Tag: Highgate

#365daysofbiking Old friends

February 19th – In Birmingham for a meeting, I found myself at the top of Moseley Road where it meets Highgate Middleway, and I noticed a building that’s stunning, yet I can’t recall every studying before.

It’s the Birmingham Friends Institute, and when I have more time I shall take a closer look. It’s still a busy community hub and centre, and is architecturally stunning in that busy, late Victorian Gothic urban style.

An unexpected find on a grey morning. Utterly charming.

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May 12th – The rest of the day was marked with damp natural beauty and curiosity; the wild-growing roses were out in St. Matthews churchyard in Walsall, and they fit this decaying corner of God’s Acre beautifully, while not far away, also decaying, the oddity that is Highgate Windmill was standing sentry over the quiet, respectful urbanity as it has done for centuries.

I noted all along the journey that marble oak galls are surprisingly prolific this season, and last year must have been very good for the parent wasps who create them. They hang like red fruits in the oak trees.

Sad to see the Swan and Mitre in Aston still empty: A remarkable terracotta late Victorian pub, hideously beautiful in mock gothic in that way only Victorian boozers can be, this spectacular building holds many memories for me. Many a time I leant on that railing one a summer evening with a pint in my hand watching the comings and goings to late-shift local factories.

Reflecting, I have little physically to show for the few short years I spent haunting this place, but I do have a lifelong friendship and some truly wonderful memories.

The past is best thought of in terms of what was found, not that which was lost.

February 26th – Really not well at all, I did a few hours of necessary stuff at work and crawled home mid-afternoon. I wanted a change, so I came over Church Hill, and stopped to take some photos while up there. 

Church Hill is one of those conundra that I find troubling. St. Matthews is as beautiful as ever, and the views would be splendid were they not obscured by mature, beautiful trees. I want rid of some of them for a better view, but I also don’t…

No sign of the peregrines on the bellcote, but this is the first time I realised you can see the Workhouse Guardian’s offices from up here – and they look better from such a distance, and also, terribly out of place. Marooned.

St. Matthews itself is suffering the rogues of the weather, and desperately needs some love. I hope the CofE can get around to giving this venerable old church a bit of love soon.

June 3rd – I’ve often thought that one of the most attractive things in a person – male or female – is if they don’t realise just how attractive they are. As I’ve got older, I’ve begun to realise this applies to places too. 

One of the reasons Walsall is such a gem architecturally – and it is, despite the abuse of it’s more conventional historic assets – is that it doesn’t realise just what a wealth of diverse riches it has. Stop in any suburb or part of town. Look around. Somewhere, close by, there will be something remarkable – not necessarily beautiful, but always engaging. And the town as a whole doesn’t really know.

I came into Walsall from Aldridge and took a route through Highgate. This house caught my eye while I waited for a reversing driver to complete their manoeuvre – just study it; take it in. Possibly not at it’s best, but from the chimney pots down to the front wall the detail is incredible. A fantastic roofline and gables, and the detail in the window arches.

There are treats like this all over this town, and Walsall just doesn’t know about them.

June 7th – Between The Chuckery and Highgate in Walsall, the architecture on the Sutton Road continues to fascinate. On a wet Thursday evening, even in the dark murk of the tail end of a rainstorm, the glistening tiles, Victorian bays and ornate chimney pots still looked precious. A pleasure, whatever the season or weather.

October 7th – Sure enough, five minutes later I was pottering through Highgate to Six Ways. I love this bit of Walsall: Victorian foursquare townhouses, tree-lined streets, wedged in between the Birmingham Road and edgier Caldmore. The sun was out and the sun is always kind to these old, old streets. Forgetting the asphalt and cars, I should think they’ve change little in the last hundred years.