Tag Archives: Heritage

Architectural Drawing, Building conservation, Eccleshall Architecture, Uncategorized

It will all come out in the wash

June 28, 2017 ronniecruwys Leave a comment

pen and ink illustration of Eccleshall Staffordshire — *The west side of Stafford Street, Eccleshall, waiting to tell a story.*

Back to Eccleshall for the sixth street in the ongoing series. When I began Drawing the Street, it was with the intention of adding morsels of history to the buildings which I draw. These are personal histories or facts that I record on my archive blog Drawing the Detail which is accessible for anyone researching their ancestors or simply wanting to know a little more of who lived where, what they did or made and so on.

pen and ink drawing of eccleshall — *Black and white under-drawing*

Whilst I was working on this drawing, I noticed on ‘Eccleshall Today‘ that someone had posted about a recent visit to Shrewsbury Prison where he had seen a notice about an execution of an Eccleshall man, William Griffiths, back in July 1923. It appears that William and his mother, Catherine Hughes, lived somewhere on this steet, probably in one of the buildings to the left and given today’s understanding of events, would have probably been sentenced to manslaughter rather than murder. If anyone has any recollections from family or friends about this, I would be interested to hear from you.

egg tempera — Warm ochres for Eccleshall brickwork

Back to the drawing! I always mix up a range of red and yellow ochres and get started with the brickwork once the pen and ink underdrawing is done. I work in thin washes building up the colour so I can get subtle variety in the brickwork.

egg tempera in red and yellow ochre — *Applying thin washes of paint to build up colour*

red and yellow ochres on Eccleshall brickwork — *Warming up the brickwork colours on 14 (right) -22 (left) Stafford Street*

Stafford street Eccleshall — *Street taking shape in colour*

I will close on a small finished section of the drawing featuring No 8, Stafford Street. This is now home to Bowcock and Pursaill, solicitors. I smiled when I looked at the 1871 census as I thought it was appropriate that a launderess named Rebecca Bradbury, once lived here. I am sure she spent her life seeing it all come out in the wash.

Thanks for reading

Ronnie

Architecture, Building conservation, Hitchman Street Conservation Area, Uncategorized

A Stately Stoke Terrace

March 3, 2017 ronniecruwys 2 Comments

Pen and ink drawing of Fenton, artwork by Ronnie Cruwys — *Corner of Hitchman Street and Victoria Road, Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent*

Hitchman Street holds some interesting connections for me. When I first saw this red brick terrace, I was on my way to to deliver a framed print of an Audlem street to Williams of Audlem. Not knowing anything about the terraces in Fenton, I looked them up when I got home.

I was surprised to find that the land that these houses were built on was purchased in 1765 by the architect William Baker of Audlem. William Baker (‘the first’ as there were a few more to follow) bought ‘the estate and manor of Fenton Culvert, together with pottery, for his second son William Baker II’ (extract from Stoke Council’s conservation area appraisal). However, it was some generations later when William Meath Baker, the great grandson of the first William, commissioned these terraces. It’s all explained in the conservation appraisal.

Interwoven Initials W M B

pen and inke drawing of victorian date stone

Terracotta date stone on gable on Victoria Road

William Meath Baker had inherited the Baker Pottery nearby and built these houses (and many others) to provide accommodation on a philanthropic model for the workers associated with the Baker Pottery.

red brick terrace in Fenton Stoke on Trent drawn by artist Ronnie Cruwys — Hitchman Street, Fenton

The Baker Pottery has gone now, but the kilns remain.

victoria-road-baker-kilns-fenton — *Baker Pottery Kilns visible from Victoria Road*

Pen and ink drwing of Victorian terracotta tile rosettes — Another example of the terracotta tiles on the gables.

Looking up these old threads, it never fails to unearth other connections. When I worked as a conservation architect in Stafford, I spent ten years as part of the team looking after the repair and upkeep of the grade 1 listed Chillington Hall, the south wing which was designed by Francis Smith of Warwick in 1724. Francis Smith was the celebrity architect of the Midlands in his day and it turns out that one of Smith’s pupils was the young William Baker of Audlem, learning from the master.

I’d like to think that an appreciation of good design has been passed down the generations. It certainly shows up here in these terraces.

To see the drawings in full as well as a few more tile sketches, please visit www.drawingthestreet.co.uk

Thanks for reading,

Ronnie

Architecture, Uncategorized, Victorian Terracotta Tiles

Tile Anorak

February 17, 2017 ronniecruwys Leave a comment

I’ve been keeping my eyes out for terracotta tiles which jazz up the fronts of late Victorian buildings and have begun to sketch and record them – their patterns and dates if provided. I had a hunch that they might give me a means to map connections with times and places.

Yesterday I was sketching in Islington, first along the Hornsey Road and then along Upper Street when I looked up and saw the very same tiles that I had sketched on a primary school in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Yes, I’ve turned into a tile anorak…

Terracotta tiles on Upper St. Islington

terracotta tiles on Upper St Islington

However, the above sketches are the tiles which I drew from Hassell St School:

Victorian terracotta tiles, Newcastle under Lyme — *Hassell St School, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire*

I’d love to know where these tiles were made. One source could be Blashfield’s

Another could be Gibbs and Canning of Tamworth.

terracotta tiles on vicotian building in newcstle under lyme

Hassell Street School built 1881

246 Upper Street 1885

Either way, the primary school in Newcastle-under-Lyme seems to have been ahead of the ornamental facade game by a few years – go ‘Castle!

Seen any tiles near you? Send me a pic with the location and any other info and I’ll add it to the log.

Thanks for reading and happy Friday wherever you are.

Ronnie

Architecture, Sketching

Terracotta Trail

December 7, 2016 ronniecruwys Leave a comment

Pen and ink stetch of terracotta tile newcastle Staffordshire Cruwys — Terracotta tile, King Street, Newcastle under Lyme

Last summer, I sketched a Victorian building in Newcastle-under-Lyme. This was a fine example with plenty of details , especially the terracotta tiles. Terracotta means ‘fired earth’ -and describes a form of moulded clay masonry of a finer quality than standard bricks.

Terracotta tile, King St, Newcastle under Lyme

Sketching the building as a whole meant losing some of the finer details so I took a bit more time to draw these ornamental terracotta tiles.

A month or so later, I was sketching in London and spotted these tiles on Cross St., Islington.

Cross St Islington.jpg

The following month I noticed more tiles on The Swimmer, the pub around the corner from where our son lives off the Holloway Road.

The Swimmer sketchbook.jpg

The Swimmer sketchbook2.jpg

It was then that I decided to keep a drawn record of all the architectural terracotta tiles that I come across whilst sketching and drawing the street as they form a quiet signature of a time and place. Looking into these tiles a little further, I read that ‘by the 1860s a number of eminent English architects had recognised terracotta’s value for mass-producing ornament and fine masonry by casting from an original, combining new technology with traditional craftsmanship’. Read more about this here

I thought I would make a start by sharing these sketched examples. The sketch below was a postcard original of the Swimmer tiles for a recent fund raiser for Shape Arts

the-swimmer-islington

Finally, I will sign off with this one sketched today – a collage of tiles from a local school – Hassell Primary, Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Hassell School tile 4.jpg

Thanks for reading,

Ronnie

Pen and ink drawing, Uncategorized

Pegging out Holloway Road

November 30, 2016 ronniecruwys 1 Comment

pen and ink urban sketch of Holloway Road — Pegging out the Holloway Road

Thought I would share a few pics of the couple of days spent sketching another stretch of the Holloway Road. This time I brought along a length of cartridge paper which I had prepared at home with a wash of gum arabic and French and English Ochre pigments, to give the paper a bit of warmth.

Note the colourful tote bag by the French American artist Gwenn Seemel – I admire her outlook on copyright as well as her colourful artwork.

preparing per fro sketching — *Adding a wash of ochres and gum arabic to cartridge paper*

pen and ink and water colour on holloway road — *Sketching out the buildings opposite Cowling and Wilcox*

I’d packed half a dozen clothes pegs to clip the paper to a folder which seemed to work quite well. Even though it’s non-stop busy along this road, several people stopped to pass the time of day with me and thanks to Sean for taking this photo and sending it to me.

Ronnie Cruwys Urban Sketching Holloway road — *Photo thanks to @seanazzillustration*

5-holloway-road-ronnie-cruwys — Pegs and toes keeping the paper curl held down

Holloway road — *Have to be quick to sketch between the traffic.*

new drawing of Hollway road on water colour paper — *Back home and on to the formal drawing.*

holloway-road-wip — *preparing for the lettering*

lettering-on-holloway-road — *Adding the lettering*

81-to-129-holloway-rd-crop-b — *Section of the final drawing – Denmark Place build 1863, the same year that work on the London underground began.*

The drawing is now complete, scanned and can be seen in full on my website. Limited edition prints are now available to buy.

Thanks for reading

Ronnie

Architectural Drawing, Eccleshall Architecture

Happy Birth Year Mr Renshaw!

August 25, 2016 ronniecruwys 4 Comments

pen ink and natural pigment wash on cartridge paper — Cottages on Stone Road Eccleshall, Staffordshire

Not long ago I received an email from Mr Tom Renshaw who used to live at no 9 Stone Road Eccleshall. Tom had received a birthday card from his daughter which showed the cottages closer to the town centre which I drew a couple of years ago.

2crop Stone Rd Eccleshall Ronnie Cruwys

Tom gave some insights into the earlier life of some of the buildings – the wooden fronted building used to be a corn merchant, ‘F.Gardner’ and the building next to it a bakery, ‘where we would buy bread fresh from the oven and eat it without butter or anything else’.

Stone Rd Eccleshall Ronnie Cruwys.jpg

When you reach 82, why not celebrate the whole year? It allows me time to wish you a very happy belated birthday Tom and to sign off with a close up of your former home.

Stone Rd 7 to 13.jpg

drawing out the best in our streets