Public buildings

Interesting or historic public buildings in Britain, including bridges and other structures built for public use or benefit.

Tower Bridge, up close and personal

Tower Bridge

We all do it.  We’re busy, things around us blend into the background. And so, for all the years I spent living and working in and around London, I had never visited Tower Bridge, one of our capital’s most iconic images, until recently.  Oh, I have driven over it many times, walked across it, watched […]

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Kirkby Lonsdale’s Devil’s Bridge – and the bikers who live there

Bikers, Devil's Bridge, Kirkby Lonsdale

There are several reasons why you may want to visit Kirkby Lonsdale. Not least, because it’s a fine old Cumbrian market town, with a lovely church, St Mary’s, and, beyond that, Ruskin’s View – a panorama allegedly described by the Victorian polymath, without a trace of hyperbole, as “One of the loveliest views in England,

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Atlantic Bridge

Atlantic Bridge, Bridge over the Atlantic, Clachan Bridge, Seil, Argyll

This is the Bridge over the Atlantic, also known as the Atlantic Bridge; I daresay someone’s referred to it as Atlantic Crossing too. You’ll find it in Argyll, Scotland, about 10 miles south of Oban. Atlantic Bridge’s real name is Clachan Bridge and it joins the Hebridean island of Seil with the mainland, spanning a

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Manchester’s John Rylands Library

The John Rylands Library, Manchester

It’s funny how things turn out.  John Rylands was born in St Helens, Lancashire, in 1801 and helped to create what was at one time the biggest textile company in the UK.  At its peak, John Rylands & Sons employed 15,000 people, mainly across North West England in and around Wigan, Bolton and Manchester, in

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Tyne Bridge

A business trip to Newcastle upon Tyne reminded me what an imposing, and quite beautiful, structure the Tyne Bridge is.  Designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson and partly modelled on the Sydney Harbour Bridge (aka ‘the coat hanger’), it is instantly recognisable all over the world.  Construction began in 1925 and the bridge was opened

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