h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've put a couple of photos into h2's Create photo challenge.

They are views of hometown Kingston-upon-Thames taken previously to submit for illustration of two of the Edited Entries
A500347 Kingston and A31268298 The Coronation Stone.

But Kingston is a historic town and has some interesting spots which I think deserve recording.

The photos that I have at the moment are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63531735@N05/sets/72157627556390624/

The initial ones are of the Kingston Market Place with its prominant statue, the Coronation Stone outside the Guildhall, and the Clattern Bridge, parts of which date back to the 13th century. The name of the bridge supposedly originates from the noise of horsehooves on the old bridge.

Those pics are great! I hope you get them applied

Thanks GB.
I don't know if they're good enough but I was going to submit them for consideration when I have a few more together for a couple of the other entries I've done. Just at the moment I'm getting some local history photos together for this Create thingy. It was something I'd been meaning to do anyway, but just never enough time... y'know how it is,

Two photos added.

Kingston had a long association with the aviation industry. T O M Sopwith opened his first factory here pre WW1, which eventually became Hawker Aircraft and then British Aerospace. These two photos were taken nearly a hundred years apart and compare a scene down by the riverside (Thames) at the edge of Kingston. The stretch of water is between Kingston and Teddington Lock.

The building is Turks Boathouse, owned by the Turk family who constructed light rivercraft. Later they hired out pleasureboats but went out of business in the 1970s (ish) The building was restored recently and is now home to local businesses.

Sopwith used the boathouse for flotation and taxi tests for the floatplanes he was constructing for the Royal Navy. They were an adaption of the Sopwith Schneider that won the Schneider Trophy. It is not recorded whether any actually took off from this part of the Thames.

A few more Kingston locations loaded up today:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63531735@N05/sets/72157627556390624/

Muybridge
Eadweard Muybridge is recognised as a pioneer of motion photography. He was the guy who organised a series of cameras operated by tripwires. This was to take photographs of a horse galloping through and setting off the cameras as it went. It was to settle a bet whether all four hooves of a galloping horse leave the ground at the same time. This plaque is on the house he occupied in his latter years and is where he died. He was born in Kingston at a different location but worked mainly in the USA. Some of the equipment he used (the zoopraxiscope) is exhibited in the Kingston museum. http://www.kingston.gov.uk/museum/muybridge/

Kingston Gate, Richmond Park
This is one of the three main gates to the Richmond Park. A29878474 located at the end of Kings Road and about 50 meters from the Muybridge house.

Memorial V2 Incident Kings Rd.
On 22 Jan 1945 a V2 Rocket hit near the junction of Kings Road and Park Road destroying many houses, killing eight and injuring 117. This researcher at the time lived in one of the Kings Road houses that were severely damaged by the blast. The house still stands and the researcher escaped unharmed. It is strange to think that a few ounces of fuel, more or less, in one of the machines designed by a certain Werner von Braun, may have resulted in a direct hit on this researcher and prevented him from later writing about one of Werner’s later, greatest achievements A429031

Kingston Barracks
Also in Kings Road, the Kingston barracks were home to the East Surrey Regiment. This researcher’s father-in-law served in the East Surreys throughout WW2. The façade which is currently under renovation is the only remaining part of the garrison after it was closed in the 1970s. The remainder is now a housing estate.

Another few locations in Kingston
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63531735@N05/sets/72157627556390624/

Cesar Picton.
Blue Plaque by Kingston Corp. Cesar Picton was brought to England as a six year old slave and 'given' to Sir John Phillips. He lived through the abolitionist period and eventually became a tradesman and 'gentleman'.

Kingston Bridge
Down by the riverside.

Just a Bollard
No, an old naval cannon that's been in the marketplace for years.

Marketplace Shop Fascade
Not really very old, dates back to the 1920s

All Saints Church.
Kingston's Church. Parts of it Norman. In the churchyard is the foundations of St Mary's Church which predates the Norman Conquest and is reputed to be the location of the coronations of seven Anglo Saxon Kings.

A few more:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63531735@N05/sets/72157627556390624/

Tolworth Tower
The nearest thing Kingston has to a skyscraper. Built in the 1960s during the office building boom, it was never completely occupied. Located on a corner of the Toby Jug roundabout on the outskirts of Kingston.

Cleaves Almshouses
A terrace of eight almshouses built in 1550. They were renovated in 1990s and are still used as assisted housing for the elderly.

Phone Box Sculpture
Titled ‘Out of Order’. Sculpture by David Marsh. Late night revellers try to run the gauntlet along the top of the boxes without falling off.

County Hall.
The main admin building for Kingston and Surrey when Kingston was the county town for Surrey. Now only for Surrey.

Lovekyn Chapel
The oldest, complete and still standing building in Kingston. It’s also the only chantry chapel left in England after it survived the Reformation.