Little Germany 2012 Part Two

This area of Bradford really is a one off. The mixture of the Millstone Grit, the fantastic architecture and the way the buildings gradually work their way up the hill, complete with stone flags, cobbles and the fine detail in the stone carvings, the old iron work and attention to detail, there is nowhere else quite like it. Lets have a look at some of that detail now.

That is Iron Work at its best. It would be nice to think that it was made from Wrought Iron produced at Bradford's own Iron Works at Low Moor, on the edge of Bradford. Production of the top quality Wrought Iron was at its peak in 1855, the year Little Germany was started, so you would like to think so. The Iron was produced by using local low sulphur coal and high quality Limestone from the Quarries at Skipton, my home town. It was said to be the finest Iron available at the time. This gate has lasted well, maybe then it was built using Iron from Low Moor?

Lets have a look at some of the doorways, the detail in the work is utterly stunning.

We just could not produce a doorway like this today. It just would not happen in this Socialist Dictatorship we now call the United Kingdom. Not a chance. But in Great Britain in 1871 it was not a problem. When you look at the quality and splendour of these basically industrial buildings, it shows just how far this nation has fallen. How on earth did we get into the current mess we find ourselves?

Every doorway a work of art, every stone carved, dressed and placed with the utmost care and attention to detail.

But we ruin the look with a parking meter, signs carelessly put up by drilling into the lovely dressed stone, run wires and trunking all over the beautiful stonework without a single thought or care.

These are doorways, but they are works of art too, marred only by wires, trunking and alarm boxes uncaringly added to them by modern 21st century idiots who lack any ideas of what looks right or wrong.

Wherever you look there is fantastic stonework, from the cobbles of the streets to the slates of the roof tops. Quality everywhere.

Every end of every street has a view over the City, some good, some not, but still a view.

Only the modern street furniture spoils the scene, bins, bollards, fencing and signs, all put up without thought or care, yet, despite all this deleterious clutter, the buildings of Little Germany still stand out. The feel and the atmosphere of this fantastic area is still in the air, Victorian quality and style still standing proud in modern run down Britain.

Where else can you find so many Victorian buildings built in this style with the quality and detail you find in Little Germany? I don't think you can. Little Germany is unique.

Well that is it for part two of our little ramble in Little Germany! Join me for part three, the final part very soon.

After that we might get back to cameras!

Take care,

Phil