Friday 8 April 2011

Of chimney pots and marker posts


Aren't these old chimney pots gorgeous; full of character? (Even with the more modern caps sticking through them.) I wonder if there is a reason for the crowned top or whether it was just designed to be decorative. I think these are queen crowns, rather than the bigger king crowns.

This moss covered stone is a telephone cable marker; probably pinpointing the position of a junction of cables. The letters G.P.O. indicate the General Post Office; the forerunner of British Telecom (back in the days before the mail and telephones were separated into different companies and the Post Office Tower in London became the Telecom Tower).


It's certainly looks to have been a while since this particular junction unwent repair work and I have no idea what the little envelope shaped slot is for; unless there was once a metal plate providing more information (depth of cable, number of cables in junction etc).

5 comments:

  1. Anything covered in moss becomes a work of art :)
    And I love those aged chimney pots! Methinks one would look great standing in my garden ;)

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  2. Your chimney pot picture makes me think of Beatrix Potter's Tale of Tom Kitten. :-) And they do look like crowns!!

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  3. I suppose you did the safety thing with ropes and clampons to get up on the roof for these nice close-ups of the chimney-pots?

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  4. Lovely bits of architectural ephemera. There are no chimney pots over here, but we have milestones on older roads. One has to search for them.

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  5. I love chimney pots and roof tops and mossy stone walls. I just love roofscapes in town and country - always so fascinating:)

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