Posts about History
One of my pictures in 1993 was of the unique tiling at Chalk Farm on the Northern Line, late one evening.
Details of the new website for Swiss national historic location Rütli, combined with a brief explanation of the meadow’s history.
A personal history of computer desktop wallpaper, a Microsoft Switzerland competition in which you can take part, and some free landscape photos for you to download.
We are small and there is so much to see, that we should get on with it and not let smaller things than us get in the way.
A wintry view of the Lorraine Bridge, near the main train station in Bern, Switzerland.
The “Zytglogge” (literally, time bell) stands in the middle of the Bern, at the junction between the more modern shopping streets and the older, lower city. It was originally constructed in wood around 1220 as part of the old city wall and served as an entrance gate and prison. Once the defensive nature of the…
First opened in September 1883 after a 21 month building phase, the metal bridge spanned the gorge between the upper end of the original old city of Bern at the Casino and the area of Kirchenfeld to the south. The 41 metre high bridge was built along with 5 kilometres of city roadways by the…
This grade A listed railway viaduct, just north of Dunkeld near the A9 main road between Perth and Inverness, was designed by Joseph Mitchell to carry the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway across the River Tay and opened on 9 September 1863 at a cost of £20,395; it remains in use. It is of lattice…
During a violent storm on the evening of 28 December 1879, the centre section of the first Tay Bridge, known as the “High Girders”, collapsed, taking with it a train that was running on its single track. Seventy-five lives were lost, including the son-in-law of design engineer Sir Thomas Bouch. The total number was only…
Battersea Power Station is the largest brick-built structure in Europe and is notable for its original and lavish Art Deco fittings and decor. The building is Grade II listed, and the condition was described as “very bad” by English Heritage, who have included it on their Buildings at Risk Register. Amongst other, numerous film and…
This was the view from my hotel room in Victoria. As a Londoner (I was born in St. Thomas’ Hospital and brought up during the first six years of my life in south London), this view isn’t just a pile of bricks, but a reminder of a childhood home in the 70s, where whitewashed brick…
The harbour area of Spiez, taken from the train station. Poet Josef Viktor Widmann (1842–1911) wrote in his book Spaziergänge in den Alpen (Strolls in the Alps) that “the view from Spiez Station is one of the most beautiful in the world“. I’d imagine that the foreground of this view was quite different at the…
