After my walk around Towcester the other day, when I was invited to have an aerial view of the town from the Niftylifter in front of the Town Hall I took my DSLR into work on Wednesday.
I was lucky as I left the village on the partially single-track road to catch the sunrise – this is in the direction of Moreton Pinkney:
I was really nervous as I came out into Towcester at about 12.45 that they might have forgotten that I was coming, or that someone else might have been up instead. It was a beautifully sunny day, with the frost still sparkling brightly. I met a fellow photographer as I walked into Moat Lane who’d obviously been across the road towards the Water Meadows. We chatted a while – but I didn’t tell him where I was going!
It was quite a tight squeeze with the two of us and my camera bag in the basket, but it really was worth it – this was taken looking down Watling Street across all the Grade II listed buildings towards the A5 in the Weedon direction. You can just see the hills around Pattishall on the horizon, and the frost on the fields and trees:
I really enjoyed seeing Towcester from a different perspective – this was taken by turning towards the Church and the Water Meadows:
Closer to me was the Church of St Laurence. A marvellous building inside, the exterior is difficult to capture as it’s surrounded by telephone wires so I was really pleased with this:
Even closer, or even looking down, was the Chantry House which was founded in 1447 by Archdeacon Sponne, the vicar of St. Lawrence. It was built to house a priest to say Mass for the Archdeacon’s soul. In 1552 it was merged with the Sponne Grammar School. Although mainly rebuilt in 1867, the garden wall and gateway and some of the masonry, particularly the chimney, are of the original 15th Century building.
Turning the other way and looking across to Watling Street West, the roofs fascinated me:
I obviously took lots more, but here are my final two – both details of the Town Hall itself. The Town Hall is a Grade II listed building, and more information can be found at Images of England
The first is of the clock. Unfortunately I can’t find any more information about it:
And the second is of one of the lamps outside the main doors:
I’d like to say a real “thank you” to the gentleman who took me up in his lift (picture below). Unfortunately by the time I’d fiddled around putting lenses away, the men had gone to lunch and I wasn’t able to say thank you properly, so I do hope that you manage to find this blog!
