Thought Experiments : The Blog: Nige Thinks of England
by Nige
On a rare recent excursion from the turbine halls of NigeCorp HQ, I was sitting on the train, musing with my eyes shut (dozing might be a more accurate verb) and opening them intermittently to see where I was. This, on a familiar route, takes about a second - but then it occurred to me what a very short time it takes to know, from a single glimpse, especially from the railway, that you are in England - or, as it might be, France, or Denmark, Italy, wherever. Not that I was expecting to be anywhere but England - but here’s the question: What are the qualities that make England so instantly reognisable?
Certainly there’s a general quality of ragged, rounded, bosomy greenness, of burgeoning vegetation, which you get nowhere else (certainly around railways). Then there’s the heavy, over-specified, post-Victorian richness of detailing - this affects everything to some extent, and is obviously very apparent in railway architecture and engineering (much of which is indeed Victorian still). The housing too - faded, designless, blandly sub-rural - is instantly recognisable. And there are smaller details, like the bond of the brickwork, styles of lettering, materials… There must be much more. Here is what might just be my first effective link (thanks Andrew - and the good Dr Hackenbush), to a truly lovely website which is, as the name suggests, all about English particularity, though with a more local slant. Enjoy it.

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