The Wedding Cake from Frances Street

A view of Stockport Town Hall, locally nick-named The Wedding Cake, from Frances Street.

A contribution to Skywatch Friday.

George V postbox at Stockport Station

In the wall by the steps up to Platform 1 at Stockport Station is a postbox with a GR cypher for the reign of George V. I'd never noticed it until recently as it is a little tucked away and then again I more often than not arrive on a different platform and take the lift down to the subway rather than the stairs.

Next to the postbox which is labelled SK3 101 is a No Smoking notice that points out that even the open air sections are a no-smoking area.

A contribution to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.

New signs on Bridge Streeet

Now that all the works have been completed around Lancashire Bridge new pedestrian signage has been erected at the bottom of Bridge Street.

Attached is a panel with a sketch of the Marketplace and a poster about events although the information was already out of date when I took this photograph.

It seems disappointingly plain and utilitarian to me.

A contribution to signs, signs.

Bus Shelter, Bull's Head, Reddish

This bus shelter is the terminus of the #84 bus at the Bull's Head, Reddish. The #84 route is a mainly half hourly service to Manchester Piccadilly. It takes a circuitous route through Heaton Chapel, Heaton Mersey, East Didsbury, Withington, West Didsbury, Chorlton and Old Trafford. The full journey takes over 1 hour 20 minutes. If you just wanted to get from North Reddish to Piccadilly you would cross the road and take the #203 which would get you there in 15-25 minutes depending on traffic. It is probably a route that has been cobbled together from three different original services.

A contribution to the City Daily Photoblogs theme Shelter.

Four photographs of St Thomas's, Hillgate

I recently went past St Thomas's, Hillgate and took some new photographs. On the south side of the church the gravestones have been mostly flattened for ease of maintenance and the large tree has had its branches cut back. If you look carefully you can see a cat at the bottom of the tree.

St Thomas's Parish Church was opened in 1825 having been built as one of a hundred churches funded by grants from the government and regarded as a thanksgiving for victory over Napoleon, hence the name "Waterloo" Churches. St. Thomas was built in the classical style and is now recognised as a building of National importance being Grade I Listed.

A look down the side of the graveyard showing the pollarded tree.

The classic view from St Thomas's Place

Previous posts of St Thomas's, Hillgate:

• 24-08-14 Outside St Thomas's
• 28-08-14 Hazardous Headstones
• 31-08-14 Inside St Thomas's
• 07-09-14 Stained glass
• 21-09-14 War Memorial tablet

A contribution to Inspired Sundays.

The Curiosity of Platform Zero

The Easternmost platform at Stockport station is number zero. It was added in 2003 to provide extra capacity but not used until 2008.

Only three other stations in the UK have a platform zero, Edinburgh Haymarket, London King's Cross and Cardiff Central.

Also curious is that is the only platform that has direct level access to the street.

Another curious sight I found recently on platform zero can be seen on my photoblog sithenah.

A contribution to the Curiosities Theme at City Daily Photoblogs.

Grotesques at St Mary's

The East end of St Mary's church is the oldest part of the building and dates from the early 1300s. It was built of sandstone and still supports the original oak roof timbers on walls 1.5 metres thick. The stonework around the windows end in grotesques.

This one is on the left hand side of the easternmost window and there is a similar one on the right.

A Grotesque is simply the carving of a face (or body and face) of an animal or creature on the side of a building. Ones that incorporate drainage spouts are termed gargoyles. Gargoyles are therefore a sub-division of Grotesques.

This one is in the middle of the window.

A contribution to Inspired Sundays.