Amlwch Port, Anglesey.

Amlwch Port is normally one of the quieter parts of Anglesey. However, on my recent visit, it was packed. It was a bank holiday weekend though and in general, the island was packed.

Sadly, the heritage centre and cafe was closed due to COVID. There are lots of walks around the port and along the coast with some interesting things to see along the way.

Some of the earliest records of ship movements from Amlwch are recorded in the Beaumaris Port account book for 1730. In the 18th & 19th century the port was used to transport copper from Parys mountain, which was the largest copper mine in the world.

I highly recommend the Port Chippy should you fancy some fish and chips.

Fishing boats in the harbour.

I could not find what this was, if you know please leave me a comment.

‘Melin Y Borth’. The Amlwch Port Windmill.

It is claimed that, when the windmill was built in 1816, it was the tallest on the island.

Creepy old house.

I would be interested to know more about this house should anyone know. I have been visiting Anglesey for a number of years and I could not remember if this has always been derelict. Behind the wooden covers on the windows there is no glass and there is an outhouse in the back with some old rubbish in that looks like it has been there for some time. The house is in an incredible location overlooking the coast.

The old Octel Bromine Works

The Octel Bromine Works closed in 2004. The works was in operation for 50 years and produced bromine derived chemicals from sea water.

Bromine is used in agricultural chemicals, dyestuffs, insecticides, pharmaceuticals and chemical intermediates. However, from what I have read, some uses are being phased out for environmental reasons.

Lime Kiln.

Sheffield General Cemetery

October 31st 2020.

https://www.gencem.org/

Halloween is one of my favourite times of year. However, Halloween 2020 was a little different. I did not decorate this year as I did not want to encourage trick or treaters. I still wanted to do something for Halloween so I decided to take a walk to Sheffield General Cemetery. A little odd? Maybe, but the cemetery is actually a Grade II listed park, Conservation Area, Local Nature Reserve and Area of Natural History Interest..

The cemetery opened 1836 and was the principal burial ground in Victorian Sheffield containing the graves of 87,000 people. It was one of the earliest commercial cemeteries in Britain. Today, it contains the largest collection of listed buildings and monuments in Sheffield, ten in total including Grade II listed catacombs, an Anglican Chapel, with the Gatehouse, Non-conformist Chapel and the Egyptian Gateway, each listed at Grade II*.

The Cemetery was closed for burial in the late 1970s. Sheffield City Council removed many of the gravestones in the Anglican area to create more green space near to the city centre. The remains of those buried were not disturbed.

Cemetery residents include:

• George Bassett (1818–1886). Founder of The Bassett Company—the company that invented Liquorice Allsorts. Mayor of Sheffield (1876).

• George Bennett (1774–1841). Founder of the Sheffield Sunday School movement. The memorial to him (c.1850) is Grade II listed.

• John, Thomas, and Skelton Cole. Founders of Sheffield’s Cole Brothers department store in 1847—now part of the John Lewis Partnership.

• Francis Dickinson (1830–1898). One of the soldiers who fought in the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean war.

• William Dronfield (1824–1891). Founder of the United Kingdom Alliance of Organised Trades, which inspired the creation of the Trades Union Congress.

• Mark Firth (25 April 1819–28 November 1880). Steel manufacturer, Master Cutler (1867), Mayor of Sheffield (1874), and founder of Firth College in 1870 (later University of Sheffield). The monument to Mark Firth is Grade II listed, the railings that surround it were made at Firth’s Norfolk Works.

• William Flockton, architect.

• John Gunson (1809–1886). Chief engineer of the Sheffield Water Company at the time of the collapse of Dale Dyke Dam on 11 March 1864, which resulted in the Great Sheffield Flood. Samuel Harrison, who documented the flood, and 77 of the flood’s victims are also buried in the cemetery.

• Samuel Holberry (1816–1842). A leading figure in the Chartist movement.

• Isaac Ironside (1808–1870). Chartist and local politician.

• James Montgomery (1771–1854). Poet/Publisher. The grave and Grade II listed monument to James Montgomery, were moved to the grounds of Sheffield Cathedral in 1971.

• James Nicholson (died 1909). Prominent Sheffield industrialist. The memorial that he commissioned for himself and his family c.1872 is Grade II listed.

• William Parker, merchant. The monument to William Parker, erected in 1837 by the merchants and manufacturers of Sheffield, is Grade II listed.

• William Prest (died 1885). Cricketer and footballer born in York, who lived most of his life in Sheffield. Co-founder of Sheffield Football club.

(source Wikipedia)

Quick Stop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

The main reason that I visited the MET whist I was in New York was to look for a staircase that was once located inside Scarsdale Hall in Derbyshire.  I think I covered just about all of the museum but unfortunately, I could not seem to find the staircase anywhere. 

The MET is gigantic and you need at least a day to look around the museum and if you want to read everything, probably a week.  The museum is so big they have the whole facade of a building located in the American Wing, in the The Charles Engelhard Court (picture below). 

I only took photographs on my phone so the quality is not great. There is also a short video at the end of the open storage, which I thought was a great idea as most museums do not let the public access their storage. 

The MET first opened on February 20, 1872, at 681 Fifth Avenue.  In 1871, the museum was granted land between the East Park Drive, Fifth Avenue, and the 79th and 85th Street in Central Park, which is where it resides today. The building has over 2,000,000 square feet of floor space and is 20 times the size of the original building.

Just a few things to note before you go. I got there at about 9.50 am, the museum opens at 10 am and there was a queue of people already waiting for the museum to open. Once the doors open, the queues went down pretty quickly. There are machines inside the main entrance where you can buy tickets, or you can buy them in advance online.  

A visitor admiring the facade of the Branch Bank of the United States (details below).

Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), Jackson Pollock (American, Cody, Wyoming 1912–1956 East Hampton, New York).

From Williamsburg Bridge , Edward Hopper (American, Nyack, New York 1882–1967 New York).

Merced River, Yosemite Valley, 1866, Albert Bierstadt (American, Solingen 1830–1902 New York).

I was especially interested in the whole rooms that the MET had on display. Unfortunately, only one of the pictures came out on my phone.

Boiserie from the Hôtel de Cabris, Grasse.

Thanks for reading.

LuminoCity Light Festival, New York.

LuminoCity Festival is a festival of lights, held on Randalls Island, New York. The festival is a spectacular display of light art.  I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere like this, it was definitely an unusual experience and I highly recommend it.  Just a few things to note before you go.  Book tickets in advance on the website https://www.luminocityfestival.com/ , ticket prices vary.  There is a shuttle bus that departs and returns from Manhattan, E 125th and 3rd Ave, but you can also get the M35 bus.  However, if it is late at night, I would recommend the shuttle if you cannot take your own car.  I would advise buying tickets beforehand, but we got a return ticket on the day as we did not feel comfortable getting the public bus late at night. There is parking available on the island, but it is $20 per car, OUCH! 

This year (2019), the festival ran from November 23rd and is on until Jan 5th 2020.  Entry is 4:00pm-11:00pm on selected days. Below are a few images that I took, along with a video.