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West Country Modernism

@westcountrymodern.bsky.social

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A journey around mid century modernist buildings in the West Country. By @magslhalliday.bsky.social Subscribe to the newsletter: https://buttondown.com/WestCountryModernism

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West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · Sep 10

New deep dive is live for paying subscribers!

All about how Truro got a Brutalist Roman Catholic Church - Our Lady of the Portal and St Piran. And about Peggy Pollard, the women who made it happen.

buttondown.com/WestCountryM...

A sign in funky gold lettering on a blue background, reading Our lady of the Portal pray for us.

There was an old lady devoted to goats. She lived in one room of the small, terraced cottages that lined Richmond Hill, the steep route from Truro city centre to the railway station.
She dressed in headscarves and embroidered diurnal skirts "like a Russian peasant", and wore work boots, or went barefoot.

Every town had such a woman. Where I grew up, ours, Bertha, had a large collection of rescued and stray dogs who she took around town in an old-fashioned pram. She was bloody-minded, of course. Truro's own bloody-minded woman, Peggy Pollard (1904 to 1996), left more than just memories.

She made sure swatches of the Cornish coast were not built on and holds the Guinness World Record for the longest single piece of embroidery. She was also responsible for building a modernist, Brutalist, Roman Catholic church.

In the 1960s Peggy reestablished the Guild as a remote congregation.
Members of the Guild were given numbers and would say the rosaries together in pairs over the phone.

"At a given hour practically all the lines to West Cornwall would be jammed by Hail Marys."
(Times obituary, part of X1104/4/582).

And so, at last, we reach the design and construction of the new Our Lady of the Portal and St Piran church. The congregation needed a bigger place to meet, and Peggy set about making it happen.

"I was married in 1971 to my first husband in that little Catholic Church and couldn't even walk down the aisle properly with my new husband because it was too narrow." (Facebook user, 2014)

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West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 9h

Who wants to see people painting the Tamar Road Bridge (Mot, Hay and Anderson, 1962) to stop it rusting in the salty air? Some great drone footage.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Painters scale Tamar Bridge to keep it free from rust

Paint covering an area of 10 football pitches is being applied to the Tamar Bridge.

www.bbc.co.uk

West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 9h

I *think* the civic centre is included in the 10K.

This is something that is going to roll for years, I suspect. Bizarrely, despite finding Armada Way rather windswept, I think keeping the wide avenues and stepping back the towers might be best.

www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymout...

Plymouth tower block new town 'challenges' laid bare in report

Issues around financial viability and attracting people to city

www.plymouthherald.co.uk

West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 12h

I'm supposed to be working on creative writing today but @coleybbq.bsky.social asked me a local history / modern houses question.

Mags L Halliday @magslhalliday.bsky.social · 12h

Small thread showing what happens when someone asks me about something I know too much about.

Did you know you can see OS maps of the 1880s to see if all that was fields back then?

(spoiler: in this case it was garden nurseries)

Mags L Halliday @magslhalliday.bsky.social · 13h

In 1880, the square is laid out and the middle is a nursery: that was very common in St Thomas as the low lying land was very fertile.

West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 1d

The first house I bought had a sun king coloured suite.

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West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 1d

Burtons did not mess about.

West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 1d

Likewise! I would have loved to stay for longer but as I suspected the one hour walk around Weston took two.

West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 1d

More to follow with a field note soon. For now I’m resting my feet and reading some zines.

West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 1d

The world was flat, and rested on the backs of four elephants.

Fantastically ridiculous elephant capitols on this 1930s shop.

Detail of a shop facade. It’s faced in stone and has metal framed windows set between flat columns. Above, the parapet has a lozenge topped by a stylised book that is on fire. The tops of the columns, though, are highly stylised Art Deco elephant heads.

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West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 1d

Also Weston-Super-Mare. Detail of a 1930s window from inside. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Two small vertical panels of stained glass with a pattern of orange and yellow upward chevrons, set in a black metal frame.

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West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 1d

This is probably the most tired one of these.

A 1930s moderne semi detached house with an integral garage. The original window frames are gone, though rusty remains are visible in one corner. The ground floor windows and garage are both boarded up, and the white render is filthy.

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West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 1d

This is one of a cluster of 1930/ houses on Station Road / Neva Road, Weston-Super-Mare, by Darby in 1936.

Several have the lovely garage and front doors this one does, which suggests they may be either original or all fitted as a job lot at a later date. This is not the most tired one.

A 1930s moderne house. All very square, with a simple bay emerging on one side and black Crittal window frames. The integral garage and front door are both bright mint green wood, with a simple design of inlaid narrow windows. There’s an old Jag parked outside but the white render on the house is discoloured and the concrete paving is weed-strewn.

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West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 1d

Same but looking to the north.

A brutal concrete interior beneath a wood clad zigzag roof: blue sky is visible in the windows. Set into the wall is a cantilevered balcony.

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West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 1d

I’ve lots of photos to sort from today but here are a few to be going on with.

Broadmead Baptist Church, Bristol
(Ronald H Sims, 1968)

Access arranged by @themodernist.bsky.social

The interior of a large brutalist concrete church. The walls are clad over the alter with wavy panels of wood, and the ceiling is a zigzag with light streaming in through the glass. The cork flooring is picking up the sunlight, as are the long pine benches.

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West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 1d

No, *you* got carried away buying zines at Brutal Bristol.

On until 12 October at Sparks.

sparksbristol.co.uk/events/bruta...

Several zines and a postcard about brutalist buildings in Bristol.

West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 2d

I'm a coward about Fore Street and go down Northernhay and the lower North Street instead.

West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 2d

Last summer I started getting pretty fast coming down Barrack Road and it was very satisfying.

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West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 2d

The FREE round-up newsletter is out now!

I've some notes about Plymouth's 'new town' that will overlay the interwar and postwar modernism. Also a seaside theatre at risk in Dorset and a very nice place for sale in Torbay.

Plymouth 'new town' and news round-up (7 Oct 2025)

Plymouth's 'new town' will interact with both the interwar and postwar city. Plus news about a theatre in Dorset, and some very expensive houses for sale.

buttondown.com

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Reposted by West Country Modernism

davyh @davyh.bsky.social · 3d

Posted this pic of the 'TV and radio dept' a while back - you've maybe already seen this article...? www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/history...

A black & white image of the 'TV & radio department' at Dingles department store, Plymouth, sometime in the 1970s. There are 'radiograms' and large cabintet TVs on the floor and various 'hi-fi' speakers, decks etc on shelves against a white 'wall' behind.

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West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 3d

The clip has a marvelous bit where he suggests that customers from Cornwall initially struggled with the idea of escalators when they opened in 1951.

West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 3d

I was looking for something else and just found this lovely 1976 interview about the construction of Dingles in #Plymouth!

player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/wa...

Watch Plymouth's Dingles Department Store - BFI Player

Beau Dingles

player.bfi.org.uk

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West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 3d

I'm on the 10am tour - looking forward to it!

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Reposted by West Country Modernism

Seaside Heritage Network @seasidenetwork.bsky.social · 3d

This is a tricky one - Britannia Hotels arguably saved some of the grandest hotels at the British seaside but they have failed to invest in these buildings as key heritage assets.

Our #BigDayOut next year will be hosted by the #Scarborough Grand - we dare you to revisit @davidjarratt.bsky.social!

Dr David Jarratt. @davidjarratt.bsky.social · 15d

Britannia’s older seaside hotels provide a striking backdrop to current debates: ‘The crumbling seaside palaces at the centre of Britain’s asylum crisis.’ I stayed in The Grand, Scarborough once, not recommended. I do love Scarborough though. @seasidenetwork.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/7068...

The crumbling seaside palaces at the centre of Britain’s asylum crisis

How one hotelier built an empire from beloved community assets — and a government struggling to cope with a surge in migration

www.ft.com

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West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 4d

It's genuinely fascinating reading 1930s Plymouth news. The need for workers at Devonport means the city rides out the Great Depression better than other places. But also I'm reading all these marvelous things they're planning and...well. I've got the bomb map from 1941.

West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 4d

Quoted without comment.

An old newspaper clipping that reads "My ambition is that people will visit Plymouth and say when they leave: "We have had one of the cheapest and best holidays that we could have had."

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West Country Modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social · 4d

Mowlem Theatre, Swanage in Dorset has a roof problem.

1967

unknown architect though Pevsner does imply CFJ Thurley who also did the panoramic restaurant in Paignton.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Swanage's Mowlem Theatre fundraising £10k to repair leaking roof

The theatre and cinema in Swanage says temporary fixes are no longer enough to keep the rain out.