At long, long last the scaffolding has come down from the Guildhall and the restored east gable is back in business with its lovely fourteenth century checkerboard flint and stonework gleaming.
It's taken over two years for the stonemasons to stabilise and repair the gable to its full spiffiness but they've done a good job.
The place had stood quite happily for over seven hundred years (it was already old when the checkerboard façade was added) when some dickwad of a Victorian decided to suck up to the mayor by adding a clock tower in his honour.
Of course, being Victorian, the builders simply plonked several tons of stonework on top of the ancient gable and sat back smugly, not thinking about such things as proper flashings or structural supports.
Not for nothing did the mayor have both Wood and Cock in his name. He should have included Plonker, too. His erection almost brought down the beautiful mediæval gable.
But now, with proper structural supports and flashings installed and the whole thing buffed up in its Sunday best it can hopefully stand for many centuries hence.
Though someone will need to get up there and wind the bugger; I took these at half-ten.
13 comments:
It looks great now...
It will look even better when somebody winds up the clock and sets the time correctly.
Hahaha. It does look fantastic. That is definitely an unfortunate name that has obviously shaped his character! ;)
It certainly seems to have had an influence, Shan.
How the mighty Guildhall has fallen over the centuries; first Mayor Wood and Cock plonks his massive erection on one end of it and now - alas - part of it houses a tea shop (Caley's Cocoa Café … Caley's being a local chocolaitier) and another part of it houses - horrors! - a shop selling crystals to deluded new agers.
Sigh …
Victorian clock or not, that is a lovely building! I love it's flint and stonework checkerboard.
Years ago, I was dismayed to hear words fall from the lips of a man I'd craved forever, words about the healing powers of pyramids and crystals. OMG! Well, the "crystals and pyramids" thing-y sure did cure/deaden/obliterate/cool any desire I felt for him. What a simple douche.
Tis indeed a lovely building, Speedway. It cheers me up every time I see it.
New Agers crack me up. The best one I saw was in the SkyMall catalogue a few years back.
I tried making the link work using html but Blogger is being an arse today and not letting it work, so here's the link to the post to cut and paste:
http://smallglassplanet.blogspot.com
/2008/12/culture-schlock.html
Check out that hoodie!
Ooh, Dive, to go with the deer antlers in the Sky Mall Catalog (did you know they're on-line at http://www.skymall.com/shopping/detail.htm?pid=203622450&c=10440 - there's a special item just waitin' for you, baby. Hah) check out the stuff @ bumpernuts.com and at bullsballs.com
Carl would bring home slick magazines from his corporate jets, left there by clients. I still subscribe to the yachting manf. magazine, which is where I frequently see ads for watch winders. They're meant for the Rolex, Piaget crowd and I can't imagine that any of the watches mean anything to someone who has to keep them on a special little rocker to keep them operating.
A beautiful building! Looks like they did a good restoration/repair job. I see the pigeons are already settling into the moulding of the clock face. And the two statues by the clock face, are they of Wood and Cock?? ;-)
Love the checkerboard flintwork! Those darn victorians!
Almost 2300h here and I'm giggling and snickering like a schoolgirl over WoodCock's erection! And, yes, a lovely piece of architecture, sugar! ;)
xoxoxoxox
Bumpernuts and bulls balls! Speedway, America should be proud of such glorious cultural treasures.
Yes, I know SkyMall is onm line. I have been trawling their catalogue for more Christmas delights.
I've never understood the overpriced watch brigade, even though my own baby brother is numbered amongst them. Why pay thousands of pounds for something that doesn't keep time anywhere near as well as a cheap Japanese watch? Duh!
Hee hee, Ms.M. From this point onwards they shall forever be known as Wood and Cock in my little world. Thank you for that.
Neetzy, they did untold damage to our architectural heritage. They painted all our church interiors white, destroying the mediæval wall paintings (which were often homorous and lewd and therefore a danger to anyone with no brain cells) and they covered the country in a viral smear of badly built housing and tacky, kitsch public buildings. Victorians? I hate the smeggers.
Savannah, I am so glad it's not just elderly schoolboys such as myself who giggle over willie jokes.
xoxoxoxox
It looks beautiful. And that last paragraph of your is very funny—clever man.
It IS beautiful, Robyn, though I am not a clever man, simply a man who never grew out of schoolboy smutty jokes.
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