Friday, 12 October 2007
Lions
Thursday, 11 October 2007
Raindrops Keep Falling on my Lens
More from my outing to Mowbray Park. Despite the grey, rainy day, I think this shot came out rather well with the bright green of the railings, the verdigris of Candlish's statue and the yellow of the Scouts Centenary floral display in the background. Click on it to enlarge it and you will see what I mean.
The silvery orbs on the right are raindrops.
Wednesday, 10 October 2007
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
Rainy Day in the Park
Monday, 8 October 2007
View from Building Hill
Sunday, 7 October 2007
Saturday, 6 October 2007
Trafalgar Square, Sunderland
Friday, 5 October 2007
Boys Orphan Asylum
The Boys Orphan Asylum was opened in the 1860s to provide education for the sons of deceased mariners. The boys were trained to be sailors - to follow in the footsteps of the very profession that killed their fathers. The Asylum had a training ship within its grounds with masts and rigging for the boys to practice on.
Part of the building is now used by a Community Organisation, the rest of it is rapidly falling into disrepair.
Thursday, 4 October 2007
Multi Storey Car Park
Wednesday, 3 October 2007
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Jack Crawford's Grave
This is the monument on the grave of Jack Crawford, a local man who became a hero at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797.
During the battle, the colours were shot away from the top of the ship's mast by the the Dutch fleet. To other ships this would have signalled a surrender to the enemy. In the heat of battle, Crawford climbed up and nailed the colours back onto the mast using the butt of a gun as a hammer to show that HMS Venerable had no intention of surrendering.
Monday, 1 October 2007
Churchyard of St Mary the Less, Durham
Someone told me a few years ago that here in Sunderland, our local council had cleared one of the older cemeteries and the headstones were stacked up in the public works depot along with other salvage and building materials. The public works depot moved to new premises more than 10 years ago and I guess the old headstones were broken up for rubble or hardcore.
Other blogs taking part in this month's theme day are:
Sunday, 30 September 2007
Saturday, 29 September 2007
Friday, 28 September 2007
Wednesday, 26 September 2007
Echo Building
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
This is the lower part of the porch and tower of St Peter's Church which was built in AD 674. I chose this photo because it shows some Anglo Saxon stonework put there by Anglo Saxon hands over 1300 years ago.
The Venerable Bede (AD 672-735) was sent here as a 7 year old boy to train to be a monk and in AD 794 the monastery was attacked and set on fire by Viking raiders.
All that history and it's right on my doorstep.
It's still a fully functional church and a lot of my ancestors were baptised, married or buried from there.
Monday, 24 September 2007
Church Walk
During renovation work, builders found two skeletons under the floor. The local coroner was called and he said the bones were ancient as the building had probably been erected on top of part of the churchyard over a couple of graves.
Sunday, 23 September 2007
Doorway in Durham
Saturday, 22 September 2007
Altar in Holy Trinity Church
Friday, 21 September 2007
Over the water
Thursday, 20 September 2007
Austin's Pontoon
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
View down river from south bank
In the distance, the yellow buildings on the north bank are part of Sunderland University's St Peters Campus. Beyond that you can just see what are left of the cranes that were a common feature of the Sunderland skyline.
Tuesday, 18 September 2007
Bridge supports on north side of river
I also forgot to mention - River Wear is pronounced to rhyme with 'beer'. Just another of our North East idiosyncracies. (See the whole of Northumberland for some really unpronounceable place names!!!)
Monday, 17 September 2007
Wear Bridge
Sunday, 16 September 2007
Starlings
Saturday, 15 September 2007
Friday, 14 September 2007
Cat on a Hot Slate Roof
Thursday, 13 September 2007
Church Door
Over a hundred years ago. the parish fire engine and stocks were housed behind this door until they were needed.
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Good night and God bless, Ian Porterfield
The statue is of SAFC manager Bob Stokoe who took the team to Wembley that season. The pose is taken from photographs of him running onto the pitch moments after the final whistle blew. Winning the FA Cup that year was a massive event in the town and unforgettable for those of us who lived through it.
Tuesday, 11 September 2007
Sunderland Parish Church
Monday, 10 September 2007
The ford and stepping stones at Stanhope
Sunday, 9 September 2007
Seaham Beach
Friday, 7 September 2007
My old school
A photo showing the front of my old secondary school. It has some rather peculiar tilework on the front of this block. You can see the windows of the assembly hall under the yellow tiles - the last time I was in there was to sit an exam.
It's only once you've left school that you can begin to appreciate the fun you had - dangling fellow classmates out of windows by their ankles; buying crisps and Mars Bars from the 6th Form tuck shop for 3rd Formers one day, and refusing to do it the next; watching school caretakers shovelling water off the all-weather pitches into plastic dustbins during one incredibly boring maths lesson.
I send my son there now and the all-weather pitches look exactly as they used to. Bet the drainage is still non-existant too.
Thursday, 6 September 2007
'I'll do graffiti ....
*Gives Gallic shrug*
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
University of Sunderland
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Derelict Building
This is one of the few remaining properties which give some idea of what the old East End of Sunderland was like. It is situated on High Street East and is an example of the typical three story terraced building that lined this street. It and it's neighbour (just seen on the right) have been derelict for some time and have been badly neglected considering how much the East End has been totally re-vamped in the last 10 years.