Last year we visited Dalbeattie in Dumfries and Galloway.

I was surprised when we got there to find the buildings are mostly made of granite but it turned out there was a granite quarry very close by so naturally the locals made full use of it back in the day.

In fact the B&B we stayed in – the best such we have ever been in – was right beside the now disused quarry.

I also wasn’t expecting Art Deco, but it’s there.

T H Carson Butcher. It’s really only the stepped roof-line here:-

Then there was the Co-op. Full deco style:-

Roof-line detail.

More likely 1960s?:-

Former bank. Possible deco style round the doors:-

Garage/car sale room. Stepped roof-line, but windows’ “eyes” poked out:-

Former Picture House, Dalbeattie, now Bryan Gowan’s Furniture Store. Horizontals, verticals, stepped roof-line. Rule of three above window over the doors. Shame about the replaced windows.

Photographs of the cinema as it appeared in 1985 are here on the Scottish Cinemas website. It still had the original windows, then. Much more appropriate looking.

Side View:-

Apart from the Town Hall there are several fine buildings in Rochdale town centre, a few of them banks or former banks.

Royal Bank of Scotland, RBS:-

This has “bank” inscribed in the stone above the door but is somewhat anonymous now:-

Lloyd’s Bank (the rounded building):-

If you look closely at the above picture you can see a blue plaque. It was once the Union Flag Inn. In 1745 a confrontation between the Jacobite forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the town authorities took place here:-

Beside Lloyd’s Bank is the very modern Beales and behind and above both a building with faded writing on the brick. “Rochdale (something I can’t make out; equitable?) Pioneer Society (something I can’t make out.)” The Co-operative movement started in Rochdale (see later post):-

This building has a fine cupola:-

We spent the first night back in Britain in Harwich and in the morning had a stroll into Dovercourt which is cheek by jowl with Harwich but whereas Harwich is on the southern bank of the River Stour opposite Felixstowe, Dovercourt lies to Harwich’s south and lines up NNE to SSW (pointing ESE) where Harwich is more E to W (pointing N.)

These 1930s houses hinted at Art Deco.

We walked on towards the town centre past this building which looked as if it might have once been a garage but I have since discovered was the Regent Cinema. Strong horizontals, delicate upper window.

At the bottom of a slight hill there was a football ground, the home of Harwich and Parkeston FC. The sign says Ridgeon’s Football League but the Wiki article says they’re in the Essex and Suffolk Border League and also illustrates that the club has seen better times than at present. The ground is the Royal Oak Ground. Good stepped Art Deco styling to the entrance here.

There’s a photo of the club’s stand here.

In the town itself was what was in its prime surely a Woolworths.

This was up a side street. Minor deco but definitely has it in the roofline. I’d like to have seen the original windows.

Almost next door was a defunct? bingo hall (also once a cinema?) It was morning so I couldn’t tell if the restaurant on the ground floor is still a going concern.

Up another side street I found an old Co-op. This has all the hallmarks of deco but again has seen better days. There’s something drastic has occurred to the building. The facade is distinctly bent – focused on the rightward central pillar.