Yesterday @katharsisdrill posted about some of his local architecture that features a lot of red bricks. I thought I'd do a similar post about Arlesey, where I live. These pictures were taken on my walk home from the station. There a couple of things Arlesey is known for. One is the Arlesey Bomb fishing weight and the other is Arlesey White bricks made from the local clay. There used to be a brickworks here that was a major local employer, but it's all shut down now. The clay pits are now a lake and a landfill.
This is a typical terrace in Arlesey whites. There are several like this along the High Street. They often have a plaque saying when they were built. This one is not clear, but I think they are from the start of the last century.
The old school across the road also uses these bricks. Both use some red bricks for details. The school is now occupied by a piano repair man who comes to the pub music sessions. He's a better gardener than me.
Next to the school is The White Horse, where we play music. This is one of the older buildings in the town and has a large thatch roof. I say it's a town, but it feels like a long village as there is no big centre to it. There's the lower school, library, village hall and council office in the centre, but there are just a few isolated shops.
Across the road from The White Horse is a former pub that is now a house. I can remember there being at least nine pubs here, but now there are just four. Some are houses, one a nursery and another an indian restaurant. I think the white building further up was a blacksmiths many years ago.
The oldest building by far is Saint Peter's church that dates back to the 12th century. The part of the left is the oldest.
Next to the church is this old half-timbered building. The solar panels are a recent addition.
The old dairy is a mix of red brick and render. It's had a lot of interior work done recently. I've never been in most of these buildings.
More recent are these flats. I would think they were built in the 60s or 70s. There's quite a lot of housing here that was obviously built for the less well off workers at the brickworks and the asylum.
This bungalow looks fairly new, but it's a renovated 'pre-fab' that may have been built just after the way from a kit of concrete walls.
There are whole streets of council houses like these. They were owned by the local authority and rented to those who struggled to buy a house. Some are still owned by housing associations, but many tenants got the chance to buy them at a good price and you can see that many have been extended by the new owners.
More flats that include some of the few three-storey homes here. There are some much newer houses scattered around here and there's a plan for a further 900 in the next few years that will extend the area of the town. We knew this was coming. We're in commuting distance to London, so there's plenty of demand for housing.
I'm assuming these bungalows were built for retired people who don't want stairs. They have a little sitting area by the front door. There's some sheltered housing around here where they get regular visits.
Finally another terrace in Arlesey whites. This is Cooperative Terrace that hint at its origins. For some reason most of these do not have a letterbox in what you would assume is the front door, so the postman has to go around the back.
I haven't featured the new houses around here this time, but I may do those another day. You can see we have a mix of homes here. We've lived here over 20 years and seen a lot of changes.
I was trying to think of a tag for posts like this. How about #LocalHomes ? Even in the UK you can see a lot of variety around the country and I'm interested to see where you live.
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What a great old church! I bet it has a ton of stories to tell if it could. There are a couple of bars near where I live that are called either the White Horse or the Red Horse. I think it is funny that those names seem to carry across the miles and ages. Very cool pictures and a very interesting write up of the architecture around your town. It's nice to see that at least for now it has maintained some of its character despite the proximity to London and the likelihood of commuters moving in.
It's not the prettiest village, but there's some interesting history. There are other villages around here that are very picturesque with lots of thatched cottages, but properties there can be very expensive. We have good transport links here, so it's easy to get to London or elsewhere
It's not always the prettiest things that have the best stories. :) I can imagine the aesthetics of the other places would probably drive the price up. I have a half hour commute to work each day, but it is because of where I live, not because of traffic. I'd go mad if I had a commute like some people do. Easy in and easy out is always preferable!
Interesting selection of buildings @steevc.
There's no way you'd be allowed to put solar panels on a building like that around here.
Your "white" bricks look very similar to a lot of the ones locally which are yellow. 😊
I'm not sure if that building is listed, but a few others around here are. A lot of the council houses have panels too, which I assume means they are still owned by a housing association who has invested in them.
If it was listed I wouldn't have thought they would have allowed panels on the roof @steevc. They're very picky! 😊
But it does look like the sort of building that would be listed.
I LOVE brick houses. There are few on the West coast of the US, due to earthquake hazard. But they are SO gorgeous. I grew up in the Midwest, where they were popular, and miss the variation. Though your variation is MASSIVE, compared to ours. I think some of your bushes are older than our buildings. Particularly in the west.
Hope you do put out more posts on houses. It is very interesting seeing the changes over time, and material use. The old stone is such a waning art form. I guess economics dictates that more than anything. A reality of our world, unfortunately. Thanks for showing a corner of your world of living.
Is render a plaster over brick ? Not familiar with that one.
I think the majority of houses in England are built of bricks, but a lot of newer houses have a timber frame. Stone is use in some areas where it's available.
There are more interesting buildings around here I could feature.
That is a nice piece of Arlesey history - the bricks I mean. Given that they are not being made anymore makes them of some historical value and perhaps even some monetary value as well.
Yes well said but in some countries this architecture still used
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Very nice photos red brick architecture is very beautiful
Which place it is????
Did you read it?
Only few lines on the top but it mention only Arlesey not country name or name that world know
It's in England, but then I linked to the Wikipedia page that tells you more. A quick search would confirm that as I believe it's a unique name.