Lille: From south East quarter to the Place de Theatre

Arriving in Lille, we took a taxi to our hotel. It was a bit of surprise as it was previously the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacology  It proved to be a spacious building with a couple of quirky features to greet us ...

We began our exploration of the city by turning left out of the Hotel. Our first major sight was the beautiful Porte de Paris. It was built in the 17th century to commemorate Louis XVI's capture of the city.
 

 

 

This aerial photo gives a much clearer idea.

 

 

 

We headed towards the Town Hall, with its slender belfry in the art deco / Flemish style. It is 104m tall.

 

Sadly, it wasn't possible for us to get to the top, but we enjoyed this stonework at the bottom of the tower.

 

 

Over to the left was the Hospice Gantois founded by Jean de la Cambe  in 1462 and extended in 1664 and 1672. It remained a hospital until 1995. It is a 5 star hotel.

                       

Heading away from the Hospice, we reached the imposing St Sauveur church.

Further to the east is the Noble Tour, a rather unprepossessing structure. It is what remains of of a fortification built during the 100 Years' War by Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. When Lille became French in 1667, Vauban converted the tower into a half-buried powder supply depot. Within the three-metre thick walls, are two superimposed rooms; one has a vaulted ceiling with intersecting ribs, the other has a low dome of brick, illuminated by three small openings: they are reached by a staircase in a tower. 

From here, we eventually reached the Place du General de Gaulle. This is the Opera.

And here is the famous Morel et Fils. It was once a lingerie shop and later a bookshop. Nowadays it is a popular cafe.

Nearby, the CCI, The Chamber of Commerce of Lille is an important landmark in the city. The clock tower plays popular songs in the Theatre's square.

 

 

The final photo in this part of the city shows the Carlton hotel, where we stayed on a brief visit many years ago.

Finally, we passed the Palais de Beaux Arts on our way back to the hotel. Sadly we had run our of time to explore its delights including works by Monet, Rubens, Goya, Breughel, Van Gogh ....

Rye

 

Rye is of course in West Sussex rather than Kent, but it is too good to miss. We parked on the east side of the town and headed towards the centre and almost immediately ran into another handsome Smock Windmill. It is now a B&B!

Once we were in the town proper we passed this pub, the Old Bell which claimed to be the oldest pub in the town - dating from 1390.

 

We continued up the High Street passing the Old Rye Grammar School of 1636. The founder died in 1838 a bequeathed the building to the town as a free Grammar School. It continued until 1901.

Further along the High Street was a house lived in by Radcliffe Hall (born Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe Hall) author of the novel The Well of Loneliness.

Continuing to the left we came to the Landgate (the portcullis was removed in 1735). This is the town side view ...

... and here is the view from outside the walls that once were joined to it.

From here we headed to the Town Hall. The present Rye Town Hall was built in 1742, and is the third known to have existed on the Market Street site (the first of which was burned to the ground by the French in 1377 - the French were always a threat).

Just behind it is the passage which leads to St Mary's Church. It is tucked away, but impressive when you go inside. The clock on the turret was installed in about 1561.

It was built early in the 12th century when the town itself and much of the surrounding area was held, under a Royal deed of gift from the Abbey of Fecamp in Normandy. This link with Fecamp, which was an important member of the Cinque Ports Confederation, explains why Rye has such a magnificent church. In between there was a period of decline from the late 17th century and extensive repairs in 1882 and after the Second World War.

I was surprised to discover that I hadn't noticed a window by Burne-Jones, but

From there we visited one of the oldest buildings in Rye, the Ypres Tower, which was built in 1249, as "Baddings Tower", to defend the town from the French. It was later named after its owner, John de Ypres,  and is now part of the Rye Museum.

This is the view from the Tower. You can just about make out the sea on the horizon, which illustrates the well-known retreat of the sea from the town.

Finally, we noted the splendidly-named Mermaid Street with its cobbled road surface.

From there it remained only to retrace our steps to the Windmill and our car park.

Melksham

A walk with my friend Merv around Melksham, a Wiltshire town unknown to either of us. We parked in the centre and walked back to get a better look at this imposing, but disused, red chimney. It was once the home of Holt's Tannery.

We crossed the bridge over the rather strangled River Avon (Wiltshire/Somerset) ...

... and noticed on the right hand side of the road these seemingly unused Victorian buildings with very pleasing stone heads.

We headed further into the town and turned right into the narrow but attractive Church Street to emerge into Canon Square. Canon House, partly 16th century and partly 18th, dominates the end of the square.

At right angles to Canon House is the church of St Michael and All Angels. There was a large church here in Norman times, but the current building was altered and enlarged in the 14th and 15th centuries, and restored at different times in the 19th by T E Wyatt and G E Street. This is the view from Canon Square ..

... and this is the view from the other side of the church. It is clear that it sits in a large site.

We continued past the Tourist Information Office and passed this delightful round house, known as the Round House. It was originally built as a wool drying house and later used as an armoury for the local volunteer militia, feed store, business premises, tourist information centre, and museum.

A little further on, on the opposite side of the road was the Masonic Lodge, which looks as though it could withstand a siege.

Close by was this information panel which led us to an unusual step: a leisurely exploration of the numerous housing developments on the east side of the town.

It was curious fascinating to notice the variations in the design of estate houses and of whole estates, some of which were quite pleasing, and others which were rather depressing. We explored the east side of the town quite thoroughly and as we got closer again to the town centre, we started to see a few late Victorian houses.

Soon afterwards were were back in the center of the town and looking at the Town Hall which was designed D Jones of Stratford-on-Avon.

Nearby was the imposing Methodist Chapel (1872). The imposing Corinthian columns were a fine feature.

Finally we had a surreal experience in the nearby pub, the Market Tavern. It looked like a pub, but inside consisted of a bar and a large number of cosy alcoves where people could gather in small groups to eat and drink. We had a nice lunch and left still marveling at the design.

Footnote: Merv and I quite enjoyed exploring Melksham and I was a little shocked by Pevsner's assessment: "Of all the small towns of Wiltshire Melksham has the least character and the least enjoyable buildings ... The church is out of the way to the w(est) of the High Street, and what is attractive as a setting is around it and has little to do with the town." Perhaps he was having an off day?

Ripon

 

The first day of a short visit to the North East starting in Ripon. We started our walk around the City with a very informative visit to the Tourist Information Office in the Town Hall.

In front of the Town Hall is the large 12^th century Market Square, dominated by the 90 ft Obelisk erected in 1781.

We turned left and passed the rather lovely Wakeman’s House. In the past the Wakeman or Hornblower used the horn to sound the setting of the watch at 9pm. Surprisingly, the horn is still blown every evening – although not from the Wakeman’s House, which is now a café.

 

Carrying on in the same direction, we come to the sadly defunct Ripon Spa Baths. They were built in 1905 and a swimming pool was added in the 1930s. The entrance has lovely art nouveau details.

Now we doubled back passing the Town Hall on our right and following Kirkgate down to the imposing front of the Cathedral. The Cathedral was Romanesque in origin but little of that remains as a result of repeated collapses to the fabric of the building: it all now looks Perpendicular. Apart from one thing: it you look carefully at the crossing arch that a Romanesque starts on the left hand side, which the right is propped up by a series of slim pillars.

At the far end of the Nave is a wonderful decorative screen.

Undertaking a quite circumnavigation of the exterior of the Cathedral I came on the nearby St Agnes Lodge.

And then, on the other side of the road, was the Courthouse Museum.

We now headed Northwards, to pass the really grim-looking Police Museum.

Heading further north we came to the fascinating Leper Chapel ...

... with two sets of Almshouses nearby on opposite sides of the road.

We walked on to reach a long bridge and headed back via a different route towards the City centre, passing the Victoria Tower on the way back.