|   This
looks like being the last year that my mum's big horse chestnut tree will
unfurl it's buds. It has stood close to the house for at least a hundred
years but it has somehow got its roots into the drain down the driveway.
Not a good thing and sadly it's going to have to go. A remote
video camera sent down the drain showed large roots almost entirely blocking
the pipe.
 Roofscape
These chimneys pots near Manor Road, Ossett might be
almost as old as the chestnut tree. While Victorian windows get replaced
with UPVC double-glazing, and wooden doors get replaced with the plastic
variety, the chimney pots, with a bit of repointing every now and then,
can go on for longer, retaining their Victorian/Edwardian character.
 The
small terra cotta rosemary tiles on the roof on the right were the standard
roofing material when this house was built by Ossett Borough Council,
probably in the immediate post-war years. They'd cost a fortune today
and larger coloured-concrete tiles are more likely to be used. Many of
the older Victorian houses retain their blue Welsh slate roofs and there
are still dozens of examples of older farmhouses, barns, workshops and
cottages with local flagstone roofs.
This stonewall by the road also probably dates back
a hundred years or more, it probably started as a drystone wall and at
some stage it has probably been rebuilt using mortar. But it's good to
have some local materials still visible in the streetscape.
Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk
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