Man's Struggle

Earl Street

Created by Walter Ritchie. 

These are images of 2 large Portland Stone carved relief murals

located on the outer wall of the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum.

Titled:

Man's Struggle to Control the World Outside Himself (above)

and 

(below) Man's Struggle to Control the World Inside Himself

Walter Richie created these murals between 1954 and 1959.

They were originally located in Coventry's Precinct and

later moved to this location at the museum.

THIS website gives an interpretation of the work

and more background info.

In the two photos below you can see Earl Street in both directions.

 (Above) Looking towards Cox Street and

(below) Looking towards Council House and City Centre beyond.

Cathedral is just behind Council House.

Woman's Struggle :)

I can hardly believe that it has been a week since

my last blog post.  For that reason, I think it wise

to take a little break.  Rest and recreation sounds like fun. 

See you here in October.

Take care all in the meantime.

Participating in Monday Mural

using my iPhone.

The Cullen Mural

Lower Precinct

This ceramic mural was designed in 1958

by Gordon Cullen CBE

for the people of Coventry.

It is made up of images of early Coventry from Prehistoric

to Late Mediaeval, Georgian and finally modern times.

I have added a little text to the photos describing the different images.

I couldn't get the whole mural in one shot. 

So here it is in sections.

Below is more of the entrance to the Lower Precinct which

is full of shops.  Coventry Cathedral is about a 5 minute walk

from here.

Participating in Monday Mural

A Great Enterprise

Birmingham New Street Railway Station

Originally opened in 1854.  It

had the largest single-span arched roof in the world,

accommodating a number of railways.

In the 1960's the station was completely rebuilt.

The most recent £550m redevelopment is nearly complete.

Have a look at one entrance.

The station is almost finished.  It looks quite futuristic to me.

Trains come and go underneath the station and shops.

I guess they are going to call it Grand Central.

In the shot below, I am standing on the walkway with

my husband.  The reflection shows the back of the Odeon Cinema

and another nearby shopping centre.

This reflective design goes all the away around

the building which seems as large as a

football stadium.  I will have fun coming back

to seeing the finished station.

Only 26 minutes from Coventry by train.

Participating in Skywatch Friday

and Weekend Reflections

using my iPhone.

Bird's-Eye View

Coventry Cross

With a little frustration (narrow slot to fit my camera)
I managed to get this view looking down from
Coventry Cathedral tower.

I have only photographed this once before.
Had a giggle when  I noticed that one
of the shots I previously used shows the spot
where I was standing to take this shot.  (Are you following me?)
Have a look below.
'X' marks the spot :).

Coventry Cross and Coventry Cathedral

If you would like to read a bit more about the Coventry
Cross, follow the link here to my November, 2012, blog post.

Sir Alfred Herbert Mosaic

Herbert Art Gallery and Museum

This is a huge mosaic mural of the English Industrialist

and museum benefactor, Sir Alfred Herbert.

It is made up of small photographs of

events, exhibitions, workshops and collections.

The aim of this digital mosaic is to celebrate the achievement of

1,000,000 visitors to the museum and gallery since it reopened in 2008.

Finding murals is going a to be tough for me here in Coventry,

so I am hoping that this will fit the bill for this week.

Below is the whole display.

If you visit Coventry, please save time to visit

the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum.

It's FREE!

Participating in Monday Mural

Triangles, Clouds & Sky

Herbert Art Gallery & Museum

I think I have shown this roof a couple of times before

but not from this angle.  I found something in here to

use on the Monday Mural mime.  And, hey, I found a

view to use for Skywatch Friday too :).

Coventry has two excellent City Centre museums:

The Herbert and the Coventry Transport Museum.

Both are world class and FREE.

Hooray!

Thatched Roof Thursday #87 - Wolston

Brook Street

The oldest cottage in the street.

I am hoping to find 100 thatched cottages in and around Coventry.

That job is getting more difficult now.

To my amazement this cottage just sprung up in front of me

when I was on a walk around Wolston Village, only 10 minutes from where I live.

It is Grade II listed and at one time was a detached house.

If you want to read the listing details follow the link HERE.

Some of the roof terms they use (like 'half-hipped')

got me Googling to see what they were.

Can you believe it is Thursday????

Off to have a look at your blogs :).

City Daily Photo Theme Day - Curiosities

Coventry Cathedral Ruins

Restoration work to waterproof the under crofts of the old cathedral
has revealed one particular memorial stone that I'm quite curious about.

To get a birds-eye view of the whole project,
it was up the Cathedral Tower for me today.

1st September, 2015
The flag stone floor on the left has been
lifted to reveal a floor made up of memorial stones, some dating back to
the 18th century.

St Michael's Church was a 14th Century Gothic church that
was later designated a cathedral.  During WWII the Cathedral was bombed
leaving a shell of the building which remains today.

Below is a sequence of photos which show a
little of the archaeological discoveries.

17th July, 2015

You can see in the photo above, work has started.

The original floor hasn't been seen for 75 years.

31st July, 2015

What I hadn't noticed on my first visit was

that memorial stone sticking out from underneath the floor.

When I looked at the photo I took on the 17th July, 

the stone was covered with a piece of wood (middle of photo).

7th August, 2015

You can just see that memorial stone

 on the right hand side of the photo (above).

19th August, 2015

More exposure of the stone over what is now thought to be

a concealed crypt.

Today 

I could see the whole memorial stone
although I struggle to make out all the words.
I think it is for 3 people, the first
being Thomas Allen who died in 1761
at the age of 41.

This is a big story and I have only
touched on my own curiosity of one particular memorial stone.
I will be back later this week with more.
In the meantime, why not visit other members of
City Daily Photo and see what their Curiosities are :).