In this continuing series I’m looking at things seen when out walking. Some objects will be familiar to some readers, but many are likely to be unfamiliar to most. I’m presenting those that caught my attention through their incongruity, idiosyncrasy, or simply their odd appearance.

This was taken on a walk along one of the old tramways now converted to a forest road in the Forest of Dean. At first site, and even on closer inspection, this brick arch seems like a tunnel built to no purpose, since there’s no roadway or even a track passing over the top of it, and, in fact such a route would have been very difficult to both construct and use.

However, known locally as the Trafalgar Arch, it was actually built to support the wall leading up to the tunnel and also leading away from it, which kept the Trafalgar Colliery tips, to the left in the picture, at bay. And, thereby, allowing the traffic transporting the coal to pass along unhindered by landslips. It’s decades since the mines closed, but this example of early 20^th century brickwork continues to do its job.