The view from my office window changes every day, sunrises and sunsets can be glorious, especially in clear weather. A rosy glow from the setting sun fades into the palest peach, gradually picking up a pale blue twinge, reaching out and becoming an even deeper blue.
The Column
I was built to commemorate all the good work I did in the Napoleonic Wars and I look down on Shrewsbury town and the surrounding Shropshire countryside. I can see as far as the Clee Hills and the Long Mynd, then the Welsh Marches up to Cheshire. A big sky in a county of big skies.
I get a lot of seagulls flying around my bottom, especially at lunchtime, they go round and round and round as if they’re playing tag, one landed on the lions head, he was playing “king of the castle”!
On 29th January the flag pole had a brand new Union Jack, standards have to be kept up you know and a tatty one shows disrespect. Then on 22nd February instead of the Union Jack, the Shopshire flag was flying at half mast. This was in honour of Malcolm Mitchell who had been the Deputy Lieutenant of the County.
I will describe to you one day in the winter, the weather was sunshine and blizzards, it was quite interesting to watch the dark sky approaching from the North, so that one half of the sky was dark and the other half blue with a very few, fluffy, white clouds. There was a helicopter in the distance, it looked like it was trying to outrun the cold front. Within ten minutes the sky in front of me was full of fluffy white flakes, the snow lasted for just ten minutes. The cold front was followed with blue sky, fluffy white clouds and sunshine once again. Then, just half an hour later it started to snow again!
I stand tall surveying the land and am oblivious to all the weather thrown at me. The snow collects in the folds of my coat, or down one side of me, depending on which way the weather is coming from. One lady from the offices suggested I collect snow in my crutch but on closer inspection it was my coat!
I have a small door and one can imagine Alice in Wonderland climbing in and popping out at the top after climbing up the cork screw steps in a hurry or whizzing up them propelled by Lewis Carrol’s imagination. Popping out at the top like a cork out of a bottle and finding herself between Lilliputian land and Brobdingnag with Lord Hill towering gigantically above her and below her Matchbox sized cars gliding around the roundabout.
The Dome
I was built in 1966 as part of the new Shirehall building and I sit proudly out in the front almost facing the Roundabout and Column. I am made of shiny concreate and had a big red nose for Comic Relief! I am simple but elegant, I am the roof of the Council Chamber. Today there is a crow perched on the edge my wall doing a little dance of joy but its feathers are rather ruffled up the wrong way because of the wind.
In the winter the sun drops down the sky at about 2.30 ish and reflects in a soft gentle light. When the sun shines on the office windows this reflects back onto me. If the clouds are racing across the sky, first hiding and showing the sun I go dark and light. But sometimes the concreate shines so much in the sun I look like a bald head!
One evening, well late afternoon, there were no clouds on the horizon only above me. The sun was beginning to go down in the sky but because the office people couldn’t see the sun it looked like I was on fire.
Between the offices and me is a flat roof. Lately this has been like a swimming pool with all the rain that we’ve had. Two pied wagtails are often busy running around on the roof. In summer the office people like to think that they could use it as a patio and have sun loungers out there! One of the office people calls me and igloo and sees polar bears dancing around me on sunny days!
The Roundabout
I probably came here at the same time as the Dome, but I don’t really know.
First of all, I must give you a little history about roundabouts! It is generally believed that the first traffic roundabout in Britian was built in Letchworth Garden City on 1909. When it was first built, traffic, of which there was very little and would have included horses and carts, could circulate around the roundabout in both directions. The more familiar rules of the road for roundabouts were not adopted until the 1920’s.
I seem to work very well with very few accidents, and those that do happen are usually very minor ones. It never ceases to amaze me that the cars and other vehicles rush up from six different directions and they all seem to know what they are doing! I do seem to be a mecca for fire engines, ambulances and police cars which converge at various times of the day, but I must remember that I am an important hub to the traffic management of Shrewsbury. There are very few times of the day when there are no vehicles at all approaching, entering, going round or leaving.
At times I can be furiously busy with vehicles leaving and joining all the exits and entrances. At other times the traffic becomes gridlocked and no vehicle leaves or enters. It amazes me that these odd metal boxes on wheels always know what they are doing. One of the thoughts the cars going in and out of the circle gives me, is what would the men from Mars think to all these square shapes buzzing around as busy as bees.
I have trees planted on one end and at the right time of day they are silhouetted by the sun. I also have daffodils and crocuses planted on me and a weird work of art and every St Georges’ Day I am beckoned with the white and red flags of St George!
Put together from various scraps of paper and notes of Ronnie’s time at Shirehall.
2009-2010
'The Dome' as you call it at Shirehall is actually faced in Portland Stone, it just not been looked after over the years and now resembles the colour of concrete. Either side of the windows can be seen the natural colour of the stone.