tarboat's photos

Chestergate is steadily becoming ruined by unsympathetic shop fronts. One of the best remaining is Jones Jewellers.

At the lower end of Mill Street in Macclesfield you start to find shops that are not the usual bland national chains. One great joy is the Cheshire Gap delicatessen that has a wide range of goodies to tempt the palate. It also operates a small cafe area so that you can taste the food straight away if you want.

Terracotta chimneys on the old swimming baths in Union Street, Chester. Designed by John Douglas and completed in 1901. The building is a grade II listed structure.

Terracotta detail from the facia of 6 Union Street, Chester

Fascinating terracotta and brick house in Union Street, Chester.

If you look around the back streets of Macclesfield you can find occasional relics and reminders of the past industries of the town. This wall on Charlotte Street is made from blocks of slag which were a bye-product of the copper works on Macclesfield Common that was established by Charles Roe in 1758. Initially the copper ore was obtained from Alderley Edge but in 1764 Roe began to work the rich ores of Parys Mountain on Anglesey. Although Roe soon established smelters on Merseyside the Macclesfield Copper Company continued to operate in the town on a diminishing scale until 1801. The lcocation of the copper works is remembered in the names of Calamine Street and Copper Street off Windmill Street.

My visit to the Riverside park was in daylight! Just before reaching what are often referred to as 'the cow fields' there is this large piece of electrical infrastructure in the middle of the wildflower meadow.

It's not an original idea but I have always wanted to take this shot from underneath the pylon in the park.

Dateail from the walls of West Park museum. Fine Ruabon terracotta work from 1897.

Entrance to the Macclesfield Museum in West Park. This dates from 1897, a time when terracotta work was very popular for public buildings. This is the first time I have seen Queen Victoria featuring on a terracotta plaque.

Early morning steam spectacular on the Chengzihe coal railway system at Jixi in Heilongjiang Province, north-east China

A great place to visit, so close to Macclesfield and yet it feels quite remote. This afternoon I walked part of the Tegg's Nose Trail in the lower part of the Park which is adjacent to Langley village.

Found in the lower woods at Tegg's Nose Country Park. The shape of this Hornbeam is amazing, it is so twisted. The hazy afternoon sunshine helped pick out the detail.

The Boars Head in Middlewich is a classic Robinson's Pub with a great frontage. There is some nice terracotta decoration above all windows whilst the boar's head and associated decoration is (I think) stone. The Cyclists' Touring Club enamel sign below the right side windows is a bonus. The beer isn't bad either.

I found this brick at the side of a footpath this afternoon and was intrigued by the lettering in the Frog. LBC = London Brick Company but the rest was a mystery. A quick Google later and all was revealed: The early brick presses only applied two presses to the powdered clay in the brick moulds. The trade-name Phorpres came about because Fletton Bricks made in Bedfordshire are pressed twice in each direction so that they are literally 'four pressed' if the phrase is pronounced quickly it becomes Phorpres! The logo for Phorpres bricks can be seen here .

Tomkinson Heating on Buxton Road is the place to go if you want a solid fuel stove. The business occupies premises that I believe were once a branch of the Macclesfield Equitable Provident Society, better known as the Coop. The building is constructed of red Ruabon brickwork on all sides with decorative work on all but the rear. The frontage has some wonderful terracotta decoration and under the green paint there are brown glazed tiles. The small plaques above the outer windows on the first floor give the date for this building. AD 1903.

A wonderful example of the work of J. C. Edwards (Ruabon) Ltd is this dragon on the roof of a house in Chester. The original drawings for this piece are kept in the Denbighshire Record Office.

Another terracotta building at Neston in North West Cheshire although the Town Hall of 1888 looks to me as if the decorative work was cut back and brief research suggests that the finances were tight when this was built. Red Ruabon brick and a small amount of decoration.