Cherie's Place

Filed under Art

The Stamford Military Hospital

Between April 1917 and January 1919, the Stamford Military Hospital provided a Sanctuary from the Trenches for soldiers injured during the First World War. As a reflection upon the 282 soldiers that passed through the hospital during this period, the structure comprises 282 individually cast concrete cubes.

Save for one nameless soldier, each cube features a soldier admission number. These records were sourced from a log book kept by the sister in charge of the hospital, Sister Catherine Bennett. The unknown soldier’s cube has been included nonetheless, but remains blank.

Tags: Danielle Foster, Defence Matters, Dunham Massey, Manchester School of Architecture, National Trust, Stamford Military Hospital, WW1, WWI

12 Comments CherryPie on Feb 28th 2015

Filed under Art, Heritage, Out & About

Sundial

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.

Tags: Dunham Massey, Moor, National Trust, Statue

4 Comments CherryPie on Feb 27th 2015

Filed under Heritage, Out & About

Dunham Massey Hall

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 and by Joseph Compton Hall between 1905 and 1908. The Hall itself, the stables, and the carriage house of Dunham Massey are all Grade I listed buildings, three of six such buildings in Trafford.^[7]

The site is moated and lies immediately west of the village of Dunham, with the deer park to the south. The Hall was donated to the National Trust by Roger Grey, 10th and last Earl of Stamford, in 1976. The Hall was used as a military hospital during the First World War. Inside is a significant collection of Huguenot silver, the carving The Crucifixion by 17th-century wood carver Grinling Gibbons, and a white marble bust of the Emperor Hadrian; the head is antique, but the neck and shoulders are 18th-century; it was probably acquired by the George, Earl of Stamford and Warrington. The collection of paintings in the Hall include Allegory with Venus, Mars, Cupid and Time by Guercino; The Cascade at Terni by Louis Ducros; and portraits by William Beechey, Francis Cotes, Michael Dahl, A. R. Mengs, Sir Joshua Reynolds, George Romney, Enoch Seeman, and Zoffany. George Harry, Earl of Stamford and Warrington removed a selection of paintings to Enville Hall^[8] in the late 1850s, and it was not until Roger Grey, 10th Earl of Stamford succeeded as Earl, that some were rebought by the family after sales in 1929 and 1931.^[9] The deer park at Dunham Massey is the only medieval park in Trafford or the surrounding area still surviving.^{[6] *}

*From Wikipedia

Tags: Dunham Massey, National Trust

12 Comments CherryPie on Feb 26th 2015

Filed under Out & About, Science & Nature

Tame Deer

Tags: Cheshire, Deer, Dunham Massey, National Trust

12 Comments CherryPie on Feb 25th 2015

Filed under Heritage, Out & About

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

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 foundaries at Shrewsbury and nearby Cefn Mawr.

Total cost £47,000

Water is fed from the Dee at the Horseshoe Falls at Llantysilio near Llangollen.

Tags: Aqueduct, Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, There's Always One, Wales

18 Comments CherryPie on Feb 24th 2015

Filed under Anecdotes

On Saturday, Mr C, my mum and I set off for Droylesden to celebrate my aunt’s 90th birthday. I had recently upgraded our SatNav so that now we have live traffic information and newer maps. This trip was its inaugural outing. I keyed in the destination and off we set on our journey…

Just after Market Drayton the SatNav surprised us by choosing a different route to our usual one, which takes us via Newcastle Under Lyme and Macclesfield to Wilmslow. The suggested route was to head towards Woore and we decided to stick with it and see where it took us. We were taken through Woore, Crewe and right past Jodrell Bank Observatory where the Lovell Telescope looked particularly striking in the sunlight. We rejoined our usual route in Wilmslow and continued into Manchester until we were again diverted from our usual route of Coronation Street roads and houses. Instead we traveled along wide, open roads and past The City of Manchester Stadium.

The new route was a pleasant change and it shaved 15 minutes off our usual journey time. I confess to having momentary doubt when it took us in such a completely different direction than usual. Had I programmed it correctly??

On arrival at my aunt’s, we sat and chatted for a while before heading off for lunch at The Sheldon Arms where we were joined by my brother and his lady. After enjoying a delicious carvery meal we returned to my aunt’s house for a natter. The house was so full of flowers it looked more like a florists shop. At tea time we cut the celebratory birthday cake before it was time for us to retrace our steps and we decided to entrust ourselves to the SatNav once again.

We usually visit on a Sunday so we didn’t give it a thought that there might have been a match on at the stadium… We got caught up in traffic as Manchester City and Toon (Newcastle United) fans were leaving the stadium after the match. The beautiful moon in the sky on our journey back more than made up for the few minutes delay.

Photo from Theatre Severn website

On Sunday evening we went to the Theatre Severn to see Magical Mozart by Candlelight. Prior to the show we ate a pleasant meal in the theatre’s Foundry Restaurant. The show featured sopranos Diana Evgenieva Vasileva and Li Li, baritone David Milner-Pearce and The European Orchestral Baroque Ensemble “SPIRIT”. The music was excellent, the show was good and the artists were obviously having fun. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Tags: Birthday, Cake, Celebration, Family, Flowers, Friends, Mozart, Music

14 Comments CherryPie on Feb 23rd 2015

Filed under Gardens, Science & Nature