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...

Continuing from yesterday's post , here's more of Stockport Museum. Picking up right where we left off with an intriguing array of objects from bygone eras. There's significantly less death involved this time 'round! Starting with these lovely wooden printing blocks - look at those lovingly carved details! Absolutely sublime. My favourite of these is the lavishly rendered "First and foremost" - that would be an excellent opening to a really angry letter. (If anyone fancies doing a comedy sketch around that, do let me know because I'd love to see/hear it.) A bit of railway history complete with losenge-style sign, some very cosy-looking old-fashioned holiday remnants and a striking commemorative plaque from the fire station. Onto the Strawberry Studios exhibit, complete with a gorgeous mixing desk, a bit of Joy Division and more needlework! The little cross-stitched John Cooper Clarke made me very happy indeed. This sampler is by 8bitNorthXStitch and you c...