Giglamps rambles

At long last, I made good on my intention to visit the Staircase House in Stockport, caught a train for the first time since about October last year ( not a harrowing endeavour for once!) and got a bit carried away with taking pictures, so they'll have to be sorted and split between a couple of posts. Our destination today is the oldest surviving house in Stockport, a 15th century townhouse that joins onto the museum, which was covered in a couple of previous posts ( part one and part two .) It also contains a cage-newel staircase, one of 3 that still exist in the UK (according to the Stockport council website); the one here was previously damaged in a fire and has since been restored, which results in an interesting contrast with gnarled, charred wood butting up against the restored structure. But that's getting ahead of ourselves, and while the staircase is the main draw, there's plenty to see here. So, let's start by contradicting the advice of salamander Danny Elf...

A bit of impromptu urban exploration today; these pictures are from November last year, when I was on my way to an appointment, had a few minutes going spare and decided to explore this disused pub with which I have a bit of personal history. In the early 2010s, when it was still called the Townhouse, my first job after college was here. Not working in the pub itself but doing some community project effort which we ran out of the function room, and did questionnaires with the general public (or, y'know, mocked up a load of answers and dossed about 'round town with my mates, as you do.) It's been empty for a fair few years, and suffice to say it's fallen into disrepair during that time; it's a shame because it was a nice place when it was actively in use. These steps are where we used to head in; I have distinct memories of them being a fucker to walk up on a wet day.  This door was torn off in a storm, which enabled me to go in and have a nosey... Stopping to admire...