Leeds Corn Exchange:
This is one of those buildings from the outside looks quite nondescript and uninteresting, however when you step through the doors any preconceptions you may have had are taken away. The building inside is light and airy and has an almost tardis effect when you walk through the door. I'm sure this building has not always looked so splendid and I'm sure in its day when used as a corn exchange, my opinions would have been completely different. Today it is used to house boutique shops and is host to many ceremonies and party,s and to that end works very well, Its style and grandeur is befitting any occasion that were to be hosted there.
When photographing this building I wanted to try and display its grandness while still trying to pick out the important features in the building that makes it what it is. The roof is undoubtedly the
Pièce de résistance of the structure allowing the light to flood in.
Designed by Cuthbert Brodrick, a Hull architect best known for Leeds Town Hall, this Grade I listed structure was completed in 1862 and opened on 28 July 1863. Leeds Corn Exchange is now just one of three Corn Exchanges in the country which operates in its traditional capacity as a centre for trade, albeit no longer for trading in corn
Originally built to house corn dealers and merchants in the mid- 19th century, the Exchange is now an upmarket ‘independent fashion outlet’, having previously been used to house ’alternative’ fashion stores, record and vintage sales, animal shows, leather markets and a war memorial. Following the decline in agriculture the Exchange was used much less frequently by corn dealers and even faced demolition in the mid-20th century
The building is estimated to have cost £26,000 (although some sources claim £32,000); the old building had cost £12,500 just 34 years earlier. The impressive structure served as a reminder that although a hive of industry, Leeds still stood as a major centre for marketing agricultural produce.
The continuing success of the agricultural industry meant that the Exchange continued to be used for trade 6 days a week into the early 20th century, and the building had also found other uses- as a war memorial in 1925, for leather markets, and for dog and cat, mouse, and bird shows.
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| Corn Exchange 1 |
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| Corn Exchange 2 |
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| Corn Exchange 3 |
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| Corn Exchange 4 |
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| Corn Exchange 5 |
Fountains Abbey is one of my favorite places to go and take photographs, It is steeped in history and as you are walking through the ruins you can almost imagine what it would have been like with Cistercian monks busy walking up and down the long corridors. Whilst this building is no longer in use for its intended purpose, it now has a new use it is a top north Yorkshire visitor attraction managed by the national trust.
Because this site is managed by the national trust the times of entry are limited, I have always wanted to photograph the abbey at dawn or dusk to get it in the best light but unfortunately not managed to.
Because of the sheer size of the abbey there is lots of different angles to shoot from, I believe the shots I have chosen would give somebody who has never seen it before a fairly good understanding of its size and scale. The first 5 shots were taken on the same day the last one being taken on a somewhat sunnier day, For this shot I took five bracketed shots and merged to HDR in photoshop.
Fountains was the second of the Yorkshire houses to be founded. In spite of its rather inauspicious beginnings, Fountains became the largest and richest of the Northern abbeys and headed an extensive family that extended to the shores of Norway. Fountains stemmed from the Benedictine house of St Mary’s, York, where a group of reform-minded monks fled from their abbey to pursue a harsher and more disciplined way of monastic life. They were at first sheltered by Archbishop Thurstan, who assumed the role of patron and adviser. Thurstan later settled the community on land at Skeldale, near his archiepiscopal manor at Ripon. The monks were not at this time part of the Cistercian community, but were soon welcomed within the family of White Monks.
The community
suffered severe hardships in its early years and was on the
point of disbanding. However, the arrival of several wealthy
recruits brought a change in fortunes and secured the abbey's future.
Recruitment and
endowment flourished thereafter and by the late twelfth century
Fountains had lands in over two hundred places. Throughout the
Middle Ages Fountains played a prominent role in Cistercian, ecclesiastical
and political affairs.
Indeed, Abbot Henry
Murdac (1144-7) spearheaded
opposition to William Fitzherbert's appointment to the see of
York. Fountains also made an important contribution to poor relief
during the famine of 1194-6 that afflicted Western Europe. The
community helped a
number of
needy souls
who flocked to the abbey gates, extending spiritual and bodily
care.
Fountains
experienced financial problems in the 1290s and, like all of the
northern houses,
fell
victim to
the
Scots
in the early fourteenth century. The abbey recovered its fortunes
in the fifteenth century and by the time of the Dissolution Fountains
was
the richest Cistercian abbey in Britain and the twenty-fourth
wealthiest house in the country.
Today, the ruins at Fountains include some of
the most significant Cistercian remains in Europe, notably, the
twelfth-century
western range and the oldest surviving Cistercian water-mill. Excavations
at Fountains have uncovered the remains of the first timber buildings,
which were begun in 1134.
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| Fountains Abbey 1 |
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| Fountains Abbey 2 |
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| Fountains Abbey 3 |
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| Fountains Abbey 4 |
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| Fountains Abbey 5 |
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In summary
A challenging assignment that on first appearnce sounds quite easy, but as with many of these exercises the more you involve yourself the more challenging they become.
The buildings I have chosen represent the the most modern to some that are hundreds of years old. I tried to get a cross section that represents something from our past and something from our present. There are an infinite number of ways to photograph these buildings none of which are more or less right than the other, with so many factors to consider what might look good one day be not look so good on another.
On the whole I think I have picked out the important features in all of these buildings that make them all unique and individual.
