Images of the bustling city of Newtown
Aug. 31st, 2009 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofastolatSince summer decided to return this afternoon, after the gloom and chill of yesterday, I decided to go out to Newtown. In the town hall, they had a letter from a lady from Newtown, Connecticut, who had sent a badge in order to demonstrate the "friendship that exists between our two cities." Now, there are some who might laugh at the idea of Newtown, Isle of Wight, being a city, but as I aim to demonstrate in the following pictures and their accompanying text, they are totally wrong.
Many of the world's greatest cities grew out of ports, and Newtown is no exception. Here you can see a couple of images of its thriving dockland area, which is a hive of activity both day and night. As you can see, ships of all description, from luxury liners to intimate yachts, beat a path to the doors of this bustling port.
Every city needs its industries to bring in wealth and provide employment for its masses. In the city of Newtown, much of its heavy industry is centred on the docklands area, while not undermining the attractiveness of the area to tourists. In the following pictures you can see the site of its salt and its brick-making industries:
A city is nothing with its infrastructure, and Newtown is justifiably proud of its broad, straight roads. The following pictures show two of its finest: the broad boulevard that joins the dockland area to the commercial heart of the city, and a typical street in its residential area:
Less obvious than roads, but no less essential, Newtown boasts the most modern of water systems, ensuring that residents, visitors and industry alike can always be provided with good quality water:
However, gone are the days when a city could rely merely on industry and good roads. In the twenty-first centuries, cities need to attract tourists, and as you can see, many of the most talked-about celebrities of the day have endorsed the pleasure of Newtown. Many of them return every year without fail, drawn by the unique attractions of Newtown, and are invariably followed by photographers with long lenses. In the second picture, several elegant, long-legged examples of celebrity glamour can be seen enjoying the pleasures of our sun-kissed waters.
Of course, all city visitors desire places to wine and dine, and Newtown is well served by quality eateries, with gourmet food literally lining the streets:
Not far from the restaurant area, our tour takes us to the government district, nerve-centre of the thriving city. Here hundreds of local dignitaries and public servants meet to make vital decisions on every aspect of city life:
Suburbs are often a forgotten aspect of a city, but Newtown is proud of its suburbs, and has developed them into pleasant places to live. In the foreground, you can see the tourist beaches, their boulevards lined with their distinctive sheltering trees, but beyond that the houses of suburban Newtown spread out across the green hills.
And finally, as we leave the bustling city of Newtown, let us turn back for a panoramic view. The final picture shows the famous city skyline seen from the broad river, that lifeline of the city, and the waterway that has brought it so much of its riches over the centuries:
__
In reality, Newtown was a thriving town and port, until it was destroyed by the French in 1377. It never really recovered, and many of its roads turned to green ways and its plots to fields. It became one of the famous rotten boroughs, returning two MPs to Parliament, despite having under 100 inhabitants. (George Canning was an MP of Newtown.) The Town Hall has a nice display about the history of the area, but what I found most fascinating was its display on Ferguson's Gang, whom I'd never heard of before.
They were a group of well-educated young women who banded together in the 1930s in a secret society to save rural Britain from "the octopus" of sprawling urban development. They assumed outlandish pseudonyms, wore masks and disguises in their public appearances, and raised money for the National Trust to buy certain threatened buildings, handing it over in dramatic ways. The museum had a fascimile of their minute book ("The Boo"), which reminded me so strongly of the minute-book of various student societies of my experience. It has the same sense of humour, and the same creation of solemn rituals for trivial things. (I particularly liked their pilgrimage to Stonehenge, where they did some ritual involving a "dedic8ed sheep", which appears to have been a pen.)
It also reminded me of the stuff I read in Derbyshire about the rambling societies involved in the Kinder Trespass - not surprising, probably, since we're talking the same time period and probably a very similar age of person. The 1930s seems to have been packed with energetic young people who were out there doing interesting and worthy things, and expressing themselves by way of lively and witty writing.
Many of the world's greatest cities grew out of ports, and Newtown is no exception. Here you can see a couple of images of its thriving dockland area, which is a hive of activity both day and night. As you can see, ships of all description, from luxury liners to intimate yachts, beat a path to the doors of this bustling port.
Every city needs its industries to bring in wealth and provide employment for its masses. In the city of Newtown, much of its heavy industry is centred on the docklands area, while not undermining the attractiveness of the area to tourists. In the following pictures you can see the site of its salt and its brick-making industries:
A city is nothing with its infrastructure, and Newtown is justifiably proud of its broad, straight roads. The following pictures show two of its finest: the broad boulevard that joins the dockland area to the commercial heart of the city, and a typical street in its residential area:
Less obvious than roads, but no less essential, Newtown boasts the most modern of water systems, ensuring that residents, visitors and industry alike can always be provided with good quality water:
However, gone are the days when a city could rely merely on industry and good roads. In the twenty-first centuries, cities need to attract tourists, and as you can see, many of the most talked-about celebrities of the day have endorsed the pleasure of Newtown. Many of them return every year without fail, drawn by the unique attractions of Newtown, and are invariably followed by photographers with long lenses. In the second picture, several elegant, long-legged examples of celebrity glamour can be seen enjoying the pleasures of our sun-kissed waters.
Of course, all city visitors desire places to wine and dine, and Newtown is well served by quality eateries, with gourmet food literally lining the streets:
Not far from the restaurant area, our tour takes us to the government district, nerve-centre of the thriving city. Here hundreds of local dignitaries and public servants meet to make vital decisions on every aspect of city life:
Suburbs are often a forgotten aspect of a city, but Newtown is proud of its suburbs, and has developed them into pleasant places to live. In the foreground, you can see the tourist beaches, their boulevards lined with their distinctive sheltering trees, but beyond that the houses of suburban Newtown spread out across the green hills.
And finally, as we leave the bustling city of Newtown, let us turn back for a panoramic view. The final picture shows the famous city skyline seen from the broad river, that lifeline of the city, and the waterway that has brought it so much of its riches over the centuries:
__
In reality, Newtown was a thriving town and port, until it was destroyed by the French in 1377. It never really recovered, and many of its roads turned to green ways and its plots to fields. It became one of the famous rotten boroughs, returning two MPs to Parliament, despite having under 100 inhabitants. (George Canning was an MP of Newtown.) The Town Hall has a nice display about the history of the area, but what I found most fascinating was its display on Ferguson's Gang, whom I'd never heard of before.
They were a group of well-educated young women who banded together in the 1930s in a secret society to save rural Britain from "the octopus" of sprawling urban development. They assumed outlandish pseudonyms, wore masks and disguises in their public appearances, and raised money for the National Trust to buy certain threatened buildings, handing it over in dramatic ways. The museum had a fascimile of their minute book ("The Boo"), which reminded me so strongly of the minute-book of various student societies of my experience. It has the same sense of humour, and the same creation of solemn rituals for trivial things. (I particularly liked their pilgrimage to Stonehenge, where they did some ritual involving a "dedic8ed sheep", which appears to have been a pen.)
It also reminded me of the stuff I read in Derbyshire about the rambling societies involved in the Kinder Trespass - not surprising, probably, since we're talking the same time period and probably a very similar age of person. The 1930s seems to have been packed with energetic young people who were out there doing interesting and worthy things, and expressing themselves by way of lively and witty writing.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-08-31 05:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-31 06:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-31 06:31 pm (UTC)Should there be light?
Yes
No
Light once killed my hamster, you ignorant clodpoll.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-31 06:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-31 06:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-01 07:40 am (UTC)I think that the core of American 'cities' is that they are self-governing to a certain extent, and have (e.g.) their own mayor, council and (strangely to UK eyes) police-force.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-31 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-01 06:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-01 09:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-01 09:15 am (UTC)