St Michael on Arrow

This ween the Church Explorer visits St Michael's Church in St Michael on Arrow which is only just inside the Welsh border. The church dates to the 13th century

Challow Sky

I visited a church in East Challow the other week and took some photos of a field opposite the road he lived along (he lives in OZ now) It just so happens I took the sky as well

 Right opposite is a field that sits between the village and Wantage now there is a housing estate being built

  The road here heads to Wantage

and this one through the village

Happy Skywatch

St Mary Newchurch

This week the Church Explorer visits St Mary Newchurch, which is a welcome way point for walkers on the Offas Dike walk, refeshments can be found within

Sunday Sunrise

Last Sunday I watched the demolition of Didcot Power Station Cooling Towers I called the post Last Sunrise as this would be the last time the sun shone on the towers. For Sywatch I wall show the sunrise that shone on the towers.

 Just after I got to where I took the photos this was the sky

 The sun rose through the clouds

 It caused rays from the clouds

 The sky without cooling towers. The big stack will come down next then again the skyline will change 

Anti-Stress Kit

The Last Sunrise

The cooling towers at Didcot have been a landmark for South Oxfordsire since the 1960's when they were built. In 2014 the first three were demolished and I went along to watch today the last three would see their final sunrise because between 6 & 8am they would be demolished. Last time I watched from Harwell and the place was crowded with people and parked cars, this time I thought I would get a good vantage point from outside the village on the hill and as I had a 400mm lens that would suffice.
I got up at 5 in the morning which was lie in for me because last time they were supposed to be blown up at 3 in the morning and I had got up at two to see it. In the end it was 5 and the dawn was breaking. This time I got my bike out and cycled up the hill. On the way there a car overtook and parked up a little way down then I passed a family walking up the hill and greeted them as I rode past. I dropped my bike on the side of the road and jumped across a ditch to the stubble field I was going to put my tripod. The person who came up the hill in their car was stood there with their dog. After setting up the family arrived carefully picking their way over the ditch. It was not long before more people arrived and cars were getting parked up along the road. Around 6.30 one person told us that they has seen on twitter the towers were coming down at 7am. Looking around the hillside was quite crowded with villagers eager to see the event. some were even in deckchairs with a picnic. I realised one of my old mates was stood on the roadside right next to me with his wife. He had driven over from Ewelme to see it. We grew up together in the village before he move away he wanted to witness the occasion of the demolition because like me he had grown up with the towers.

Couple of days before hand I went to the Hill to get a test shot of the towers

5:40 in the morning the towers await their fate

6:56 the sun shines on the towers for the last time

 Four minuets later the towers star to topple

 As they come down the distort

 The one on the left is buckling

 while the others are on the way to the ground

 While the one on the left is still falling the other two are nearly down

The first two hit the ground the third is still collapsing

The final moments of the third tower and dust erupts 

 Over on Wittenham Clumps people are watching as well

But the view from both places has changed forever. The remaining stack will be bright down later in the Autumn. I will be there for that moment I saw it being built I will see it's end.

Below are a couple of videos of YouTube of the event

 BBC footage of the towers, worth watching 

This second one is one of the better ones I found .

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

 

St Michael Bryngwyn

This week the Church Explorer visits St Michael's Church Bryngwn a church with an interesting history and with a relic dating back to the 7th - 9th century

Pylon Work

So the other day I went out of the village and noticed this load of vans in a field by one of the electricity pylons. On my was back I stopped to get a few photos. Normally I'd use this on another meme but I think it worthy of |Skywatch

 As you can see quite a few vans gathered around

 Looking up I see one guy sitting on the power cables

 Couple more guys the other end

 All three together. Looks like they are working on the insulators because some look new

The clouds look a bit threatening behind

Happy Skyatch

Pink Bike

Faringdon Town

Faringdon was is a Market Town in West Oxfordshire, up to the 1974 it was in North Berkshire. I visited to go and see All Saints Church which is just off the market place. On my way back I took a few photos of the town.

The church I visited from the footpath. It will feature in the Church Explorer in a month or so

 From the churchyard you look over to the market place

 This is Church Street looking towards the Market place

 I wondered what the pillar was but after some research I found it it is the Portwell Pump. Given to the town by Sir Henry Unton, Lord of the Manor in the 16th Century, it was the town’s only piped water supply and fed an animal trough. A heavy lead cup, securely chained, was for the use of passers-by. Not sure they would get away with that now

Above the Old Town Hall (Market Hall)  Built in the 17C, it was a hive of activity on market days when farmers’ wives would sell their surplus eggs, butter and cheeses under the shelter of the meeting room above.

The road on the left is Marlborough Street and on the right is Gloucester Street

The last photo I took as I went back to the carpark was of the Cork Exchange opened in 1863. The hall itself was built as a Corn Exchange where local farmers congregated to sell their surplus grain to millers and dealers away from the noise of the animals in the main market place. Found it a fascinating two which I would not mind returning to sometime.

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

St Cynog Broughrood

This week the Church Explorer visits St Cynog Broughrood which is a short  distance down the road from last weeks church and is the sister church in the parish. The Church was built in 1854 on the site of a medieval graveyard.

Road over the hill

Bit stuck for a post this week but found this one I took the other week of the road going up Cholsey Hill, I stopped to take a photos of the car you can make out in the bottom of the photo. Stupid guy had managed to launch it over the bank and into the barley field. It was lifted out a week or so later by the land owner so he could harvest the field. Did not realise I'd got a nice skywatch photo till I looked just now.

Happy Skywatch

Tasty Treats