Continuing the church theme this month, is the central part of the frieze behind the altar in the central nave of St. Mary’s Church.  More of this frieze will be posted at a later date; as will the beautiful stained glass windows in the southern aisle and chapel

St Mary’s Church in Hitchin is full of little gems such as this angel. I’m not sure if it’s an original or a Victorian reproduction. If it is an original, then I’m surprised it survived the iconoclasts’ destruction; But as Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews pointed out, they only pulled down statues of saints that people prayed to and not angels to which people didn’t pray.

Just for a change, I thought to upload a photograph of the back of a building. (not normally seen and photographed all the less). This was called the National Westminster House and is on Hermitage Road. It used to contain The Yorkshire Bank amongst other businesses such as The Motor Agents Association. I find this side of the building rather more interesting than the front just by the fact of having a set of stairs tacked on to its outside rather than being incorporated inside the building.

Hitchin Race Circuit is a photo-realistic 3D model of the town centre and some of the other streets that can be played as a computer racing game. (Like Formula 1 racing at Monaco, Silverstone etc)  Download it and race against friends or against others online. It’s absolute fun to play a computer game and see Hitchin also. Some buildings are now gone and others have changed hands, so added local history too.  Find it here http://www.hitchin-circuit.co.uk/ and enjoy.

Just for a change, a a different view of the wonderful Sun Hotel (Also previously known as the Sun Inn) on Sun Street.  Sun Street used to be called Angel Street due to the fact that the Angel Inn formerly stood on it. (This collapsed in 1957)

On the 10th of May 2008, a book about the archaeology of Hitchin is being released and there will be a launch on the lawn in front of the Hitchin Museum at 12.00pm (courtesy of The Hitchin Historical Society). It’s a ‘must have’ book about Hitchin and is somewhat of a ‘bodice ripper’ when it comes to archaeology. The authors will be signing copies of the book (they don’t bite) beforehand and will be giving a brief talk about it.

A welcome to Sainsbury’s Hitchin sign just off Winbush Road at the back entrance to Sainsbury’s shop used to have some little bits of graffiti on it.  Shame that the top and bottom of the template that the person used spoiled the left figure by overspraying it, but at least it’s different from the usual ’spray your name’ tag lines that graffiti sprayers usually do. This no longer exists as it was washed off. At least I managed to photograph and catalogue this bit of Hitcin’s social history before it disappeared and was forgotten.

I took this photograph one day on the way to work early in the morning. It’s as if the church were overlooking and protecting the Warner’s Alms Houses and the market. The usual view is usually taken from wonderful The Triangle Cafe across to the War Memorial and the church’s porch and tower. (A pretty view but it makes the church seem isolated and to do with death rather than with living and life) This was taken from Biggin Lane by The Biggin, through the market across to the church. It was strange to see no one in the market or teenagers hanging around, drinking alcohol as usual. A nice gentle, serene start to the day.

Not so long ago when walking along Hollow Lane towards Queen Street, I came across what looked like the ghost of a leaf. What had really happened was that the leaf fell and lay on the pavement leaching out its tannins into the concrete, so that when the wind blew the old shell of the leaf away, all that was left was the stain where it had lain. Cue song…’Echo Leaf, far away in time’……