The building you see here is known as the Clothworkers Building, on the West Bank of the River Bann in Coleraine. The Clothworkers was one of the wealthy London Guilds charged with improving the town of Coleraine in the early 17th Century - which was a good fit as Coleraine had a long association with the clothworking industry, from wool to linen and cotton. Many of my mother's family worked in the mills which stood not very far from this building. It was hard, dirty, noisy work - many workers went prematurely deaf. The average life-span of the mill worker was anything from mid-forties to mid-fifties and the mill owners didn't fare much better - copious amounts of dust, dye and fluff and other undesirables to damage health. Tough times - and in those days of course there was no Health & Safety or unions to help the workers.
The Clothworkers Guild was awarded a large swathe of land stretching from the West Bank to the town of Limavady some 20 miles to the West. They re-built the bridge across the Bann (which runs alongside the one you see here, a modern pedestrian and cycle bridge), built many new houses and helped found my old school, Coleraine Academical Institution (there's a still a Clothworkers' Prize awarded every year). They also commissioned construction of this building, which reportedly cost £2000 in 1844 - it was on, or close to the site of an old, dilapidated castle from medieval times. Initially it served as a hotel but I'm not sure what, if anything, it is used for today. At one stage there were retail outlets on the ground floor and I think I recall seeing something about serviced units being available for small businesses to rent but I don't know if that ever came to fruition.
The Clothworkers' Company is still alive and well today. If you're interested in finding out more about the history of the Guild, click here (it's well worth visiting, by the way).
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| The Clothworkers Building, 2020. Ilford MGV paper, sepia tone. Via the F2 and 85mm Nikkor, on HP5+/ID-11. |
It was a very pleasant morning when I snapped this up, but it wasn't the easiest negative to print as the bridge was in deep shadow while the sun on the building was as bright as bright can be. The print wasn't great but a good soak in bleach put a little life back in the foreground and then a gentle sepia tone added some much-needed warmth. MGV seems to take sepia a little better than I recall MGIV ever doing, which can only ever be a good thing.
That's a very good print. The sepia looks nice. I always thought sepia was a gimmick until I realised that 'sepia mode' found on most digital cameras is not what real sepia looks like.
ReplyDeleteThere is a building in my home town that looks like the one pictured here. It belonged to the Knights of Columbus (or some group like that) for a very long time and sometime in the late 80s or early 90s it was turned into apartments. A handsome building.
Thank you. Toning is a whole art in itself and there are, as I'm sure you know Marcus, unlimited variations to play with in the analogue world. Even with sepia, which can vary from heavy dark brown to light yellow, depending on the make-up of the toner. I used to tone almost every print I made but recently I seem to have got out of the way of it - although I can see that changing again in the not too distant future.
DeleteI checked the Clothworkers building the other day as I passed by and it looks empty and unused, which is a great shame. It would be a prime spot for apartments, overlooking the town and the river as it does.
In Ireland we have the Knights of Columbanus, which is a secret(ish) fraternity for Catholic men. A bit like the Masonic Lodge, perhaps.