White roses

click photo to enlarge
I was raised in the white rose county of Yorkshire but, because I was born in Westmorland, I've never considered myself a true Yorkshireman. Our boys are Yorkshire-born, as my wife, but I still see myself as a son of Westmorland, an ancient county that in 1974 was carelessly and unthinkingly parcelled up with Cumberland and part of Lancashire into the newly formed county of Cumbria. However, when I was growing up I seem to have absorbed some of the characteristics of Yorkshire being both stubborn and argumentative, proud of the area in which I lived and showing a certain disdain for the neighbouring red rose county of Lancashire.

The Wars of the Roses on which the Yorkshire/Lancashire rivalry is based was something that was impressed on us children, and I was fascinated by the way that, after much bloodshed, the two roses symbolic of the two counties were combined to form the Tudor rose. That union did not, however, end the rivalry between the counties. For example, during every childhood summer I took note of the outcome of the regular cricket matches between Yorkshire and Lancashire, always rooting for my adoptive county. But then, after thirty odd years living in Yorkshire I lived for twenty years in Lancashire. That put an end to any vestigial disdain for Lancastrians because in living among them I found them to be friendly people with an equally fine and interesting county of which they are justifiably proud.

I was thinking about my childhood affection for the white rose the other day when, with a visiting friend, we went to a few of the local church flower festivals. One particular display featured a variety of white flowers against a black background and I selected part of it for this shot of a group of white roses. The lighting in the church was such that it only needed a bit of underexposure and some "burning" during the post processing for me to make the blooms "float" against the black card the arrangers had used to show off the flowers.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Sony RX100
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 10.4mm (28mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO: 640
Exposure Compensation:  -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Shodfriars Hall, Boston

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The Dominican Order of nuns and friars was founded in the early 1200s in France by St Dominic. It quickly crossed the Channel to England, becoming established in Oxford in 1221 and spread widely into many of the major towns thereafter. Here they became known as the Blackfriars after the black cloak that was worn over a white habit, and to distinguish members from the Whitefriars (often the Carmelites) and the Greyfriars (e.g. the Franciscans). However, they were also referred to as the Preaching Friars because both preaching and conversion were strong features of their work. A further name for the Blackfriars, much used in England, a country that specialises in conferring humorous names on the mighty, was the Shodfriars. This name arose because they used footwear, unlike the Greyfriars for example, and so they were always shod.

It is the latter name for the Dominicans that attaches to Shodfriars Hall, the black and white, timber-framed building of c.1400, in Boston, Lincolnshire. It was one of a group of buildings in a part of the town associated with the Blackfriars. Interestingly, the Hall itself may have been built as "The Golden Hows", "the principal mansion of the guilds". For many years the building was thought to be Victorian, so thorough was the restoration by John Oldrid Scott in 1874. However, even a cursory inspection reveals large parts of the exterior and interior structure to be original. It seems that people didn't look beyond the pierced barge boards, symmetrical timber-work, simplified pargeting and obviously new timbers, all of which recall Victorian Tudor of the sort that can be seen across the country, but particularly in Chester. Incidentally, the Gothic-style Victorian building with the crow-step gables, tall chimneys and steeply pitched roof behind and adjoining Shodfriars Hall is a former theatre. For those who are interested in such things it is where Arthur Towle (later famous as Old Mother Riley) made his first stage appearance.

On a recent trip into Boston I had meant to photograph the main facade. However, parked vehicles prevented that so I took a detail shot of the pargeted plasterwork with its Tudor roses and surrounding dark wood. Later I managed to get today's main shot from the tall tower of the church of St Botolph (The Stump) at the other end of the market place.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo 1
Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 161mm macro
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/400 sec
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.67 EV
Image Stabilisation: On