Three years ago, I started to write this
column for Neighbourhood News. I
expected to write six articles, enough for one year. Three years later, this (eighteenth) article
is about a selection of little things that didn’t fit into an individual
article. In some cases, there are more
questions than answers!
We’ll start with glass and windows. Every house has windows. Most businesses do, although some of the
warehouses on our industrial estates lack natural light. Around St
Leonard’s there are windows of various shapes. Some
are square and some rectangular, others are circular and there are other curved
outlines. Within those shapes, the panes
vary as well. Apart from picture windows
with no panes, most windows have their panes divided into rectangles. But the fancier shapes demand fancier
patterns for the panes, and in several of our local streets, there are ornate
fanlights, divided by ironwork. So, look
out for the variety of shapes that can be seen around us.
We have a few local buildings with coloured
glass. The companies who supply glazed
doors these days offer a range of standard coloured glass panels. In earlier generations there was more variety. During the late 19th century and first half
of the 20th century, many houses were built with coloured glass above or around
the front door, and there are plenty of examples around the neighbourhood. Houses of that era sometimes have a fixed
window with tinted glass, often with a rough surface making it
translucent.
Businesses – and a few homes – have
patterns etched on the glass to make a decorative feature. Look at the windows next time you walk
through the village to see the variety of decorations and labels there are.
Most of the stained glass in St Leonard’s church dates
from the time of its construction in the 1870s.
Earlier in the series, I wrote about
chimneys in the neighbourhood. There is
an ornate chimney pot on Trews
Wear Court which I hadn’t noticed when I wrote
earlier. There are fireplaces in two of
the first floor reception rooms of County Hall, but I wonder whether they have
ever been used. Does anyone know? On the other hand, as I noted earlier,
Bellair does not have any chimneys, because they were in the wings of the house
which have been demolished.
(Incidentally, I have met people who did not realise that the grounds of
County Hall were open to the public – do use this pleasant open space on our
doorstep!) There are a few local houses
where the brickwork of the top of the chimney is turned through 45 degrees
relative to the house walls; does this have any significance other than an
architect’s whimsy?
After I wrote about balconies someone asked
me whether there was a male counterpart for a Juliet Balcony; perhaps Romeo has
a patio? Sadly, there is no such item,
but there is a town of Romeo in the United States,
and there are suppliers of builders’ material in the town. So, if anyone is travelling in that area,
perhaps they could buy a ladder from the store, to help Juliet on her balcony?
I grew up in a country village, and many of
the older timber-framed cottages had tie bars across them with the
characteristic iron plates showing on the wall.
They are somewhat scarcer in cities, but there are two tie bar plates to
be found in Lansdowne Terrace. Two
houses at the east end of Magdalen
Road also have tie bars; for one, the plates are
painted to match the wall. There are
others in various places. But for a
really good selection of tie-bar plates, look at the house in Southernhay East,
visible from the northern entrance to the offices with a dozen plates.
I have had five questions about stone. (1) Does anyone know what kind of stone was
used for the house at Mount
Radford? The pub sign shows a stone-faced building,
but what stone was used, and where did it come from. (2) And what happened to the stone when it
was demolished? (3) The front garden
walls of the terrace in Barnfield
Road appear to be made of a hard limestone; does
anyone know where the stone came from?
(Is it Beer stone? Or Bath
stone? Also the facades are stone; are
these houses of stone construction?) In
Colleton Hill, the paving slabs are made of a stone which is definitely not
granite. (4) Does anyone know where the
stone came from? Finally, there are a
few gardens whose front paths are lined with large flinty rocks. I suspect that this has come from East Devon. (5)
Did someone bring a load of these rocks to Exeter to decorate gardens?
From the Neighbourhood News, Nov-Dec 2012