Jesmond Dene, a public park in the east end of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, occupies the narrow steep-sided valley of a small river known as the Ouseburn, flowing south to join the River Tyne: in north-east England, such valleys are commonly known as denes: the name 'Jesmond' meaning 'mouth of the Ouseburn'.

 

Lord Armstrong and his wife, of the now-demolished Jesmond Dean (sic) house nearby, first laid out the park during the 1860s. The design is intended to reflect a rural setting, with woodland, crags, waterfalls and pools. Lord Armstrong gave the park to the people of Newcastle in 1883 and it opened to the public in the following year. It is now owned by Newcastle City Council. The current Jesmond Dene House adjoining the dene was the mansion of Armstrong's business partner Andrew Noble. It is now a luxury hotel.

 

The (now closed to road traffic) iron-constructed Armstrong Bridge spans the south end of the Dene and hosts Jesmond Food Market every first and third Saturday of the month. The building of a replacement road and tunnel, the Cradlewell By-pass, was the subject of a road protest camp around 1993, due to the destruction of many 200-year-old trees.

 

Jesmond Dene contains a free-entry petting zoo known as "Pets' Corner", which has been a popular family attraction since the 1960s.

 

Jesmond Dene is home to Newcastle's oldest religious building, St Mary's Chapel. The chapel, now in ruins, was once a site of much significance, attracting a great number of pilgrims.

 

The park is supported by a group called 'Friends of Jesmond Dene' which provides funds for small projects to improve the park. There is also a group of Volunteer Rangers which carries out physical work tidying the paths, picking up litter, cutting back shrubs and other maintenance tasks.

 

The dawn chorus of Jesmond Dene has been professionally recorded and has been used in various workplace and hospital rehabilitation facilities.

 

In 2011, the field area and pets corner were redeveloped. The redevelopment included a new road and a bridge over the Ouseburn river.

 

In 2012, during excessively wet weather, a landslide occurred on the east side of the Dene, near the Old Mill. The landslide covered several footpaths running along the hillside. The paths are currently still closed as the cost of re-opening them would be excessive.

 

In July 2014, the Old Mill in the Dene was vandalised with graffiti tags, which have since been removed.

 

On 1 April 2019, control and upkeep of Jesmond Dene, along with other Newcastle parks, was passed from Newcastle City Council to a newly created charitable trust, Urban Green Newcastle.

 

The Ouseburn is a small river in Newcastle upon Tyne, England that flows through the city into the River Tyne. It gives its name to the Ouseburn Valley and the Ouseburn electoral ward for Newcastle City Council elections.

 

The Ouseburn has its source at Callerton in the north of the city near Newcastle Airport. It then flows through the Kingston Park area of the city, Newcastle Great Park, Gosforth Park and Whitebridge Park. The Ouseburn then continues from South Gosforth into Jesmond Dene then through Armstrong Park and Heaton Park, where it marks the boundary between Heaton and Sandyford. The river then flows through a culvert before re-emerging under Ouseburn railway viaduct, whence it flows past the City Farm, Seven Stories and the Toffee Factory and meets the River Tyne.

 

The river was previously tidal from the Viaduct, revealing dark mud at low tide. However, since 2009 a tidal barrage at the river mouth retains high water in the Ouseburn at low tide, with the objective of providing a more pleasant environment alongside its banks at low tide, thus promoting development. Despite the expense of its construction, the Ouseburn barrage has had operational problems and was left open for a length of time while they were corrected.

 

The lower Ouseburn Valley, whilst heavily industrialised in the past, serves as of 2013 as a hub for the arts and creative industries, and has a lively pub scene, noted for live music and real ale.

 

In Roman times the lower Ouseburn Valley was crossed by Hadrian's Wall, but there are now no visible traces to be seen. On the eastern side of the valley, at the eastern end of a new block of flats, there is an information board with an artist's impression of the Wall crossing the valley. This section of the Wall was the later extension from the Roman fort of Pons Aelius (Newcastle) to that of Segedunum (Wallsend). This newer section of the Wall was not backed by the Vallum ditch, because the River Tyne rendered it superfluous.

 

Jesmond is a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, situated north of the city centre and to the east of the Town Moor. Jesmond is considered to be one of the most affluent suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne, with higher average house prices than most other areas of the city.

 

According to local tradition, some time shortly after the Norman conquest there occurred in the valley of the Ouse an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The ruins of St Mary's Chapel, first recorded in 1272, are in Jesmond Dene[1] on the west side of the valley.

 

A trace of the processions to the shrine which occurred during the Middle Ages is found in the name of that section of the former Great North Road running north of the Tyne called Pilgrim Street. During a period in which the shrine was in need of repair it was endowed with indulgences by a rescript or edict of Pope Martin V on certain feasts of the liturgical year. A spring known as St Mary's Well of uncertain date may also be found near to the chapel. It has the word "Gratia" inscribed upon the stone above it. The greater part of the history of the shrine, its origins and the miracles which were said to have occurred there, were lost in the 16th century when the chapel was suppressed in the Reformation and fell into ruin. The ruin and its grounds later passed through various owners (one of whom tried to turn the well into a bathing pool). It was acquired by Lord Armstrong in the 19th century and given by him to the City of Newcastle. Mass is now offered there on occasion by the local Roman Catholic priest and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. Flowers along with letters and candles are often left in the ruins by pilgrims and others. A booklet outlining the surviving history of the chapel may be obtained from the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Name on North Jesmond Avenue.

 

The Beatles began writing their second hit single "She Loves You" in the Imperial Hotel in Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne on 27 June 1963.

 

The area is notable for Jesmond Parish Church, Holy Trinity Church, Jesmond Dene woodland and the Royal Grammar School. The area's principal commercial area forms around Osborne Road, Acorn Road and St George's Terrace, the former being dominated by hotels and bars, and the latter by shops and cafes.

 

Newcastle City Council has designated three conservation areas within Jesmond; Brandling Village, South Jesmond and Jesmond Dene.

 

The Mansion House was owned by a wealthy industrialist Arthur Sutherland, 1st Baronet, and is one of the most impressive residential properties in Jesmond. Built in 1887, the property was donated to the city by Sutherland in 1953 and is now the official residence of the Lord Mayor and can be used for private events. The house, situated in the centre of Jesmond previously sat in 5 acres (20,000 m2) of land. One acre of the land including previous stables were sold as a private property, now owned by relatives of Arthur Sutherland.

 

Along with Leeds and Belfast, Newcastle has experienced studentification. Jesmond is a popular residential area for students attending Newcastle University and Northumbria University. Osborne Road in Jesmond has a strong student population with a selection of student bars, restaurants and housing.

 

Newcastle Cricket Club plays its home games at Osborne Avenue, which is also a home venue for Northumberland County Cricket Club. The cricket club is currently on a 50-year lease to Newcastle Royal Grammar School. The Jesmond Lawn Tennis club is also popular for socialising.

 

Jesmond is one of the 26 areas in England to have a real tennis club which is used to hold events.

 

Notable Jesmond residents have included the industrialist William Armstrong, the golfer Lee Westwood, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, actor James Scott, English Rugby Union player Mathew Tait, footballers Shola Ameobi, Kevin Nolan and Jonás Gutiérrez, journalist and broadcaster Nancy Spain, concert pianist Denis Matthews, writer Catherine Cookson, writer and poet Michael Roberts, singers Bryan Ferry and Sting, countertenor James Bowman, TV/Radio broadcaster Bill Steel, songwriter and record producer Steve Hillier, novelists Eva Ibbotson,[15] Yevgeny Zamyatin, and Denis MacEoin (aka Daniel Easterman and Jonathan Aycliffe).

 

Arthur Sutherland 1st Baronet; former owner of the Mansion House. The only Briton to die[citation needed] in the Killing Fields of Cambodia, John Dewhirst, was born in Jesmond.

 

West Jesmond Primary School

West Jesmond is a 4-11 primary school. The original building was demolished in 2008 and a new school rebuilt on the same site. The new school building opened on 2 March 2009.

 

Royal Grammar School, Newcastle

Central Newcastle High School (girls only) – merged into new school

Church High School (girls only) – merged into new school

Central Newcastle High School and Church High School merged in September 2014 to create Newcastle High School for Girls

Northern Counties School

Newcastle Preparatory School

 

Notable buildings

Jesmond Parish Church, Newcastle upon Tyne

Jesmond Synagogue

Jesmond Parish Church

Jesmond Library

 

Television

For its first series, the MTV UK reality series Geordie Shore was filmed in Jesmond.

 

The La Sagesse School in Jesmond (now closed and converted into housing) was used as a set for The Dumping Ground (2013–), a spin-off of the popular children's television series Tracy Beaker Returns (2010–2012), starring Dani Harmer.

 

Jesmond is served by three Tyne and Wear Metro stations at Jesmond, West Jesmond and Ilford Road. Jesmond station is the point at which Metro trains travelling north emerge from the underground section. Trains travel southbound to Sunderland or South Shields via city centre and Gateshead and northbound to the airport via Kingston Park, or to Whitley Bay. Jesmond also has an extra section of non-passenger track called the Manors Stock Curve, used for re-routing trains. The old Jesmond station, which formed part of the suburban rail network prior to the Tyne and Wear Metro network, is situated on the Manors Stock Curve and can be observed from Osborne Terrace with intact platforms. The former station building is now a public house.

 

There has been an active Baháʼí Faith community in Jesmond for over 25 years, the town is home to the only Bahá’í Centre in North East England, located on Victoria Square near the civic centre.

 

One of the largest evangelical Anglican churches in the UK is Jesmond Parish Church, which is affiliated with the Christian Institute (based in nearby Gosforth).

 

Due to a rising population of students and young professionals, Osborne Road has in recent years become a popular venue for nightlife, eating and socialising. With a large number of bars and restaurants in one location it can become congested on busy nights. The road also has a number of medium-sized hotels.

 

Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle is a cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the River Tyne's northern bank, opposite Gateshead to the south. It is the most populous settlement in the Tyneside conurbation and North East England.

 

Newcastle developed around a Roman settlement called Pons Aelius, the settlement became known as Monkchester before taking on the name of a castle built in 1080 by William the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert Curthose. It was one of the world's largest ship building and repair centres during the industrial revolution. Newcastle was part of the county of Northumberland until 1400, when it separated and formed a county of itself. In 1974, Newcastle became part of Tyne and Wear. Since 2018, the city council has been part of the North of Tyne Combined Authority.

 

The history of Newcastle upon Tyne dates back almost 2,000 years, during which it has been controlled by the Romans, the Angles and the Norsemen amongst others. Newcastle upon Tyne was originally known by its Roman name Pons Aelius. The name "Newcastle" has been used since the Norman conquest of England. Due to its prime location on the River Tyne, the town developed greatly during the Middle Ages and it was to play a major role in the Industrial Revolution, being granted city status in 1882. Today, the city is a major retail, commercial and cultural centre.

 

Roman settlement

The history of Newcastle dates from AD 122, when the Romans built the first bridge to cross the River Tyne at that point. The bridge was called Pons Aelius or 'Bridge of Aelius', Aelius being the family name of Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was responsible for the Roman wall built across northern England along the Tyne–Solway gap. Hadrian's Wall ran through present-day Newcastle, with stretches of wall and turrets visible along the West Road, and at a temple in Benwell. Traces of a milecastle were found on Westgate Road, midway between Clayton Street and Grainger Street, and it is likely that the course of the wall corresponded to present-day Westgate Road. The course of the wall can be traced eastwards to the Segedunum Roman fort at Wallsend, with the fort of Arbeia down-river at the mouth of the Tyne, on the south bank in what is now South Shields. The Tyne was then a wider, shallower river at this point and it is thought that the bridge was probably about 700 feet (210 m) long, made of wood and supported on stone piers. It is probable that it was sited near the current Swing Bridge, due to the fact that Roman artefacts were found there during the building of the latter bridge. Hadrian himself probably visited the site in 122. A shrine was set up on the completed bridge in 123 by the 6th Legion, with two altars to Neptune and Oceanus respectively. The two altars were subsequently found in the river and are on display in the Great North Museum in Newcastle.

 

The Romans built a stone-walled fort in 150 to protect the river crossing which was at the foot of the Tyne Gorge, and this took the name of the bridge so that the whole settlement was known as Pons Aelius. The fort was situated on a rocky outcrop overlooking the new bridge, on the site of the present Castle Keep. Pons Aelius is last mentioned in 400, in a Roman document listing all of the Roman military outposts. It is likely that nestling in the shadow of the fort would have been a small vicus, or village. Unfortunately, no buildings have been detected; only a few pieces of flagging. It is clear that there was a Roman cemetery near Clavering Place, behind the Central station, as a number of Roman coffins and sarcophagi have been unearthed there.

 

Despite the presence of the bridge, the settlement of Pons Aelius was not particularly important among the northern Roman settlements. The most important stations were those on the highway of Dere Street running from Eboracum (York) through Corstopitum (Corbridge) and to the lands north of the Wall. Corstopitum, being a major arsenal and supply centre, was much larger and more populous than Pons Aelius.

 

Anglo-Saxon development

The Angles arrived in the North-East of England in about 500 and may have landed on the Tyne. There is no evidence of an Anglo-Saxon settlement on or near the site of Pons Aelius during the Anglo-Saxon age. The bridge probably survived and there may well have been a small village at the northern end, but no evidence survives. At that time the region was dominated by two kingdoms, Bernicia, north of the Tees and ruled from Bamburgh, and Deira, south of the Tees and ruled from York. Bernicia and Deira combined to form the kingdom of Northanhymbra (Northumbria) early in the 7th century. There were three local kings who held the title of Bretwalda – 'Lord of Britain', Edwin of Deira (627–632), Oswald of Bernicia (633–641) and Oswy of Northumbria (641–658). The 7th century became known as the 'Golden Age of Northumbria', when the area was a beacon of culture and learning in Europe. The greatness of this period was based on its generally Christian culture and resulted in the Lindisfarne Gospels amongst other treasures. The Tyne valley was dotted with monasteries, with those at Monkwearmouth, Hexham and Jarrow being the most famous. Bede, who was based at Jarrow, wrote of a royal estate, known as Ad Murum, 'at the Wall', 12 miles (19 km) from the sea. It is thought that this estate may have been in what is now Newcastle. At some unknown time, the site of Newcastle came to be known as Monkchester. The reason for this title is unknown, as we are unaware of any specific monasteries at the site, and Bede made no reference to it. In 875 Halfdan Ragnarsson, the Danish Viking conqueror of York, led an army that attacked and pillaged various monasteries in the area, and it is thought that Monkchester was also pillaged at this time. Little more was heard of it until the coming of the Normans.

 

Norman period

After the arrival of William the Conqueror in England in 1066, the whole of England was quickly subjected to Norman rule. However, in Northumbria there was great resistance to the Normans, and in 1069 the newly appointed Norman Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Comines and 700 of his men were killed by the local population at Durham. The Northumbrians then marched on York, but William was able to suppress the uprising. That same year, a second uprising occurred when a Danish fleet landed in the Humber. The Northumbrians again attacked York and destroyed the garrison there. William was again able to suppress the uprising, but this time he took revenge. He laid waste to the whole of the Midlands and the land from York to the Tees. In 1080, William Walcher, the Norman bishop of Durham and his followers were brutally murdered at Gateshead. This time Odo, bishop of Bayeux, William's half brother, devastated the land between the Tees and the Tweed. This was known as the 'Harrying of the North'. This devastation is reflected in the Domesday Book. The destruction had such an effect that the North remained poor and backward at least until Tudor times and perhaps until the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle suffered in this respect with the rest of the North.

 

In 1080 William sent his eldest son, Robert Curthose, north to defend the kingdom against the Scots. After his campaign, he moved to Monkchester and began the building of a 'New Castle'. This was of the "motte-and-bailey" type of construction, a wooden tower on top of an earthen mound (motte), surrounded by a moat and wooden stockade (bailey). It was this castle that gave Newcastle its name. In 1095 the Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Mowbray, rose up against the king, William Rufus, and Rufus sent an army north to recapture the castle. From then on the castle became crown property and was an important base from which the king could control the northern barons. The Northumbrian earldom was abolished and a Sheriff of Northumberland was appointed to administer the region. In 1091 the parish church of St Nicholas was consecrated on the site of the present Anglican cathedral, close by the bailey of the new castle. The church is believed to have been a wooden building on stone footings.

 

Not a trace of the tower or mound of the motte and bailey castle remains now. Henry II replaced it with a rectangular stone keep, which was built between 1172 and 1177 at a cost of £1,444. A stone bailey, in the form of a triangle, replaced the previous wooden one. The great outer gateway to the castle, called 'the Black Gate', was built later, between 1247 and 1250, in the reign of Henry III. There were at that time no town walls and when attacked by the Scots, the townspeople had to crowd into the bailey for safety. It is probable that the new castle acted as a magnet for local merchants because of the safety it provided. This in turn would help to expand trade in the town. At this time wool, skins and lead were being exported, whilst alum, pepper and ginger were being imported from France and Flanders.

 

Middle Ages

Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England's northern fortress, the centre for assembled armies. The Border war against Scotland lasted intermittently for several centuries – possibly the longest border war ever waged. During the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, David 1st of Scotland and his son were granted Cumbria and Northumberland respectively, so that for a period from 1139 to 1157, Newcastle was effectively in Scottish hands. It is believed that during this period, King David may have built the church of St Andrew and the Benedictine nunnery in Newcastle. However, King Stephen's successor, Henry II was strong enough to take back the Earldom of Northumbria from Malcolm IV.

 

The Scots king William the Lion was imprisoned in Newcastle, in 1174, after being captured at the Battle of Alnwick. Edward I brought the Stone of Scone and William Wallace south through the town and Newcastle was successfully defended against the Scots three times during the 14th century.

 

Around 1200, stone-faced, clay-filled jetties were starting to project into the river, an indication that trade was increasing in Newcastle. As the Roman roads continued to deteriorate, sea travel was gaining in importance. By 1275 Newcastle was the sixth largest wool exporting port in England. The principal exports at this time were wool, timber, coal, millstones, dairy produce, fish, salt and hides. Much of the developing trade was with the Baltic countries and Germany. Most of the Newcastle merchants were situated near the river, below the Castle. The earliest known charter was dated 1175 in the reign of Henry II, giving the townspeople some control over their town. In 1216 King John granted Newcastle a mayor[8] and also allowed the formation of guilds (known as Mysteries). These were cartels formed within different trades, which restricted trade to guild members. There were initially twelve guilds. Coal was being exported from Newcastle by 1250, and by 1350 the burgesses received a royal licence to export coal. This licence to export coal was jealously guarded by the Newcastle burgesses, and they tried to prevent any one else on the Tyne from exporting coal except through Newcastle. The burgesses similarly tried to prevent fish from being sold anywhere else on the Tyne except Newcastle. This led to conflicts with Gateshead and South Shields.

 

In 1265, the town was granted permission to impose a 'Wall Tax' or Murage, to pay for the construction of a fortified wall to enclose the town and protect it from Scottish invaders. The town walls were not completed until early in the 14th century. They were two miles (3 km) long, 9 feet (2.7 m) thick and 25 feet (7.6 m) high. They had six main gates, as well as some smaller gates, and had 17 towers. The land within the walls was divided almost equally by the Lort Burn, which flowed southwards and joined the Tyne to the east of the Castle. The town began to expand north of the Castle and west of the Lort Burn with various markets being set up within the walls.

 

In 1400 Henry IV granted a new charter, creating a County corporate which separated the town, but not the Castle, from the county of Northumberland and recognised it as a "county of itself" with a right to have a sheriff of its own. The burgesses were now allowed to choose six aldermen who, with the mayor would be justices of the peace. The mayor and sheriff were allowed to hold borough courts in the Guildhall.

 

Religious houses

During the Middle Ages a number of religious houses were established within the walls: the first of these was the Benedictine nunnery of St Bartholomew founded in 1086 near the present-day Nun Street. Both David I of Scotland and Henry I of England were benefactors of the religious house. Nothing of the nunnery remains now.

 

The friary of Blackfriars, Newcastle (Dominican) was established in 1239. These were also known as the Preaching Friars or Shod Friars, because they wore sandals, as opposed to other orders. The friary was situated in the present-day Friars Street. In 1280 the order was granted royal permission to make a postern in the town walls to communicate with their gardens outside the walls. On 19 June 1334, Edward Balliol, claimant to be King of Scotland, did homage to King Edward III, on behalf of the kingdom of Scotland, in the church of the friary. Much of the original buildings of the friary still exist, mainly because, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries the friary of Blackfriars was rented out by the corporation to nine of the local trade guilds.

 

The friary of Whitefriars (Carmelite) was established in 1262. The order was originally housed on the Wall Knoll in Pandon, but in 1307 it took over the buildings of another order, which went out of existence, the Friars of the Sac. The land, which had originally been given by Robert the Bruce, was situated in the present-day Hanover Square, behind the Central station. Nothing of the friary remains now.

 

The friary of Austinfriars (Augustinian) was established in 1290. The friary was on the site where the Holy Jesus Hospital was built in 1682. The friary was traditionally the lodging place of English kings whenever they visited or passed through Newcastle. In 1503 Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII of England, stayed two days at the friary on her way to join her new husband James IV of Scotland.

 

The friary of Greyfriars (Franciscans) was established in 1274. The friary was in the present-day area between Pilgrim Street, Grey Street, Market Street and High Chare. Nothing of the original buildings remains.

 

The friary of the Order of the Holy Trinity, also known as the Trinitarians, was established in 1360. The order devoted a third of its income to buying back captives of the Saracens, during the Crusades. Their house was on the Wall Knoll, in Pandon, to the east of the city, but within the walls. Wall Knoll had previously been occupied by the White Friars until they moved to new premises in 1307.

 

All of the above religious houses were closed in about 1540, when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.

 

An important street running through Newcastle at the time was Pilgrim Street, running northwards inside the walls and leading to the Pilgrim Gate on the north wall. The street still exists today as arguably Newcastle's main shopping street.

 

Tudor period

The Scottish border wars continued for much of the 16th century, so that during that time, Newcastle was often threatened with invasion by the Scots, but also remained important as a border stronghold against them.

 

During the Reformation begun by Henry VIII in 1536, the five Newcastle friaries and the single nunnery were dissolved and the land was sold to the Corporation and to rich merchants. At this time there were fewer than 60 inmates of the religious houses in Newcastle. The convent of Blackfriars was leased to nine craft guilds to be used as their headquarters. This probably explains why it is the only one of the religious houses whose building survives to the present day. The priories at Tynemouth and Durham were also dissolved, thus ending the long-running rivalry between Newcastle and the church for control of trade on the Tyne. A little later, the property of the nunnery of St Bartholomew and of Grey Friars were bought by Robert Anderson, who had the buildings demolished to build his grand Newe House (also known as Anderson Place).

 

With the gradual decline of the Scottish border wars the town walls were allowed to decline as well as the castle. By 1547, about 10,000 people were living in Newcastle. At the beginning of the 16th century exports of wool from Newcastle were more than twice the value of exports of coal, but during the century coal exports continued to increase.

 

Under Edward VI, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, sponsored an act allowing Newcastle to annexe Gateshead as its suburb. The main reason for this was to allow the Newcastle Hostmen, who controlled the export of Tyne coal, to get their hands on the Gateshead coal mines, previously controlled by the Bishop of Durham. However, when Mary I came to power, Dudley met his downfall and the decision was reversed. The Reformation allowed private access to coal mines previously owned by Tynemouth and Durham priories and as a result coal exports increase dramatically, from 15,000 tons in 1500 to 35,000 tons in 1565, and to 400,000 tons in 1625.

 

The plague visited Newcastle four times during the 16th century, in 1579 when 2,000 people died, in 1589 when 1700 died, in 1595 and finally in 1597.

 

In 1600 Elizabeth I granted Newcastle a charter for an exclusive body of electors, the right to elect the mayor and burgesses. The charter also gave the Hostmen exclusive rights to load coal at any point on the Tyne. The Hostmen developed as an exclusive group within the Merchant Adventurers who had been incorporated by a charter in 1547.

 

Stuart period

In 1636 there was a serious outbreak of bubonic plague in Newcastle. There had been several previous outbreaks of the disease over the years, but this was the most serious. It is thought to have arrived from the Netherlands via ships that were trading between the Tyne and that country. It first appeared in the lower part of the town near the docks but gradually spread to all parts of the town. As the disease gained hold the authorities took measures to control it by boarding up any properties that contained infected persons, meaning that whole families were locked up together with the infected family members. Other infected persons were put in huts outside the town walls and left to die. Plague pits were dug next to the town's four churches and outside the town walls to receive the bodies in mass burials. Over the course of the outbreak 5,631 deaths were recorded out of an estimated population of 12,000, a death rate of 47%.

 

In 1637 Charles I tried to raise money by doubling the 'voluntary' tax on coal in return for allowing the Newcastle Hostmen to regulate production and fix prices. This caused outrage amongst the London importers and the East Anglian shippers. Both groups decided to boycott Tyne coal and as a result forced Charles to reverse his decision in 1638.

 

In 1640 during the Second Bishops' War, the Scots successfully invaded Newcastle. The occupying army demanded £850 per day from the Corporation to billet the Scottish troops. Trade from the Tyne ground to a halt during the occupation. The Scots left in 1641 after receiving a Parliamentary pardon and a £4,000,000 loan from the town.

 

In 1642 the English Civil War began. King Charles realised the value of the Tyne coal trade and therefore garrisoned Newcastle. A Royalist was appointed as governor. At that time, Newcastle and King's Lynn were the only important seaports to support the crown. In 1644 Parliament blockaded the Tyne to prevent the king from receiving revenue from the Tyne coal trade. Coal exports fell from 450,000 to 3,000 tons and London suffered a hard winter without fuel. Parliament encouraged the coal trade from the Wear to try to replace that lost from Newcastle but that was not enough to make up for the lost Tyneside tonnage.

 

In 1644 the Scots crossed the border. Newcastle strengthened its defences in preparation. The Scottish army, with 40,000 troops, besieged Newcastle for three months until the garrison of 1,500 surrendered. During the siege, the Scots bombarded the walls with their artillery, situated in Gateshead and Castle Leazes. The Scottish commander threatened to destroy the steeple of St Nicholas's Church by gunfire if the mayor, Sir John Marley, did not surrender the town. The mayor responded by placing Scottish prisoners that they had captured in the steeple, so saving it from destruction. The town walls were finally breached by a combination of artillery and sapping. In gratitude for this defence, Charles gave Newcastle the motto 'Fortiter Defendit Triumphans' to be added to its coat of arms. The Scottish army occupied Northumberland and Durham for two years. The coal taxes had to pay for the Scottish occupation. In 1645 Charles surrendered to the Scots and was imprisoned in Newcastle for nine months. After the Civil War the coal trade on the Tyne soon picked up and exceeded its pre-war levels.

 

A new Guildhall was completed on the Sandhill next to the river in 1655, replacing an earlier facility damaged by fire in 1639, and became the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council. In 1681 the Hospital of the Holy Jesus was built partly on the site of the Austin Friars. The Guildhall and Holy Jesus Hospital still exist.

 

Charles II tried to impose a charter on Newcastle to give the king the right to appoint the mayor, sheriff, recorder and town clerk. Charles died before the charter came into effect. In 1685, James II tried to replace Corporation members with named Catholics. However, James' mandate was suspended in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution welcoming William of Orange. In 1689, after the fall of James II, the people of Newcastle tore down his bronze equestrian statue in Sandhill and tossed it into the Tyne. The bronze was later used to make bells for All Saints Church.

 

In 1689 the Lort Burn was covered over. At this time it was an open sewer. The channel followed by the Lort Burn became the present day Dean Street. At that time, the centre of Newcastle was still the Sandhill area, with many merchants living along the Close or on the Side. The path of the main road through Newcastle ran from the single Tyne bridge, through Sandhill to the Side, a narrow street which climbed steeply on the north-east side of the castle hill until it reached the higher ground alongside St Nicholas' Church. As Newcastle developed, the Side became lined with buildings with projecting upper stories, so that the main street through Newcastle was a narrow, congested, steep thoroughfare.

 

In 1701 the Keelmen's Hospital was built in the Sandgate area of the city, using funds provided by the keelmen. The building still stands today.

 

Eighteenth century

In the 18th century, Newcastle was the country's largest print centre after London, Oxford and Cambridge, and the Literary and Philosophical Society of 1793, with its erudite debates and large stock of books in several languages predated the London Library by half a century.

 

In 1715, during the Jacobite rising in favour of the Old Pretender, an army of Jacobite supporters marched on Newcastle. Many of the Northumbrian gentry joined the rebels. The citizens prepared for its arrival by arresting Jacobite supporters and accepting 700 extra recruits into the local militia. The gates of the city were closed against the rebels. This proved enough to delay an attack until reinforcements arrived forcing the rebel army to move across to the west coast. The rebels finally surrendered at Preston.

 

In 1745, during a second Jacobite rising in favour of the Young Pretender, a Scottish army crossed the border led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Once again Newcastle prepared by arresting Jacobite supporters and inducting 800 volunteers into the local militia. The town walls were strengthened, most of the gates were blocked up and some 200 cannon were deployed. 20,000 regulars were billeted on the Town Moor. These preparations were enough to force the rebel army to travel south via the west coast. They were eventually defeated at Culloden in 1746.

 

Newcastle's actions during the 1715 rising in resisting the rebels and declaring for George I, in contrast to the rest of the region, is the most likely source of the nickname 'Geordie', applied to people from Tyneside, or more accurately Newcastle. Another theory, however, is that the name 'Geordie' came from the inventor of the Geordie lamp, George Stephenson. It was a type of safety lamp used in mining, but was not invented until 1815. Apparently the term 'German Geordie' was in common use during the 18th century.

 

The city's first hospital, Newcastle Infirmary opened in 1753; it was funded by public subscription. A lying-in hospital was established in Newcastle in 1760. The city's first public hospital for mentally ill patients, Wardens Close Lunatic Hospital was opened in October 1767.

 

In 1771 a flood swept away much of the bridge at Newcastle. The bridge had been built in 1250 and repaired after a flood in 1339. The bridge supported various houses and three towers and an old chapel. A blue stone was placed in the middle of the bridge to mark the boundary between Newcastle and the Palatinate of Durham. A temporary wooden bridge had to be built, and this remained in use until 1781, when a new stone bridge was completed. The new bridge consisted of nine arches. In 1801, because of the pressure of traffic, the bridge had to be widened.

 

A permanent military presence was established in the city with the completion of Fenham Barracks in 1806. The facilities at the Castle for holding assizes, which had been condemned for their inconvenience and unhealthiness, were replaced when the Moot Hall opened in August 1812.

 

Victorian period

Present-day Newcastle owes much of its architecture to the work of the builder Richard Grainger, aided by architects John Dobson, Thomas Oliver, John and Benjamin Green and others. In 1834 Grainger won a competition to produce a new plan for central Newcastle. He put this plan into effect using the above architects as well as architects employed in his own office. Grainger and Oliver had already built Leazes Terrace, Leazes Crescent and Leazes Place between 1829 and 1834. Grainger and Dobson had also built the Royal Arcade at the foot of Pilgrim Street between 1830 and 1832. The most ambitious project covered 12 acres 12 acres (49,000 m2) in central Newcastle, on the site of Newe House (also called Anderson Place). Grainger built three new thoroughfares, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street with many connecting streets, as well as the Central Exchange and the Grainger Market. John Wardle and George Walker, working in Grainger's office, designed Clayton Street, Grainger Street and most of Grey Street. Dobson designed the Grainger Market and much of the east side of Grey Street. John and Benjamin Green designed the Theatre Royal at the top of Grey Street, where Grainger placed the column of Grey's Monument as a focus for the whole scheme. Grey Street is considered to be one of the finest streets in the country, with its elegant curve. Unfortunately most of old Eldon Square was demolished in the 1960s in the name of progress. The Royal Arcade met a similar fate.

 

In 1849 a new bridge was built across the river at Newcastle. This was the High Level Bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson, and slightly up river from the existing bridge. The bridge was designed to carry road and rail traffic across the Tyne Gorge on two decks with rail traffic on the upper deck and road traffic on the lower. The new bridge meant that traffic could pass through Newcastle without having to negotiate the steep, narrow Side, as had been necessary for centuries. The bridge was opened by Queen Victoria, who one year later opened the new Central Station, designed by John Dobson. Trains were now able to cross the river, directly into the centre of Newcastle and carry on up to Scotland. The Army Riding School was also completed in 1849.

 

In 1854 a large fire started on the Gateshead quayside and an explosion caused it to spread across the river to the Newcastle quayside. A huge conflagration amongst the narrow alleys, or 'chares', destroyed the homes of 800 families as well as many business premises. The narrow alleys that had been destroyed were replaced by streets containing blocks of modern offices.

 

In 1863 the Town Hall in St Nicholas Square replaced the Guildhall as the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council.

 

In 1876 the low level bridge was replaced by a new bridge known as the Swing Bridge, so called because the bridge was able to swing horizontally on a central axis and allow ships to pass on either side. This meant that for the first time sizeable ships could pass up-river beyond Newcastle. The bridge was built and paid for by William Armstrong, a local arms manufacturer, who needed to have warships access his Elswick arms factory to fit armaments to them. The Swing Bridge's rotating mechanism is adapted from the cannon mounts developed in Armstrong's arms works. In 1882 the Elswick works began to build ships as well as to arm them. The Barrack Road drill hall was completed in 1890.

 

Industrialisation

In the 19th century, shipbuilding and heavy engineering were central to the city's prosperity; and the city was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle's development as a major city owed most to its central role in the production and export of coal. The phrase "taking coals to Newcastle" was first recorded in 1538; it proverbially denotes bringing a particular commodity to a place that has more than enough of it already.

 

Innovation in Newcastle and surrounding areas included the following:

 

George Stephenson developed a miner's safety lamp at the same time that Humphry Davy developed a rival design. The lamp made possible the opening up of ever deeper mines to provide the coal that powered the industrial revolution.

George and his son Robert Stephenson were hugely influential figures in the development of the early railways. George developed Blücher, a locomotive working at Killingworth colliery in 1814, whilst Robert was instrumental in the design of Rocket, a revolutionary design that was the forerunner of modern locomotives. Both men were involved in planning and building railway lines, all over this country and abroad.

 

Joseph Swan demonstrated a working electric light bulb about a year before Thomas Edison did the same in the USA. This led to a dispute as to who had actually invented the light bulb. Eventually the two rivals agreed to form a mutual company between them, the Edison and Swan Electric Light Company, known as Ediswan.

 

Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine, for marine use and for power generation. He used Turbinia, a small, turbine-powered ship, to demonstrate the speed that a steam turbine could generate. Turbinia literally ran rings around the British Fleet at a review at Spithead in 1897.

 

William Armstrong invented a hydraulic crane that was installed in dockyards up and down the country. He then began to design light, accurate field guns for the British army. These were a vast improvement on the existing guns that were then in use.

 

The following major industries developed in Newcastle or its surrounding area:

 

Glassmaking

A small glass industry existed in Newcastle from the mid-15th century. In 1615 restrictions were put on the use of wood for manufacturing glass. It was found that glass could be manufactured using the local coal, and so a glassmaking industry grew up on Tyneside. Huguenot glassmakers came over from France as refugees from persecution and set up glasshouses in the Skinnerburn area of Newcastle. Eventually, glass production moved to the Ouseburn area of Newcastle. In 1684 the Dagnia family, Sephardic Jewish emigrants from Altare, arrived in Newcastle from Stourbridge and established glasshouses along the Close, to manufacture high quality flint glass. The glass manufacturers used sand ballast from the boats arriving in the river as the main raw material. The glassware was then exported in collier brigs. The period from 1730 to 1785 was the highpoint of Newcastle glass manufacture, when the local glassmakers produced the 'Newcastle Light Baluster'. The glassmaking industry still exists in the west end of the city with local Artist and Glassmaker Jane Charles carrying on over four hundred years of hot glass blowing in Newcastle upon Tyne.

 

Locomotive manufacture

In 1823 George Stephenson and his son Robert established the world's first locomotive factory near Forth Street in Newcastle. Here they built locomotives for the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, as well as many others. It was here that the famous locomotive Rocket was designed and manufactured in preparation for the Rainhill Trials. Apart from building locomotives for the British market, the Newcastle works also produced locomotives for Europe and America. The Forth Street works continued to build locomotives until 1960.

 

Shipbuilding

In 1296 a wooden, 135 ft (41 m) long galley was constructed at the mouth of the Lort Burn in Newcastle, as part of a twenty-ship order from the king. The ship cost £205, and is the earliest record of shipbuilding in Newcastle. However the rise of the Tyne as a shipbuilding area was due to the need for collier brigs for the coal export trade. These wooden sailing ships were usually built locally, establishing local expertise in building ships. As ships changed from wood to steel, and from sail to steam, the local shipbuilding industry changed to build the new ships. Although shipbuilding was carried out up and down both sides of the river, the two main areas for building ships in Newcastle were Elswick, to the west, and Walker, to the east. By 1800 Tyneside was the third largest producer of ships in Britain. Unfortunately, after the Second World War, lack of modernisation and competition from abroad gradually caused the local industry to decline and die.

 

Armaments

In 1847 William Armstrong established a huge factory in Elswick, west of Newcastle. This was initially used to produce hydraulic cranes but subsequently began also to produce guns for both the army and the navy. After the Swing Bridge was built in 1876 allowing ships to pass up river, warships could have their armaments fitted alongside the Elswick works. Armstrong's company took over its industrial rival, Joseph Whitworth of Manchester in 1897.

 

Steam turbines

Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine and, in 1889, founded his own company C. A. Parsons and Company in Heaton, Newcastle to make steam turbines. Shortly after this, he realised that steam turbines could be used to propel ships and, in 1897, he founded a second company, Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company in Wallsend. It is there that he designed and manufactured Turbinia. Parsons turbines were initially used in warships but soon came to be used in merchant and passenger vessels, including the liner Mauretania which held the blue riband for the Atlantic crossing until 1929. Parsons' company in Heaton began to make turbo-generators for power stations and supplied power stations all over the world. The Heaton works, reduced in size, remains as part of the Siemens AG industrial giant.

 

Pottery

In 1762 the Maling pottery was founded in Sunderland by French Huguenots, but transferred to Newcastle in 1817. A factory was built in the Ouseburn area of the city. The factory was rebuilt twice, finally occupying a 14-acre (57,000 m2) site that was claimed to be the biggest pottery in the world and which had its own railway station. The pottery pioneered use of machines in making potteries as opposed to hand production. In the 1890s the company went up-market and employed in-house designers. The period up to the Second World War was the most profitable with a constant stream of new designs being introduced. However, after the war, production gradually declined and the company closed in 1963.

 

Expansion of the city

Newcastle was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835: the reformed municipal borough included the parishes of Byker, Elswick, Heaton, Jesmond, Newcastle All Saints, Newcastle St Andrew, Newcastle St John, Newcastle St Nicholas, and Westgate. The urban districts of Benwell and Fenham and Walker were added in 1904. In 1935, Newcastle gained Kenton and parts of the parishes of West Brunton, East Denton, Fawdon, Longbenton. The most recent expansion in Newcastle's boundaries took place under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974, when Newcastle became a metropolitan borough, also including the urban districts of Gosforth and Newburn, and the parishes of Brunswick, Dinnington, Hazlerigg, North Gosforth and Woolsington from the Castle Ward Rural District, and the village of Westerhope.

 

Meanwhile Northumberland County Council was formed under the Local Government Act 1888 and benefited from a dedicated meeting place when County Hall was completed in the Castle Garth area of Newcastle in 1910. Following the Local Government Act 1972 County Hall relocated to Morpeth in April 1981.

 

Twentieth century

In 1925 work began on a new high-level road bridge to span the Tyne Gorge between Newcastle and Gateshead. The capacity of the existing High-Level Bridge and Swing Bridge were being strained to the limit, and an additional bridge had been discussed for a long time. The contract was awarded to the Dorman Long Company and the bridge was finally opened by King George V in 1928. The road deck was 84 feet (26 m) above the river and was supported by a 531 feet (162 m) steel arch. The new Tyne Bridge quickly became a symbol for Newcastle and Tyneside, and remains so today.

 

During the Second World War, Newcastle was largely spared the horrors inflicted upon other British cities bombed during the Blitz. Although the armaments factories and shipyards along the River Tyne were targeted by the Luftwaffe, they largely escaped unscathed. Manors goods yard and railway terminal, to the east of the city centre, and the suburbs of Jesmond and Heaton suffered bombing during 1941. There were 141 deaths and 587 injuries, a relatively small figure compared to the casualties in other industrial centres of Britain.

 

In 1963 the city gained its own university, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, by act of parliament. A School of Medicine and Surgery had been established in Newcastle in 1834. This eventually developed into a college of medicine attached to Durham University. A college of physical science was also founded and became Armstrong College in 1904. In 1934 the two colleges merged to become King's College, Durham. This remained as part of Durham University until the new university was created in 1963. In 1992 the city gained its second university when Newcastle Polytechnic was granted university status as Northumbria University.

 

Newcastle City Council moved to the new Newcastle Civic Centre in 1968.

 

As heavy industries declined in the second half of the 20th century, large sections of the city centre were demolished along with many areas of slum housing. The leading political figure in the city during the 1960s was T. Dan Smith who oversaw a massive building programme of highrise housing estates and authorised the demolition of a quarter of the Georgian Grainger Town to make way for Eldon Square Shopping Centre. Smith's control in Newcastle collapsed when it was exposed that he had used public contracts to advantage himself and his business associates and for a time Newcastle became a byword for civic corruption as depicted in the films Get Carter and Stormy Monday and in the television series Our Friends in the North. However, much of the historic Grainger Town area survived and was, for the most part, fully restored in the late 1990s. Northumberland Street, initially the A1, was gradually closed to traffic from the 1970s and completely pedestrianised by 1998.

 

In 1978 a new rapid transport system, the Metro, was built, linking the Tyneside area. The system opened in August 1980. A new bridge was built to carry the Metro across the river between Gateshead and Newcastle. This was the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, commonly known as the Metro Bridge. Eventually the Metro system was extended to reach Newcastle Airport in 1991, and in 2002 the Metro system was extended to the nearby city of Sunderland.

 

As the 20th century progressed, trade on the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides gradually declined, until by the 1980s both sides of the river were looking rather derelict. Shipping company offices had closed along with offices of firms related to shipping. There were also derelict warehouses lining the riverbank. Local government produced a master plan to re-develop the Newcastle quayside and this was begun in the 1990s. New offices, restaurants, bars and residential accommodation were built and the area has changed in the space of a few years into a vibrant area, partially returning the focus of Newcastle to the riverside, where it was in medieval times.

 

The Gateshead Millennium Bridge, a foot and cycle bridge, 26 feet (7.9 m) wide and 413 feet (126 m) long, was completed in 2001. The road deck is in the form of a curve and is supported by a steel arch. To allow ships to pass, the whole structure, both arch and road-deck, rotates on huge bearings at either end so that the road deck is lifted. The bridge can be said to open and shut like a human eye. It is an important addition to the re-developed quayside area, providing a vital link between the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides.

 

Recent developments

Today the city is a vibrant centre for office and retail employment, but just a short distance away there are impoverished inner-city housing estates, in areas originally built to provide affordable housing for employees of the shipyards and other heavy industries that lined the River Tyne. In the 2010s Newcastle City Council began implementing plans to regenerate these depressed areas, such as those along the Ouseburn Valley.

This image is from an overlooking vantage point in the outskirts of Zion National Park. The image is moody. In the distance on the right there are visible traces of rain dashed with warm light. In the center the contested and congested cloudy sky opens up enough for light to shine down on the flat mountainous topography. Rain is falling on the left at distance creating a haziness while in the front right foreground an ominous cloud looks like it will unleash a thunderstorm. In the foreground is a tapestry of forest touched by a mingled and tinted light that gives a warm and inviting feeling. This is nature's moodiness, which even still is replete with beauty. Zion National Park Utah, USA, 25 July 2009.

Photographs taken by me at Point Pleasant Beach. Shot with the Sigma 19mm F/2.8 DG DN Art. At F/11 Shutter speed 4 seconds ISO 100.

 

It was quite a nice 4th of July full of crowds of people that wanted to spend their weekend at the beach to see the big show. It felt very pre-covid as the crowds were overwhelmingly congested on the Boardwalk. I shot simultaneously with two cameras. The first camera was with a crop sensor. The A6300 with a wide angle lens the Sigma 19mm. Which this series showcases.. The second camera I shot with was my A7Riii with my Sony 50mm F/1.2 GM. The show was suppose to start at 9:00 PM and eventually started at 9:30 PM. Unfortunately, due to the delay it rained a little bit, and some of my photos will reflect that. However, I found the photos that were affected by the droplets of rain falling on the front lens elements to be characterful. That's is why I have decided to share them rather than delete them.

 

All rights reserved ©

Lufthansa has a very impressive short-haul network, the company has two major bases in Germany; at Frankfurt and Munich. Frankfurt, Lufthansa's largest hub is at times heavily congested; and back in 1992, Frankfurt at the time was struggling for capacity and when Munich opened its brand new airport, Lufthansa announced a second hub at the airport.

Munich Airport celebrates 25 years of operation, the new airport replaced the congested Munich-Riem Airport. Lufthansa is also celebrating 25 years of Munich Airport as they were their first major tenant, and opened Terminal 2 at the airport in 2003.

To celebrate the 25 year anniversary since Munich Airport opened, Lufthansa has adorned one of it's Munich based Airbus A320's with special 25th anniversary at Munich decals. Lufthansa remains committed to serving Munich with new aircraft deliveries, notably Airbus A320's and Airbus A350-900's. The hub also sees dedicated Airbus A330-300's and Airbus A340-600's operate on long-haul flights.

Lufthansa's short-haul fleet largely comprises of the Airbus A320 family which currently stands at 163, which includes 30 Airbus A319's, 65 Airbus A320ceo's, 5 Airbus A320neo's, 20 Airbus A321-100's and 43 Airbus A321-200's. Lufthansa has a large order for 19 Airbus A320ceo's, 56 Airbus A320neo's and 40 Airbus A321neo's.

Alpha India Uniform Romeo is one of 65 Airbus Airbus A320ceo's in service with Lufthansa, delivered new to the flag-carrier in February 2016 and she is powered by 2 CFM International CFM56-5B4/3 engines. She is currently based at Munich.

Airbus A320-214(WL) D-AIUR on final approach into Runway 27L at London Heathrow (LHR) on LH2474 from Munich-Franz Josef Strauss (MUC).

I'd been meaning to upload this image for some time. I don't know about anyone else, but my computer drives are almost totally congested with unworked images. I really don't know what the best technique is for dealing with this as photo mags seem to skip round this issue and just focus on advice, technique, locations and new kit.

Taking bus photos in Princes Street always makes me feel like a tourist! It's what visitors do and end up with hundreds of pictures that can look the same. I rarely take pictures here but it's very much the easy option if you need to get this and that, or a snapshot of transport in the Capital. We all do it!

 

The main problem with Princes Street is the fact it's east-west, and when the sun is shining it's virtually impossible, except when taking shots like this in the morning (with the sun in the east) and the other way in the late afternoon (sun in the west). It can often suddenly become totally congested with a rush of vehicles all at the same time.

 

No such problem here as Volvo B9TL / Wright Eclipse Gemini 2, number 1003 (LXZ 5385) strolls along on Service X28, almost at journey's end from Bathgate in West Lothian.

 

As a K.L. boy, i have learnt to perceive KL as it is as a city of congested traffic, busy businessmen and working folks. This city, just like any other city, a restless place, with crazy music, people celebrating their moments, people lamenting their pain..... as i am walking alone, doing my sort of meditation..

 

Please do not download or use my photos without my permission.

If you would like to use any of my works kindly email me at jansenchua88@gmail.com to discuss

17.06.10. Alfândega. A regularly congested area in the summer months.

The former A3 was constantly congested at this point and 5 years ago I would have been looking at a queue of traffic here. When the tunnel was constructed it was decided to close the old road completely and return it to nature. The whole thing still looks a bit bare but I guess after a few years when trees grow up it will be hard to tell that a road ever came this way

STIB/MVIB articulated unit 7805 emerges from a premetro section of the Brussels tramway system on the circular 101 route. During the 1950s, in anticipation of the 1958 World Fair, large underground sections were built to take the city’s trams away from the increasingly congested streets. These moves were intended to presage the wholesale replacement of trams by a metro network, a goal that was only partly achieved.

 

April 1983

Yashica FR-1 camera

Agfa CT18 film.

An express boat service operates on the Saen Saeb, providing fast, inexpensive transportation in traffic-congested central Bangkok. The service has a checkered reputation, due to the polluted water in the khlong and the haphazard nature in which the service is operated.

My Larry's mom was born near here in Oklahoma and currently she is in the hospital with

congestive heart failure and pneumonia. She is the matriarch of his family and a precious

mother-in-love to me... please remember her in prayer as it would be so very hard on our

family to have another loss at this time... she is so precious and sharp as a tack at 89.

Please let me add she is a lovely Christian lady who is an inspiration to me...

I am so very thankful for her!!!

Merci pour la texture:

www.flickr.com/photos/8078381@N03/4223768807/

 

Thème interprétation d'une chanson: Riders on the storm

 

Explored 25 février 2010\ 464

An evening bus trip home

One of the many crossings near Trafalgar Square, perhaps somewhat less congested on an otherwise busy Sunday.

 

Processing: Tonemapping of merged triple exposure shot -1.67 0 +1.67 ev taken handheld with Photomatix Pro 4.0. Post processing done with Photoshop CS5. Selective saturation increase on flags. Exposure reduction on the horseman. Slight contrast enhancement and overall desaturation to produce the final image.

Photographs taken by me at Point Pleasant Beach. Shot with the Sigma 19mm F/2.8 DG DN Art. At F/11 Shutter speed 4 seconds ISO 100.

 

It was quite a nice 4th of July full of crowds of people that wanted to spend their weekend at the beach to see the big show. It felt very pre-covid as the crowds were overwhelmingly congested on the Boardwalk. I shot simultaneously with two cameras. The first camera was with a crop sensor. The A6300 with a wide angle lens the Sigma 19mm. Which this series showcases.. The second camera I shot with was my A7Riii with my Sony 50mm F/1.2 GM. The show was suppose to start at 9:00 PM and eventually started at 9:30 PM. Unfortunately, due to the delay it rained a little bit, and some of my photos will reflect that. However, I found the photos that were affected by the droplets of rain falling on the front lens elements to be characterful. That's is why I have decided to share them rather than delete them.

 

All rights reserved ©

Not what it appears to be. With some selective cropping, a very urban location has been made to look very rural. Just to the right of the train is a huge parking lot for a large retail strip shopping center; to the left, behind the tree, is a very congested DE Rt. 52, the Kennett Pike, which the train is about to cross. www.google.com/maps/@39.7789979,-75.597623,175m/data=!3m1.... From here, Jim & I headed to Cosmos Diner in Wilmington for dinner and then home.

in the distance..........................

amongst seemingly

indifferent passerbyers

who seem on their way somewhere else

chatting etc...

  

lays staring at the camera in the dust

dirt

and pollution

of this UBER congested city,

  

a tiny thin frail cachectic man with a beggar bowl..........

  

Will he too be burned in the heap of garbage ?

 

or will someone recognize him

as a human being

 

Photography’s new conscience

linktr.ee/GlennLosack

linktr.ee/GlennLosack

  

glosack.wixsite.com/tbws

  

TONGI

The work assignment is to take out all loose debris left when a BNSF train bridge was removed between a busy highway and the shopping center parking lot where I am standing

View back towards Bangkok CBD Sathorn Intersection with the skytrain running over congested Sathorn Road.

 

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12.2.91. Monumento terminus. This system uses elevated track to avoid the very congested streets.

English physician, discovered the efficacy of ingesting ground dried leaves of Digitalis purpurea in the treatment of severe congestive heart failure. He attributed its efficacy to a diuretic effect and published his findingsin l785 based on his clinical observations over a ten year period. In his paper, he recommended safe doses and warned of undesirable side effects from overdose including death from cardiac arrest. The pharmacological mechanisms of the cardiac glycosides in regulating the heart rate and rhythm and the strengthening of the heart muscle were discovered later.

 

The German ophthalmologist and botanist, Ernst Fuchs, is responsible for giving foxglove its Latin name in the Linneal binomial system of the naming of plants. To him and others before him, each blossom resembled a thimble so he arrived at digitalis as follows: digitus, i L. finger; alis, L. suffix meaning pertaining to the qualities or characteristics of a -----; Digitalis.a Latin adjectival noun meaning pertaining to the characteristics or qualities of a finger.

The thimble resemblance of the blossoms is also responsible for the English common name foxglove: “gloves for little folks” and the common German name der Fingerhut which translates into English as the finger hat (a thimble).

 

Lightbox brings out the beauty here

No. 20 The Zoo

The new millennium took me back to the Indian subcontinent. My girlfriend at the time and her younger brother joined me on a journey that would start in Kerala and would take us through Tamil Nadu and into Delhi. This time we would travel on a shoestring, use public transport and explore sides of India we hadn’t experienced before.

After travelling by train and local busses, we reached the capital Delhi. This massive city was a world away from peaceful, green and friendly Kerala in the south. The feeling of safety we had, walking the streets of Trivandrum, disappeared in Delhi. The atmosphere here was completely different. Traffic was dense with motor motor rickshaw's, mopeds and cars. The city was so congested, a blanket of blue’ish smog hung thick in the air, day and night. It made it much harder to breathe. So after reading good reviews about New Delhi Zoo, we decided to check it out. It sounded like a good day out of the heat, noise and stench.

There was no one else at the entrance so I walked up to the ticket booth to buy tickets. The price list was rather confusing to me. Adults and Children to a certain height, but also ‘Foreigners Adult’ and ‘Foreigner Children’. This was something new to me. Naive as I was, I had never seen such discrimination before and I decided to challenge it. “Three ‘Adult’ tickets please”. Of course this was impossible. We would have to pay five times more than a regular ticket because we were foreigners.

I demanded to see the managing director. I wanted to know why some people, like foreigners were discriminated against and would have to pay a different price. I found it striking that a nation, scarred by foreign discrimination would continue to make such a distinction between peoples.

The director would see me and I tried to explain to him the outrage such a distinction would cause back home in The Netherlands. Imagine what would happen if we charged Indians five times more, just because they are foreign?! Of course that was just it. This was India, not The Netherlands. The director remained calm and told me I would have to take it up to the Minister of Culture of India. “I will!”. I asked him how and he gave me pen and paper. “You could write him a letter”.

Strict on principle, I took his offer and wrote the Minister of Culture of India a stern letter. Right there in the director’s office. Of course I knew by now I was fighting windmills, but I charged ahead and handed over the letter.

Although still angry, walking back to the ticket booth I had started to come to terms with the fact that we would have to pay the foreigners' fee. At the entrance, a lady had arrived with her four children. She was looking through her purse and bag for something. My girlfriend explained.

“Three of her children are charged children’s entrance fees. The fourth child looks too white and is charged an ‘foreigners-child’ entrance fee. Now the mother is looking for the child’s ID-card…”

That was the last drop for me. Screw that zoo!

The south of France really does have an embarrassment of ancient roman ruins. When we booked to stay near Arles, I hadn't even heard of the place. The centerpiece of the old city is this wonderful ampitheatre. I had taken a few shots earlier in my stay, but it was always a congested scene and the light was far too harsh.

 

This scene isn't quite as appealing as it looks. The restaurant to the left served me a very grisly and fatty steak. What a let down.

One of the more visually unusual but none the less critical pieces of kit to regularly grace our skies is the RSAF G550 CAEW. A key battle space management tool, and integral to controlling the congested and crowded sky over Singapore it’s welcome return to Pitch Black shows how important the exercise in. They don’t have many to spread around !

Same Tree, different lens placement...

 

Much more detail in Large Size

Enjoying the weather and views early this evening. I was with the cuzz here once again. This was at the Guadalupe Oak Grove Park around San Jose, CA. Certainly, this was our new favorite (local) hiking\hangout spot! Shhhh, don't tell anyone else about this park or else it'll end up like Communications Hill wherein everyone was overpopulating & congesting the area... (Wednesday, ‎July ‎6, ‎2022)

 

*Enjoy this 3.8-mile loop trail. Considered an easy route, it takes an average of 1h 18min to complete. This trail is great for hiking, trail running & walking, and it's unlikely you'll encounter many people here while exploring. Please, NO BIKING on the trails (signs are also posted).

Here's a recent addition to my Korean apartment series. This one is mind numbing to look at. A congested dizzying vibe, so uncomfortably confined, unable to escape the sensation of.....claustrophobia!

 

This one took a bit of hiking up a nearby mountain to get the POV I wanted. Pheww..time to take a shower and go get some food ( -.-);;

 

Larger one here on black

  

It is not a common sight to see a passenger train in the loop at Bombo Station, on the NSW South Coast Line (excepting heritage and charter trains that are crossing other trains here).

 

In this case, K478 (empty cars from Kiama to Wollongong) has been placed into the loop at Bombo to free up platform space at Kiama. As Kiama only has two platforms, and is used for cross platform transfers between electric trains from Sydney and diesel trains from Bomaderry, it can become quite congested when the normal timetable has been disrupted.

 

K478 arrived into Bombo loop at 1949, the pantographs sparking a bit from the seldom used overhead wiring. Here it waited as K480 (an all-stations Kiama to Wollongong service) overtook - this is pictured above. K478 was given permission to depart when 479A arrived into the platform from Bondi Junction.

Kyrenia is one of the most beautiful locations in North Cyprus.

The horseshoe-shaped harbour is dominated by Kyrenia Castle to one side; surely one of the prettiest in the Mediterranean.

 

The town itself was founded in the 10th century BC, one of Cyprus’s original city kingdoms. Its location on the north coast, only 40 miles from the Turkish mainland, meant that it soon developed as a major trading centre. The harbour-front buildings which now house bars and restaurants, were once warehouses, used to store carob and other precious cargo.

 

Leading off the harbour are the narrow streets of the old town, which are now often congested with pedestrian tourists. Twenty years ago, the town was no more than a fishing village. Today, as with many other Cypriot tourist centres, it has become a modern sprawling mass; its boundary starting at least 10 miles inland. That said, it remains a favourite destination of ours from where to watch the world and his wife go by. With border crossings so much easier these days, Kyrenia should be visited if at all possible.

Black Lives Matters demonstration, Vauxhall Bridge, London, 7 June 2020

Rådhuset station in Stockholm, Sweden is a rare must see treasure hidden in the city. It's in a very congested yet unassuming part of town where you wouldn't think much of it until you descend down the escalators and out of nowhere you will be greeted to this spectacle!

The Chinatown Arch in Washington, DC, is strikingly similar to the one in Ottawa.

 

Both capitals share many features, like national war memorials, national cemeteries, the places for government, the houses of the leaders, national museums and institutions.

 

But one thing is very different and is immediately noticeable to any visitor. Washington is designed on a grand scale, with elegance and good accessibility to tourists. The city planners had a good foresight in 1790 when they set aside 10 square miles to build the capital city. Today you can get around in a metro, on a bus, in a car, on a bike or walk, and feel safe in any of the transportation modes to see everything. In the meantime, Ottawa has a lot of beautiful sites splattered around the city with much difficulty to access them. There are 18-wheelers making sharp turns downtown to connect between Ontario and Quebec highways. There is no rail station downtown. Very difficult to get to the airport. Very limited bike lanes to get around the city. Main roadways with gigantic intersections with frequent accidents. Congested bridges, limited parking, no roundabouts, forgotten cycling lanes. I love Ottawa but it is obvious that the city design is seriously lacking. What do you think?

 

This was my first visit to Washington and I was impressed.

A 40-meter statue of José María Morelos, a great hero of Mexico's independence erected in 1933, is found on Janitzio

island's highest point.

 

Visitors can climb to the top of the statue by way of a staircase that spirals up the inside. Along the interior walls, the life of Morelos is depicted in murals painted by Ramón Alba de la Canal and other great Mexican muralists.

 

Although the steep stairway can become congested and distract one's attention, it is a good Mexican history lesson.

Passengers wait in congested traffic near Sadarghat Boat Terminal in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Following the opening of Queensland's Chermside Shopping Centre opened in 1957, the Coorparoo Myer Centre was the second suburban shopping village in the city of Brisbane, circa 1960.

 

At the time, the Fortitude Valley was the retail and commercial precinct of the city however, due to their affordability, personal motor vehicles were increasingly distributed and introduced to the market as a mass scale. Travelling into the Valley for shopping activities was beginning to cause time, frustration, and parking availability was lacking - to catch a tram or train into the Valley for a day out needn't to be done anymore when one could simply drive to the department store in less congested conditions.

 

This Coorparoo mall was a big deal upon its initial opening. Divided into three levels, parking was available on the top level, the first level was cosmetics and clothes and a milk bar, and downstairs would be household goods and appliances like washing machines and fridges which were expensive at the time. I was told a childhood story by an elderly gentleman that when he was with his father visiting the Myer Centre for the first time the main entrance doors would open dependent on the weight on the scales that were placed underneath the doors which lead them to open - being the early 1960's this was technology Brisbane had never seen.

 

It was modern, attractive, and stylish in its design. People preferred to spend their time and money at Coorparoo as opposed to the decaying rabbit warrens of buildings like Walton's or McWhirters in the Fortitude Valley which lead the "shopping hub" precinct lifestyle to an eventual decline. Whilst suburban shopping precincts continued to flourish by the 1970's bars, strip clubs and illegal brothels started to devour the Fortitude Valley turning it into the clubbing district it is today.

 

However, by the 21st century, Western societies grew weary of the consumerist approach to realty shopping being condensed into one bleak, sterile building like a mall - - people wanted the "downtown" lifestyle again where one could sit on the street, reading the news surrounded by trees in the fresh air. The Banfield Street extension at Chermside Shopping Centre showcases this urban environmental shift, displaying a multitude of shops, cafes, and entertainment facilities facing an outdoor gallery featuring garden beds, palm trees, and gazebos.

 

The story is very much the same with the Myer Centre. As more suburban shopping villages started to emerge across Brisbane like Indooroopilly (at its time the largest in Australia), Chermside, and Carindale (down the road from Coorparoo) people turned their backs on the now small and dated Myer Centre which was beginning to gain a less than desirable reputation. The last management of the Myer Centre tried to revive the building with fruit markets upstairs and a creepy childcare centre on the ground floor however finally in 2014 the entire building was vacated - the last tenant being the aforementioned creepy childcare centre (it was in the basement).

 

Following the SuperCell storm of November 2014 the Myer Centre had reached an advanced, dangerous state of decay. The State Government had already bought the property with development plans to demolish the now dilapidated building and recreate Coorparoo with a new precinct consisting of apartments, restaurants, retail, a cinema, and an underground bus way that linked to the Southern Busway (which did not happen).

 

The Myer Centre was completely demolished in 2015.

 

The neon Myer sign that once loomed over the entirety of Coorparoo was deemed a significant landmark as it displayed the development and progress of what once stood in the area. It was taken from the roof and has since been lovingly restored and placed atop the roof in 2018.

 

Source: Rental Trends (rentaltrends.com.au), Shopping Centre News (www.shoppingcentrenews.com.au)

Hulley's ODM 499V is negotiating a congested Rutland Square in Bakewell. It is a Leyland Leopard PSU3E/4R with Duple Dominant II Express coachwork, new in 1979 as Crosville CLL499.

The less congested streets of the South Waterfront District in Portland gives bikers and drivers alike a more relaxed commute.

I think that's the signature of this wonderful street (Carre d'en Roca), somewhere in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. Amazing that all this beauty lays right next to La Rambla, the famous 1.2km pedestrianized, commercialized and congested walkway

If traveling in West Bengal, it is likely you will come to Kolkata. Set up on the banks of the Hooghly river, on the western side of the Ganges Delta by British Imperialists, it was a trading post developed into a port and became the nations capital until 1911, it was then known as Calcutta. Famous in the latter half of the twentieth century mostly for the wrong reasons, it is actually a city of art and culture, sitting away from the mainstream of its more prosperous cousin in the west, Mumbai. With its colonial architecture and crowded streets, it was a fascinating place to wander, often it felt as though you had stepped back in time.

 

I only had a day to do so, having had a booking go astray on my inbound train. I ended up arriving a day later than intended from Darjeeling, arriving in the morning at the mighty Howrah terminus. Stowing my bag in the left luggage, I crossed over the huge river bridge into Calcutta, walking and photographing until evening when it was time to go back across and take another night train out into Bihar. I cannot remember, but the chances are high I rode one of these ferries back across the river, why not? The only realistic option on the bridge was to walk as it was so permanently congested.

 

December the 22nd 1992.

 

Kodachrome 64 in a Nikon FG.

Congested but colourful. They move so slowly as well. This road is not so congested as most roads are ...

世界上最擁擠的道路在香港紅磡康莊道^^

 

Please view the large size^^

Photographed in the Shoreline Baylands, Mountain View, California - Standing, no cover

 

=> Please click on the image to see the largest size. <=

 

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From Wikipedia: The American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) is a species of wading bird in the heron family of the Pelican order of bird. It has a Nearctic distribution, breeding in Canada and the northern and central parts of the United States, and wintering in the U.S. Gulf Coast states, all of Florida into the Everglades, the Caribbean islands and parts of Central America.

 

It is a well-camouflaged, solitary brown bird that unobtrusively inhabits marshes and the coarse vegetation at the edge of lakes and ponds. In the breeding season it is chiefly noticeable by the loud, booming call of the male. The nest is built just above the water, usually among bulrushes and cattails, where the female incubates the clutch of olive-colored eggs for about four weeks. The young leave the nest after two weeks and are fully fledged at six or seven weeks.

 

The American bittern feeds mostly on fish but also eats other small vertebrates as well as crustaceans and insects. It is fairly common over its wide range, but its numbers are thought to be decreasing, especially in the south, because of habitat degradation.

 

Behavior: The American bittern is a solitary bird and usually keeps itself well-hidden and is difficult to observe. It usually hunts by walking stealthily in shallow water and among the vegetation, stalking its prey, but sometimes it stands still in ambush. If it senses that it has been seen, it remains motionless, with its bill pointed upward, its cryptic coloration causing it to blend into the surrounding foliage. It is mainly nocturnal and is most active at dusk. More often heard than seen, the male bittern has a loud, booming call that resembles a congested pump and which has been rendered as "oong, kach, oonk". While uttering this sound, the bird's head is thrown convulsively upward and then forward, and the sound is repeated up to seven times.

 

The process by which the bittern produces its distinctive sound is not fully understood. It has been suggested that the bird gradually puffs out its neck by inflating its esophagus with air accompanied by a mild clicking or hiccuping sound. The esophagus is kept inflated by means of flaps beside the tongue. Once this action is completed and the esophagus is fully inflated, the distinctive gulping sound is made in the syrinx. When the sound is finished, the bird deflates its esophagus.

 

Like other members of the heron family, the American bittern feeds in marshes and shallow ponds, preying mainly on fish but also consuming amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, crustaceans and insects. It is a territorial bird and has a threat display which involves slowly erecting long, white, previously-concealed, plumes on its shoulders, to form wing-like extensions that nearly meet across its back, resembling a ruff. The bird then stands still in a threatening posture, or stalks the intruder in a crouching position, with its head retracted and a gliding gait.

  

IMG_2895-1C2AFlkr

Taken from Tokyo American Club. Several photos stitched together.

A young man holds on to the back of a scooter with one hand while holding a smartphone in the other. As is true of many drivers and passengers of small scooters, he appears to have a good sense of balance, necessary for navigating and passing through busy or congested roads in the Philippines.

 

Province of Batangas, Philippines

Due to the number of low bridges in Edinburgh, ECT purchased 100 Leyland Tiger Cubs between 1959 and 1961 (two fleets of 50 vehicles each), mostly to replace older buses on the 1/21 Circle diagrams.

 

Many of the bridges were removed and so the need for lots of single deckers diminished, but VSC 86 soldiered on until its retiral in 1978. It's condition deteriorated over the next few years and in 1992 the Lothian Bus Consortium would begin to restore it to the fine specimen we see here.

 

I remember there being very few services using single deckers, notably the 13 between Lochend and Ravelston Dykes where it performed the most extraordinary three-point turn at a very congested corner, and always infront of an audience of cars at three busy roads!

 

Quite why this was ever designed to happen I have no clue but it was a most bizarre thing that went on for years and years, testing drivers and many a time the less experience driver would have to be assisted to make this most entertaining of manoeuvres at the Ravelston Dykes terminus.

 

Another couple shots from Thanksgiving vacation 1970; Amarillo turned out to be a good choice for a friend and I as the climate was very friendly, and of course the Santa Fe was its usual accomodating self as we hung out by their East Tower interlocking. Their mainline crossed the FW&D and the Rock Island here, so just about everything that mattered in this mid-size Texas panhandle town would go by. I've already posted one of Santa Fe's high powered hotshots, but here's a contrast that was also typical of their operations: a westbound freight approaches East Tower behind an A-B-B-A set of F7 units (233….) The junction with the line to/from the original Raton Pass mainline near Las Animas, Colo., is right behind the units. That line is now a major conduit for coal and grain trains that are routed between Denver, the Pacific Northwest, the Powder River Basin and Texas. With the former Fort Worth & Denver traditionally playing this role, and its rugged and congested profile, BNSF has utilized the Las Animas/Amarillo connection to provide a bidirectional routing. As a matter of fact, I understand there is a major over/under connection between these routes to alleviate the conflicts between all the mainlines, including the one this train is on.

@Australia