Random thoughts and photos of my journey through life…
Filed under Heritage, Out & About
…and Cast Iron Carriage
This gun, which weighs 5 ¾ tons, was probably made in the Low Countries in 1607, commissioned by the Knights of Malta. It is richly decorated with a variety of images representing the Order’s religious and humanitarian role. It was brought to England around 1800 and lay at the Royal Arsenal in [...]
12 Comments CherryPie on Mar 4th 2015
Filed under Faith Foundations, Heritage, Out & About
…John Gerard, Catholic Priest, 1597
…
John Gerard (1564–1637) was an English Jesuit priest, operating covertly in England during the Elizabethan period in which the Catholic Church was subject to persecution.
John is noted not only for successfully hiding from the English authorities for eight years before his capture, but for enduring extensive torture, escaping from the Tower of London and, [...]
12 Comments CherryPie on Mar 3rd 2015
Filed under Heritage, Out & About
Traitor’s (or Traitors’) Gate was a watergate – originally simply called the Water Gate – beneath St Thomas’s Tower at the Tower of London.
The gate was built in the late 1270s on the orders of Edward I to provide a convenient means by which he could arrive by barge. It acquired its present name as [...]
8 Comments CherryPie on Mar 2nd 2015
Filed under Art, Heritage, Out & About
This sundial is in the style of one commissioned by William III. It represents Africa, one of the four continents known at the time. The figure depicts a Moor, not a slave, and he has knelt here since before 1750.*
*Information from a signboard next to the statue.
4 Comments CherryPie on Feb 27th 2015
Filed under Heritage, Out & About
The present Hall was initially built in 1616 by Sir George Booth, who received one of the first baronetcies to be created by James I in 1611; it was later remodelled by John Norris for his descendant, George, 2nd Earl of Warrington between 1732 and 1740; it was further altered by John Hope towards the end of the 18th century [...]
12 Comments CherryPie on Feb 26th 2015
Filed under Heritage, Out & About
Built by Thomas Telford, 1795 – 1805 there are 18 piers of local stone, the central ones over the Dee being 126′ high up to the ironwork.
The canal runs through the iron trough, 1007′ long, 11′ 10” wide and 5′ 3” deep, the largest in Britain. The iron was supplied by William Hazeldine form his [...]
18 Comments CherryPie on Feb 24th 2015
