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| Rochdale Town Council |
Interesting news on the Today programme, was the rather beautiful Rochdale Town Hall which has been restored unveiling the architecture of a remarkable building designed by William Crossland in the second half of the nineteenth century. It could rival the Houses of Parliament though on a smaller scale, so is this to be the new parliament of the North? Only kidding of course. The restoration is said to have cost £20 million but is part of a new wave of money Up North.
Though elegantly done and enough stone extravagance to please even the hardiest stone lover, I don't actually like it very much but do admire the workmanship that went into it. This is what is called 'levelling Up' by our government, eg; spending some money up North, the fiasco of the HS2 rail having been ditched.
Also yesterday I noticed this on 'The Smell of Water' The Doomstone to be found in York Minster. It is an intricately carved depiction of lost souls descending into the mouth of hell. Very gory, even more so if you actually believed it to be true. When the written language was not easily understood, carvings told their tales to the innocent minds. A small video into the horrors of hell!
There is something more I keep thinking about, but coffee calls...
Oh yes, Petroc mentioned this on breakfast on Radio 3 this week and said the Guardian newspaper has fabulous photographs of the restoration - and of course they do and they are now on the website. I feel like you though. Not my cup of tea although I appreciate the workmanship. Amidst all the doom and gloom I love how Radio 3 always looks on the bright side. I believed in hell. I was brought up and educated as a Catholic and the horror of hell, together with the bliss of heaven and purging of purgatory, was part of that upbringing and kept me on the straight and narrow. Today, I am thankful to say, I am finding heaven in listening to music, having a bowl of porridge made by my husband for our breakfast, and looking out onto the garden from my chair at the kitchen table and watching blackbirds foraging, squirrels leaping and blue tits swooping in this morning’s sunshine. Sarah x
ReplyDeletePerhaps a religion more nature based is what more and more people are coming to. Also went to convent school, so ridding my mind of such foolish horrors was difficult but I can look at them now and see the motivation which created them.
DeleteSometimes the breakfast music is slow and calm, other times the clash of noise is not my choice on Radio 3. But they are definitely extending their range, just been singing to Daisy, Daisy!
Not really my cup of tea either - not keen on that sort of architecture. But I do recognise the 'call of coffee' especially if it includes a couple of chocolate digestives - wish you could join me - I don't think we would run out of things to chat about.
ReplyDeleteI would love to join you Pat but transport makes it impossible. Well after the cup of coffee, cheese scones and bread rolls was made. Now that my daughter has sorted out all the cupboards I find things much more easily.
DeleteI was just thinking that the doomstone did not give much hope of entering heaven when I saw the board explaining that it was originally part of a larger sculpture. Phew. I thought I was doomed for a minute.
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Deleteit's a lovely word 'doomed'. There are many words in A/S starting with Dom as in Domesday Book but all relating to justice. You have to believe that hell awaits you Tom for it really to materialise!
That something else you have been thinking about? I suspect it is a few more of the horrors of hell - including Jacob Rees-Mogg?
ReplyDeleteNo it is about North. In Ironpolis little essay he reckons that York is not North but that Durham definitely is. Well we have two walls in Scotland, the Antonine Wall and the Hadrian Wall to keep the then Picts at bay. Surely we should use one of these walls to qualify North.
ReplyDeleteThat is quite a carving, very detailed. Can you imagine working on that day after day, thinking that you were doing the work of God?
ReplyDeleteWell Hieronymus Bosch managed to paint in the same style Debby but probably from a different angle, Chipping away in stone is so much slower than paints.
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