavan
    Co Clare
    Co Cork
    Co Derry / Co Londonderry
    Co Donegal
    Co Down
    Co Dublin
    Co Fermanagh
    Co Galway
    Co Kilkenny
    Co Limerick
    Co Longford
    Co Louth
    Co Mayo
    Co Meath
    Co Monaghan
    Co Offaly
    Co Roscommon
    Co Tipperary
    Co Tyrone
    Co Waterford
    Co Westmeath
    Co Wexford
    Co Wicklow
    Derry~Londonderry
    England - Bristol
    England - Carlisle
    England - Chester
    England - Liverpool
    England - London
    England - Nottingham
    England - Swindon
    England - Wirral
    France - Brittany
    France - Dordogne
    France - Picardy
    I Belgium - Louven
    I Belgium - Ypres
    I Netherlands - Amsterdam
    I Scotland - Argyllshire
    I Scotland - Drumfries
    I Scotland - Dunblane
    I Scotland - Glasgow
    I Scotland - Perthshire
    I Scotland - Stirling
    I Scotland - Stranraer
    I Scotland - Trossachs
    I Ukraine
    I US - New York
    I Us - San Francisco
    I Us - San Francisco
    I US - Seattle
    I Wales - Caernarvonshire
    I Wales Denbighshire
    I Wales Flintshire
    Local - Ardstraw
    Local - Armagh City
    Local - Ballycastle
    Local - Ballykelly
    Local - Baronscourt
    Local - Belfast
    Local - Buncrana
    Local - Burt
    Local - Carndonagh
    Local - Carrickfergus
    Local - Castlebar
    Local - Clady
    Local - Clonmacnoise
    Local Clonmany
    Local - Clonmany
    Local - Coleraine
    Local - Culdaff
    Local - Donegal Town
    Local - Donemana
    Local - Drumsurn
    Local - Dublin
    Local Dungiven
    Local - Dungiven
    Local - Eglinton
    Local - Galway City
    Local - Glenelly Valley
    Local - Gortin
    Local - Greysteel
    Local - Kilkenny
    Local - Kilmore
    Local - Leckpatrick
    Local - Lifford
    Local - Limavady
    Local - Maghera
    Local - Magilligan
    Local - Moville
    Local - Newtonstewart
    Local - Sion Mills
    Local - Strabane
    Local - Tramore
    Local - Waterford City
    Local - Westport
    World Heritage Sites

    Archives

    April 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.