Update this morning. The Millbay bomb is a mere 50kg. The one found on the same day in Exmouth is apparently much bigger. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ce...

This doesn't really count as news, as rumours of Babcock taking on Dingles have been around for months. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is in the Millbay Road area of Plymouth. the "bomb book" held at The Box showed many UXBs in the area back in 1944. web.plymouth.gov.uk/archivescata... www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/live-bo...

It's already quite a fun news week for C20 modernism in the west country, huh.

There goes my day.

This #MapMonday we're taking you back in time ⌛ We've just added over 9,000 out of copyright Ordnance Survey maps published in 1975 to our Map Images website. What did your neighbourhood look like fifty years ago? 🗺️ 🔗: maps.nls.uk/additions/#191 #MoreMaps

This other 2015 BBC report gives more background to this 1930s design not completed till 1972 www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-engl...

Back in print! The Radburn Idea 1. Also available, The Radburn Idea 2! Stories of how postwar English architects and planners attempted to produce pedestrian-friendly, car-free housing estates. £10 each, postage free. For sale here: theradburnidea.bigcartel.com

In last week's newsletter I mentioned an exhibition in Bristol. The lovely people @themodernist.bsky.social are offering a guided tour in Feb. Extremely limited places. More details here: the-modernist.org/products/bau...

Was it because the architect was a knight? (Sir Edwin Lutyens)

This is in Gloucestershire. 1972 monastery building to be retained.

I spent some time here years ago & in my book on the artist Joseph Pike I looked at his 1940s drawings, imagining how Prinknash Abbey would have looked had the architect's original, magnificent & wildly ambitious plans been realised, as distinct from the 70s modernism @westcountrymodern.bsky.social

Clay Cross is famous for its 1972 Rents Rebellion. My new post examines the prehistory of this struggle; part II next week covers the rebellion itself. The photo features the Skinner family whose political activism lay at the heart of the event: municipaldreams.substack.com/p/clay-cross...

What was your #ChildhoodCinema? I used to see films at the local civic centre in the Midlands. After we moved as a teen, it was the Savoy in Exmouth.

The Chapter House at Truro Cathedral is by John Taylor of MWT, built in 1967. www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1...

The first newsletter of the year is out! Would anyone like to buy a brutalist church in Somerset? Plus news of a 1930s cinema reopening and some exhibitions and events. Huge thanks to @eberlin.co.uk for permission to use his photographs of the Good Shepherd.

A short thread on The Death of Pubs inspired by that post from @steveuntilnextyear.bsky.social 1. One of our early blog posts, back in 2009, was about *why* people stopped going to the pub boakandbailey.com/2009/03/pubs... “Working class homes are nicer now than they were in the 60s and 70s...”

Got the emergency radio on charge as it’s getting a bit lively across the peninsula tonight. Luckily we’re not in the red warning zone. Good luck, Cornwall.

The first newsletter of the year is out! Would anyone like to buy a brutalist church in Somerset? Plus news of a 1930s cinema reopening and some exhibitions and events. Huge thanks to @eberlin.co.uk for permission to use his photographs of the Good Shepherd.

This house looks like it could be moderne but is actually a 2010 RIBA SW winner by David Sheppard. www.architectsjournal.co.uk/archive/sout... For sale in Exeter. themodernhouse.com/sales-list/w...

Around 500 words written for the main story in this week's newsletter. You can subscribe to get it in your inbox tomorrow. Free subs get some of the newsletters for, er, free. A paying sub also gets you early access to the deep dives, and I'm holding it at £3 a month until the end of January.

✨ Come behind-the-scenes at Kresen Kernow! ✨ Ever wondered how Cornwall’s historic records are cared for? Join us for a strongroom tour and uncover 850 years of stories!

Oh, these are great! @buytheamulet.bsky.social

Not for the news round up, but the way this story about a 1935 K6 phone box has been written almost implies it was the phone box Austen made famous, not the Bath street it's on. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Working on the first news round up of 2026. Took 40 minutes just to scan back through the various west country reach plc websites but I think I have my main story.

I have three remaining deep dive slots to schedule for this year: all suggestions welcome!

Ooh! I’ll be interested to see the GWR section: so much of the pre-nationalisation network was Victorian/Edwardian that I can’t immediately think of an interwar one. Maybe Exeter Central?

Last reading day before the treadmill resumes. I enjoyed Catherine Croft’s visit to Parkham Wood House (Seal, 1960) in Torbay in the @c20society.bsky.social magazine. Also, the news Ian Nairn’s soft top moggie is now pootling around Cornwall as a family car.

Starting 2026 with the news that Plymouth’s House of Fraser aka Dingles is closing down. 1/2 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A reminder that I’m holding the 2025 sub prices until the end of January 2026. Go on, treat yourself to early access and bonus content. ;)

Yeah it's obviously all wisteria clad cottages, rococo whimsy and rustic thatch down this way...

I’ve now read the introduction essays and the West Country section. Unsurprisingly, I don’t entirely agree with his assessment that modernism never really came to the west country.

Not merely the UK but Somerset. A modern icon of our time, from Chard.

I have long suggested that the west country is very well placed to be a literal powerhouse for the UK.

Peak on-brand Christmas.

Happy #sketchpadvent. Now for the last and biggest: engineers Pell Frischmann’s early 70s proposals for a cross channel bridge, linked by a massive sea-platform city for oil tankers and container ships, with an airport, helipad and homes for workers. Jingle! x

Bit of a busman’s holiday as we went to That London to see the Wes Anderson exhibition and somehow also managed to see the renovated Space House.

I’m holding my 2025 paid sub prices until 31 January. £3/month or the new £30/year discount. If you know someone you think would enjoy the newsletter, please share it. ;)

Prompted by the heavy rains, I took a photo of this. And it’s given me an idea for a possible deep dive next year.

2025 in review is out now. A year of skittering around the west country looking for the stories of modernism. buttondown.com/WestCountryM...

The newsletter will be out later today. There are a handful of subscribers who have signed up but not activated their subscriptions. Please check your spam folders for [email protected] and click on the confirmation link.

From just before my timeframe, Paignton's 1914 picture house has been awarded a grant to restore its "Art Deco lighting" and other pre-WW2 elements. Agatha Christie allegedly used to watch adaptations of her novels from the balcony. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Just looking through EH's listings for the south west this year. Just the one modernist one: a 1968 K8 telephone box in Ferndown, Dorset. historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-...

Now That’s What I Call Architecture, 1995! Announcing Coming of Age 2025: C20’s end of year ‘honours list’ celebrating the best of British architecture that’s turned 30 years old and is now eligible for national listing consideration. 🧵 Read the full list below: c20society.org.uk/coming-of-age

The fight to save Sheringham's 1950s 'Streamline Moderne art-deco design' bus shelter (where I used to catch the bus to school from) has now made the national news: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

The @universityofexeter.bsky.social has put their tree up on the Physics building. (Pic via FB) I did a walk about the campus back before the start of term and raved about the Physics building. buttondown.com/WestCountryM...

Church of the Good Shepherd, Batheaston. Permission has mistakenly been granted to demolish this rare example of brutalist architecture in Bath. I was invited inside with a group of people who are exploring an alternative future for this empty church.

Netflix have just bought Westward TV. They gain exclusive rights to use Gus Honeybun in a variety of media.

It's #sketchpadvent – celebrating amazing modernist concept drawings and models. December 1: Milton Keynes from 1981