Posts Tagged With: statue

Allan Sly Sculptures, London

Posted on January 28, 2025 by Louise Jayne

On my most recent visit to London I did a fair bit of walking around neighbourhoods I hadn’t spent much time in before. This lead to me taking photographs of two sculptures that turned out to be by the same sculptor. Allan Sly is an English sculptor and senior lecturer at Wimbledon College of Arts. The first sculpture I came across also happened to be one of his earliest public artworks. Located just outside Edgware Road Tube Station The Window Cleaner was installed in 1990 – he’s staring up at the tall Capital House building which has a lot of windows, and wondering how he’s going to manage them with his small ladder.

Continue reading →
Categories: England, London | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

Cowane’s Hospital, Stirling

Posted on January 14, 2025 by Louise Jayne

Located next to the Church of the Holy Rude, Cowane’s Hospital is a 17th centruy almshouse. It’s named for John Cowane, a businessman who left money for its establishment in 1637. The money he left was to allow for twelve elderly members of the Merchant Guildry of Stirling to live rent free in their old age.

Continue reading →
Categories: Scotland, Stirling | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

National Galleries of Scotland: The National, Edinburgh

Posted on November 26, 2024 by Louise Jayne

The National (as it’s recently been renamed) was another one of the those places I hadn’t managed to get to on my previous visit to the city so I made sure to pop in this time. I arrived in Edinburgh just at the right time as they had recently revamped the building with newly opened galleries specifically to highlight Scottish artists in their collection which I was particularly eager to see. Free to enter the gallery can be found just off Princes Street by the Scott Monument.

Continue reading →
Categories: Edinburgh, Scotland | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Old Town Cemetery/Valley Cemetery, Stirling

Posted on October 29, 2024 by Louise Jayne

There’s been a burial ground around the Church of the Holy Rude since 1129 but many of the members of the city were buried beneath the church floor until the practice was stopped in 1623 – because of the stench of the rotting corpses! The Valley Cemetery was opened in 1857 for the overflow of the church and the town of Stirling as a whole. It was designed to be an attractive place to visit with paths wide enough for carriages. It expanded so much that it spread into what became known as Mars Place Cemetery. This in turn lead to the adjoining cemetery coming to be known as The Old Town Cemetery.

Continue reading →
Categories: Scotland, Stirling | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Paris 1924: Sport, Art and the Body at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Louise Jayne

Like a lot of people I was gripped by the Paris Olympics and Paralympics over the summer – watching sports I’ve never even heard of is always compelling. When I was planning my trip to Cambridge I noted that the Fitzwilliam was putting on an exhibition about the previous Paris Olympics that took place in 1924. The exhibition was free/pay what you wish.

Continue reading →
Categories: Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Stirling Castle

Posted on October 8, 2024 by Louise Jayne

Stirling Castle was another one of my day trips from Edinburgh. It was an easy train ride from Waverly Station lasting around 50 minutes and then a 15-20 minute walk from the station to the castle. Do note that the walk is mostly uphill, it’s not particularly challenging but if you have mobility issues you can catch a bus up to the castle. I had pre-booked my ticket which are timed entrance (as a member of English Heritage my ticket was free); generally an adult ticket is £17.50 online, £19.50 if bought when you arrive.

Continue reading →
Categories: Scotland, Stirling | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

St Cuthbert’s Church and Kirkyard, Edinburgh

Posted on October 1, 2024 by Louise Jayne

I wanted to visit St Cuthbert’s Church because I’m a big Agatha Christie fan and this is where she married her second husband the archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930. However, I’d already scoped out prior to arriving in Scotland that none of the opening times of the church were going to work around what day trips I already had planned so I went along knowing that I wouldn’t be able to go inside. I was pleasantly surprised therefore to find that the grounds were more extensive than I had expected and I had a very nice walk around the kirkyard late one afternoon.

Continue reading →
Categories: Edinburgh, Scotland | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh

Posted on September 24, 2024 by Louise Jayne

You can’t really miss St. Giles Cathedral, its looming presence in the Old Town of Edinburgh means its visible from all over the city. Saying that, I found I wasn’t really as impressed by St Giles as I have been of other cathedrals I’ve visited. One of Scotland’s most important medieval buildings the current structure was begun in the 14th century and has been a centre of Scottish historical events ever since.

Continue reading →
Categories: Edinburgh, Scotland | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Greenock, Scotland

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Louise Jayne

As I mentioned in my previous post I visited Greenock last year because my grandmother was born there and her grandparents moved there from England for work. I’ve done a lot of family tree research over the years – particularly during the COVID lockdowns – and this was a chance to explore some of the places she, her mother, aunts and grandparents lived and worked.

Continue reading →
Categories: Greenock, Scotland | Tags: , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock

Posted on July 16, 2024 by Louise Jayne

Part of my reason for travelling to Scotland last year, and Greenock in particular, was to do some family tree research. My paternal grandmother was born in Greenock, her grandfather having been moved up there from Kent in the early 1900s to work at the Torpedo Factory which was, at the time, an extremely secretive job. My first stop therefore was to the McLean Museum where I had been hoping to find more information about the factory. There was, in fact, barely any mention of it that I hadn’t already found elsewhere – a veil of secrecy seems to still hang around the details – but there was plenty of other items of interest in the museum.

Continue reading →
Categories: Greenock, Scotland | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Blog at WordPress.com.