Posted in Sculpture, New Forth Road Bridge, Art, Bridges, Queensferry Crossing at 12:00 on 7 August 2022
As it was our anniversary on Monday we decided to visit Jupiter Artland, a Sculpture Park and Art venue near Wilkieston in West Lothian.
At present it is hosting an exhibition of paintings/drawings by Tracey Emin under the collective title “I Lay Here For You.” These smaller works were split between the Ballroom and an exhibition space in the Park’s Steadings. I must say I’m not taken with Emin’s painting/drawing skills. The best bit about the Ballroom was the building’s ceiling.
The garden outside the Ballroom was pleasantly planted:-
There’s what looks like a paddling pool in the grounds. It’s not really. There are signs asking you to stay on the black area for a start. The estate’s “Big House” is in the background here:-
We also partook of lunch in the café. The menu was abit pretentious but the food was good.
On the way in you drive past some Charles Jencks landforms called Cells of Life. Below is a stitch from four photos:-
Closer view of Charles Jencks landforms at Jupiter Artland with a red bridge in middle distance:-
In our later stroll through the grounds we came closer to that bridge. It’s named Only Connect and is by Ian Hamilton Findlay:-
The Quarry by Phyllida Barlow. The colours on the columns are a bit faded but reminded me of totem poles:-
The Rose Walk is by Pablo Bronstein:-
One of the installations is Weeping Girls, created by Laura Ford. I didn’t photgraph that one as I found the figures rather creepy.
Signpost to Jupiter. I note the distance is given in USian. (Since a meter is a measuring device not a length the better spelling is kilometres):-
There is a Tracey Emin sculpture titled I Lay Here for You in the grounds.
To give some idea of the location here is a phptgraph of three bridges across the River Forth as seen from Jupiter Artland. The Forth Bridge (right,) The Forth Road Bridge (centre,) The Queensferry Crossing (left.)
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Posted in Curiosities, Scenery at 12:00 on 14 April 2021
Doune Castle (see previous post) is built on a promontory just above the River Teith. The river’s banks are pretty overgrown now so it’s not easy to see the river till you get quite close to it.
It must be fine for fishing though as there was an angler there the day we visited:-
The Teith flows on to join with the River Forth just upstream of Stirling. Curiously, the Teith is the wider river at this point but the merged river is called the Forth.
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Posted in Architecture at 12:00 on 5 January 2021
Castle Campbell lies in the hills above Dollar, Clackmannanshire, at the top of Dollar Glen. We visited it in October 2019.
The road leading up to it is quite narrow and the car park is a shortish walk away from the castle itself.
It wasn’t busy the day we went but it may be more so in summer.
Castle Campbell from path:-
Part of castle (with loggia):-
Information board in courtyard:-
Former Great Hall:-
Castle gable:-
Doorway from courtyard to grounds:-
Castle from grounds below:-
A vaulted ceiling:-
This ceiling has two carvings of faces that look a bit like the Green Man. There are holes at the mouths and it’s thought that lamps probably hung from there:-
Part of roof:-
Information board on the history of the Campbell family:-
View down to Dollar and the valley of the River Forth beyond:-
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Posted in Bridges at 20:00 on 6 December 2018
From River Forth. Part of Forth Bridge to left:-
Forth Road Bridge from below:_
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Posted in Bridges, Trips, Norway Cruise at 20:30 on 4 December 2018
We happened to be going under the new Forth Road Bridge on our way to Norway the day they opened it to foot passengers (for the one and the only time.) Our eldest son and his intended entered the draw and won tickets for that. I don’t think they’re in these photos. (Forth Road Bridge in background in first one.)
Before we set sail, HMS Prince of Wales, the second new Royal Navy aircraft carrier, could be seen from the dock at Rosyth:-
Queensferry Crossing from the River Forth:-
From below:-
Bridge Support from the river:-
East side, from the river, looking south:-
East side, from the river, looking north, Forth Road Bridge to right:-
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Posted in Bridges, History at 12:00 on 6 August 2015
A bridge has spanned the River Forth at Stirling for centuries. Not the same one obviously but the most famous of them was the one where William Wallace won his great victory over the army of Edward I of England (Edward Longshanks) at the eponymous battle in 1297.
The “old” bridge that still survives now carries foot traffic only. It was built 500-600 years ago. It is a lovely structure of four arches and three supports, here shown from the “east” bank.
These are the approaches from the west. Note the cobblestones:-
This is the old bridge from the modern road bridge:-
And this is a view from the “west” bank. The Wallace Monument can be seen as a distant spire beside the lamp standard at the extreme right of the bridge as seen here:-
Two “modern” bridges also cross the Forth close by. This is the railway bridge from the modern road bridge:-
The road bridge is in the foreground here with the railway bridge supports visible through its arches:-
The Wallace Monument from the old bridge:-
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Posted in Fife, War Memorials at 12:00 on 14 January 2013
One of the places we visited last summer was the small village of Culross in the west of Fife (almost as far west as possible in Fife.)
The War Memorial is set in a small memorial garden hard by the car park at the west end of the village almost as close to the river Forth as you can get. The lower names here are for the dead of World War 2. The other names are for World War 1.
The lowest name here is for a soldier who died in Iraq in 2007.
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Posted in Kirkcaldy, Shipping at 12:00 on 4 September 2012
Two more ships and an old favourite.
This is the cruise ship M S Rotterdam heading out of the River Forth last week en route to Invergordon! Apparently 100,000 cruise passengers dock at Invergordon every year, which is somewhat baffling. One of my work colleagues comes from Invergordon (as often as possible.)
This is the Rotterdam in the Netherlands six years ago (photo from Wikipedia.)
Just off Dysart is the rather rakish from of the cargo ship M S Troms Capella. She’s been hanging around for well over a week.
Here’s our old friend Solitaire from the same vantage point above Dysart harbour that I photographed the Troms Capella.
Behind her stern that’s North Berwick Law on the opposite shore.
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Posted in War Memorials at 12:00 on 26 August 2012
A very fine example this. In a great setting on a bluff overlooking the river Forth.
I like the way it has the various theatres of war the fighting took place on its sides. Inscribed on the stone facing us are the names France, Belgium, Russia, Italy, Gallipoli. The metal plaque below commemorates Second World War dead. The south side has the usual “To Our Glorious Dead.”
Here’s the opposite view.
On the stone facing us are the names Salonica, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Africa. (It was a World War for Empire troops.) Again the small metal plaque commemorates Second World War dead. The larger plaque facing north names the dead of the Great War.
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Posted in Architecture, Art Deco, Woolworths at 21:49 on 22 August 2012
I’ve been to Bo’ness (properly Borrowstouness) several times before but it was when the boys were young and we were visiting the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway. I’d never actually been into the town centre before but we were over that way a few weeks ago and took a gander.
It’s chock full of Art Deco buildings! (Well, as chock full as a Scottish town can be.) Today’s post is the minor stuff.
I parked the car in the first car park I came to and this was opposite:-
Amazingly the glazing still looks okay and the green banding in the stonework is a nice touch. Here’s the detailing above the black doorway:-
The far end compared to the first view has a corner but here the windows have been mucked about with. More of the same detailing above both doorways in this shot.
The shop on the ground floor is Corvi’s (Seaview Cafe.) The day we went it had a notice saying it was shut for a holiday. Several weeks’ worth of holiday!
I found this house higher up the town near the Town Hall, which is an imposing building.
This is two houses at least, possibly semis. There’s a door at each end anyway. There may be other doors to the rear, here. There is strong banding in the stonework between the “front” windows. (The true front of the building may well be the other side to this view as that will have great views over the River Forth which you can just glimpse to the left of the house.)
From the next view you can see the windows have been “modernised.” The corner ones may have been rounded once. Could this have been flat-roofed originally?
This next is a building on the east side of town. Almost deco.
Evem more deco from Bo’ness is to come but in passing I noticed a former Woolworths shop whose rear still bore the Woolies sign.
The front says it’s now a Back To Basics Discount Store.
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