Category: World War Two

Great view of Maldon

By cpadmin
Great view of Maldon
Maldon from over the water on the Heybridge side

You get a great view of Maldon from over the water on the Heybridge side of the Blackwater. Its a long walk round from the carpark, especially on a hot summers day. It was going to be 30 degrees centigrade on the last day of July in 2020 and so I was in position here before 10am to catch the high tide. This image shows the Hythe Quay, with a line of Thames barges moored alongside. There is a row of old buildings at the back of the quay including the Maldon little ships club. This recalls the “little ships” which went to Dunkirk in 1940 to collect the troops from the beaches. Sitting majestically atop the image is the church and its which steeple. The water tower also pokes its head above the trees, however we are not high enough to catch site of the Moot Hall.

A surprise?

It was a surprise to me that there was a grassy bank between the Heybridge side of the River Blackwater and the Hythe Quay. When you stand on the Hythe Quay side you are not aware of the bank and the further water after it. It must be visible from higher up though. Perhaps if you know where to look you can make out the bank in the middle of the water?

Still when all is said and one it is a great view of Maldon! More images from this shoot can be seen on the Compass Website. You can find out more about Hythe Quay here

Five star trip Godmanchester

By cpadmin

Five star trip Godmanchester. Had a five star trip this week. I went to five places en-route to and around Huntingdon. This post shows three of the images captured at one of the ports of call, Godmanchester. Click here to see the page on our website with ten images from that day.

  • Godmanchester
  • Godmanchester
  • Godmanchester
Three images of Godmanchester

First up was the United States Eighth Army Airforce Cemetery near Cambridge. It’s a very moving place, with rows and rows of white crosses. There is also a wall of remembrance and a visitor centre chronicling the events from 1942 to 1945

Next up was Paxton Pits near St Ives (Cambs). This old quarry is now a Nature Reserve with “a rich mosaic of wildlife habitats, with beautiful lakes, riverside, meadow, reed bed, scrub and woodland”. There are lots of places to wander and look at the bird life. Check out Paxton Pits

Moving on, Godmanchester was a place I had not been to before. The waterside and river Great Ouse are extremely photogenic. There is a white latticework bridge and boathouses along the side of the river. The causeway seems to be an area where people congregate. One of the images catches the white bridge (known as the Chinese Bridge) and the spire of the church hiding behind. A panoramic image shows the causeway. A shot of the two storey boathouse also manages to catch the church in the background.

Brampton Mill was the fourth port of call on the tour and I finally ended up at the National Trust property Houghton Mill, also on the Great Ouse. All in all a great day out with four of the five places visited on the Great Ouse.

Battle of Britain Airshow

By cpadmin

Battle of Britain Airshow

The Imperial War Museum at Duxford hosted the Battle of Britain Airshow on Saturday and Sunday 21st/22nd September. On Saturday thousands of people attended. The sky was clear and bright, the weather was hot and the views were really good. The displays of WW1 and WW2 planes were really interesting. See the three photographs. See more photographs from the event on our website. https://www.compassphotography.co.uk/battle-of-britain-airshow-2019/

  • Spitfire diving
    Spitfire diving to pounce
  • Battle of Britain Airshow
    Some of the 16 Spitfires
  • Checking them over
    Crew check the aircraft over

Curvy Round house

By cpadmin

Image of the week – Curvy Round house in Hastings 

Curvy Round house image of the week
Curvy Round house – image of the week

This lovely round corner house is found in the back streets of Hastings, on the South Coast of England. In the TV series Foyles War this house became the home of Detective Christopher Foyle. Michael Kitchen played the detective in the series set mostly in World War 2 and Honeysuckle Weeks played his assistant. 

No straight bits

I love the curves of the building and the fact that it is sits on a curve in the street too. The door panel is the only piece of straight wall! It would be lovely to see the inside of the building. Construction work was taking place in adjacent properties on the day I visited. This meant I had to work round a skip and make sure that it and other builder’s materials did not appear in the image! I noticed a lot of small grey stones in the gutters and at the side of the road, some are just visible in the picture. These were probably used to mask the double yellow lines in the television shots. I found Hastings an interesting place to visit, there was lots to see there.

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V, Tamron 16-300mm

Settings f5.6, 1/640, ISO 100