At the junction of Whitehill Road and St John's Road at the top of Hollow Lane, is a house that has an absolutely wonderful roof finial in the shape of a dragon. Today being St. George's Day (April 23rd), I thought the dragon finial would tie in nicely with the story of St. George and The Dragon. (http://tinyurl.com/2v6vfa)

As well as being the patron saint of England, St George is also the patron saint of Armenia, Georgia, Greece, Ethiopia, Palestine and Russia. Pretty good going for a man who was born in Lydda - Modern day Lod in Israel (but was Palestine before Israel invaded) and lived in Nicomedia - The once capital of Bithynia (part of Modern day Anatolia in Turkey)

It has been suggested that perhaps England could have an English martyr for its patron saint, such as St Oswald - King of Bernicia (north part of Northumbria) or even a British saint such as St Alban who was martyred at Verulamium (St.Albans) rather than a foreign imported saint. Who knows, but until then, we have St. George.

This photograph is part of the frieze that hangs on the wall of Hitchin Library in Payne's Park, though it originally used to be on the wall of Argos on Brand Street when it was Sainsbury's.

A photograph taken of St Mary's Church on a very foggy night on Friday 11th of December. The diffused light giving it an even more serene look and feel. This was taken from the a corner of St Mary's Square car park that over looks the river Hiz and Portmill Lane.

For a change, I thought I would include a more 'aerial' view of Hitchin by showing it from a much higher level. This was taken from St. Mary's Church bell tower roof looking across the roof tops of properties in churchyard towards Market Place. This is a view most people won't see as they won't go up the bell tower of the church or just never look up at the buildings that surround them.

You can see the old Corn Exchange (now Que Pasa) and to its right, the building that houses Waterstones' bookshop and the snooker hall above it.  Immediately to the right of those is the building that contains Merricks (the sweetshop) and the dentist L. Granhed above that.

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.