Atmospheric memory

On my roundabout way to buy a cheap DIY kitchen unit from Cheltenham, I ventured to Gloucester to get some more of my favourite fresh tofu from the Yip Shing Chinese food emporium. I was wandering along routes I don't usually take, so I was driving slowly, looking around me and was intrigued by an older part of the town.

My eye noticed an unusual building in a parkland, so I decided I might look there for a blip. I approached from the front entrance of Hillfield Gardens, which is now the Gloucestershire County Coroners office. Its gardens were quiet and had an interesting presence to them with a wide variety of trees, shrubs and bushes set in informal gardens. The ground underfoot was very clayey, with lots of needles from pine trees, some with beautiful red bark, which was cracked and peeling. It was getting towards dusk on a murky day, so I even tried an occasional flash to bring our some colour.

Gloucester is an ancient city, occupied by the Romans, at the site of a crossing of the River Severn, or Sabrina, as they called it. There are many layers of occupation over long periods of time, and i wonder whether this place has had a very long history too.

In the end I decided to show you the building that caught my eye. As you can read here, it does have an interesting history:
A late 18th century gazebo, built using a 14th century arcade and other architectural details apparently from "the King's Board", a medieval market house which stood in the city centre until demolition in 1780. It is now Grade II* listed.

In 2008, it was discovered that the lead roof covering had been stolen and on further investigation, that over 50% of the roof timbers had become rotten due to a blocked drainage sump. The roof was replaced in July 2009, to include a stainless steel covering because of its vulnerability to theft. Further works are planned, to include cleaning, the removal of graffiti and repointing.

Somehow this building and the park strongly resonated for me, invoking some memory of an earlier place I've been. It was the atmosphere rather than the detail which I noticed, or more properly, that I felt.