Walking along the far end of Grove Road up towards the crossroads, one could see some graffiti (sadly now painted over again) done by a local artist.  It might not have been be to everyone's taste but it livened up a dark and dank walk along the River Hiz under the rail bridge with colour and style. There have been other more complex pieces previously, but hopefully some new ones will be done again soon.

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.

The iconic view of Hitchin is of this one above; The great eastern window of the chancel of the Church of St. Mary's built in c1450. When the High Altar was moved against the wall of the chancel in the 19th century, 4 feet of the great eastern window was lost. Imagine just how much more impressive this perpendicular style stainded glass window would have been with that extra length added!

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.

There has appeared in Bancroft Gardens, on Bancroft, (opposite the Victoria Pub) a tree that has had pieces of paper tied to it. They are covered in a chinese script. They look pretty, but I have no idea who put them there and why? Are they for the Chinese New Year? Are they for good luck?

Looking around Hitchin from the top of the church tower, one can just how much greenery there is in the town. This particlular shot is looking south across the churchyard, over Churchgate, past The Sun Hotel, past Bridge Street and on to Priory Park in Hitchin Hill; Also encompassing a few buildings on Queen Street too.

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.