All Fools’ Day, Easter Monday – Home – A bright Spring morning. For the first time I have seen, a House Sparrow alights on the window feeder and grabs a seed. A little later, two Jackdaws land atop the wall but it seems they are not after the seeds but grab a thread from the hanging basket. On the patio wall are several pieces of chewed greenery. They seem to be tulip heads and the culprit is almost certainly a Grey Squirrel.
Ten cardboard tubes from toilet rolls are filled with compost and a beetroot, Pablo, seed sown in each. They go into the greenhouse. The pak choi has bolted completely now and will be fed bit by bit to the hens in the coming days. A dark red Chinese mustard leaf (or Japanese Red Giant, depending on who you ask) is suddenly growing strongly after a long, slow start. All the tomatoes, chillies and lettuces are looking healthy.
Friday – Leominster – Yet again there was rain last night. The morning is grey with rain in there still. Down to the railway bridge. Jackdaws chack on the White Lion roof. Onto Butts Bridge. A Chiffchaff calls and a Blackcap, the first of the year for me, sings intermittently. Red Campion is growing rapidly beside the path but not yet in flower. The water level in the River Lugg is fairly high and it flows swiftly, coloured red-brown. A Wren sings. It starts to rain.
Back over the railway. A Dunnock sings by the station. Intensely green leaves are opening on the Hazels. Jackdaws squabble on the White Lion chimney pots. The rain ceases and the sun emerges, April showers indeed. A Class 197 diesel multiple unit heads south, five carriages, at last TfW are addressing overcrowding, although too late for the morning rush hour here. All of the trees in the Millennium Orchard are now coming into leaf with the exception of the Dabinett. Robins sing. White blossom adorns a Sweet Cherry. More white blossom is on a Service Cherry. The air is full of bird song: Song Thrush, Dunnock, Chiffchaff, Wood Pigeon and Wren. Bumble bees buzz low over the grass. Marsh Marigolds, Cuckoo Flowers, Bittercress and Primroses flower all around the old pond. Another Blackcap sings in the track side bushes. A DB (German State Railways) 67 Class diesel growls past heading north pulling a five MK4 carriage train.
Into the Peace Garden. The River Kenwater is also flowing rapidly and the water coloured. Rabbits are in the garden opposite. A first spike of the reproductive part of Wild Arum is rising above the leaves. A bright blue and white Midland Pullman passes also heading north. The Midland Pullman train was iconic in British rail history and ran in the early 1960s between Manchester Central and London St Pancras. It last made the journey in 1966 when the line became electric and trains became much faster. The name owned by a private tour company; the train is two HST power units, No 43049 “Neville Hill” and No 43046 “Geoff Drury 1930-1999” and first class and dining carriages. Into the churchyard. Ground Ivy is coming into flower.
The weather brightens during the afternoon, although the wind is rising, driven by Storm Kathleen, named by Met Éireann, as Eire will bear the brunt of this storm. Kay calls from the upstairs window. A Red Kite and Jackdaws are jousting above the roofs opposite. Unfortunately I miss this excitement.
Saturday – Home – The wind gusts with some fury. Rain is in the air. The soil in the garden is saturated. Weeds are pulled out of clinging clay. A rows of Mange Tout peas; Carouby de Maussane, carrots, Paris Market; parsnip, White Spear and beetroot, Detroit 2 are sown. In the greenhouse two pots of dwarf French beans, one of Purple King and one of Slenderette, are sown.
The crab apple blossom is at its best. There is also a good display of blossom on the Conference pear. Frogs peer out of the Duckweed covered surface of the pond. Bluebells are just coming into flower. The poor hens have been locked out of the hen house when they tried to go to bed over the last few days, (the lack of poo in the hen house being a clue). The light level obviously triggers their timing and I had not noticed how much lighter it is in the evening now. I set the closing time an hour later and tonight they are all in before the door comes down. A gale is blowing and it is now raining again.
Sunday – Leominster – After a stormy night the wind is still gusting but easing slowly. It is still wet with rain in the air. In the street there is the rattle from the lanyard of the flag flying above the council offices fluttering in the wind. The occasional Jackdaws chacks and there is the yelp of a gull passing over. Two of the three large ornamental cherries in the lower half of the street are covered in white blossom, the third has already gone over and tiny fruits are on the branches.
Over the railway bridge many trees are coming into leaf now with the obvious exception of the Ash. The water level in the River Lugg has risen, the water still coloured by red soil. Several Wrens and a Chiffchaff call beside the river. Forget-me-nots and Bluebells flower beside the path. A broken and collapsed Goat Willow is still covered with catkins and fresh leaves are emerging.
Back onto the railway bridge. The illuminated sign on the station switches to and fro between English and Welsh, all signs on tracks carrying TfW trains now have to be bilingual. Along the ginnel where Daisies flower under the hedge. The rain intensifies.
Into the Millennium Park. Ransoms are coming into flower. Song Thrushes, Blackbird, Wood Pigeons, Wren and Robins are all in good voice. The River Kenwater is flowing high and fast. Many Wild Arums now have their sheaths and spikes which gave them their many sexually inferenced names such as Lords and Ladies.
Wednesday – Manchester – Off north by train to Manchester. Fields along the way are saturated, many with standing water. However, there is plenty of lush grass for the sheep and lambs. It is a grey morning with louring cloud.
Two of the blue Midland Pullman trains are among other classics at Crewe. A West Coast InterCity stands in the station. Our train is now pretty much full. Another West Coast line train for London Euston pulls in.
Out of Manchester Piccadilly station past the WWI memorial of a line of injured soldiers. Over a footbridge. Below whining trams pass. A Flowering Cherry in pink brightens the grey and glass modern buildings. Across the road to the Rochdale canal. Gabbling Canada Geese stand on Minshull Street bridge. On the other side of the canal is the vast red brick building of the Crown Court. Canal Street enters The Gay Village. A large 20th century red brick building is now a hotel and bars. At the end of the block is a 19th century pub. Opposite is Chorlton Street lock and a large corner warehouse, attached to which is a house spanning the canal. Before the lock was a basin, now filled in and built on.
Across Chorlton Street. More former warehouses back onto the former basin, now occupied by a multi-storey building. Opposite is a large former Central Board School, built 1885-90 by Potts Son and Pickup, architects of Victoria Street, Manchester. Rain is in the air. On along Canal Street. Bars advertise drag acts. Marsh Marigolds flower beside the canal. Into Sackville Street. Sackville Gardens backs onto the old school. It contains a seat with a bronze statue of Alan Turing by Glyn Hughes. Opposite are four storey blocks. One, a former packing warehouse of 1860-80, has mediaeval heads and lions carved in stone on the facade. Nearby are more former industrial buildings of a similar age. Further down the street is the University Institute of Science built in 1895-1912, by Spalding and Cross.
Back over Sackville Street bridge, built in 1875 by The Stockton Forge Company of Stockton on Tees. Into Princess Street, the A34. This, along with many other of the main routes through the city, once had a tramway along it. More packing and shipping warehouses. Lancaster House built around 1900-10, by Harry S Fairhurst has an iron frame with cladding of brown sandstone. Asia House, also by Fairhurst, has an extravagant tower. Opposite is a closed and decaying former bank. It is raining now. Another block with a shield over the entrance, Morreau, Spiegelberg & Co, who were merchants and shippers, is to let. On Granby Row, Orient House was a shipping or packing warehouse, built in 1914, by G.H Goldsmith with a steel frame with facade of white matt-glazed terracotta. Only the façade remains, the building behind is modern apartments. A short access street leads to a long drop down to the canalised River Medlock. Mynshull Cotton Mills stood on the site of the large car beside the river. On down Princess Street and under the bridge carrying the Manchester and Ordsall Lane Junction Branch railway. A long goods train rumbles over. Beyond is the A57M on a flyover. In Charles Street is an iron bridge over the River Medlock and the Lass O’ Gowrie, a 19th century pub. Back up Princess Street. At the junction of Hart Street is a building where the first meeting is the Co-operative Insurance Company was held in November 1867.
Back to the station where a free bus takes me to New Cathedral Street, full of national chain stores. A cluster of old buildings includes the Old Wellington pub. The building existed in 1552 in what was then the marketplace and shambles the 1554 it was purchased by the Byrom family and was a residence and drapers shop. A third storey was added in the mid 17th century and in 1691 John Byrom who developed phonetic shorthand was born here. It became a licence premises in 1831. The building was completely moved by summer 300 yards in 1997 when the city centre was rebuilt after the Arndale Centre bombing.
Nearby is The Mitre Hotel built in 1867. Opposite is the cathedral which we visited in 2019. A short visit to again admire the wonderful organ and modern glass. Nearby is a bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi. I have a pint in a Holts pub and then head into the city centre. Every building is monumental, late 19th and early 20th century displays of the wealth of the city. Past the former Lloyds Bank in Cross Street built in 1913, by Charles Heathcote, with carving and statuary by Earp, Hobbs and Millerin, built in Portland stone on grey granite plinth. It has a rather grotesque look, really overblown. Another pint in The Town Hall Tavern. Opposite is the Prudential Assurance Office, built around 1888 to 1896, by Alfred Waterhouse, apparently reduced in size despite still being a large block sized red brick building.
Into Princess Street. The Town Hall is wrapped in white sheeting like a Christo and Jeanne-Claude piece. Opposite is the Northern Assurance Building, now a posh eatery. Along the street is the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance building (now a Mole Clinic!) Into Tasle Alley. The kerbs are made of cast iron. At the end of the alley is an archway into Dalton Entry, inspired by the work of John Dalton. Here is the Roman Catholic Christ of St Mary’s Roman Catholic church, built between 1844 to 1848 by Weightman and Hadfield in a Rhenish Romanesque style. Next to it is the presbytery, built in the 1870s in Venetian Gothic style. In Albert Square yet again the buildings are monumental. In Mount Street, the Friends Meeting House is a substantial building. Opposite is the Central Public Library, a magnificent circular building of 1930-4, by Vincent Harris built in Portland stone. In 1819, the Peterloo Massacre took place here. Across the road is The Midland Hotel and St George’s House.
Into the Square. Homeless people’s tents are lined up along the arcade of the Town Hall annex. Into the City Arms, a late 18th century house, a very fine pub. Again, I return to the station and on to my hotel a short distance along London Road. My hotel room overlooks the Police and fire station built in 1901-6, by Woodhouse, Willoughby and Langham. It is defined as in an “Ebullient Edwardian Baroque style, with turrets, domes, corner tourelles, and tall south-east tower with domed belfry”. Beyond is a 28 storey concrete central tower of a new skyscraper.
Thursday – Manchester – Shortly after six o’clock the horns of the trams repeat at regular intervals. An emergency vehicle siren is even more of a wake up call. The morning is grey, with pillows of clouds covering the sky. Pairs of Lesser Black-backed Gulls fly silently past the hotel window.
Up to the station. Opposite the entrance is a fine red and yellow corner warehouse with the frieze, Joshua Hoyle and Sons, who were cotton spinners and manufacturers. On to the free bus. There is consternation amongst the passengers when the bus takes the wrong route. The driver explains he had forgotten he had changed routes. However, the wide street and lack of traffic makes a U-turn easy and normal service is returned.
Off at Victoria Station. The original block on Hunt’s Bank Approach was built in 1844, for the Manchester and Leeds Railway Company (also used by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company). It was altered and greatly enlarged 1909 by William Dawes for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company. Opposite is the National Football Museum in a particularly ugly building. Nearby on the junction with Balloon Street is Hanover House, built in 1905-9, by F E L Harris for the Co-operative Wholesale Society. More vast buildings were also built here for the CWS and still the Co-op main offices. On the same site when there was a garden here in 1785, James Sadler made the first manned balloon ascent in Manchester. Opposite is a statue of Robert Owen. Packed trams pass frequently.
Along Corporation Street. City Buildings look worn and in need of some care. The Print Works, the site of the business premises of the 19th century newspaper proprietor Edward Hulton, established in 1873 and later expanded. Hulton’s son Sir Edward Hulton sold the newspaper empire to Lord Beaverbrook in 1923. The building is now an entertainment centre and the lower floors garishly decorated.
Across a green, Long Millgate, is Chatham’s Hospital, a former school, now part of the Music School built in 1873-78, by Alfred Waterhouse in the Tudor style. On another edge of the green is the former Corn and Produce Exchange of 1913, not treated well with glass canopies on the ground floor.
Into Withy Grove, a name suggesting a wetland of Willows, but now mainly filled with modern buildings. An old safe retailers with worn wooden signs is closed and decaying. A display of safes in dark inside. Three police cars turn up and all the officers enter a building. This area is Shudehill. Many of the older buildings are in poor condition. Into High Street. One side is the Arndale Centre. Into Church Street. Fat columns are still adorning Pall Mall House, but the building has been thoroughly modernised and is, apparently, an “Aparthotel”. Next to it is the Unicorn Hotel, described as “an improved public house with accommodation, of 1924 with minor alterations, by Graves and Ellerton.” In Oldham Street is the Methodist Church Central Buildings. Into Dale Street. The four and five storey buildings continue, many looking only partly used or empty. Sevendale House has a stone inscription, I J & C Cooper Ltd, a manufacturer and wholesaler of children’s clothing established in 1823. One can only wonder now at what Manchester was like in the sixty years or so between 1860 and 1920 when all these huge buildings, many being workshops and warehouses, were being constructed. Imagine the pride people would have had in these displays of successful commerce. Now many are just sad.
Into Newton Street. Bradley House is a wedge shaped building, a shipping warehouse, now various workshops and offices, built at the end of the 19th century probably for Kessler & Co, merchants. Into Piccadilly. A monumental statue of Wellington stands in front of an incongruous, modern orange brick building. It is very noticeable that no attempt had been made in this main thoroughfare to integrate the new buildings with the traditional.
Piccadilly comes to Cross Street. The former Royal Exchange covers a large block. It was rebuilt and enlarged (for the fourth time on this site) in 1914-21, by Bradshaw, Gass and Hope. Cross Street chapel is a modern building on the site of the first school and chapel house built in 1734. It was an early meeting place for the Manchester Literacy and Philosophical Society, founded in 1781. Elizabeth Gaskell worshipped here. Into South King Street. The Diocesan Chambers are dated 1884.
Into John Dalton Street and along Mulberry Passage, which runs off of Tasle Alley where I passed yesterday. Round the corner is the entrance to St Mary’s Catholic church. The entrance is a glazed lobby with a mosaic floor with the words Ave Maria and a panelled ceiling. The sanctuary has an elaborate stone and marble reredos and integral high altar with statuary of the Sacred Heart and Saints topped by angels. The south side chapel reredos has a Madonna and Child in a tall, central tabernacle with flanking scenes of the Birth of Christ and Christ in the Temple. Windows are have leaded and stained-glass patterned lights with the exception of a window in the south side chapel, which has stained glass of the Virgin, probably 1860s by Hardman.
Into Queen Street, an antiseptic square of modern buildings. In the centre is a statue of Abraham Lincoln. The statue is the work of George Grey Barnard and presented to Manchester by Mr and Mrs Phelps Taft of Cincinnati, Ohio in recognition of the support given by the workers of Manchester to the fight for the abolition of slavery. Nearby is a listed electricity junction box produced in the early 20th century at the Worcester foundry of Hardy and Padmore. Across the square is The Rising Sun, a probably 19th century pub surviving between modern blocks.
Into Deansgate. A statue of Chopin faces ugly modern buildings, one housing the “Sexy Fish”. Beside them is the John Rylands Research Institute and Library. It was built in 1890-99, in the Decorated Gothic style with Arts and Crafts accent by Basil Champneys, for Enriqueta Augustina Rylands in memory of her husband, with a back extension of 1912. It was built to house the theological library of John Rylands, a leading textile manufacturer and philanthropist, subsequently augmented by the purchase of other collections, and now one of the finest in the country. On 1972 it became part of the University of Manchester. The building is in Cumbrian sandstone and Yorkshire blue stone. The windows are by Kempe. It has over 25 kilometres of shelving in the stores. One wonders who thought it appropriate to place a modern lamp standard straight in front of the magnificent entrance.
Back along Deansgate. The House of Fraser is in a colossal building of 1939, by J S Beaumont, constructed of a steel frame with cladding of Portland stone and glass. Into King Street. Boodles (a jewellers where nothing is priced, if you need to know the price, you won’t be able to afford it) is probably steel-framed but with elaborate “timber-framed” cladding; built in 1902 by Francis William Maxwell of Maxwell and Tuke. Hancock’s, another jewellers does have prices, nothing less that four figures! Through the Old Exchange to St Ann’s church.
St Ann’s church was built in 1709-12 in purplish red sandstone found nearby at Collyhurst. Before the 18th century Manchester had only one church, now the Cathedral. As the town grew a new one was needed. Funds were provided by Lady Ann Bland and the design in the fashionable classical style is thought to be the work of John Barker, (traditionally it is said to have been designed by Sir Christopher Wren or one of his pupils). It was restored 1886-91 by Alfred Waterhouse. There are galleries on three sides, supported by stout Tuscan columns. The glass by Frederick Shields. Pews have brass name plates. The church formerly had strong Whig and Anti-Jacobite connections; John Wesley preached here 1733 and 1738, Thomas De Quincey was baptised here 1785.
Outside the church is the extraordinary bronze sculpture of a rough sleeper on a bench. There are also seven tombs, the last surviving outside city centre churches. Back through the streets for a couple of pints in the City Arms before catching the train home. The train is one of the new Class 197 units. The toilets do not work for the first hour of the journey, the Wi-Fi does not work and it runs late.
Sunday – Leominster – The sun shines brightly from a near cloudless sky. Robins and blackbirds sing and House Sparrows chirrup, but the Jackdaws are almost completely silent. Onto the railway bridge. Wrens, Chiffchaff, Chaffinches, a Grey Wagtail, a Dunnock, a Blackcap, Robins and Blue Tits and a Carrion Crow call. The water level in the River Lugg has fallen considerably. The water is still coloured grey. Herb Robert is in flower, a plant that has many local names including Stinking Bob, Death-come-quickly, Storksbill, Fox Geranium and locally Squinter-pip. Most Wild Arums, another plant with plenty of local names, have their reproductive parts now. White Dead-nettle flowers.
Into Pinsley Mill. Yet more Wrens are singing, accompanied by Wood Pigeons and more Chaffinches. In the Millennium Orchard apples are coming into blossom. In the Millennium Park, Chaffinches, a Blackcap, Chiffchaffs, Greenfinch, a Song Thrush and Blackbirds are all in song. Brilliant yellow discs of Dandelions lay in the grass. The water level in the River Kenwater has also fallen.
Into a churchyard. Large leaves of Foxgloves encircle an old tree stump. The rich notes of the organ comes from the Priory. Along Church Street. Three large flock of Feral Pigeons fly around the town centre. Individuals scatter onto various roofs. A Jackdaw passes over the beak full of something unidentifiable.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – The sun is shining through thin cloud although there are much heavier darker clouds approaching. A Blackcap is singing melodiously beside the car park. Wrens and Robins sing in the trees. A Great Spotted Woodpecker flies around before disappearing in the trees. Blue Tits chatter. Down the track. A Chiffchaff calls. Sand Martins sweep through the sky.
The water level in the lake remains high and little of the islands can be seen. A Mute Swan, several Canada Geese, a good number of Tufted Duck and a Goosander are on the water. Two Oystercatchers are on the most exposed island. Blackcaps are chasing through the trees beside the track to the meadow. The track and the meadow have dried out slightly but are still muddy.
Into the hide. The scrape is still submerged. Tufted Duck dive over it. A Great Crested Grebe passes. A Coot dives where the reed bed should be. There will be no nests there for a while. A few Mallard are on the water. Over two dozen Tufted Duck are on the south side with gabbling Canada Geese and fractious Greylags. Many more Greylags are on the meadow beyond. Dinmore Hill is turning green. A Cormorant flies across the water.
The state of the lake seems problematic. Mid April, the water level has not fallen and the reed beds look thin on the south and west sides and non-existent here on the north side. The winter wildfowl numbers seemed very poor, just a few Wigeon when there used to be over one hundred, hardly any Goldeneye and much lower numbers of Coot. No Gadwall or Shovelers have been reported. A Common Buzzard soars above the island.
Back through a very muddy plantation. A Song Thrush sings from Westfield Wood. Blackcaps, Chaffinches, Chiffchaffs, Robins, Blackbirds and Wrens are all on song around meadow. Hawthorn is coming into blossom. A Raven is circling and diving high in the sky. Apple and pear blossom is appearing on the orchards. The winter thrushes have all now departed.
Thursday – Home – The morning starts with a very light frost. The garden is delightful with swathes of both Bluebells and Forget-me-nots, pots of daffodils, tulips, lilac and other shrubs and apple blossom. The broad beans are looking good, the peas not so good. Only three Lollo Rosso lettuces have survived in the bed. The first potato leaves have emerged. Purple-sprouting is planted out and netted.
In the greenhouse, tomatoes have been planted out below the frame. The lettuces here are growing well. Radishes are on the point of harvest and more are sown. More lettuces, Romaine and Chinese mustard are sprouting, as are the next sowing of broad beans. A few beetroot in toilet rolls have germinated and some more seed is sown in the failed tubes. The chillies are steadily getting larger. All the outdoor tomatoes are looking good but will have to stay inside for a while longer.
Friday – Leominster – Heavy pewter grey clouds cover the sky and a cold wind blows. Yelping gulls fly over swept along in the wind. Goldfinches sing whilst House Sparrows and Blue Tits chatter. Two of the cherry trees in the street are now in full blossom whilst the other two have now gone over. On the Worcester Road, Geans or Bird Cherries are in blossom.
Up onto the old A44 bridge over the railway. Garlic Mustard, Greater Celandines, Rue-leafed Saxifrage, Forget-me-nots, Red and White Dead-nettles are in flower. There is rain in the air. A Class 197, bound for Wales, leaves the station and passes under the bridge. A Chiffchaff calls. Across the A49 and onto them old A44. Three horses are in an area of rough ground, in rather poor conditions. Cow Parsley flowers on the verge.
Along to Eaton Bridge over the River Lugg. The water level has dropped and the water is clearer than of late. A Chiffchaff calls and a Song Thrush sings. Onto the Stoke Prior road. A Mistle Thrush rasps. Garlic Mustard and White Dead-nettles flower and Red Campion will join them shortly. Hogweed is getting large. Further on Red Campion had indeed come into flower. A large patch of Wild Arum grows under a Lime. Eaton farmhouse has an 18th century frontage on an older building. Eaton Barn is a community garden for people with learning difficulties. Eaton Hall had mid 19th century frontage on a probable 14th century hall. Several 17th and 18th century barns are beside the hall.
A field to the west of The Pound had been flooded and there is still standing water and a lot of mud, on which three Little Egrets and a Grey Heron search for food. Over a hedge is a pond from which three Mallard lift. A Garden Warbler sings in a line of Hawthorns and a Wren and Great Tit are calling nearby. An unimpressively straggly piece of Tufted Vetch bears a couple of pink and purple flowers. Cleavers are climbing the hedgerow. White Stitchwort flowers with five split petals under the hedge. A field of sheep looks brown and barren. Fields beyond have standing water in them. A Common Buzzard soars overhead.
I turn back. A vine of tangled thick stems of Black Bryony has flower heads like heads of dark green-purple wheat. The Little Egrets have departed from the flooded field but now three Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a small flock of Wood Pigeons on the grass. By Eaton farmhouse, several Long-tailed Tits chirp as they fly across the road. A Greenfinch and Green Woodpecker call. Near the junction with the A44, a Goldfinch sings.
Back over the railway bridge where several Goldfinches, House Sparrows and a Chiffchaff are all in good voice.
Sunday – Leominster – The sky is largely covered by cloud and it is cool. Down the road to the railway bridge. A rabbit hops off into the woods. An industrial wood shredder stands next to the track. A Wren sings and a Chiffchaff calls. The water level in the River Lugg has fallen again.
The Sunday market is being held again now that the field has dried out. Along the path beside Easters Meadow. The delicate pale purple Lady’s Smock, also commonly called the Cuckoo Flower, stand beside the path. Many Dandelions have already run the seed and there are dandelion clocks all over the field. Heavy machinery has been down the path beside the Brightwells compound and removed all the briars and brambles. Stinging Nettles and Garlic Mustard have taken their opportunity and have sprung up. A dozen dust carts are in the compound, all less than a year old. The army sand-coloured Land Rovers are still there. Twenty ambulances are also lined up in the compound. The water level in Cheaton Brook is fairly low.
The market is not busy. Many of the commercial traders are missing, there has only been a couple of days notice the market would be on, and most of the stalls are people selling off their junk. There is, as usual, a splendid array of different languages heard.
Along Mill Street into Paradise Walk. Dandelion leaves are gathered for the chickens. Bell practice starts in the Priory. The River Kenwater is still flowing swiftly and coloured grey-green.
Home – The dead grape vine, which stretches across the patio, is cut back and removed. Cucumbers have sprouted in the bathroom but the courgettes do not look very successful.
Tuesday – Dundee – We have an uneventful train journey north, changing at Crewe, Carlisle and Edinburgh. The crossing of the Firth of Forth is magnificent as expected. The journey through Fife is by far the most interesting part of the journey. At Aberdour, Eider Duck are on the rocks. In Markinch is the large John Haig whisky distillery and blending building, clearly empty. The train then crosses the Tay estuary, again a beautiful panorama, to the west with pools of sunlight on dark brooding water. Into Dundee station past empty waste sites where the old railway yards and works stood.
Dundee, the fourth largest city in Scotland, is a city of listed buildings. The name “Dundee” is made up of two parts: the common Celtic place-name element dun, meaning fort and a second part that may derive from a Celtic element, cognate with the Gaelic dè, meaning “fire”. Dundee’s success and growth as a seaport town started with William the Lion granting Dundee to his younger brother, David (later Earl of Huntingdon) in the late 12th century. The situation of the town on the Tay estuary and its promotion by Earl David as a trading centre led to a period of prosperity and growth. The earldom was passed down to David’s descendants, amongst whom was John Balliol. The town became a Royal Burgh on John’s coronation as king in 1292. The town and its castle were occupied by English forces for several years during the First War of Independence and recaptured by Robert the Bruce in early 1312. The original Burghal charters were lost during the occupation and subsequently renewed by Bruce in 1327. The town suffered a number of occupations and destruction during the many conflicts between the English and Scots. The economy of medieval Dundee centred on the export of raw wool, with the production of finished textiles being a reaction to recession in the 15th century. The expansion of the whaling industry was triggered by the second Bounty Act, introduced in 1750 to increase Britain’s maritime and naval skill base. The discovery that the dry fibres of jute could be lubricated with whale oil (of which Dundee had a surfeit, following the opening of its gasworks) to allow it to be processed in mechanised mills resulted in the Dundee mills rapidly converting from linen to jute, which sold at a quarter of the price of flax. Large scale immigration, notably of Irish workers, led to accelerated urban expansion, and at the height of the industry’s success, Dundee supported 62 jute mills, employing some 50,000 workers. The rise of the textile industries brought with it an expansion of supporting industries, notably of the whaling, maritime and shipbuilding industries, and extensive development of the waterfront area started in 1815 to cope with increased demand for port capacity. At its height, 200 ships per year were built there, including Robert Falcon Scott’s Antarctic research vessel, the RRS Discovery. Other notable industries were James Keiller’s and Sons, established in 1795, which pioneered commercial marmalade production, and the publishing firm DC Thomson, which was founded in the city in 1905. The jute industry fell into decline in the early 20th century, but in the post WWII, American light engineering companies like Timex and NCR led to an expansion into microelectronics.
We head out to our hotel on the Perth Road. The road is lined with numerous Victorian buildings. Our hotel is circa 1870, a two storey house, part of a terrace of similar houses. Opposite is a pair of semi-detached houses of 1871 sitting below the street. Beyond the Tay estuary. We walk towards the city centre. Houses are from 1800 into the Edwardian era. Seymour House is a massive Victorian Gothic house of 1880 by Charles and Leslie Ower. A long row of two storey two bay houses by Ireland and Maclaren date from circa 1875. Opposite are some tenement houses with large central vertically channelled wallhead stack, i.e. chimney stacks. It looks unusual to see these stacks, large flat walls, rising on the front of the buildings. Next is Windsor Street which runs down towards the Tay, one side being a long terrace of houses from around 1851-1872 by James MacLaren.
The road has a slight dog-leg. On a corner is Blackness Public Library, a large red stone building by Frank Thomson in 1904 in an Edwardian baroque style. On the opposite corner are three four-storey tenements built by James MacLaren in 1868-9. Across the road is the McCheyne Memorial Church built in the Victorian Gothic by Frederick T Pilkington (Pilkington and Bell) in 1869-70 and extended later around 1899. A plaque commemorates the celebrated evangelist Revd Robert Murray McCheyne who preached in Dundee from 1836-43. It has been closed since 1999.
Down the road is The Speedwell Bar, built by John Bruce and Son in 1903. Commentators consider it probably the best historic pub interior in Dundee. Built for James G Speed of William Speed and Sons with woodwork by W and R Brownlee. There are still smaller rooms off the bar, which is divided into sections by windowed dividers. All windows have Art Nouveau designs on them.
Wednesday – Dundee – We head towards the city centre along Perth Road past streets that descend down to the old flood plain of the River Tay, cobbled and steep. St Peter’s church was designed by Hean Brothers in 1836 and had a distinctly Georgian style. Terraces of Georgian houses run north and south of the main road. St Mark’s church is by Frederick T Pilkington (Pilkington and Bell) built in 1868-9 and extended in 1879 by Ireland and MacLaren. Seabraes viewpoint is a small garden looking out across the Tay somewhat spoiled by modern, not particularly pleasant six storey modern blocks and a very large supermarket by the river. A linear park runs alongside the railway and beyond the main road into the city from the west before the river. Goldfinches, a Chiffchaff and a Willow Warbler sing. Across the road is Airlie Place, a fine classical run of four residential blocks, now part of Dundee University administrative services. Number 2 has a prominent bowed corner and piended Doric porch and is a good early example of the work of renowned Edinburgh architect John Dick Peddie who excelled at interpreting Italian palazzo architecture.
On along Perth Road and into Nethergate. The Queen’s Hotel is by John Young and Andrew Meldrum, 1878. Morgan’s Tower is a strange looking building, built for Daniel Morgan of Westfield around 1794 in the style of Samuel Bell with a bow-fronted tower in the centre of the facade. St Andrew’s Roman Catholic Cathedral was built by George Mathewson in 1835 with the apse added by C J Menart in 1921. Like the majority of churches here, it is locked. On the wall outside are six bronze penguins, a bronze bomblet and a bronze hat.
We turn down to the River Tay and the V&A, Dundee. This extraordinary building was designed by Japanese architects Kengo Kuma & Associates. It is formed of two structures, shaped like upside-down pyramids, separated on the ground floor and twisted to meet on the top floor. Curving concrete walls (there are no straight external walls) hold 2,500 pre-cast rough stone panels, weighing up to 3000 kg each and spanning up to 4m wide, to create the appearance of a Scottish cliff face. There is an exhibition of tapestries by local stitchers celebrating the city. Another exhibition is about the effect of photography on the urban world. A large gallery houses a wonderful collection of Scottish design. The Oak Room by Charles Rennie MacIntosh is housed in its own gallery.
Beside the V&A is the ship, Discovery, a barque-rigged steamship, built in Dundee, that took the Shackleton and Scott expedition to Antarctica in 1901.
Into the city centre. The City churches is a huge site. The original church dates to 1190, when it was founded by David, Earl of Huntingdon. In 1303 the church was burnt by an invading English army. Following a further invasion in 1547 the church was burnt down again. In the late Middle Ages, it was the largest parish church in Scotland with the Old Steeple, built in the 1470s during the Provostship of George Spalding, the tallest tower. In 1841 three of the City Churches were again destroyed by fire. Two were
Occupations on Headstones
Thomas Small – Baker
James Keiller – Merchant
J.H. Blain – Customs House
James tayler – Millwright
Alexander Ogilvy – Rope Work
James Thoms – Shoemaker
John Kennedy – Ship Master
George Duncan – M.P.
William Bisset – Saddler
David Melville – Ship Wright
William Moyes – Merchant
Alexander Brown – Ship Builder
Charles Beat – Lapper (textile industry worker)
Alexander Riddoch – Provost & Deputy Lieutenant for Forfarshire
Jules Legendre – Lieutenant in the Imperial French Guard
rebuilt, the South Church or St Paul’s and the East Church or St Mary’s. St Mary’s, now known as Dundee Parish Church (St Mary’s) was rebuilt being completed in 1844 to the design of William Burn. Both are congregations in the Church of Scotland, although with differing styles of worship. All are locked.
A statue of Desperate Dan and Minnie the Minx stands in the High Street. Into Reform Street. On the junction with Bank Street stands the former Bank of Scotland, by William Burn in 1840. The ground floor is now a pub. Much of one side of Back Street consists of the former offices and printing works of Dundee Courier and Advertiser, famous for periodicals such as People’s Friend. The building was designed by Charles Edward in 1859. Into Barrack Street. The Howff was the gardens of the Grey Friars monastery destroyed in 1547 then granted to the town as a place of burial by Mary Queen of Scots in 1564. It is a fascinating cemetery with many graves giving the former occupation of the deceased.
Out into Meadowside where the former Post Office is an impressive French Renaissance-detailed building by Walter Wood Robertson built in 1898. In Constitution Street is the Ward Congregational church designed by James Brewster in 1833. It looks strange as it is painted a pale cream, originally in 1843. Into Euclid Street. At the end is the High School of Dundee by George Angus in 1829-34 with additions of various dates to courtyard and rear. It is a lumpen building with excessively thick columns of the Greek Revival school. The school pipe band is practising in a garage. Opposite the school is the Courier Building, the palazzo style offices of DC Thomson built in 1902 by Niven and Wigglesworth (London)with a tower added by T Lindsay Gray in 1960. The boggy ground here resulted in the first use in Scotland of Hennebique reinforced concrete piles, each supporting a load of 300 tons. Into Albert Square where a statue of Robert Burns by Sir John Steele dated 1880 stands in front of The McManus, an art gallery in The Albert Institute, by Sir George Gilbert Scott, 1865-67, its design based upon his unexecuted design for the Hamburg Rathaus. All around are monumental buildings of the Victorian era. Behind the Institute is the former Flemish Gothic-style, Chamber of Commerce building by David Bryce, 1854-5, now a Brewdog outlet. On Commercial Street is a terrace of four-storeys by William Mackison, designed as a result of the 1871 Improvement Act and executed by various architects 1876-92, including David Rhind with detail deviations from Mackison’s scheme.
On down Commercial Street. An entrance has wide iron channels in the ground obviously to take the weight of heavy wagons. Into Exchange Street where there is a former flour mill, an explanation for the wagons. It was later the Castle Hill Boot Factory, then a seed warehouse. It was built in the early 19th century, on earlier foundations upon the castle rock, the site of the mediaeval castle of Dundee.
Into Shore Terrace. Caird Hall, a monumental concert hall of 1913-1922 by James Thomson, Dundee City Architect, assisted by Vernon Constable, dominates the street. It was built at a cost of £100,000 and it is named after Sir James Caird, a local industrialist who partly financed it. The building of the City Square complex caused the demolition of notable 16th, 17th and 18th century buildings including Provost Pierson’s House, Strathmartine’s Lodging, The Vault, and the Old Town House designed by William Adam. Opposite is a mixture of construction sites and grass areas down to the Tay. Nearby the Tay road bridge crosses the river. Back through Whitehall Crescent. The Gilfillan Memorial Church, by Malcolm Stark, dated 1887, was named after the notable minister and social reformer the Revd George Gilfillan.
Thursday – Dundee – The day starts in bright sunshine. Along Perth Road and down Strawberry Bank, a narrow lane. A number of houses line this lane and a few short terraces leading off. A stables and coach house are close to the lane. An aircraft roars out of Dundee airport a short distance to the west. Into Magdalen Yard Road. Opposite is a park with a bandstand of 1890 built at the Saracen Foundry by Walter MacFarlane & Co of Glasgow and possible site of chapel of a Magdalen convent believed to have existed nearby. Windsor Place is a terrace of large late Georgian houses. Shepherds Loan (loan meaning an area between fields to feed cattle) rises past a former jute factory, mainly designed by Robertson and Orchar in 1861-4, a prominent Italianate building comprising High Mill with tower and mechanics’ shop, linking with later offices and extended in 1851 by Alexander Johnston in 1883. On along Magdalen Yard Road. A large, prominently sited Gothic alms-house by Alexander Johnston in 1883 housed the Royal Institute for the Blind. The Tay Ropeworks have been entirely demolished.
The road turns into Roseangle. Like very many streets in Dundee it is made up of rectangular cobbles. At the foot of the hill is a Graeco-Egyptian villa of 1836 built for George Duncan MP. A number of houses on the street are empty and in poor condition, others are care homes and nurseries. Down to Greenmarket. The area was covered by railway marshalling yards, engine sheds and sidings but is now modern buildings of mixed quality.
Into the city centre. Past the statue of Desperate Dan. There are more, a bear chasing a man, commemorating the 1878 escape of a polar bear one of two brought from Davis’ Straits by a local whaling ship. The figure is Mr Jamieson, the haberdashery shop owner. Nearby is a dragon. The legend is that the dragon killed the nine daughters of a farmer. One of the girls’ lover killed the dragon. The High Street divides passing either side of a triangular, Renaissance-detailed building, the former Clydesdale Bank, by William Spence, 1876.
Into St Paul’s Cathedral built for the high churchman Bishop Alexander Penrose Forbes by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1853. The reredos dates from 1867, designed by George Gilbert Scott and constructed by Clayton and Bell. The altar made of black marble from Frosterley in Weardale, was installed in 1884. In the north transept is St Roque’s chapel. The chapel was a mission church in the east of the city centre. It closed in 1956 and the reredos was moved here. The Lady Chapel has marble dado and altar removed here from the former St Paul’s Chapel in the castle. The pulpit has a decoratively carved timber sounding board. The 3-manual organ is by Hill and Son, London, 1865. A plaque commemorated Patrick Chalmers, and his father James Chalmers, a stationer of Castle Street who invented the adhesive postage stamp. Stained glass windows are by Hardman of Birmingham, Scott and Draper of Carlisle, and Gibbs of London.
We then visit the museum, The McManus, in the Albert Institute. It has a good local history section and a display of modern prints. We then go to a Wetherspoons, a big mistake. It is very rare we leave most of our beer behind! So we work our way back to Perth Road and into the Speedwell where the beer is infinitely better.
Sunday – Leominster – Before 5:00 in the morning a Wood Pigeon is calling My Toe Bleeds Taffy outside the bedroom window. It is a very grey cool morning. Rain fell overnight. Jackdaws are on chimney pots, almost certainly guarding a sitting bird within. A Chaffinch calls at the bottom of the street. A Chiffchaff calls in the woods by the River Lugg. Garlic mustard, Herb Robert, Red Campion, Forget-me-nots, White Dead-nettle and Ground Ivy all flower beside the path to the river. The water level has fallen further and the water is clearer.
Along the path through Easters Meadow. A Blackcap sings by the river. A Lesser Black-backed Gull flies into Brightwells compound and attempts to land on one of the lamp standards but is immediately chased off by two others. Almost all the cars for auction in the compound are less than three years old. The market consists of only three stalls, the weather forecast has frightened everyone else away.
Home – Direct sowings of parsnip, carrot and beetroot have been a failure again. The fact it has been so cool and wet probably has not helped. So more parsnip and beetroot are sown, this time into trays and put in the greenhouse. Trays of leeks, callaloo and shallots, something I have not tried to grow before, are also sown. The carrots are sown into an old large tin pot and placed outside the greenhouse. Two chicken feed bags are folded down and compost put in the bottom. A couple of sprouting potatoes are placed in each, covered and placed by the cold frame. The potatoes in the main bed have sprouted and a few are earthed up. The weather is still too unreliable to put the tomato plants outside in baskets and troughs. The pots of cucumber and courgette seedlings are taken from the bathroom and put in the greenhouse. The courgette germination was poor and fresh seed needs to be purchased.
Monday – Croft Ambrey – A pale sun shines in a cloudy sky. There is a brisk wind which reduces the temperature somewhat. A Mallard flies over at speed. Down into the Fishpool Valley. Chiffchaff, Wren, Robin and Nuthatch call. Primroses, Lesser Celandines, Bluebells and Herb Robert are in flower. Song Thrush and Blackcap add to the chorus. Ferns are unfurling.
Past the old pump house where the rusting wheel and machinery stand silent, never to pump again. Up the Beech wood slope. At the bottom, Bluebells, Violets and Wood Spurge are in flower. The tall Douglas Fir is still being clasped by two thin trunks of a Beech. A Great Tit moves through the branches. The ancient Beech is still in leaf despite the ravages of time which have left a very large branch laying down the hillside and its core hollow. Dried, empty Beech mast husks crunch underfoot. A Common Buzzard calls as it glides overhead. Out of the Beech wood without hearing the song that has been missing for many years now – Wood Warbler. Large areas of the valley are open now where many Ash trees have been removed because of Ash Dieback. Some dead Ashes still stand. The clouds are thickening.
Up the path out of the valley. A flood monitoring camera stands at the foot of the slope powered by a solar panel. Dog Mercury and Greater Stitchwort flower by the path. Bluebells are a deep, rich lapis lazuli blue. Opposite-leaved Saxifrage flowers, pale yellow green against the grass. A black Dor Beetle burrows into some leaf mould. Across the forestry tracks. Songs come from Wrens, a Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blue Tit.
Onto the path up Croft Ambrey. The great Yew is almost completely dead but a branch that has rooted itself has some new growth and another Yew that has detached from the main tree looks healthy. The Ash that I used to compare with an adjacent Oak to see which came into leaf first, has been felled. Leaves are just opening on the Oak. More Ashes have been felled on the hill-fort. The distant hills, the Shropshire Hills, the Malverns, the Beacons and the Radnor Forest are all hazy and grey. More Willow Warblers sing on Leinthall Common. A Tree Pipit parachutes down onto the branches of a tree on the ramparts. The interior of the hill-fort is clear of thistles and Hawthorn saplings indicating the cattle have been on here. A Raven flies over. The great Beech tree by the western gate of the hill-fort has fallen.
Across the area between the southern ramparts. The cattle are indeed here. The area around the pillow mounds had been cleared off undergrowth and small trees. Down the track towards the castle. Wild Geans blossom in the small enclosures. Richly coloured Violets peep out of the grass. More of the old dead tree, out of which an evergreen sapling is growing, has fallen.
Sheep and lambs are on the Spanish Chestnut field. Two lambs huddle together in the lea of a long felled tree trunk. A banner has been erected with a drawing of the Jubilee Spanish Chestnut and the words “a regal jubilee of a tree, Fifth Ghost”. A notice states the tree is the oldest at Croft and may date back to Elizabeth I. A pair of Goldfinches are on the grass in the quarry pond. On the car park field, the dead Sessile Oak that was covered in red cotton fabric on 2009 is, apparently the Seventh Ghost. A sign at the visitor centre explains there is a trail around the Croft estate passing seven dead trees, ghosts of the past.
Tuesday – Home – A windy, grey day. Some of the Romaine lettuce seedlings are planted out. Pots are filled with a mixture of compost and vermiculite and climbing French and runner beans are sown. Three hanging baskets are filled with the same mixture and two have Tumbler and one of Red Current tomatoes planted into them. They are then placed in the cold frame. The sowing of mange tout peas has failed entirely. It is difficult to know whether the rather cold weather is to blame or is the seed no good. Strawberries have a decent number of flowers.
House Sparrows are now regular visitors to the window mounted feeder. A pair, one assumes, of Blackbirds also venture down to the back door but have not used the feeder. Blue Tits were regular visitors but they seem to have dropped off now. The Chiffchaff in gardens down the road is still very vocal. Jackdaws are still visiting the chimneys. Wood Pigeons are always present.
A Wren sings. It starts to rain.
and the sun emerges, April showers indeed. A Class 197 diesel multiple unit heads south, five carriages, at last TfW are addressing overcrowding, although too late for the morning rush hour here. All of the trees in the Millennium Orchard are now coming into leaf with the exception of the Dabinett. Robins sing. White blossom adorns a Sweet Cherry. More white blossom is on a Service Cherry. The air is full of bird song: Song Thrush, Dunnock, Chiffchaff, Wood Pigeon and Wren. Bumble bees buzz low over the grass. Marsh Marigolds, Cuckoo Flowers, Bittercress and Primroses flower all around the old pond. Another Blackcap sings in the track side bushes. A DB (German State Railways) 67 Class diesel growls past heading north pulling a five MK4 carriage train.
the block is a 19th century pub. Opposite is Chorlton Street lock and a large corner warehouse, attached to which is a house spanning the canal. Before the lock was a basin, now filled in and built on.
in size despite still being a large block sized red brick building.
another edge of the green is the former Corn and Produce Exchange of 1913, not treated well with glass canopies on the ground floor.
Manchester Literacy and Philosophical Society, founded in 1781. Elizabeth Gaskell worshipped here. Into South King Street. The Diocesan Chambers are dated 1884.
style is thought to be the work of John Barker, (traditionally it is said to have been designed by Sir Christopher Wren or one of his pupils). It was restored 1886-91 by Alfred Waterhouse. There are galleries on three sides, supported by stout Tuscan columns. The glass by Frederick Shields. Pews have brass name plates. The church formerly had strong Whig and Anti-Jacobite connections; John Wesley preached here 1733 and 1738, Thomas De Quincey was baptised here 1785.
there for a while. A few Mallard are on the water. Over two dozen Tufted Duck are on the south side with gabbling Canada Geese and fractious Greylags. Many more Greylags are on the meadow beyond. Dinmore Hill is turning green. A Cormorant flies across the water.
horses are in an area of rough ground, in rather poor conditions. Cow Parsley flowers on the verge.
is a community garden for people with learning difficulties. Eaton Hall had mid 19th century frontage on a probable 14th century hall. Several 17th and 18th century barns are beside the hall.
Duck are on the rocks. In Markinch is the large John Haig whisky distillery and blending building, clearly empty. The train then crosses the Tay estuary, again a beautiful panorama, to the west with pools of sunlight on dark brooding water. Into Dundee station past empty waste sites where the old railway yards and works stood.
allow it to be processed in mechanised mills resulted in the Dundee mills rapidly converting from linen to jute, which sold at a quarter of the price of flax. Large scale immigration, notably of Irish workers, led to accelerated urban expansion, and at the height of the industry’s success, Dundee supported 62 jute mills, employing some 50,000 workers. The rise of the textile industries brought with it an expansion of supporting industries, notably of the whaling, maritime and shipbuilding industries, and extensive development of the waterfront area started in 1815 to cope with increased demand for port capacity. At its height, 200 ships per year were built there, including Robert Falcon Scott’s Antarctic research vessel, the RRS Discovery. Other notable industries were James Keiller’s and Sons, established in 1795, which pioneered commercial marmalade production, and the publishing firm DC Thomson, which was founded in the city in 1905. The jute industry fell into decline in the early 20th century, but in the post WWII, American light engineering companies like Timex and NCR led to an expansion into microelectronics.
Catholic Cathedral was built by George Mathewson in 1835 with the apse added by C J Menart in 1921. Like the majority of churches here, it is locked. On the wall outside are six bronze penguins, a bronze bomblet and a bronze hat.
although with differing styles of worship. All are locked.
On Commercial Street is a terrace of four-storeys by William Mackison, designed as a result of the 1871 Improvement Act and executed by various architects 1876-92, including David Rhind with detail deviations from Mackison’s 
scheme.
meaning an area between fields to feed cattle) rises past a former jute factory, mainly designed by Robertson and Orchar in 1861-4, a prominent Italianate building comprising High Mill with tower and mechanics’ shop, linking with later offices and extended in 1851 by Alexander Johnston in 1883. On along Magdalen Yard Road. A large, prominently sited Gothic alms-house by Alexander Johnston in 1883 housed the Royal Institute for the Blind. The Tay Ropeworks have been entirely demolished.
killed the nine daughters of a farmer. One of the girls’ lover killed the dragon. The High Street divides passing either side of a triangular, Renaissance-detailed building, the former Clydesdale Bank, by William Spence, 1876.
Bluebells and Herb Robert are in flower. Song Thrush and Blackcap add to the chorus. Ferns are unfurling.
the ravages of time which have left a very large branch laying down the hillside and its core hollow. Dried, empty Beech mast husks crunch underfoot. A Common Buzzard calls as it glides overhead. Out of the Beech wood without hearing the song that has been missing for many years now – Wood Warbler. Large areas of the valley are open now where many Ash trees have been removed because of Ash Dieback. Some dead Ashes still stand. The clouds are thickening.
sing on Leinthall Common. A Tree Pipit parachutes down onto the branches of a tree on the ramparts. The interior of the hill-fort is clear of thistles and Hawthorn saplings indicating the cattle have been on here. A Raven flies over. The great Beech tree by the western gate of the hill-fort has fallen.