Tag: tiles

April 9th – I passed this tiled mural late this afternoon, and finally recorded it as I’ve been intending to do since starting this journal all those years ago. It’s a simple, tiled inset in an otherwise blank shopfront wall next to AE Poxon Butchers, High Street, Brownhills. It shows, obviously, a bucolic scene of the kind of livestock the proprietor purveys – set in rolling, beautiful countryside.

Curiously, no chickens.

This is old. Really old. Poxon’s is an old company and a very old shop. This has been here certainly as long as I can remember, and much longer than that. I know nothing of who painted it or if it’s significant in anything more than as a local curiosity.

It’s a lovely thing, for sure, and a bit of Brownhills heritage.

February 9th – Noticed in Darlaston today, as I passed, so excuse the quick, rough photos. How fabulous is this? A normal terrace house porch, but tiled, with gorgeous deep-glaze tiles, which look original, and minton tiles on the floor.

A gorgeous flash of brightness on a very dull day. Can’t think why I’ve not noticed it before. Although not present in any of the other houses, I’d say this was original and the only one that remains in the row.

October 25th – A much better day. The weather has cleared as we’re apparently moving to a cold snap. The air was clear and sharp, and only the odd patch of drizzle persisted as I left work. I had stuff to do in Birmingham and wanted to visit the Night Market in Walsall later in the evening, and at teatime found myself at Snow Hill Station heading for my favourite coffee shop for food and a cuppa.

Snow Hill was rebuilt in the 1980’s, and today I spotted a feature I’ve never noticed before, that has me completely baffled. I’ve used this station hundreds of times, yet never noticed this. Much of the concourse are is tiled in old-style plain, but highly glazed ceramic tiles. On the wall opposite the steps from platforms 1 and 2 is an inset detail of a cat. I could find no other instance of the is decoration, and have no idea why it’s there, about 18 inches off the floor. Is it a reference to a station cat of times past, or some other piece of whimsy? Any ideas?