Places to see in ( Blandford Forum - UK )
Places to see in ( Blandford Forum - UK )
Blandford Forum, commonly Blandford, is a market town in the North Dorset district of Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour about 24 km northwest of Poole. It is the administrative headquarters of North Dorset District Council.
Blandford is notable for its Georgian architecture, the result of rebuilding after the majority of the town was destroyed by a fire in 1731. The rebuilding work was assisted by an Act of Parliament and a donation by George II, and the rebuilt town centre—to designs by local architects John and William Bastard—has survived to the present day largely intact.
Blandford Camp, a military base, is sited on the hills two miles to the north east of the town. It is the base of the Royal Corps of Signals, the communications wing of the British Army, and the site of the Royal Signals Museum.
Blandford is situated between Cranborne Chase and the Dorset Downs, to the south east of the Blackmore Vale, 24 km (15 mi) northwest of Poole and 35 km (22 mi) southwest of Salisbury. It is sited in the valley of the River Stour, mostly on rising ground northeast of the river, but with some development south of the river at Blandford St Mary.
ost of the buildings in Blandford's centre are Georgian, due to the rebuilding after the 1731 fire and the absence of subsequent change. Pevsner stated that hardly any other town in England can be compared with it. A 1970 report by Donald Insall Associates described Blandford as the most complete and cohesive surviving example of a Georgian country town in England, with the Market Place area in particular given the status of An Area of National Importance and described as a brilliant master piece . Buildings that have received Grade I listing by English Heritage are the parish church of St Peter and St Paul, the town hall and corn exchange, The Old House, Coupar House, Pump House, and several buildings in Market Place: numbers 18, 20 and 26, and the old Greyhound Inn. All the listed structures in Market Place, including the church and another seventeen buildings with either Grade II or Grade II* status, form a group, together with several listed properties in West Street and East Street.
Coupar House, dated around 1750, is the largest private house in Blandford that dates from the post-fire period. It has a richly decorated interior with a notable staircase, and is unique among the town's private dwellings for having Portland stone dressings to its brick façade, though the design of this frontage has been described as curiously amateurish with little attention ... paid to rules of proportion.
Blandford lies at the junction of the A350 and A354 main roads but is skirted by an eastern bypass. The main road running through the town is the B3082, connecting Blandford Forum to Wimborne Minster. Buses run from the town to locations including Poole, Bournemouth, Salisbury and Shaftesbury with the primary operator being Wilts & Dorset. Blandford is 15 miles (24 km) from Bournemouth Airport.
Blandford is 15 miles (24 km) from Poole railway station. From 1860 to 1964, Blandford Forum was a stop on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, which ran from Bath to Bournemouth, until the line closed to passengers in 1966. Located between Templecombe and Broadstone, the railway was still open until the closure of the Blandford's goods yard in 1969, after which the track was lifted. The station was immortalised in 1964 in the song Slow Train by Flanders and Swann.
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Places to see in ( Goodwick - UK )
Places to see in ( Goodwick - UK )
Goodwick is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, immediately west of its twin town of Fishguard. The coasts of Wales were subjected to Norse raids during the Viking Era and, in the latter 10th century, Norse trading posts and settlements became established. The place name probably derives from a combination of the old Norse forms: góðr (good) and vik (bay or cove) giving góðrvik.
Compare formation with Reykjavík (Smoking Bay) where reykr = 'smoke'.[1] However the South East facing hillside of Goodwick is sheltered from prevailing and salty SW winds and therefore naturally well tree-covered compared with the exposed headland above and the wet land of the bay. Many older developments in Goodwick have the name 'Goedwig' meaning forest - Goedwig Terrace, Villas, Chapel etc. Thus an alternative explanation for the name may be that it was Goedwig and Goorvik may just have been a happy coincidence for the invaders.
Goodwick was a small fishing village in the parish of Llanwnda, but in 1887 work commenced on a railway connection and harbour, and the village grew rapidly to service this. The main industry is now tourism although in the town's industrial past brick making was once an important industry. Some fishing still takes place on a small scale but most activity is centered on Milford Haven. The local beach, Goodwick Sands, is where the defeated French invasion force assembled prior to their unconditional surrender on 24 February 1797.
The harbour was constructed by blasting 1.6 million tonnes of rock from the hillside to make a 900 m long breakwater. The quarried-out area became the quay. The harbour was finally opened on 30 August 1906. Planned to be the end of the Great Western Railway's line and its major sea port, replacing Neyland, problems with the harbour (known as Fishguard Harbour) prevented larger ocean liners from docking. Accordingly, the harbour has a smaller inner breakwater protecting the remaining open side.
In October 2011 plans for Fishguard & Goodwick Marina were revealed in the Western Telegraph. The developers Conygar who hope to invest £100 million into the project have submitted plans to Pembrokeshire County Council for a 450 berth marina, 253 new residential flats and a 19-acre platform for the potential expansion of the existing Stena Line port. The scheme would also create a publicly accessible promenade and waterfront, and visitor parking as well as workshops, stores and ancillary facilities. If approved most of the proposed new developments will be sited by reclaiming land from the sea bed within the two existing breakwaters mainly near the current 'Ocean Lab' and alongside the existing ferry terminal access roads. Conygar have also exchanged contracts to acquire an eleven-acre site for a lorry stop and distribution park on the perimeter of the Stena Line owned port.
Fishguard & Goodwick railway station served local rail travellers from the town, and from nearby Fishguard, until the line was effectively closed to such passengers by the reduction in service to boat trains only in 1964. After this, trains only served Fishguard Harbour and the station fell into disrepair. Following investment from Network Rail and Pembrokeshire County Council the station has now been re-built and was reopened for passengers again, on 14 May 2012. It is served by the boat trains and the newly introduced local trains.
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Blandford Cemetery 2014
All pictures taken in Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia
St Mary's, Shrewsbury
St Mary's, Shrewsbury
England 2007 - Shaftesbury Dorset 2007
Clips from our trip to England and Dorset in March 2007. The sites and sounds of Shaftesbury, Dorset and the surrounding countryside. Melbury hill walk.
video1.mov: 2011-08-01 Walsingham England
See the entire trip at
Arrived last evening in Walsingham in Norwich county north of England. We slept until noon then I ran. This quaint red-tiled roof village is quiet and friendly. Called Little Walsingham. In 1061 a noblewoman received a message from the Blesses Virgin Mary to build a house, a replica of her house in Nazareth.
I ran thru the narrow lanes with cars on the wrong side of the road to the Slipper Chapel and to the hillside covered with tents. This is where I will speak five times this week at the New Dawn Catholic Conference.
Hell Lane
There are thousands of ancient paths criss crossing Dorset’s wonderful countryside but none more fascinating than these labyrinthine paths known Holloways,and one has interesting name of Hell Lane!
Shaftesbury: A Farmer's Town? Or A Town Of Farmers?
I primarily made this location-showing video for a friend of mine in Wales who was somewhat convinced that everyone where I come from, (the town of Shaftesbury), are all farmers but I couldn't send it to her directly (for some stupid reason) so I thought, sod it, I'll put it on YouTube.
I decided to make this video whilst out cycling one morning in an ill-fated attempt to try and dissuade her mono-farmer view of my hometown. However, I realised when I got home and started making it that we basically are a town full of farmers. To which numerous people have agreed. So...yes. YOU WIN HONEY!
You also get to see all the best bits of Shaftesbury in HD and in speed. You also get to see my bike a couple of times. Yay! Cycling for the win!
(I should point out now, before I'm thrown out of town by the council, that I may have been slightly harsh about some of the places mentioned in the video. This is for humour. I don't genuinely believe the harsh stuff I've written. I do enjoy living in Shaftesbury. To an extent...)
I also don't mean any copyright infringement by the use of the song 'Get A Little Dirty' by The Ironweed Project. I'm a fan and I liked the song. And it fitted with the pace of the video. Please don't sue or kill me. Please...?
Our Lady & Saint Alphonsus Catholic Church Hanley Swan, Worcestershire, England 7th April 2013
Our Lady & Saint Alphonsus Catholic Church, Hanley Swan, Worcestershire, England
Videoed Sunday, 7th April 2013
© Mike Fairman 2013
For more information on Hanley Swan & Hanley Castle visit:
In 1846 the Hornyold family funded the building of a Catholic church in Hanley Swan. Our Lady and St Alphonsus, with adjoining presbytery, was built on land donated by Thomas Charles Hornyold and was paid for by his nephew John Vincent Gandolfi-Hornyold at a cost of £30,000 (£2m today). It was designed in the Gothic Revival style by the architect Charles Hansom, whose brother designed Birmingham Town Hall and also the Hansom cab. The furnishings, including a fine tiled floor made by Mintons, were by the architect and designer A W Pugin.
A cloister joins the church to the presbytery, which was originally built as a monastery to accommodate a community of nine Redemptorists - an order founded in the 18th century by St Alphonsus to work among the poor of Naples. John Vincent Gandolfi had met them while travelling on the Continent and invited them to establish a house at Blackmore. But they left in 1851 and the building was turned into a priest's house. After the Blackmore Park sale of 1919, ownership of the church and presbytery was transferred to the archdiocese of Birmingham. In 1944-45 there were 12 weddings at the church between Americans from the military hospital in Blackmore Park and English or Irish girls.
Today the priest lives at Upton, where more than half the 600 Catholics in the area live, but has an office at Blackmore, and the presbytery is rented to a Catholic family.
Hawkesbury Junction
At Hawkesbury Junction,also known as Sutton Stop,the canal is linked to the Oxford canal.The Greyhound Pub is very popular with boaters and locals.From this point it is approximately five miles to Coventry.