Re: Talbot Street Tuesday (Picture Heavy)
For today's Talbot Street Tuesday, we return to the Towers of the 1950s, and we start with the rather familiar structure of the gatehouse,
Whilst most of us pass under every visit to the Towers in order to get to Dark Forest or Cloud Cuckoo Land, few will have seen it ever with an actual gate in situ. If you have a nagging feeling that something is missing here, there is actually a turret behind the bush to the right of the picture.
From the gatehouse, we get a good view down the driveway beyond the classic car (dwarfed alongside the Towers) towards a very bare looking Fountain Square, with dense undergrowth at the far side, where today you'd find the path to Cloud Cuckoo Land.
A look back down the driveway reveals a shot that would look much more familiar to visitors to the park today.
But our destination for today is actually Cloud Cuckoo Land, or as it was in the 50s, a vast waste ground behind the Towers.
This picture is taken from roughly the area where Wobble World Cafe is sited today, and shows a striking contract to the park we know today.
Looking towards the ruins of some building we believe were used by the army during the war. In it's hey day, this area was part of the Tower's expansive gardens, and was most likely park of the house's kitchen gardens. (You may just be able to see where Greenhouses attached on to the back of the Towers building near the Tower towards the right).
Beyond the ruined building can be seen the South Tower, which is attached to the side of the Octagon. This Tower is seldom seen these days, as the sight lines of the modern park largely hide it from view. You actually have to walk around this Tower if you exit Hex towards Cloud Cuckoo Land (rather than via the normal route through Her Ladyship's Garden).
A little further down the area, we find ourselves in what is now the site of The Driving School. (beyond the trees is the archway that links Cloud Cuckoo Land to Fountain Square)
Moving through the area, this is taken from around where The Galoppers operate today, looking towards the ornate Towers that forms part of the entrance to the Tower's Chapel, in Her Ladyship's Garden.
Beyond the tree to the right you can see the door which would have connected one of the greenhouses to the Towers and between that tree and the clump of bushes can be seen the Picture Gallery. Today this forms part of the queue to Hex, which is noted for it's gloominess, however here can be seen the skylights that were once used to light up this room, making it suitable for displaying part of the Earl of Shrewsbury's art collection.
Those skylights however would not last long after these photos were taken.
As with all of the 1950s photos that have featured in Talbot Street Tuesday these photos were taken to document the house before the interiors were stripped out, a process that had begun by the time this picture was taken, showing piles of building materials piled outside the front of the house, waiting to be sold on
