Myself and the better half have spent the last few weeks navigating our way through the Rivers, Canals, Towns and Cities of the Midlands and the South East of England, I feel somewhat privileged to have taken in some fantastic and rather awe inspiring architecture.
However as a proud Sheffield'er in my late 30's I couldn't help but think about how our fine city would look had it not been for the devastating impact of the second world war, in particularly The Blitz of 1940.
One evening we sat with a glass of wine and had a google which brought us to several sites focused on Sheffield history and whilst the search was fairly brief, it was quite obvious as to just how widespread and devastating The Blitz actually was. In addition to this we stumbled upon numerous videos on a well known website, many of which were pre-war and show some fantastic architecture which is no longer.
Whilst my initial feelings towards the tragic impact of The Sheffield Blitz were those of feeling humbled and saddened, I also feel that as a result (and I mean this in a completely unselfish manner) that I have been denied some fantastic architecture and buildings in our fine City as well.
I know that we still have some fantastic old buildings in Sheffield however in modern times these seem few and far between, with quite uninspiring concrete creations scattered amongst them.
Am I being narrow minded here and walking around with my eyes half closed? I know that our City still has it's fair share of wonderful old buildings and architecture however I can't help but wonder how much of it was taken away from us during the war and how it would all look now had it never happened.
