Saturday 4 October 2008

A Lot of Old Bollards

Bollards aren't what they used to be. I can remember one in an alley down the side of my Grandparent's shop in Battersea that was an old cannon with an oversized cannon ball stuffed down the barrel and you could find similar examples of municipal re-cycling all over London. As years have gone by there's been more and more homogenization of street furniture and bollards for the most part, look pretty bland. There's still the odd one or two of interest though including some of those shown here

Putney High Street
A large number of modern, fairly bland an inoffensive bollards line the High Street. The point of interest here lies in the colour they are all painted -the colours of Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Putney Bridge is the starting point of the annual University Boat Race which might not be quite up there with the nearby Wimbledon Tennis Championship, but is still obviously making a fuss about (if painting your bollards two-tone blue can really count as 'making a fuss')
Roehampton High Street
This is a 'proper' village-like High Street, now little more than a backwater, but this solid and rather attractive bollard looks as though it's been around for quite a while.
Spring Passage, Putney
Ha! What's this? Same bollard, different location and this one looks as though it's not buried quite as deeply as its Roehampton cousin
The Strand, Central London
No idea as to age, but it's suitably ornate and solid for a prime 'prestige' tourist location. Westminster seem to go rather for the ornate, which is no bad thing in my book.
Westminster, Central London
This seems to be the 'bog standard' Westminster design. There were certainly enough of them around. Quite distinctive and not at all unattractive I feel.
Borough Market, London Bridge
All on its own by a passageway under the railway bridge, again this is one that could have been here for a while. I'm not too sure abouth the dated plaque though. I doubt that it's been here since 1813!
Albert Road, Kingston-on-Thames
It looks pretty plain and modern, but it was standing all alone without an obvious job to do and the wall and fence had been built around it. Interesting...as was the 'Chelsea' embossed on the top. Is it a bollard though, or have I come across a new sub-species?

Station Road, Morden
Classic in its design, sturdy no-nonsense stuff on a riverside location and with quite a nice logo.
Medfield Street, Roehampton
This elegant beast is located at the other end of the passage from where the other Roehampton bollard is located, but they are totally different in design. This has a definite air of Victorian design about it, octagonal stem, scroll-work, loads of gratuitous knobbles and a nice bit of patina and wear.
Blackshaw Road, Tooting
My personal favourites - five very quirky and unusual bollards near St George's Hospital
Not sure what's going on with the design here - It reminds me of a row of lolly sticks with a few bulges. And why does the middle one not have a round top like the others?
The maker seems to be 'Thomas Perry' although the paintwork looks as though it could do with a touch-up. Better not mention it to the local council though as they'd probably whip them out and replace them with some concrete ones...
Winchester Walk, Borough
Could this be it? This bollard is actually embedded into the side of this building and I'm wondering if underneath all that paint and rust... could this possibly be an old cannon? Probably not but it certainly looks the part.
As does its companion just a few feet away. Hmmm... the ball is definitely in a depression there, but I'm still not 100% convinced.

3 comments:

somewhere in Tooting said...

Come east for Gormley's bollards in Peckham
http://urblog.typepad.com/photos/urblog_photos/peckham_016.html

and something elegant by Zandra Rhodes
http://urblog.typepad.com/photos/urblog_photos/peckham_002.html

Yelfy said...

Thanks urboy - superb examples of 'gratuitous bollardry'! I wonder how long they'll be around for?

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