View allAll Photos Tagged Completion

National Synchrotron Light Source II ring completion ceremony, October 13, 2010.

Sendai, Japan 2012

Garden shed construction

 

When the Canadian Pacific Railway started in 1881, their mission was to unite Canada’s provinces from coast to coast. It took four years to build a railroad that stretched across all the provinces. By the 1940s, CPR tapped into a worldwide telegraph communications network, took flight with its newly consolidated airlines, and offered world cruises on ocean liners. The CPR Beaver shield appeared on all CPR vehicles and their passenger boats throughout the 1950s.

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TAPPEN is a settlement in British Columbia. It is colloquially known as "Rust Valley", and is the location of the TV show Rust Valley Restorers. Tappen is located 6 miles north of Salmon Arm. It was named after Herbert Tappen, CPR constuction contractor in the 1880's, from Massachusetts; was a cousin of Andrew Onderdonk, chief CPR contractor in British Columbia, and a partner or sub-contractor of Temple Frederick Sinclair. A misspelling of Tappan, the name of one of the sub-contractors who laid the CPR track along here in 1884.

 

(from - Wrigley's 1918 British Columbia directory) - TAPPEN - a post office and fruit-growing settlement 9 miles west of Salmon Arm, in Kamloops Provincial Electoral District, on main line C. P. R. Has Presbyterian church. The population in 1918 was 200. Local resources: Fruit-growing and dairying.

 

Sawmill located here c. 1883; TAPPEN SIDING Post Office opened here - 1 July 1892, F. McCulla, postmaster; closed - 1 February 1897. The BRIGHTWATER Post Office was opened in this location - 1 August 1908, H.C. Banks, postmaster; name changed to TAPPEN Post Office - 1 August 1911.

 

LINK to all of the Postmasters who served at the TAPPEN Post Office - recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/home/record...

 

- sent from - / TAPPEN / PM / 7 XII / 67 / B.C. / - cds cancel - (RF B).

 

- sent by - E. J. Hacking / R.R. No. 1 / Tappen, B.C.

 

Ernest John Hacking

(b. 15 June 1883 in Listowel, Ontario - d. 20 February 1970 at age 86 in Salmon Arm, British Columbia) - occupation - Canadian Pacific Railway agent - LINK to his death certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/cc...

 

His wife - Barbara (nee Cummins) Hacking

(b. 1893 in Grenfell, Saskatchewan - d. 4 August 1937 at age 43 in Salmon Arm, British Columbia) - they were married - 28 October 1914 in Nelson, British Columbia - LINK to their marriage certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/cb...

 

Addressed to - Mr. Art Gibbon / Nelson Daily News Paper / Nelson, B.C.

 

Arthur William Gibbon

(b. 27 January 1910 in Calgary, Alberta - d. 2 September 1990 at age 80 in Nelson, British Columbia) - occupation - editor / newspaper - LINK to his death certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/e8...

 

(24 August 1953) - A. W. GIBBON HONORED FOR LONG SERVICE NELSON, B.C. (CP) Arthur W. Gibbon, veteran newspaper man, has been honored on the completion of 25 years service with the Nelson Daily News. Mr. Gibbon, who joined the News in September, 1928, was presented with a long-service gift by Maj. R. H. Green of Victoria, president of the company, at a reception in the News business office. Mr. Gibbon is managing editor of the News. LINK - www.newspapers.com/article/the-vancouver-news-herald-arth...

 

His wife - Jean Evangeline (nee Ryan) Gibbon

(b. 16 October 1912 in New Westminster, British Columbia - d. 22 September 1992 at age 79 in Nelson, British Columbia) - occupation - registered nurse - they were married - 8 April 1937 in Nelson, British Columbia - LINK to their marriage certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/3a...

- LINK to her death certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/99...

St Helen is probably my favourite Kent church. At least from the outside. Alternating bands of flints and local stone give it a Christmas Cake effect, but in bright sunshine it looks stunning.

 

Inside, its no less impressive. Part of the wall paintings survive, as do geometric patterns on some of the supporting columns.

 

And it is huge, with a fine wooden roof, a replacement after a fire, but still works well, and the fabric of the church seems good.

 

Everywhere there are fabulous things to find; Aumbries, memorials, and so much more.

 

And I reeived a warm welcome from the warden who was waiting for visitors. Last time I was here, there was a display of how the estuary airport-cum-Boris Johnson vanity project seemed a real possibility. Now he is back insulting foreigners, and the airport is dead. But a new Thames crossing is being mooted, and it might run across Grain, which would be a shame to have the peace and quiet shattered.

 

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An absolute knockout of a church. From the first glimpse of the exterior, with its zebra-like stripes of flint and stone, you know that here is a church of great interest. In plan it consists of an aisled nave, transepts, chancel and west tower - all built on a prodigious scale. Although the church was heavily restored on two occasions in the nineteenth century there is still a great deal of interest and a visit here should not be rushed. The pillars of the nave have distinctive 'V' paintings contemporary with their fourteenth-century construction. The pulpit is of 1636 and shows some excellent carved arcading. Attached to it is a contemporary hourglass stand. The north transept has wall paintings depicting the martyrdom of St Edmund, but these were over-touched-up by Professor Tristram in 1932. Further paintings exist in the south transept and probably show the martyrdom of St Margaret. The base of the rood screen is fifteenth century while the rather insubstantial traceried top is an early twentieth-century addition. There is an elaborate tie-beam high in the roof with little quatrefoil piercings in the spandrels, but this could not have supported the rood as the remains of the rood loft staircase may be seen in its usual position. Outside the north chancel wall can be found a piscina and holy water stoup - all that remains of a medieval chantry chapel or anchorite's cell which has been demolished. The blocked-up doorway that originally gave access to it may be seen both inside and out. On the inside south wall of the chancel is one of the finest sedilia in Kent which together with its double piscina dates from the early years of the fourteenth century.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Cliffe

 

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THE Church at Cliffe is dedicated to St. Helen and bears the distinction of being the only church in Kent dedicated to that Saint. It stands in a prominent position at the edge of the Hoo peninsula overlooking the extensive marshes which at this point stretch some two miles to the Thames.

The village seems at one time to have been of greater importance than it is to-day. Lambarde describes it as a large town in his day in spite of a disastrous fire which had destroyed many of the houses about 1520, a fire from the effects of which it appears never to have recovered.

The Manor of Cliffe belonged from very early times to the Prior and Convent of Christ Church, Canterbury, who were also the owners of the advowson, and thus became concerned with the upkeep of the church. At the Dissolution the Manor passed to George Brooke, Lord Cobham, though the Archbishop of Canterbury is still the patron of the living. Among the Rectors of Cliffe were several men of distinction, some of whom probably never visited the parish. From an early date there seems to have been a perpetual vicarage attached to the church, but when it became merged in the Rectory is uncertain.

Of the first church at Cliffe there is no definite record. It is sometimes said to have been founded by Offa, king of Mercia, in the latter part of the eighth century, though the only evidence for this appears to be the presumed identification of the place with the Cloveshoo of the Saxon Chronicle, where various synods of the Saxon Church were held in the eighth and ninth centuries. Without attempting to suggest a solution of this very debatable point, it can only be said that the evidence in favour of Cliffe appears to rest on at least as good authority as that of the rival claimants—Abingdon in Berkshire, and Clifton Hoo in Bedfordshire. There is moreover good reason to think that Cliffe was less inaccessible than might be supposed in mediaeval times. There still remain traces of a causeway across Higham Marsh, which must at one time have led to a ferry, thus affording an easy means of approach from Essex and the Midlands.

The earliest undisputed documentary reference to a church at Cliffe is in the Domesday Survey. It was evidently a building of more than usual importance for it is expressly stated that two ministers were in charge. Of this building, however, not a vestige remains, though there can be little doubt that from it the present plan has, on more or less recognised lines, been developed.

The plan as it exists to-day is complete, and consists of a nave with wide aisles, north and south transepts, chancel, western tower and south porch. The church is one of the largest in Kent, and is a striking example of a parish church whose size and splendour could have borne but little relation to the actual needs of the locality. It was the product of an age whose zeal for church building was limited only by the funds available. The total internal length from east to west is 182 feet, while the width across the transept is 82 feet. The exterior has been the subject of somewhat extensive restoration, which has robbed it of much of its ancient appearance. The south aisle differs from that on the north in having an embattled parapet, similar to that of the porch. The walls of the tower and transepts are faced with flint rubble with little attempt at regular coursing. The later work of the nave and chancel, though extensively refaced, is composed of alternate courses of dressed flints and stone ; the latter, a soft ragstone from the lower green sand formation which, quarried probably from the outcrop a few miles to the south, has weathered badly in many places. A variety of other materials is noticeable, some of which appear to have been reused from the earlier church. A block of Caen stone in the east wall of the chancel, and several pieces in the north wall, have obviously been reused, while a single piece of calcareous tufa can be seen in the north wall of the transept; Reigate stone is also fairly abundant.

 

It is not till one enters the church, that its size is fully realised. The absence of pews over a large part of the nave, with the fact that the nave arcade is carried past the crossing without a break, and the absence of a chancel arch, all combine to emphasise its spaciousness. The impression

gathered from a superficial survey of the interior is that of a thirteenth century church with considerable additions in the fourteenth century, but a more careful inspection shows at least one trace of an earlier building. The arch from the north aisle into the transept, which has been partially cut away when the thirteenth century nave arcade was constructed, is certainly of late twelfth century date and must therefore have survived from an earlier church. Before, however, considering the development of the ground plan, it is necessary to refer briefly to the chief features of architectural interest which call for notice.

The porch is of a fairly common type, with an upper room, approached by a stair turret from the south aisle. It measures internally 11 feet 5 inches from east to west by 16 feet from north to south, and is apparently of late fifteenth century date. On the right of the inner doorway are the remains of a holy water stoup. The room above has been considerably modernised, and there is nothing to indicate its original use. Occasionally an altar is found in the porch chamber, which, however, in this case would seem more likely to have been used for storing the church goods.

 

The north and south aisles of the nave are 19 feet 10 inches and 18 feet wide respectively, and are thus considerably wider than the nave itself. They contain a fine series of Decorated windows, those at the end of either aisle being particularly interesting examples of three lights. The church as a whole is very rich in windows of this period, which form in themselves an interesting study in design. The south aisle has a stone bench running along its south and west walls.

The tower is entered from the nave by a plain thirteenth century arch, and measures approximately 15 feet 6 inches from east to west by 17 feet 6 inches from north to south (interior measurements). The lower stage, which is shut off from the church by a screen, and is now used as a vestry, is lit by three narrow lancets, one in each of the disengaged walls. The roof is a simple quadripartite vault, without any boss at the intersection of the ribs, which are carried on shafts supported on corbels set in the four angles. The lower part of the tower is apparently thirteenth century work, and somewhat earlier than the transepts. The flat, clasping buttresses appear to be original, though now entirely re-faced, and might in themselves suggest a transitional date for the base of the tower. The upper part has been rebuilt at a much later date, and contains a Perpendicular window. Like most towers of the period, it is probable that there was originally no structural stairway leading to the upper stages, access to which had to be obtained by means of a ladder, though the existing doorway to the modern stair turret appears to be of fairly early date.

 

The transepts deserve special consideration on account of the very interesting work which they contain. Their date cannot be later than about 1260 and there are some grounds for thinking that the south transept may be slightly the earlier of the two. The east wall of the south transept is

divided into two bays by blind arches, supported on slender banded shafts, with a narrow lancet window in the centre of each arch. A somewhat similar arrangement exists on the east wall of the north transept, though in this case the central shaft is not carried to the ground, but rests midway on a moulded bracket, below which is a piscina with a trefoil head of the same date. The treatment of the west wall of the north transept is very similar to that of the east, but the arches are much narrower, and the arrangement has been somewhat interfered with by a later widening of the nave aisle. In the south transept the arcading on the west wall is somewhat plainer, and the banded shafts have been dispensed with. Although similar in general design, certain details point to the south transept being slightly the earlier. The string course below the windows, which is continued round the shafts of the mural arcading, is a plain scroll moulding, while in the north transept a fillet is substituted, and the central bands on the shafts of the arcading are of a more elaborate character. The triple lancet windows at the ends of either transept are modern, and replaced two large fifteenth-century windows, which are shown in several early views.

The north transept was formerly shut off from the rest of the church by a screen, and used for holding the Rector's Court. In mediaeval times, and down to 1845, the Rector of Cliffe had a peculiar jurisdiction within his parish. He was exempt from all ecclesiastical authority other than personal visitation from the Archbishop of Canterbury. The wills of parishioners were proved in the local court, and the official seal of the Peculiar is still preserved in the Rochester Museum.

The chancel, which appears to have been rebuilt entirely in the middle of the fourteenth century, is complete, save for the insertion of a modern east window, which replaced an extraordinarily ugly eighteenth-century aperture of brick. The remaining windows are all fine examples of Decorated work, the tracery of which shows a distinctly Flamboyant tendency. The eastern pair affords interesting examples of Kentish tracery. All have good hood-mouldings with

grotesques at the ends. Beneath the windows is a stringcourse, which terminates at the altar rails with a grotesque head on either side. That on the north has been renewed, but the southern one represents the battered head of a monk.

The chief interest in the chancel, however, is its fittings. In the south wall is a series of three very beautiful fourteenth century sedilia, with a piscina of uniform character, recessed in the wall and ascending eastward. They are divided by slender buttressed shafts, supporting elaborately carved ogee canopies, and surmounted by crockets and finials. Beneath the canopies are trefoiled arches, and behind these the roof is carved in imitation of sexpartite vaulting.

Opposite in the north wall is a fine late-fourteenth century tomb of early Perpendicular character, which is often referred to as an Easter sepulchre, for which purpose it may well have been used. The wide cinquefoil arch is surmounted by an elaborate embattled cornice, supported on narrow

buttressed shafts, and terminating with a carved head at either end ; circles with internal cuspings fill the spandrils of the arch.

 

Immediately west of this tomb is a blocked doorway which led to an adjoining building, now demolished. The exterior wall at this point is of a different character from the rest of the chancel walls, and apparently of earlier date. It is composed of a variety of material, including pieces of Caen stone, which probably came from the earlier church, and suggests that this section of wall and the chapel, of which it formed part, survived the re-building of the chancel in the fourteenth century. The two adjoining buttresses have been constructed out of sections of the eastern and western walls of the chapel, and serve to indicate its approximate size. The position of its low roof is clearly shown by the stone corbels which remain at a height of 7 feet 8 inches from the ground. The floor must have been somewhat lower than the present ground level, as the small piscina in the exterior of the chancel wall is now only two feet from the ground. In the base of the westernmost of the two buttresses is a niche, now scarcely eighteen inches from the ground, which may originally have been used as a holy water stoup, since it was close to the entrance to the chapel. This small building probably served the joint purpose of a Sacristy and Chapel. That it contained an altar there can be no doubt from the piscina already noted.

It may possibly be referred to in the will of Richard Elys, who in 1468 left 12 pence to the light of the Blessed Mary in the chapel and 4 pence to the light of the Blessed Mary near the pulpit, though one of the transepts may of course have been here intended. Such evidence as there is on the other hand seems to point to the chapel having been pulled down at the time of the rebuilding of the chancel or soon afterwards. The blocked doorway in the chancel wall was originally carried down to the present ground level on the exterior, so that there must have been some steps in the thickness of the wall leading down into the chapel. The date of this doorway, which was probably contemporary with the building to which, it led, is uncertain. It is certainly earlier than the adjoining late-fourteenth-century tomb, as parts have been cut away when the latter was inserted, and the use of somewhat small stones points to an earlier rather than a later date. Its details on the other hand include the wave moulding which is usually taken to be characteristic of the Decorated period, or one might otherwise be inclined to think that it formed part of the thirteenth century chancel. The filling on the exterior is certainly not modern, and the fact that a plinth has been inserted when the doorway was blocked up, to match that round the rest of the chancel evidently with the intention, which was never carried out, of continuing it along the section of earlier walling where the chapel stood, seems to suggest that this work was undertaken about the same time as the rebuilding of the chancel.

 

We are now in a position to consider the probable development of the ground plan, which, though somewhat conjectural for the earlier period, has left some interesting and unmistakable traces of its later history. In the entire absence of remains of the early Norman church, one is forced to rely for the identification of its position on analogy with other buildings of similar type. The first church of which we have any record in all probability consisted of a simple nave and square- ended chancel. The three easternmost bays of the existing nave arcade would preserve the line of

the north and south walls of the church, while the chancel would occupy the interior of the present crossing. There is nothing to show the position of the west wall, but it would have been approximately in a line with the present north and south doors. Towards the close of the twelfth century north and south aisles, about half the width of the present ones, were probably added by piercing the original walls with arches, and about the same time a small chapel or aisle appears to have been built to the north of the original chancel, and the existing arch constructed so as to give access into it. This arch, which cannot be later than about 1200, is obviously much earlier than the present transept and must therefore have communicated with an earlier building on its site. Some evidence in support of this came to light during the restoration of the north transept in 1864. The foundations of an early wall four feet thick were found beneath the present floor running parallel and close to its eastern wall. At a distance of 15 feet from the chancel wall it appears to have been met by another wall at right angles to it. Unfortunately no further record was made of this discovery, but it establishes beyond doubt the existence of a building in this position, to which the arch in question opened. It is possible that this was the chancel arch of a late twelfth century church, and that the foundations were those of the former chancel, though such a theory would be more difficult to reconcile with the later development of the plan. Moreover on the assumption that there already existed a building on the north of the original chancel when the thirteenth-century builders decided to remodel the church, it is possible to account for the hitherto unexplained fact that the north transept is wider than the south by some three feet. The normal development of the thirteenth century produced a cruciform church. A new and longer chancel, and north and south transepts, were built around the small twelfth century chancel, while the nave and aisles were lengthened by the removal of the west wall some 20 feet further west, and a tower erected to the west of this. These extensive works could not of course have been simultaneous.

The tower appears to be somewhat earlier than the transepts, so that presumably the lengthening of the west end was undertaken first, and at the same time an Early English arcade, extending an additional bay westward, was inserted in place of the twelfth century arches. Contrary to what was frequently the case in churches of this type, there was clearly never any intention to erect a central tower over the crossing, since the abutments are far too weak to have supported the weight. This weakness would account for the presence of the strainer arch of oak, which must

have been inserted sometime in the fifteenth century.

With the completion of this work the early builders grew more ambitious. Almost immediately the work on the new chancel and transepts must have begun. A temporary hoarding was probably erected, shutting off the nave and the altar, transferred there until the new works were finished. The chancel and the south transept were probably first erected, as the sites were free of buildings ; the width of the latter being determined by the size of the former chancel and the chapel on the north. When the work was completed attention was directed towards the north transept, which, according to the usual practice, would have been rebuilt round the earlier building, the foundations of which were discovered in 1864, thus accounting for its slight extra width. Probably towards the end of the century the small chapel, the remains of which have already been mentioned, was built on the north of the new chancel.

Considerable alterations were undertaken in the fourteenth century, the principal of which were the rebuilding of the thirteenth century chancel, and the widening of the nave aisles. The latter was a very frequent form of improvement at this period, and was usually occasioned by the desire

for extra space to set up additional altars so as to meet the enormous increase in the popularity of Chantry bequests. At Cliffe the effect of this widening is clearly shown on the already completed design of the transepts. In the north transept one of the lancets was cut away, and a short pointed arch springing from shafts, which do not reach the ground, inserted in its place. The apex of the original lancet still remains in the wall above. In the south transept a similar alteration in plan is treated somewhat differently. A segmental arch, here reaching to the ground, and opening into the extended aisle, was inserted within the earlier bund arch in the west wall of the transept. This also necessitated the removal of an original lancet, the head of which can be seen occupying the space between the original arch and the later insertion. The windows in the nave all appear to be of this date. Probably contemporary with this extension of the aisles, was the heightening of the nave to allow for the clerestory with its row of single splayed lancets. The junction of this work with the old can be clearly seen immediately above the arcading. The thirteenth century roof of the nave was about on a level with those of the aisles, as the small window in the east face of the tower, which now looks into the church, must originally have looked out over the roof. The line of the fourteenth roof, which was erected at the time that the clerestory was added, can be seen on the wall of the tower, passing across the window opening. Below this the position of the third roof, erected 1732, can also be seen. This roof, which was almost flat, was replaced by the present one about forty years ago.

The rebuilding of the chancel would appear to have been undertaken at the same time as extension of the aisles, to judge from the similarity of the external stonework. This would again have necessitated the use of the nave for services, and it is probable that either at this time, or during the earlier work on the interior of the transepts, the round headed arch, which can be seen on the exterior of the north wall of the north transept, was constructed for the convenience of the masons while the ordinary entrances were not available. That this arch or doorway, which has sometimes been said to be of Norman origin, was really of a much later date, and of a purely temporary character, seems to be shown by a close inspection of its construction. The position is not in the centre of the wall while the arch itself is made up of a variety of material including large flints, pieces of Beigate stone and a single block of calcareous tufa, the latter doubtless coming from the early church. Further, the fact that the filling of the arch' seems to be of much the same character as the adjoining walls points to it only having been used for a comparatively short time. Everything in fact indicates that it was a purely temporary arrangement used during the construction of the transepts, or the later chancel, and filled up as soon as the work was completed. A somewhat similar, though smaller, arch in the exterior of the south wall of the tower was probably of a similar nature, though its purpose is conjectural, and it may have had some connection with original stairs to the upper floors. By the end of the fourteenth century the church was practically complete. The porch was added early in the following century, and the large Perpendicular windows, which formerly existed at the ends of the transepts, inserted. At the same time the upper part of the west tower was rebuilt. Certain work also seems to have been in progress about this time in the chancel, for in the will of the Rector in 1413 a sum of money was left towards that object. Exactly what resulted from the bequest one cannot say.

The subsequent additions were chiefly in the nature of modern insertions. The eighteenth century saw many acts of destruction which are duly entered in the parish registers. In 1730, during the Rectorship of George Green, the old high-gabled roofs were taken down, the lead recast, and an

almost flat roof substituted. Two years later the east window was demolished and a hideous brick opening substituted, and at the same time the old timber roof of the chancel, which, since it bore his arms, had probably been erected during the time of Archbishop Arundel, who occupied the See from 1396 to 1414, was pulled down, and both the nave and chancel ceiled. During this period also the two enormous brick buttresses, which are shown in some early views, were erected on the north and south sides of the tower. The church was in this condition when Sir Stephen Glynne visited it in 1857. Subsequent restorations have been extensive, though for the most part necessary. The brick buttresses to the Tower were removed shortly after Sir Stephen Glynne's visit, and the present circular stair turret erected in the place of the southern one. The chancel was restored in 1875, when traces of the original reredos were discovered, and the jambs of the original east window, which were of Reigate stone and about 15 feet apart, were found in situ. The present window was erected in place of the eighteenth century one in 1884, and at the same time the flat lead roofs of the nave and chancel were removed, and the present high-pitched tiled roofs substituted. Finally a small building, without any communication with the church, has been erected in recent years to the east of the north transept. During these successive restorations much of the external walls has been refaced from time to time, and the whole of the upper part of the east wall of the chancel which was pulled down in 1732, was rebuilt when the present window was inserted.

It is somewhat difficult now to picture the appearance of the interior of the church in mediaeval times. A brilliant colour scheme evidently played an important part in the general effect. Many of the piers of the nave arcades, which are apparently constructed of hard chalk, still show traces of a bold chevron pattern in red and yellow, and, together with the extensive wall paintings, slight traces of which still remain in the transepts, and the brilliance of the mediaeval glass, must have combined to give a very rich effect to the interior. Of the ancient glass very little remains. Dr.

Grayling mentions some fourteenth century borders in the chancel windows, which seem to have disappeared. In the central window of the north aisle is a small piece of ancient glass representing a ship with fish in the water beneath, which is said to have been found many years ago in a shed in the churchyard. In the top of the adjoining window is a fifteenth century figure of the Virgin and Child. A coat of arms in another window is mentioned by Thorpe, but this also seems to have disappeared. The wall paintings, though now very indistinct, were evidently much clearer until

comparatively recent times. On the east wall of the north transept, in the space between the southernmost of the two lancets and the arch in which it is placed, is one of these paintings, divided into five panels, depicting the Martyrdom of St. Edmund. Very little of it can now be made out, though the whole of this transept showed traces of colour at the time of the restoration of 1864. Some remains of a painting in a similar position in the south transept can still be seen, and are said to represent the Last Judgment.

Several bequests for the provision and upkeep of lights before the various altars add a little to our knowledge of the interior in mediaeval times. Of the various saints to whom lights were dedicated in the church Our Lady was of course the most popular. We have already seen that two altars

were dedicated to her. One of these is again mentioned in 1483, when Robert Qwikerell left 20 pence "to the Parish Church of Cleue and to the ligth of Our Lady besyde the pulpett there" and also a similar amount to the lights of St. Laurence and St. George. Richard Elys in 1469 also

mentions lights of St. Christopher, St. John and St. James, while in 1509 Steven Tudor bequeathed to the high altar of St. Elyn 20 pence, and to the light of St. Elyn 12 pence.

Of the position of these various lights one cannot speak with any certainty. That to St. Christopher would have been near the main entrance to the church, while the light of the patron saint, St. Helen, would have been in the Chancel, probably over the high altar. Remains of a piscina in four other places in the church prove the former existence of altars in these positions. That in the Sacristy has already been mentioned. At least one altar stood in each of the transepts, while a small piscina, apparently constructed of broken window tracery at the east end of the south aisle, testifies to another. An altar probably stood in a corresponding position in the north aisle. This disposition would exactly account for the number of lights mentioned in early wills. Besides the lights burning before the altars, there would also be a light before the great Rood over the entrance to the chancel. Some of the lower panels of the original rood screen survive. Above, and partly supported by, the screen was the rood loft, which was already in existence as early as 1413, when it is mentioned in conjunction with the great rood itself and its attendant figures in the will of Nicholas de Ryssheton, Canon of Sarum and Rector of Cliffe. The small fifteenth century doorway with a fourcentred arch, which gave access to it, can still be seen high up in the north wall just east of the entrance of the chancel, and the original stairs remain in good condition, though the entrance from the church has been blocked up and covered over with plaster.

The furniture in the church has suffered much from “restoration" and other causes. Six of the ancient stalls remain, three on each side of the chancel, though panelling at the backs and all the seats except two are modern. The sides terminate in carved heads, some of which have been

renewed, while the two original miserecords are carved with grotesques. The Communion rails are Jacobean, though somewhat repaired. They are of the fairly common baluster type with a central bulge. The pulpit is a very fine piece of Renaissance carving, and retains the original stand for the hour glass, though the glass itself is modern; on it is the date 1636.

Besides the fragments of the original rood screen there is another screen shutting off the vestry under the tower.

The font, which has been moved from its original position, is 3 feet 4£ inches in height, and apparently of late-fourteenth century date. The perfectly plain octagonal bowl has concave sides, around the lower edge of which is a hollow chamfer. The bowl is supported by an octagonal, buttressed stem on a plain base. On the westernmost pillar of the south arcade can still be seen the bracket and chain by which the font cover was raised, indicating its original position.

The monuments in the church are few, and call for little comment. In the floor at the west end of the north aisle are two flat coffin-shaped stones with early fourteenth century French inscriptions in Lombardic capitals. The one on the north is probably the earlier, judging from the very rough

characters which are now scarcely legible. It commemorated Eleanor de Olive, of whom nothing is known. The other stone shows traces of brass, and is inscribed in memory of Joan, wife of John Earn. These stones are described in the Gentleman's Magazine, and old rubbings of them exist among the collection of the Society of Antiquaries. There are three brasses of seventeenth century date, one of which is thought to have been engraved locally.

Two wills are of interest in connection with early burials in the church. In 1376 Robert de Walton, Rector of Cliffe, desired to be buried in the church of Olyve at the entrance to the quire. Some years later, in 1387, Thomas de Lynton, a subsequent rector, directed that he should be buried in the chancel near the entrance, and between the entrance to the quire and the tomb of Master Robert Walton, late Rector, and he ordered that a handsome marble monument should be placed over his body at the discretion of his executors. It seems not unlikely however that his executors favoured a brass monument. In the chancel is the stone matrix of what must once have been a very fine brass of about this period, representing a priest under a canopy. Another smaller matrix of an ecclesiastic is close to the pulpit.

Of the church plate the most important piece is a very beautiful paten of silver gilt of the early part of the sixteenth century. In the centre, worked in coloured enamels, is a seated figure of God the Father holding before Him a figure of the crucifixion. The extreme rarity of pre-reformation

plate is not generally recognised, and the example at Cliffe is one of the finest English patens in existence. At some period or other the paten at Cliffe served as a chalice cover, and it is even said to have been used as an alms dish, which would account for its numerous signs of wear. The other plate is of seventeenth century and later date, and of no particular interest.

It remains for me to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. F. O. Blliston Erwood for several suggestions and for the photographs which illustrate this paper. The present account is intended to supplement, but not to supplant altogether, an article on Cliffe Church, by the Rev. I. Gr. Lloyd, a former Rector, which appeared in Vol. XI. of Arch. Cant., where reference should be made for further particulars.

 

www.cliffehistory.co.uk/martin.html

 

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CLIFFE (St. Helen), a parish, in the union of North Aylesford, hundred of Shamwell, lathe of Aylesford, W. division of Kent, 5 miles (N. by W.) from Rochester; containing 842 inhabitants. The parish is bounded on the north by the Thames, and comprises 5660 acres, whereof 180 are woodland, about 2000 arable, and the remainder pasture, including a considerable portion of marshy land. The village, which is supposed to take its name from the cliff or rock on which it stands, was formerly of much greater extent, a great part of it having been destroyed by fire in 1520: it was the scene of several provincial councils. A pleasurefair is held on September 28th. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £50; net income, £1297; patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury: the glebe contains 20 acres. The church is considered one of the finest in the county, being a large handsome cruciform structure in the early English style, with an embattled central tower, and containing several curious monuments and remains of antiquity, together with six stalls that belonged to a dean and five prebendaries, it having been formerly collegiate.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp63...

Completion of the Fulton Substation is just one part of a planned $23 million in

system upgrades in Toledo Edison’s service area during 2013. The company also will

inspect and preemptively replace equipment and utility poles, replace underground vault

tops and continue vegetation management programs across its service area, all designed to

enhance service reliability.

LUC has worked with a large multi-disciplinary team to deliver a sustainable infrastructure and development masterplan to guide the long term transformation of Shawfield in Glasgow’s East End. LUC also led the design and implementation of an advanced phase of public realm and landscape works that now forms a framework for new development to be realised over a 20-25year horizon.

 

Prior to construction the site was heavily contaminated and consisted of large areas of vacant and derelict land together with dated business and industrial premises. The site was completely cleared and underwent significant ground remediation in advance of the public realm works to ensure the site is ‘development ready’.

 

LUC developed a green infrastructure strategy to inform the masterplan design with an emphasis on integrated surface water drainage and pedestrian connectivity to surrounding communities, transport nodes and the River Clyde corridor.

The Clyde riverbanks have been manipulated to provide new pedestrian and cycling infrastructure and this now provides an extension to the strategically important Clyde Walkway.

 

An ecologically diverse mosaic of riparian woodland, grassland and wetland habitats has been created that will improve the biodiversity of the River Clyde corridor.

A new strategic pedestrian and cycling link has been created linking the new South Dalmarnock Smart Bridge with the centre of the masterplan site, improving connectivity in the area. In contrast with the more naturalistic riverside treatment this link is more formal in character with strong tree avenue planting, lighting and paving patterns.

  

For more information, visit: www.landuse.co.uk

The completion of the first phase of the building produced a Theatre (573 seats), a Studio Theatre (150 seats), a Conference Room (250 seats), a Music Centre with an Ensemble Room (100 seats) and 9 practice rooms, as well as a bookshop and bars. The second phase of the Arts Centre (completed in January 1981) included the addition of the Butterworth Hall, a flexible concert hall, seating up to 1500. In 1986 the third phase was completed with the building of the Mead Gallery, which provided for up to 3 galleries totalling 6000 square feet, a Cinema seating 225, a new University bookshop and a new restaurant, converted from the existing bookshop.

Further improvements in 1997 included a glass atrium, lifts, and a new box office. A further extension to the Butterworth Hall took place in 2011.

Many thanks to Olav who kindly provided me the repartition of norwegian kommuner by area code.

Utrecht University Library – Wiel Arets Architects

Size: 36.250 m2 - Design: 1997-2001 - Completion: 2004

 

The library, which houses 4.2 million books, was intended, in addition to being a place where people could work in a concentrated manner, to also become the intellectual social center for the suburban university campus, where students and others can come to study and meet at all times of the day. The 40 meter tall library and the adjacent, lower parking garage, both clad in glass and concrete imprinted with the same silk-screened figurative pattern, are sited on the major road and pedestrian pathway across the campus. The simple rectangular massing of the library and the repetitive rhythm of its concrete cladding and glazing, which is subtly modulated by the projecting operable sections, stands in stark contrast to the rich, plastic spatial complexity of the interior spaces.

 

The books are stored in two primary volumes that seem to float up towards the ceiling. The massive, lifted book stack volumes are made of black-painted cast concrete, and the walls have a three-dimensional figural pattern cast into them which matches the two-dimensional pattern imprinted on the exterior glazing. While the black pattern on the glazing filters the natural light entering the building, the pattern embossed in the black-colored concrete walls acts to diffuse and bounce the light deeper into the interior spaces. At the center of the building, a vertical space, running from the ground to the roof, is opened between the two book stack volumes, which are interconnected by a series of stairs and sloping ramps. This central vertical space forms the experiential hinge of the building, interweaving the lines of movement, the spatial layers, and the internal views.

 

The walls and ceilings of the interior are black and matt, while the floors are white and shiny. The bookshelves are black, while the worktables are white. The predominant black color characterizing the interior is critical to creating the atmosphere of concentration, security, and silent communication essential to the function of the library. The black interior creates a feeling of local enclosure, allowing the inhabitants to conduct the private activity of concentrated study in a public place of collective identity. The only exceptions to this color scheme are the red rubber surfaces used in the book checkout area, the information desks, the auditorium, the bar, and the lounge, all of which are related to the itinerary of public movement through the building.

 

The individual workspaces are organized in a wide variety of locations and arrangements within the interior, some quite intimate and isolated, and some quite extended and exposed. The individual user can make a choice of where to work, and thus to determine both their ability to be absorbed in their work, and the amount of communication they wish to have with others in the library. Because of the remarkably rich range of sizes and shapes of the workplaces, and the complexly layered sections and the endlessly unfolding spatial intersections within the building, it is possible to recognize and communicate visually with people across the interior, and even from floor to floor, while at the same time being undisturbed by those sitting nearby.

Liking the darker reds, this will make a find stand-in for the otherwise older dinky Bloodthirster from the 90's (80's?).

 

100% Games Workshop components, and alarmingly easy to accomplish.

 

Details on how it was built and painted can be found at my blog: battle-brothers.blogspot.com

The southern facade of the Ingenium Building (nearing completion) adjacent to the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

  

As per Wikipedia:

 

>>

Ingenium, (Long name: Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation) formerly called the Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation, is a Canadian Crown corporation responsible for overseeing national museums related to science and technology. The name is based off the Latin root of the word ingenuity.

 

The corporation oversees the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum and the Canada Science and Technology Museum. The organization is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario.

 

The corporation's museums are associated with the Canadian Museum Association, the Virtual Museum of Canada and the Canadian Heritage Information Network. Ingenium has an

open documents portal where the corporation shares working documents and corporate plans. It also maintains an open data portal.

<<

Sukhoi Superjet 100 Certification Program is progressing towards completion

 

Sukhoi Superjet 100 certification campaign is successfully progressing towards completion. All major certification flight programs are accomplished. The prototypes have gained 2245 flight hours in 948 flights.

 

On October 28 the aircraft 95003 returned from Iceland after a month testing for operation in side winds, having fully confirmed its compliance with certification requirements at side wind speed up to 15m/sec. Keflavík International Airport is situated at the Atlantic coast of Iceland. Its runways are built at 90 degrees angle each other, so when the wind follows the direction of one runway, it causes side wind at another one bringing the possibility tο conduct test landings іn side wind, nο matter whісh direction thе wind blows. Because of its unique wind conditions, Keflavik Airport is widely used for side wind testing by the European and American manufacturer. Keflavik has been used for side winds testing by A380 and B787.

 

Along with side winds testing program, the aircraft has successfully performed a series of testing for CATII landing, which is enough to get the Type Certification. Preparation to CATIIIA testing is in progress.

 

In Zhukovsky Flight Test Center SCAC engineers successfully completed air stairs and cargo compartment equipment testing.

 

“We’ve already gone through the most challenging testing certification programs. As per our estimations our team has already covered 90% of the overall certification testing scope. Now we are finalizing avionics safety failure testing, EMC, HIRF with emergency evacuation testing to follow”, - said Igor Vinogradov, SVP Certification.

Riyadh, Elf-One, AWACS, Aug-Nov 1981

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In May 1981, I re-enlisted in the Air National Guard at the completion of my first 4 year hitch. I had made E-5, Staff Sergeant, and was enjoying my time in the service. Our unit had gone to Korea for a Team Spirit exercise in the spring and Pusan had been a lot of fun.

 

I was working as a security guard and going to Sac State. When the Air Guard asked me if I would like to spend a couple fo months in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in August, I jumped at the chance to travel again. My aunt Clyda had been working as a nurse at King Faisal Hospital in Riyadh for several years and liked it (and the money she was making) well enough to stay there.

 

So, some time in August 1981 (don't remember exact dates) I boarded a flight for Oklahoma City, site of Tinker AFB, the headquarters of the 552nd AWACS Wing as well as the 3rd Combat Comm Group, a regular Air Force equivalent to my own ANG 162nd Combat Comm Group. I was on loan to the 3rd Herd for my stay in Saudi.

 

After a day or two at Tinker, we flew via C-141 to Rhein Main AFB in Frankfurt, Germany,refueled and from there continued on to Riyadh. Like Rhein Main, the air base at Riyadh shared runways with the commercial airport.

 

We were supporting Exercise Elf One, which was playing I Spy on the Iran-Iraq War. The Saudis had asked the US to fly AWACS radar planes and have radar ships in the Gulf to watch the Iranians, in case they decided to attack Saudi Arabia, which was suporting the Iraqis in the war. I don't think the Iranians ever did attack the Saudis, but they did bomb Kuwait one day when we were there. After that, I think the Kuwaits asked that we warn them if any Iranian planes came their way. We had picked up the Iranian planes going to and from Kuwait, but had no agreement to inform them before that.

 

In those days, the Iranians were flying US made F4s and F14s, while the Iraqis had Soviet MiGs and French Mirages. We didn't know it at the time, but the Iranians were getting parts for their planes under the Iran-Contra deal.

 

There are western compounds in Riyadh, where the normal Saudi rules are relaxed. The US Army had a training mission, and companies such as Lockheed and British Aircraft also had compounds. Alcohol was strictly forbidden under Saudi Sharia law, but the western compounds would brew jungle juice and serve it at parties, with the Saudis turning a blind eye, as they needed the Americans, Brits and others to keep things working. I saw the aftereffects of bathtub grapefruit wine on some of the guys and decided I could wait until I got back to Germany and have some decent German beer.

 

Our compound or Elf One was the ai Yamama Hotel on Airport Road between downtown and the airport (duh!!!). It was a regular hotel, but had been taken over by USAF for the Elf One people. The regular staff managed it, and we ate breakfast and dinner in the hotel dining room for free. After a while, the same 6 or 7 items for dinner did get old, and we would sometimes eat at other restaurants in town, but Riyadh is not known for its swinging night life.

 

I was one of two Teletype techs in Riyadh while I was there. We also had crypto, sattelite radio, HF radio, ground power, HVAC maint people, who hung out in our shop van near the flight line on base, as well as a bunch of radio and Teletype operators who did the work of running the gear. The maint people mainly hung out, repaired problems, and did periodic maintenance on the equipment. That explains the photos of us hanging out in the shop van, reading, napping, playing cards and generally goofing off.

 

The aircraft maint people worked elsewhere.

 

USAF had KC-135 tankers and E3 AWACS planes in Riyadh for Elf One. An E3 was in the air at all times, flying in 12 hour shifts. We could, if we wanted to, go on "morale flights" on the AWACS, but I never did as sitting in a plane for 12 hours with nothing to do sounded slightly less appealing than sitting in the shop van for 12 hours with nothing to do.

 

We could also, take morale flights on the KC-135s when they went up to refuel the AWACS every afternoon. They left about the same time every day, taking off southbound over downtown Riyadh and our hotel and you could always tell the 135 by the distinctive sound of its water injection turbojets as it flew over.

 

I went up on two morale flights on KC-135s and on the first one I remarked to the pilot that I would love to take photos of the refueling. He was cool with it, so the second time I went up, I brought my camera and asked permision from the pilot on that trip. He didn't care, although I think the Saudis did not want people taking arial photos of the country. Oh well. This was 35 years ago and all of the air crews on these planes are out of the service or retired by now.

 

I have to say that the midair refueling of the AWACS as seen from next to the boom operator on the KC-135 is one of the coolest things I've ever witnessed. Boom operators joke that they have 3 college graduates fly them around so they can pass gas, and USAF does midair refueling dozens of times a day all over the world, but it is remarkable to see two planes flying close together, connected by a refueling boom.

 

My TDY was originally for 2 months, but with no job to return to and having missed the Fall 1981 semester at Sac State, I extended it for another month.

 

In 1981, Riyadh had a rail connection to the Gulf at Damman with a daily passenger train, and freight service. I saw the passenger train at Riyadh, but did not feel comfortable taking out my camera to get any photos. It had a GP38 (IIRC) pulling new stainless steel cars that had been made in Europe. I've heard that one of the Twin/Nebraske Zephyr sets wound up in Saudi Arabia (the other is at Illinois Railway Museum), but I saw no sign of it and I did not try to take a ride on the railway as we only had one day off a week and a round trip required an overnight stay. I did get a few photos another day when I found the yard and shop. One is posted here, and when I find the others, I will post them. The Saudis had some F7s and I saw a couple of those as well as what I think is a GL8, an EMD export model.

 

I tried to meet Aunt Clyda during the whole time I was there, but she could not get into the al Yamama and I could not get into her nurse's quarters, and,as I said, there were not a lot of places to meet in downtown Riyadh. I knew she worked at the hospital's blood bank and we could give blood there, so toward the end of my stay, I joined the guys donating blood and at least was able to say hi to Clyda for a few minutes.

 

The weather was very hot when we got there, dry heat, of course, but by November, things had cooled off and we even had a bit of rain before I left in mid-November.

 

I planned to stop off in Europe and travel around for a month before returning to the US, so I mailed most of my stuff home before I left and when our plane got to Rhein Main, I joined the crowd heading to the bar for a beer, then went to the base hotel for the night.

 

The next morning was rainy and green and rain and green never looked so good!

The new track, sports field, grandstands, bus parking, playground and multipurpose room are nearing completion for use by the Kaiserslautern Raiders in Vogelweh, Germany April 11, 2013. The Department of Defense Dependents Schools-Europe project is 97 percent complete and will be ready for the DODDS-E track and field championships in late May. The state-of-the-art, all-weather running track surrounds a fully-lit turf soccer/football field. The field will require less water and maintenance than a traditional grass field. The project also includes a multipurpose room for the local elementary school. The MPR features a basketball court, rock climbing wall, performance stage and a fully-functional kitchen. In addition to this project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District is working with DoDDS-E to build new 21st century high-, middle- and elementary schools on U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern, the largest U.S. community overseas. USACE is currently designing and building 21st century schools for DoDDS throughout Germany, Italy, Belgium and the U.S., for more information read the following article: www.usace.army.mil/Media/NewsArchive/tabid/204/Article/42... (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Jennifer Aldridge)

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held November 17, 2009, to celebrate the completion of a Water Supply Project in Armenia, managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District. Participants included, from left, Levan Imedadze, USACE project engineer; U.S. Air Force Capt. Robert Sanders, Office of Defense Cooperation Armenia Bilateral Affairs Officer; the mayors of the six villages included in the project; Charles Samuel, USACE resident engineer; and the project's contractor. The project included the villages of Sevkar, Vaghashen, Ttou Jour, Karmir-Aghegi, Aghavnavank and Antaramej. The ceremony was held in Sevkar Village. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Nana Kacheishvili)

meanwhile in the workshop the line's polish usa type 0-6-0t nears completion

The Maryland National Guard Freestate Challenge Academy held their course completion ceremony for the 22 week residency phase for 104 cadets of class #47 at Havre de Grace High School, Havre de Grace, Md., Dec. 10, 2016. .

.

Retired Air Force Gen. Larry O. Spencer, who served as the VIce Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, spoke to the cadets as the keynote speaker..

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The Academy is a two-phased 17-month intervention program for underemployed, drug-free, “at-risk” high school dropouts from the state of Maryland between 16-18 years of age. Following graduation from the resident phase, the cadets are mentored for an additional 12 months, during which time they are placed into jobs, continue their higher education, or vocational trades training or enter the military..

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The mission of the Academy is to intervene in and reclaim the lives of at-risk youth and to produce graduates with the values, skills, education and self-discipline needed to succeed as adults..

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The students were brought into a structured and highly disciplined quasi-military academic setting that builds confidence and self-esteem to become productive and contributing members of our society. Cadets attend academic classes to prepare them for the test for the General Education Development (GED) credential and Maryland High School Diploma.

Col. Nick Ducich, Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine commander (left), presents Lt. Col. Roman Zabrodsky, 2nd Airborne Parachute Battalion, 25th Airborne Brigade commander a certificate of completion Apr. 29 during the rotation two Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine graduation ceremony at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center near Yavoriv, Ukraine. Each JMTG-U rotation will consist of nine weeks of training where Ukrainian soldiers will learn defensive combat skills needed to increase Ukraine's capacity for self-defense. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Adriana M. Diaz-Brown, 10th Press Camp Headquarters)

The last of the three main structures that make up the UN permanent Headquarters.

The General Assembly building is now nearing completion and will be ready for the opening of the seventh session of the Assembly when it convenes, on 14 October.

The General Assembly building occupies the most prominent part of the site area and is the focal point of the Headquarters' composition. Its low sweeping lines stand in sharp contrast to the 39 story skyscraper Secretariat building (to which it is connected by the Conference area). The northern facade of the building (foreground) is made of translucent glass set between marble columns. The concave side walls are faced with English lime-stone, with panels and trimmings in marble matching the narrow ends of the Secretariat building.

Photo ID 475364. 01/10/1952. United Nations, New York. UN Photo/x. www.unmultimedia.org/photo/

Day 1 of my flickr journey I started "upside down and inside out" in a whirlwind of transition. I'm not so sure that has changed much in my external world . . . however in my inner world a realm of calm has grown a quiet peacefulness and insatiable joy. In a years time its amazing to see the changes that have come and gone in my life. . . and I have the crazy adventure of 365 to document it all as well as some wildly incredibly and cool friendships ( you know who you are! :) all of you have made the ride worth riding. My sincerest thanks. . . . . Consider this not the end. . but only the BEGINNING.

  

The latest change to the tram fleet at Beamish Museum is now nearing completion. The 1935-built former Oporto 196 has now been re-liveried as South Shields 196 and will re-enter service soon (hopefully by the end of August 2012) and will no doubt be very popular with passengers and tram enthusiasts alike.

 

This tram, a four-wheeled single decker, was built by Boavista Works of Companhia Carris de Ferro do Porto (Oporto Tramways Company) to a 1909 American design. It is mounted on a Brill 21E design of truck, equipped with a pair of GE(USA) 270A 55hp motors, controlled from licensee-built B54E controllers.

 

The change is, perhaps, a little fanciful in that South Shields Corporation never had any trams of this type and, although their fleet did include single deckers, their highest fleet number when they closed in 1946 was "52" - so they never actually had a "196".

 

The other area of doubt is the colour of the livery. There are no known reliable coloured photographs of South Shields trams and so the colours used are as close as possible to the bus fleet of the former Corporation. In my opinion they are a little too colourful!

 

On a positive note, the tram looks magnificent and will be even better when the eight advertising hoardings (including the iconic "Shop at Binns") are added to the roof. Another credit to the work of Phil Anderson.

 

Copyright © 2012 Terry Pinnegar Photography. All Rights Reserved. THIS IMAGE IS NOT TO BE USED WITHOUT MY EXPRESS PERMISSION!

 

Monastery Wilten

Stift Wilten is a monastery founded in 1138 by Bishop Reginbert von Brixen of the Premonstratensians in Wilten, a district of Innsbruck at the foot of the Bergisel, the capital of the Austrian province of Tyrol.

The Wilten Abbey can be reached with the Innsbruck trams 1 and 6 (Innsbrucker Mittelgebirgsbahn) and the Stubaitalbahn.

History

Monastery complex from above

The abbey buildings stand on the ruins of the Roman settlement Veldidena. In the 16th century numerous Roman bricks, coins and remains of walls were discovered there and mentioned by Matthias Burglechner in his country description Tyrolean Eagle of 1619. According to legend, the monastery was founded by the giant Haymon about 880.

"The dreaded giant Haymon defeated his opponent, the giant Thyrsus, due to the better armament in a duel. A monk converted Haymon to Christianity. In regret over his deed, he stopped building his castle and began building the monastery. The devil was angered and ordered a lynx to prevent the monastery from being built. Haymon killed the animal and cut out the tongue. After completion of the monastery Haymon became brother of the convent. He was also buried in it."

Two statues at the entrance and another Haymon statue in the entrance area, which holds the cut tongue of the dragon in his hand, remind of the legend in the monastery. In fact, the monastery was probably founded before 1138 by Bishop Reginbert of Bressanone as episcopal proprietary monastery, on whose request Premonstratensians from the Upper Swabian monastery Rot at the Rot (small stream in Baden-Württemberg) replaced an older collegiate monastery of world priests; Pope Innocent II confirmed on April 30, 1138 the Wilten Order of Canons under it first provost Marquard the Augustinus rule in its premonstratensian expression, the vested rights, the free election and burial right and the privileges of the Bressanone diocesan bishop. The monastery flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The monastery has been in various distresses throughout history. 1807-1816, the monastery was dissolved by an order of the Kingdom of Bavaria. In the Nazi era, the monastery was forced to sell the monastery to the Reichsgau Tyrol-Vorarlberg, so that in 1946 after bombing and Nazi rule, a new beginning was necessary. It was only in 1988 that this construction phase was completed for the 850th anniversary.

Coat of arms

Representation of the monastery coat of arms on a landmark of 1745

The coat of arms can be traced back to the 17th century. In red, it shows a green tip, overlaid with a silver beam, slightly concave curved, a silver rust on the right, and three silver stones on the left. The silver beam is considered the coat of arms of the giant Haymon, the rust as an attribute of St. Lawrence and the stones as an attribute of St. Stephanus represent the two patrons of the monastery.

Like most Tyrolean monasteries, Wilten did not start until late to bear a coat of arms. The oldest depictions from the late 15th century show the symbols of the two abbey patrons, each in a blazon. The Tyrolean historiographer Matthias Burglechner constructed in the 17th century on older foundations a coat of arms for the legendary founder, who showed in a green shield a silver center beam. This bar is often interpreted as a symbol for the Sill (small river in Tyrol), which is unlikely because you would probably have chosen a (oblique) wave bar. Abbot Andreas Mayr (1621-1650) finally combined the two shields of the monastery patrons and that of the giant Haymon in an escutcheon, as it has been in use ever since.

 

Collegiate Church

Collegiate Church Wilten

Interior of the collegiate church

Building history

Abbot Heinrich Schuler (1922-1949) was a tireless researcher, especially as far as the age and history of the collegiate church was concerned. He noted that the first church in Wilten was probably just a small wooden building, surrounded by simple huts - the first monastery buildings. The church and monastery are mentioned in 1138 when they were installed by the Bishop of Brixen Reginbert. The collegiate patron saints of St. Lawrence and St. Stephen, which are depicted in the coat of arms of the abbey, indicate a Roman first settlement (Veldidena).

A Gothic panel painting of the former Ursula altar shows a late medieval view of church and monastery. The three-aisled pillar basilica with raised nave probably had the same dimensions in Roman times. To the east, an elevated choir closed in three apses; under it was a crypt, burial place of the abbots and noble donors. Under Abbot Wernher, revered as Blessed, the church was rebuilt in early Gothic style around 1300.

Under Abbot Dominik Loehr (1651-1687), the laying of the foundation stone of the Baroque church construction took place after the collapsing tower had completely destroyed the Gothic building under its predecessor, abbot Andreas Mayr.

The actual consecration of the church and the high altar was carried out on 18 October 1665 by the Bressanone Prince-Bishop Sigmund Alfons Count Thun. Emperor Leopold I was personally present. The north tower was completed in 1667, but the south tower only up to half the height of the church roof, because the master builder Christoph Gumpp died in 1672. Later changes and additions (pulpit, altar rails, tabernacle on the cross altar, etc.) as well as the reconstruction after the bombardments of 1943 and 1944 can not blur the impression of a closed early Baroque complex.

Description

Through the portal you first enter the porch of the church. The colossal statue of the giant Haymon from the period around 1470, which was once lying in the old tower chapel on the north side of the choir, is immediately noticeable here. The splendid wrought-iron vestibule grille of the Wilten locksmith Adam Neyer (1707) is next to the "Rosengitter" (grille of roses) in the Stamser Stiftskirche one of the most important works of Baroque wrought iron art in Tyrol.

The vestibuble grille guides the visitor into the interior of the church, which is impressive due to its uniform, austere composition. The Wiltener collegiate church is a single-nave, elongated, rectangular room, very similar to the type of 17th-century south German pilaster churches. Barrel vaults and lunette caps divide the vault. The frescoes (Kaspar Waldmann) and stucco work were made between 1702 and 1707. Acanthus foliage, fruit garlands, eagles and angelic figures form an unmistakable and yet very strictly structured wealth of ornaments. The Upper Italian master Bernardo Pasquale is responsible for the outstanding work of the "late early Baroque" with 31 assistants.

In addition to the high altar, the nave and side chapel frescoes and the pulpit, the altar is of particular importance. It stood, according to ancient Premonstratensian tradition, in the middle of the nave, below the choir arch.

The late Gothic crucifix with real hair (around 1510) had remained intact when the church collapsed in 1644, which is why it enjoyed great reverence among the people. The altarpiece behind the cross shows Mount Golgota and the city of Jerusalem. The coat of arms of the founders on the entablature is an alliance coat of arms of the counts Ferrari-Occhieppo and the Fenner of Fennberg.

 

Stift Wilten

Stift Wilten ist ein 1138 von Bischof Reginbert von Brixen begründetes Kloster der Prämonstratenser in Wilten, einem am Fuße des Bergisels gelegenen Stadtteil von Innsbruck, der Landeshauptstadt des österreichischen Bundeslandes Tirol.

Das Stift Wilten kann mit den Innsbrucker Straßenbahnlinien 1 und 6 (Innsbrucker Mittelgebirgsbahn) und der Stubaitalbahn erreicht werden.

Geschichte

Klosteranlage von oben

Die Stiftsgebäude stehen auf den Ruinen der römischen Siedlung Veldidena. Im 16. Jahrhundert wurden dort zahlreiche römische Ziegel, Münzen und Mauerreste entdeckt und von Matthias Burglechner in seiner Landesbeschreibung Tirolischer Adler von 1619 erwähnt. Der Sage nach wurde das Kloster vom Riesen Haymon ca. 880 gegründet.

„Der gefürchtete Riese Haymon bezwang seinen Kontrahenten, den Riesen Thyrsus, aufgrund der besseren Bewaffnung im Zweikampf. Ein Mönch bekehrte Haymon zum Christentum. Im Gefühl der Reue über seine Tat stellte er den Bau seines Schlosses ein und begann den Bau des Klosters. Der Teufel war darüber erzürnt und befahl einem Lindwurm den Weiterbau des Klosters zu verhindern. Haymon tötete das Tier und schnitt die Zunge heraus. Nach Fertigstellung des Klosters wurde Haymon Bruder des Stifts. Er wurde auch darin beigesetzt.“

Zwei Statuen am Eingang und eine weitere Haymonstatue im Eingangsbereich, die die abgeschnittene Zunge des Drachen in der Hand hält, erinnern im Stift an diese Sage. Tatsächlich wurde das Kloster wohl vor 1138 durch Bischof Reginbert von Brixen als bischöfliches Eigenkloster gegründet, auf dessen Wunsch Prämonstratenser aus dem oberschwäbischen Kloster Rot an der Rot einen älteres Kollegiatstift von Weltpriestern ablösten; Papst Innozenz II. bestätigte am 30. April 1138 dem Wiltener Kanonikerorden unter seinem ersten Propst namens Marquard die Augustinusregel in ihrer prämonstratensischen Ausprägung, den Besitzstand, das freie Propstwahl- und Begräbnisrecht und die Vorrechte des Brixner Diözesanbischofs. Seine Blütezeit erlebte das Stift im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert.

Das Stift geriet im Laufe der Geschichte verschiedentlich in Bedrängnis. 1807–1816 war das Kloster durch eine Verfügung des Königreiches Bayern aufgelöst. In der NS-Zeit wurde das Stift gezwungen, das Kloster dem Reichsgau Tirol-Vorarlberg zu verkaufen, sodass 1946 nach Bombardierung und NS-Herrschaft ein Neubeginn nötig war. Erst 1988 wurde diese Aufbauphase zum 850. Gründungsjubiläum abgeschlossen.

Wappen

Darstellung des Stiftswappens auf einem Grenzstein von 1745

Das seit dem 17. Jahrhundert nachweisbare Stiftswappen zeigt in Rot eine grüne, mit einem silbernen Balken belegte, leicht eingeschwungene Spitze, rechts einen silbernen Rost, links drei silberne Steine. Der silberne Balken gilt als das Wappen des Riesen Haymon, der Rost als Attribut des hl. Laurentius und die Steine als Attribut des hl. Stephanus stehen für die beiden Patrone des Stiftes.

Wie die meisten Tiroler Klöster begann Wilten erst spät mit der Führung eines Wappens. Die ältesten Darstellungen aus dem späten 15. Jahrhundert zeigen die Martersymbole der beiden Stiftspatrone in je einem Wappenschild. Der Tiroler Historiograph Matthias Burglechner konstruierte im 17. Jahrhundert auf älteren Grundlagen ein Wappen für den legendären Gründer, das in einem grünen Schild einen silbernen Mittelbalken zeigte. Dieser Balken wird häufig als Symbol für die Sill interpretiert, was allerdings unwahrscheinlich ist, da man dafür wohl einen (schrägen) Wellenbalken gewählt hätte. Abt Andreas Mayr (1621–1650) kombinierte schließlich die zwei Schilde der Stiftspatrone und den des Riesen Haymon in einem Wappenschild, wie er seitdem in Verwendung ist.

Stiftskirche

Stiftskirche Wilten

Innenraum der Stiftskirche

Baugeschichte

Abt Heinrich Schuler (1922–1949) war ein unermüdlicher Forscher, besonders was Alter und Geschichte der Stiftskirche anbelangt. Er stellte fest, dass es sich bei der ersten Kirche in Wilten wohl nur um einen kleinen Holzbau gehandelt hat, umgeben von schlichten Hütten – den ersten Klostergebäuden. Urkundlich erwähnt werden Kirche und Kloster im Jahre 1138 bei der Einsetzung durch den Brixener Bischof Reginbert. Die Stiftskirchenpatrone St. Laurentius und St. Stephanus, die im Stiftswappen dargestellt sind, deuten auf römische Erstbesiedelung (Veldidena).

Ein gotisches Tafelgemälde des ehemaligen Ursulaaltars zeigt eine spätmittelalterliche Ansicht von Kirche und Kloster. Die dreischiffige Pfeilerbasilika mit erhöhtem Mittelschiff dürfte bereits in romanischer Zeit dieselben Ausmaße gehabt haben. Im Osten schloss ein erhöhter Chor in drei Apsiden; darunter befand sich eine Krypta, Begräbnisort der Äbte und adeliger Stifter. Unter dem als Seligen verehrten Abt Wernher wurde die Kirche bereits um 1300 im frühgotischen Stil wiedererrichtet.

Unter Abt Dominikus Löhr (1651–1687) kam es zur Grundsteinlegung des barocken Kirchenbaues, nachdem unter dem Vorgänger Abt Andreas Mayr der einstürzende Turm den gotischen Bau vollends zerstört hatte.

Die eigentliche Weihe der Kirche und des Hochaltars vollzog am 18. Oktober 1665 der Brixener Fürstbischof Sigmund Alfons Graf Thun. Kaiser Leopold I. war höchstpersönlich zugegen. Der Nordturm wurde 1667 vollendet, der Südturm jedoch nur bis zur halben Kirchdachhöhe ausgeführt, da der Hofbaumeister Christoph Gumpp 1672 gestorben war. Später vorgenommene Änderungen und Ergänzungen (Kanzel, Speisgitter, Tabernakel am Kreuzaltar usw.) sowie der Wiederaufbau nach den Bombardements von 1943 und 1944 können den Eindruck einer geschlossenen frühbarocken Anlage nicht verwischen.

Beschreibung

Durch das Portal gelangt man zunächst in die Vorhalle der Kirche. Hier fällt sofort die über fünf Meter hohe Kolossalstatue des Riesen Haymon aus der Zeit um 1470 auf, die sich einst liegend in der alten Turmkapelle an der Nordseite des Chores befand. Das prächtige schmiedeeiserne Vorhallengitter des Wiltener Schlossermeisters Adam Neyer (1707) ist neben dem „Rosengitter“ in der Stamser Stiftskirche eine der bedeutendsten Arbeiten barocker Schmiedeeisenkunst in Tirol.

Das Vorhallengitter geleitet den Besucher in den ob seiner einheitlich-strengen Komposition beeindruckenden Innenraum der Kirche. Bei der Wiltener Stiftskirche handelt es sich um einen einschiffigen, langgestreckten, rechteckigen Raum, ganz dem Typus der süddeutschen Wandpfeilerkirchen des 17. Jahrhunderts entsprechend. Gurtbögen und Stichkappen gliedern das Gewölbe. Die Fresken (Kaspar Waldmann) und Stuckaturen entstanden zwischen 1702 und 1707. Akanthuslaub, Fruchtgirlanden, Adler und Engelsgestalten bilden eine unübersehbare und doch noch sehr streng gegliederte Fülle an Ornamenten. Der oberitalienische Meister Bernardo Pasquale zeichnet mit 31 Gehilfen für diese hervorragenden Arbeiten des „späten Frühbarock“ verantwortlich.

Neben dem Hochaltar, den Langhaus- und Seitenkapellenfresken und der Kanzel ist der Kreuzaltar von besonderer Bedeutung. Er stand, nach alter Prämonstratensertradition, in der Mitte des Langhauses, unterhalb des Chorbogens.

Das spätgotische Kruzifix mit echtem Haar (um 1510) war beim Einsturz der Kirche im Jahre 1644 unversehrt geblieben, weshalb es im Volk große Verehrung genoss. Das Altarblatt hinter dem Kreuz zeigt den Berg Golgota und die Stadt Jerusalem. Das Stifterwappen am Gebälk ist ein Allianzwappen der Grafen Ferrari-Occhieppo und der Fenner von Fennberg.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stift_Wilten

Bottle of Notes by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, unveiled in 1993 and situated in Middlesbrough Centre Square.

 

“In public sites, our sculptures reflect both the surroundings and their context, but through our imagination and selective perception – which is what makes them also personal” Claes Oldenburgh.

 

Bottle of Notes is a sculpture by internationally renowned artists and creators of public artworks, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Unveiled in 1993, it was commissioned by Middlesbrough Borough Council as the first public artwork to be installed as part of a regeneration initiative for the Tees Valley region.

 

Situated in Middlesbrough Centre Square, outside Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), the sculpture takes the form of a giant bottle, standing nine metres high – twice the height of a giraffe. The shape of the bottle is made from a continuous, off-white swirl of steel letters. Blue letters spiral upwards from the inside.

 

The artists took their inspiration from the local area’s industrial heritage, its relationship with the sea and from Captain Cook, one of the area’s most famous sons. The intricate steel lettering reflects the region’s rich heritage in steel production and fabrication. It was constructed in Hebburn, helping to provide employment for steel workers in the shipyards.

 

For the outside of the bottle, van Bruggen selected a line of text from Captain Cook’s Journals, written during his first voyage of exploration in the Pacific in 1769: We had every advantage we could desire in observing the whole of the passage of the planet Venus over the Sun’s disk. The text on the inside comes from a poem she wrote, ‘Recalling Amsterdam’, which links the English shore to the European continent: “I like to remember seagulls in full flight gliding over the ring of canals.”

 

The sculpture is positioned on a slant, to appear as if it had been left stuck in the sand by a receding wave – a giant message in a bottle to local people and the wider world.

 

This commission was a significant move by the Council to use arts and culture to help revitalise the region and its identity. This was a time when Middlesbrough – like many other traditionally industrial towns and cities, was experiencing a period of change and looking to the future. Initially met by local people with a mix of intrigue, genuine bewilderment and, in some cases, outright hostility, Bottle of notes has now become part of the landscape. It remains the only example in the UK to date of a public sculpture by these celebrated artists.

 

Oldenburgh and van Bruggen are a husband and wife team who have created monumental public art installations around the world. Their works are characterised by giant, colourful replicas of everyday objects, including a lipstick, trowel and an inverted ice-cream cone (which appears to have dropped out of the sky onto the top of a shopping mall, in Cologne).

 

Middlesbrough is a town in the Middlesbrough unitary authority borough of North Yorkshire, England. The town lies near the mouth of the River Tees and north of the North York Moors National Park. The built-up area had a population of 148,215 at the 2021 UK census. It is the largest town of the wider Teesside area, which had a population of 376,633 in 2011.

 

Until the early 1800s, the area was rural farmland in the historic county of Yorkshire. The town was a planned development which started in 1830, based around a new port with coal and later ironworks added. Steel production and ship building began in the late 1800s, remaining associated with the town until the post-industrial decline of the late twentieth century. Trade (notably through ports) and digital enterprise sectors contemporarily contribute to the local economy, Teesside University and Middlesbrough College to local education.

 

Middlesbrough was made a municipal borough in 1853. When elected county councils were created in 1889, Middlesbrough was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services and so it became a county borough, independent from North Riding County Council. The borough of Middlesbrough was abolished in 1968 when the area was absorbed into the larger County Borough of Teesside. Six years later in 1974 Middlesbrough was re-established as a borough within the new county of Cleveland. Cleveland was abolished in 1996, since when Middlesbrough has been a unitary authority within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire.

 

Middlesbrough started as a Benedictine priory on the south bank of the River Tees, its name possibly derived from it being midway between the holy sites of Durham and Whitby. The earliest recorded form of Middlesbrough's name is "Mydilsburgh", containing the term burgh.

 

In 686, a monastic cell was consecrated by St. Cuthbert at the request of St. Hilda, Abbess of Whitby. The manor of Middlesburgh belonged to Whitby Abbey and Guisborough Priory.[1] Robert Bruce, Lord of Cleveland and Annandale, granted and confirmed, in 1119, the church of St. Hilda of Middleburg to Whitby. Up until its closure on the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in 1537, the church was maintained by 12 Benedictine monks, many of whom became vicars, or rectors, of various places in Cleveland.

 

After the Angles, the area became home to Viking settlers. Names of Viking origin (with the suffix by meaning village) are abundant in the area; for example, Ormesby, Stainsby and Tollesby were once separate villages that belonged to Vikings called Orm, Steinn and Toll that are now areas of Middlesbrough were recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Other names around Middlesbrough include the village of Maltby (of Malti) along with the towns of Ingleby Barwick (Anglo-place and barley-wick) and Thornaby (of Thormod).

 

Links persist in the area, often through school or road names, to now-outgrown or abandoned local settlements, such as the medieval settlement of Stainsby, deserted by 1757, which amounts to little more today than a series of grassy mounds near the A19 road.

 

In 1801, Middlesbrough was a small farm with a population of just 25; however, during the latter half of the 19th century, it experienced rapid growth. In 1828 the influential Quaker banker, coal mine owner and Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) shareholder Joseph Pease sailed up the River Tees to find a suitable new site downriver of Stockton on which to place new coal staithes. As a result, in 1829 he and a group of Quaker businessmen bought the Middlesbrough farmstead and associated estate, some 527 acres (213 ha) of land, and established the Middlesbrough Estate Company.

 

Through the company, the investors set about a new coal port development (designed by John Harris) on the southern banks of the Tees. The first coal shipping staithes at the port (known as "Port Darlington") were constructed with a settlement to the east established on the site of Middlesbrough farm as labour for the port, taking on the farm's name as it developed into a village. The small farmstead became a village of streets such as North Street, South Street, West Street, East Street, Commercial Street, Stockton Street and Cleveland Street, laid out in a grid-iron pattern around a market square, with the first house being built on West Street in April 1830. New businesses bought premises and plots of land in the new town including: shippers, merchants, butchers, innkeepers, joiners, blacksmiths, tailors, builders and painters.

 

The first coal shipping staithes at the port (known as "Port Darlington") were constructed just to the west of the site earmarked for the location of Middlesbrough. The port was linked to the S&DR on 27 December 1830 via a branch that extended to an area just north of the current Middlesbrough railway station, helping secure the town's future.

 

The success of the port meant it soon became overwhelmed by the volume of imports and exports, and in 1839 work started on Middlesbrough Dock. Laid out by Sir William Cubitt, the whole infrastructure was built by resident civil engineer George Turnbull. After three years and an expenditure of £122,000 (equivalent to £9.65 million at 2011 prices), first water was let in on 19 March 1842, and the formal opening took place on 12 May 1842. On completion, the docks were bought by the S&DR.

 

Iron and steel have dominated the Tees area since 1841 when Henry Bolckow in partnership with John Vaughan, founded the Vulcan iron foundry and rolling mill. Vaughan, who had worked his way up through the Iron industry in South Wales, used his technical expertise to find a more abundant supply of Ironstone in the Eston Hills in 1850, and introduced the new "Bell Hopper" system of closed blast furnaces developed at the Ebbw Vale works. These factors made the works an unprecedented success with Teesside becoming known as the "Iron-smelting centre of the world" and Bolckow, Vaughan & Co., Ltd became the largest company in existence.

 

By 1851 Middlesbrough's population had grown from 40 people in 1829 to 7,600. Pig iron production rose tenfold between 1851 and 1856 and by the mid-1870s Middlesbrough was producing one third of the entire nations Pig Iron output. It was during this time Middlesbrough earned the nickname "Ironopolis".

 

On 21 January 1853, Middlesbrough received its Royal Charter of Incorporation, giving the town the right to have a mayor, aldermen and councillors. Henry Bolckow became mayor, in 1853.

 

A Welsh community was established in Middlesbrough sometime before the 1840s, with mining being the main form of employment. These migrants included figures who would become important leaders in the commercial, political and cultural life of the town:

 

John Vaughan established Teesside's first ironworks in 1841, The Vulcan Works at Middlesbrough. Vaughan had worked his way up through the industry at the Dowlais Ironworks in south Wales and encouraged hundreds of the skilled Welsh workers to follow him to Teesside.

Edward Williams (iron-master), although he was the grandson of the famous Welsh Bard Iolo Morganwg, Edward had started as a mere clerk at Dowlais. His move to the Tees saw him rise to ironmaster, alderman, magistrate and Mayor of Middlesbrough. Edward was also the father of Aneurin and Penry, who both became Liberal MPs for the area.

E.T. John arrived from Pontypridd as a junior clerk in Williams' office. John became the director of several industrial enterprises and a radical politician.

Windsor Richards, an Engineer and manager, oversaw the town's transition from iron to steel production.

Much like the contemporary Welsh migration to America, the Welsh of Middlesbrough came almost exclusively from the iron-smelting and coal districts of South Wales. By 1861 42% of the town's ironworkers identified as Welsh and one in twenty of the total population. Place names such as "Welch Cottages" and "Welch Place" appeared around the Vulcan works, and Middlesbrough became a centre for the Welsh communities at Witton Park, Spennymoor, Consett and Stockton on Tees (especially Portrack). David Williams also recorded that a number of the Welsh workers at the Hughesovka Ironworks in 1869 had migrated from Middlesbrough.

 

A Welsh Baptist chapel was active in the town as early as 1858, and St Hilda's Anglican church began providing services in the Welsh language. Churches and chapels were the centres of Welsh culture, supporting choirs, Sunday Schools, social societies, adult education, lectures and literary meetings. By the 1870s, many more Welsh chapels were built (one reputed to seat 500 people), and the first Eisteddfodau were held.

 

By the 1880s, a "Welsh cultural revival" was underway, with the Eisteddfodau attracting competitors and spectators from outside the Welsh communities. In 1890 the Middlesbrough Town Hall hosted the first Cleveland and Durham Eisteddfod, an event notable for its non-denominational inclusivity, with Irish Catholic choirs and the bishop of the newly created Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough as honoured guests.

 

In the early twentieth century this Eisteddfod had become the biggest annual event in the town and the largest annual Eisteddfod outside Wales. The Eisteddfod had a clear impact on the culture of the town, especially through its literary and music events, by 1911 the Eisteddfod had twenty-two classes of musical competition only two of which were for Welsh language content. By 1914, thirty choirs from across the area were competing in 284 entries. A choral tradition remained part of the town's culture long after the eisteddfod and chapels had gone. In 2012 an exhibition at the Dorman Museum marked the Apollo Male Voice Choir's 125 years as an active choir in the town.

 

Industrial Wales was noted for its "radical Liberal-Labour" politics, and the rhetoric of these politicians clearly won favour with the urban population of the North East. Penry Williams and Jonathan Samuel won the seats of Middlesbrough and Stockton-on-Tees for the Liberal Party and Penry's brother, Aneurin would also win the newly created Consett seat in 1918.

 

Sir Horace Davey stressed his Welsh lineage and stated that "it was scarcely an exaggeration to say that Welshmen had founded Middlesbrough", courting the Welsh vote that saw him elected MP for Stockton. However, others complained that local Conservative candidates were losing to "Fenians and Welshers" (Irish and Welsh people).

 

These sentiments had grown by 1900 when Samuel lost his seat after a Unionist complained publicly that the town had been "forced to submit to the indignity of being trailed ignominiously through the mire by Welsh constituents". Samuel lost the seat but regained it in 1910 with a campaign that made few, if any, references to his Welsh background.

 

From 1861 to 1871, the census of England & Wales showed that Middlesbrough consistently had the second highest percentage of Irish born people in England after Liverpool. The Irish population in 1861 accounted for 15.6% of the total population of Middlesbrough. In 1871 the amount had dropped to 9.2% yet this still placed Middlesbrough's Irish population second in England behind Liverpool. Due to the rapid development of the town and its industrialisation there was much need for people to work in the many blast furnaces and steel works along the banks of the Tees. This attracted many people from Ireland, who were in much need of work. As well as people from Ireland, the Scottish, Welsh and overseas inhabitants made up 16% of Middlesbrough's population in 1871. A second influx of Irish migration was observed in the early 1900s as Middlesbrough's steel industry boomed producing 1/3 of Britain's total steel output. This second influx lasted through to the 1950s after which Irish migration to Middlesbrough saw a drastic decline. Middlesbrough no longer has a strong Irish presence, with Irish born residents making up around 2% of the current population, however there is still a strong cultural and historical connection with Ireland mainly through the heritage and ancestry of many families within Middlesbrough.

 

The town's rapid expansion continued throughout the second half of the 19th century, fuelled by the iron and steel industry. In 1864 the North Riding Infirmary (an ear, nose and mouth hospital) opened in Newport Road; this was demolished in 2006.

 

On 15 August 1867, a Reform Bill was passed, making Middlesbrough a new parliamentary borough, Bolckow was elected member for Middlesbrough the following year. In 1875, Bolckow, Vaughan & Co opened the Cleveland Steelworks in Middlesbrough beginning the transition from Iron production to Steel and by the turn of the century. Henry Bolckow died in 1878 and left an endowment of £5,000 for the infirmary.

 

In the latter third of the 19th century, Old Middlesbrough was starting to decline and was overshadowed by developments built around the new town hall, south of the original town hall, the town's population reaching 90,000 by the dawn of the 20th century.[9] In 1900, Bolckow, Vaughan & Co had become the largest producer of steel in Great Britain and possibly came to be one of the major steel centres in the world.

 

In 1914, Dorman Long, another major steel producer from Middlesbrough, became the largest company in Britain. It employed a workforce of over 20,000 and by 1929 and gained enough to take over from Bolckow, Vaughan & Co's dominance and to acquire their assets. The steel components of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (1932) were engineered and fabricated by Dorman Long of Middlesbrough. The company was also responsible for the New Tyne Bridge in Newcastle.

 

Several large shipyards also lined the Tees, including the Sir Raylton Dixon & Company, Smith's Dock Company of South Bank and Furness Shipbuilding Company of Haverton Hill.

 

Middlesbrough was the first major British town and industrial target to be bombed during the Second World War. The Luftwaffe first attacked the town on 25 May 1940 when a lone bomber dropped 13 bombs between South Bank Road and the South Steel Plant. One of the bombs fell on the South Bank football ground making a large crater in the pitch. The bomber was forced to leave after RAF night fighters were scrambled to intercept. Two months after the first bombing Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited the town to meet the public and inspect coastal defences.

 

German bombers often flew over the Eston Hills while heading for targets further inland, such as Manchester. On 30 March 1941 a Junkers Ju 88 was shot down by two Spitfires of No. 41 Squadron, piloted by Tony Lovell and Archie Winskill, over Middlesbrough. The aircraft dived into the ground at Barnaby Moor, Eston; the engines and most of the airframe were entirely buried upon impact.

 

On 5 December 1941 a Spitfire of No. 122 Squadron, piloted by Sgt Hutton, crashed into rising ground near Mill Farm, Upsall, on the lower slopes of Eston Hills. Poor visibility due to bad weather and low cloud is believed to have been the cause of the crash.

 

On 15 January 1942, minutes after being hit by gunfire from a merchant ship anchored off Hartlepool, a Dornier Do 217 collided with the cable of a barrage balloon over the River Tees. The blazing bomber plummeted onto the railway sidings in South Bank leaving a crater twelve feet deep. In 1997 the remains of the Dornier were unearthed by a group of workers clearing land for redevelopment; the remains were put on display for a short while at Kirkleatham museum.

 

On 4 August 1942 a lone Dornier Do 217 picked its way through the barrage balloons and dropped a stick of bombs onto the railway station. One bomb caused serious damage to the Victorian glass and steel roof. A train in the station was also badly damaged although there were no passengers aboard. The station was put out action for two weeks.

 

The Green Howards was a British Army infantry regiment very strongly associated with Middlesbrough and the area south of the River Tees. Originally formed at Dunster Castle, Somerset in 1688 to serve King William of Orange, later King William III, this regiment became affiliated to the North Riding of Yorkshire in 1782. As Middlesbrough grew, its population of men came to be a group most targeted by the recruiters. The Green Howards were part of the King's Division. On 6 June 2006, this famous regiment was merged into the new Yorkshire Regiment and are now known as 2 Yorks, The 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards). There is also a Territorial Army (TA) company at Stockton Road in Middlesbrough, part of 4 Yorks which is wholly reserve.

 

Post Second World War to contemporary era

By the end of the war over 200 buildings had been destroyed within the Middlesbrough area. The borough lost 99 civilians as a result of enemy action.

 

Areas of early and mid-Victorian housing were demolished and much of central Middlesbrough was redeveloped. Heavy industry was relocated to areas of land better suited to the needs of modern technology. Middlesbrough itself began to take on a completely different look.

 

Middlesbrough's 1903 Gaumont cinema, originally an opera house until the 1930s, was demolished in 1971. The Cleveland Centre opened in the same year. In 1974, Middlesbrough and other areas around the Tees, became part of the county of Cleveland. This was to create a county within a single NUTS region of England, with the UK joining the European Union predecessor (European Communities) a year earlier.

 

Middlesbrough's Royal Exchange building was demolished, to make way for the road. A multi-storey the Star and Garter Hotel built in the 1890s near to the exchange on the site of a former Welsh Congregational Church, was also demolished. The Victorian era North Riding Infirmary was demolished in 2006 and replaced by a hotel and supermarket.

 

The Cleveland Centre opened in 1971, Hill Street shopping centre opened in 1981 and Captain Cook Square opened in 1999.

 

Middlesbrough F.C.'s modern Riverside Stadium opened on 26 August 1995 next to Middlesbrough Dock. The club moved from Ayresome Park their previous home in the town for 92 years.

 

With the abolition of Cleveland County in 1996, Middlesbrough again became part of North Yorkshire.

 

The original St.Hilda's area of Middlesbrough, after decades of decline and clearance, was given a new name of Middlehaven in 1986 on investment proposals to build on the land. Middlehaven has since had new buildings built there including Middlesbrough College and Middlesbrough FC's Riverside Stadium amongst others. Also situated at Middlehaven is the "Boho" zone, offering office space to the area's business and to attract new companies, and also "Bohouse", housing. Some of the street names from the original grid-iron street plan of the town still exist in the area today.

 

The expansion of Middlesbrough southwards, eastwards and westwards continued throughout the 20th century absorbing villages such as Linthorpe, Acklam, Ormesby, Marton and Nunthorpe[9] and continues to the present day.

Ready for Sundays Cheshire run. Yet again my lads have done another cracking job on this one.

St Bride's

Date of completion: 1963

Present state/use: Campanile destroyed 1983. A glass wall has been added separating the Lady Chapel under the gallery acoustically, if not visually, from the main part of the nave. Still in use as a parish church in 2009.

 

Address: Whitemoss Avenue, East Kilbride, Lanarkshire - Google Map

Access: External viewing or for internal viewing contact: 01355 220005

 

Civic Trust Award 1964, RIBA Bronze Regional Award 1963, Listed Category 'A' 1994

  

Source:www.gillespiekiddandcoia.com

15.12.2018 8th plenary meeting of the CMP (upon completion of CMA plenary)

The unuploaded remnants of a fortnight ago

Hwy. 71 Interchange (B.V. Bypass)

549

D9 District 9

County:

Benton County

Length:

2.9 Miles

Location:

Log Mile 0.0 - 1.94

  

Work Began:

November 2019

Est. Completion:

Late 2021

  

ARDOT Job Number:

CA0903

RE Office:

43

Contractor:

Emery Sapp & Sons, Inc.

Contract Amount:

$66.6 Million

  

Description:

The purpose of this project is to construct 2.661 miles of two lane roadway with bridge structutres on Highway 549 in Benton County.

The Maryland National Guard Freestate Challenge Academy held their course completion ceremony for the 22 week residency phase for 104 cadets of class #47 at Havre de Grace High School, Havre de Grace, Md., Dec. 10, 2016. .

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Retired Air Force Gen. Larry O. Spencer, who served as the VIce Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, spoke to the cadets as the keynote speaker..

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The Academy is a two-phased 17-month intervention program for underemployed, drug-free, “at-risk” high school dropouts from the state of Maryland between 16-18 years of age. Following graduation from the resident phase, the cadets are mentored for an additional 12 months, during which time they are placed into jobs, continue their higher education, or vocational trades training or enter the military..

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The mission of the Academy is to intervene in and reclaim the lives of at-risk youth and to produce graduates with the values, skills, education and self-discipline needed to succeed as adults..

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The students were brought into a structured and highly disciplined quasi-military academic setting that builds confidence and self-esteem to become productive and contributing members of our society. Cadets attend academic classes to prepare them for the test for the General Education Development (GED) credential and Maryland High School Diploma.

The horizon was lit with a 360 degree sunset, as the sun is still blacked out overhead.

Des Moines, Iowa-based artist Gary Keenan moved nearer to completion on his bear carving in front of Wingo Hall at the University of Central Arkansas on Thursday. The large carving, done with a myriad of chainsaws, will be receiving a coat of stain to make its coloring closer to that of an actual bear.

The new lower Manhattan skyline is taking shape

16.12.2018 28th plenary meeting of the CMA (upon completion of the CMP plenary

Chartwell is a country house near Westerham, Kent, in South East England. For over forty years it was the home of Sir Winston Churchill. He bought the property in September 1922 and lived there until shortly before his death in January 1965. In the 1930s, when Churchill was out of political office, Chartwell became the centre of his world. At his dining table, he gathered those who could assist his campaign against German re-armament and the British government's response of appeasement; in his study, he composed speeches and wrote books; in his garden, he built walls, constructed lakes and painted. During the Second World War, Chartwell was largely unused, the Churchills returning after he lost the 1945 election. In 1953, when again prime minister, the house became Churchill's refuge when he suffered a debilitating stroke. In October 1964, he left for the last time, dying at his London home, 28 Hyde Park Gate, on 24 January 1965.

 

The origins of the estate reach back to the 14th century; in 1382, the property then called Well-street was owned by William-at-Well. It passed through various owners and in 1836 was auctioned, as a substantial brick-built manor. In 1848, it was purchased by John Campbell Colquhoun, whose grandson sold it to Churchill. The Campbell Colquhouns greatly enlarged the house and the advertisement for its sale at the time of Churchill's purchase described it as an imposing mansion. Between 1922 and 1924, it was rebuilt and extended by the society architect Philip Tilden. From the garden front, the house has extensive views over the Weald of Kent, "the most beautiful and charming" Churchill had ever seen, and the determining factor in his decision to buy the house.

 

In 1946, when financial constraints forced Churchill to consider selling Chartwell, it was acquired by the National Trust with funds raised by a consortium of Churchill's friends led by Lord Camrose, on condition that the Churchills retained a life-tenancy. After Churchill's death, Lady Churchill surrendered her rights to the house and it was opened to the public by the Trust in 1966. A Grade I listed building, for its historical significance rather than its architectural merit, Chartwell has become among the Trust's most popular properties; 232,000 people visited the house in 2016, the fiftieth anniversary of its opening.

 

History

Early history to 1922

The earliest recorded mention of the land dates to 1362 when it was sold by a William At-Well.[1] The origin of the name is the Chart Well, a spring to the north of the current house, Chart being an Old English word for rough ground.[2] The site had been built upon at least as early as the 16th century, when the estate was called Well Street.[3] Henry VIII was reputed to have stayed in the house during his courtship of Anne Boleyn at nearby Hever Castle.[4] Elements of the Tudor house are still visible; the Historic England listing for Chartwell notes that 16th- (or possibly 17th-) century brickwork can be seen in some of the external walls.[5] In the 17th and 18th centuries, the house was used as a farmhouse and its ownership was subject to frequent change.[3] On 22 September 1836, the property was auctioned at Cheapside, advertised as "a suitable abode for a genteel family".[6] In 1848 it was purchased by John Campbell Colquhoun, a former MP; the Campbell Colquhouns were a family of Scottish landowners, lawyers and politicians.[7] The original farmhouse was enlarged and modified during their ownership, including the addition of the stepped gables, a Scottish baronial genuflection to the land of their fathers.[8] By the time of the sale to Churchill, it was, in the words of Oliver Garnett, author of the 2008 guidebook to the house, an example of "Victorian architecture at its least attractive, a ponderous red-brick country mansion of tile-hung gables and poky oriel windows".[3] Tilden, in his "highly unreliable"[9] memoirs, True Remembrances, wrote of "creating Chartwell out of the drabness of Victorian umbrageousness".[10]

 

Churchill at Chartwell

1922 to 1939

 

Chartwell – Clementine Churchill's "magnificent aerial bower" to the left

Churchill first saw Chartwell in July 1921, shortly before the house and estate were to be auctioned.[11] He returned the same month with his wife Clementine, who was initially attracted to the property, although her enthusiasm cooled during subsequent visits.[12] In September 1922, when the house had failed to sell at auction, he was offered it for £5,500. He paid £5,000, after his first offer of £4,800, made because "the house will have to be very largely rebuilt, and the presence of dry rot is a very serious adverse factor", was rejected.[13] The seller was Captain Archibald John Campbell Colquhoun, who had inherited the house in June 1922 on the death of his brother.[14] Campbell Colquhoun had been a contemporary of Churchill's at Harrow School in the 1880s. On completion of the sale in September 1922, Churchill wrote to him; "I am very glad indeed to have become the possessor of "Chartwell".[5] I have been searching for two years for a home in the country and the site is the most beautiful and charming I have ever seen".[14] The sale was concluded on 11 November 1922.[15]

 

The previous 15 months had been personally and professionally calamitous. In June 1921, Churchill's mother had died, followed three months later by his youngest child, Marigold.[15] In late 1922, he fell ill with appendicitis and at the end of the year lost his Scottish parliamentary seat at Dundee.[16]

 

Philip Tilden, Churchill's architect, began work on the house in 1922 and the Churchills rented a farmhouse near Westerham, Churchill frequently visiting the site to observe progress.[17] The two-year building programme, the ever-rising costs, which escalated from the initial estimate of £7,000 to over £18,000, and a series of construction difficulties, particularly relating to damp, soured relations between architect and client,[18] and by 1924 Churchill and Tilden were barely on speaking terms.[19][a][b] Legal arguments, conducted through their respective lawyers, continued until 1927.[22] Clementine's anxieties about the costs, both of building and subsequently living at Chartwell also continued. In September 1923 Churchill wrote to her, "My beloved, I beg you not to worry about money, or to feel insecure. Chartwell is to be our home (and) we must endeavour to live there for many years."[23] Churchill finally moved into the house in April 1924; a letter dated 17 April to Clementine begins, "This is the first letter I have ever written from this place, and it is right that it should be to you".[24]

 

In February 1926, Churchill's political colleague Sir Samuel Hoare described a visit in a letter to the press baron Lord Beaverbrook; "I have never seen Winston before in the role of landed proprietor, ... the engineering works on which he is engaged consist of making a series of ponds in a valley and Winston appeared to be a great deal more interested in them than in anything else in the world".[25] As Hoare's presence indicated, Churchill's holidays were very rarely pure vacations. Roy Jenkins, in his study, The Chancellors, contrasted Churchill's approach to holidaying with that of his then boss, Stanley Baldwin. "Churchill went to Chartwell or elsewhere to lengthen the stride of his political work, but not greatly to reduce its quantity; far from shutting himself off, he persuaded as many as possible of his colleagues and henchmen to visit him, to receive his ever-generous hospitality."[26] In January 1928, James Lees-Milne stayed as a guest of Churchill's son Randolph. He described an evening after dinner; "We remained at that round table till after midnight. Mr Churchill spent a blissful two hours demonstrating with decanters and wine glasses how the Battle of Jutland was fought. He got worked up like a schoolboy, making barking noises in imitation of gunfire, and blowing cigar smoke across the battle scene in imitation of gun smoke".[27] On 26 September 1927, Churchill composed the first of his Chartwell Bulletins, which were lengthy letters to Clementine, written to her while she was abroad. In the bulletins, Churchill described in great detail the ongoing works on the house and the gardens, and aspects of his life there. The 26 September letter opens with a report of Churchill's deepening interest in painting; "Sickert arrived on Friday night and we worked very hard at various paintings ... I am really thrilled ... I see my way to paint far better pictures than I ever thought possible before".[28]

 

Churchill described his life at Chartwell in the later 1930s in the first volume of his history of the Second World War, The Gathering Storm. "I had much to amuse me. I built ... two cottages, ... and walls and made ... a large swimming pool which ... could be heated to supplement our fickle sunshine. Thus I ... dwelt at peace within my habitation".[29] Bill Deakin, one of Churchill's research assistants, recalled his working routine. "He would start the day at eight o'clock in bed, reading. Then he started with his mail. His lunchtime conversation was quite magnificent, ...absolutely free for all. After lunch, if he had guests he would take them round the garden. At seven he would bathe and change for dinner. At midnight, when the guests left, then he would start work ... to three or four in the morning. The secret was his phenomenal power to concentrate."[30][c] In his study of Churchill as author, the historian Peter Clarke described Chartwell as "Winston's word factory". Wikipedia

37 students cross the stage in the Celebration of Completion as they receive their degrees' from Baldwin Wallace University in the John Patrick Theatre at the Kleist Center for Art & Drama.

A devotee(carrying a kaavadi) walks towards the cave temple during Thaipusam

We started using the new kitchen today, although we haven't moved everything into it yet. The last paint went on the walls (around the windows) last night, and all the drawers are in. We are still waiting for hinges for the cabinet doors, but that's about it.

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