New Town Development, Redditch, Worcs

Originally a small, industrial market town, Redditch was designated a new town in 1964 and the Redditch Development Corporation duly formed.  The subsequent development specifically aimed for the overspill population coming from the West Midlands, notably from the city of Birmingham; the new town project largely completed in 1985 when the Corporation was wound up.

Redditch was the world centre of needle manufacturing, which was its principal industry, with fishing tackle the next largest production. One of the factories, Alcocks Fishing Tackle, enjoyed world reknown. It was later taken over by Norris-Shakespeare, then latterly known just as Shakespeare...a product well known to anglers. Other industries included the manufacture of springs and small pressings. Royal Enfield began its production of bicycles and motor bikes late in the 19th century, and BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) manufactured and tested rifles in one of its factories just outside the town itself. Many of the old industries disappeared following the start of development.

Below is a photo of one of the many needle mills in the town prior to re-development.

My colour photos were taken using an Instamatic during the very early 1970s when areas of the town centre were being cleared during Stage 1 of the development. Later on, before leaving Redditch in 1977 to live in Devon, I used a range finder camera for the b&w photos of the surrounding areas of housing which were left derelict before demolition. 

Above shows a small disused factory (on the left of the first b&w photo), amongst a large area of old terraced houses and other buildings. I had a feeling that the factory was a small electrical business that produced transformers, and where I worked for a short time before going back to art college. A visitor to my website kindly confirmed that for me, and told me the name of the factory - R S M Transformers - where he also worked, although a couple of years later than my time there.

I've always had a fascination with derelict buildings and I'm glad that I took these as they are now history that can be used to document part of the development and what was there before. My only regret is that I didn't take more than I did, or any interior shots.

Standing on a bank the above photo was taken looking down into what may have been a coal cellar. Now full of bricks, wood from door & window frames and a dead christmas tree.

One of the many corner shops above, with a lovely old 'ghost ad' showing its original ownership. This one was situated on Beoley Road. 

Above and below are photos of the old bus depot with its interesting features...especially the large Dioclesian window above the front entrance. The building next to it on the corner, in the photo below, was part of the Unemployment Exchange and the adjacent road contained many lovely old buildings used as professional offices, such as Solicitors and Accountants.  

Evesham Street with its delightful old shop fronts, in the photos below. The opposite side of the road was cleared when the new Kingfisher Shopping Centre was built during the first Stage. The centre was later extended outwards.

Known as 'Smokey Joe's', although actually called George's Cafe, this was a real working mans' cafe full of steam, fried breakfasts and cigarette smoke. I went in there once! ;)

Parallel to Evesham Street was Ipsley Street, above and below, showing when most of the right side had been cleared. On the left where the buildings remain was my old infant school and, more importantly, the Redditch Youth Club. The club was so amazingly good - comprising a large gym hall for tennis & badminton, long room with table tennis, snooker table, reading snug, cafe & seating area, another large room for specific meetings, such as the drama club, and a full sized dance hall, and had many well-known bands playing there - that people used to visit from miles around. I practically lived my life there from the age of 16 to 20! 

One rather newsworthy event occured after completion of the new Kingfisher Shopping Centre, when six extremely tall palm trees were imported from Spain for planting inside on the ground floor. They each had to be transported on their own specially commissioned flat-bed lorry, and many townspeople turned out to watch them arrive. I worked for one of the local newspapers 'The Redditch Advertiser' at the time, and we had a grandstand view from the top windows of them trundling past.

Further out towards Crabbs Cross was this lovely abandoned farmhouse. Strewn around the area were also several piles of pipes for underground utilities, so presumably this land was earmarked for development too...possibly housing. Having moved away from the area in 1977, I therefore didn't see any further development.

And just to illustrate how some of us locals felt about the development, the Redditch Development Corporation was nicknamed 'The Red Devils'! ;)

Other Photography: Skies

One of my favourite subjects to photograph, skies have always fascinated me. I've always loved extreme weather too, so maybe in another life I might have been a meteorologist...or even a storm-chaser! Some of these photos are also seascapes, but they were all taken specifically for the interesting skies. 

I had this article on my late website, under the separate category of Other Photography along with some other subjects. I'll gradually be putting the others in every now and then whenever I get them updated. And might be adding some other categories. :)

The colours in all these photos are exactly as they were when I shot them, apart from the two blue ones below. The prints of those were quite garish and looked awful when scanned, but it wasn't until I bought a neg scanner that I discovered the negatives had been badly processed and came out completely blue. I had a few films like that, but by a fluke they were appropriately mostly sea pics...which I think look rather nice.

I only had a few frames left in my camera on this particular day, and no more film with me, but it was enough to capture this totally unexpected and delightful sky, above and below. It's a Kelvin-Helmholst cloud - named after two physicists who studied turbulent airflow - this rare occurence produced when two different layers of air in our atmosphere are moving at different speeds. Looking rather like a pie-crust, I called this one 'Pie in the Sky'. 

And some photos taken with b&w film. 

 

The next several views were taken from my balcony.

The cloud in the photo above looked like the Nexus from the Star Trek film 'Generations', so I just called it the nexus. However, I've since found out that they are called billow clouds, caused by an instability of the Kelvin-Helmholtz phenomena. I did wonder what the word nexus actually means, so I looked it up and it means a connection or series of connections linking two or more things. Which fits nicely!

One morning the sky was totally aflame with red and gold. The photo above was taken just as it began to disperse and, like the saying...

'Red sky at night, shepherd's delight, Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning' 

...so it too had soon turned into a dull grey cloud cover. I loved the way the birds seem to be huddling on the roof. Maybe they were aware that rain would set in later!

Another flaming sky, this time at sunset.

More black & white photos.

 Billow clouds with seagulls. 

Some rather nice thunderheads taken through my kitchen window. Unfortunately I missed the best before I could go and fetch my camera. The one that got away is always the best! ;)

And finally, the last word in skies: the solar eclipse taken on the 11th of August 1999, which was the first total eclipse in Britain since 1927. A wonderfully magical moment when the birds roosted and fell silent, the temperature dropped, and the street lamps came on as darkness descended. I camped out for the hour or so sitting in the garden on a beach chair with a rug, flask of coffee and my camera on a tripod, and just kept snapping away. This one is my favourite.

 

Bradninch Hall & Bradninch Place, Exeter, Devon

In November 2011 I had a wander around Exeter to take photos of the courthouse inside the castle walls and hadn't intended to take any of Bradninch Hall. However, whilst there I decided to look at some other nearby interesting architecture, which included Rougemont House and the Hole in the Wall pub. So, it would have been rude not to take some photos of this building too! ;) 

Interestingly, whilst researching the area, it was fascinating to see how the various buildings and the construction of the new Castle Street fit into the history of the Georgian 'new builds' near to the castle entrance. Castle Street was built in 1772, running parallel to the narrow, cobblestoned Little Castle Street, and it was just a year later when the Mediaeval buildings inside the castle walls were demolished to make way for the Palladian style County Court Assizes. Bradninch Hall was built circa 1800 and is situated between the Hole in the Wall on Little Castle Street and the castle entrance at the top of Castle Street.

The photo below shows the castle gatehouse in the background on the left.

Grade II listed, it's a two storey building constructed in Heavitree Stone, which is a dark red volcanic stone indigenous to Exeter. Brick facings surround the sash windows; the front door complete with a Tuscan porch and honeysuckle fanlight. A hipped roof with moulded cornice and a parapet. The dormers are a modern, later addition.

I didn't take many photos during this visit but I already have three taken circa 1991-95, looking through the gate at the entrance to Rougemont House and Gardens, one of which can be seen below.

Bradninch Hall was originally a private residential house called The Vineyard, due to the original use of the land.  However, in 1902 it was used as accommodation for 78 female students attending Exeter University, and was the University's first hall of residence. In 1906 it was bought by the city council, extended and renamed with its present title. It was later used as a Red Cross Hospital during World War I.

The photos above are of the extension, called Bradninch Place, situated to the right of and at right angles to the original building. There are some interesting features to mitigate what might otherwise be rather a bland block, including the Georgian style stonework above the door and the semi-circular arched brick facings above the windows with herringbone laid brick inserts.

Both buildings were used by the WEA and other related organisations at the time of my visit but now several different companies have offices inside both Bradninch Hall and Bradninch Place.

And to finish off, two more photos from circa 1991-5, taken through the wall gate opposite.

Sorry about the lack of photos. While creating the contents page recently I wondered why I hadn't added this article to my blog, then realised it was because I'd meant to go back and take more. I decided to add it now though, in case I can't get back for a long time...in which case I might forget again! ;) If I do have a visit soon I'll take some close-ups of the architecture and add them to this article. Cheers. :)