Bradthorne

The Three Tuns Public House

Visiting Bishops Castle in Shropshire for the first time, I unexpectedly came across the delightful Three Tuns Brewery. This was a victorian tower brewery, built to a scale that allowed it to supply just it's own adjacent pub.

The Three Tuns has so much character that I decided there and then that I would build a scale model and proceeded to take the photographs that I would need to work from.
A year or two passed before I started work on this and a scale of 1:76 was chosen. I had neither drawings nor measurements to work from. I did not even consult a map.  I was able to gain a close approximation of the scale of the structure by counting bricks on my photographs and multiplying by standard brick dimensions.

The spiral staircase took as long as the building to construct. Numerous tiny components were prepared and assembled  using super glue and a great deal of patience.

 

Next to be built was the pub. I realised by this time that my model could not just sit in a showcase and would require some kind of setting. A model village might be the answer.  It would be called Bradthorne and would portray a mid 1930's scene. I would have to make compromises in the accuracy of the Brewery and pub model to incorporate them into thte fictitious village but these would be minor. 

Two customers play dominoes; a cat sits at the top of the steps; the leaves of the aspidistra wilt in the sun.

I added the narrow former shop which adjoins the pub, fitting it out as a shoe shop.

Bishops Castle is an attractive, small town and the buildings opposite the Tree Tuns were also chosen for inclusion.

The village continued to grow as I came across intersting buildings in a variety of different places.

A working men's club in the Potteries with a billiard table on the top floor.

High Street in Bollington, Cheshire. A bakers shop with loaves and pies displayed in the window. Next door the greengrocer has sacks of potatoes by the door and plenty of fruit and veg on sale.

The Pictorium. A cinema in Brinksway, Stockport. The posters announce popular films of the time.

Watson's Yard in Bollington. and a row of cottages reached through an archway.

Although the village continued to expand for some time, it was taking over my life and space and eventually had to make way for  my commercial modelmaking venture. I had learnt a number of architectural modelling techniques and these have stood me in good stead for many years since.

The original Brinksway Pictorium in Stockport

 

High Street, Bollington

Salop Street, Bishop's Castle