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This is a photograph from the Leinster Cross Country Championships which was held at Moyvalley Hotel and Golf Estate at Balyna Estate, Moyvalley, Co. Kildare, Ireland on Sunday 25th October 2015 begining at 11:00 until the final race at 14:20. The programme for today included Boys and Girls even ages, Junior male and female, Novice male and female and Masters male and female. The races were run on a superb course beside the Moyvalley hotel where the vast acres of prime farmland provided a large space to have a fair but challenging course on good firm ground.
The Leinster event was hosted by local club Na Fianna from Co. Meath. However the venue was actually just inside Co. Kildare in a part of the county where Meath and Kildare borders intersect several times along the route of the old N4/N6 road. The luxury Moyvalley Hotel & Golf resort is set amidst 550 acres of historic Kildare countryside and is easily accessed from the M6/M4 at Enfield or Kinnegad.
Results can be found at MyRunResults.com and their website www.myrunresults.com/results.html
Balyna Estate where the races were held can trace its history back to the 1500s. More recently the estate was owned by the Bewley Family of the Bewley Cafe fame. The hotel and resort were taken over by new management in 2014 who are implementing big plans to expand Moyvalley further.
Our full collection of photographs from the races today are available on Flickr at this set www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157659898745159
USING OUR PHOTOGRAPHS - A QUICK GUIDE AND ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS
Can I use these photographs directly from Flickr on my social media account(s)?
Yes - of course you can! Flickr provides several ways to share this and other photographs in this Flickr set. You can share directly to: email, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Wordpress and Blogger blog sites. Your mobile, tablet, or desktop device will also offer you several different options for sharing this photo page on your social media outlets.
BUT..... Wait there a minute....
We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. We do not charge for our photographs. Our only "cost" is that we request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, VK.com, Vine, Meetup, Tagged, Ask.fm,etc or (2) other websites, blogs, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us or acknowledge us as the original photographers.
This also extends to the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.
I want to download these pictures to my computer or device?
You can download this photographic image here directly to your computer or device. This version is the low resolution web-quality image. How to download will vary slight from device to device and from browser to browser. Have a look for a down-arrow symbol or the link to 'View/Download' all sizes. When you click on either of these you will be presented with the option to download the image. Remember just doing a right-click and "save target as" will not work on Flickr.
I want get full resolution, print-quality, copies of these photographs?
If you just need these photographs for online usage then they can be used directly once you respect their Creative Commons license and provide a link back to our Flickr set if you use them. For offline usage and printing all of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution.
Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.
In summary please remember when requesting photographs from us - If you are using the photographs online all we ask is for you to provide a link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. You will find the link above clearly outlined in the description text which accompanies this photograph. Taking these photographs and preparing them for online posting takes a significant effort and time. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around your social media, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc. If you are using the photographs in newspapers or magazines we ask that you mention where the original photograph came from.
I would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?
Many people offer payment for our photographs. As stated above we do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would consider paying for their purchase from other photographic providers or in other circumstances we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.
Let's get a bit technical: We use Creative Commons Licensing for these photographs
We use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License for all our photographs here in this photograph set. What does this mean in reality?
The explaination is very simple.
Attribution- anyone using our photographs gives us an appropriate credit for it. This ensures that people aren't taking our photographs and passing them off as their own. This usually just mean putting a link to our photographs somewhere on your website, blog, or Facebook where other people can see it.
ShareAlike – anyone can use these photographs, and make changes if they like, or incorporate them into a bigger project, but they must make those changes available back to the community under the same terms.
Above all what Creative Commons aims to do is to encourage creative sharing. See some examples of Creative Commons photographs on Flickr: www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?
As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:
►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera
►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set
►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone
►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!
You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.
Don't like your photograph here?
That's OK! We understand!
If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.
I want to tell people about these great photographs!
Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably http://www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets
Drew abound the circle cutter and marked at the 45 degree marks in case we wanted to cut this later.
An example of the really weird & wonderful stuff you are greeted with when you enter the museum. The fun part of it is : not so polisted & it i okay ( sometimes) to touch things..
I did not made them ...
Would love to know more about the rules to follow to create those lovely mini dolls
Thank you to all
Klick Link For Read Online Or Download A Phoenician-Punic Grammar (Handbuch der Orientalistik) Book : bit.ly/2eHvA4m
Feature
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Carefully selected examples from texts and dialects of the whole Phoenician-Punic period bring to life the grammatical description of this language. Included are fully vocalized Punic and Neo-Punic inscriptions of Roman Tripolitiana in Latin orthography as well as the literary fragments of Punic drama as found in Plautus' comedy Poenulus. This classical descriptive grammar of the Phoenician-Punic language (1200 BCE - 350 CE) presents the reader with a full picture: its phonology, orthography, morphology, syntax and usage. Its history and its various dialects are dealt with in an introduction. Hebraists and Semitists will find the description of the verbal system of particular interest to them, especially that of the literary language, which holds that tense and aspect reference of a given form of the verb is largely a function of syntax, not mor
“The power of experience destroys the illusion of progress and gathers the past and present into the future.”
- Theodor Adorno
As Marcia recites poetry this string game device (for this example in the cradle mode, representing both the site used and alluding to the Oedipus Complex) acts to amplify the sense of mythological time created by the oral performance based on Ong’s ideas of literary time and oral time. The prosthesis is put together by Miss Blaine in accordance with the Spair-Whorf hypothesis and ideas of the erotic each time she uses it. It is intrinsically linked to her by her hands, which articulate the storytelling element of the performance of the poem above. The sliding of the fibres of the string – an interpretation of McTaggart – and the various hooked on fragments, produce a reaction relative to the surroundings. Thus the fragmented body of candles and mirrors is articulated through space, managing to disrupt Marcia’s Ego’s (Freud) image of itself to negate the mirror stage (Lacan). Thus her constructivist time based Superego and her primitive ID are brought into direct conversation. This relative clashing of timeframes is recorded by candles and headphones to give a tangential measurement of the entirely personal experience – much like a fox’s nose in the dark.
However since our perception of time is so strong and the body we see is fragmented by our visual perception, the psychological effect can never fully take over, and must always be used in conjunction with the poem. Thus Marcia can never completely escape time.
Duet is a fine example of a gaff-rigged yawl retaining the features of an Edwardian classic yacht. She is 21.95 metres long (including spars) and has a beam of 3.38 metres. Duet is built of wood with beautiful teak decks and has most of her original high quality fittings including the original rig. One noticeable change however, is the addition of a deckhouse over the aft cabin removed from 'Bloodhound' (Prince Philip's yacht) during modifications in the sixties.Designed by Linton Hope and built at White's yard on the River Itchen in Hampshire, Duet was launched in 1912 as 'Gaviotta'. In the early 1930s she was bought by Augustine Courtauld, a famous explorer, who renamed her 'Duet'. When he died in 1959, ownership passed to his son, the Reverend Christopher Courtauld who, with Mr Christopher Ellis, formed the Ocean Youth Club in 1960. The Club used Duet for youth sail training from then until 1994.Duet is now on permanent loan to The Cirdan Sailing Trust. www.cirdantrust.org/vessels/duet.htm
A restored example of the rare Short Wheel Base early 911
Comes with Porsche Certificate of Authenticity
Matching chassis/engine and painted its original Irish Green!
Check out a video of this car:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5aFjeNcL0U
Contact: Jose Romero – jose@driversource.com
Visit our website: www.driversource.com
We buy all Classic and Sports Car! One car or an entire collection, Finders Fees paid!
©Liz Walsh
This building made of woven palm fronds sits within a larger courtyard of the Dubai Museum and Al Fahidi Fort.
This woven structure is called an 'Arish', which is a traditional summer house. The Arish features the popular wind tower design - the square shaped feature on top of the main single-story structure - used to channel airflow into the house.
It was mind-meltingly hot when I took this.
Some examples of the finely decorated larger passages in Llygad Llwchwr II, Black Mountain, South Wales
ORIGINAL SEAT;
An early example of adaptive reuse of an existing structure, the Heart Theater was built inside what had formerly been a garage and opened in 1941.
The theater originally contained 750 seats, but this number was downsized to 500 by Frisina Amusement Co. in the 1970's.
The theater closed around 2002, reopened in 2003 and was closed again in 2007.
Maison du Brésil Paris - Le Corbusier & Lucio Costa 1959
Created as a microcosm of Brazilian life and culture, Maison du Brésil is a significant example of Le Corbusier’s high-density residential design. Inaugurated in 1959, it is one of the international residences at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, located in the heart of Paris. As the “House of Brazil”, the building acts as both a residence hall for Brazilian academics, students, teachers, and artists, and as a hub for Brazilian culture, by providing exhibition spaces and archival resources. The Brazilian government commissioned the building in 1952 to provide a residence for Brazilian graduate students in Paris, and to promote the relations between France and Brazil. To design the building, they selected Lúcio Costa, the architect most famous for his work planning Brasilia. After completing initial sketches, Costa reached out to Le Corbusier, with whom he had collaborated on the plans for Brasilia, to aid in the design process and overlook construction. Rather quickly, Corbusier made significant changes to Costa’s original design for the building. Although the major forms of the building remained the same, the changes were enough to estrange Costa from the project, and he would eventually have his name removed from the design.
The building, like its neighbour Le Corbusier’s Swiss Pavilion (1932), is a five story concrete volume that stands above the ground on stilts, also made of concrete. Beneath this volume is an irregular first floor that houses administrative spaces in the west wing, and communal spaces, such as the library, the theatre, the exhibition space and gathering space, in the east. The two wings are joined underneath the building by a curvilinear passage that acts internally as an intermediate space, and externally as a boundary for outdoor arcades. The large volume above, which houses the residential spaces, is laid out with rooms in the west wing and communal kitchens, stairwells, and other facilities in the east. As such, the eastern and western facades differ according to their respective interior functions. The eastern facade has large glass expanses in the middle to allow for light and openness in the communal kitchens, and small square windows on either side to allow light to enter the flanking stairwells. Balconies painted with polychrome colors make up the entire western facade, very much like those of the Unite d’Habitation. Primary colours painted on the balcony interiors offer variance from the overall repetition, giving the façade’s composition a rhythmic character. The concrete throughout is treated with ‘betón brut’. The concrete is rough and untreated and withholds much of the grain pattern of the wood that formed it. This process makes apparent the building’s construction and craft by revealing the raw materials and formative processes that constitute the building
The church retains many reminders of its early origins, including: its mainly Decorated chancel, its early 15th century tower & a 13th century four bay arcade. The church’s 19th century refurbishments include the replacement of the south aisle.
Nelson was born in the rectory (his father was the rector here) and following his death the Admiralty gave the church its lectern which is made out of timbers from HMS Victory. The church also contains a large and impressive brass dated 1420 in the floor of the chancel commemorating Sir William Calthorpe.
The church contains only one stained glass window which was made by S C Yarrington.
The 19th century stained glass in the tracery lights was designed by S C Yarrington. St Peter sits at the top (easily recognisable by the keys he carries), below are depicted the four Evangelists. The greater part of Yarrington’s work was concerned with the installation of collections of foreign glass and little of his “new” glass remains. Here we see an example of his later work where typically he has adopted the old German Rennaissance style that he knew so well from his years of installing it.
Hi games workshop, i am not a games workshop colector, but i wanted to share a massive gw related project. I make minatures of my own design using only gw paints, gw bases and green stuff. Theyre not the best quality, especialy my first modles, but i now have over 150 and it is not the easyest of jobs. i will add mor photos with descriptions, i hope they are of interest.
(sory about the picture quality, the modle looks grey but its actualy unpainted green stuff)
20250131 - Playground slips into darkness and nothingness - some of the last lights flash faintly on the screen
Jasper-quartz pebble conglomerate in the Precambrian of Ontario, Canada.
Southeastern Canada's ~2.3 billion year old Lorrain Formation includes some beautiful rocks that rockhounds have nicknamed "puddingstone". This refers to whitish-gray quartzites having common pebbles of red jasper.
The Lorrain Formation is somewhat heterolithic. Published studies mention that the unit has arkoses, subarkoses, quartzites, and jasper-pebble conglomerates. The latter two lithologies are present at the glacially-eroded outcrop seen here. The quartzites were originally sandstones. They have been well cemented and somewhat metamorphosed into very hard rocks. The jasper-pebble conglomerates, or "puddingstones", include clasts of white quartz and reddish jaspilites. Pebble shapes range from rounded to angular. Ordinarily, a sedimentary rock having rounded pebbles is called "conglomerate", and a rock having angular pebbles is called "breccia". This material has both shape categories, but is referred to as "conglomerate" here.
Jaspilite is a type of BIF (banded iron formation). BIFs only formed on Earth during the Precambrian - most are Paleoproterozoic in age. They are the # 1 source of iron ore for the world's steel industry. Numerous specific types of BIFs are known. Jaspilite consists of alternating laters of red and silvery-gray, iron-rich minerals. The red layers are hematite or jasper (= hematitic chert). The silver-gray layers are usually rich in magnetite and/or specular hematite. Jaspilite BIFs outcrop in many areas around Lake Superior, for example in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Minnesota, and Ontario.
During the Paleoproterozoic, BIFs were subaerially exposed as paleo-outcrops and eroded, producing BIF sediments, including many red jasper pebbles. These mixed with quartz-rich sediments.
Regional studies indicate that the Lorrain Formation was deposited in ancient shallow ocean, lake, delta, and shoreline environments.
Stratigraphy: Lorrain Formation, upper Cobalt Group, Huronian Supergroup, Paleoproterozoic, ~2.3 Ga
Locality: Ottertail Lake Northeast Roadcut - glacial knob on the eastern side of Rt. 638, northeast of Ottertail Lake & southeast of Rock Lake, north-northeast of the town of Bruce Mines, southern Ontario, southeastern Canada (46° 23' 30.59" North latitude, 83° 43’ 10.94" West longitude)
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Some info. synthesized from:
Hadley (1970) - Paleocurrents and origin of Huronian Lorrain Formation, Ontario and Quebec. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 54: 850.
Here's my last example of the season of what not to do around shelf ice. This man decided the mounds looked safe enough to climb on - apparently it was, but an inch from his foot the ice might be paper thin...
Lauderdale County, AL
Listed: 02/24/2000
The Forks of Cypress Cemetery is significant under criterion C for Art as it contains many fine examples of grave markers that represent the high end of antebellum funerary expressions in the western Tennessee River Valley in Alabama. Many fine obelisks and several tombstones illustrate the stone-carving skills of both local craftsmen and workshops from around the eastern United States. Limestone markers were more likely from local sources, as were the limestone bases of many of the marble markers. Among the marble markers are several that are signed by their makers or workshops. These include an obelisk by J. Sloan of Nashville, an obelisk by A. Gary of Boston, an obelisk by Hughes & Sharrod of Philadelphia, and an obelisk by L.H. and J.B. Fuller of St. Louis. A range of stylistic influences is evident in many of the markers, including Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, and Renaissance Revival motifs (as well as one twentieth century stone with some restrained Art Deco details). In addition to more geometric (and architectural) details, some of the stones feature fine representational and particularly floral relief sculpture.
The Forks of Cypress Cemetery is significant under criterion C for Architecture as the Jackson family cemetery wall is an exceptional example of the stonemason's art in early Alabama. The massive dimensions, stile, and sturdy dry-laid construction all characterize a structure which stands out among the walls around other family cemeteries in the Tennessee River Valley, which were more frequently of brick or less substantial stone construction. Only about six or so walls of similar sizable and dressed appearance are known to exist in northern Alabama.4 The wall displays both the skill of local craftsmen and the material predilections of a family whose patriarch was a first generation Irish immigrant and who perhaps opted for a wall which imitated or recalled the quintessential boundary markers of his homeland. Although the exact date of construction of the wall is unknown, location of early graves in relation to the wall indicates a probable date of before 1840 and a positive date of before 1865.
The Forks of Cypress Cemetery is significant under criterion A for Ethnic Heritage: Black as it contains one of the largest identified African American/slave cemeteries in northwest Alabama. With around 250 burials, slave cemetery was the final resting place for the Jackson family's substantial enslaved workforce. The burials, though unmarked, do reveal to some degree that a status hierarchy existed among the enslaved inhabitants of the Forks of Cypress and perhaps the Jacksons' other plantations. Traditionally slave jockeys were the only African Americans allowed to be buried within the walls of the family cemetery. A few depressions nearer the family cemetery probably mark the graves of treasured domestic servants. The majority of the field slaves and those without distinctive status within the household were buried on the bluff further away from the family cemetery. One headstone/footstone pairing in the center of the slave section of the cemetery shows at least one person who, while not important enough to be buried with the jockeys, had a high enough position to warrant a permanent stone marker. The slave cemetery has taken on somewhat mythical associations in recent years as it is almost certainly the interment place of African American author Alex Haley's great-grandmother, Ester or Queen Ester. Traditionally, James Jackson, Jr., (son and heir to James Jackson, the builder of the Forks), had at least one child with Queen Ester, who was the Jackson's cook. Their daughter, Queen, was Haley's grandmother and the subject of Haley's unfinished book Queenie. The depth and regularity of the depressions in the slave cemetery also indicate that it was highly probable that the slaves at least on this plantation were actually buried in coffins rather than simply interred in shrouds. This cemetery continued to be used by descendants of the Jackson slaves in the late-19th- and eariy-20th centuries.
The Forks of Cypress Cemetery is significant under criterion A for Social History as the placement of monuments and graves within both the family and slave sections illustrate social structures of an extended elite frontier planter family and its enslaved workforce. The cemetery also offers a temporal display of changing attitudes towards death and commemoration in the transition from conspicuous and showy markers to low-profile and plain markers over a period of 130 years. The monuments of James Jackson and his immediate and contemporary family serve as the focal points of the cemetery (both because of placement and because of scale). In spatial terms, the core of the cemetery, with many of the earlier monuments, form a line from east to west slightly south of the centerline of the rectangular plot created by the wall. The planter patriarch, James Jackson, and several of his siblings form this axis. James' brothers, John and Alexander, are buried near the center, with James' own grave near the front and his wife's grave to his south. The offspring of James Jackson's sister, Eleanora Jackson Kirkman (who herself is buried in New Orleans), are interred just to the north of his grave. Another of Jackson's sisters, Sarah Jackson Hanna, and many of her family members (including at least one daughter-in-law and one son-in-law) are buried to the west of the main axis formed by the older markers. Though within the family, there is not a great deal of differentiation as to burial place excepting the grouping of Sarah Jackson Manna's family to the west of James, most of his descendants and his other siblings, a distinction is made between the core of the extended family and more distant relations or social connections. The earlier burials along the back wall are burials of people with somewhat tenuous connections to the family. William O'Neal Perkins and Pocahontas Bowling Perkins, whose monuments are the most impressive on the western end of the cemetery, appear to be the parents of one of James Jackson's daughters-in- law. Alexander Larrimer, buried in the southwest corner, appears to have no familial connection whatsoever to the Jacksons. Two uninscribed slabs traditionally marking the burials of slave jockeys are on alignment with the old main axis of the cemetery but along the west wall. The social units in this extended planter family, therefore, come out in their burial locations-the planter patriarch, James Jackson, his offspring, and his siblings without or with few offspring are buried towards the front of the cemetery in an intermixed fashion. Jackson's sister Sarah Hanna had a large enough extended family of her own to warrant a contiguous section of burials in the southwest quarter of the cemetery. People with more tenuous connections with the family were buried along the rear (west) wall. In addition, the hierarchy of slave burials, mentioned above, reveals more aspects of the social organization of Jackson's plantation. Finally, the burials in the cemetery after the 1870s are consistently of James Jackson's direct descendants. Their attitudes towards commemoration varies drastically with that of their antebellum ancestors' conspicuous consumption via tall and elaborated monuments. Later monuments of the deceased are rather low to the ground and inscribed with little other than the descendants' names and vital dates. These burials are consistently in the northern half of the cemetery as well.
The Forks of Cypress Cemetery meets criterion exception D as it derives its primary importance both from distinctive design features and association with historic events.
Примеры сложных ситуаций, которые могут возникнуть в рамках Конвенции Эспо ЕЭК ООН.
Examples of complex cases arising under the UNECE Espoo convention, and structures designed to solve them.
English version here.
Comparing Tompaz Clarity.
1: Original Image
2: Add curves layer in Softlight mode. Masked using colour range dark areas.
3: Topaz Clarity
Maria Alm am Steinernes Meer, Salzburgland, Austria.
Nelson’s Anchorage and the 100 Ton Gun
The location of Nelson’s Anchorage and the 100 ton gun, at Napier of Magdala Battery, has long been regarded as strategically important because of its ability to protect the entrances to both the main commercial harbour and what was the Royal Naval Dockyard in Rosia Bay. It was in this bay that H.M.S. Victory anchored for repairs after the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, before returning the body of Admiral Lord Nelson to England for burial.
Designed and manufactured in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by Sir W.C. Armstrong in 1870 and nicknamed “The Rockbuster’ – this is the best preserved example of an early ‘Supergun’. Four were originally made and sold to the Italian Navy for mounting on their battleships. The British Government, alarmed that their important Mediterranean bases might be defenceless against long range bombardment from these Weapons, commissioned two guns each for Malta and Gibraltar.
For the era in which they were built, they were amazing state of the art and completely unique, and in fact remain so today. Two of those built still survive in the world today. One still resides in Malta and the other here in Gibraltar, at Napier of Magdala Battery.
The second gun’s location on Gibraltar was at Victoria Battery, on the site of what is now the Gibraltar Fire Station. Aspects of what was the below-ground infrastructure of that gun position still survive as well and remain in use for training by the Fire Brigade of Gibraltar.
The gun at Nelson’s Anchorage (Napier of Magdala Battery) is the one that was originally situated at the Victoria Battery, and it was moved to Napier when the gun there split during firing. The gun could originally fire one round every four minutes, but Lieutenant Colonel Ogilvie’s detachment reduced this time to two and a half minutes, which possibly contributed to the splitting of the original barrel.
The 100 Ton Gun battery at Nelson’s Anchorage was constructed here between 23 December 1878 and 31 March 1884 on the site of the old 2nd and 3rd Rosia Batteries at a cost of £35,717. Named after the governor, Lord Napier of Magdala, it remains a fascinating monument to Victorian artillery and technology.
This gun presented a typical Armstrong appearance, with a steel barrel encased in successive layers of wrought-iron, built up to form an increasingly massive bulk in the breach area. A typical product of the heavy engineering of the Victorian era, it probably represented the Zenith of its kind. The barrel comprised of a toughened steel tube in two parts. Forged and tempered in oil, with a steel ring in halves over the joint, and a series of sixteen wrought-iron coils shrunk on successively.
The 17.72 inch Rifled Muzzle loader, or 100 Ton Gun, has a barrel that is more than 32 feet long and can fire a shot that will range up to 8 miles in distance. Truly an amazing weapon in its time.
They were the largest guns of any kind that needed to be loaded through the muzzle, and were so large that it required an hydraulic system powered by steam to carry out the loading and firing operations. A steam engine pumped water into the bottom of a well, forcing an 85 ton piston up the shaft. It was this weight compressing the water beneath it which provided hydraulic pressure to move the gun. Although the official handbook states that sufficient pressure could be achieved in 35 to 50 minutes – a minimum of 3 hours is more often quoted. What seems today to be a ridiculously long response time was probably adequate for an era in which most ships still had sails.
Each gun required a crew of men to operate it, a crew of about 35 men to be exact, and after the initial head of steam was built up, the crew could fire the gun every four minutes. It took a total of 450 lbs of black prism gunpowder packed into 4 silk cartridges to propel the 2000 lb shell out of the muzzle with a speed of about 1540 ft per second. The cartridges were made of silk because this was almost entirely consumed by the explosion, leaving very little
residue in the barrel.
Like a gigantic cannon, the 100 ton gun was muzzle loaded using hydraulically powered ramrods 45 feet long. Their bristled heads were located in two armour plated loading chambers, situated on either side of the gun. In order to load, the barrel was turned first to one chamber to receive its silk cased charges of black prism gunpowder – and then traversed 180 to the opposite chamber to receive a shell.
The 100 ton gun had a 150 field of fire and was said to be capable of engaging a target up to eight miles away. This would have covered the Bay of Gibraltar – as well as the Spanish mainland towns of San Roque, Los Barrios and Algeciras. However, it is doubtful that this range was ever actually achieved. More conservative estimates put the gun’s maximum range at around five miles and the official record of armament PFG,951 lists the accurate range limit as only 6500 yards.
To impart rotation to the projectiles in flight and thereby increase their accuracy, the inside of the barrel was rifled with 28 twisting grooves. Large copper discs, called gas checks, originally used to stop exploding gases ‘leaking’ past the projectile, also served to impart the spin with the projections to engage in the rifling.
In 1863 Captain William Paliser invented a method of casting shot with the point in an iron mould. This cooled the point more rapidly and produced a brittle, but extremely hard tip – which enabled a shell from the 100 ton gun to penetrate 24.9 inches of wrought iron. A formidable prospect in an age when the best protected vessels only had armour plating 18 inches thick.
Although much about the 100 ton gun would have been familiar to a gunner in Nelson’s Navy – it also contained many revolutionary features. Just one example is that it was fired not by igniting a fuse, but with a platinum wire heated red hot by electricity from a battery. Information necessary to aim the gun was conveyed to a telephonist by range-finders situated higher up the Rock. Since the telephone had only recently been invented in 1876, this post of telephonist must have been one of the first in the British army. However, this use of ‘new’ technology contrasts vividly with the fact that commands within the battery itself were still conveyed by speaking tubes and
trumpet calls.
There is a story told about the 100 ton gun that is quite interesting too, which again speaks to us of the technologies of the time. It tells of a visit of the Inspector General in about 1902. Reportedly they were preparing to fire five rounds at a full charge and on their first try, the tube was all that fired. Further tries on their part as well as misfire drills were attempted but nothing seemed to work. At the end of the waiting time, which was thirty minutes, the General requested that a volunteer step forward and be put down the gun and fasten a shell extractor to the unfired projectile so that it could be removed.
There was quite a long pause prior to a tall thin soldier’s stepping forward and stripping to the waist to be lowered into the gun. He was safely removed from the gun and had completed the task for which he entered it, and it is said that he was, on the spot, promoted to bombardier. Not the most prolific of rewards for having risked life and limb, but certainly one that changed his life! All in all, the 100 ton gun at Nelson’s Anchorage is certainly well worth a visit, a testament to another, far more violent and uncertain time, when the Rock was unbreachable and the supremacy of the Royal Navy was tested and retested and not found to be wanting.