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Eurasian Oystercatcher / haematopus astralegus. Titchwell, Norfolk. 30/09/15.
I love going out to the mussel beds and beyond at low tide. On this visit the sun was shining and there was a strong NE wind. I spotted this solitary Oystercatcher who had found some shelter behind a raised part of the mussel bed.
It isn't easy to edge closer in a location like this...nothing to hide behind and wet sand and broken shells preventing a 'belly-crawl' approach! I inched my way forward, footstep by footstep, freezing like a stooped statue in between each one and watching the bird's reactions. When its eye remained open and fixed on me, I knew I had gone far enough. Having made a couple of images I backed off. I was happy, the bird was left in peace.
Later on, while sitting hunkered in the mussel beds with bird life all around me, everything sprang into the air in alarm. Two photographers strode out, tripods and huge lenses high in the air above them. They made it ...to an EMPTY beach. Had my muttered oaths reached them in the wind, I fear they would have fallen on EMPTY EARS.
Ce lavoir du 19ème siècle, récemment restauré, était autrefois doté d'un plancher mobile s'adaptant à la hauteur de la rivière.
museumPASSmusees 2022 - BAM (Beaux-Arts Mons) - Joan Miro - L'essence des choses passees et presentes
BAM (Beaux-Arts Mons)
Au BAM, les expositions sont l'occasion de decouvrir un artiste, un mouvement artistique ou une thematique en lien avec les collections communales.
Chaque annee, le BAM (Beaux-Arts Mons) accueille plusieurs expositions presentees sur pres de 2.000 m2. Celles-ci sont l'occasion de decouvrir un artiste, un mouvement artistique ou une thematique en lien avec les collections du musee, riches de plus de 15.000 oeuvres d'art.
Joan Miro - L'essence des choses passees et presentes
L'univers prolifique et inclassable du peintre, sculpteur, graveur et ceramiste Joan Miro s'invite au BAM !
De sa formation academique en passant par ses premiers paysages fauves ou natures mortes jusqu'a l'influence du primitivisme, de l'art roman ou encore la calligraphie japonaise, l'exposition 'Joan Miro. L'essence des choses passees et presentes 'couvre toute la carriere de l'artiste catalan.
Derriere l'innocence trompeuse d'un style enfantin, naif, se cache une recherche minutieuse. Composees de symboles et de metaphores, Miro insuffle a ses toiles une ' magie sous-jacente ' vibrante d'energie.
Une centaine d'oeuvres originales sont presentees (peintures, gouaches, dessins, ceramiques, sculptures, objets personnels... ), issues de prestigieuses collections internationales publiques et privees, dont la Fundacio Pilar i Joan Miro (Palma de Majorque), la Fundacio Joan Miro (Barcelone), le Musee national Picasso-Paris, ou encore, la Fondation Maeght.
Des dispositifs immersifs et interactifs ponctuent le parcours afin de permettre aux visiteurs de mieux comprendre la maniere dont Miro envisageait son processus creatif.
Une expo menee grace au soutien du FEDER (Fonds europeen de developpement regional) et de la Region Wallonne.
( 1 pass, plus de 200 musees
Visitez tous les musees belges participants pendant toute une annee. Quand vous voulez et autant de fois que vous le souhaitez, pour seulement 59 ?.
Collections permanentes
Avec votre pass musees, vous accedez librement aux collections permanentes de plus de 200 musees.
Expositions temporaires
Vous pouvez egalement visiter les expositions temporaires, gratuitement ou avec une forte reduction. Vous trouverez des details quant a cette reduction sur chaque page d'exposition.
Surprise! The matter of fact is, they've got their chicken! And you could hear one of the parents' hooting call on the background. One of the chicks kinda reacted to it, IMHO :) Parents stay nearby, on the watch, I guess.
Lorakeets and other birds bath togeather at the avery at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
I wish that I could have gone inside to get better photos, but they don't have this open on their slow days.
16Feb2010
At home with the flu so didn't get to go out. Spent some time watching the finches feeding on our windowsill. They're so active flitting in and out, some taking top honcho position and others being communal.
strobist info:
Canon 580EXII @ 1/128 (35 mm) camera right.
Triggered via Elinchrom Skyport.
camera info: 40D | 50mm(ƒ/1.4) | ƒ/3.5 | ISO 100 | 1/250s
Petite particularité, la limte communale entre Lapoutroie et Orbey passeà droite de la fenêtre de droite. L'immeuble rénové semble donc à cheval sur les 2 communes mais rattaché à Lapoutroie 2, Le Bâa.
+++++++++ from Wikipedia +++++++++++
Aigues-Mortes, en occitan Aigas-Mòrtas, est une commune française située dans la pointe sud du département du Gard,
Administration
Pays Drapeau de la France France
Région Occitanie
Département Gard
Arrondissement Nîmes
Canton Aigues-Mortes
(bureau centralisateur)
Intercommunalité Communauté de communes Terre de Camargue
(siège)
Maire
Mandat Pierre Mauméjean
2014-2020
Code postal 30220
Code commune 30003
Démographie
Gentilé Aigues-Mortais, Aigues-Mortaise
Population
municipale 8 417 hab. (2014)
Densité 146 hab./km2
Géographie
Coordonnées 43° 34′ 03″ nord, 4° 11′ 36″ est
Altitude Min. 0 m
Max. 3 m
Superficie 57,78 km2
Localisation
Géolocalisation sur la carte : France
Voir la carte topographique de France
City locator 14.svg
Aigues-Mortes
Voir sur la carte administrative du Gard
Voir sur la carte topographique du Gard
Voir la carte administrative de France
Liens
Site web ville-aigues-mortes.fr
modifier Consultez la documentation du modèle
Ses habitants s'appellent les Aigues-Mortais et Aigues-Mortaises et aigamortencs en occitan.
Sommaire
GéographieModifier
LocalisationModifier
Par le réseau routier, Aigues-Mortes est située à 35 km environ de Nîmes (préfecture du Gard) et 30 km de Montpellier (Hérault). À vol d'oiseau : 32,5 km de Nîmes et 26 km de Montpellier[1].
SiteModifier
Le territoire communal est composé d'une partie de la plaine humide et des étangs de Petite Camargue dont les plus grands sont l'étang du Roy au sud-est, l'étang de la Ville immédiatement au sud d'Aigues-Mortes, une partie de l'étang de Caitives dont le reste se trouve sur St-Laurent-d'Aigouze, l'étang de la Marette au sud-ouest de la ville, et environ 63 hectares de l'étang de Mauguio à l'ouest.
Au sud-ouest il est séparé du golfe du Lion (mer Méditerranée) par la commune du Grau-du-Roi. Aigues-Mortes est cependant reliée à la mer par le canal du Grau-du-Roi. Ainsi les communes de Saint-Laurent-d'Aigouze et Le Grau-du-Roi sont limitrophes à celle d'Aigues-Mortes.
À l'ouest, la commune est contigüe par un angle de sa limite à celle de Mauguio (Hérault) qu'elle effleure sur la pointe de la Radelle dans l'étang de Mauguio. Au sud-ouest elle est mitoyenne des Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer sur environ 800 m.
Tout le territoire de la moitié sud de la commune est occupé par des salines, des étangs et des marais, qui sont également largement dominants dans la partie nord. Ainsi il n'y a que très peu de hameaux : Corbière, mas du Bosquet, mas du grand Môle, mas du Petit Chaumont et mazet de Bel-Air[1].
Aigues-Mortes est l'une des 81 communes membres du Schéma de cohérence territoriale SCOT du Sud du Gard et fait également partie des 34 communes du pays Vidourle-Camargue. Aigues-Mortes est l'une des 4 communes Loi Littoral du SCOT du Sud du Gard.
Communes limitrophesModifier
Rose des vents Marsillargues
(Hérault) Marsillargues
(Hérault) St-Laurent-d'Aigouze Rose des vents
Mauguio (Hérault)
La Grande-Motte N St-Laurent-d'Aigouze
O Aigues-Mortes E
S
Le Grau-du-Roi Le Grau-du-Roi Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer
(Bouches-du-Rhône)
Hydrographie et reliefModifier
Cette section est vide, insuffisamment détaillée ou incomplète. Votre aide est la bienvenue ! Comment faire ?
ClimatModifier
Le climat est de type méditerranéen.
TransportsModifier
Vue aérienne d'Aigues-Mortes.
FluvialModifier
La ville d'Aigues-Mortes est à un carrefour de canaux :
canal du Rhône à Sète venant du nord-est et repartant vers l'ouest ;
canal de Bourgidou vers le sud-est, et qui rejoint le Petit Rhône par l'intermédiaire d'autres canaux aux limites du Gard et des Bouches-du-Rhône ;
et le grau du roi, entretenu depuis le Moyen Âge et reliant Aigues-Mortes à la partie centrale du Grau-du-Roi.
FerroviaireModifier
La ligne Nîmes - Le Grau-du-Roi dessert les villes et villages des Costières et du littoral, avec terminus au Grau-du-Roi. Elle est également utilisée pour le transport du sel fabriqué par une des exploitations salinières du groupe Salins (voir le lien ci-dessous).
RoutierModifier
Le développement du tourisme balnéaire depuis les années 1960 a été marqué par la construction de nouvelles stations balnéaires (La Grande-Motte) ou l'extension des existantes (Le Grau-du-Roi-Port-Camargue). Pour faciliter leur accès aux touristes, le réseau routier littoral a été densifié et relié à l'autoroute A 9. Aigues-Mortes bénéficie ainsi de ces axes :
à l'est, la départementale D 58 relie la ville aux Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer et à la commune d'Arles. Cette route serpente à travers les rizières et les différents étangs qui composent la Camargue ;
à l'ouest, la D 62 a été élargie en 2 × 2 voies pour permettre une jonction rapide vers Montpellier ;
au nord, la départementale D 979 relie directement la ville à l'autoroute au niveau de Gallargues-le-Montueux.
La ligne de bus 106 permet aussi de rallier Montpellier ainsi que les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.
ToponymieModifier
Le nom d'Aquae Mortuae est cité lors de l'embarquement de Saint Louis en 1248 en ce lieu pour sa première croisade[2]. Ce nom procède de l'occitan Aigas Mòrtas « eaux mortes », c'est-à-dire « eaux stagnantes », équivalent des types toponymiques de langue d'oïl « Morteau »[3].
Le nom d’Aigues-Mortes provient des marais et des étangs qui s'étendaient autour du village et aussi du fait qu'il n'y a jamais eu d'eaux vives à Aigues-Mortes[réf. souhaitée].
Grau est issu de l'occitan grau « étang avec bief ». Ainsi Grau du Roy signifie en français « étang du Roi »[réf. nécessaire].
HistoireModifier
Les remparts d'Aigues-Mortes ont été construits par Saint Louis. En effet, dès le début de son règne Louis IX souhaite se doter d'un débouché sur la Méditerranée ; c'est dans ce contexte qu'il fait construire le port d'Aigues-Mortes.
AntiquitéModifier
Un Romain du nom de Peccius aménage les premiers marais salins et donne son nom au marais du Peccais[4]. L'exploitation du sel avait commencé dès le Néolithique et s'était continuée à la période hellénistique, mais l'exploitation antique des salins n'a donné lieu à aucune découverte archéologique majeure et il est prévisible que ces vestiges aient été détruits par les installations des salins modernes[5].
Moyen ÂgeModifier
En 791, Charlemagne fait ériger la tour Matafère, au milieu des marécages, pour la sûreté des pêcheurs et des ouvriers des salins. Certains avancent que la signalisation et la transmission des nouvelles n’étaient pas étrangères à l’édification de cette tour destinée à donner l’alerte, en cas d’arrivée d’une flotte, à la tour Magne, à Nîmes. La vocation de cette tour passe du plan guerrier au plan spirituel quand Charlemagne l’octroie à l’abbaye de Bénédictins, consacrés à l’Opus Dei (l'œuvre de Dieu) et dont les incessantes psalmodies, de jour comme de nuit, font désigner leur couvent du titre de Psalmody ou Psalmodi. Ce couvent existe en 812, comme le confirme un acte de dotation faite par le Nîmois Badila à l’abbaye[6]. À cette époque, les habitants, qui vivent dans des cabanes en roseaux, tirent leur subsistance de la pêche, de la chasse et de la production du sel produit dans différents petits marais salants en bordure de mer. La région est alors sous la domination des moines de l'abbaye de Psalmodie.
En 1240, Louis IX, qui veut se débarrasser de l'emprise des marines italiennes pour le transport des troupes pour les croisades, s'intéresse à la position stratégique que représente ce lieu pour son royaume. À cette époque, Marseille appartient à son frère Charles d'Anjou, roi de Naples, Agde au Comte de Toulouse et Montpellier au roi d'Aragon. Saint Louis souhaite un accès direct à la mer Méditerranée. Il obtint des moines de l'Abbaye la ville et les terres alentour par échange de propriétés. Les habitants sont exemptés de la gabelle, impôt prélevé sur le sel qu'ils peuvent prendre sans contrainte[7]. Il construit une route entre les marais et y bâtit la tour Carbonnière pour servir de tour de guet et ainsi protéger l'accès à la ville. Saint-Louis construit ensuite la tour de Constance pour abriter sa garnison. En 1272, le fils et successeur de Louis IX, Philippe le Hardi, ordonne la poursuite de la construction de remparts pour ceinturer complètement la petite ville. Les travaux ne s’achèveront que 30 ans plus tard grâce à Philippe le Bel.
C'est de cette ville que Louis IX part par deux fois pour les Croisades : la septième croisade en 1248 et la huitième croisade en 1270 pour Tunis, où il meurt de dysenterie. 1270 constitue à tort, pour beaucoup d'historiens, la dernière étape d'un processus engagé à la fin du XIe siècle. Le jugement est hâtif car le transfert de croisés ou de mercenaires à partir du port d'Aigues-Mortes a continué. L'ordonnance donnée en 1275 au chevalier Guillaume de Roussillon par Philippe III le Hardi et le pape Grégoire X après le concile de Lyon de 1274 en guise de renfort à Saint-Jean d'Acre en Orient, démontre que l'activité maritime y perdure toujours en vue d'une neuvième croisade qui n'aura jamais lieu[8]. De ce fait de 1270 découle la croyance populaire voulant que la mer atteigne Aigues-Mortes à cette époque. En fait, comme le confirment les études de l'ingénieur Charles Léon Dombre, l'ensemble du port d'Aigues-Mortes comprenait le port proprement dit, qui se trouvait dans l'étang de la Marette, le Canal-Viel et le Grau-Louis, le Canal-Viel étant le chenal d'accès à la mer. C'est approximativement sur le Grau-Louis qu'est construite aujourd'hui La Grande-Motte.
Au début du XIVe siècle, Philippe le Bel utilisa le site fortifié pour y incarcérer les Templiers. Entre le 8 et le 11 novembre 1307, quarante-cinq d'entre eux furent mis à la question, reconnus coupables et retenus prisonniers dans la Tour de Constance[9].
Louis IX sur une nef, au départ d'Aigues-Mortes, lors de la septième croisade.
Plan d'Aigues-Mortes et de ses accès à la mer.
Plan d'Aigues-Mortes.
Raoul Berthelé. Enceinte médiévale d'Aigues-Mortes. Archives municipales de Toulouse.
Raoul Berthelé. Enceinte médiévale d'Aigues-Mortes. Archives municipales de Toulouse.
Raoul Berthelé. Enceinte médiévale d'Aigues-Mortes. Archives municipales de Toulouse.
Acte de résiliation[10].
Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.
Époque moderneModifier
Aigues-Mortes conservait encore ses privilèges accordés par les rois[11]. Curieusement c´est un des grands protestants en la personne de Jean d'Harambure dit « le Borgne », commandant des chevau-légers du roi Henri IV et ancien gouverneur de Vendôme qui sera nommé gouverneur d'Aigues-Mortes et de la Tour Carbonnière le 4 septembre 1607. Pour ce faire, il prête serment entre les mains du connétable Henri de Montmorency, alors gouverneur du Languedoc. Mais celui-ci catholique, soutient le rival Adrien de Chanmont, Seigneur de Berichère. Le conflit dure jusqu'en 1612 et Harambure, soutenu par les pasteurs du Bas-Languedoc et les habitants finit par avoir raison d´autant qu´il a l´appui personnel de la reine. (BN L. K7 50) Il finit par démissionner le 27 février 1615 en faveur de son fils Jean d´Harambure, mais le roi Louis XIII le rétablit pour six ans. Le 27 juillet 1616 il quitte ses fonctions au profit de Gaspard de Coligny, non sans avoir obtenu un témoignage de reconnaissance des magistrats et consuls de la ville.
Au début du XVe siècle, d'importants travaux sont entrepris pour faciliter l'accès d'Aigues-Mortes à la mer. L'ancien Grau-Louis, creusé pour les croisades, est remplacé par le Grau-de-la-Croisette et un port est creusé à l'aplomb de la Tour de Constance. Celui-ci perd son importance, dès 1481, lorsque la Provence et Marseille sont rattachés au royaume de France. Seule l'exploitation du sel du marais de Peccais incite François Ier, en 1532, à faire relier les salins d'Aigues-Mortes à la mer. Mais ce chenal, dit Grau-Henri, s'ensable à son tour. L'ouverture, en 1752, du Grau-du-Roi résout pour un temps le problème. Celui-ci trouve enfin une solution, en 1806, en transformant Aigues-Mortes en port fluvial grâce au canal du Rhône à Sète[12] (qui débouche dans l'étang de Thau dans la partie territoriale frontignanaise).
Époque contemporaineModifier
Pendant la Révolution française, la ville est appelée Port-Pelletier[13]. À cette époque le port a failli disparaitre en raison d'un envasement induit par l'intensification du labour dans le bassin versant, contemporain d'une reprise des défrichements des bois et forêts à la suite de l'abolition des privilèges. Le recul du couvert boisé a favorisé l'érosion des sols et par suite un apport plus important d'alluvions qui se déposent dans les ports de la région. Ainsi, en 1804 le préfet « M. de Barante père » écrivait-il dans un rapport [14] que « Les côtes de ce département sont plus exposées aux atterrissements[note 1].... Les ports de Maguelonne et d'Aigues Mortes et le vieux port de Cette n'ont plus d'existence que dans l'histoire » alerte-t-il ; « Un désir immodéré de recueillir a multiplié ces défrichements depuis 1790.... L'avidité de jouir a dévoré en peu d'années la ressource de l'avenir; les montagnes, ouvertes parla charrue, n'ont montré bientôt qu'un roc nu et stérile; chaque sillon est devenu un ravin; la terre végétale, entraînée par les orages, a été portée dans les rivières, et de là dans les parties inférieures, où elle sert chaque jour à l'atterrissement des parties les plus basses et les plus marécageuses »
Le massacre des Italiens (août 1893)Modifier
Massacre des saliniers italiens d'Aigues-Mortes.
Article détaillé : Massacre des Italiens d'Aigues-Mortes.
La Compagnie des Salins du Midi lance à l'été 1893 le recrutement des ouvriers pour le battage et le levage du sel. L'embauche est en réduction en raison de la crise économique que connaît l'Europe alors que la perspective de trouver un emploi saisonnier a attiré, cette année-là, un plus grand nombre d'ouvriers.
Ceux-ci se partagent en trois catégories surnommées les « Ardéchois », paysans, pas forcément originaire d'Ardèche, qui laissent leur terre le temps de la saison, les « Piémontais » composés d'Italiens originaires de tout le nord de l'Italie et recrutés sur place par des chefs d'équipe, les chefs de colle, et les « trimards » composés en partie de vagabonds[15].
En raison du recrutement opéré par la Compagnie des Salins du Midi, les chefs de colle sont contraints de composer des équipes comprenant des Français et des Italiens[16]. Dès le début de la matinée du 16 août, une rixe éclate entre les deux communautés qui se transforme rapidement en lutte d'honneur[17]. Cette lutte est parfois considérée comme le plus grand pogrom de l'histoire contemporaine de la France[18],[19], représenté dans les journaux de l'époque comme Le Monde Illustré[20].
Malgré l'intervention du juge de paix et des gendarmes, la situation dégénère rapidement[21]. Certains trimards rejoignent Aigues-Mortes et y affirment que des Italiens ont tué des Aiguemortais, ce qui fait grossir leurs rangs de la population et des personnes qui n'ont pas réussi à se faire embaucher[21].
Un groupe d'Italiens est alors attaqué et doit se réfugier dans une boulangerie que les émeutiers veulent incendier. Le préfet fait appel à la troupe vers 4 heures du matin. Celle-ci n'arrive sur les lieux qu'à 18 heures, après le drame[22].
Dès le début de la matinée, la situation s'envenime. Les émeutiers se rendent dans les salins de Peccais où se trouvent le plus grand nombre d'Italiens que le capitaine des gendarmes Cabley essaie de protéger en promettant aux émeutiers de chasser les Italiens une fois raccompagnés à la gare d'Aigues-Mortes[23]. C'est durant le trajet que les Italiens assaillis par les émeutiers sont massacrés par une foule que les gendarmes ne réussissent pas à contenir. Il y a sept morts et une cinquantaine de blessés dont certains conserveront des séquelles à vie[24],[25], ce qui constitue le plus grand massacre d'immigrés de l'histoire contemporaine de la France mais aussi l'un des plus grands scandales de son histoire judiciaire[26] puisque aucune condamnation ne sera jamais prononcée.
L'affaire devient un enjeu diplomatique et la presse étrangère, dont celle transalpine, prend fait et cause pour les Italiens[27]. Des émeutes anti-françaises éclatent en Italie[28]. Un règlement diplomatique est trouvé et les parties sont indemnisés[29] alors que le maire nationaliste Marius Terras doit démissionner[30].
Une pièce de théâtre de Serge Valletti, Sale Août, se fonde sur ces événements tragiques.
XXIe siècleModifier
Le 25 avril 2014, la ville d'Aigues-Mortes organise des cérémonies commémoratives à l'occasion du 800e anniversaire de la naissance de Louis IX, auxquelles participe son descendant Louis de Bourbon, duc d'Anjou, ainsi que son épouse Marie-Marguerite. Le prince rappelle alors que son aïeul au XIIIe siècle ouvrit la voie à une profonde réforme institutionnelle en octroyant une des premières chartes communales, permettant d’affranchir les villes du pouvoir féodal[31]. À cette occasion, le maire Pierre Mauméjean rappelle « l’amour et l’attachement réel des Aigues-Mortais pour le roi fondateur de la cité et leur reconnaissance pour tout ce qu’il a fait pour eux ». Il ajoute « combien Aigues-Mortes est fière et honorée de recevoir pour la deuxième fois l'homme (Louis de Bourbon) qui avait été fait citoyen de la ville, lors de la Saint Louis de 1992, par le maire de l'époque René Jeannot, présent ce jour »[32].
Le canal du Rhône à Sète traversant Aigues-Mortes.
Lettre de M. Fargeon
1806.
Le canal du Rhône à Sète
1915.
Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.
Politique et administrationModifier
Tendances politiques et résultatsModifier
Article connexe : Élections municipales de 2014 dans le Gard.
Les dernières élections municipales à Aigues-Mortes ont eu lieu les 23 et 30 mars 2014.
Cinq listes étaient présentes au premier tour, une liste PS représentée par le maire sortant Cédric Bonato, une liste divers gauche et écologistes représentée par Didier Caire, une liste d’union de la droite UDI-UMP représentée par Pierre Mauméjean, une liste divers droite représentée par Isabelle Secrétan et une cinquième liste apparentée FN portée par Stéphane Pignan.
Les résultats du premier tour : Pierre Mauméjean (Union de la droite) 35,84 %, Cédric Bonato (PS) 34,51 %, Isabelle Secrétan (Divers Droite) 11,43 %, Stéphane Pignan 11,09 % et Didier Caire (divers gauche) 7,1 %.
Inscrits 6 951, abstentions 1 859 (26,74 %), votants 5 092 (73,26 %), Blancs et Nuls 126 (1.81 %), exprimés 4 966 (71.44 %)
Les résultats du second tour : Pierre Mauméjean (Union de la droite) 50,16 %, Cédric Bonato (PS) 43,2 %, Stéphane Pignan (FN) 6,62 %.
Inscrits 6 951, abstentions 1 569 (22,57 %), votants 5 382 (77,43 %), Blancs et Nuls 163 (2,34 %), exprimés 5219 (75,08 %)
Pierre Mauméjean devient le 7e maire d’Aigues-Mortes de la Cinquième République.
Administration municipaleModifier
Centre-ville d'Aigues-Mortes.
Le conseil municipal aigues-mortais comprend 29 membres, dont le maire, 8 adjoints et 20 conseillers municipaux.
Depuis les dernières élections municipales, sa composition est la suivante :
Groupe Président Effectif Statut
Unis pour Aigues-Mortes
LR-UDI-DVD Pierre Mauméjean 22 majorité
Tous pour Aigues-Mortes avec Cédric Bonato
DVG Cédric Bonato 6 opposition
Pour une droite unie et forte
DVD Stéphane Pignan 1 opposition
Liste des mairesModifier
Article détaillé : Liste des maires d'Aigues-Mortes.
Mairie d'Aigues-Mortes.
JumelagesModifier
Cette section est vide, insuffisamment détaillée ou incomplète. Votre aide est la bienvenue ! Comment faire ?
Population et sociétéModifier
DémographieModifier
L'évolution du nombre d'habitants est connue à travers les recensements de la population effectués dans la commune depuis 1793. À partir du 1er janvier 2009, les populations légales des communes sont publiées annuellement dans le cadre d'un recensement qui repose désormais sur une collecte d'information annuelle, concernant successivement tous les territoires communaux au cours d'une période de cinq ans. Pour les communes de moins de 10 000 habitants, une enquête de recensement portant sur toute la population est réalisée tous les cinq ans, les populations légales des années intermédiaires étant quant à elles estimées par interpolation ou extrapolation[33]. Pour la commune, le premier recensement exhaustif entrant dans le cadre du nouveau dispositif a été réalisé en 2005[34],[Note 1].
En 2014, la commune comptait 8 417 habitants, en augmentation de 3,71 % par rapport à 2009 (Gard : 4,64 % , France hors Mayotte : 2,49 %)
Évolution de la population [modifier] 1793 1800 1806 1821 1831 1836 1841 1846 1851
2 800 2 605 2 630 2 577 2 897 3 240 3 393 3 968 4 046
1856 1861 1866 1872 1876 1881 1886 1891 1896
3 677 3 865 3 932 3 833 4 113 3 564 3 906 3 981 3 897
1901 1906 1911 1921 1926 1931 1936 1946 1954
4 511 3 899 3 900 4 348 3 878 4 123 3 839 3 616 3 746
1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2005 2010 2014
4 203 4 197 4 531 4 472 4 999 6 012 6 798 8 341 8 417
De 1962 à 1999 : population sans doubles comptes ; pour les dates suivantes : population municipale.
(Sources : Ldh/EHESS/Cassini jusqu'en 1999[13] puis Insee à partir de 2006[35].)
Histogramme de l'évolution démographique
Pyramide des âgesModifier
La répartition de la population de la commune par tranches d'âge est la suivante :
47,6 % d’hommes (0-14 ans = 17,7 %, 15 à 29 ans = 17,1 %, 30 à 44 ans = 22 %, 45 à 59 ans =21,1 %, plus de 60 ans =22 %)
52,4 % de femmes (0-14 ans = 16,9 %, 15 à 29 ans = 15,1 %, 30 à 44 ans = 23,5 %, 45 à 59 ans =19,9 %, plus de 60 ans =24,5 %)
La population féminine est en surreprésentation par rapport à celle des hommes. Le taux (52,4 %) est sensiblement du même ordre que le taux national (51,8 %).
Pyramide des âges à Aigues-Mortes en 2007 en pourcentage[36]. Hommes Classe d’âge Femmes
0,3
90 ans ou +
1,2
6,0
75 à 89 ans
7,4
15,7
60 à 74 ans
15,9
21,1
45 à 59 ans
19,9
22,0
30 à 44 ans
23,5
17,1
15 à 29 ans
15,1
17,7
0 à 14 ans
16,9
Pyramide des âges du département du Gard en 2007 en pourcentage[37]. Hommes Classe d’âge Femmes
0,4
90 ans ou +
1,1
6,9
75 à 89 ans
9,9
14,6
60 à 74 ans
15,1
21,3
45 à 59 ans
20,9
19,9
30 à 44 ans
19,8
17,7
15 à 29 ans
16,1
19,1
0 à 14 ans
17,0
EnseignementModifier
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SantéModifier
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Manifestations culturelles et festivitésModifier
Plan des arènes d'Aigues-Mortes.
Aigues-Mortes est une ville de traditions camarguaises. Chaque année, la seconde semaine d’octobre, elle célèbre la fin des vendanges ainsi que la fin de la récolte du sel.
La fête votive est l’occasion pour les familles du village de se retrouver autour de traditions ancestrales qui font le socle du patrimoine culturel aigues-mortais. Côté remparts Sud, chaque famille construit son « théâtre » ; les 101 théâtres forment le plan, une arène éphémère qui, une semaine durant (et un weekend de revivre), accueille des courses camarguaises où chacun peut s’essayer à l’art du raset avec des vaches et taureaux emboulés.
Cette semaine festive est fréquentée par des milliers de touristes et d’habitués de la région ; c'est un moment de ferveur et de partage qui met en valeur l’identité camarguaise de la cité médiévale.
Un comité des fêtes est constitué pour cette occasion ; il a la charge d’organiser chaque année ces festivités en respectant les traditions ancestrales et en veillant à la sécurité de toutes et tous les participants.
SportsModifier
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MédiasModifier
Delta FM, radio locale diffusant sur le 88.9
ÉconomieModifier
Flamant rose géant au rond-point D 62-D 718.
AgricultureModifier
Les toits d'Aigues-Mortes, les remparts puis les salins et la mer.
Culture de la vigne et de l'asperge.
Article connexe : Sable-de-camargue.
L'élevage de taureaux et de chevaux de Camargue. Les deux sont élevés pratiquement à l'état sauvage dans les marais environnants.
Le taureau camarguais est plus petit que les taureaux de combat espagnols, trapu, les cornes et la tête hautes. Il mesure environ 1,40 m au garrot. Il est principalement destiné à la course à la cocarde qui est très populaire dans la région.
Le cheval de Camargue est le compagnon indispensable des gardians pour se déplacer dans les marais et trier les taureaux. D'après certaines découvertes d'ossements, il semblerait que le cheval de Solutré de l'ère quaternaire soit son ancêtre. De ce fait, le cheval de Camargue n'est pas très grand, 1,50 m environ. Il possède une énorme résistance adaptée au terrain. Sa robe est marron à la naissance pour progressivement devenir blanche après quelques années.
IndustriesModifier
Production du sel par l'exploitation salinière du groupe Salins. Sans doute exploités dès l'Antiquité, les salins d'Aigues-Mortes attirèrent pêcheurs et sauniers. Les moines bénédictins y établirent dès le VIIIe siècle l'abbaye de Psalmodie, afin d'exploiter cette denrée précieuse dans les étangs de Peccais. Les salines resteront très longtemps une des principales ressources de la ville. Pour parvenir aux « tables saunantes », l'eau pompée dans la mer parcourt plus de 70 km dans les roubines[note 2] ; la concentration de chlorure de sodium y passe de 29 à plus de 260 g/l. Récolté mécaniquement, le sel est amoncelé en de scintillantes « camelles » avant d'être conditionné. On le réserve à l'usage alimentaire.
Aigues-Mortes et salins
TourismeModifier
Le patrimoine médiéval des XIIIe et XIVe siècles de la commune et sa proximité de la mer attirent de nombreux touristes et des résidents.
Culture locale et patrimoineModifier
Édifices civilsModifier
La tour de Constance et les rempartsModifier
Vue panoramique des remparts. Vue du sud-est, côté mer.
Tour de Constance.
Les tours et remparts d'Aigues Mortes forment un monument ouvert au public par le Centre des monuments nationaux. La tour de Constance, fut érigée en 1242 par Saint Louis sur l’ancien emplacement de la tour Matafère, construite par Charlemagne vers 790, pour abriter la garnison du roi. Les travaux se terminèrent en 1254. Son diamètre est de 22 mètres, sa hauteur au sommet de la lanterne est de 33 ou 40 mètres selon diverses sources… L’épaisseur des murs à la base est de 6 mètres. Au rez-de-chaussée, on trouve la salle des gardes avec son accès protégé par une herse. Au centre de la pièce, une ouverture circulaire permet d’accéder aux sous-sols qui servaient de garde-manger, de réserve de munitions et aussi de cachots. Ce lieu s’appelait les « culs de basse fosse ». Au premier étage, on accède à la salle des chevaliers. Elle ressemble de par sa structure à la salle des gardes. C’est dans cette salle que furent emprisonnées au XVIIIe siècle des protestantes dont la plus connue fut Marie Durand qui grava sur la margelle du puits le mot « résister ». Ce mot est toujours visible de nos jours. Elle fut emprisonnée à l’âge de 15 ans et libérée 38 ans plus tard, avec des prisonniers politiques (Abraham Mazel, chef camisard). Entre ces deux salles, un étroit chemin de ronde, fut construit dans l'épaisseur du mur pour surveiller la salle basse. Après la salle des chevaliers, on accède à la terrasse qui offre un large panorama sur la région, représentant ainsi un poste idéal de surveillance. Les prisonnières étaient quelquefois autorisées à venir y respirer l’air pur.
Dans les tours et les remparts, sont organisées des expositions : en 2014, par exemple, pour célébrer le 800e anniversaire de la naissance de Saint Louis, le Centre des monuments nationaux a organisé une exposition intitulée Saint Louis, de l'Occident à l'Orient, sur Saint Louis et les croisades[38]. Les remparts se déploient sur une longueur de 1 600 mètres. Spectaculaires par leur hauteur et l'état de leur conservation (ils n'ont pas été restaurés au XIXe siècle comme cela fut le cas, par exemple, pour Carcassonne), ils constituent, avec la tour de Constance, un témoignage exceptionnel en Europe occidentale de l'architecture militaire en milieu marécageux aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles. Le classement de cet ensemble à l'Unesco , sous le thème de l'homme dans son milieu, est un sujet de mobilisation[39] : un dossier a été constitué en 2011, et de nombreuses actions, dont la suppression des poteaux électriques[40], ont été entreprises pour permettre ce classement. Cette procédure est malheureusement contrariée par les classements déjà effectifs de sites très proches tels le Pont du Gard, Avignon ou Arles…[réf. nécessaire]
Le Plan des ThéâtresModifier
Article détaillé : Plan des Théâtres (Aigues-Mortes).
Le Plan des Théâtres sont des arènes, construites à la fin du XIXe siècle[41], destinées aux courses camarguaises. Elles ont été inscrites en 1993 sur l'inventaire supplémentaire de la liste des Monuments historiques (MH)[41] pour leur intérêt ethnologique et culturel. Elles peuvent accueillir plus de six cents personnes[42].
Murs de la ville - 1
Murs de la ville - 2
Murs de la ville - 3
Murs de la ville - 4
Murs de la ville - 5
Murs de la ville - 6
Murs de la ville - 7
Murs de la ville - 8
La porte de la reine Aigues-Morte en 1867, de Frédéric Bazille, exposé au Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.
La tour CarbonnièreModifier
Article détaillé : Tour Carbonnière.
Située sur la commune de Saint-Laurent-d'Aigouze, la tour Carbonnière est citée pour la première fois dans un texte daté de 1346 qui donne des précisions sur la fonction de l’ouvrage. Il y est dit que « cette forteresse est la clé du royaume en cette contrée. » En effet, située au milieu des marais, elle était le passage obligé pour accéder à Aigues-Mortes. Elle était tenue par une garnison composée d’un châtelain et de plusieurs gardes. Depuis sa terrasse qui pouvait supporter jusqu’à quatre pièces d’artillerie, on a une vue panoramique sur la Petite Camargue.
La tour Carbonnière.
Vue aérienne.
Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.
La place Saint-LouisModifier
Statue de Saint Louis.
Elle est le cœur touristique de la cité. Au centre, face à l'entrée principale de la Porte de la Gardette, est érigée la statue de Saint Louis, œuvre de James Pradier en 1849.
Édifices religieuxModifier
L’église Notre-Dame-des-SablonsModifier
Article détaillé : Église Notre Dame des Sablons d'Aigues-Mortes.
Elle a vraisemblablement été construite avant les remparts, vers le milieu du XIIIe siècle, à l'époque de saint Louis et est de style gothique. Collégiale en 1537, elle fut saccagée par les protestants en 1575. Après la reconstruction du clocher en 1634 elle devint successivement sous la Révolution, temple de la Raison, caserne, magasin à grains et entrepôt de sel. Elle fut rendue au culte en 1804 et restaurée dans un style « néo classique-baroque » assez chargé. De 1964 à 1967 tout ce décor XIXe disparaît, notamment les plafonds à caissons, pour laisser place à l'église beaucoup plus sobre et dans l'esprit médiéval que nous voyons aujourd'hui. Depuis 1991, des vitraux créés par Claude Viallat, artiste contemporain appartenant au mouvement artistique Supports/Surfaces, donnent à l'édifice une lumière et une couleur extraordinaires. Le reste du mobilier XVIIIe et XIXe siècles a disparu à cette occasion à l'exception de quelques statues. La façade est surmontée d'un très sobre clocher à peigne abritant 3 cloches. La plus importante, 1,07 m de diamètre, date de 1740, classée MH elle fut réalisée par le maître fondeur Jean Poutingon. L'église abrite aussi une statue de saint Louis.
Église Notre-Dame-des-Sablons.
Statue de saint-Louis dans l'église Notre-Dame-des-Sablons.
Reste d'un crucifix dans l'église de Notre Dame des Sablons.
Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.
La chapelle des Pénitents grisModifier
Article détaillé : Chapelle des Pénitents gris d'Aigues-Mortes.
Située à l'est de la Place de la Viguerie, elle est la propriété de la confrérie des Pénitents gris créée en 1400. La façade est du style Louis XIV. La porte d'entrée du XVIIe siècle est ornée d'une statue en bois. Retable sculpté en 1687 par Sabatier.
À l'intérieur, un retable représente la passion du Christ. Il fut construit en stuc de plâtre gris en 1687 par le sculpteur montpelliérain Sabatier. Ce retable, sur lequel figurent les armoiries de la confrérie, occupe tout le fond du chœur.
La chapelle des Pénitents blancsModifier
Chapelle des Pénitents Blancs, intérieur.
Article détaillé : Chapelle des Pénitents blancs d'Aigues-Mortes.
Située à l'angle de la rue de la République et de la rue Louis-Blanc, elle appartient à la confrérie des Pénitents blancs créée en 1622[43].
Au-dessus du chœur, sur la voûte, on peut voir une copie du retable de Jérusalem où le Christ a célébré la Pâque et le jeudi Saint avec ses apôtres. Autour du maître-autel, une peinture sur toile retrace la descente du Saint Esprit le jour de la Pentecôte. On l'attribue à Xavier Sigalon, peintre né à Uzès en 1778. De chaque côté du chœur se dressent deux statues : à gauche saint Félix pour la rédemption des captifs, à droite saint Jacques le Mineur, premier évêque de Jérusalem.
Patrimoine culturelModifier
Lou DrapéModifier
Lou Drapé est un cheval imaginaire mentionné dans le folklore local, qui était censé se promener la nuit autour des remparts de la ville, prendre 50 à 100 enfants sur son dos, et les faire disparaître « on ne sait où ».
Article détaillé : Drapé (légende).
Patrimoine gastronomiqueModifier
La fougasse d'Aigues-MortesModifier
La fougasse appartient aux premières pâtisseries à base levée. Elle peut être sucrée (dénommé parfois « tarte au sucre ») ou salée (avec ou sans gratillons). Traditionnellement, la confection de la fougasse au sucre à Aigues-Mortes était réservée à la période de Noël, au sein des treize desserts. À base de pâte à brioche, sucre, beurre et fleur d'oranger, elle était fabriquée par le boulanger avec les ingrédients apportés par le client. À présent, la fougasse d'Aigues-Mortes se vend toute l'année.
Vues aériennesModifier
Aigues-mortes vu du ciel 1
Aigues-mortes vu du ciel 2
Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.
Patrimoine naturelModifier
Aigues-Mortes est concerné par 5 zones naturelles protégées, 10 ZNIEFF[44], deux zones spéciales de conservation (ZSC) (sites d'intérêt communautaire (SIC) sous la Directive Habitat)[45],[46] et deux zones de protection spéciale (ZPS) (SIC sous la Directive Oiseaux)[47],[48].
41 797 ha de la Petite Camargue sont classés comme « zone humide protégée par la convention de Ramsar » et concernent 16 communes dont Aigues-Mortes[note 3],[49].
Côté sud elle jouxte le Parc naturel régional de Camargue[1].
After a morning of my wife hitting the outlet mall we decided to make an encore visit to Nelson Ghost Town, about 40 miles SE of Las Vegas. We were there about two years ago and it was gawd awful hot.
Nelson Ghost Town is not actually a ghost town. It's a mix of old buildings and cars, a theme park atmosphere, and people that live there that don't like visitors. Strange vibe this time - a lot of keep out, stay away, and don't be here after dark signs everywhere. They now charge $10/hour to visit and you can cover everything in that time. I always thought it would be a good place for a photo shoot but now I'm not so sure. It was still a good outing. After we left, we took the road five miles to the Colorado River. Talk about desolate, tortured landscape!
I took these photos in mid-December 2020.
Construction assez rudimentaire datant du milieu du 19ème siècle, un des deux lavoirs encore visibles dans le village.
Communal family meeting area (in front) where inmates either from the psych ward or from the maximum security side. Communal showers in the back (lit green) with the entire area being covered with chain link fencing to protect all those involved. The penitentiary is now a retired, gothic style prison located in Moundsville, WV. It operated from 1876 to 1995. It closed after a riot broke out in 1988 resulting in the deaths of 3 inmates and exposing the facility to the fact that it was not designed for what had become modern day criminals.
153 second exposure, protomachines light set to white, green (radium) and gold in a completely dark interior.
Click on the image, because it's best BIG on BLACK!!!
Key West (Spanish: Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it constitutes the City of Key West.
The Island of Key West is about 4 miles (6 kilometers) long and 1 mile (2 km) wide, with a total land area of 4.2 square miles (11 km2). It lies at the southernmost end of U.S. Route 1, the longest north–south road in the United States. Key West is about 95 miles (153 km) north of Cuba at their closest points. It is also 130 miles (210 km) southwest of Miami by air, about 165 miles (266 km) by road, and 106 miles (171 km) north-northeast of Havana.
The City of Key West is the county seat of Monroe County, which includes a majority of the Florida Keys and part of the Everglades. The total land area of the city is 5.6 square miles (14.5 km2). The official city motto is "One Human Family".
Key West is the southernmost city in the contiguous United States and the westernmost island connected by highway in the Florida Keys. Duval Street, its main street, is 1.1 miles (1.8 km) in length in its 14-block-long crossing from the Gulf of Mexico to the Straits of Florida and the Atlantic Ocean. Key West is the southern terminus of U.S. Route 1, State Road A1A, the East Coast Greenway and, before 1935, the Florida East Coast Railway. Key West is a port of call for many passenger cruise ships. The Key West International Airport provides airline service. Naval Air Station Key West is an important year-round training site for naval aviation due to the tropical weather, which is also the reason Key West was chosen as the site of President Harry S. Truman's Winter White House. The central business district is located along Duval Street and includes much of the northwestern corner of the island.
At various times before the 19th century, people who were related or subject to the Calusa and the Tequesta inhabited Key West. The last Native American residents of Key West were Calusa refugees who were taken to Cuba when Florida was transferred from Spain to Great Britain in 1763.
Cayo Hueso (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkaʝo ˈweso]) is the original Spanish name for the island of Key West. It literally means "bone cay", cay referring to a low island or reef. It is said that the island was littered with the remains (bones) of prior native inhabitants, who used the isle as a communal graveyard. This island was the westernmost Key with a reliable supply of water.
Between 1763, when Great Britain took control of Florida from Spain, and 1821, when the United States took possession of Florida from Spain, there were few or no permanent inhabitants anywhere in the Florida Keys. Cubans and Bahamians regularly visited the Keys, the Cubans primarily to fish, while the Bahamians fished, caught turtles, cut hardwood timber, and salvaged wrecks. Smugglers and privateers also used the Keys for concealment. In 1766 the British governor of East Florida recommended that a post be set up on Key West to improve control of the area, but nothing came of it. During both the British and Spanish periods no nation exercised de facto control. The Bahamians apparently set up camps in the Keys that were occupied for months at a time, and there were rumors of permanent settlements in the Keys by 1806 or 1807, but the locations are not known. Fishermen from New England started visiting the Keys after the end of the War of 1812, and may have briefly settled on Key Vaca in 1818.
In 1815, the Spanish governor of Cuba in Havana deeded the island of Key West to Juan Pablo Salas, an officer of the Royal Spanish Navy Artillery posted in Saint Augustine, Florida. After Florida was transferred to the United States in 1821, Salas was so eager to sell the island that he sold it twice – first for a sloop valued at $575 to a General John Geddes, a former governor of South Carolina, and then to a U.S. businessman John W. Simonton, during a meeting in a Havana café on January 19, 1822, for the equivalent of $2,000 in pesos in 1821. Geddes tried in vain to secure his rights to the property before Simonton who, with the aid of some influential friends in Washington, was able to gain clear title to the island. Simonton had wide-ranging business interests in Mobile, Alabama. He bought the island because a friend, John Whitehead, had drawn his attention to the opportunities presented by the island's strategic location. John Whitehead had been stranded in Key West after a shipwreck in 1819 and he had been impressed by the potential offered by the deep harbor of the island. The island was indeed considered the "Gibraltar of the West" because of its strategic location on the 90-mile (140 km)–wide deep shipping lane, the Straits of Florida, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
On March 25, 1822, Lt. Commander Matthew C. Perry sailed the schooner USS Shark to Key West and planted the U.S. flag, claiming the Keys as United States property. No protests were made over the American claim on Key West, so the Florida Keys became the de facto property of the United States.
After claiming the Florida Keys for the United States, Perry renamed Cayo Hueso (Key West) to Thompson's Island for Secretary of the Navy Smith Thompson, and the harbor Port Rodgers in honor of War of 1812 hero and President of the Navy Supervisors Board John Rodgers. In 1823, Commodore David Porter of the United States Navy West Indies Anti-Pirate Squadron took charge of Key West, which he ruled as military dictator under martial law. The United States Navy gave Porter the mission of countering piracy and the slave trade in the Key West area.
Soon after his purchase, John Simonton subdivided the island into plots and sold three undivided quarters of each plot to:
John Mountain and U.S. Consul John Warner, who quickly resold their quarter to Pardon C. Greene, who took up residence on the island. Greene is the only one of the four "founding fathers" to establish himself permanently on the island, where he became quite prominent as head of P.C. Greene and Company. He was a member of the city council and also served briefly as mayor. He died in 1838 at the age of 57.
John Whitehead, his friend who had advised him to buy Key West. John Whitehead lived in Key West for only eight years. He became a partner in the firm of P.C. Greene and Company from 1824 to 1827. A lifelong bachelor, he left the island for good in 1832. He came back only once, during the Civil War in 1861, and died the next year.
John Fleeming (nowadays spelled Fleming). John W.C. Fleeming was English-born and was active in mercantile business in Mobile, Alabama, where he befriended John Simonton. Fleeming spent only a few months in Key West in 1822 and left for Massachusetts, where he married. He returned to Key West in 1832 with the intention of developing salt manufacturing on the island but died the same year at the age of 51.
Simonton spent the winter in Key West and the summer in Washington, where he lobbied hard for the development of the island and to establish a naval base on the island, both to take advantage of the island's strategic location and to bring law and order to the town. He died in 1854.
The names of the four "founding fathers" of modern Key West were given to main arteries of the island when it was first platted in 1829 by William Adee Whitehead, John Whitehead's younger brother. That first plat and the names used remained mostly intact and are still in use today. Duval Street, the island's main street, is named after Florida's first territorial governor, William Pope Duval, who served between 1822 and 1834 as the longest-serving governor in Florida's U.S. history.
William Whitehead became chief editorial writer for the Enquirer, a local newspaper, in 1834. He preserved copies of his newspaper as well as copies from the Key West Gazette, its predecessor. He later sent those copies to the Monroe County clerk for preservation, which gives us a view of life in Key West in the early days (1820–1840).
In the 1830s, Key West was the richest city per capita in the United States.
In 1846, the city suffered severely from the 1846 Havana hurricane.
In 1852 the first Catholic Church, St. Mary's Star-Of-The-Sea, was built. The year 1864 became a landmark for the church in South Florida when five Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary arrived from Montreal, Canada, and established the first Catholic school in South Florida. At the time it was called Convent of Mary Immaculate. The school is still operating today and is now known as Mary Immaculate Star of the Sea School.
During the American Civil War, while Florida seceded and joined the Confederate States of America, Key West remained in U.S. Union hands because of the naval base. Most locals were sympathetic to the Confederacy, however, and many flew Confederate flags over their homes. However, Key West was also home to a large free black population. This population grew during the war as more enslaved black people fled from their masters and came under the relative safety of the Union garrison there. Fort Zachary Taylor, constructed from 1845 to 1866, was an important Key West outpost during the Civil War. Construction began in 1861 on two other forts, East and West Martello Towers, which served as side armories and batteries for the larger fort. When completed, they were connected to Fort Taylor by railroad tracks for movement of munitions. Early in 1864, 900 men from the 2nd United States Colored Troops (USCT) arrived in Key West as replacements for the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Many of these men would see action in southern Florida and the 2nd USCT would become "one of the most active" black regiments in Florida. Fort Jefferson, located about 68 miles (109 km) from Key West on Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas, served after the Civil War as the prison for Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, convicted of conspiracy for setting the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.
In the 19th century, major industries included wrecking, fishing, turtling, and salt manufacturing. From 1830 to 1861, Key West was a major center of U.S. salt production, harvesting the commodity from the sea (via receding tidal pools) rather than from salt mines.[26] After the outbreak of the Civil War, Union troops shut down the salt industry after Confederate sympathizers smuggled the product into the South.[26] Salt production resumed at the end of the war, but the industry was destroyed by an 1876 hurricane and never recovered, in part because of new salt mines on the mainland.
During the Ten Years' War (an unsuccessful Cuban war for independence in the 1860s and 1870s), many Cubans sought refuge in Key West. Several cigar factories relocated to the city from Cuba, and Key West quickly became a major producer of cigars. A fire on April 1, 1886, that started at a coffee shop next to the San Carlos Institute and spread out of control, destroyed 18 cigar factories and 614 houses and government warehouses. Some factory owners chose not to rebuild and instead moved their operations to the new community of Ybor City in Tampa, leading to a slow decline in the cigar industry in Key West. Still, Key West remained the largest and wealthiest city in Florida at the end of the 1880s.
USS Maine sailed from Key West on her fateful visit to Havana, where she blew up and sank in Havana Harbor, igniting the Spanish–American War. Crewmen from the ship are buried in Key West, and the Navy investigation into the blast occurred at the Key West Customs House.
In October 1909, Key West was devastated by the 1909 Florida Keys hurricane. Further damage was suffered the following year in the 1910 Cuba hurricane.
Key West was relatively isolated until 1912, when it was connected to the Florida mainland via the Overseas Railway extension of Henry M. Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway (FEC). Flagler created a landfill at Trumbo Point for his railyards.
The 1919 Florida Keys hurricane caused catastrophic damage to the city.
On December 25, 1921, Manuel Cabeza was lynched by members of the Ku Klux Klan for living with a black woman.
Pan American Airlines was founded in Key West, originally to fly visitors to Havana, in 1926. The airline contracted with the United States Postal Service in 1927 to deliver mail to and from Cuba and the United States. The mail route was known as the Key West, Florida – Havana Mail Route.
The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 destroyed much of the Overseas Railway and killed hundreds of residents, including around 400 World War I veterans who were living in camps and working on federal road and mosquito-control projects in the Middle Keys. The FEC could not afford to restore the railroad.
The U.S. government then rebuilt the rail route as an automobile highway, completed in 1938, built atop many of the footings of the railroad. It became an extension of U.S. Route 1. The portion of U.S. 1 through the Keys is called the Overseas Highway. Franklin Roosevelt toured the road in 1939.
During World War II, more than 14,000 ships came through the island's harbor. The population, because of an influx of soldiers, sailors, laborers, and tourists, sometimes doubled or even tripled at times during the war.
Starting in 1946, US President Harry S. Truman established a working vacation home in Key West, the Harry S. Truman Little White House, where he would spend 175 days of his presidency.
In 1948, Key West suffered damage from two hurricanes within as many months, from the September 1948 Florida hurricane then the 1948 Miami hurricane.
Prior to the Cuban revolution of 1959, there were regular ferry and airplane services between Key West and Havana.
John F. Kennedy was to use "90 miles from Cuba" extensively in his speeches against Fidel Castro. Kennedy himself visited Key West a month after the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In 1982, the city of Key West briefly asserted independence as the Conch Republic as a protest over a United States Border Patrol blockade. This blockade was set up on US 1, where the northern end of the Overseas Highway meets the mainland at Florida City. A traffic jam of 17 miles (27 km) ensued while the Border Patrol stopped every car leaving the Keys, supposedly searching for illegal immigrants attempting to enter the mainland United States. This paralyzed the Florida Keys, which rely heavily on the tourism industry. Flags, T-shirts and other merchandise representing the Conch Republic are still popular souvenirs for visitors to Key West, and the Conch Republic Independence Celebration—including parades and parties—is celebrated annually, on April 23.
In 1998 Hurricane Georges damaged the city.
In 2017, Hurricane Irma caused substantial damage with wind and flooding, killing three people.
The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about 15 miles (24 km) south of Miami and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry Tortugas. The islands lie along the Florida Straits, dividing the Atlantic Ocean to the east from the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and defining one edge of Florida Bay. The southern part of Key West is 93 miles (150 km) from Cuba. The Keys are located between about 24.3 and 25.5 degrees North latitude.
More than 95% of the land area lies in Monroe County, but a small portion extends northeast into Miami-Dade County, such as Totten Key. The total land area is 137.3 square miles (356 km2). At the 2010 census the population was 73,090, with an average density of 532.34 per square mile (205.54/km2), although much of the population is concentrated in a few areas of much higher density, such as the city of Key West, which has 32% of the Keys' total population. The 2014 Census population estimate was 77,136. The 2020 Census population estimate was 82,874.
The city of Key West is the county seat of Monroe County. The county consists of a section on the mainland which is almost entirely in Everglades National Park, and the Keys islands from Key Largo to Dry Tortugas National Park.
The Keys were originally inhabited by the Calusa and Tequesta tribes and were charted by Juan Ponce de León in 1513. De León named the islands Los Martires ("The Martyrs"), as they looked like suffering men from a distance. "Key" is derived from the Spanish word cayo, meaning small island. For many years, Key West was the largest town in Florida, and it grew prosperous on wrecking revenues. The isolated outpost was well located for trade with Cuba and the Bahamas and was on the main trade route from New Orleans. Improved navigation led to fewer shipwrecks, and Key West went into a decline in the late nineteenth century.
The Keys were long accessible only by water. This changed with the completion of Henry Flagler's Overseas Railway in the early 1910s. Flagler, a major developer of Florida's Atlantic coast, extended his Florida East Coast Railway down to Key West with an ambitious series of oversea railroad trestles. Three hurricanes disrupted the project in 1906, 1909, and 1910.
The strongest hurricane to strike the U.S. made landfall near Islamorada in the Upper Keys on Labor Day, Monday, September 2, 1935. Winds were estimated to have gusted to 200 mph (320 km/h), raising a storm surge more than 17.5 feet (5.3 m) above sea level that washed over the islands. More than 400 people were killed, though some estimates place the number of deaths at more than 600.
The Labor Day hurricane was one of only four hurricanes to make landfall at Category 5 strength on the U.S. coast since reliable weather records began (about 1850). The other storms were Hurricane Camille (1969), Hurricane Andrew (1992), and Hurricane Michael (2018).
In 1935, new bridges were under construction to connect a highway through the entire Keys. Hundreds of World War I veterans working on the roadway as part of a government relief program were housed in non-reinforced buildings in three construction camps in the Upper Keys. When the evacuation train failed to reach the camps before the storm, more than 200 veterans perished. Their deaths caused anger and charges of mismanagement that led to a Congressional investigation.
The storm also ended the 23-year run of the Overseas Railway; the damaged tracks were never rebuilt, and the Overseas Highway (U.S. Highway 1) replaced the railroad as the main transportation route from Miami to Key West.
One of the longest bridges when it was built, the Seven Mile Bridge connects Knight's Key (part of the city of Marathon in the Middle Keys) to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys. The piling-supported concrete bridge is 35,862 ft (10,931 m) or 6.79 miles (10.93 km) long. The current bridge bypasses Pigeon Key, a small island that housed workers building Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway in the 1900s, that the original Seven Mile Bridge crossed. A 2.2-mile (3.5 km) section of the old bridge remains for access to the island, although it was closed to vehicular traffic on March 4, 2008. The aging structure has been deemed unsafe by the Florida Department of Transportation. Costly repairs, estimated to be as much as $34 million, were expected to begin in July 2008. Monroe County was unable to secure a $17 million loan through the state infrastructure bank, delaying work for at least a year. On June 14, 2008, the old bridge section leading to Pigeon Key was closed to fishing as well. While still open to pedestrians—walking, biking and jogging—if the bridge were closed altogether, only a ferry subsidized by FDOT and managed by the county would transport visitors to the island.
After the destruction of the Keys railway by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, the railroad bridges, including the Seven Mile Bridge, were converted to automobile roadways. This roadway, U.S. Highway 1, became the Overseas Highway that runs from Key Largo south to Key West. Today this highway allows travel through the tropical islands of the Florida Keys and the viewing of exotic plants and animals found nowhere else on the US mainland and the largest coral reef chain in the United States.
Following the Cuban Revolution, many Cubans emigrated to South Florida. Key West traditionally had strong links with its neighbor ninety miles south by water, and large numbers of Cubans settled there. The Keys still attract Cubans leaving their home country, and stories of "rafters" coming ashore are not uncommon.
In 1982, the United States Border Patrol established a roadblock and inspection points on US Highway 1, stopping all northbound traffic returning to the mainland at Florida City, to search vehicles for illegal drugs and undocumented immigrants. The Key West City Council repeatedly complained about the roadblocks, which were a major inconvenience for travellers, and hurt the Keys' important tourism industry.
After various unsuccessful complaints and attempts to get a legal injunction against the blockade failed in federal court in Miami, on April 23, 1982, Key West mayor Dennis Wardlow and the city council declared the independence of the city of Key West, calling it the "Conch Republic". After one minute of secession, he (as "Prime Minister") surrendered to an officer of the Key West Naval Air Station (NAS) and requested US$1,000,000,000 in "foreign aid".
The stunt succeeded in generating great publicity for the Keys' plight, and the inspection station roadblock was removed. The idea of the Conch Republic has provided a new source of revenue for the Keys by way of tourist keepsake sales, and the Conch Republic has participated in later protests.
The northern and central sections of the Florida Keys are the exposed portions of an ancient coral reef, the Key Largo Limestone. The northernmost island arising from the ancient reef formation is Elliott Key, in Biscayne National Park. North of Elliott Key are several small transitional keys, composed of sand built up around small areas of exposed ancient reef. Further north, Key Biscayne and places north are barrier islands, built up of sand. The islands in the southwestern part of the chain, from Big Pine Key to the Marquesas Keys, are exposed areas of Miami Limestone.
The Florida Keys have taken their present form as the result of the drastic changes in sea level associated with recent glaciations or ice ages. Beginning some 130,000 years ago the Sangamonian Stage raised sea levels about 25 feet (7.6 m) feet above the current level. All of southern Florida was covered by a shallow sea. Several parallel lines of reef formed along the edge of the submerged Florida Platform, stretching south and then west from the present Miami area to what is now the Dry Tortugas. This reef formed the Key Largo Limestone that is exposed on the surface from Soldier Key (midway between Key Biscayne and Elliott Key) to the southeast portion of Big Pine Key and the Newfound Harbor Keys. The types of coral that formed Key Largo Limestone can be identified on the exposed surface of these keys. Minor fluctuations in sea level exposed parts of the reef, subjecting it to erosion. Acidic water, which can result from decaying vegetation, dissolves limestone. Some of the dissolved limestone redeposited as a denser cap rock, which can be seen as outcrops overlying the Key Largo and Miami limestones throughout the Keys. The limestone that eroded from the reef formed oolites in the shallow sea behind the reef, and together with the skeletal remains of bryozoans, formed the Miami Limestone that is the current surface bedrock of the lower Florida peninsula and the lower keys from Big Pine Key to Key West. To the west of Key West the ancient reef is covered by recent calcareous sand. While the islands of the upper and middle keys, consisting of Key Largo Limestone, form a long narrow arc, the islands of the lower keys are perpendicular to the line of that arc. This configuration arose from an ancient tidal-bar system, in which tidal channels cut through a submerged oolitic deposit. The bars lithified into Miami Limestone, and with changes in sea level are presently exposed as the islands, while the channels between the bars now separate the islands.
Just offshore of the Florida Keys along the edge of the Florida Straits is the Florida Reef (also known as the Florida Reef Tract). The Florida Reef extends 170 miles (270 km) from Fowey Rocks just east of Soldier Key to just south of the Marquesas Keys. It is the third-largest barrier reef system in the world.
The climate and environment of the Florida Keys are closer to that of the Caribbean than the rest of Florida, though unlike the Caribbean's volcanic islands, the Keys were built by plants and animals. The Upper Keys islands are composed of sandy-type accumulations of limestone grains produced by plants and marine organisms. The Lower Keys are the remnants of large coral reefs, which became fossilized and exposed when the sea level dropped.
The natural habitats of the Keys are upland forests, inland wetlands and shoreline zones. Soil ranges from sand to marl to rich, decomposed leaf litter. In some places, "caprock" (the eroded surface of coral formations) covers the ground. Rain falling through leaf debris becomes acidic and dissolves holes in the limestone, where soil accumulates and trees root.
The Florida Keys have distinctive plant and animals species, some found nowhere else in the United States, as the Keys define the northern extent of their ranges. The climate also allows many imported plants to thrive. Some exotic species which arrived as landscape plants now invade and threaten natural areas.
The native flora of the Keys is diverse, including members of both temperate families, such as red maple (Acer rubrum), slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa) and oaks (Quercus spp.), growing at the southern end of their ranges, and tropical families, including mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni), gumbo limbo (Bursera simaruba), stoppers (Eugenia spp.), Jamaican dogwood (Piscidia piscipula), and many others, which grow only in tropical climates. Several types of palms are native to the Florida Keys, including the Florida thatch palm (Thrinax radiata), which grows to its greatest size in Florida on the islands of the Keys.
The Keys are also home to unique animal species, including the American crocodile, Key deer (protected by the National Key Deer Refuge), and the Key Largo woodrat. The Keys are part of the northernmost range of the American crocodile, which is found throughout the Neotropics. The Key Largo Woodrat is found only in the northern part of its namesake island and is a focus of management activities in Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge. About 70 miles (110 km) west of Key West is Dry Tortugas National Park.
The waters surrounding the Keys are part of a protected area known as the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
U.S. Highway 1, the "Overseas Highway", runs over most of the inhabited islands of the Florida Keys. The islands are listed in order from southwest to north. Mile markers are listed for keys that the Overseas Highway runs across or near:
Dry Tortugas
Loggerhead Key
Marquesas Keys
Sunset Key
Wisteria Island
Key West (MM 0-4)
Fleming Key
Sigsbee Park (off to the north at MM 2¾)
Stock Island (MM 5)
Raccoon Key (off to the north at MM 5¼)
Boca Chica Key (MM 7-8)
Rockland Key (MM 9)
East Rockland Key (MM 9½)
Big Coppitt Key (MM 10)
Geiger Key (off to the south at MM 10¾)
Shark Key (off to the north at MM 11¼)
Saddlebunch Keys (MM 12-16)
Lower Sugarloaf Key (MM 17)
Park Key (MM 18)
Sugarloaf Key (MM 19-20)
Cudjoe Key (MM 21-23)
Knockemdown Key
Summerland Key (MM 24-25)
Ramrod Key (MM 27)
Middle Torch Key, Big Torch Key (off to the north at MM 27¾)
Little Torch Key (MM 28½)
Big Pine Key (MM 30-32)
No Name Key
Scout Key (MM 34-35), formerly known as West Summerland Key
Bahia Honda Key (MM 37-38)
Ohio Key (MM 38¾), also known as Sunshine Key
Missouri Key (MM 39¼)
Little Duck Key (MM 39¾)
The Seven Mile Bridge (MM 40-46¾) separates the Lower Keys from the Middle Keys:
Pigeon Key (off to the north near MM 45; access is at MM 46¾)
Knights Key (MM 47)
Vaca Key (MM 48-53)
Boot Key (off to the south at MM 48; bridge closed)
Fat Deer Key (MM 53¼-55)
Shelter Key (off to the south at MM 53¾)
Long Point Key (MM 56)
Crawl Key (MM 56½)
Grassy Key (MM 58-60)
(Knights, Vaca, Boot, Long Point, Crawl, and Grassy Keys, as well as most of Fat Deer Key, are incorporated in the city of Marathon. The remaining portion of Fat Deer Key and most of Shelter Key are part of Key Colony Beach.):
Duck Key (MM 61)
Conch Key (MM 62-63)
The Long Key Bridge (MM 63¼-65¼) separates the Middle Keys from the Upper Keys:
Long Key (MM 66-70), formerly known as Rattlesnake Key
Fiesta Key (off to the north at MM 70)
Craig Key (MM 72)
Lower Matecumbe Key (MM 74-77)
Lignumvitae Key
Indian Key
Indian Key Fill (MM 79)
Tea Table (MM 79½)
Upper Matecumbe Key (MM 80-83)
Windley Key (MM 85)
Plantation Key (MM 86-90)
(Lower Matecumbe through Plantation Keys are incorporated as Islamorada, Village of Islands. The "towns" of Key Largo, North Key Largo and Tavernier, all on the island of Key Largo, are not incorporated.):
Key Largo (MM 91-107)
Tavernier Key
Rodriguez Key
All keys north of Broad Creek are in Biscayne National Park and Miami-Dade County. The following are "true" Florida Keys (exposed ancient coral reefs):
Old Rhodes Key
Totten Key
Reid Key
Rubicon Keys
Adams Key
Elliott Key
The following are "transitional keys", made of exposed ancient reef surrounded by sand:
Sands Key
Boca Chita Key
Ragged Keys
Soldier Key
Key Biscayne is not one of the Florida Keys, but the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida.
they're both looking nervous...after all,this is a communal garden,there's windows everywhere...so no real privacy for doing any dolly photoshoots...
The Memorial service and dedication of the war memorial cross at St Matthew's Church Thorpe Hamlet, took place on the September 25th 1921, including roll of honour. I assume this was at the old St Matthews, down off Riverside Road, and that the Cross has subsequently been re-located.
The new church was built in 1982 to replace the old Victorian church (built 1851 and now converted to offices) on St Matthew's Rd and St Leonards 'Chapel of Ease' on Ketts Hill (built 1907, demolished in 1981)
www.thorpehamlet.free-online.co.uk/page_st_matthews.htm
*****Panel 3*****
H H Rose
Name: ROSE, HENRY HAMMOND
Rank: Private
Regiment: Norfolk Regiment
Unit Text: 10th Bn.
Age: 21
Date of Death: 09/03/1915
Service No: 16353
Additional information: Son of Henry Hammond Rose and Rosa Ann Rose, of 26, Kerrison Rd., Thorpe, Norwich.
Cemetery: FELIXSTOWE (WALTON) CEMETERY
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=397225
The 7 year old Henry, born Trowse, is recorded on the 1901 census at 13 School Terrace, Trowse,
Norfolk. This is the household of his parents, Henry, (aged 40 and a Fitter in Electrical Works from Trowse) and Rosa, (aged 43 and from Eyke, Suffolk). Their other children are:-
Agnes……………aged 12.…………..born Yarmouth, Norfolk
Edward…………..aged 2.……………born Trowse
Ellen……………..aged 12.…………..born Yarmouth
Ethel……………..aged 9.……………born Trowse
Gladys……………aged 5.……………born Trowse
10th (Reserve) Battalion
Formed in Walton on the Naze in October 1914 as Service battalion, part of K4.
November 1914 : attached to 94th Brigade, original 31st Division.
10 April 1915 : became a Reserve battalion.
www.1914-1918.net/norfolks.htm
The death of Henry H., aged 21, was recorded in the Woodbridge, Suffolk District in the January to March 1915 quarter.
(see April 2017 comment below for update)
M Rowe
No obvious match on CWGC, Norlink or Military Genealogy.
Military Genealogy has two James Rowe’s who were born Norwich.
No obvious match on the 1901 or 1911 censuses.
A W Ryder
Military Genealogy has an Archibald Walter, born St Thomas’s Norwich.
Name: RYDER, ARCHIBALD WALTER
Rank: Private
Regiment: Norfolk Regiment
Unit Text: 9th Bn.
Date of Death: 26/09/1915
Service No: 3/10213
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 30 and 31. Memorial: LOOS MEMORIAL
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=1768339
Archibald can be seen here
norlink.norfolk.gov.uk/02_Catalogue/02_013_PictureTitleIn...
Additional Norlink notes
Private Ryder was born in Norwich on 15th January 1893. He enlisted on 14th December 1914, and was killed on 26th September 1915
Archibald is recorded as aged 11 on the 1901 census, which doesn’t tie in with the Date of Birth given on Norlink, however he is the only Archibald shown with a Norwich connection. He was born Norwich, and recorded at 7 Cardiff Road, in the Parish of St Thomas’s. This is the household of his parents, Thomas (aged 63 and a Pensioner from Cambridge, noted as paralysed) and Ellen, aged 39 and a Laundress from Shemley Green, Surrey. Their other children are:-
Ernest C…………..aged 7.………….born Norwich
Frederick………….aged 17.………..born Norwich……Grocers Errand Boy
Mabel……………..aged 14.………..born Norwich
Rosa M……………aged 2.…………born Norwich
The 9th (Service) Battalion was formed at Norwich in September 1914 as part of K3, Kitcheners Third Army. In September 1914 it was attached to the 71st Brigade, 24th Division. The Battalion was assembled around Shoreham during September 1914 and it then spent 11 months in training after formation. Uniforms, equipment and blankets were slow in arriving and they initially wore emergency blue uniforms and carried dummy weapons. The battalion crossed to France between 28th August and 4th September 1915 where they joined X1 Corps and were sent up the line for the developing Battle of Loos. They disembarked at Boulogne almost 1000 strong, but 8 days later were reduced to 16 officers and 555 other ranks. The battalion lost a total of 1,019 men killed during the First World War. It marched from Montcarrel on the 21st September reaching Bethune on the 25th, before moving up to Lonely Tree Hill south of the La Basée Canal. They formed up for an attack in support of 11th Essex but were not engaged. At 03:30 on 26th September orders were received to assist 2nd Brigade on an attack on quarries west of Hulluch. At 05:30 the Battalion were in what had, the day before, been the German front trenches. The attack was launched at 06:45 under heavy fire, especially from snipers, after a full night of marching on empty stomachs and little or no progress was made before the Norfolks sought cover in the trenches. At 16:00 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment passed through to attack. At 19:00 the Germans opened fire and the Norfolks were forced to fall back to trenches in the rear to take cover before being relieved by the Grenadier Guards whereupon they returned to Lonely Tree Hill. They had lost 5 officers killed and 9 wounded, with 39 other ranks killed, 122 wounded and 34 missing, a total of 209 casualties sustained in their first action
forum.planetalk.net/viewtopic.php?t=4844&sid=b3e7614b...
C E Ryder
Norlink has a picture of Charles Ernest Ryder, stated to be of the 1st/4th Northumberland Fusiliers.
norlink.norfolk.gov.uk/02_Catalogue/02_013_PictureTitleIn...
His cap badge in the picture however appears to be that of the Norfolk Regiment.
The accompanying notes are that the picture was taken in 1916 and that Private Ryder was born in Norwich on 13th September 1895. He enlisted on 22nd August 1915, and was killed on 26th October 1917
The relevant individual on the CWGC database appears to be this one
Name: RYDER, CHARLES
Rank: Private
Regiment: Northumberland Fusiliers
Unit Text: 1st/4th Bn.
Date of Death: 26/10/1917
Service No: 202125
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 19 to 23 and 162. Memorial: TYNE COT MEMORIAL
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=828511
Looking at the Census details, in the 1901 census there is no Charles recorded with a Norwich connection, but there is an Ernest - the brother of Archibald, born Norwich circa 1894. On the 1911 census there is a Charles, born circa 1894, but no Ernest. I only have access to a high-level search for the 1911 census, but that Charles is recorded as living in the same household as an “Archibold” Ryder and an Ellen Ryder.
26th Oct 1917
At 3am heavy rain began to fall again and at 4.05am the 4th Bn reported it was in position for the attack.
At zero hour, 5.40am, the barrage opened up and began to creep forward at a rate of one hundred yards every eight minutes. The fusiliers of the149th Bde rose to their feet to advance behind it, with the 4th & 5th Bn Loyal North Lancashires (57th Divn) on the right flank and the 35th Divn on the left. Had the 'going' been good, the troops who lay close up under the barrage (so close indeed that several casualties were suffered) waiting for the first "lift", would not have had a problem advancing at the rate of the creeping barrage.
'The rain had, however, done its deadly work, for all the gallant fellows could do was to drag themselves along through the thick clinging mud and water at a much slower pace than the barrage, which soon got ahead'. Then form "pill box" and shell hole murderous fire was poured upon them. Many fell dead; some of the wounded fell into the gaping holes of water and were drowned; fortunate were those who escaped, but on went the survivors' (Wyrell. p.244).
The allied barrage consisted entirely of shrapnel and was therefore quite useless against the first objective, which consisted of concrete huts. To make matters worse the rain continued to fall heavily and the condition of mud and water were perfectly appalling.
Bn HQ received a wire from the Bde Major at 8.50am stating that a wounded Forward Observation Officer had reported that the first objective had been taken and the men were advancing well to the second objective. This information proved incorrect because 2nd Lt Wood subsequently returned wounded and reported that casualties were heavy and the attack was held up in front of the Huts. The attack had actually ground to a halt about eighty yards west of the line of huts. The machine gun fire and sniping was so severe that any further advance was quite impossible and reporting the situation back to HQ extremely difficult. Two runners were sent to the front line to try and gather information but they both failed to return.
At 11am, 2nd Lt Burton was sent forward to reconnoitre and he confirmed that the attack was held up about one hundred yards short of the Huts. At 1pm Sgt Thompson returned from the front line and confirmed 2nd Lt Burtons’ report stating that casualties were very heavy. Similar news was brought down later by Capt J.V. Gregory. This information was relayed to Bde HQ by pigeon and signalled by Lucas Lamp. Several messages were sent during the afternoon. Two platoons from the Reserve Company, under the command of 2nd Lts Peddie and Scott, were sent forward at 6pm to consolidate the original line held before the attack.
The Bn was relieved about midnight by the 4th Bn East Yorks and proceeded, via the duckboard track known as Railway Street, to Rose Crossroads camp. The 6th Bn DLI organised straggler posts in likely places to round up men returning from the front line and to guide them to camp.
Roll call revealed the appalling casualties suffered by the 4th Bn. 2nd Lts D.A.Smith, and W.Ruddy had been killed in action with 2nd Lt R.A.A Simpson later dying of wounds. 2nd Lts G.R.Charlewood, A.W.P.Leary, H.B.Bell, J.R.Ruddock and R.Wood were wounded, and 2nd Lt R.G.Rayner and H Stobbs were missing. Thirty-six fusiliers had been killed, one hundred and fifty-six wounded and sixty four were still missing. A total of two hundred and fifty six, more than fifty percent of those that had gone into action.
Casualties
Records show that at least 100 fusiliers from the 4th Bn were actually killed in action or died of wounds between the 25th and 27th of Oct 1917.
© Neil Storey 2004.
www.4thbnnf.com/45_171024_171026_ 2nd_passchendaele.html
A C Savage
Name: SAVAGE, ALFRED CHARLES
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Regiment: Suffolk Regiment
Unit Text: 8th Bn.
Age: 24
Date of Death: 31/07/1917
Additional information: Son of William W. and Annie Savage, of 13, Chalk Hill Rd., Norwich.
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 21. Memorial: YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=921423
Alfred Charles can be seen here
norlink.norfolk.gov.uk/02_Catalogue/02_013_PictureTitleIn...
The picture was taken in 1917, so presumably shortly after he was commissioned in May, (it was taken at Coe’s Studios in Norwich) as he then travelled to France and was dead by July. Sobering thought.
Additional notes from Norlink
Second Lieutenant Savage was the son of William W. Savage of Norwich. On release from business he joined the 10th Norfolks in February 1916, held an Aldershot certificate as instructor and received his commission on May 1917. He was educated at Norwich Secondary School. Killed in action 31st July 1917 at Hooge.
The 8 year old Alfred C, born Norwich, is recorded on the 1901 census at 16 Ella Road, in the Parish of St Matthews. This is the household of his parents, William W, (aged 38 and a Shoe Manufacturer from Norwich) and Annie, (aged 33 and from Aldershot in Hampshire). Their other children are:-
Bertram J…………….aged 10.……………born Norwich
Donald J……………..aged 6.……………..born Norwich (see below)
Dorothy………………aged 1.……………..born Norwich
Wallace……………..aged 5.………………born Norwich
William H…………..aged 11.……………..born Norwich..(see below)
There is a likely Medal Index Card for a Alfred Savage which shows him as a Lance Sergeant (TR/A/263) in a Training Battalion before becoming a Lieutenant in the Suffolk Regiment .
The Battle of Passchendaele
18th Division
53 Bde
53 Bde’s task was to leapfrog 30th Div once Glencorse Wood had been taken.
8th Bn, Suffolk Regt arrived in Jackdaw Trench at 8.10am to find Glencorse Wood stille in enemy hands despite reports to the contrary. They dug in near Clapham Junction. Meanwhile 6th Bn, Berkshire Regt bogged down on the Menin Road also under fire from Glencorse Wood. With the help of 79 Coy, RE they destroyed some pill boxes between road and wood. Five tanks sent to assist bogged down in mud and were destroyed by shell-fire. By 10am they had dug in at the cross roads north west of Glencorse Wood.
forum.irishmilitaryonline.com/showthread.php?t=11535
The Suffolks lost 59 dead on this day according to the entries on the CWGC database.
D J Savage
Name: SAVAGE Initials: D J
Rank: Private
Regiment: Norfolk Regiment
Unit Text: 1st/4th Bn.
Date of Death: 19/04/1917
Service No: 200425
Grave/Memorial Reference: XXIII. F. 2. Cemetery: GAZA WAR CEMETERY
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=651255
There is a picture of Donald John Savage of the 1st/4th Norfolks who was posted missing after the Battle of Gaza on the 19th April 1917, on Norlink.
norlink.norfolk.gov.uk/02_Catalogue/02_013_PictureTitleIn...
Norlink notes Private Savage lived at 13, Chalk Hill Road, Norwich. He enlisted in September 1914, and was reported missing at Gaza on 19th April 1917
This would make him the brother of Alfred Charles listed above and William Harry below.
19th April 1917 During the 2nd Battle of Gaza,
Facing the Tank Redoubt was the 161st Brigade of the 54th Division. To their right were the two Australian battalions (1st and 3rd) of the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade who had dismounted about 4,000 yards from their objective. As the infantry went in to attack at 7.30am they were joined by a single tank called "The Nutty" which attracted a lot of shell fire. The tank followed a wayward path towards the redoubt on the summit of a knoll where it was fired on point blank by four field guns until it was stopped and set alight in the middle of the position.
The infantry and the 1st Camel Battalion, having suffered heavy casualties on their approach, now made a bayonet charge against the trenches. About 30 "Camels" and 20 of the British infantry (soldiers of the 5th (territorial Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment) reached the redoubt, then occupied by around 600 Turks who immediately broke and fled towards their second line of defences to the rear.
The British and Australians held on unsupported for about two hours by which time most had been wounded. With no reinforcements at hand and a Turkish counter-attack imminent, the survivors endeavoured to escape back to their own lines.
To the right (west) of Tank Redoubt, the 3rd Camel Battalion, advancing in the gap between two redoubts, actually made the furthest advance of the battle, crossing the Gaza-Beersheba Road and occupying a pair of low hills (dubbed "Jack" and "Jill"). As the advances on their flanks faltered, the "Camels" were forced to retreat to avoid being isolated.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Gaza
More than a thousand one hundred of the men of the 54th posted killed wounded or missing were from the two Norfolk regiment battalions, equating to 75% of their strength. Eastern Daily Press "Sunday" section May 5, 2007
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Gaza
On 19th April the Norfolks took part in a disastrous attempt to take Gaza. In this action casualties for the battalion were 478 (55 killed, 323 wounded and 100 missing).
www.oldbuckenham-pri.norfolk.procms.co.uk/pages/viewpage....
W H Savage
Name: SAVAGE, WILLIAM HARRY
Rank: Serjeant
Regiment: South Staffordshire Regiment
Unit Text: 1st Bn.
Age: 28
Date of Death: 26/10/1917
Service No: 41669
Additional information: Son of William W. and Annie Savage, of 13, Chalk Hill Rd., Norwich.
Memorial Reference: Panel 90 to 92 and 162 to 162A. Memorial: TYNE COT MEMORIAL
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=828742
There is a picture of William Harry here
norlink.norfolk.gov.uk/02_Catalogue/02_013_PictureTitleIn...
The picture title includes the information that he was 10th “Royal” Norfolks before transferring to the 1st South Staffs.
Additional Norlink notes: Sergeant Savage lived at 13, Chalk Hill Road, Norwich. He enlisted in September 1914, and was killed in action or died of wounds on 26th October 1917
William was a brother of Alfred Charles and Donald John - see above.
Friday 26th October 1917 - Day 82
Rainfall 8 mm
Today marks the start of the Second Battle of Passchendaele. Zero Hour was 5.40 am.
91 Bde
91 Bde attacked with 1st Bn, South Staffordshire Regt, 21st Bn, Manchester Regt and 2nd Bn, Queen’s Regt with 20th Manchesters in Support.
The Queen’s attempted to take Lewis House but were driven bck to the Start Line by MG fire as were the Manchesters. The South Staffs started well as they were in dead ground and they took a mound southwest of Hamp Farm. From here D Coy attempted to take the farm itself and C Coy attacked Berry Cottage. Both attacks were unsuccessful with the two companies suffering heavily from MG fire.
forum.irishmilitaryonline.com/showthread.php?t=11535&...
A Semmence
Name: SEMMENCE, ALBERT DAVEY
Rank: Regimental Serjeant Major
Regiment: Norfolk Regiment
Unit Text: 2nd Bn.
Age: 40
Date of Death: 14/04/1915
Service No: 3326
Additional information: Son of Mr. and Mrs. George Semmence, of Wymondham, Norfolk; husband of Daisy Gillies Semmence, of 6, Belsize Rd., Norwich.
Grave/Memorial Reference: III. E. 7. Cemetery: BASRA WAR CEMETERY
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=631465
Albert can be seen here
norlink.norfolk.gov.uk/02_Catalogue/02_013_PictureTitleIn...
The additional Norlink notes are:
Regimental Sergeant Major Semmence was born in Wymondham on 29th November 1874, and educated at Wymondham Grammar School. He enlisted as a Private on 3rd October 1892, and was killed in action at Shaiba, Mesopotamia, on 14th April 1915
Albert is also remembered on the Wymondham Town War Memorial.
In due course the Turks initiated their offensive with simultaneous preliminary bombardments of Shaiba and Qurna on 11 April 1915. In the latter case the bombardment of the British 6th (Poona) Division progressed for three days while periodic attempts at piercing the town's defences were unsuccessfully attempted; eventually a counter-attack by the 2nd Dorsets and 24th Punjabis routed the Turks with heavy losses.
However the Turks' main effort was launched at Shaiba.
On 13 April, two days after the bombardment of the town started, Turkish troops attempted to outflank the British across the floods that separated Shaiba from Basra, while Turk cavalry prepared for a frontal assault.
However the timely intervention of two British Infantry battalions served to rapidly disperse the Turk cavalry, resulting in a full withdrawal by the latter into woods nearby. Possession of these were in turn secured by the British following an infantry battle throughout 14 April.
Casualties during the woodland battle were heavy: the Turks incurred around 2,400 casualties, and the British around half that number. Some 5,000 troops on each side were involved in the fighting in all.
www.firstworldwar.com/battles/shaiba.htm
On April 12th 1915 after some days of probing assaults a force of some 12,000 Turks and 10,000 Arabs attacked Shaiba where the Norfolks were located. They did not take the town but retired to dig in about 1500 yards from our lines to continue their assaults. Reinforcements were sent for from Basra but the floods hindered them. The following is from the Hunts Post dated 28th May 1915 and it tells a little of the action at Shaiba during those few days in April.
"Sgt and Mrs Dighton of Spaldwick have received several interesting letters from their eldest son Pte Whit Dighton of the 2nd Norfolks who has been on active service in the Persian Gulf since last November and is possibly the only representative from the Huntingdon district out there, .......... Pte Dighton says the country in which he is now located is a desert, miles away from any town, with blinding sandstorms which are far worse than rain. After four days terrific fighting against a superior body of Turks, "suddenly we received the order to charge. We fixed bayonets and put all the strength into it we could. The Turks were completely taken by surprise, and we were upon them in a flash. Their confusion was indescribable. They ran for their lives, thousands of them, and we quickly occupied their trenches, and simply potted them over like ninepins. As they ran some threw away their arms and surrendered. Our artillery completed their rout. Their losses totalled some thousands ....... I cannot speak too highly of our officers; they are bricks - every one of them. One gave me his last drop of water from his bottle, or I don't think I should have been left to tell the tale."
On the 13th April the Norfolks had broken out to rush the Turkish front line trenches and took them at bayonet point. They did not immediately pursue the enemy to the second line but rested up. They had been under harassment for some days and directly under arms for 36 hours continuously. On the 14th April an attack on the Turkish second line entrenchments began at noon with White 18th Brigade on the right of the line and the 16th Brigade on the left. This developed into a stationary firefight, in the heat of the midday sun. At 4 pm a last British effort was made and the Turkish rear lines fell.
www.roll-of-honour.com/Huntingdonshire/SpaldwickDighton.html
E M Sendall
Name: SENDALL, EDMUND MATHIAS
Rank: Private
Regiment: Norfolk Regiment
Unit Text: 1st/4th Bn.
Age: 28
Date of Death: 19/08/1915
Service No: 4368
Additional information: Husband of the late Ellen E. Sendall.
Memorial Reference: Panel 42 to 44. Memorial: HELLES MEMORIAL
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=682013
No match on Norlink
The 11 year Edmund, born Norwich, is recorded on the 1901 census at 40 Carrow Road, in the Parish of St Matthews. This is the household of his parents, Alfred, (aged 53 and a Boot Maker from Norwich) and Mary A. (aged 48 and from Norwich). Their other children are:-
Alfred………..aged 18.………born Norwich….General Labourer
Charles……….aged 16.………born Norwich…..Houseboy Domestic
Ethel………….aged 7.………..born Norwich
Mary A……….aged 9.………..born Norwich
Sarah A……….aged 17.………born Norwich…..Bootmaker
An Edmund M Sendall married an Eleanor R Palmer in the April to June 1915 quarter in the Wayland District of Norfolk.
1/4th Battalion
August 1914 : in Norwich. Part of Norfolk and Suffolk Brigade, East Anglian Division.
May 1915 : the formation was retitled as 163rd Brigade, 54th (East Anglian) Division.
29 July 1915 : embarked at Liverpool and moved to Gallipoli via Mudros. Landed at Suvla Bay on 10 August 1915.
www.1914-1918.net/norfolks.htm
Between the 10th and the 19th, the 1st/4ths were continuously losing men, including a number on the 12th when the 1st/5th advanced into the scrub and pretty much “disappeared”, leaving the 1st/4ths covering the line and providing covering fire for the few stragglers that returned. Many of the wounded and sick were treated offshore on Hospital Ships. Unable to leave position and overwhelmed by the numbers, many of the dead were simply “buried at sea” and subsequently commemorated on the Helles Memorial.
Captain Montgomerie's diary of events in the 1/4th Battalion whilst in the neighbourhood of Jephson's Post on this day is as follows
19th. - All. quiet during day. Worked hard all night fetching food, water, etc., and improving the trenches.
user.online.be/~snelders/sand.htm
A Senior
Military Genealogy has an Alfred born Thorpe Hamlet, but there is no obvious match from the 12 possibles on the CWGC database and there is no match on Norlink. CWGC does have an Lance Corporal A Senior from the 7th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, but there is no age of any other additional information that might connect him.
www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=250638
However the Great War Roll of Honour does confirm he was an Alfred.
The 1901 census has a 9 year old Alfred R, born Norwich, who is recorded at 87 Quebec Road East, in the Parish of St Matthews. This is the household of his parents, Alfred N. (aged 48 and a Wheelwright from Gloucester) and Kate G, (aged 47 and from Norwich). Their other children are:-
Arthur E…………..aged 18.………………..born Norwich………….Gardener (Domestic) - see below
Ernest M………….aged 6.…………………born Norwich - see below
Eva A……………..aged 23.………………..born Norwich…………Tailoress
Frank W…………..aged 14.……………….born Norwich………Blacksmith (Beer Making)
Horace W…………aged 16.……………….born Norwich………Wheelwright
Nellie M…………..aged 21.……………….born Norwich…….Drapers Shop Assistant
Richard P………….aged 20.……………….born Norwich……Engine Fitter
Stanley G………….aged 11.……………….born Norwich
Like his brother Arthur, Alfred was awarded the Military Medal.
A E Senior
Military Genealogy has an Arthur Ernest born and resident Norwich. The most likely possible is
Name: SENIOR, ARTHUR ERNEST
Rank: Serjeant
Regiment: Rifle Brigade
Unit Text: 1st Bn.
Date of Death: 23/10/1916
Service No: 750
Awards: M M
Memorial Reference: Pier and Face 16 B and 16 C. Memorial: THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=812024
No match on Norlink
The only Arthur listed on the 1901 census with a Norwich connection is the brother of Alfred above and Ernest below. (See Alfred for family details).
26th October 1916
Lesboeufs
4th Div attacked here with two brigades, 12 Bde on the left and 11 Bde on the right.
In 11 Bde, 1st Hampshires were halted by fire from Boritska Trench, as were the French on their right flank. 1st Rifle Brigade came up in support but were only able to establish posts short of the objective.
forum.irishmilitaryonline.com/showthread.php?t=9058&p...
E M Senior
Name: SENIOR, ERNEST MONTAGUE
Rank: Lance Corporal
Regiment: The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
Unit Text: 6th Bn.
Age: 22
Date of Death: 10/04/1917
Service No: 40097 Additional information: Son of Alfred Henry and Kate Gertrude Senior; husband of Hannah Maria Senior, of 63, Cohens Rd., Thorpe, Norwich.
Grave/Memorial Reference: I. P. 8. Cemetery: DUISANS BRITISH CEMETERY, ETRUN
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=41199
I suspect that should be Cozens Road.
No match on Norlink.
See brother Alfred above for family details.
The 12th Division, of which the 6th The Queens were part, (as was the 7th Norfolks) were heavily engaged in the opening two days of the Battle of Arras, and were part of the initial Allied success.
J Sexton
Name: SEXTON, JAMES HORACE
Rank: Private
Regiment: The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
Unit Text: 6th Bn.
Age: 19
Date of Death: 04/07/1918
Service No: 63691
Additional information: Son of Herbert and Jane Sexton, of 7, St. Matthew's Rd., Thorpe Hamlet, Norwich.
Grave/Memorial Reference: I. N. 22. Cemetery: GEZAINCOURT COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=35619
No match on Norlink
The 2 year old James, born Norwich, was recorded on the 1901 census at 7 St Matthews Road, in the Parish of St Matthews. This was the household of his parents, Herbert J. (aged 34 and a Wheelwright from Norwich) and Jane, (aged 31 and from Thornham, Norfolk). Their other children are:-
Gladys J………….aged 3.…………..born Norwich
Herbert…………..aged 11.………….born Norwich
Montague………..aged 8.…………..born Norwich
The Battalion had been engaged in a successful attack on the 30th June, but they and fellow Brigade unit’s the Bedfords and the Royal West Kents, were subject to repeated counter-attacks on the 1st. Contact was lost with the Bedfords and the West Surreys were forced back to what had been the old German Front line trench. They were relieved about 5 am on the 2nd and moved back to the Reserve line. The 3rd was reported as very quiet, and on the 4th they were pulled out of the line altogether.
J R Shingles
Name: SHINGLES, JOHN
Rank: Private
Regiment: Essex Regiment
Unit Text: 1st Bn.
Secondary Regiment: Norfolk Regiment
Secondary Unit Text: formerly (16864),
Age: 28
Date of Death: 12/10/1916
Service No: 20977
Additional information: Son of George and Sarah Anne Shingles, of 167 Albert Rd., Quebec Rd., Norwich.
Memorial Reference: Pier and Face 10 D. Memorial: THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=1552573
No match on Norlink
The Great War Roll of Honour has John down as serving in the Essex Regiment at his time of death., Private 20977. Strangely his Medal Index Card, (which only lists him as J.Shingles) appears to have no reference to him being in the Norfolks.
The 11 year old John, born Norwich, is recorded on the 1901 census at 12 Albert Place, Gas Hill in the Parish of St Matthews. This is the household of his parents, George, (aged 49 and a Carter from Burlingham, Norfolk) and Sarah A, (aged 45 and from Burlingham) Their other children are:-
Alice…………..aged 16.………..born Thorpe St.Andrews…………General Domestic Servant
George…………aged 19.……….born Great Plumstead
Gerty………….aged 10.…………born Norwich
Kate …………..aged 14.………..born Thorpe St Andrews………….General Domestic Servant
Mabel…………aged 3.………….born Norwich
May……………aged 7.…………born Norwich
Samuel………..aged 22.…………born Great Plumstead……………Road Labourer
Stephen……….aged 6.…………..born Norwich
After having spent 10 weeks in the Ypres Salient the 88th Brigade, the brigade in which the Royal Newfoundland Regiment was serving, was temporarily attached to the British 12th Division, which was holding Gueudecourt. By nightfall on October 10, the regiment was manning a 450-metre section of the trench on the northern outskirts of the village.
The attack began at 2:05 pm on 12 October 1916. The regiment advanced in line with the 1st Essex Battalion on their left. The men kept so close to the supporting artillery barrage that several became casualties from the shrapnel of their own supporting guns. Likewise, the Germans were compelled by the shelling to remain under cover and as a result were quickly engaged in hand-to-hand fighting. By 2:30 p.m. both assaulting battalions of the 88th Brigade had secured their initial objective, Hilt Trench in the German front line.
As the Newfoundlanders advanced to their final objective, Grease Trench some 750 metres from their starting line, heavy machine-gun fire coming from the front and the right flank forced the regiment back to Hilt Trench. On their left flank, a German counter-attack drove the 1st Essex Battalion back to the outskirts of Gueudecourt, leaving the Newfoundlanders with an open flank. Newfoundland bombing parties cleared and secured the vacated portion of Hilt Trench and as a result doubled the length of the regiment's front line. All ranks began digging in the hard chalk to construct a new firing step and parapet and reverse the former German position.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gueudecourt_(Newfoundland)_Memorial
A R Shreeve
Name: SHREEVE, ALAN ROBERT
Rank: Lance Serjeant
Regiment: Gloucestershire Regiment
Unit Text: 2nd/6th Bn.
Age: 23
Date of Death: 19/07/1916
Service No: 367208
Additional information: Son of Charles Robert and Alice Shreeve, of 36, Plumstead Rd., Norwich.
Memorial Reference: Panel 60 to 64. Memorial: LOOS MEMORIAL
CWGC www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=1768924
Alan can be seen here
norlink.norfolk.gov.uk/02_Catalogue/02_013_PictureTitleIn...
Norlink notes include that he was formerly of the 1st/6th Norfolks.
19 July 1916
Whilst the Battle of the Somme was raging, the British Commander in Chief General Sir Douglas Haig decided to open a more modest battle in the area of Armentières near the Belgian border.
Part of his reasoning was that the German Army was moving men south away from this area in an effort to shore up their defences on the Somme. An attack here towards Lille would put them in a dilemma as to whether or not they could thin out this sector any further.
Fromelles is a small village on the Aubers Ridge to the south of Armentières. Most of the area that was held by the Allies is very flat with a number of water features and streams.
Behind Fromelles and Aubers lies the ridge which easily overlooks the battlefield.
The Battle
The objectives of the Australian 5th Division and the British 61st Division on their right were to capture the village and the ridge.
The attack was centred around a point known as the Sugarloaf and at 1100 hours on 19 July 1916 the British artillery put down a bombardment on the German front line as the infantry made their way up to their jumping off points.
From their vantage point and on a bright summers day the Germans could see the attack preparing and launched a counter bombardment onto the communication trenches as the men were making their way to the front.
The German bombardment wreaked havoc on the Australian's lines. As men were trying to get forward, wounded were trying to push their way back to the Aid Posts adding to the chaos.
The two bombardments continued until at 1800 hours the infantry finally launched their assault.
On the left of the Australian line, the 8th and 14th Brigades swiftly took the German front line and started to consolidate their positions. The 15th Brigade next to the British in the centre however was struggling across wide open ground in the teeth of fierce machine gun fire.
On the right of Sugar Loaf the 61st Division had also been halted by uncut wire. In a scene familiar to those on the Somme not three weeks earlier, the Allied bombardment had failed in its objective of cutting the wire and destroying the German positions.
An attempt to organise a truce with the Germans to bring in the wounded was refused by the Allied Commanders, despite having been agreed to by the German Commander.
The battle had been a complete disaster.
www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_fromelles.htm
Alan is also remembered on the Roll of Honour at The United Reform Church at Princes Street in the City
Originally situated at Georgetown, Merthyr Tydfil and believed to have been built circa 1800 this communal bread oven was removed to St Fagans Museum in 1987.
Before bakeries were common on the high street, the oven would originally have served a number of iron-workers houses with each tenanted house being allocated a baking day so everything baked that day would have to last the week.
It is stated that to get a good heat seal the oven door was sealed with cow dung, I'm not sure what flavours this might have imparted to the baking?!
Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky (Russian: Владимир Семёнович Высоцкий, IPA: [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr sʲɪˈmʲɵnəvʲɪtɕ vɨˈsotskʲɪj]; 25 January 1938 – 25 July 1980), was a Soviet singer-songwriter, poet, and actor who had an immense and enduring effect on Soviet culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street-jargon. He was also a prominent stage- and screen-actor. Though the official Soviet cultural establishment largely ignored his work, he was remarkably popular during his lifetime, and to this day exerts significant influence on many of Russia's musicians and actors.
Vysotsky was born in Moscow at the 3rd Meshchanskaya St. (61/2) maternity hospital. His father, Semyon Volfovich (Vladimirovich) (1915–1997), was a colonel in the Soviet army, originally from Kiev. Vladimir's mother, Nina Maksimovna, (née Seryogina, 1912–2003) was Russian, and worked as a German language translator.[3] Vysotsky's family lived in a Moscow communal flat in harsh conditions, and had serious financial difficulties. When Vladimir was 10 months old, Nina had to return to her office in the Transcript bureau of the Soviet Ministry of Geodesy and Cartography (engaged in making German maps available for the Soviet military) so as to help her husband earn their family's living.
Vladimir's theatrical inclinations became obvious at an early age, and were supported by his paternal grandmother Dora Bronshteyn, a theater fan. The boy used to recite poems, standing on a chair and "flinging hair backwards, like a real poet," often using in his public speeches expressions he could hardly have heard at home. Once, at the age of two, when he had tired of the family's guests' poetry requests, he, according to his mother, sat himself under the New-year tree with a frustrated air about him and sighed: "You silly tossers! Give a child some respite!" His sense of humor was extraordinary, but often baffling for people around him. A three-year-old could jeer his father in a bathroom with unexpected poetic improvisation ("Now look what's here before us / Our goat's to shave himself!") or appall unwanted guests with some street folk song, promptly steering them away. Vysotsky remembered those first three years of his life in the autobiographical Ballad of Childhood (Баллада о детстве, 1975), one of his best-known songs.
As World War II broke out, Semyon Vysotsky, a military reserve officer, joined the Soviet army and went to fight the Nazis. Nina and Vladimir were evacuated to the village of Vorontsovka, in Orenburg Oblast where the boy had to spend six days a week in a kindergarten and his mother worked for twelve hours a day in a chemical factory. In 1943, both returned to their Moscow apartment at 1st Meschanskaya St., 126. In September 1945, Vladimir joined the 1st class of the 273rd Moscow Rostokino region School.
In December 1946, Vysotsky's parents divorced. From 1947 to 1949, Vladimir lived with Semyon Vladimirovich (then an army Major) and his Armenian wife, Yevgenya Stepanovna Liholatova, whom the boy called "aunt Zhenya", at a military base in Eberswalde in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany (later East Germany). "We decided that our son would stay with me. Vladimir came to stay with me in January 1947, and my second wife, Yevgenia, became Vladimir's second mother for many years to come. They had much in common and liked each other, which made me really happy," Semyon Vysotsky later remembered. Here living conditions, compared to those of Nina's communal Moscow flat, were infinitely better; the family occupied the whole floor of a two-storeyed house, and the boy had a room to himself for the first time in his life. In 1949 along with his stepmother Vladimir returned to Moscow. There he joined the 5th class of the Moscow 128th School and settled at Bolshoy Karetny [ru], 15 (where they had to themselves two rooms of a four-roomed flat), with "auntie Zhenya" (who was just 28 at the time), a woman of great kindness and warmth whom he later remembered as his second mother. In 1953 Vysotsky, now much interested in theater and cinema, joined the Drama courses led by Vladimir Bogomolov.[7] "No one in my family has had anything to do with arts, no actors or directors were there among them. But my mother admired theater and from the earliest age... each and every Saturday I've been taken up with her to watch one play or the other. And all of this, it probably stayed with me," he later reminisced. The same year he received his first ever guitar, a birthday present from Nina Maksimovna; a close friend, bard and a future well-known Soviet pop lyricist Igor Kokhanovsky taught him basic chords. In 1955 Vladimir re-settled into his mother's new home at 1st Meshchanskaya, 76. In June of the same year he graduated from school with five A's.
In 1955, Vladimir enrolled into the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering, but dropped out after just one semester to pursue an acting career. In June 1956 he joined Boris Vershilov's class at the Moscow Art Theatre Studio-Institute. It was there that he met the 3rd course student Iza Zhukova who four years later became his wife; soon the two lovers settled at the 1st Meschanskaya flat, in a common room, shielded off by a folding screen. It was also in the Studio that Vysotsky met Bulat Okudzhava for the first time, an already popular underground bard. He was even more impressed by his Russian literature teacher Andrey Sinyavsky who along with his wife often invited students to his home to stage improvised disputes and concerts. In 1958 Vysotsky's got his first Moscow Art Theatre role: that of Porfiry Petrovich in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. In 1959 he was cast in his first cinema role, that of student Petya in Vasily Ordynsky's The Yearlings (Сверстницы). On 20 June 1960, Vysotsky graduated from the MAT theater institute and joined the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre (led by Boris Ravenskikh at the time) where he spent (with intervals) almost three troubled years. These were marred by numerous administrative sanctions, due to "lack of discipline" and occasional drunken sprees which were a reaction, mainly, to the lack of serious roles and his inability to realise his artistic potential. A short stint in 1962 at the Moscow Theater of Miniatures (administered at the time by Vladimir Polyakov) ended with him being fired, officially "for a total lack of sense of humour."
Vysotsky's second and third films, Dima Gorin's Career and 713 Requests Permission to Land, were interesting only for the fact that in both he had to be beaten up (in the first case by Aleksandr Demyanenko). "That was the way cinema greeted me," he later jokingly remarked. In 1961, Vysotsky wrote his first ever proper song, called "Tattoo" (Татуировка), which started a long and colourful cycle of artfully stylized criminal underworld romantic stories, full of undercurrents and witty social comments. In June 1963, while shooting Penalty Kick (directed by Veniamin Dorman and starring Mikhail Pugovkin), Vysotsky used the Gorky Film Studio to record an hour-long reel-to-reel cassette of his own songs; copies of it quickly spread and the author's name became known in Moscow and elsewhere (although many of these songs were often being referred to as either "traditional" or "anonymous"). Just several months later Riga-based chess grandmaster Mikhail Tal was heard praising the author of "Bolshoy Karetny" (Большой Каретный) and Anna Akhmatova (in a conversation with Joseph Brodsky) was quoting Vysotsky's number "I was the soul of a bad company..." taking it apparently for some brilliant piece of anonymous street folklore. In October 1964 Vysotsky recorded in chronological order 48 of his own songs, his first self-made Complete works of... compilation, which boosted his popularity as a new Moscow folk underground star.
In 1964, director Yuri Lyubimov invited Vysotsky to join the newly created Taganka Theatre. "'I've written some songs of my own. Won't you listen?' – he asked. I agreed to listen to just one of them, expecting our meeting to last for no more than five minutes. Instead I ended up listening to him for an entire 1.5 hours," Lyubimov remembered years later of this first audition. On 19 September 1964, Vysotsky debuted in Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan as the Second God (not to count two minor roles). A month later he came on stage as a dragoon captain (Bela's father) in Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time. It was in Taganka that Vysotsky started to sing on stage; the War theme becoming prominent in his musical repertoire. In 1965 Vysotsky appeared in the experimental Poet and Theater (Поэт и Театр, February) show, based on Andrey Voznesensky's work and then Ten Days that Shook the World (after John Reed's book, April) and was commissioned by Lyubimov to write songs exclusively for Taganka's new World War II play. The Fallen and the Living (Павшие и Живые), premiered in October 1965, featured Vysotsky's "Stars" (Звёзды), "The Soldiers of Heeresgruppe Mitte" (Солдаты группы "Центр") and "Penal Battalions" (Штрафные батальоны), the striking examples of a completely new kind of a war song, never heard in his country before. As veteran screenwriter Nikolay Erdman put it (in conversation with Lyubimov), "Professionally, I can well understand how Mayakovsky or Seryozha Yesenin were doing it. How Volodya Vysotsky does it is totally beyond me." With his songs – in effect, miniature theatrical dramatizations (usually with a protagonist and full of dialogues), Vysotsky instantly achieved such level of credibility that real life former prisoners, war veterans, boxers, footballers refused to believe that the author himself had never served his time in prisons and labor camps, or fought in the War, or been a boxing/football professional. After the second of the two concerts at the Leningrad Molecular Physics institute (that was his actual debut as a solo musical performer) Vysotsky left a note for his fans in a journal which ended with words: "Now that you've heard all these songs, please, don't you make a mistake of mixing me with my characters, I am not like them at all. With love, Vysotsky, 20 April 1965, XX c." Excuses of this kind he had to make throughout his performing career. At least one of Vysotsky's song themes – that of alcoholic abuse – was worryingly autobiographical, though. By the time his breakthrough came in 1967, he'd suffered several physical breakdowns and once was sent (by Taganka's boss) to a rehabilitation clinic, a visit he on several occasions repeated since.
Brecht's Life of Galileo (premiered on 17 May 1966), transformed by Lyubimov into a powerful allegory of Soviet intelligentsia's set of moral and intellectual dilemmas, brought Vysotsky his first leading theater role (along with some fitness lessons: he had to perform numerous acrobatic tricks on stage). Press reaction was mixed, some reviewers disliked the actor's overt emotionalism, but it was for the first time ever that Vysotsky's name appeared in Soviet papers. Film directors now were treating him with respect. Viktor Turov's war film I Come from the Childhood where Vysotsky got his first ever "serious" (neither comical, nor villainous) role in cinema, featured two of his songs: a spontaneous piece called "When It's Cold" (Холода) and a dark, Unknown soldier theme-inspired classic "Common Graves" (На братских могилах), sung behind the screen by the legendary Mark Bernes.
Stanislav Govorukhin and Boris Durov's The Vertical (1967), a mountain climbing drama, starring Vysotsky (as Volodya the radioman), brought him all-round recognition and fame. Four of the numbers used in the film (including "Song of a Friend [fi]" (Песня о друге), released in 1968 by the Soviet recording industry monopolist Melodiya disc to become an unofficial hit) were written literally on the spot, nearby Elbrus, inspired by professional climbers' tales and one curious hotel bar conversation with a German guest who 25 years ago happened to climb these very mountains in a capacity of an Edelweiss division fighter. Another 1967 film, Kira Muratova's Brief Encounters featured Vysotsky as the geologist Maxim (paste-bearded again) with a now trademark off-the-cuff musical piece, a melancholy improvisation called "Things to Do" (Дела). All the while Vysotsky continued working hard at Taganka, with another important role under his belt (that of Mayakovsky or, rather one of the latter character's five different versions) in the experimental piece called Listen! (Послушайте!), and now regularly gave semi-official concerts where audiences greeted him as a cult hero.
In the end of 1967 Vysotsky got another pivotal theater role, that of Khlopusha [ru] in Pugachov (a play based on a poem by Sergei Yesenin), often described as one of Taganka's finest. "He put into his performance all the things that he excelled at and, on the other hand, it was Pugachyov that made him discover his own potential," – Soviet critic Natalya Krymova wrote years later. Several weeks after the premiere, infuriated by the actor's increasing unreliability triggered by worsening drinking problems, Lyubimov fired him – only to let him back again several months later (and thus begin the humiliating sacked-then-pardoned routine which continued for years). In June 1968 a Vysotsky-slagging campaign was launched in the Soviet press. First Sovetskaya Rossiya commented on the "epidemic spread of immoral, smutty songs," allegedly promoting "criminal world values, alcoholism, vice and immorality" and condemned their author for "sowing seeds of evil." Then Komsomolskaya Pravda linked Vysotsky with black market dealers selling his tapes somewhere in Siberia. Composer Dmitry Kabalevsky speaking from the Union of Soviet Composers' Committee tribune criticised the Soviet radio for giving an ideologically dubious, "low-life product" like "Song of a Friend" (Песня о друге) an unwarranted airplay. Playwright Alexander Stein who in his Last Parade play used several of Vysotsky's songs, was chastised by a Ministry of Culture official for "providing a tribune for this anti-Soviet scum." The phraseology prompted commentators in the West to make parallels between Vysotsky and Mikhail Zoschenko, another Soviet author who'd been officially labeled "scum" some 20 years ago.
Two of Vysotsky's 1968 films, Gennady Poloka's Intervention (premiered in May 1987) where he was cast as Brodsky, a dodgy even if highly artistic character, and Yevgeny Karelov's Two Comrades Were Serving (a gun-toting White Army officer Brusentsov who in the course of the film shoots his friend, his horse, Oleg Yankovsky's good guy character and, finally himself) – were severely censored, first of them shelved for twenty years. At least four of Vysotsky's 1968 songs, "Save Our Souls" (Спасите наши души), "The Wolfhunt" (Охота на волков), "Gypsy Variations" (Моя цыганская) and "The Steam-bath in White" (Банька по-белому), were hailed later as masterpieces. It was at this point that 'proper' love songs started to appear in Vysotsky's repertoire, documenting the beginning of his passionate love affair with French actress Marina Vlady.
In 1969 Vysotsky starred in two films: The Master of Taiga where he played a villainous Siberian timber-floating brigadier, and more entertaining Dangerous Tour. The latter was criticized in the Soviet press for taking a farcical approach to the subject of the Bolshevik underground activities but for a wider Soviet audience this was an important opportunity to enjoy the charismatic actor's presence on big screen. In 1970, after visiting the dislodged Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at his dacha and having a lengthy conversation with him, Vysotsky embarked on a massive and by Soviet standards dangerously commercial concert tour in Soviet Central Asia and then brought Marina Vlady to director Viktor Turov's place so as to investigate her Belarusian roots. The pair finally wed on 1 December 1970 (causing furore among the Moscow cultural and political elite) and spent a honeymoon in Georgia. This was the highly productive period for Vysotsky, resulting in numerous new songs, including the anthemic "I Hate" (Я не люблю), sentimental "Lyricale" (Лирическая) and dramatic war epics "He Didn't Return from the Battle" (Он не вернулся из боя) and "The Earth Song" (Песня о Земле) among many others.
In 1971 a drinking spree-related nervous breakdown brought Vysotsky to the Moscow Kashchenko clinic [ru]. By this time he has been suffering from alcoholism. Many of his songs from this period deal, either directly or metaphorically, with alcoholism and insanity. Partially recovered (due to the encouraging presence of Marina Vladi), Vysotsky embarked on a successful Ukrainian concert tour and wrote a cluster of new songs. On 29 November 1971 Taganka's Hamlet premiered, a groundbreaking Lyubimov's production with Vysotsky in the leading role, that of a lone intellectual rebel, rising to fight the cruel state machine.
Also in 1971 Vysotsky was invited to play the lead in The Sannikov Land, the screen adaptation of Vladimir Obruchev's science fiction,[47] which he wrote several songs for, but was suddenly dropped for the reason of his face "being too scandalously recognisable" as a state official put it. One of the songs written for the film, a doom-laden epic allegory "Capricious Horses" (Кони привередливые), became one of the singer's signature tunes. Two of Vysotsky's 1972 film roles were somewhat meditative: an anonymous American journalist in The Fourth One and the "righteous guy" von Koren in The Bad Good Man (based on Anton Chekov's Duel). The latter brought Vysotsky the Best Male Role prize at the V Taormina Film Fest. This philosophical slant rubbed off onto some of his new works of the time: "A Singer at the Microphone" (Певец у микрофона), "The Tightrope Walker" (Канатоходец), two new war songs ("We Spin the Earth", "Black Pea-Coats") and "The Grief" (Беда), a folkish girl's lament, later recorded by Marina Vladi and subsequently covered by several female performers. Popular proved to be his 1972 humorous songs: "Mishka Shifman" (Мишка Шифман), satirizing the leaving-for-Israel routine, "Victim of the Television" which ridiculed the concept of "political consciousness," and "The Honour of the Chess Crown" (Честь шахматной короны) about an ever-fearless "simple Soviet man" challenging the much feared American champion Bobby Fischer to a match.
In 1972 he stepped up in Soviet Estonian TV where he presented his songs and gave an interview. The name of the show was "Young Man from Taganka" (Noormees Tagankalt).
In April 1973 Vysotsky visited Poland and France. Predictable problems concerning the official permission were sorted after the French Communist Party leader Georges Marchais made a personal phone call to Leonid Brezhnev who, according to Marina Vlady's memoirs, rather sympathized with the stellar couple. Having found on return a potentially dangerous lawsuit brought against him (concerning some unsanctioned concerts in Siberia the year before), Vysotsky wrote a defiant letter to the Minister of Culture Pyotr Demichev. As a result, he was granted the status of a philharmonic artist, 11.5 roubles per concert now guaranteed. Still the 900 rubles fine had to be paid according to the court verdict, which was a substantial sum, considering his monthly salary at the theater was 110 rubles. That year Vysotsky wrote some thirty songs for "Alice in Wonderland," an audioplay where he himself has been given several minor roles. His best known songs of 1973 included "The Others' Track" (Чужая колея), "The Flight Interrupted" (Прерванный полёт) and "The Monument", all pondering on his achievements and legacy.
In 1974 Melodiya released the 7" EP, featuring four of Vysotsky's war songs ("He Never Returned From the Battle", "The New Times Song", "Common Graves", and "The Earth Song") which represented a tiny portion of his creative work, owned by millions on tape. In September of that year Vysotsky received his first state award, the Honorary Diploma of the Uzbek SSR following a tour with fellow actors from the Taganka Theatre in Uzbekistan. A year later he was granted the USSR Union of Cinematographers' membership. This meant he was not an "anti-Soviet scum" now, rather an unlikely link between the official Soviet cinema elite and the "progressive-thinking artists of the West." More films followed, among them The Only Road (a Soviet-Yugoslav joint venture, premiered on 10 January 1975 in Belgrade) and a science fiction movie The Flight of Mr. McKinley (1975). Out of nine ballads that he wrote for the latter only two have made it into the soundtrack. This was the height of his popularity, when, as described in Vlady's book about her husband, walking down the street on a summer night, one could hear Vysotsky's recognizable voice coming literally from every open window. Among the songs written at the time, were humorous "The Instruction before the Trip Abroad", lyrical "Of the Dead Pilot" and philosophical "The Strange House". In 1975 Vysotsky made his third trip to France where he rather riskily visited his former tutor (and now a celebrated dissident emigre) Andrey Sinyavsky. Artist Mikhail Shemyakin, his new Paris friend (or a "bottle-sharer", in Vladi's terms), recorded Vysotsky in his home studio. After a brief stay in England Vysotsky crossed the ocean and made his first Mexican concerts in April. Back in Moscow, there were changes at Taganka: Lyubimov went to Milan's La Scala on a contract and Anatoly Efros has been brought in, a director of radically different approach. His project, Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, caused a sensation. Critics praised Alla Demidova (as Ranevskaya) and Vysotsky (as Lopakhin) powerful interplay, some describing it as one of the most dazzling in the history of the Soviet theater. Lyubimov, who disliked the piece, accused Efros of giving his actors "the stardom malaise." The 1976 Taganka's visit to Bulgaria resulted in Vysotskys's interview there being filmed and 15 songs recorded by Balkanton record label. On return Lyubimov made a move which many thought outrageous: declaring himself "unable to work with this Mr. Vysotsky anymore" he gave the role of Hamlet to Valery Zolotukhin, the latter's best friend. That was the time, reportedly, when stressed out Vysotsky started taking amphetamines.
Another Belorussian voyage completed, Marina and Vladimir went for France and from there (without any official permission given, or asked for) flew to the North America. In New York Vysotsky met, among other people, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Joseph Brodsky. In a televised one-hour interview with Dan Rather he stressed he was "not a dissident, just an artist, who's never had any intentions to leave his country where people loved him and his songs." At home this unauthorized venture into the Western world bore no repercussions: by this time Soviet authorities were divided as regards the "Vysotsky controversy" up to the highest level; while Mikhail Suslov detested the bard, Brezhnev loved him to such an extent that once, while in hospital, asked him to perform live in his daughter Galina's home, listening to this concert on the telephone. In 1976 appeared "The Domes", "The Rope" and the "Medieval" cycle, including "The Ballad of Love".
In September Vysotsky with Taganka made a trip to Yugoslavia where Hamlet won the annual BITEF festival's first prize, and then to Hungary for a two-week concert tour. Back in Moscow Lyubimov's production of The Master & Margarita featured Vysotsky as Ivan Bezdomny; a modest role, somewhat recompensed by an important Svidrigailov slot in Yury Karyakin's take on Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Vysotsky's new songs of this period include "The History of Illness" cycle concerning his health problems, humorous "Why Did the Savages Eat Captain Cook", the metaphorical "Ballad of the Truth and the Lie", as well as "Two Fates", the chilling story of a self-absorbed alcoholic hunted by two malevolent witches, his two-faced destiny. In 1977 Vysotsky's health deteriorated (heart, kidneys, liver failures, jaw infection and nervous breakdown) to such an extent that in April he found himself in Moscow clinic's reanimation center in the state of physical and mental collapse.
In 1977 Vysotsky made an unlikely appearance in New York City on the American television show 60 Minutes, which falsely stated that Vysotsky had spent time in the Soviet prison system, the Gulag. That year saw the release of three Vysotsky's LPs in France (including the one that had been recorded by RCA in Canada the previous year); arranged and accompanied by guitarist Kostya Kazansky, the singer for the first time ever enjoyed the relatively sophisticated musical background. In August he performed in Hollywood before members of New York City film cast and (according to Vladi) was greeted warmly by the likes of Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro. Some more concerts in Los Angeles were followed by the appearance at the French Communist paper L’Humanité annual event. In December Taganka left for France, its Hamlet (Vysotsky back in the lead) gaining fine reviews.
1978 started with the March–April series of concerts in Moscow and Ukraine. In May Vysotsky embarked upon a new major film project: The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (Место встречи изменить нельзя) about two detectives fighting crime in late 1940s Russia, directed by Stanislav Govorukhin. The film (premiered on 11 November 1978 on the Soviet Central TV) presented Vysotsky as Zheglov, a ruthless and charismatic cop teaching his milder partner Sharapov (actor Vladimir Konkin) his art of crime-solving. Vysotsky also became engaged in Taganka's Genre-seeking show (performing some of his own songs) and played Aleksander Blok in Anatoly Efros' The Lady Stranger (Незнакомка) radio play (premiered on air on 10 July 1979 and later released as a double LP).
In November 1978 Vysotsky took part in the underground censorship-defying literary project Metropolis, inspired and organized by Vasily Aksenov. In January 1979 Vysotsky again visited America with highly successful series of concerts. That was the point (according to biographer Vladimir Novikov) when a glimpse of new, clean life of a respectable international actor and performer all but made Vysotsky seriously reconsider his priorities. What followed though, was a return to the self-destructive theater and concert tours schedule, personal doctor Anatoly Fedotov now not only his companion, but part of Taganka's crew. "Who was this Anatoly? Just a man who in every possible situation would try to provide drugs. And he did provide. In such moments Volodya trusted him totally," Oksana Afanasyeva, Vysotsky's Moscow girlfriend (who was near him for most of the last year of his life and, on occasion, herself served as a drug courier) remembered. In July 1979, after a series of Central Asia concerts, Vysotsky collapsed, experienced clinical death and was resuscitated by Fedotov (who injected caffeine into the heart directly), colleague and close friend Vsevolod Abdulov helping with heart massage. In January 1980 Vysotsky asked Lyubimov for a year's leave. "Up to you, but on condition that Hamlet is yours," was the answer. The songwriting showed signs of slowing down, as Vysotsky began switching from songs to more conventional poetry. Still, of nearly 800 poems by Vysotsky only one has been published in the Soviet Union while he was alive. Not a single performance or interview was broadcast by the Soviet television in his lifetime.
In May 1979, being in a practice studio of the MSU Faculty of Journalism, Vysotsky recorded a video letter to American actor and film producer Warren Beatty, looking for both a personal meeting with Beatty and an opportunity to get a role in Reds film, to be produced and directed by the latter. While recording, Vysotsky made a few attempts to speak English, trying to overcome the language barrier. This video letter never reached Beatty. It was broadcast for the first time more than three decades later, on the night of 24 January 2013 (local time) by Rossiya 1 channel, along with records of TV channels of Italy, Mexico, Poland, USA and from private collections, in Vladimir Vysotsky. A letter to Warren Beatty film by Alexander Kovanovsky and Igor Rakhmanov. While recording this video, Vysotsky had a rare opportunity to perform for a camera, being still unable to do it with Soviet television.
On 22 January 1980, Vysotsky entered the Moscow Ostankino TV Center to record his one and only studio concert for the Soviet television. What proved to be an exhausting affair (his concentration lacking, he had to plod through several takes for each song) was premiered on the Soviet TV eight years later. The last six months of his life saw Vysotsky appearing on stage sporadically, fueled by heavy dosages of drugs and alcohol. His performances were often erratic. Occasionally Vysotsky paid visits to Sklifosofsky [ru] institute's ER unit, but would not hear of Marina Vlady's suggestions for him to take long-term rehabilitation course in a Western clinic. Yet he kept writing, mostly poetry and even prose, but songs as well. The last song he performed was the agonizing "My Sorrow, My Anguish" and his final poem, written one week prior to his death was "A Letter to Marina": "I'm less than fifty, but the time is short / By you and God protected, life and limb / I have a song or two to sing before the Lord / I have a way to make my peace with him."
Although several theories of the ultimate cause of the singer's death persist to this day, given what is now known about cardiovascular disease, it seems likely that by the time of his death Vysotsky had an advanced coronary condition brought about by years of tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as his grueling work schedule and the stress of the constant harassment by the government. Towards the end, most of Vysotsky's closest friends had become aware of the ominous signs and were convinced that his demise was only a matter of time. Clear evidence of this can be seen in a video ostensibly shot by the Japanese NHK channel only months before Vysotsky's death, where he appears visibly unwell, breathing heavily and slurring his speech. Accounts by Vysotsky's close friends and colleagues concerning his last hours were compiled in the book by V. Perevozchikov.
Vysotsky suffered from alcoholism for most of his life. Sometime around 1977, he started using amphetamines and other prescription narcotics in an attempt to counteract the debilitating hangovers and eventually to rid himself of alcohol addiction. While these attempts were partially successful, he ended up trading alcoholism for a severe drug dependency that was fast spiralling out of control. He was reduced to begging some of his close friends in the medical profession for supplies of drugs, often using his acting skills to collapse in a medical office and imitate a seizure or some other condition requiring a painkiller injection. On 25 July 1979 (a year to the day before his death) he suffered a cardiac arrest and was clinically dead for several minutes during a concert tour of Soviet Uzbekistan, after injecting himself with a wrong kind of painkiller he had previously obtained from a dentist's office.
Fully aware of the dangers of his condition, Vysotsky made several attempts to cure himself of his addiction. He underwent an experimental (and ultimately discredited) blood purification procedure offered by a leading drug rehabilitation specialist in Moscow. He also went to an isolated retreat in France with his wife Marina in the spring of 1980 as a way of forcefully depriving himself of any access to drugs. After these attempts failed, Vysotsky returned to Moscow to find his life in an increasingly stressful state of disarray. He had been a defendant in two criminal trials, one for a car wreck he had caused some months earlier, and one for an alleged conspiracy to sell unauthorized concert tickets (he eventually received a suspended sentence and a probation in the first case, and the charges in the second were dismissed, although several of his co-defendants were found guilty). He also unsuccessfully fought the film studio authorities for the rights to direct a movie called The Green Phaeton. Relations with his wife Marina were deteriorating, and he was torn between his loyalty to her and his love for his mistress Oksana Afanasyeva. He had also developed severe inflammation in one of his legs, making his concert performances extremely challenging.
In a final desperate attempt to overcome his drug addiction, partially prompted by his inability to obtain drugs through his usual channels (the authorities had imposed a strict monitoring of the medical institutions to prevent illicit drug distribution during the 1980 Olympics), he relapsed into alcohol and went on a prolonged drinking binge (apparently consuming copious amounts of champagne due to a prevalent misconception at the time that it was better than vodka at countering the effects of drug withdrawal).
On 3 July 1980, Vysotsky gave a performance at a suburban Moscow concert hall. One of the stage managers recalls that he looked visibly unhealthy ("gray-faced", as she puts it) and complained of not feeling too good, while another says she was surprised by his request for champagne before the start of the show, as he had always been known for completely abstaining from drink before his concerts. On 16 July Vysotsky gave his last public concert in Kaliningrad. On 18 July, Vysotsky played Hamlet for the last time at the Taganka Theatre. From around 21 July, several of his close friends were on a round-the-clock watch at his apartment, carefully monitoring his alcohol intake and hoping against all odds that his drug dependency would soon be overcome and they would then be able to bring him back from the brink. The effects of drug withdrawal were clearly getting the better of him, as he got increasingly restless, moaned and screamed in pain, and at times fell into memory lapses, failing to recognize at first some of his visitors, including his son Arkadiy. At one point, Vysotsky's personal physician A. Fedotov (the same doctor who had brought him back from clinical death a year earlier in Uzbekistan) attempted to sedate him, inadvertently causing asphyxiation from which he was barely saved. On 24 July, Vysotsky told his mother that he thought he was going to die that day, and then made similar remarks to a few of the friends present at the apartment, who begged him to stop such talk and keep his spirits up. But soon thereafter, Oksana Afanasyeva saw him clench his chest several times, which led her to suspect that he was genuinely suffering from a cardiovascular condition. She informed Fedotov of this but was told not to worry, as he was going to monitor Vysotsky's condition all night. In the evening, after drinking relatively small amounts of alcohol, the moaning and groaning Vysotsky was sedated by Fedotov, who then sat down on the couch next to him but fell asleep. Fedotov awoke in the early hours of 25 July to an unusual silence and found Vysotsky dead in his bed with his eyes wide open, apparently of a myocardial infarction, as he later certified. This was contradicted by Fedotov's colleagues, Sklifosovsky Emergency Medical Institute physicians L. Sul'povar and S. Scherbakov (who had demanded the actor's immediate hospitalization on 23 July but were allegedly rebuffed by Fedotov), who insisted that Fedotov's incompetent sedation combined with alcohol was what killed Vysotsky. An autopsy was prevented by Vysotsky's parents (who were eager to have their son's drug addiction remain secret), so the true cause of death remains unknown.
No official announcement of the actor's death was made, only a brief obituary appeared in the Moscow newspaper Vechernyaya Moskva, and a note informing of Vysotsky's death and cancellation of the Hamlet performance was put out at the entrance to the Taganka Theatre (the story goes that not a single ticket holder took advantage of the refund offer). Despite this, by the end of the day, millions had learned of Vysotsky's death. On 28 July, he lay in state at the Taganka Theatre. After a mourning ceremony involving an unauthorized mass gathering of unprecedented scale, Vysotsky was buried at the Vagankovskoye Cemetery in Moscow. The attendance at the Olympic events dropped noticeably on that day, as scores of spectators left to attend the funeral. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of his coffin.
According to author Valery Perevozchikov part of the blame for his death lay with the group of associates who surrounded him in the last years of his life. This inner circle were all people under the influence of his strong character, combined with a material interest in the large sums of money his concerts earned. This list included Valerii Yankelovich, manager of the Taganka Theatre and prime organiser of his non-sanctioned concerts; Anatoly Fedotov, his personal doctor; Vadim Tumanov, gold prospector (and personal friend) from Siberia; Oksana Afanasyeva (later Yarmolnik), his mistress the last three years of his life; Ivan Bortnik, a fellow actor; and Leonid Sul'povar, a department head at the Sklifosovski hospital who was responsible for much of the supply of drugs.
Vysotsky's associates had all put in efforts to supply his drug habit, which kept him going in the last years of his life. Under their influence, he was able to continue to perform all over the country, up to a week before his death. Due to illegal (i.e. non-state-sanctioned) sales of tickets and other underground methods, these concerts pulled in sums of money unimaginable in Soviet times, when almost everyone received nearly the same small salary. The payouts and gathering of money were a constant source of danger, and Yankelovich and others were needed to organise them.
Some money went to Vysotsky, the rest was distributed amongst this circle. At first this was a reasonable return on their efforts; however, as his addiction progressed and his body developed resistance, the frequency and amount of drugs needed to keep Vysotsky going became unmanageable. This culminated at the time of the Moscow Olympics which coincided with the last days of his life, when supplies of drugs were monitored more strictly than usual, and some of the doctors involved in supplying Vysotsky were already behind bars (normally the doctors had to account for every ampule, thus drugs were transferred to an empty container, while the patients received a substitute or placebo instead). In the last few days Vysotsky became uncontrollable, his shouting could be heard all over the apartment building on Malaya Gruzinskaya St. where he lived amongst VIP's. Several days before his death, in a state of stupor he went on a high speed drive around Moscow in an attempt to obtain drugs and alcohol – when many high-ranking people saw him. This increased the likelihood of him being forcibly admitted to the hospital, and the consequent danger to the circle supplying his habit. As his state of health declined, and it became obvious that he might die, his associates gathered to decide what to do with him. They came up with no firm decision. They did not want him admitted officially, as his drug addiction would become public and they would fall under suspicion, although some of them admitted that any ordinary person in his condition would have been admitted immediately.
On Vysotsky's death his associates and relatives put in much effort to prevent a post-mortem being carried out. This despite the fairly unusual circumstances: he died aged 42 under heavy sedation with an improvised cocktail of sedatives and stimulants, including the toxic chloral hydrate, provided by his personal doctor who had been supplying him with narcotics the previous three years. This doctor, being the only one present at his side when death occurred, had a few days earlier been seen to display elementary negligence in treating the sedated Vysotsky. On the night of his death, Arkadii Vysotsky (his son), who tried to visit his father in his apartment, was rudely refused entry by Yankelovich, even though there was a lack of people able to care for him. Subsequently, the Soviet police commenced a manslaughter investigation which was dropped due to the absence of evidence taken at the time of death.
Vysotsky's first wife was Iza Zhukova. They met in 1956, being both MAT theater institute students, lived for some time at Vysotsky's mother's flat in Moscow, after her graduation (Iza was 2 years older) spent months in different cities (her – in Kiev, then Rostov) and finally married on 25 April 1960.
He met his second wife Lyudmila Abramova in 1961, while shooting the film 713 Requests Permission to Land. They married in 1965 and had two sons, Arkady (born 1962) and Nikita (born 1964).
While still married to Lyudmila Abramova, Vysotsky began a romantic relationship with Tatyana Ivanenko, a Taganka actress, then, in 1967 fell in love with Marina Vlady, a French actress of Russian descent, who was working at Mosfilm on a joint Soviet-French production at that time. Marina had been married before and had three children, while Vladimir had two. They were married in 1969. For 10 years the two maintained a long-distance relationship as Marina compromised her career in France to spend more time in Moscow, and Vladimir's friends pulled strings for him to be allowed to travel abroad to stay with his wife. Marina eventually joined the Communist Party of France, which essentially gave her an unlimited-entry visa into the Soviet Union, and provided Vladimir with some immunity against prosecution by the government, which was becoming weary of his covertly anti-Soviet lyrics and his odds-defying popularity with the masses. The problems of his long-distance relationship with Vlady inspired several of Vysotsky's songs.
In the autumn of 1981 Vysotsky's first collection of poetry was officially published in the USSR, called The Nerve (Нерв). Its first edition (25,000 copies) was sold out instantly. In 1982 the second one followed (100,000), then the 3rd (1988, 200,000), followed in the 1990s by several more. The material for it was compiled by Robert Rozhdestvensky, an officially laurelled Soviet poet. Also in 1981 Yuri Lyubimov staged at Taganka a new music and poetry production called Vladimir Vysotsky which was promptly banned and officially premiered on 25 January 1989.
In 1982 the motion picture The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe was produced in the Soviet Union and in 1983 the movie was released to the public. Four songs by Vysotsky were featured in the film.
In 1986 the official Vysotsky poetic heritage committee was formed (with Robert Rozhdestvensky at the helm, theater critic Natalya Krymova being both the instigator and the organizer). Despite some opposition from the conservatives (Yegor Ligachev was the latter's political leader, Stanislav Kunyaev of Nash Sovremennik represented its literary flank) Vysotsky was rewarded posthumously with the USSR State Prize. The official formula – "for creating the character of Zheglov and artistic achievements as a singer-songwriter" was much derided from both the left and the right. In 1988 the Selected Works of... (edited by N. Krymova) compilation was published, preceded by I Will Surely Return... (Я, конечно, вернусь...) book of fellow actors' memoirs and Vysotsky's verses, some published for the first time. In 1990 two volumes of extensive The Works of... were published, financed by the late poet's father Semyon Vysotsky. Even more ambitious publication series, self-proclaimed "the first ever academical edition" (the latter assertion being dismissed by sceptics) compiled and edited by Sergey Zhiltsov, were published in Tula (1994–1998, 5 volumes), Germany (1994, 7 volumes) and Moscow (1997, 4 volumes).
In 1989 the official Vysotsky Museum opened in Moscow, with the magazine of its own called Vagant (edited by Sergey Zaitsev) devoted entirely to Vysotsky's legacy. In 1996 it became an independent publication and was closed in 2002.
In the years to come, Vysotsky's grave became a site of pilgrimage for several generations of his fans, the youngest of whom were born after his death. His tombstone also became the subject of controversy, as his widow had wished for a simple abstract slab, while his parents insisted on a realistic gilded statue. Although probably too solemn to have inspired Vysotsky himself, the statue is believed by some to be full of metaphors and symbols reminiscent of the singer's life.
In 1995 in Moscow the Vysotsky monument was officially opened at Strastnoy Boulevard, by the Petrovsky Gates. Among those present were the bard's parents, two of his sons, first wife Iza, renown poets Yevtushenko and Voznesensky. "Vysotsky had always been telling the truth. Only once he was wrong when he sang in one of his songs: 'They will never erect me a monument in a square like that by Petrovskye Vorota'", Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov said in his speech.[95] A further monument to Vysotsky was erected in 2014 at Rostov-on-Don.
In October 2004, a monument to Vysotsky was erected in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, near the Millennium Bridge. His son, Nikita Vysotsky, attended the unveiling. The statue was designed by Russian sculptor Alexander Taratinov, who also designed a monument to Alexander Pushkin in Podgorica. The bronze statue shows Vysotsky standing on a pedestal, with his one hand raised and the other holding a guitar. Next to the figure lies a bronze skull – a reference to Vysotsky's monumental lead performances in Shakespeare's Hamlet. On the pedestal the last lines from a poem of Vysotsky's, dedicated to Montenegro, are carved.
The Vysotsky business center & semi-skyscraper was officially opened in Yekaterinburg, in 2011. It is the tallest building in Russia outside of Moscow, has 54 floors, total height: 188.3 m (618 ft). On the third floor of the business center is the Vysotsky Museum. Behind the building is a bronze sculpture of Vladimir Vysotsky and his third wife, a French actress Marina Vlady.
In 2011 a controversial movie Vysotsky. Thank You For Being Alive was released, script written by his son, Nikita Vysotsky. The actor Sergey Bezrukov portrayed Vysotsky, using a combination of a mask and CGI effects. The film tells about Vysotsky's illegal underground performances, problems with KGB and drugs, and subsequent clinical death in 1979.
Shortly after Vysotsky's death, many Russian bards started writing songs and poems about his life and death. The best known are Yuri Vizbor's "Letter to Vysotsky" (1982) and Bulat Okudzhava's "About Volodya Vysotsky" (1980). In Poland, Jacek Kaczmarski based some of his songs on those of Vysotsky, such as his first song (1977) was based on "The Wolfhunt", and dedicated to his memory the song "Epitafium dla Włodzimierza Wysockiego" ("Epitaph for Vladimir Vysotsky").
Every year on Vysotsky's birthday festivals are held throughout Russia and in many communities throughout the world, especially in Europe. Vysotsky's impact in Russia is often compared to that of Wolf Biermann in Germany, Bob Dylan in America, or Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel in France.
The asteroid 2374 Vladvysotskij, discovered by Lyudmila Zhuravleva, was named after Vysotsky.
During the Annual Q&A Event Direct Line with Vladimir Putin, Alexey Venediktov asked Putin to name a street in Moscow after the singer Vladimir Vysotsky, who, though considered one of the greatest Russian artists, has no street named after him in Moscow almost 30 years after his death. Venediktov stated a Russian law that allowed the President to do so and promote a law suggestion to name a street by decree. Putin answered that he would talk to Mayor of Moscow and would solve this problem. In July 2015 former Upper and Lower Tagansky Dead-ends (Верхний и Нижний Таганские тупики) in Moscow were reorganized into Vladimir Vysotsky Street.
The Sata Kieli Cultural Association, [Finland], organizes the annual International Vladimir Vysotsky Festival (Vysotski Fest), where Vysotsky's singers from different countries perform in Helsinki and other Finnish cities. They sing Vysotsky in different languages and in different arrangements.
Two brothers and singers from Finland, Mika and Turkka Mali, over the course of their more than 30-year musical career, have translated into Finnish, recorded and on numerous occasions publicly performed songs of Vladimir Vysotsky.
Throughout his lengthy musical career, Jaromír Nohavica, a famed Czech singer, translated and performed numerous songs of Vladimir Vysotsky, most notably Песня о друге (Píseň o příteli – Song about a friend).
The Museum of Vladimir Vysotsky in Koszalin dedicated to Vladimir Vysotsky was founded by Marlena Zimna (1969–2016) in May 1994, in her apartment, in the city of Koszalin, in Poland. Since then the museum has collected over 19,500 exhibits from different countries and currently holds Vladimir Vysotsky' personal items, autographs, drawings, letters, photographs and a large library containing unique film footage, vinyl records, CDs and DVDs. A special place in the collection holds a Vladimir Vysotsky's guitar, on which he played at a concert in Casablanca in April 1976. Vladimir Vysotsky presented this guitar to Moroccan journalist Hassan El-Sayed together with an autograph (an extract from Vladimir Vysotsky's song "What Happened in Africa"), written in Russian right on the guitar.
In January 2023, a monument to the outstanding actor, singer and poet Vladimir Vysotsky was unveiled in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, in the square near the Rodina House of Culture. Author Vladimir Chebotarev.
After her husband's death, urged by her friend Simone Signoret, Marina Vlady wrote a book called The Aborted Flight about her years together with Vysotsky. The book paid tribute to Vladimir's talent and rich persona, yet was uncompromising in its depiction of his addictions and the problems that they caused in their marriage. Written in French (and published in France in 1987), it was translated into Russian in tandem by Vlady and a professional translator and came out in 1989 in the USSR. Totally credible from the specialists' point of view, the book caused controversy, among other things, by shocking revelations about the difficult father-and-son relationship (or rather, the lack of any), implying that Vysotsky-senior (while his son was alive) was deeply ashamed of him and his songs which he deemed "anti-Soviet" and reported his own son to the KGB. Also in 1989 another important book of memoirs was published in the USSR, providing a bulk of priceless material for the host of future biographers, Alla Demidova's Vladimir Vysotsky, the One I Know and Love. Among other publications of note were Valery Zolotukhin's Vysotsky's Secret (2000), a series of Valery Perevozchikov's books (His Dying Hour, The Unknown Vysotsky and others) containing detailed accounts and interviews dealing with the bard's life's major controversies (the mystery surrounding his death, the truth behind Vysotsky Sr.'s alleged KGB reports, the true nature of Vladimir Vysotsky's relations with his mother Nina's second husband Georgy Bartosh etc.), Iza Zhukova's Short Happiness for a Lifetime and the late bard's sister-in-law Irena Vysotskaya's My Brother Vysotsky. The Beginnings (both 2005).
A group of enthusiasts has created a non-profit project – the mobile application "Vysotsky"
The multifaceted talent of Vysotsky is often described by the term "bard" (бард) that Vysotsky has never been enthusiastic about. He thought of himself mainly as an actor and poet rather than a singer, and once remarked, "I do not belong to what people call bards or minstrels or whatever." With the advent of portable tape-recorders in the Soviet Union, Vysotsky's music became available to the masses in the form of home-made reel-to-reel audio tape recordings (later on cassette tapes).
Vysotsky accompanied himself on a Russian seven-string guitar, with a raspy voice singing ballads of love, peace, war, everyday Soviet life and of the human condition. He was largely perceived as the voice of honesty, at times sarcastically jabbing at the Soviet government, which made him a target for surveillance and threats. In France, he has been compared with Georges Brassens; in Russia, however, he was more frequently compared with Joe Dassin, partly because they were the same age and died in the same year, although their ideologies, biographies, and musical styles are very different. Vysotsky's lyrics and style greatly influenced Jacek Kaczmarski, a Polish songwriter and singer who touched on similar themes.
The songs – over 600 of them – were written about almost any imaginable theme. The earliest were blatnaya pesnya ("outlaw songs"). These songs were based either on the life of the common people in Moscow or on life in the crime people, sometimes in Gulag. Vysotsky slowly grew out of this phase and started singing more serious, though often satirical, songs. Many of these songs were about war. These war songs were not written to glorify war, but rather to expose the listener to the emotions of those in extreme, life-threatening situations. Most Soviet veterans would say that Vysotsky's war songs described the truth of war far more accurately than more official "patriotic" songs.
Nearly all of Vysotsky's songs are in the first person, although he is almost never the narrator. When singing his criminal songs, he would adopt the accent and intonation of a Moscow thief, and when singing war songs, he would sing from the point of view of a soldier. In many of his philosophical songs, he adopted the role of inanimate objects. This created some confusion about Vysotsky's background, especially during the early years when information could not be passed around very easily. Using his acting talent, the poet played his role so well that until told otherwise, many of his fans believed that he was, indeed, a criminal or war veteran. Vysotsky's father said that "War veterans thought the author of the songs to be one of them, as if he had participated in the war together with them." The same could be said about mountain climbers; on multiple occasions, Vysotsky was sent pictures of mountain climbers' graves with quotes from his lyrics etched on the tombstones.
Not being officially recognized as a poet and singer, Vysotsky performed wherever and whenever he could – in the theater (where he worked), at universities, in private apartments, village clubs, and in the open air. It was not unusual for him to give several concerts in one day. He used to sleep little, using the night hours to write. With few exceptions, he wasn't allowed to publish his recordings with "Melodiya", which held a monopoly on the Soviet music industry. His songs were passed on through amateur, fairly low quality recordings on vinyl discs and magnetic tape, resulting in his immense popularity. Cosmonauts even took his music on cassette into orbit.
Musically, virtually all of Vysotsky's songs were written in a minor key, and tended to employ from three to seven chords. Vysotsky composed his songs and played them exclusively on the Russian seven string guitar, often tuned a tone or a tone-and-a-half below the traditional Russian "Open G major" tuning. This guitar, with its specific Russian tuning, makes a slight yet notable difference in chord voicings than the standard tuned six string Spanish (classical) guitar, and it became a staple of his sound. Because Vysotsky tuned down a tone and a half, his strings had less tension, which also colored the sound.
His earliest songs were usually written in C minor (with the guitar tuned a tone down from DGBDGBD to CFACFAC)
Songs written in this key include "Stars" (Zvyozdy), "My friend left for Magadan" (Moy drug uyekhal v Magadan), and most of his "outlaw songs".
At around 1970, Vysotsky began writing and playing exclusively in A minor (guitar tuned to CFACFAC), which he continued doing until his death.
Vysotsky used his fingers instead of a pick to pluck and strum, as was the tradition with Russian guitar playing. He used a variety of finger picking and strumming techniques. One of his favorite was to play an alternating bass with his thumb as he plucked or strummed with his other fingers.
Often, Vysotsky would neglect to check the tuning of his guitar, which is particularly noticeable on earlier recordings. According to some accounts, Vysotsky would get upset when friends would attempt to tune his guitar, leading some to believe that he preferred to play slightly out of tune as a stylistic choice. Much of this is also attributable to the fact that a guitar that is tuned down more than 1 whole step (Vysotsky would sometimes tune as much as 2 and a half steps down) is prone to intonation problems.
Vysotsky had a unique singing style. He had an unusual habit of elongating consonants instead of vowels in his songs. So when a syllable is sung for a prolonged period of time, he would elongate the consonant instead of the vowel in that syllable.
The Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky Statue is a prominent monument located in Voronezh, Russian Federation, dedicated to the legendary Russian singer-songwriter, actor, and poet Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky. This statue stands as a tribute to Vysotsky's immense contributions to Russian culture and his enduring legacy.
Vladimir Vysotsky was born on January 25, 1938, in Moscow, Russia. He quickly gained recognition for his unique artistic style, characterized by his powerful voice, poetic lyrics, and charismatic stage presence. Vysotsky's songs captured the essence of the Soviet era, addressing social issues, human emotions, and political satire. His music resonated deeply with the masses, and he became an iconic figure in Russian popular culture.
The idea of erecting a statue in Voronezh to honor Vladimir Vysotsky was conceived to commemorate his connection to the city. Vysotsky had a special relationship with Voronezh, as he spent a significant portion of his early career performing in local theaters and interacting with the local artistic community. The statue serves as a reminder of this bond and celebrates his artistic contributions.
The Vysotsky Statue was unveiled on November 18, 2009, in front of the Voronezh Academic Drama Theater, where Vysotsky performed numerous times. The monument was created by renowned Russian sculptor Grigory Pototsky. Standing at approximately 5 meters tall, the bronze statue captures Vysotsky in a dynamic pose, holding a guitar and singing passionately.
The sculpture depicts Vysotsky in mid-performance, capturing his energy and intensity on stage. The attention to detail in the statue is remarkable, with intricate facial features, flowing hair, and realistic clothing. The sculptor aimed to convey Vysotsky's passion and charisma through the artwork, and the statue successfully embodies these qualities.
The location of the statue, in front of the Voronezh Academic Drama Theater, is significant. It symbolizes Vysotsky's strong ties to the theater and his impact on the performing arts. The statue serves as a meeting point for admirers of Vysotsky's work, attracting locals and tourists alike. It has become an iconic landmark in Voronezh, attracting visitors who come to pay their respects and celebrate Vysotsky's artistic legacy.
The statue's unveiling was accompanied by a grand ceremony, attended by government officials, artists, and Vysotsky's fans. The event highlighted the significance of Vysotsky's artistic contributions and celebrated his enduring influen
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris).
I've licensed this photo as Creative Commons 0 (CC0) for release into the public domain. You're welcome to download the photo and use it without attribution.
No door which makes it a bit draughty but when you got go you got go! You don't come across too many outhouses these days so this was a bonus! I'm guessing this was a communal outhouse as it seems to be strategically placed to serve all the houses. The last time we stopped at Abeytas it was hard to poke around the abandoned houses it was all overgrown. Being winter makes it so much easier.
Australian National Botanic Gardens Kialla.
This sandy area beside the Goulburn River was established as a communistic style village settlement in 1893 by the Victorian government. Unemployed people were invited to join the commune to develop and work the land communally. Like the scheme in SA it failed after a few years despite fruit orchards being established. Most village settlers eventually moved. In the 1920s the area was used for sand quarrying. Later this area was the rubbish dump for Shepparton but in 2000 it was developed as a botanic garden for Australian plants. The nearby town of Kialla pre-dated the village settlement. It began to grow around 1874 as Shepparton grew. By 1900 Kialla had two schools, two hotels and Catholic and Methodist Churches. In recent decades it has been developed as residential housing estates. The actual site of the Botanic Gardens was closed as a rubbish dump in 1987 and then was land filled. The site was selected in 2011 and the gardens cover 22 hectares with specialised areas such as the wetlands (noted for its bird life), the childrens garden, the turtle garden, the weaving garden, the refugee’s garden and the migrant’s garden. There is a lookout on the man mad hill and billabong walks near the Broken River which joins the Goulburn River nearby.
Shepparton Heritage Centre. The Heritage Centre is in the city’s oldest still standing building. Erected in 1873 as the Institute Hall it later became the Foresters Hall. Foresters were felling River Red Gums along the Goulburn River once the riverboat trade began in 1854 from Echuca. The old 1850s wharf in Shepparton was near this Museum. After the paddle steamer era the river course was changed when the river was dammed to create Lake Victoria in 1929. The current museum and old wharf are located where a punt crossed the Goulburn River and where the government established the animal pound and a government presence in 1853. The Emu Bush Inn also operated here. From around 1850 the locality was called McGuire’s Punt which was changed to Shepparton in 1860. Explorers and cattle overlanders Joseph Hawdon and Charles Bonney camped near here in 1838 when they set off along the Goulburn and Murray rivers to be the first to overland stock to Adelaide. A second wharf was constructed in 1880 near the museum. Shepparton was one of the early inland ports. Shepparton Council purchased this hall in 1969 and the museum opened here in 1972. The museum houses the Family History Group and has reference materials and photographic displays of lost Shepparton. Their prize items include the old clock from the 1882 Post Office tower. They have changing exhibitions but the main interest is in the photographic record contained here. The Historical Centre is hoping to one day rebuilt a replica of the old 1882 Post Office! The buildings themselves that contain the collection are of significant historical value. You can see a Furphy’s water cart here, 19th century carriages and historic items from prams to printing press and tractors to old telephones.
Some historical buildings in Shepparton beginning with the Catholic Church in Knight St.
•The first St Brendan’s Church built in 1878 was later destroyed by fire in January 1900. The new red brick St Brendan’s opened in November 1900. Next to it is a huge Edwardian presbytery. The convent is now Notre Dame College and across the street is the Catholic School which began in 1891 but the main building was not built until 1916. It was run by the Sisters of Mercy from 1902 and their two storey convent was built in 1917. Turn around towards the town centre and turn left at Maude Street.
•Near McKinley St. The new Anglican Church was built in 1925 and the narthex or front entrance foyer added in 1986. The first brick Anglican Church was built elsewhere in town in 1882.
•At 112 Maude St is a fine Edwardian Arts and Crafts villa house on the corner. Built in 1927 by the style of the house. It has terracotta tiled roof, half hipped gables etc. At end of Edward St. 141 Maude. The former Methodist Church which is now the Uniting Church. First church built in 1878 and then moved to this site. This church was built in 1908 with additions made in 1934.
•179 Maude on corner of Fryers St. The Aussie Hotel was the Australian. Built as the Union Hotel in 1897.Turn left into Fryers Street here as the Maude Street Mall begins.
•120 Fryers Street. The Baptist Church bought the site of the town’s first flourmill in 1901. The church was built in 1904. The first Baptist services were held elsewhere in 1882.
•140 Fryers St across the street is the former Presbyterian or Scots church. Now painted white with its tower. It was built in 1888 but services began in 1878.The transept was added in 1905 but the tower was only added in 1964. The church hall was built in 1902. Turn left at this intersection into Corio Street. At the next main intersection with a roundabout is:
Elsewhere in town:
• The old Shepparton High School is at 71 Hawdon St. It opened in 1909 as the Shepparton Agricultural High School in Fryers St. It moved to the Hawdon Street site when this building opened in 1929 and the name was changed to Shepparton High School.
•The fine old railway station is at the end of Vaughan Street. The original 1880 station burnt down and was replaced by this building in 1910.
•The 1939 Art Deco style Courthouse still remains intact at 10 High Street. The first Courthouse was built in 1881. Few Art Deco Courthouses were built in Australia.
• At 212 High Street is the Art Deco Terminus Hotel near the railway station. It opened in 1885 but was remodelled in Art Deco style in 1938. Across the street the Goulburn Valley Hotel was licenced from 1885. It was remodelled in a less pleasing Art Deco style in 1928.
•47 Wyndham St. It is worth the walk to see the Alexander Miller Memorial Homes. Scottish born Geelong shopkeeper Alexander Miller later had stores in Shepparton, Euroa, Benalla etc. He donated the money to build these homes in 1919 for the poor. He had died in 1914 but left instruction in his will for their construction. Also homes in Rushworth, Benalla, Europa, St Arnaud, Castlemaine, Geelong & Maryborough.
Le lavoir possède un original plancher mobile permettant de suivre les variations du niveau de l’eau.
Pride.be - Pride 2018 - Your Local Power
Feeling free and at home in your neighborhood, town or city. Be and show yourself in the streets. Holding hands with the person you love and smiling at each other in public. Our personal lives occur in the public space. Considering the approaching communal elections, everyone (youngsters, seniors, families, couples and all people - no matter what gender or orientation) asks the local politicians: How do you make a difference? What do you do to improve diversity in our everyday life? Where the rain makes way for the sun, we will walk proudly under the rainbow!
We will all be heading to the voting booths for the local elections on 14th of October. Deciding which circle to colour in is an important decision. A conscious decision can lead to a better living environment in your city or municipality.
And we're not just talking about the redesign of the local park, the policies in the municipal school, or the proper functioning of the local Public Centre for Social Welfare. Your local municipal or city administration can also make a real difference and turn the place where you live into a true rainbow bubble, if that's what you'd like, of course.
So it's no wonder that this year's Pride is focusing on the local elections. Belgian Pride is putting the municipalities and cities in the limelight in 2018, or better yet, at the end of the rainbow! We want the slogan 'Your Local Power!' to encourage municipal and city administrations to enact explicit, integrated local LGBTI+ policies.
Municipalities and cities can and must make the difference. They must accept responsibility for the well-being of all their residents. Flying the rainbow flag at the local government offices during the Pride period is a symbol of this. This is also a way that the municipality or city can show their solidarity with the LGBTI+ community. This symbolic gesture is not an infringement on neutrality. On the contrary, we can only actively work on ending all forms of discrimination once there is recognition for diversity and inclusion.
Policy-makers can make the lives of many citizens that much rosier by taking both small and large actions: by introducing a diversity charter in sports clubs, by making information on gender and sexuality available at the local libraries, by providing logistical and financial support to local associations, testimonials, and courses in the municipal education system, by holding a queer film festival in the local movie theatre or cultural centre, by holding LGBTI+ actions in community centres and youth centres, by providing information on what to do if you are the victim or witness of discrimination, by offering space for intimacy and (LGBTI+) sexuality in assisted-living centres, by training local police precincts and municipal officials, by including Equal Opportunity as an explicit competence within the city administration, etc.
The list of things that cities and municipalities can do is endless. Plus, many of these actions are very easy to implement. Sometimes, your local administration only needs a little boost, and you can give them that boost in the voting booth on 14th of October. A good local administration meets the needs and requirements of all residents. What does the LGBTI+ community in your city or municipality need?
You can already send the politicians a signal that is loud and clear on Saturday, the 19th of May. Make your wishes heard during the Belgian Pride.
We hope to see you there! Everyone is welcome!
( Chaque annee la Pride attire des dizaines de milliers de visiteurs vers la capitale et colore Bruxelles aux couleurs de l'arc-en-ciel. Il y a aussi le PrideVillage et le PridePodium autour de la Bourse.
Pride.be n'est pas seulement la plus grande fete de Bruxelles, mais c'est aussi un evenement avec un message politique. Avec cette manifestation, nous essayons d'obtenir plus d'egalite de droits pour tout le monde et surtout pour la communaute lesbigaytrans. )
Another one about 30 long paces from the first one I posted. Those tall banana leaves should give an idea how big this one was.
The species that constructs these is Cyrtophora moluccensis, a tent spider.
Flecker Botanic Gardens
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
11 Nov 2014
Communal vegetable garden in Poppenwier. Villagers gather every Sathurday morning to plant and water and harvest. They offered me tea. I heard later that it's also the place to hear the latest gossip
Cape Apostolos Andreas (Greek: Ακρωτήριο Αποστόλου Ανδρέα, "Cape Saint Andrew"; Turkish: Zafer Burnu, "Cape Victory") is the north-easternmost point (promontory) of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus (35°41.70′N 34°35.20′E). It lies at the tip of the finger-like Karpass Peninsula.
The Apostolos Andreas Monastery is located 5 km southwest of the promontory itself.
The city of Latakia in Syria is located about 68 miles (109 km) to the east.
Herodotus mentions it as "Keys of Cyprus", where the Phoenicians were sailing with their ships in a war between Darius I and the Ionians.
Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.
Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.
A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.
Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.
Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.
Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.
The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.
Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.
Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.
By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.
EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.
However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.
On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.
In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.
By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.
In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.
The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.
After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".
As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.
Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.
The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.
Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.
The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis".[31] Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.
Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.
Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria
An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."
In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.
Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.
In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.
Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.
Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.
Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:
UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.
The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.
By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."
After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.
On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.
The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.
During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.
In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.
Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.
A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.