Jim Hellyer
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jshellyer.bsky.social
Jim Hellyer
@jshellyer.bsky.social
all photos my own…
Thats lovely - are those traces of paint? Is Mapledurham the church with the aisle that’s off-limits? Or am I confusing it with another?

think all fonts & stoops deserve a hug every now & then

Kilpeck takes the job into its own hands
January 31, 2026 at 2:40 PM
And what on earth is going on with this 12th century(?) font at Kenchester, Herefordshire?

Looks like it’s been on a diet

Possibly a reused Roman column. the village lies right next to the site of Magnis, which was a walled Roman town

well that’s what Francis Bond posits anyway
January 31, 2026 at 8:59 AM
This bottom bit at Woolstaston, I think
January 31, 2026 at 8:39 AM
Roman column bases being turned upside-down and used as fonts?

Wroxeter & Shrewsbury abbey
January 31, 2026 at 8:37 AM
I’ve rarely seen anything like it - although something similar is going on with the font stem at Longdon, Staffs.
January 31, 2026 at 8:35 AM
Only tangentially related, but I was in the National Liberal Club recently & saw this glass (which I’ll never port otherwise)
January 31, 2026 at 8:30 AM
Reposted by Jim Hellyer
112 Princes St in Edinburgh became the Scottish Conservative Club in 1884. Above the timber staircase was set this stained glass honouring Benjamin Disraeli by James Ballantyne & Co. Sorry the staircase is not visible in the photo!
January 30, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Wonderful! duly reposted/retweeted
January 31, 2026 at 8:24 AM
sorry, I was talking about the cinema. My mistake!

But yes, I’d been to Worcester many times before I found this. Hidden in plain sight - right in the centre (not always open though. I popped in after a service)
January 30, 2026 at 8:15 PM
Ah yes - visited St Francis back in 2022

Completely agree - similarities inside very clear too
January 30, 2026 at 8:10 PM
Was a furniture shop when I visited. Some people calling for it to revert back to a cinema. Would be splendid if it did. I’d go!
January 30, 2026 at 8:01 PM
Also I got really annoyed by this at Hillmorton (Rugby) the other day

Put it somewhere, anywhere else. Just not there. On that
January 30, 2026 at 7:52 PM
Sutton Coldfield was surprisingly (& admirably) orderly

Burnage however

Well, may I present to you… that high-up out of view Lady Chapel
January 30, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Curzon Cinema in Mayfair with its fibreglass murals by William Mitchell (installed 1966)
January 30, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Northwick Cinema, in the suburbs of Worcester. Opened November 1938

The work of interior designer John Alexander

Think it was up for sale in 2024. Not sure what it is now?
January 30, 2026 at 1:02 PM
Nairn famously said “miss the Tower of London if you have to, but don't miss this”

I took a tour with the late (& great) Elain Harwood in 2018. Really must go back
January 30, 2026 at 11:56 AM
And what a staircase it is! Superb details
January 30, 2026 at 11:10 AM
1901 dated Gerald Moira designed stained glass on the staircase of Lloyd's Register of Shipping building in London. Ireland, Scotland, England & Wales all represented by their emblems
January 30, 2026 at 10:54 AM
oh that’s interesting - their glass can be a real highlight for me.

Does depend though.

If I see “glass of 1889 by Heaton, Butler & Bayne” in Pevsner I am *not* getting excited. If the date is shifted to, say, the early 1860s however, I very much am!

(Glass from St Mary, Abbeycwmhir)
January 30, 2026 at 10:18 AM
Contemporary glass fragment too (repaired), but who is the Bishop?
January 30, 2026 at 10:09 AM
Early 16th rood loft stairs at Llanwnog, Powys

(ok the focus is the stairs here, but who can resist ‘em…)
January 30, 2026 at 10:05 AM
Oh I love that building. I don’t recall the glass at all (last visited 2006 or something) so will look forward to it. I just posted close ups of the HBB at Rochdale, which gets better every time I look at it
January 30, 2026 at 9:45 AM