#OnePlaceLandmarks – the stories so far

The last week of January has begun, and I think it’s a good time to have a look at how people have been responding to the first of our new one-place study blogging and social media prompts, #OnePlaceLandmarks. This post features the efforts of our bloggers, set out in alphabetical order of place name. That means we begin with a bang, thanks to Richard Ewing’s contribution and the YouTube video embedded therein.

There are more contributions to come – including my own – which I will capture, along with a summary of social media contributions, in a follow-up blog post early next month. If you have a #OnePlaceLandmarks blog post which I’ve missed, or if you’re a member with a story to share based on our prompts but no website to share it on, let me know!

Armitage and Handsacre in Staffordshire, England (Richard Ewing)

My disappearing landmark. Power station cooling towers might not be the most attractive landscape features, but they certainly make unmissable landmarks. Richard tells us about the history of Rugeley Power Station, sites A and B, the towers of which are in the process of being demolished. Maybe those ‘unmissable’ landmarks – including the 600 foot tall chimney toppled on Sunday (check out the YouTube video!) – will be missed after all?

Axedale in Victoria, Australia (Jennifer Jones)

Lake Eppalock #OnePlaceLandmarks. A huge man-made reservoir with a surface area of 3011 hectares (pictured below) is the subject of Jennifer’s one-place landmark blog post.

Bledlow in Buckinghamshire, England (Julia Wynn)

Bledlow Landmark: The River Lyde and Lyde Garden. For the very first blog post on her new one-place study website, Julia has chosen to write about a landmark which is in fact a hidden gem – a sunken aquatic garden.

Burnley in Lancashire, England (Joanne Kenyon)

Landmarks. Joanne takes a quick look at three Burnley landmarks: The Singing Ringing Tree (yes, you read that right), Turf Moor (home of Burnley FC), and Towneley Hall and gardens.

Long Buckby Wharf in Northamptonshire, England (Julie Groom)

Canal Bridge Number 12. As Julie’s Place is centred on the canal which passes through it, a canal bridge is a great landmark to start with! Julie has chosen bridge number 12 – small, little-used, and also protected through being Listed.

Village Hall. Julie looks at the history of a building which was built and presented to the community in 1931 – then locked up immediately after it was opened and left unused for more than 15 months!

Moreleigh in Devon, England (Nicola Byrnes)

One-Place Landmarks: Stanborough Hillfort in Moreleigh, Devon. One of three #OnePlaceLandmarks blog posts published here on our own blog, this one focusses on the remains of the ancient hillfort of Stanborough Camp.

Sorell Municipality in Tasmania, Australia (Sue Wyatt)

Blog prompts for 2021. Sue outlines her thoughts on possible subjects for our blogging prompts for January to June 2021.

Carlton Congregational Chapel. The congregational chapel at Carlton turned 180 years old this month. Sue writes about the history of the chapel and the people connected with it.

Sorell Windmill. A long-gone landmark from the early 1800s is the subject of this blog by Sue – a windmill built by former convict Robert Nash.

Springhill in Lancashire, England (Janet Barrie)

Springhill Landmarks. Janet takes a look at an unusual type of landmark – crosses erected in Springhill and the surrounding area.

Sticklepath in Devon, England (Helen Shields)

#OnePlaceLandmarks: Sticklepath Bridge. A look at bridges in Dartmoor generally, and Sticklepath in particular, with lots of information on Stickepath Bridge, its history, and some of the people and events connected to it.

“Drinke and be thankful” #Oneplacelandmarks: Ladywell and other watery considerations. “Ladywell […] represents both a physical landmark and landmark in history, before piped drinking water came down the street or into our houses.” Find out more about Ladywell and the story of Sticklepath’s water supply in this blog post.

#OnePlaceLandmarks: Sticklepath Village Hall with 20 images. With a plethora of pictures, Helen describes the early history of Sticklepath Village Hall and explores the people involved in bringing it into being, before considering the social function of the institution.

The Crescent, Taunton, in Somerset, England (Lucy Sarson)

Society of One Place Studies – Blogging Prompts. Introducing Lucy’s focus for this prompt, the Listed Buildings of her One-Place Study.

The history of Unison House. One of this study’s listed buildings, Unison House was named for the trade union which occupied it until 2017. In researching the property, Lucy discovered how valuable planning applications can be for house history and one-place studies!

Turner’s Retreat and Woodlands Place, in London, England (Chris Jolliffe)

OPS: #OnePlaceLandmarks. As Chris noted when announcing this blog post on Twitter, “It’s hard to write about my #OnePlaceLandmarks when the whole area has been redeveloped”. There is however a building which “is one of the few remaining landmarks that the residents of Woodlands Place and Turner’s Retreat would have been familiar with.”

Wing in Buckinghamshire, England (Alex Coles)

The Nature of a Landmark. Although ‘alphabetical discrimination’ places this entry last in my list, this was the first #OnePlaceLandmark blog post to feature here on the Society’s own blog. In it, Alex considers what makes a landmark, and how to identify landmarks in a Place where you don’t live, before suggesting and providing a picture of a landmark for Wing.

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I have enjoyed reading all of these blog posts, thank you to everybody who has taken up the challenge! I await further contributions to our #OnePlaceLandmarks theme with great anticipation, and look forward to completing my own.

Steve Jackson
Social Media Coordinator, Society for One-Place Studies
One-placer for Fawsley and Waters Upton

Update: a summary of the second batch of #OnePlaceLandmarks blog posts can be found at More #OnePlaceLandmarks blog posts.

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Picture credits

Lake Eppalock Yachts, by Wikimedia Commons contributor Mattinbgn – CC-BY/3.0 – Modified

Footbridge, River Taw, Sticklepath, by Geograph contributor Richard Dorrell – CC-BY-SA/2.0 – Modified