Martlet done

Project #080, a Grumman Martlet, has been completed.The end result isn't too bad though i did mess up the building a bit. It was supposed to have it's undercarriage down but oh well, it can join my small sub-fleet with wheels up. This doesn't finish the 2017 model building season as the railbus Project #076 is still waiting for the right paint so that can be completed. I need to get that sorted out...

Shenstone

A much more modest rail adventure this week, just up the Cross City Line to Shenstone near Lichfield. This crosses off another station from the list of course and also i had a look at the rather interesting church that overlooks the village. As well as the rather nice church itself there is an isolated ruined bell tower 100m away, i believe this was the original much older church on the site. You can see my photos here.

Passing through Huyton

A Northern DMU passes through Huyton on the edge of Liverpool.

Churches (13) : St. John the Baptist, Henley-in-Arden

The church of St. John the Baptist in Henley-in-Arden was built in the mid-1400s replacing an earlier church built just over one hundred years previously. The church is located next to the High Street and the Guildhall and indeed is connected to the latter [1]. The church is largely the same as built on the exterior though the interior has seen a number of changes and updates especially in recent times.

The church is in the English Gothic perpendicular style. The style being dominated by straight vertical lines and having a "single defining motif, applied with an unerring visual logic" [2].

[1] Nikolas Pevsner & Alexandra Wedgewood, The Building of England: Warwickshire (Penguin, 1966) p. 309
[2] John Cannon, Medieval Church Architecture (Shire, 2017) p. 61

Stroudwater Navigation

The Stroudwater Navigation linked Stroud to the Severn estuary and joined the Thames and Severn Canal thus allowing a link between the two great rivers.

The canal was abandoned in 1954 though has been in the process of restoration in recent years, not all the canal is navigable with work ongoing in a number of areas along the stretch between Stonehouse and Stroud which i walked. You can see my photos here.