March 18th – A remarkable sunset. I’d been at a family do in Chase Terrace and returned via Chasewater at sundown. The sky to the east for a short time was a bright crimson red, and the sunset itself to the west was almost neon. These images haven’t been retouched. A remarkable event, and I’m glad I witnessed it.
February 25th – Chasetown has always had an odd atmosphere to me. The hillside town – occasionally bustling, but usually giving the impression of any given place at 4pm on a Wednesday – has a really nice High Street, with lots of stable, longstanding traders. The street is on a considerable incline, which gives it atmosphere and character. Sadly, at the moment, the entire road is closed do to gas and sewerage works at the top of the hill by Sankey’s Corner, and at 4:30pm, the place was even more ghostly and deserted than usual.
Perhaps this is the time to stage what I’ve always fancied doing here – a decidedly low rent re-enactment of the stunning car chase from Bullit, on bicycles. In Chasetown High Street. Steve McQueen optional. You know it’d be a blast…
February 19th – Alongside the Chasetown bypass, this bit of urban wit. The ‘Alison, will you marry me?’ sign has been there for weeks, but the conversation has grown in recent days. I love this stuff. Wonder if Alison really did say yes?
December 29th – Chasetown as ever, seemed to be slumbering peacefully as I passed through at lunchtime. Wet, wild, stormy, a filthy day all round. I remember this town before it closed – but there is some great architecture here; the first church in the UK to be lit by electric light, the Old Mining College – run by the wonderful Steve Lightfoot, and this house, Chase Lodge. I have no idea of its history. Great chimneys, and a sympathetic extension. Look at the brickwork at the tip of the gable. That’s a bricky showing off, that is…
December 3rd – A cold, windy afternoon. Busy all day, I managed to slip out at dusk, and took a spin up to Chasetown in order to photograph the town’s Christmas lights from the top of the hill, a plan cruelly thwarted by the ugly fact that the don’t have any. On the way, I stopped on the southern footbridge over the Chasetown bypass to photograph the new road system. Between this new road and the M6 toll, huge amounts of farmland, heath and scrub were destroyed and asphalted over. These junctions altered the local road system massively and I don’t think the local ecology ever really recovered.
August 21st – Saint Anne’s Church in Chasetown – hidden down a quiet dead end, unassuming in it’s grace and simple elegance, hides a surprising history: it was the first church in England to have electric lighting. Supplied from the pit at the bottom of the hill, the benevolence of the local mine owner led to this unique installation. Great walker, Staffordshire lover and fellow Panoramian Pedro Cutler pointed this out in his photo gallery. It just goes to show, to a nosey and inquisitive cyclist, remarkable history is all around.
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