Beaumaris, Anglesey, North Wales

Beaumaris is one of the principle towns on the Island of Anglesey and has a prominent and strategic position at the North East end of the Menai Strait.

(I was lacking inspiration here as these were taken during the last hour of a long day .... and I had to seriously motivate myself to publish this post over the last few days. There were two reasons for coming here, firstly it was a final destination to my journey looking for a coastal viewpoint in between the houses of Bangor Pier (earlier post - title photo) and secondly to show that there is a normal place on the island other than the previous post of Llanfair P.G. !)

North Wales coast from the sea front (Menai Strait to the right)

The name Beaumaris originated from French builders in the late 13th century who thought the town resembled a "beautiful marsh".

It may be surprising to know that when the castle was built in 1295, firstly the focus of the town moved a little to the south away from an old Viking village...

... and secondly, Edward I built a series of castles as a conquering English king to control the local Welsh people. It is interesting to think that on the face of it, these buildings nowadays promote Wales and everything Welsh even though after examination, it is an English building built by French workers !

Victoria Terrace, seafront

Joseph Hansom was a famous architect in town during the 19th century and was responsible for a few of the buildings. Unfortunately, this terrace was impossible to photograph from a distance as there were too many cars parked on the overflow car park in front so I present to you the essential house design instead.

Awaiting sentence in The Old Court house since 1614

Alleyway behind Court House

The old Grammar school was established in 1602/3 by David Hughes whose story is a bit vague but it appears that he was born in the area, educated in Oxford and lived for a while in Norfolk. Circumstances would suggest that he left a legacy in the area where he was brought up providing free education both in his lifetime and in his will.

These days the authorities are not so keen that builders should indulge in such grand buildings but they seem to allow the multiple duplication of other turrets...

Bangor, North Wales

The small university city of Bangor in the North West corner of Wales was one of many places I researched for a five night accommodation break to combine a mixture of hill walking and tourism.
My eventual chosen location was half way between here and the distant hills in the background.

After the drive along one of my favourite main roads, the North Wales A55 coastal route (particularly the Conwy to Llanfairfechan section), I dropped my luggage off at the bed and breakfast and headed to my local town. As a car driver, the west end of the A55 was a little unfamiliar to me in parts as I was more used to the scenery near all the railway stations particularly during the mid 90's.

This gave me the opportunity of visiting Bangor pier for the first time albeit with a 15 minute period before it closed for the evening.

The Pier was built quite late after the Victorian tourist boom in the 1890's and stretches out into the Menai straits facing the island of Anglesey.

Originally there was a landing stage at the head of the pier from which steam ships took passengers to Liverpool, Blackpool and The Isle of Man. A railway track on the pier for transporting luggage was removed at about the same time that a ship collided ( bad weather conditions) with the pier in 1914 causing a gap. This structural damage took another 7 years to complete the repairs.

The sun was about to set on the pier when it closed the gates in 1971 due to safety concerns and 3 years later it was saved from demolition by a council objection. The road to restoration was a long and torturous one starting with listed building status as one of the top three surviving piers in Britain. Ownership was secured by buying the pier for 1 pence, but restoration funds took another 7 years followed by 6 years spending the money ! The Pier finally re-opened it's gates in May 1988.

Looking up the Menai straits from the Pier

The main and historic building of Bangor University is a prominent part of the city on one side of the valley above the road systems ( including the high street) that track down the valley from the railway station to the seafront. It started in 1884 after donations were given by local quarrymen campaigning for better education in the area for their city and families. The degree qualifications were affiliated with London until it became The University of Wales in 1893.

Famous paintings were initially stored here during the second World War to protect them from German bombings before being transferred to underground slate mines in the nearby mountains. The University has grown in size and so too has the town with the number of students not quite doubling the population.

The name Bangor comes from an ancient Welsh word that refers to a fenced enclosure. Bangor Cathedral now stands on the site of what was that primitive 6th century monastery built by a celtic saint called Deiniol.

The story of Bangor Cathedral is a bleak one as it suffered numerous destructions from English Kings in the post Norman years. Reconstruction after centuries of unrest was completed in 1532 with subsequent work being done in 1824.

Further external work was carried out in the middle of the 19th century with features that we see today.

Although you don't know it yet, I first discovered the Eagle lecturn as a child in the church next door to my Junior school when we sung Carols there at Christmas time. As an object of photographic beauty, I discovered it's merits in Sheffield at the beginning of the year .....  it is rapidly becoming an obsession of mine to photograph these objects in Churches and Cathedrals. The Chester lecturn missed the edit cut and I also have ...... a little secret ...... examples still to publish from Glasgow and Haworth at some quiet moment another time.

The uglier side of Bangor !! ...... watching the seagulls !!

Like most cities and towns, there is a normality behind the facade .... whether that is student life or living in an outpost of Great Britain where employment prospects may not be the best for some. Bangor is more normal than most tourist places as I couldn't even buy a box of souvenir biscuits here.

Arguably ... the longest High Street in Great Britain... it seems to go on forever !

One of the things about this blog and my adventures through certain cities and towns that readers occasionally miss, is the artistic photographic viewpoint I take when all else seems dull and uninteresting. It is my challenge to find something to photograph even if it has to stoop to humour ...

Different kind of busy High Street !!

Balance of money ... Bank, Cash point collection, Big Issue seller ... Nice dog !!

I was left to consider much of nearby Bangor and those less fortunate than myself.... to find themselves imprisoned on Bangor Pier ........

A Chinese Panda holding a Welsh flag ..... a prisoner of thee tourist war !!

Roker & Seaburn, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear.

One of the challenging things about this blog is not just to present you with beautiful places or images that go beyond the expectations of the location, but to find material from ordinary locations from an alternative photographic angle. I attended a local conference or rather a church weekend away from the 14th - 16th January in Seaburn and this set consists of a few interior pictures that I used for a travel website and a short saturday afternoon walk.

Attractions this way .... maybe not !

The area to the north of the Sunderland and The River Wear was undeveloped during the Victorian tourist boom but later became popular for day visitors during the 1920's. Later in that decade, the decision was taken to make Seaburn a seaside resort when money became available but with further delays and problems, the only thing that was constructed by the mid 1930's was a sea front promenade and a widened coastal road.
During the 1930's, workers began to receive paid holidays and visitors started to arrive to the newly assembled funfair rides and seafront illuminations. In 1936 plans were passed to build an Art Deco building called The Seaburn Hotel and was completed in 14 weeks before opening the following year.

Not quite the Art Deco extension you are expecting to see ! (1998 £2.8million extension)

As the seaside town developed, the resort became popular with a tram line built to this terminus bringing people from the centre of Sunderland.

After some minor wartime damage repairs, there were no significant building modifications until a new wing was built that include private bathrooms in 1963 and a programme to continue that work throughout the rest of that decade.

There were many famous people who stayed here. One of the most frequent visitors was the industrial painter LS Lowry who used the hotel for long periods of time as a base for his work e.g.The River Wear at Sunderland.

Other people who used the hotel were from the entertainment, sports and music world, the most famous probably being The Beatles.

In the late 1970's another wing was added before complete refurbishment and a name change to the Swallow Hotel ten years later. During the closure and renovation of the hotel, it was discovered that there were extremely serious problems due to the original construction process and the restoration fee was doubled to £5 million with the hotel almost having to be re-built.

During the 1990's the hotel won awards before a further extension in 1998 was added and Whitbread PLC, who own the Marriott UK franchise took over the following year.

The 'fake' Marsden Rattler

Like so many UK seaside resorts, Seaburn has had to re-invent itself so try and stay competitive in recent decades. A railway ran further up the coast to assist the transportation of workers and coal from Marsden to South Shields. The only thing remaining reminder is a railway carriage called The Marsden Rattler. The railway carriage restaurant shown above was never part of this railway system but as it has stood here for so long, many people just accept that it did.... A business opportunity !!
Seaburn and Roker host The International Airshow which arguably is the biggest free event in Europe, a seafront illuminations festival and an icy annual December 26th swim into The North Sea.... err, no thank you !!

Modern funfair times

It has become difficult in recent times for various reasons that i am not going to go into here for the funfair to stay open except to say that nearby South Shields on the River Tyne has picked up on the trade. That last phrase gives me the opportunity to talk about the rivalry with Newcastle and Sunderland which can be traced throughout history for example showing allegiance to opposing sides during the reign of Oliver Cromwell and the competition between the River Tyne and River Wear with the shipbuilding industry. Today the rivalry is "officially" consigned to ... the football pitch although there is a deeper dislike of the other side which extends to the opposite regional accent and certain things about the other city, ha ha !!

The short saturday afternoon walk with my roommate and two other friends took us to the 1885 Roker pier at the north side of the River Wear.

As it was a cold January afternoon we decided to use the coffee shop to sit and talk for a short time while some considered walking or avoiding the pier...

Spotlight on the pier... to walk or not to walk

... before my roommate made a suggestion to re-trace the steps of our tourist ancestors ....

... Unfortunately, i was only other volunteer to brave the strong winter winds of the North Sea .... for photographic purposes you understand ..

... exploring the ... wind !

Hoping a fish will be blown my way !

On the Pier and during the walk back, I was reminded of the activities of Seaburn people...

Treasure Hunter

Walking the beach

Walking the dog

It was nice to get back into the hotel as the staff were preparing our saturday evening Gala dinner and the delegates rehearsed and perfected their evening entertainment routines.