China Clay Pit, St Austell, Cornwall

I came across this site when travelling into Cornwall with a friend in 1997. We were amazed to see the bright turquoise colour of the water and the huge white heaps on an unearthly landscape, so we went to investigate. It's situated just outside the town of St Austell, and is not too far from the Eden Project, which was created in another disused clay pit. There are several of them in this area.

 

China clay (Kaolin) is found near to granite layers, much of which is in the South West in places such as Cornwall and the Dartmoor area of Devon. The wonderfully lunar-style landscape is formed by the heaps of by-products remaining after the extraction process, much of it quartz. One of these minerals is Mica, the high content of which causes discoloration of the water. Hence, the gorgeous turquoise lagoons.

I could almost imagine the tracks belonging to a moon vehicle. I don't know if the site was still being worked at the time, but all was quiet and deserted. There were outbuildings near the entrance to the site but for some reason I didn't think to explore or take photos of them when I had the opportunity.

When I was a child going on holiday with my family, the coach journeys sometimes took us past quarries with their white landscapes and they always fascinated me. I took these photos some 10 years before I got involved with the Urbexing online community (Urban Exploring), but since then I've taken every opportunity to explore quarries as I'm still totally fascinated by them. :)

As the journey was for a weekend holiday in Pelporro, there's also an article about some of the lovely buildings in the town, plus some other photos of Cornwall on the way there, which can be found here. :)

Check House, Seaton, Devon

Originally called Calverly Lodge, Check House was built for Sir William Calverly Trevelyan and his wife Pauline, and was used as their seaside residence. Sir William had inherited the manor of Seaton, and he and his wife developed and made several improvements to the area. Pauline was a patron of the Pre-Raphaelites and they entertained many well-known people of their day, including Thomas Carlyle and Florence Nightingale. Their friends also included Tennyson, Christina Rosetti, John Millais and William Morris’s wife Jane.

 
A Grade II Listed building, it comprises a large detached house in landscaped gardens, which overlook the sea, and a conservatory on the west side. There is also a 21st century extension to the east. The house itself is Victorian Gothic and was completed in 1866, probably to the designs of Benjamin Woodward, and the conservatory is possibly an addition circa late 19th century.

Knapped flint and stone form the chequered patterns, along with dressings of red brick and stone, which looks quite striking in the sun. The slate roof is steeply pitched and gabled, with ornate ridge tiles, and the gables are decorated with shaped and pierced bargeboards, which always remind me of 'Hansel and Gretel' fairytale cottages! The window frames consist of chamfered stone with shouldered and cusped arches. I love the tiny quatrefoil window set into the exterior chimney breast, above.

Consisting of two storeys, the plan and elevations are asymmetrical. As can be seen on the first photo at the top of the page, the west side shows a canted bay with pyramidal roof. It's quite delightfully higgledy-piggledy, and changes dramatically when viewed from even the slightest vantage point. Unfortunately, I was unable to see the south side, but apparently there is a cast iron verandah with decorative pierced spandrels and a glazed tented roof, which spans the south elevation and curves around the corner.
 

 

Most of what can be seen is from the road, which is on the north side, and which shows the rear of the main building. The front entrance is to the east, accessed by a driveway, and this is where we see it at its most asymmetrical and fairytale best. A gabled timber porch surrounds the door, with ornate bargeboards and finial. There is a three-light window in the gable above, another bargeboarded gable to the right of that, whereas to the left there is an exterior corbelled chimney breast topped with charmingly diagonal chimney shafts. A pyramidal roof supports the chimney...and is obligingly complete with a seagull on top!

According to the Check House website, there is an elegant staircase inside made from Beer Stone, with its balustrade entwined with lilies. That, and the verandah, call for a further visit for permission to take photos inside.

When I first wrote this up for the Blue Plaques page on my website I originally said that this was probably one of the ugliest buildings I've ever seen. However, I'd like to retract that statement since making a further visit to retake the photos. This time I concentrated on the original building, leaving out the extension and conservatory at the rear. And now I can see why I feel differently. The original house is quite stunning but the additional extension causes an imbalance by the extra square-covered walls. Maybe if those walls were kept simple they may not have detracted from the original design of the main house.

As it happens, the building is now a care home and in 2005 won the Healthcare Design Award for the best extension to an existing home! ;)

This item can also be seen in the blog post of the Blue Plaques of Seaton, although with a lot less information and photos. :)

 

 

  

St Andrew's Community Hall, Charmouth, Dorset

 
Wandering around Charmouth in March 2009, this building caught my eye because of its unusual shape and the angled buttresses along the side. According to the date stone it was built in 1910, which fits in nicely with the architectural style. I rather liked the building and its interesting features, especially the front doors with the remains of just one, damaged but lovely, leaded stained glass window.  

Originally the church hall, it belonged to the church of St Andrew. Following closure it was handed over to the village to manage. Although not taking the place of the already existing village hall, it does have more capacity and therefore able to accommodate larger community events and indoor sports such as badminton. In 2012 an extension was added to the front, enabling access for the disabled, as well as for more facilities. The frontage looks quite similar to the original, but sadly the front door windows have no decorative stained glass, although they do contain square leaded lights which looks rather nicer than just plain glass.

The foundation stone with the words 'To the glory of God, and the benefit of this holy church, this stone was laid on December 31st 1910". This original stone, along with a time capsule of the same date, were kept and installed in the new front wall.

The architectural details are commensurate with the Edwardian house style, the middle of which era it was built. One of the most notable things is the Mock Tudor facing on the front gable. More unusual are the angled buttresses; the occasional one was used on the odd Arts & Crafts style house in suburban garden developments, but here it's been used in abundance...and to good effect I feel.

And below, a nice touch in the form of a small boat used as a decorative planter. Which is appropriate as St Andrew is the patron saint of fishermen. :)

Landslip, Charmouth, Dorset

On a visit to Charmouth in March 2012 I went across to the other side of the river with the intention of having a walk part way along the coastal path. As it happened, there was a sign to say that it was closed due to landslides, so I went along the beach instead. I hadn't been along the eastern stretch of the beach before, and it was fascinating to see the results of a landslip whilst it was still fairly new.

I don't know when this particular slide happened, but this length of the World Heritage Jurassic Coast is particularly susceptible to constant upheaval from land slippage and falling cliffs. The most well known landslip occured at Bindon in 1839 along the stretch called The Undercliff between Axmouth and Lyme Regis. Subsequently named The Great Landslip, it became a nationwide fascination for sightseers and geologists alike, the latter learning a great deal from the event.

The cliffs consist of sedimentary rock containing many layers of mud, silt, clay and limestone, which was laid down during the Early Jurassic era. The instability is caused by slopes of Upper Greensand and chalk on top of clay called blockside. Landslips are formed by excessive rainfall lubricating the join between that clay and greensand, enabling the top layers to slide. In the 1839 landslip at Bindon, an entire area of land comprising 15 acres, and weighing an estimated 8 million tons, broke away from the mainland and slid towards the sea, creating an island surrounded by deep chasms...later called Goat Island.

This particular landslip at Charmouth isn't as dramatic as that, but it is quite impressive and it's interesting to see the geology before plantlife grows upon it. It's fascinating to think how natural forces can effect land in this way, and how devastatingly fast the results are after quietly working towards it over a long period of time.

Looking a bit like a building site, my photos really don't do justice to how large it is or the height of the cliffs.

Keep Out - Quick Sand!!!

I expected to see the words  'Danger - Falling Cliffs' on the sign, so it was a surprise to see the words Quick Sand. It does make sense though, as wet limestone chalk has the consistency of porridge and it pulls you in like quick sand. I had an experience of that when exploring a chalk quarry; having to literally dig my feet out of a small heap of wet chalk that I'd sunk into almost up to my knees. That was scary...and not something I'd like to risk repeating.
 

Another view of the cliffs along from the landslip to Golden Cap, above photo. The one below was taken looking West towards Charmouth.

And I couldn't resist taking a shot of footprints in the sandy earth on the way back over the hill towards the river bridge.

I took quite a few photos while there but they're all pretty much the same. I did take some rather nice ones of the river mouth and beach when I walked back along though, so in the interests of doing my bit for tourism, here they are. :)

Cemetery Lodge, Sidmouth, Devon

 
This is one of those oddities that intrigued me every time I saw it from the bus on the way in to Sidmouth. A quirky, gothic building, I had no idea what it was, although I did see a sign outside belonging to East Devon District Council. One day I had a fair bit of time and was near the top of town so I decided to walk up and take a look, and it turned out to be the cemetery lodge, which I was quite excited about as I'd never come across one before.

Consecrated circa 1911, the cemetery is still in use today. There is a chapel in the grounds, which I only found out about when I did some research for the lodge. I couldn't find any information regarding the building dates for the chapel & lodge but it's reasonable to assume that they were probably built by the time the grounds were consecrated.

Due to overcrowding in church graveyards, the cholera epidemic and the emergence of non-conformist beliefs, local authorities began opening municipal cemeteries from the 1850s onwards. The landscaping and associated buildings were often designed as a whole, usually by the same architect, taken from the whole range of 19th century styles.

The Gothic Revival style became the dominant one until the early 20th century when the Edwardian Arts & Crafts style also became an influence, as can be seen in this gorgeous building with the fab tower, showing a mixture of the two. Constructed with red brick, there are some lovely features such as the stone quoins and architraves, leaded window panes and a cute trefoil window in the tower. And I love the obliquely set chimneys based upon the Tudor design.

The lodge contained the administrative offices, the cemetery register, and also provided for the maintenance staff and cemetery superintendant; some of the latter lived there along with his family. Now a private residence.

It took me the better part of a day to research the purpose of lodges - one of those simple explanations that should be easy to find but wasn't! It wasn't a day wasted though, as I now have an enormous amount of material about cemeteries in general, and intend to go back and explore the rest of the grounds and the chapel. New project! :)