A gallery of unusual graffiti writing by an artist with very possibly the best name ever, Dog Bless the Band.
All photographs by Scooj
Dog Bless the Band
Tag: Photography
Thursday doors – 24 July 2025 – Doors of Godalming
Doors 317 – Doors of Godalming, Surrey, March 2025 (Part III)
A quick one this morning as I haven’t left myself much time to write. This is the third selection of doors from Godalming, a small town in deepest Surrey, a place that on the face of it is reasonably affluent, and definitely has some lovely buildings dotted about the place. I hope you enjoy these doors:
I rather like this selection of doors and the range of periods, but that last building is a beauty in my view. Here is an excerpt from a website called Geograph, about the building:
Godalming High Street: Nos. 74-76
I was puzzled by this building. A date-stone says 1663, but at first glance I thought that unlikely – probably because I was taken in by the honeycomb glazing bars.
Later, dipping into the Surrey volume of ‘The Buildings of England’ I found Ian Nairn having one of his rants: ‘Nos. 74-76 . . . coming right at the end of the C17 Artisan tradition of brickwork in Surrey, and a deplorable end too . . . All sense of proportion, and even of picturesque outline, is gone’. He makes the useful point that the window design is of 18th century origin – lifted from one of Batty Langley’s pattern books.
Nairn goes on to concede that (along with No. 80, somewhat similar) Nos. 74-76 are ‘good fun to have in a town’ – even if they lack architectural merit. My own view would be that brick-built structures dating from the 1660s are pretty rare in a small-town context, and we should be grateful for those that survive.
Later, dipping into the Surrey volume of ‘The Buildings of England’ I found Ian Nairn having one of his rants: ‘Nos. 74-76 . . . coming right at the end of the C17 Artisan tradition of brickwork in Surrey, and a deplorable end too . . . All sense of proportion, and even of picturesque outline, is gone’. He makes the useful point that the window design is of 18th century origin – lifted from one of Batty Langley’s pattern books.
Nairn goes on to concede that (along with No. 80, somewhat similar) Nos. 74-76 are ‘good fun to have in a town’ – even if they lack architectural merit. My own view would be that brick-built structures dating from the 1660s are pretty rare in a small-town context, and we should be grateful for those that survive.
So That’s it for this week, more to come from Godalming next time.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
Thursday doors – 17 July 2025 – Doors of Godalming
Doors 316 – Doors of Godalming, Surrey, March 2025 (Part II)
I am writing this all in a bit of a hurry last night, because today I’ll be travelling to Eastbourne to run a workshop for a large nature partnership. Expect to see some doors of Eastbourne some time in the future.
Today’s doors are the second helping from Godalming, a small town in Surrey bristling with character and heritage, which I visited on a similar work trip back in March this year. If nothing else, my work rewards me with opportunities to go to parts of the country I’d perhaps have never thought of going to, and Godalming is probably one of those.
I took these pictures in the evening I arrived and early in the morning before my workshop started, it is a routine I have mastered over the last year or two. I hope you enjoy these doors and some of the timber frame architecture.
That’s enough Surrey culture for the time being. More to come next time. May I wish you all a very happy weekend.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
Lupa
A gallery of fabulous, bold writing from Bristol graffiti writer and RBF stalwart, Lupa.
Instagram: @lup4_4
All photographs by Scooj
Thursday doors – 3 July 2025 – Street art doors
Doors 314 – Street art and graffiti doors of Bristol, Manchester, London and Nottingham, February to April 2024
Having completed the marathon of doors from Copenhagen and three weeks’ worth of doors from Leicester, I couldn’t make up my mind what to move on to next, so this week I have decided to go for some street art doors, which combines my love of doors and street art.
These doors were originally posted in February to April last year as part of my street art/graffiti category, but may have been photographed some time before that. I hope you enjoy them. Normal service will resume next time, but I still need to decide what to share next.
That’s it for another week. I prepared this post in advance, and I am publishing it very early (UK time) on Thursday, because when I did this by mistake a few weeks ago, I had far more views than I would normally expect. I am testing the idea once again, but this time deliberately, to see if that was an anomaly or a real effect.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
Pelmo
A gallery of outstanding oversized character pieces by Bristol artist Pelmo.
Instagram: @pelmos_world
All photographs by Scooj
Thursday Doors – 26 June 2025 – Doors of Leicester
Doors 313 – Leicester, Leicestershire (part III) – May 2024
This is the final selection of doors from a visit I made to Leicester with work in May 2024. I did however return in June 2024 and captured a whole load more doors, but I will save these for another day. While Leicester is the sort of city that you drive past or have to have a good reason to go there, it has an interesting history and special culture all of its own, and the surrounding countryside is quite beautiful.
I hope you enjoy the final selection in this series:
Well that’s it for another week and the end of this visit to Leicester. Something different to come next time.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
Thursday Doors – 12 June 2025 – Doors of Leicester
Doors 311 – Leicester, Leicestershire (part I) – May 2024
One of the main reasons that I am enjoying my work so much at the moment is that I get to travel around the country helping teams and partnerships declare new National Nature Reserves. These NNRs are the lesser-know sibling of National Parks and National Landscapes (formerly Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs)). There are about 220 NNRs in England, and they are the country’s best places for nature.
There is a Government target to create 25 new significant NNRs over a five-year period, and we are in the second year of rolling this out. In May 2024, a new National Nature Reserve was declared called Bradgate Park, which is a ten-minute drive outside Leicester. I was lucky enough to be there at the launch event and stayed the night before in Leicester – naturally it was an opportunity to photograph some doors. This is the first selection of doors from that visit:
While Leicester Cathedral isn’t much to write home about, the guildhall next door is a pretty special building. More to come from this trip to Leicester next time.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
Varo
A gallery of creative writing from Spanish graffiti artist, Varo.
Instagram: @varo_conspiracy
All Photographs by Scooj
Thursday Doors – 5 June 2025 – Doors of Cleethorpes
Doors 310 – Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, September 2023
This week I am taking you to a sleepy Lincolnshire town, once a celebrated seaside destination, but now a faded Victorian haunt where poverty and deprivation is intermingled with former prosperity.
I was lucky enough to visit Cleethorpes in September 2023 for the launch of the first of 25 new National Nature Reserves (NNR) being declared over a period of five years called the King’s Series in celebration of King Charles III coming to the throne. These National Nature Reserves are bigger, better and more joined up, allowing nature to overspill into surrounding areas. This first one (the Lincolnshire Coronation Coast NNR) spans a long stretch of the Lincolnshire coast adjacent to urban areas, providing opportunities for people to easily connect with nature on their own doorstep. It incorporated some already well established nature reserves, such as Donna Nook, famous for its seals.
While I was stopping over, I managed to get a long walk under my belt and snapped a few doors, which is pretty much my modus operandi wherever I go these days. I hope you enjoy these doors, and of course the mandatory English Victorian seaside town pier.
Before I went to Cleethorpes, my expectations were quite low, generally it is considered to be an ‘eyebrow raising’ moment when you tell anyone you are going to Cleethorpes, but I have to say I rather fell in love with the place. The coastline with its marshes is spectacular, the seafront shops and guest houses, and there is something rather wistful about the place.
I’m not sure where I’m going for Thursday doors next time – it’ll have to be a surprise.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
