A new old roof

A new roof is being installed at the north end of The Manor House grounds in Ham Street and it looks pleasingly old. I also like the way that it hangs forward of the wall and so hides that the top rows are new.

Green and red

I took this photograph not particularly to mark the progress on the new roof, it was more because I liked the contrasting colours of the green fabric and the red battens.

Changes at The Manor House

The inverted "V" on the wall of the edifice on the right is the outline of a building that used to extend forward from there to the pillar in the pillar in the boundary wall. That building has gone and what is replacing it seems to extend further to the left judging by the posts showing just above the wall.

Excellent wall work

The work to thoroughly repair and restore the wall at The Manor House took a while and has finally finished, and what an excellent piece of work it was too.

I have picked this section of the wall because it has several different elements but the whole long length of the wall is just as gorgeous. 

Repairing a wall

The wall to The Manor House on Ham Street shows the history of many repairs over many years but these are normally small patches and this is the first time that I have seen work on the wall in anything like this scale.

Fixing the gates

The hoardings suggest that something significant is happening to the gates at The Manor House in Ham Street but they also hide what that is. The absence of the far pillar may mean that it is just the wall that is being worked on and the old gates may yet return.

Broken wall

The wall that hides most of Manor House in Ham Street shows signs of many repairs over the years and some more are needed to plug a couple of gaps like this one.

Behind Manor House

This is another view of the extensive, and seemingly always empty, Manor House. The house itself sits on Ham Street and this view if from the east end of Cut Throat Alley, with The Palm Centre immediately behind.

As before my main interest is in the new planting in the foreground though it is good to see the large grounds too. Before too long the former will obscure the later so enjoy this view while you can.

Planting behind Manor House

Almost the only view of the extensive grounds behind Manor House in Ham Street is from Cut Throat Alley and I always use the opportunity to peer in when walking that way. I took a photo of the grounds quite a while ago and I had seen nothing of note there since then, until now.

The north-west corner, nearest Ham Street, is being filled with holly bushes which, in turn, are being hidden behind more decorative rhododendrons. 

I heartily approve of more planting in the grounds but am a little confused as to why it is being done as I have never seen anyone out in the grounds who could benefit from the prettier view. I suspect, and it is just my theory, that the area is being planted precisely because it is one of the few places that you can see in.

Moving a wall

One of the more interesting things that I learned from Keith Mulberry's excellent talk on local history to Ham United Group at Ham Village Centre (Royal Oak) was that Sandy Lane was a narrow lane until after the wall. To widen the road, the high wall around The Manor House was moved back a few metres. The stub of the old wall was left as a reminder.

Wisteria

Ham has suddenly turned purple as wisteria has burst into flower throughout the area. There are many fine examples that I could have shown but I narrowed it down to two of my favourites.


The cottage at the Manor House in Ham Street is one of the more public displays as the flowers escape from the garden to run along the front wall.



Just across the road in Wiggins Lane this fine example crawls across the front of one of the cottages.

Ham Manor through a tree

The Manor House on Ham Street likes to keep itself hidden and even in Winter it manages to persuade the trees to block most of it from view.

The Manor House

It is impossible not to love The Manor House in Ham Street with its gorgeous, and almost random, mix of brick walls, tiled roofs and white windows, made the more mysterious by the stern wall that surrounds it.

The Manor House

The Manor House occupies a large part of the core of Ham with Ham Street and Sandy Lane forming one corner and Melancholy Walk and Cut Throat Alley forming the other. The house is normally well protected from prying eyes by tall brick walls and taller trees, but in Winter the trees lose some of their protective powers exposing this view of the back of the house from Melancholy Walk.

Brick wall in Ham Street

I love brick and Ham is blessed with a lot of it. This long wall is in Ham Street, between Riverside Drive and Sandy Lane, and it hides the impressive Manor House from view. I like the way this wall leans and bulges like an elderly and much loved uncle.

Pipe

There is a rugged beauty to this wall at The Manor House in Ham Street that is enhanced by the rusty pipe bursting through it.

Vine

I think I prefer this vine when it is not in leaf as you can see more of the delicious brick wall of this beautifully proportioned building in the grounds of The Manor House in Ham Street.

Pipe

Just as you enter Ham Lands at Melancholy Walk off Sandy Lane, there is this strange pipe on the left and next to it one of Ham's many disused gates, this one gave passage to the gardens of The Manor House in Ham Street.

The Manor House

The Manor House is on the corner of Ham Street and Sandy Lane.