Lichfield's small stop

Lichfield Trent Valley is one of those small, bare railway stations which are better called ‘stops’ than stations.  

It has the suffix ‘Trent Valley’ because it was one of the stations on the original, old, and very short, Trent Valley line.

Lady in a niche

This charming sculpture is to be found tucked away in a niche, almost out of sight, in Keele Hall, the mansion that is the oldest part of Keele University.

It has no attribution or labelling.
I was rather wondering who the sculptor was, but no one seemed to know.

Red splashes in the fields

The red poppies are making brilliant splashes in the fields, and all the more colourful for being mixed in with plants of different hues.

Hot today - but who knows how soon it will change again?

Memorial to "benevolent individuals"

This is a most unusual cemetery memorial, as it remembers no particular person, nor does it name any individuals of this group of "benevolent" people.

It's a memorial to all those who have donated body-parts after their deaths to the local university's School of Medicine.  The main campus of Keele University is just half-a-mile from this site, Newcastle-under-Lyme's new municipal cemetery.

It's maybe unique in its dedication. I'm not sure.

This post was featured on the Cemetery Sunday website

Stafford knot up the pole

I collect Stafford Knot photos, and here is another one.

This time, the knot (seen under the A&A wording) is being used to underline the localness of this scaffolding firm.

Burslem to India

The name Kipling is associated with Staffordshire because the nineteenth-century artist & designer John Lockwood Kipling designed some of the decorative friezes on the Wedgwood Institute in Burslem (see my blog-post about the Institute) - and he also named his son, the famous novelist Rudyard Kipling, after Lake Rudyard in north Staffordshire, which he and his wife visited.
In fact, John Lockwood and his wife actually met in Burslem.

The odd thing is that I don't know if Rudyard Kipling ever did visit Staffordshire himself.

Of course, Rudyard was born and raised in British India; because John Lockwood had gone out there to head the Bombay (now Mumbai) School of Art.

Whilst there in India, John Lockwood continued his design work; and on a visit to India myself I was able to photograph some of his friezes over the entrance to Bombay's Crawford Market . You can see the main one on this page. 
It's interesting that they continue his interest in 'honest labour'.

Earth, air, fire, water ... and spirit

The five elements of classical times were earth, air, fire, water and spirit.  To celebrate the solstice this month, the City Daily Portal website asked its members to put together photos incorporating those elements together.

My own entry is this one of a fishing pool in mid-Staffordshire.  I've cheated a bit by using the fire of the setting sun (which lights the reeds)...
And the spirit?  ...is of the ghosts of those anglers who once sat here, 'en plein air', enjoying the countryside.


See other photos on the CDP website celebrating the five elements

Magnificence - coming back

The facade of the Wedgwood Institute is, by any standards, magnificent.

Built 150 years ago in Stoke-on-Trent to house the city's school of art, it features plaques of 'great men' on its front, as well as reliefs of the astrological houses/months and of various creative labours..
Topping the doorway is a statue of Josiah Wedgwood himself.

However, its magnificence is not enough, as no one has quite known recently what to do with the building, which has been empty for five years.

However, the latest news is that the Princes Trust has stepped in with a promise to bring it back to its deserved state.   See:  Institute to be restored
I'm pleased.


This post was featured on the City Daily Portal July 2013 theme 

Landlord is just a walk-over

Arthur Rigby was, the story goes, such a popular landlord at The Wheatsheaf Pub in Tunstall that the regulars had this mosaic threshold made in his memory when he died in 1937. He'd been the publican there for almost thirty years.

The Wheatsheaf holds on to its traditions so much that the mosaic is still there to this day, and you too can remember Arthur as you walk in its front door.

Is it a tree? A camel?

This tree in Longton Park resembles nothing so much to me as a resting camel... or elephant.

How it got its amazing curvature is a mystery. Some park-keeper must know though.