Horsham

Horsham

Having spent so much time in towns and cities abroad and showing the on the blog, I wondered how a post on a West Sussex town might look like.

A view looking down the pedestrianised high street, named West Street.

 Several of the shops have plaques set into the pavement outside their fronts doors such as these two examples.

 Part of the weekly market where traders set up their stalls. To the left is the site of the former Shelley Fountain, named after the famous poet who lived nearby.

 Behind teh fountain is a quiet area with trees, a babbling brook and some seats.

 There are many old buildings in the town centre such as this former merchants house and warehouse. A view of the cornice and the arm of a crane used to lift goods from the wagon to the first floor.

 The bandstand in the Carfax, the old centre of the town.

 The stocks and to teh right, the whipping post.

 A new develoment, built on the site of  nineteenth century church. The spire was funded by a local wealthy family in memory of their daughter and the ground it stood on had a covenant so whilst they could demolish the church, they had to leave the spire and they built the offices around the spire.

 A drinking fountain for humans, and just ten metres away...

 ...a drinking trough for animals, funded by The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association as per the inscription, now used as a flower box.

 The council offices, in a former stately home on one side of the central park.

 The duck pond in the park.

 The Old Town Hall, formerly offices, then the offices of the Regitrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages and now a restarant.

 The Anchor Hotel, a Victorian building and called the anchor despite being some way from the sea, with some fine architectural features now used as a bar.

 An art deco building currently being converted to a restaurant.

 Another old building dating from 1500 with the typical Horsham stone roof, large flat slabs of sandstone used instead of tiles.

 One of several alleys in the town.

 On old post box and lamp above it at the entrance to an alley.

 The Horsham Museum in the Causeway.

 A view down the Causeway with its wealth of a variety of styles of old buildings.

 An alley off the CAuseway.

 Another couple of buildings in the Causeway with yet more styles of architecture.

 St MAry's, the town church.

 A detail of the spire.

 A Victorian post box set into a wall.

Sevastopol

Malakov Kurgan, Sevastopol

The was a key position in the defence of the city as it has such a commanding position high above the city. It is now a memorial park and entrance is through a white arch, created in 1905 to commemorate the start of the siege of Sevastopol in 1855, its 50th anniversary.

It was also a key position in the great Patriotic War 1941 - 45 and this is the memorial to the 8th Air Army.

A memorial to the French and Russian Warriors of 1855.

 There were two guns, taken from one of the sunken ships in the harbour to bolster the defences. The ship had been hit but had settled on the seaside but its upper structure was out of water. This was Gun No 2...

 ...and just thirty metres away, Gun No 1 known as Lieutenant Commander A P Matyukhin Battery...

 ...and his command post between and a little forward of the two guns.

This is the memorial to Vice Admiral V A Kornikov who led the defences of Sevastopol until he was killed early on in the siege and replaced with Admiral  P S Nakhimova

 Some mid 19th century artillery pieces...

...and a mock up of what an emplacement would have looked like.

 The squat defensive tower at the top of the hill. It is a reproduction built in 1960's as the original was damaged during the fighting and was not strong enough to survive the modern armour of the Nazi's. The English attacked and fought here from January to August when a French attack was finally successful. Admiral P S Nakhimova was killed by a sniper just to the left of the building and within weeks the city had fallen.

More gun emplacements.

The view overlooking the hills where the Battle of Inkerman was fought.

The view across the city from the top of the hill with the Konstantinovaskaya Battery at the entrance to the harbour in the centre of the photo.

Every large station has its large Lend Lease locomotive on display...

 ...but only Sevatopol can also boast that it has it own artillery piece mounted on a wagon outside the station as well.

Inkerman

Inkerman, near Sevastopol in Crimea

Another battle site dating from the Crimea War but first it was a visit to the St Celments Monastery, partially built into the limestone cliffs. The modern main building.

 A small chapel and entrance to the caves above.

 A view from the bottom of the cliffs to the shapes dug into the cliffs above.

 Another view of the balconies built out from the caves.

 A view of the entrance to the caves to the left and note the nearness of the railway to the right behind the fence.

 Inside one of the many chapels built into the cliff.

 And another chapel.

 A view across the bay to the hills where the Battle of Inkerman was fought during the siege of Sevastopol, up the valley to the left of the transmitters on top of the hill.

 A general view of the monastery of St Clements to the left with the medieval fortress above it and the railway skirting the base.  It was typical of the Bolsheviks to disregard the sensitivities of the old religion and do their best to disrupt it. They could have built the railway a little further down the slope but it was a purposeful positioning of the railway to disrupt services. Just to the right out of shot are a steel fabrication works, a stone cutting factory associated with the quarry and a cement plant, not to mention the quarry operating just to the left behind the monastery and the medieval fortress.

 A detail of the vast area protected by the gatehouse of the medieval fortress.

 A view from the medieval gatehouse along the valley looking inland along the cliff face and the railway seen at the base.

 The gatehouse to the fortress to the left and the quarry to the right.

 Another view of the quarry workings.

 As I was waiting of the bus back to Sevastopol. I took this picture of a tree with seemingly more bunches of mistletoe, the dark green growths than leaves.

 And I always like to check out the local market...

 ...and a large range of colourful fruit and vegetables on offer.