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Iris Miriam Deeley WAAF know as "Cis" to family and friends was murdered on the 14/02/44 in Kidbrooke, SE London during WWII. Her killer was a solldier Gunner Ernest J. Kemp. He was executed at I think Wandsworth prison on the 6/6/44.
Her grave is in the City of London cemetary, Manor Park, east London. Her grave is in square 261. The staff at the main gate house can help you find it. If you are nearby then do go in and remember her.
If you would like to learn more about her tragic death then get hold of a copy of "After the Battle- Number 45" edited by Winston G. Ramsey.
A beautifully executed restoration of this this little 'giant killer' 125 (24BHP @ 12,500RPM). This machine came to the current owner from a collector in Florida and has very liitle time on it since the restoration. Frame # 400-999259, engine # AS3-990259.
Pretty, rare and competent machine.
More at www.vintagemotorcyclesforsale.ca
Marines execute helicopter rope suspension techniques out of an MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft March 12 during training at Camp Schwab, Okinawa. With these techniques, commonly referred to as fast-roping, Marines can execute tactical insertions and extractions where rotary aircraft landings are impractical, according to Marine Corps Reference Publication 3-11.4A. The Marines are with Force Reconnaissance Company, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force.
Sutra The Gastropub : A Bon Vivant’s delight
Sutra Gastropub which hosted a wonderful event with Signature Expressions and the cult band Indian Ocean this week has already become a very significant part of the party scene in Gurgaon’s Cyber Hub. The restaurant offers soups, salads, a wide variety of starters and serves cuisines like Indian, Italian, Moroccan, American and European.
I like the menu; it has hearty, trustworthy dishes that the chefs have managed to execute well. The well being of the flourishing, diverse and experimental food tradition in India rests in the hands of such restaurants.
Jhul e kabab @ SutraSpeaking of the well-written, hunger-inducing, gutsy menu, we read it and immediately knew what we wanted. Such a musical night with iconic singers and musicians called for a lot of finger food and signature cocktails. We ordered a “Manhattan” with Signature’s best whiskey, “Mustard Fish Tikka”, “Seekh-e-khas” and “Jujeh Kebabs”.
Alfresco dining, iconic music, and an extremely cosy restaurant, is all that we needed after a long hard day at work. The restaurant is well planned and spacious. There is dark-wood furniture. There are two bars with bar stools for people who wish to sit there and drink the bartenders interesting cocktail concoctions; they also have a wine rack. Indian ocean sutra
On a weekday (Wednesday), the place is bustling with people; I wasn’t at all surprised, most restaurants at Cyber Hub are thriving, every day is good business, weekends are especially brilliant.
IMG_2425And then the food starts to arrive and it’s clear everything is going to be great. The food is fresh, the drinks are well balanced and the staff is courteous. Check. Check. Check. The restaurant checks all the right boxes for me. For main course I got a thin crust “Chicken Pizza”. I expected it to be heavy but it turned out to be surprisingly light. It was an utterly guilt-free pizza with extremely coordinated ingredients.
Most evenings and weekends are special for the restaurant because they organise fun-filled events for their patrons. Anoop, who manages the place, and it feels very much like a one-man operation, clearly knows how to make customers feel at home.
There are chunky burgers with chicken and lamb; the meat is tender, well cooked and extremely delicious. This multi-cuisine restaurant does a mouth-watering molten brownie cake, chocolate tiramisu and some really interesting cheesecake to finish.
Sutra seems to be doing a great job because the evening was a raving success and went absolutely glitch free.
XOXO
Shivangi
(Shivangi Reviews)
Contact: shivangireviews@gmail.com
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Published on: Live in Style by Shivangi Sinha
Detectives across Greater Manchester have made six further arrests this morning (13 January) as part of the continued investigation into the criminal use of encrypted communication services.
At around 6am today, officers from GMP's Serious and Organised Crime Group (SOCG) executed five warrants at properties across Cadishead, Worsley and Whitefield.
Four men, aged between 27 and 42, and two women, aged 27 and 30, were arrested on suspicion of a range of offences, including money laundering, conspiracy to supply class A drugs and firearm offences.
Cash, cannabis and high value assets including jewellery and electronic devices were also seized during property searches.
They all remain in custody for questioning by detectives.
Today's action formed part of Operation Goodwin; an investigation into an organised crime group involved in the large scale supply of class A drugs and firearms within Greater Manchester and the UK.
Op Goodwin forms one part of GMP's strand of the National Crime Agency (NCA) led Operation Venetic.
Launched in July 2020 by the NCA, Operation Venetic brought together nearly ever law enforcement agency across the UK, focusing on the takedown of 'Encrochat' - a sophisticated encrypted communications service - often used by organised criminal groups.
Since its inception GMP has launched multiple investigations into the activity of numerous organised criminal groups and this has seen 216 people arrested, with 170 of those charged with a range of drug, money and firearm offences.
Detectives have also been successful in seizing over £2million in cash, numerous high-value assets and multi-kilos of both class A and B drugs.
Detective Inspector, Justin Bryant of GMP's Serious and Organised Crime Group said: "Today's action, arrests and seizures are yet another positive step forward in our continuing commitment to tackle the activity of organised criminal groups across Greater Manchester.
"The takedown of the encrypted Encrochat communication services has allowed us a deeper and more personal insight into the world that these people operate in and since 2020 we've been working tirelessly to decipher messages and identify all those involved in this activity.
"The mammoth operation has seen over 200 arrests made so far and I have no doubt that these figures will continue to rise throughout 2022 as we continue in our fight against this type of criminality, removing those involved from our streets.
"These individuals may feel untouchable, but I hope these figures clearly demonstrate that GMP, alongside the NCA and other law enforcement agencies, will ensure the law soon catches up with them."
Detail of the Baptistry Window, a masterpiece of abstract stained glass designed by John Piper and executed by Patrick Reyntiens.
Coventry's Cathedral is a unique synthesis of old a new, born of wartime suffering and forged in the spirit of postwar optimism, famous for it's history and for being the most radically modern of Anglican cathedrals. Two cathedral's stand side by side, the ruins of the medieval building, destroyed by incendiary bombs in 1940 and the bold new building designed by Basil Spence and opened in 1962.
One of the greatest features of Coventry is it's wealth of modern stained glass, something Spence resolved to include having witnessed the bleakness of Chartres Cathedral in wartime, when all it's stained glass had been removed. The first window encountered on entering is the enormous 'chess-board' baptistry window filled with stunning abstract glass by John Piper & Patrick Reyntiens, a symphony of glowing colour. The staggered nave walls are illuminated by ten narrow floor to ceiling windows filled with semi-abstract symbolic designs arranged in pairs of dominant colours (green, red, multi-coloured, purple/blue and gold) representing the souls journey to maturity, and revealed gradually as one approaches the altar. This amazing project was the work of three designers lead by master glass artist Lawrence Lee of the Royal College of Art along with Keith New and Geoffrey Clarke (each artist designed three of the windows individually and all collaborated on the last).
For more see below:-
This 8-foot silver bronze statue of DeWitt Clinton, executed by Adolph A. Weinman, was dedicated in 1941 and sits in a niche on the southern end of the facade of the Museum of the City of New York, opposite a sculpture of Alexander Hamilton. Gifts of a trustee of the MCNY, they represent New York City's emergence as a commercial center.
DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769–February 11, 1828) was a mayor and governor of New York and one-time presidential candidate who is best known for the creation of the Eerie Canal. Just the third New York statue of Clinton (the others are in Green-Wood Cemetery and embedded in the fifth-floor cornice of the Surrogate's Court at Chambers Street), Weinman's statue shows Clinton standing with one arm akimbo, holding an unrolled map of the Erie Canal, one foot forward and eyes set off at the distance.
The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY), founded in 1923 to present the history of New York City and its people, fills an imposing 5-floor brick and limestone building on the Museum Mile section of Fifth Avenue, between 103rd and 104th Streets. The Museum was originally housed in Gracie Mansion until this Neo-Georgian-Colonial style was built to the design of Joseph J. Freedlander from 1928-1930. The museum's collections include paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs featuring New York City and its residents, as well as costumes, decorative objects and furniture, toys, rare books and manuscripts, marine and military collections, police and fire collections, and a theater collection.
newcastlephotos.blogspot.com/2006/06/all-saints-cemetery....
All Saints Cemetery
This Cemetery stands on Jesmond Road, opposite Jesmond Old Cemetery and was the first cemetery in Newcastle to be instigated by the Burial Board. Consecrated in 1855 and opened in 1856 this was very much a rural part of Newcastle. The residential housing surrounding the cemetery on 3 sides were built later.
Noted Newcastle architect Benjamin Green designed the cemetery, its buildings and the fine Gothic archway over the entrance from Jesmond Road. The cemetery is surrounded by cast iron railings with fleur-de-lys heads.
The cemetery was extended to Osborne Avenue, from just under 10 acres by another 1.3 hectares in 1881.
In 1924 Carliol Square Gaol was demolished and the bodies of its executed criminals were transferred into unmarked graves in the cemetery.
In total around 90,000 burials have taken place here.
Thomas Harrison Hair (1810-1875) the artist best known for his Views of the Collieries of Northumberland and Durham, is buried here in an unmarked grave.
Two Small Chapels:
2 chapels. 1856 by Green. Coursed squared sandstone with ashlar turrets and dressings; Welsh slate roofs. T-plan with additional porch on side away from centre of cemetery, and corner turret on innermost side at south end. Aligned north-south. Decorated style. Double doors, with elaborate hinges,on inner fronts have nook shafts and head-stopped dripmoulds; similar surround to plainer door in outward-facing porch; windows of 3 lights facing gateway, 2 lights on other fronts, have similar dripmoulds. Lancets to corner turrets with gabled belfry under octagonal spirelets. Buttresses. Steeply-pitched roofs with cross finials. LISTED GRADE 2.
1 of the Chapels is now the Russian Orthodox Church Of St. George.
Gate, walls, piers, gates and railings.
Cemetery gateway, walls, piers, gates and railings. Dated 1856; by Green. Coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings; wrought iron gates; cast iron railings. Gothic style. High gable over 2-centred arch with 12 shafts each side and many mouldings; gabled ends have fantastic beasts climbing down kneelers; head-stopped dripmoulds, buttresses and finials.
High, pointed coping to flanking walls containing pedestrian doors in arches; end piers have gables with fleur-de-lis moulding. Chamfered coping to dwarf quadrant walls and similar walls along cemetery front, with 4 square piers at each side having pyramidal coping. High gates are Gothic-patterned; railings have fleur-de-lis heads.
Burials:
Samuel Smith.
Celtic Cross monument. Samuel Smith OBE JP (1872-1949) was the founder of Rington's Tea. He was born in Leeds and became an errand boy for a tea merchants on leaving school at 11. In 1908 he moved to Newcastle and set up a small shop in Heaton with William Titterington. They called the company Ringtons. The tea was imported from India and Sri Lanka then tasted, blended and packaged. It was delivered by the company's black, gold and green horse-drawn coaches. In 1926 the business moved to purpose-built premises in Algernon Road. Eventually there were 26 branches of Ringtons in the North. The firm moved into coachbuilding during the World Wars, which led to the creation of Smith's Electric Vehicles at Team Valley Trading Estate.
Alexander Gardner.
Cross monument. Alexander Gardner (1877-1921) was a footballer for Newcastle United. Before the First World War, Newcastle United were in the First Division, won three league titles and won one FA Cup final of three. Alexander was the captain and played at right half (midfielder). He made 268 appearances and scored 20 goals. He was born in Leith in 1899. The 1904/5 team won 23 out of 34 league games. In 1909 Alexander broke his leg, which ended his football career. He became landlord of the Dun Cow Inn in Claremont Road.
Michael Joseph Quigley.
Gravestone of Michael Joseph Quigley (1837-1924), American Civil War veteran. Michael was born in Bradford and emigrated to America with his wife shortly before the outbreak of civil war. He served under General Robert E. Lee in Virginia but was wounded in his left arm. He was later employed in Government Service. He returned to Britain in 1876. He lived in St. Lawrence Square off Walker Road. His income was subsidised by a pension from the American Government.
James Skinner.
Obelisk monument to James Skinner (1836-1920), shipbuilder. James was born in London. He moved to Newcastle aged 14 to begin an apprenticeship at Coutts shipyard at Low Walker. He went on to manage Andrew Leslie's shipyard at Hebburn then opened a yard at Bill Quay with William Wood, shipyard cashier. The firm Wood Skinner & Co. built 330 vessels over 42 years up to 1925. They also built the 30-bed Tyne Floating Hospital for Infectious Diseases at Jarrow Slake, designed by Newcastle Civil Engineer, George Laws. The hospital ship was launched on 2 August 1885. It sank in 1888. She was refloated and remained moored there for over 40 years.
Francis Batey.
Urn monument to Francis Batey (1841-1915), steam tug boat owner. Francis joined his father's tug boat business at the age of 11 and eventually gained his master's certificate. When the Albert Edward Dock opened in 1884, he was assistant pilot on the Rio Amazonas, the first ship to enter the dock. He went on to be chairman of several tug related companies on the River Tyne. One of his sons, John Thomas Batey, became Managing Director of Hawthorn Leslie's Hebburn shipyard.
Antonio Marcantonio.
Impressive monument of a statue of a monk or friar holding an infant. Antonio Marcantonio (1886-1960), ice cream manufacturer, arrived in Newcastle in 1895 to join a small colony of Italians living in Byker. In the early 1900s he returned to Italy to marry Angela. He returned to Newcastle and began making ice cream in a room in his house using small pans of salt and ice to freeze it. Eventually he took over a small factory on Stepney Bank. 500 gallons of ice cream were made daily. He also owned five ice cream parlours, the first one was in the Grainger Arcade. The Mark Toney business still flourishes (factory at Benton Square).
George Henry Carr.
A 13 feet high monument to George Henry Carr (1867-1889), racing cyclist. There is a shield on each side depicting a bicycle, flowers, the badge of the Jubilee Rovers Bicycle Club and the badge of Clarence Bicycle Club. Carr was a prominent figure on the racing circuit. He died aged 22 of inflammation of the brain.
John James Lightfoot,
Monument of an angel to John James Lightfoot (1877-1897), apprentice joiner. John James was crushed to death aged 19 during restoration of the 200 year old Green Tree beerhouse in Robson's Entry, Sandgate.The building collapsed killing 4 people and injuring 12. The disaster was sketched by the Chronicle's artist and published on 6 March 1897 the day after the accident. The article describes the scene - 'in the house to the east there was a yawning space where the wall had tumbled in; behind the hole a staircase stood, but seemed, like the sword of Damocles, to have no more than a hair-strength to support it'.
Josephine Esther Salisse.
Family vault of M. and H.M. Salisse. A stone sarcophagus with a bronze female figure mourning over it. Josephine Esther Salisse (1905-1924) was from Thornton Heath in Surrey. She died suddenly at her aunt's home in Stratford Road, Heaton, aged 19.
John and Benjamin Green were a father and son who worked in partnership as architects in North East England during the early nineteenth century. John, the father was a civil engineer as well as an architect. Although they did carry out some commissions separately, they were given joint credit for many of their projects, and it is difficult to attribute much of their work to a single individual. In general, John Green worked on civil engineering projects, such as road and rail bridges, whereas Benjamin worked on projects that were more purely architectural. Their work was predominantly church and railway architecture, with a sprinkling of public buildings that includes their masterpiece, Newcastle's Theatre Royal.
Drawings by John and Benjamin Green are held by the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Biographies
John Green was born on 29 June 1787 at Newton Fell House, Nafferton, two miles north of Ovington, Northumberland. He was the son of Benjamin Green, a carpenter and maker of agricultural implements. After finishing school, he worked in his father's business. The firm moved to the market town of Corbridge and began general building work with young John concentrating on architectural work. About 1820, John set up business as an architect and civil engineer in nearby Newcastle upon Tyne.
John Green married Jane Stobart in 1805, and they had two sons, John (c.1807–68) and Benjamin (c1811-58), both of whom became architects. Little is known about the career of John, but Benjamin worked in partnership with his father on many projects.
In 1822 John Green designed a new building for the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society. The building, which houses the society's substantial library, is still in use today. He also designed a number of farmhouses, being employed on the Beaufront estate near Hexham and also on the Duke of Northumberland’s estates.
John Green was principally a civil engineer, and built several road and rail bridges. In 1829–31 he built two wrought-iron suspension bridges crossing the Tyne (at Scotswood) and the Tees (at Whorlton). The bridge at Scotswood was demolished in 1967 but the one at Whorlton still survives. When the High Level Bridge at Newcastle was proposed ten years later, John Green submitted plans, but those of Robert Stephenson were accepted by the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Green also built a number of bridges using an innovative system of laminated timber arches on masonry piers, the Weibeking system, based on the work of Bavarian engineer C.F. Weibeking. The two he built for the Newcastle and North Shields Railway, at the Ouseburn and at Willington Quay remain in use, though the timbers were replaced with wrought iron in a similar lattice pattern in 1869. In 1840 he was elected to the Institution of Civil Engineers, and in 1841 he was awarded the institution's Telford Medal for his work on laminated arch design.
John Green died in Newcastle on 30 September 1852.
Benjamin Green
Benjamin Green was a pupil of Augustus Charles Pugin, father of the more famous Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. In the mid-1830s he became a partner of his father and remained so until the latter's death in 1852. The two partners differed somewhat. John has been described as a 'plain, practical, shrewd man of business' with a 'plain, severe and economical' style, whereas Benjamin was 'an artistic, dashing sort of fellow', with a style that was 'ornamental, florid and costly'.
The Greens worked as railway architects and it is believed that all the main line stations between Newcastle and Berwick upon Tweed were designed by Benjamin. In 2020 Morpeth Station was restored to Green's original designs following a £2.3M investment. They also designed a number of Northumbrian churches, the best examples being at Earsdon and Cambo.
The Green's most important commissions in Newcastle were the Theatre Royal (1836–37) and the column for Grey's Monument (1837–38). Both of these structures were part of the re-development of Newcastle city centre in neo-classical style by Richard Grainger, and both exist today. Although both of the partners were credited with their design, it is believed that Benjamin was the person responsible.
Another well-known structure designed by the Greens is Penshaw Monument (1844). This is a folly standing on Penshaw Hill in County Durham. It was built as a half-sized replica of the renowned Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, and was dedicated to John George Lambton, first Earl of Durham and the first Governor of the Province of Canada. The monument, being built on a hill is visible for miles around and is a famous local landmark. It is now owned by the National Trust.
Benjamin Green survived his father by only six years, and died in a mental home at Dinsdale Park, County Durham on 14 November 1858.
Major works
Presbyterian Chapel, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1822 (demolished 2011)
Literary and Philosophical Society, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1822–1825
St Peter's Church, Falstone, 1824–1825
Westgate Hill Cemetery, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1825–1829 (lodge demolished 1970, railings and gates removed, piers and basic layout remains)
Ingram Farm, Ingram, 1826
Whorlton Suspension Bridge, Wycliffe, County Durham, 1829–1831
Hawks Cottages, Gateshead, 1830 (demolished 1960)
Scotswood Chain Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1831, (demolished 1967)
Church of St Mary and St Thomas Aquinas, Stella, 1831–1832[1]
Bellingham Bridge, Bellingham, 1834
Holy Trinity Church, Stockton-On-Tees, 1834–1835[2]
Holy Trinity Church, Dalton (near Stamfordham), 1836
Vicarage of St Alban, Earsdon, 1836
Church of St Alban, Earsdon, 1836–1837
St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Alnwick, 1836
Church of the Holy Saviour, Newburn, 1836–1837
Poor Law Guardians Hall, North Shields, 1837
Master Mariners Homes, Tynemouth, 1837–1840[3]
Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1837
Parish Hall of the Church of the Holy Saviour, Newburn, 1838
Column of Grey's Monument, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1838
Willington Viaduct, Wallsend, 1837–1839
Ouseburn Viaduct, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1837–1839
Church of the Holy Saviour, Tynemouth, 1839–1841
Ilderton Vicarage, Ilderton, 1841
The Red Cottage, Whitburn, 1842
Holy Trinity Church, Cambo, 1842
Holy Trinity Church, Horsley-on-Rede, 1844
The Earl of Durham's Monument, Sunderland, 1844
St Edwin's, Coniscliffe, Co. Durham, 1844 (restoration of mediaeval church)
40–44 Moseley Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1845
Witham Testimonial Hall, Barnard Castle, 1846
Old Railway Station, Tynemouth Rd, Tynemouth 1846–1847
Acklington Station, Acklington, 1847
Chathill Station, Chathill, 1847
Belford Station, Belford, Northumberland, 1847
Morpeth Station, Morpeth, Northumberland, 1847
Warkworth Station, Warkworth, Northumberland, 1847
Holy Trinity Church, Seghill, 1849
Newcastle Joint Stock Bank, St Nicholas Square, Newcastle, c.1850
Norham station, Norham, 1851
St Paul's Church, Elswick, 1854
All Saints Cemetery, Jesmond, 1854
Sailor's Home, 11 New Quay, North Shields, 1856
United Free Methodist Church, North Shields, 1857
Corn Exchange, Groat Market, Newcastle (demolished 1974)
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.
Colourful and reasonably well executed model from Ertl. Good paint and accurately scaled to 1/18.
I would have uploaded pics of this before now if they'd been any good. This is the best of these old shots, posted for Mtnman867's new group, but I'm afraid there won't be any new ones until I can dig out the stored model.
(One day I WILL have them all on display!)
Carlin 'El Asesino" in the process of ruthlessly executing two underbosses of a local gang who tried to interfere with her business. They are bound and on their knees before her.
"You should have heeded my warning but now you have to pay the price of yours and your boss's stupidity. Do you know what I am called by the cartels? - "El Asesino" and now you learn why. I will make it quick unlike your boss but you go knowing the last thing you see will be me. .She shots both in the head. "Dispose of these bodies guys"
Sutra The Gastropub : A Bon Vivant’s delight
Sutra Gastropub which hosted a wonderful event with Signature Expressions and the cult band Indian Ocean this week has already become a very significant part of the party scene in Gurgaon’s Cyber Hub. The restaurant offers soups, salads, a wide variety of starters and serves cuisines like Indian, Italian, Moroccan, American and European.
I like the menu; it has hearty, trustworthy dishes that the chefs have managed to execute well. The well being of the flourishing, diverse and experimental food tradition in India rests in the hands of such restaurants.
Jhul e kabab @ SutraSpeaking of the well-written, hunger-inducing, gutsy menu, we read it and immediately knew what we wanted. Such a musical night with iconic singers and musicians called for a lot of finger food and signature cocktails. We ordered a “Manhattan” with Signature’s best whiskey, “Mustard Fish Tikka”, “Seekh-e-khas” and “Jujeh Kebabs”.
Alfresco dining, iconic music, and an extremely cosy restaurant, is all that we needed after a long hard day at work. The restaurant is well planned and spacious. There is dark-wood furniture. There are two bars with bar stools for people who wish to sit there and drink the bartenders interesting cocktail concoctions; they also have a wine rack. Indian ocean sutra
On a weekday (Wednesday), the place is bustling with people; I wasn’t at all surprised, most restaurants at Cyber Hub are thriving, every day is good business, weekends are especially brilliant.
IMG_2425And then the food starts to arrive and it’s clear everything is going to be great. The food is fresh, the drinks are well balanced and the staff is courteous. Check. Check. Check. The restaurant checks all the right boxes for me. For main course I got a thin crust “Chicken Pizza”. I expected it to be heavy but it turned out to be surprisingly light. It was an utterly guilt-free pizza with extremely coordinated ingredients.
Most evenings and weekends are special for the restaurant because they organise fun-filled events for their patrons. Anoop, who manages the place, and it feels very much like a one-man operation, clearly knows how to make customers feel at home.
There are chunky burgers with chicken and lamb; the meat is tender, well cooked and extremely delicious. This multi-cuisine restaurant does a mouth-watering molten brownie cake, chocolate tiramisu and some really interesting cheesecake to finish.
Sutra seems to be doing a great job because the evening was a raving success and went absolutely glitch free.
XOXO
Shivangi
(Shivangi Reviews)
Contact: shivangireviews@gmail.com
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Published on: Live in Style by Shivangi Sinha
One of the sections at the Zoku Zentrum in Nuremberg dealt with the trials and executions of those Nazi war leaders. A powerful section of this new attraction.
The text is posted seperately in the next photo.
My appologies if you are offended by this photo.
Two officers and three Soldiers received coins from Brig. Gen. Karen E. LeDoux, Aug. 6 in recognition of their work preparing for and executing the 1/82 equipment turn in mission.
About the 401st:
The 401st Army field Support Brigade provides Soldiers, Sailors, Airman, and Marines, the tools and resources necessary to complete the mission. If they shoot, drive it, fly it, wear it, eat it or communicate with it, the 401st helps provide it. The brigade assists coalition partners with many of their logistical and sustainment needs. The brigade also handles the responsible disposition of equipment in Afghanistan to support evolving missions. We are the single link between Warfighters in the field, and working through Army Sustainment Command, we leverage Army Materiel Command’s worldwide Materiel Enterprise to develop, deliver, and sustain materiel to ensure a dominant joint force for the U.S. and our Allies.
For More information please visit us online:
Richard Stipl's sculptural work focuses on the infinite perfectibility of the human form, through its constant recreation and rebirth. Primarily executed in wax - "the shadow of life" - these grotesque self-portraits congregate on the wall in darkly humorous poses; depicted at 1/4 human scale, they possess a monumental character. Exquisitely rendered, these miniature clones of the artist are a stunning and sadistic study of the human form and its shockingly beautiful flaws. In his latest body of work, Stipl has broadened his focus, using different human and animal models, sculpted at an impressive 1/4 human scale. With his keen attention to detail, and his signature hyper-realistic style, these new works are a striking addition to Stipl's growing bestiary.
Artist Richard Stipl was born in Czechoslovakia
in 1968 and now lives and works both in Canada
and the Czech Republic.
Working initially as a painter, Richard Stipl has
recently turned to making sculpture. Considered
an exceptional talent in technical terms, Richard
stands apart from his contemporaries through
his uncanny ability to breathe a vital and invigorating
“life force” into his art works, regardless of media.
Stipl is included in many important public and
private collections worldwide.
Visit Stipl’s fan page to see what he is currently up to ...
www.facebook.com/pages/Artist-Richard-Stipl/138059852903048
Visit Stipl’s website
Yasukuni Shrine (靖国神社 or 靖國神社 Yasukuni Jinja) is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is dedicated to the kami (spirits) of soldiers and others who died fighting on behalf of the Emperor of Japan. Currently, its Symbolic Registry of Divinities lists the names of over 2,466,000 enshrined men and women whose lives were dedicated to the service of Imperial Japan, particularly to those killed in wartime. It also houses one of the few Japanese war museums dedicated to World War II. There are also commemorative statues to mothers and animals who sacrificed in the war.
Yasukuni is a shrine to house the actual souls of the dead as kami, or "spirits/souls" as loosely defined in English. It is believed that all negative or evil acts committed are absolved when enshrinement occurs. This activity is strictly a religious matter since the separation of State Shinto and the Japanese government in 1945. The priesthood at the shrine has complete religious autonomy to decide to whom and how enshrinement may occur. They believe that enshrinement is permanent and irreversible. According to Shinto beliefs, by enshrining kami, Yasukuni Shrine provides a permanent residence for the spirits of those who have fought on behalf of the emperor. Yasukuni has all enshrined kami occupying the same single seat. The shrine is dedicated to give peace and rest to all those enshrined there. It was the only place to which the Emperor of Japan bowed.
The shrine is also a source of controversy for Japan due to the enshrinement of World War II war criminals there. According to documents released by the National Diet Library of Japan in 2007, Health and Welfare Ministry officials and Yasukuni representatives officially met 31 January 1969. After the meeting the Shrine officials and Ministry officials agreed that all "are eligible" for enshrinement based on the extant rules. After the meeting, it was specifically decided to not publicly announce the criminals' enshrinement due to the controversial decision. In 1959, the kami of 1,068 executed as Class-B or C war criminals by Allied Forces military trials were enshrined at Yasukuni. In 1978, the kami of 14 executed or died in prison who were sentenced or suspected as Class-A war criminals by IMTFE were enshrined at Yasukuni.[44] According to a memorandum released in 2006 by Imperial Household Agency Grand Steward Tomohiko Tomita, enshrined Class-A was the reason Emperor Hirohito refused to visit the shrine from 1978 until his death in 1989. Since the enshrinement, there have been calls from some groups of people to remove the war criminals from Yasukuni Shrine. Shrine officials have stated that unlike traditional Shinto shrines, all enshrined kami are immediately combined and therefore become impossible to be separated for removal. There has been no move to separate the enshrinements.
Another of the controversies of the shrine is the personal visits by Japanese politicians. There have been many visits including numerous politicians, and heads of state including several prime ministers. Many in the international and Asian community see this as support for or complicity with Japanese nationalism, and denial of the events of World War II. The politicians themselves see this as paying respect to the over two million war dead of Japan from several wars, done on personal time. In 2005, President of Palau, Tommy Remengesau, stated that praying for all people is right.
A visit by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in August 2001 was widely reported in Chinese media and led to popular anger among Chinese youths. In September 2001, Koizumi met with China's President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji and agreed to make a symbolic trip to the Marco Polo Bridge outside Beijing to honor Chinese soldiers killed during the Second Sino-Japanese war. When Koizumi visited the Yasukuni Shrine again in the spring of 2002 it led to a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
Cpl. Logan A. Hancock (right) prepares to execute a skid rappel from the top of a rappel tower as Sgt. Justin L. Dowdy observes Feb. 11 on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan during the helicopter rope suspension training course. In order to execute the rappel, Hancock is ensuring his hand placement is correct and that he has proper footing for when he jumps backwards off the top of the tower. What makes the skid rappel unique is that it offers no other surface contact besides the rope itself. Hancock, an Albemarle, North Carolina native, is a reconnaissance man with Force Reconnaissance Company, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force. Dowdy, a Roland, Oklahoma native, is a Special Operations Training Group senior instructor for ropes special techniques with III MEF Headquarters Group, III MEF. (U.S Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Matt S. Myers/Released)
Cutter, a military working dog, patrols along the side of a road July 2 in the Central Training Area. The MWD was taking part in improvised explosive device detection training, in which he and his handler patrolled through areas with odors typically associated with IEDs. The goal was to discover all indicators throughout the lane. Cutter is a specialized search dog with 3rd Law Enforcement Battalion, III Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, III MEF. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Drew Tech/Released)
Heloise Crista - St. Elizabeth Seton
A large, original bronze sculpture was commissioned of, and executed by, Heloise Crista of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. It depicts St. Elizabeth Seton in a protective embrace of children and is placed prominently over a water pool at the base of the copper pyramid.
Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, S.C., (28 August 1774 – 4 January 1821) was the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church (September 14, 1975). She established the first Catholic school in the nation, at Emmitsburg, Maryland, where she founded the first American congregation of Religious Sisters, the Sisters of Charity.
Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton had five children: Anna Maria (Annina) (1795-1812), William the Second, Richard (1798-1823), Catherine (1800-1891) and Rebecca Mary (1802-1816). Anna Maria and Rebecca Mary died of tuberculosis.
St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church - 4001 Stoneridge Drive in Pleasanton, CA 94588- Google Map - additional views
Oil on canvas; 72.3 x 54cm.
Since 1945 Piero Dorazio studied architecture in Rome. At the same time first abstract works were executed. In 1947 he received a scholarship from the Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux Arts in Paris, where he contacted Modern artists, who lived in Paris. He founded the galleries "Age d'Or" in Florence and Rome to diffuse avant-garde arts in Italy.
During a one year stay in the USA he got acquainted with leading characters of Abstract Expressionism like Marc Rothko, Robert Motherwell and Barnett Newman. At that time he also intensively studied Kandinsky's essays, whose theory of the immaterial aspects in painting influenced him strongly. In 1959 Piero Dorazio participated in the "documenta II" in Kassel. Afterwards he accepted a teaching position at the University of Pennsylvania, where Piero Dorazio founded the Institute of Contemporary Art in 1963 and was appointed professor in 1968.
In the 1960's the first compositions of ink ribbons were executed in his studio in New York, which dominated his work henceforth. After his return to Italy Dorazio moved to the former romanic cloister of Todi in Umbria. Piero Dorazio was regarded up to great age as one of the leading Italian artists of concrete color painting.
Piero Dorazio died at the age of 77 in Perugia on 17 May 2005.
Source: livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/46674
This photo appeared in the News , Volume 12, Number 9, June 9 to 23, 1986. The text was:
"Celebrating a new computer
The arrival of its new Gould 9005 computer earlier this year gave rise to celebrations in the Faculty of Mathematics on May 29.
Among the many guests at the Wine and Cheese party were the Vice Chancellor, Sir Bede Callaghan, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Don George, and representatives of all the Faculties and the Administration.
Visitors from outside including Dr G. E. Thomas, Chief of the CSIRO Division of Information Technology, and Dr P. Gerrand, Head of the Switching and Signalling Branch of the Telecom Research Laboratories in Melbourne.
Professor Les Keedy, Professor of Computer Science and Acting Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, thanked those who had played a role in the purchase of the computer and said that he was very satisfied with the Gould system, which had shown remarkable reliability and had lived up to expectations on performance over the three months since it had been installed.
The Gould 9005 is the first system of its kind to be installed in Australia. Implemented in ECL technology, it is an extremely fast computer, executing at the rate of about 4.7 million instructions per second, i.e. more than four times the rate of a Vax 11-780.
Professor Keedy said the system was purchased at a bargain price of $350,000 for use in teaching computer sciences undergraduates and for research work in both computer science and in Mathematics.
Pictured with the Gould 9005 computer system (from left): Dr Gerrand, Dr Thomas, Mr Alan Ryner, Customers’ Service Manager for Gould Electronics, Professor Keedy, Dr R Evans, Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, And Mrs Evelyn Swenson, Head of the Distributed Computing Section of Telecom."
This image was scanned from a photograph in the University's historical photographic collection held by Cultural Collections at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia.
If you have any information about this photograph, or would like a higher resolution copy, please contact us or leave a comment in the box below.
The Liechtenstein Garden Palace is a Baroque palace at the Fürstengasse in the 9th District of Vienna, Alsergrund . Between the palace, where the Liechtenstein Museum was until the end of 2011, and executed as Belvedere summer palace on the Alserbachstraße is a park. Since early 2012, the Liechtenstein Garden Palace is a place for events. Part of the private art collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein is still in the gallery rooms of the palace. In 2010 was started to call the palace, to avoid future confusion, officially the Garden Palace, since 2013 the city has renovated the Palais Liechtenstein (Stadtpalais) in Vienna's old town and then also equipped with a part of the Liechtenstein art collection.
Building
Design for the Liechtenstein Garden Palace, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach in 1687/1688
Canaletto: View of Palais Liechtenstein
1687 bought Prince Johann Adam Andreas von Liechtenstein a garden with adjoining meadows of Count Weikhard von Auersperg in the Rossau. In the southern part of the property the prince had built a palace and in the north part he founded a brewery and a manorial, from which developed the suburb Lichtental. For the construction of the palace Johann Adam Andreas organised 1688 a competition, in the inter alia participating, the young Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. Meanwhile, a little functional, " permeable " project was rejected by the prince but, after all, instead he was allowed to built a garden in the Belvedere Alserbachstraße 14, which , however, was canceled in 1872.
The competition was won by Domenico Egidio Rossi, but was replaced in 1692 by Domenico Martinelli. The execution of the stonework had been given the royal Hofsteinmetzmeister (master stonemason) Martin Mitschke. He was delivered by the Masters of Kaisersteinbruch Ambrose Ferrethi , Giovanni Battista Passerini and Martin Trumler large pillars, columns and pedestal made from stone Emperor (Kaiserstein). Begin of the contract was the fourth July 1689 , the total cost was around 50,000 guilders.
For contracts from the years 1693 and 1701 undertook the Salzburg master stonemason John and Joseph Pernegger owner for 4,060 guilders the steps of the great grand staircase from Lienbacher (Adnet = red) to supply marble monolith of 4.65 meters. From the Master Nicolaus Wendlinger from Hallein came the Stiegenbalustraden (stair balustrades) for 1,000 guilders.
A palazzo was built in a mix of city and country in the Roman-style villa. The structure is clear and the construction very blocky with a stressed central risalite, what served the conservative tastes of the Prince very much. According to the procedure of the architectural treatise by Johann Adam Andreas ' father, Karl Eusebius, the palace was designed with three floors and 13 windows axis on the main front and seven windows axis on the lateral front. Together with the stems it forms a courtyard .
Sala terrene of the Palais
1700 the shell was completed. In 1702, the Salzburg master stonemason and Georg Andreas Doppler took over 7,005 guilders for the manufacture of door frame made of white marble of Salzburg, 1708 was the delivery of the fireplaces in marble hall for 1,577 guilders. For the painted decoration was originally the Bolognese Marcantonio Franceschini hired, from him are some of the painted ceilings on the first floor. Since he to slow to the prince, Antonio Belucci was hired from Venice, who envisioned the rest of the floor. The ceiling painting in the Great Hall, the Hercules Hall but got Andrea Pozzo . Pozzo in 1708 confirmed the sum of 7,500 florins which he had received since 1704 for the ceiling fresco in the Marble Hall in installments. As these artists died ( Pozzo) or declined to Italy, the Prince now had no painter left for the ground floor.
After a long search finally Michael Rottmayr was hired for the painting of the ground floor - originally a temporary solution, because the prince was of the opinion that only Italian artist buon gusto d'invenzione had. Since Rottmayr was not involved in the original planning, his paintings not quite fit with the stucco. Rottmayr 1708 confirmed the receipt of 7,500 guilders for his fresco work.
Giovanni Giuliani, who designed the sculptural decoration in the window roofing of the main facade, undertook in 1705 to provide sixteen stone vases of Zogelsdorfer stone. From September 1704 to August 1705 Santino Bussi stuccoed the ground floor of the vault of the hall and received a fee of 1,000 florins and twenty buckets of wine. 1706 Bussi adorned the two staircases, the Marble Hall, the Gallery Hall and the remaining six halls of the main projectile with its stucco work for 2,200 florins and twenty buckets of wine. Giuliani received in 1709 for his Kaminbekrönungen (fireplace crowning) of the great room and the vases 1,128 guilders.
Garden
Liechtenstein Palace from the garden
The new summer palace of Henry of Ferstel from the garden
The garden was created in the mind of a classic baroque garden. The vases and statues were carried out according to the plans of Giuseppe Mazza from the local Giovanni Giuliani. In 1820 the garden has been remodeled according to plans of Joseph Kornhäusel in the Classical sense. In the Fürstengasse was opposite the Palais, the Orangerie, built 1700s.
Use as a museum
Already from 1805 to 1938, the palace was housing the family collection of the house of Liechtenstein, which was also open for public viewing, the collection was then transferred to the Principality of Liechtenstein, which remained neutral during the war and was not bombed. In the 1960s and 1970s, the so-called Building Centre was housed in the palace as a tenant, a permanent exhibition for builders of single-family houses and similar buildings. From 26 April 1979 rented the since 1962 housed in the so-called 20er Haus Museum of the 20th Century , a federal museum, the palace as a new main house, the 20er Haus was continued as a branch . Since the start of operations at the Palais, the collection called itself Museum of Modern Art (since 1991 Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation ), the MUMOK in 2001 moved to the newly built museum district.
From 29 March 2004 till the end of 2011 in the Palace was the Liechtenstein Museum, whose collection includes paintings and sculptures from five centuries. The collection is considered one of the largest and most valuable private art collections in the world, whose main base in Vaduz (Liechtenstein) is . As the palace, so too the collection is owned by the Prince of Liechtenstein Foundation .
On 15 November 2011 it was announced that the regular museum operating in the Garden Palace was stopped due to short of original expectations, visiting numbers remaining lower as calculated, with January 2012. The Liechtenstein City Palace museum will also not offer regular operations. Exhibited works of art would then (in the city palace from 2013) only during the "Long Night of the Museums", for registered groups and during leased events being visitable. The name of the Liechtenstein Museum will no longer be used.
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_Liechtenstein_(F%C3%BCrstengasse)
U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons move rapidly as fuels operators and crew chiefs execute a technique called hot pit refueling, Nov. 9, 2012, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. Hot pit refueling is a procedure usually performed in a combat situation to rapidly refuel aircraft while their engines are running, resulting in a speedy refuel to thrust pilots right back into the fight. Airmen assigned to the 20th Logistics Readiness Squadron and 20th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron practice this technique to keep their skills sharp and aid in the effort to provide combat-ready air power at a moment’s notice. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Kenny Holston/Released)
Studiolo from the Ducal Palace in Gubbio
•Designer: Designed by Francesco di Giorgio Martini (Italian, Siena 1439-1501 Siena)
•Maker: Executed under the supervision of Francesco di Giorgio Martini (Italian, Siena 1439-1501 Siena)
•Maker: Executed in the workshop of Giuliano da Maiano (Italian, Maiano 1432-1490 Naples)
•Maker: and Benedetto da Maiano (Italian, Maiano 1442-1497 Florence)
•Date: ca. 1478-1782
•Culture: Italian, Gubbio
•Medium: Walnut, beech, rosewood, oak and fruitwoods in walnut base
•Dimensions:
oHeight: 15 ft. 10 15/16 in. (485 cm)
oWidth: 16 ft. 11 15/16 in. (518 cm)
oDepth: 12 ft. 7 3/16 in. (384 cm)
•Classification: Woodwork
•Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1939
•Accession Number: 39.153
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 501.
This detail is from a study, (or studiolo), intended for meditation and study. Its walls are carried out in a wood-inlay technique known as intarsia. The latticework doors of the cabinets, shown open or partly closed, indicate the contemporary interest in linear perspective. The cabinets display objects reflecting Duke Federico’s wide-ranging artistic and scientific interests, and the depictions of books recall his extensive library. Emblems of the Montefeltro are also represented. This room may have been designed by Francesco di Giorgio (1439-1502) and was executed by Giuliano da Majano (1432-1490). A similar room, in situ, was made for the duke’s palace at Urbino.
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings
•Inscription:
oLatin inscription in elegiac couplets in frieze: ASPICIS AETERNOS VENERANDAE MATRIS ALUMNOS // DOCTRINA EXCELSOS INGENIOQUE VIROS // UT NUDA CERVICE CADANT ANTE //.. // .. GENU // IUSTITIAM PIETAS VINCIT REVERENDA NEC ULLUM // POENITET ALTRICI SUCCUBUISSE SUAE.
oTranslation: (“You see the eternal nurselings of the venerable mother // Men pre-eminent in learning and genius, // How they fall with bared neck before // …… // ………………………………………………knee. // Honored loyalty prevails over justice, and no one // Repents having yielded to his foster mother.”)
Provenance
Duke Federico da Montefeltr, Palazzo Ducale, Gubbio, Italy (ca. 1479-1482); Prince Filippo Massimo Lancellotti, Frascati (from 1874); Lancelotti family, Frascati (until 1937; sold to Adolph Loewi, Venice); [Adolph Loewi, Venice (1937-1939; sold to MMA)]
Timeline of Art History
•Essays
oCollecting for the Kunstkammer
oDomestic Art in Renaissance Italy
oRenaissance Organs
•Timelines
oFlorence and Central Italy, 1400-1600 A.D.
MetPublications
oVermeer and the Delft School
oPeriod Rooms in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
oPainting Words, Sculpting Language: Creative Writing Activities at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
oOne Met. Many Worlds.
oMusical Instruments: Highlights of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 4, The Renaissance in Italy and Spain
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Spanish)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Russian)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Portuguese)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Korean)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Japanese)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Italian)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (German)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (French)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Chinese)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Arabic)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide
oMasterpieces of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
oMasterpieces of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
o“The Liberal Arts Studiolo from the Ducal Palace at Gubbio”: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 53, no. 4 (Spring, 1996)
oGuide to The Metropolitan Museum of Art
oThe Gubbio Studiolo and Its Conservation. Vol. 2, Italian Renaissance Intarsia and the Conservation of the Gubbio Studiolo
oThe Gubbio Studiolo and Its Conservation. Vol. 1, Federico da Montefeltro’s Palace at Gubbio and Its Studiolo
o“Carpaccio’s Young Knight in a Landscape: Christian Champion and Guardian of Liberty”: Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 18 (1983)
oThe Artist Project: What Artists See When They Look At Art
oThe Artist Project
oThe Art of Renaissance Europe: A Resource for Educators
oThe Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
oArt and Love in Renaissance Italy
Studiolo from the Ducal Palace in Gubbio
•Designer: Designed by Francesco di Giorgio Martini (Italian, Siena 1439-1501 Siena)
•Maker: Executed under the supervision of Francesco di Giorgio Martini (Italian, Siena 1439-1501 Siena)
•Maker: Executed in the workshop of Giuliano da Maiano (Italian, Maiano 1432-1490 Naples)
•Maker: and Benedetto da Maiano (Italian, Maiano 1442-1497 Florence)
•Date: ca. 1478-1782
•Culture: Italian, Gubbio
•Medium: Walnut, beech, rosewood, oak and fruitwoods in walnut base
•Dimensions:
oHeight: 15 ft. 10 15/16 in. (485 cm)
oWidth: 16 ft. 11 15/16 in. (518 cm)
oDepth: 12 ft. 7 3/16 in. (384 cm)
•Classification: Woodwork
•Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1939
•Accession Number: 39.153
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 501.
This detail is from a study, (or studiolo), intended for meditation and study. Its walls are carried out in a wood-inlay technique known as intarsia. The latticework doors of the cabinets, shown open or partly closed, indicate the contemporary interest in linear perspective. The cabinets display objects reflecting Duke Federico’s wide-ranging artistic and scientific interests, and the depictions of books recall his extensive library. Emblems of the Montefeltro are also represented. This room may have been designed by Francesco di Giorgio (1439-1502) and was executed by Giuliano da Majano (1432-1490). A similar room, in situ, was made for the duke’s palace at Urbino.
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings
•Inscription:
oLatin inscription in elegiac couplets in frieze: ASPICIS AETERNOS VENERANDAE MATRIS ALUMNOS // DOCTRINA EXCELSOS INGENIOQUE VIROS // UT NUDA CERVICE CADANT ANTE //.. // .. GENU // IUSTITIAM PIETAS VINCIT REVERENDA NEC ULLUM // POENITET ALTRICI SUCCUBUISSE SUAE.
oTranslation: (“You see the eternal nurselings of the venerable mother // Men pre-eminent in learning and genius, // How they fall with bared neck before // …… // ………………………………………………knee. // Honored loyalty prevails over justice, and no one // Repents having yielded to his foster mother.”)
Provenance
Duke Federico da Montefeltr, Palazzo Ducale, Gubbio, Italy (ca. 1479-1482); Prince Filippo Massimo Lancellotti, Frascati (from 1874); Lancelotti family, Frascati (until 1937; sold to Adolph Loewi, Venice); [Adolph Loewi, Venice (1937-1939; sold to MMA)]
Timeline of Art History
•Essays
oCollecting for the Kunstkammer
oDomestic Art in Renaissance Italy
oRenaissance Organs
•Timelines
oFlorence and Central Italy, 1400-1600 A.D.
MetPublications
oVermeer and the Delft School
oPeriod Rooms in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
oPainting Words, Sculpting Language: Creative Writing Activities at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
oOne Met. Many Worlds.
oMusical Instruments: Highlights of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 4, The Renaissance in Italy and Spain
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Spanish)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Russian)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Portuguese)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Korean)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Japanese)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Italian)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (German)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (French)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Chinese)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Arabic)
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide
oThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide
oMasterpieces of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
oMasterpieces of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
o“The Liberal Arts Studiolo from the Ducal Palace at Gubbio”: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 53, no. 4 (Spring, 1996)
oGuide to The Metropolitan Museum of Art
oThe Gubbio Studiolo and Its Conservation. Vol. 2, Italian Renaissance Intarsia and the Conservation of the Gubbio Studiolo
oThe Gubbio Studiolo and Its Conservation. Vol. 1, Federico da Montefeltro’s Palace at Gubbio and Its Studiolo
o“Carpaccio’s Young Knight in a Landscape: Christian Champion and Guardian of Liberty”: Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 18 (1983)
oThe Artist Project: What Artists See When They Look At Art
oThe Artist Project
oThe Art of Renaissance Europe: A Resource for Educators
oThe Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
oArt and Love in Renaissance Italy
This portrait of George Washington was executed by Ellen Sharples, after an original by James Sharples, from 1796-1797.
The Second Bank of the United States, at 420 Chestnut Street, was chartered five years after the expiration of the First Bank of the United States in 1816 to keep inflation in check following the War of 1812. The Bank served as the depository for Federal funds until 1833, when it became the center of bitter controversy between bank president Nicholas Biddle and President Andrew Jackson. The Bank, always a privately owned institution, lost its Federal charter in 1836, and ceased operations in 1841. The Greek Revival building, built between 1819 and 1824 and modeled by architect William Strickland after the Parthenon, continued for a short time to house a banking institution under a Pennsylvania charter. From 1845 to 1935 the building served as the Philadelphia Customs House. Today it is open, free to the public, and features the "People of Independence" exhibit--a portrait gallery with 185 paintings of Colonial and Federal leaders, military officers, explorers and scientists, including many by Charles Willson Peale.
Independence National Historical Park preserves several sites associated with the American Revolution. Administered by the National Park Service, the 45-acre park was authorized in 1948, and established on July 4, 1956. The Second Bank of the United States was added to the Park's properties in 2006.
Second Bank of the United States National Register #87001293 (1987)
Independence National Park Historic District National Register #66000675 (1966)
A beautifully executed restoration of this this little 'giant killer' 125 (24BHP @ 12,500RPM). This machine came to the current owner from a collector in Florida and has very liitle time on it since the restoration. Frame # 400-999259, engine # AS3-990259.
Pretty, rare and competent machine.
More at www.vintagemotorcyclesforsale.ca
Apache Crown Dancer was executed by Allan Houser, a Chiricahua Apache, in 1952.
The Denver Art Museum, a private, non-profit museum, is known for its collection of American Indian art. Its impressive collection of more than 68,000 works includes pieces from around the world including modern and contemporary art, European and American painting and sculpture, and pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial art. The museum was originally founded in 1893 as the Denver Artists Club. In 1918, it moved into galleries in the Denver City and County Building, and became the Denver Art Museum.
In 1971, the museum opened what is now known as the North Building, designed by Italian architect Gio Ponti and Denver-based James Sudler Associates. The seven-story structure, 210,000-square-foot building allowed the museum to display its collections under one roof for the first time. The Frederic C. Hamilton Building, designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind and Denver firm Davis Partnership Architects, opened on October 7, 2006 to accommodate the Denver Art Museum's growing collections and programs.
Nebelhorn cable car - Nebelhornbahn
The Nebelhorn cable car is executed in three sections cableway to the Nebelhorn, a mountain in the Allgäu Alps. On well 5.7 kilometers in length, it overcomes a height difference of about 1400 meters. It was built in 1928-1930 and 1977 and renewed in 1991 and is operated by the listed Nebelhorn cable car AG. Major shareholders of Nebelhorn cable car AG, Bayerische lifts mbH (a subsidiary of Lechwerke AG, Augsburg; share 26.86%), the Kleinwalsertaler Mountain Railroad, Inc. (26.01%) and the market town of Oberstdorf (25.21%
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Die Nebelhornbahn ist eine in drei Sektionen ausgeführte Luftseilbahn auf das Nebelhorn, einem Berggipfel in den Allgäuer Alpen. Auf gut 5,7 Kilometern Länge überwindet sie eine Höhendifferenz von etwa 1400 Metern. Sie wurde zwischen 1928 und 1930 errichtet und 1977 bzw. 1991 erneuert und wird von der börsennotierten Nebelhornbahn AG betrieben. Hauptaktionäre der Nebelhornbahn AG sind die Bayerische Bergbahnen Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH (eine Tochter der Lechwerke AG, Augsburg; Anteil 26,86 % ), die Kleinwalsertaler Bergbahn AG (26,01 %) und die Marktgemeinde Oberstdorf (25,21 %)
- wikipedia -
violation of copyright will be
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Huang, Min (editor). Qiu yu qiu feng [“Autumn rain, autumn wind”: memorial for the executed revolutionary Qiu Jin]. [Shanghai]: Jung cun shu ju; Hong wen shu ju, 1907. Single volume, measuring 7.25 x 5 inches: [4], 75, [1]. Original printed wrappers, stitched as issued, ornamental border stamped in purple on upper wrapper. Half-title printed on green paper. Portrait of suffragist, poet, and radical Qiu Jin in Japanese dress, wielding a sword, following the table of contents. Name written in ink and 1922 “paid” stamp of a San Francisco Chinese grocer on lower wrapper.
[MS-0857] Johns Hopkins University Women's Suffrage Collection
aspace.library.jhu.edu/repositories/3/resources/1433
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Executed by the Sassenachs on 23 August 1305. This memorial is on the wall of St Bart's Hospital in West Smithfield
FORT IRWIN, Calif. - U.S. Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, execute a rehearsal of a mission for live fire operations during Decisive Action Rotation 15-02 at the National Training Center here, Nov. 11, 2014. The decisive action training environment was developed in order to create a common training scenario for use throughout the Army. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Charles Probst, Operations Group, National Training Center)
The photo is executed in technique «LightGraphic » or «The painting of light», that assumes illumination of model by small light sources in darkness on long endurance.
Thus, all lightcloth (composition) - is one Photo Exposition, is embodied on a matrix of the camera in one click of a shutter.
We submit the sample photos in this series in three-nine-square.
Photos is possible to look here:
XH558 was the first Vulcan B. Mk2 to be delivered to the RAF, and is the oldest surviving complete Vulcan in the world. After retiring from the RAF's Vulcan Display Flight in 1992, the aircraft was sold to a private owner. After 15 years, the aircraft was painstakingly brought back to flying condition by the Vulcan To The Sky Trust, and has been visiting air displays from 2008 until the final UK tour in October 2015.
A fairly primitive shot taken from Lincoln Castle showing XH558 at the beginning of her last show flight over southern England. The aircraft had just left Robin Hood Airport, Doncaster 10 minutes earlier, and is seen executing the turn over RAF Waddington before heading south.
Apologies to all those who have taken stunning close up photos of the Vulcan, but it was probably my last chance to see her flying over Lincoln!
More on XH558 / G-VLCN 'Spirit of Great Britain' here: www.vulcantothesky.org/history/the-558-story.html
and:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Vulcan_XH558
The Vulcan Bomber
The Avro Vulcan was a delta-winged, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. A total of 136 aircraft were built, including eight prototypes, and the production aircraft were delivered in four separate batches as follows:
First batch: XA889 - XA913 25 Vulcan B.1 & B.1As delivered between 1955 - 1957
Second batch: XH475-483, XH497-506, XH532-539, XH554-563 37 Vulcan B.1A & B.2s delivered between 1958 - 1960
Third batch: XL317-321, XL359-361, XL384-392, XL425-427, XL443-446 24 Vulcan B.2s delivered between 1960 - 1962
Fourth batch: XM569-576, XM594-612, XM645-657 40 Vulcan B.2s delivered between 1963 - 1965
Total production order - 128
The Vulcan B.1 was first delivered to the RAF in 1956, and deliveries of the improved Vulcan B.2 started in 1960. The B.2 featured more powerful engines, a larger wing, an improved electrical system, and electronic countermeasures, and many were modified to accept the Blue Steel missile.
As a part of the V-force, and one of the most distinctive military aircraft ever to take to the skies, the mighty Avro Vulcan was the backbone of the United Kingdom's airborne nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War. Although the Vulcan was typically armed with nuclear weapons, it could also carry out conventional bombing missions, which it did in Operation Black Buck during the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina in 1982. See: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-61283828
Vulcan B.2 XL317, the first of a production batch ordered in 1960, was the first Vulcan, apart from development aircraft, to be capable of carrying the Blue Steel stand-off missile. Thirty-three aircraft were delivered to the RAF with these modifications.
Operating at higher altitudes, the first Vulcan's in RAF service were finished in an overall white anti-flash scheme, intended to protect the aircraft in the seconds following detonation of a nuclear device, however, advances in Soviet anti-aircraft missile defences brought about a significant change in the aircraft's attack profile.
Moving from high to low altitude strike operations during the early to mid 1960s, Vulcans retained their white undersides, but were given a striking grey and green camouflage on their upper surfaces, markings which really suited the huge delta shape of this magnificent aircraft. Although moving to low-level bombing operations, retention of the white anti-flash undersides clearly illustrates the Vulcan's continued role as a nuclear armed strategic bomber.
After retirement by the RAF, one example, B.2 XH558, named The Spirit of Great Britain, was restored for use in display flights and air shows, whilst two other B.2s, XL426 and XM655, have been kept in taxiable condition for ground runs and demonstrations. B.2 XH558 flew for the last time in October 2015, but has been kept in taxiable condition.
RAF Waddington
During the Cold War, RAF Waddington became an Avro Vulcan V-bomber station, with No. 83 Squadron being the first in the RAF to receive the Vulcan in May 1957. The other Squadrons to fly the Vulcan from Waddington were Nos. 9, 44, 50 and 101 Squadrons. From 1968, the UK nuclear deterrent was transferred to Polaris submarines, beginning with HMS Resolution. The station continued in this role until 1984 when the last Vulcan squadron, No. 50 Squadron, disbanded. It continued to be the home for the last flying Vulcan (XH558) of the Vulcan Display Flight until its disbandment in 1992.
RAF Scampton
In October 1960, No. 83 Squadron arrived at Scampton from RAF Waddington and equipped with the Vulcan B.2. Together with No. 27, No. 35 and No. 617 Squadrons, who by this time had also taken delivery of the Vulcan, the "Scampton Wing" was formed, the aircraft being equipped with the Blue Steel stand-off missile.
On 30 June 1968, Blue Steel operations at Scampton were terminated, as the Royal Navy, with the submarine launched Polaris missile, assumed responsibility for the UK nuclear deterrent. Scampton squadrons were assigned to the tactical nuclear and conventional bombing roles. This led to the disbandment of No. 83 Squadron in August 1969, however in December 1969 No. 230 Operational Conversion Unit moved to RAF Scampton from RAF Finningley.
With disbandment of No. 230 Operational Conversion Unit and the cessation of No. 617 Squadron's Vulcan operations in 1981, followed by the cessation of Vulcan flying at Scampton by No. 27 Squadron and No. 35 Squadron in 1982, Scampton was transferred to RAF Support Command and became home to the Central Flying School (CFS) in 1983.
You can see a random selection of my aviation memories here: www.flickriver.com/photos/heathrowjunkie/random/
XH558 was the first Vulcan B. Mk2 to be delivered to the RAF, and is the oldest surviving complete Vulcan in the world. After retiring from the RAF's Vulcan Display Flight in 1992, the aircraft was sold to a private owner. After 15 years, the aircraft was painstakingly brought back to flying condition by the Vulcan To The Sky Trust, and has been visiting air displays from 2008 until the final UK tour in October 2015.
A fairly primitive shot taken from Lincoln Castle showing XH558 at the beginning of her last show flight over southern England. The aircraft had just left Robin Hood Airport, Doncaster 10 minutes earlier, and is seen executing the turn over RAF Waddington before heading south.
Apologies to all those who have taken stunning close up photos of the Vulcan, but it was probably my last chance to see her flying over Lincoln!
More on XH558 / G-VLCN 'Spirit of Great Britain' here: www.vulcantothesky.org/history/the-558-story.html
and:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Vulcan_XH558
The Vulcan Bomber
The Avro Vulcan was a delta-winged, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. A total of 136 aircraft were built, including eight prototypes, and the production aircraft were delivered in four separate batches as follows:
First batch: XA889 - XA913 25 Vulcan B.1 & B.1As delivered between 1955 - 1957
Second batch: XH475-483, XH497-506, XH532-539, XH554-563 37 Vulcan B.1A & B.2s delivered between 1958 - 1960
Third batch: XL317-321, XL359-361, XL384-392, XL425-427, XL443-446 24 Vulcan B.2s delivered between 1960 - 1962
Fourth batch: XM569-576, XM594-612, XM645-657 40 Vulcan B.2s delivered between 1963 - 1965
Total production order - 128
The Vulcan B.1 was first delivered to the RAF in 1956, and deliveries of the improved Vulcan B.2 started in 1960. The B.2 featured more powerful engines, a larger wing, an improved electrical system, and electronic countermeasures, and many were modified to accept the Blue Steel missile.
As a part of the V-force, and one of the most distinctive military aircraft ever to take to the skies, the mighty Avro Vulcan was the backbone of the United Kingdom's airborne nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War. Although the Vulcan was typically armed with nuclear weapons, it could also carry out conventional bombing missions, which it did in Operation Black Buck during the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina in 1982. See: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-61283828
Vulcan B.2 XL317, the first of a production batch ordered in 1960, was the first Vulcan, apart from development aircraft, to be capable of carrying the Blue Steel stand-off missile. Thirty-three aircraft were delivered to the RAF with these modifications.
Operating at higher altitudes, the first Vulcan's in RAF service were finished in an overall white anti-flash scheme, intended to protect the aircraft in the seconds following detonation of a nuclear device, however, advances in Soviet anti-aircraft missile defences brought about a significant change in the aircraft's attack profile.
Moving from high to low altitude strike operations during the early to mid 1960s, Vulcans retained their white undersides, but were given a striking grey and green camouflage on their upper surfaces, markings which really suited the huge delta shape of this magnificent aircraft. Although moving to low-level bombing operations, retention of the white anti-flash undersides clearly illustrates the Vulcan's continued role as a nuclear armed strategic bomber.
After retirement by the RAF, one example, B.2 XH558, named The Spirit of Great Britain, was restored for use in display flights and air shows, whilst two other B.2s, XL426 and XM655, have been kept in taxiable condition for ground runs and demonstrations. B.2 XH558 flew for the last time in October 2015, but has been kept in taxiable condition.
RAF Waddington
During the Cold War, RAF Waddington became an Avro Vulcan V-bomber station, with No. 83 Squadron being the first in the RAF to receive the Vulcan in May 1957. The other Squadrons to fly the Vulcan from Waddington were Nos. 9, 44, 50 and 101 Squadrons. From 1968, the UK nuclear deterrent was transferred to Polaris submarines, beginning with HMS Resolution. The station continued in this role until 1984 when the last Vulcan squadron, No. 50 Squadron, disbanded. It continued to be the home for the last flying Vulcan (XH558) of the Vulcan Display Flight until its disbandment in 1992.
RAF Scampton
In October 1960, No. 83 Squadron arrived at Scampton from RAF Waddington and equipped with the Vulcan B.2. Together with No. 27, No. 35 and No. 617 Squadrons, who by this time had also taken delivery of the Vulcan, the "Scampton Wing" was formed, the aircraft being equipped with the Blue Steel stand-off missile.
On 30 June 1968, Blue Steel operations at Scampton were terminated, as the Royal Navy, with the submarine launched Polaris missile, assumed responsibility for the UK nuclear deterrent. Scampton squadrons were assigned to the tactical nuclear and conventional bombing roles. This led to the disbandment of No. 83 Squadron in August 1969, however in December 1969 No. 230 Operational Conversion Unit moved to RAF Scampton from RAF Finningley.
With disbandment of No. 230 Operational Conversion Unit and the cessation of No. 617 Squadron's Vulcan operations in 1981, followed by the cessation of Vulcan flying at Scampton by No. 27 Squadron and No. 35 Squadron in 1982, Scampton was transferred to RAF Support Command and became home to the Central Flying School (CFS) in 1983.
You can see a random selection of my aviation memories here: www.flickriver.com/photos/heathrowjunkie/random/
Monument to Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots was born in 1542, daughter of King James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. Her father died just a week after her birth. A fervent Roman Catholic and a claimant to the English Crown Mary was a great danger to her cousin Elizabeth I. When Mary fled to England after her army was routed in 1568 she was confined by Elizabeth and was finally executed at Fotheringhay Castle on 8th February 1587.
She was betrothed to the Dauphin of France and educated at the French Court. Her husband, who succeeded as Francis II, died within a year of his accession and Mary left France in 1560 never to return. She married secondly in 1565 Henry, Lord Darnley, son of Margaret Stewart, Countess of Lennox, in 1565 and had one son who became King James VI of Scotland and I of England. After Darnley's mysterious murder she married James, Earl of Bothwell but divorced him after a short time.
James I ordered that her remains be brought to Westminster Abbey in 1612.
...The King had erected a magnificent marble tomb for her in the south aisle of the Lady Chapel on which there is a fine white marble effigy under an elaborate canopy. She wears a close-fitting coif, a laced ruff, and a long mantle fastened by a brooch. The sculptors were William and Cornelius Cure. A crowned Scottish lion stands at her feet. An ornamental railing was made by smith Thomas Bickford to surround the tomb (this was sold off in the early 19th century but returned to the Dean and Chapter in 1920).
[Westminster Abbey]
Inside the Lady Chapel, Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey (The Collegiate Church of St Peter)
In the 1040s King Edward (later St Edward the Confessor) established his royal palace by the banks of the river Thames on land known as Thorney Island. Close by was a small Benedictine monastery founded under the patronage of King Edgar and St Dunstan around 960A.D. This monastery Edward chose to re-endow and greatly enlarge, building a large stone church in honour of St Peter the Apostle. This church became known as the "west minster" to distinguish it from St Paul's Cathedral (the east minster) in the City of London. Unfortunately, when the new church was consecrated on 28th December 1065 the King was too ill to attend and died a few days later. His mortal remains were entombed in front of the High Altar.
The only traces of Edward's monastery to be seen today are in the round arches and massive supporting columns of the undercroft and the Pyx Chamber in the cloisters. The undercroft was originally part of the domestic quarters of the monks. Among the most significant ceremonies that occurred in the Abbey at this period was the coronation of William the Conqueror on Christmas day 1066, and the "translation" or moving of King Edward's body to a new tomb a few years after his canonisation in 1161.
Edward's Abbey survived for two centuries until the middle of the 13th century when King Henry III decided to rebuild it in the new Gothic style of architecture. It was a great age for cathedrals: in France it saw the construction of Amiens, Evreux and Chartres and in England Canterbury, Winchester and Salisbury, to mention a few. Under the decree of the King of England, Westminster Abbey was designed to be not only a great monastery and place of worship, but also a place for the coronation and burial of monarchs. This church was consecrated on 13th October 1269. Unfortunately the king died before the nave could be completed so the older structure stood attached to the Gothic building for many years.
Every monarch since William the Conqueror has been crowned in the Abbey, with the exception of Edward V and Edward VIII (who abdicated) who were never crowned. The ancient Coronation Chair can still be seen in the church.
It was natural that Henry III should wish to translate the body of the saintly Edward the Confessor into a more magnificent tomb behind the High Altar in his new church. This shrine survives and around it are buried a cluster of medieval kings and their consorts including Henry III, Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, Edward III and Philippa of Hainault, Richard II and Anne of Bohemia and Henry V.
There are around 3,300 burials in the church and cloisters and many more memorials. The Abbey also contains over 600 monuments, and wall tablets – the most important collection of monumental sculpture anywhere in the country. Notable among the burials is the Unknown Warrior, whose grave, close to the west door, has become a place of pilgrimage. Heads of State who are visiting the country invariably come to lay a wreath at this grave.
A remarkable new addition to the Abbey was the glorious Lady chapel built by King Henry VII, first of the Tudor monarchs, which now bears his name. This has a spectacular fan-vaulted roof and the craftsmanship of Italian sculptor Pietro Torrigiano can be seen in Henry's fine tomb. The chapel was consecrated on 19th February 1516. Since 1725 it has been associated with the Most Honourable Order of the Bath and the banners of the current Knights Grand Cross surround the walls. The Battle of Britain memorial window by Hugh Easton can be seen at the east end in the Royal Air Force chapel. A new stained glass window above this, by Alan Younger, and two flanking windows with a design in blue by Hughie O'Donoghue, give colour to this chapel.
Two centuries later a further addition was made to the Abbey when the western towers (left unfinished from medieval times) were completed in 1745, to a design by Nicholas Hawksmoor.
Little remains of the original medieval stained glass, once one of the Abbey's chief glories. Some 13th century panels can be seen in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries. The great west window and the rose window in the north transept date from the early 18th century but the remainder of the glass is from the 19th century onwards. The newest stained glass is in The Queen Elizabeth II window, designed by David Hockney.
History did not cease with the dissolution of the medieval monastery on 16th January 1540. The same year Henry VIII erected Westminster into a cathedral church with a bishop (Thomas Thirlby), a dean and twelve prebendaries (now known as Canons). The bishopric was surrendered on 29th March 1550 and the diocese was re-united with London, Westminster being made by Act of Parliament a cathedral church in the diocese of London. Mary I restored the Benedictine monastery in 1556 under Abbot John Feckenham.
But on the accession of Elizabeth I the religious houses revived by Mary were given by Parliament to the Crown and the Abbot and monks were removed in July 1559. Queen Elizabeth I, buried in the north aisle of Henry VII's chapel, refounded the Abbey by a charter dated 21 May 1560 as a Collegiate Church exempt from the jurisdiction of archbishops and bishops and with the Sovereign as its Visitor. Its Royal Peculiar status from 1534 was re-affirmed by the Queen and In place of the monastic community a collegiate body of a dean and prebendaries, minor canons and a lay staff was established and charged with the task of continuing the tradition of daily worship (for which a musical foundation of choristers, singing men and organist was provided) and with the education of forty Scholars who formed the nucleus of what is now Westminster School (one of the country's leading independent schools). In addition the Dean and Chapter were responsible for much of the civil government of Westminster, a role which was only fully relinquished in the early 20th century.
[Westminster Abbey]
Klinkicht, Gerhard, * 1915, † 14.03.2000 Bavaria, Wehrmacht Captain. A commemorative plaque on St. Stephen's Cathedral (side of the gate Singertor) recalls that in April 1945 Klinkicht refused to execute the order to bombard the cathedral.
Klinkicht, Gerhard, * 1915, † 14.03.2000 Bayern, Wehrmachtshauptmann. Eine Gedenktafel am Stephansdom (Seite des Singertors) hält in Erinnerung, dass sich Klinkicht im April 1945 geweigert hatte, den Befehl zur Beschießung des Doms auszuführen.
Fire in St. Stephen's Cathedral: eyewitnesses cried in the face of devastation.
Despite great need after the war, the landmark of Austria was rebuilt within seven years.
04th April 2015
What happened in the heart of Vienna 70 years ago brought tears to many horrified residents. On 12 April 1945, the Pummerin, the largest bell of St. Stephen's Cathedral, fell as a result of a roof fire in the tower hall and broke to pieces. The following day, a collapsing retaining wall pierced through the vault of the southern side choir, the penetrating the cathedral fire destroyed the choir stalls and choir organ, the Imperial oratory and the rood screen cross. St. Stephen's Cathedral offered a pitiful image of senseless destruction, almost at the end of that terrible time when the Viennese asked after each bombing anxiously: "Is Steffl still standing?"
100 grenades for the cathedral
Already on April 10, the cathedral was to be razed to the ground. In retaliation for hoisting a white flag on St. Stephen's Cathedral, the dome must be reduced to rubble and ash with a fiery blast of a hundred shells. Such was the insane command of the commander of an SS Artillery Division in the already lost battle for Vienna against the Red Army.
The Wehrmacht Captain Gerhard Klinkicht, from Celle near Hanover, read the written order to his soldiers and tore the note in front of them with the words: "No, this order will not be executed."
What the SS failed to do, settled looters the day after. The most important witness of the events from April 11 to 13, became Domkurat (cathedral curate) Lothar Kodeischka (1905-1994), who, as the sacristan director of St. Stephen, was practically on the spot throughout these days. When Waffen-SS and Red Army confronted each other on the Danube Canal on April 11, according to Kodeischka a report had appeared that SS units were making a counter-attack over the Augarten Bridge. Parts of the Soviet artillery were then withdrawn from Saint Stephen's square. For hours, the central area of the city center was without occupying forces. This was helped by gangs of raiders who set fire to the afflicted shops.
As a stone witness to the imperishable, the cathedral had defied all adversity for over 800 years, survived the conflagrations, siege of the Turks and the French wars, but in the last weeks of the Second World War St. Stephen was no longer spared the rage of annihilation. Contemporary witness Karl Strobl in those days observed "an old Viennese lady who wept over the burning cathedral".
The stunned spectators of destruction were joined, according to press reports, by a man in baggy trousers and a shabby hat, who incidentally remarked, "Well, we'll just have to rebuild him (the dome)." It was Cardinal Theodor Innitzer. Only a few weeks later, on May 15, 1945, the Viennese archbishop proclaimed to the faithful of his diocese: "Helping our cathedral, St. Stephen's Cathedral, to regain its original beauty is an affair of the heart of all Catholics, a duty of honor for all."
April 1945
In April 1945, not only St. Stephen's Cathedral burned. We did some research for you this month.
April 6: The tallest wooden structure of all time, the 190 meter high wooden tower (short-wave transmitter) of the transmitter Mühlacker, is blown up by the SS.
April 12: Following the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman is sworn in as the 33rd US President.
April 13: Vienna Operation: Soviet troops conquer Vienna.
April 25: Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer, member of the ABBA group, is born.
April 27: The provisional government Renner proclaims the Austrian declaration of independence.
April 30: The Red Army hoists the Soviet flag on the Reichstag building. Adolf Hitler, the dictator of the Third Reich, commits suicide with Eva Braun.
Brand im Stephansdom: Augenzeugen weinten angesichts der Verwüstung.
Trotz großer Not nach dem Krieg wurde das Wahrzeichen Österreichs binnen sieben Jahren wieder aufgebaut.
04. April 2015
Was vor 70 Jahren im Herzen Wiens passierte, trieb vielen entsetzten Bewohnern die Tränen in die Augen. Am 12. April 1945 stürzte die Pummerin, die größte Glocke des Stephansdoms, als Folge eines Dachbrandes in die Turmhalle herab und zerbrach. Tags darauf durchschlug eine einbrechende Stützmauer das Gewölbe des südlichen Seitenchors, das in den Dom eindringende Feuer zerstörte Chorgestühl und Chororgel, Kaiseroratorium und Lettnerkreuz. Der Stephansdom bot ein erbarmungswürdiges Bild sinnloser Zerstörung, und das fast am Ende jener Schreckenszeit, in der die Wiener nach jedem Bombenangriff bang fragten: "Steht der Steffl noch?"
100 Granaten für den Dom
Bereits am 10. April sollte der Dom dem Erdboden gleichgemacht werden. Als Vergeltung für das Hissen einer weißen Fahne auf dem Stephansdom ist der Dom mit einem Feuerschlag von 100 Granaten in Schutt und Asche zu legen. So lautete der wahnwitzige Befehl des Kommandanten einer SS-Artillerieabteilung im schon verlorenen Kampf um Wien gegen die Rote Armee.
Der aus Celle bei Hannover stammende Wehrmachtshauptmann Gerhard Klinkicht las die schriftlich übermittelte Anordnung seinen Soldaten vor und zerriss den Zettel vor aller Augen mit den Worten: "Nein, dieser Befehl wird nicht ausgeführt."
Was der SS nicht gelang, besorgten einen Tag später Plünderer: Zum wichtigsten Zeugen der Geschehnisse vom 11. bis 13. April wurde Domkurat Lothar Kodeischka (1905–1994), der als Sakristeidirektor von St. Stephan in diesen Tagen praktisch durchgehend an Ort und Stelle war. Als am 11. April Waffen-SS und Rote Armee einander am Donaukanal gegenüberstanden, war laut Kodeischka die Nachricht aufgetaucht, SS-Einheiten würden einen Gegenstoß über die Augartenbrücke unternehmen. Teile der sowjetischen Artillerie wurden daraufhin vom Stephansplatz abgezogen. Für Stunden sei der zentrale Bereich der Innenstadt ohne Besatzung gewesen. Dies nützten Banden von Plünderern, die Feuer in den heimgesuchten Geschäften legten.
Als steinerner Zeuge des Unvergänglichen hatte der Dom über 800 Jahre hinweg "allen Widrigkeiten getrotzt, hatte Feuersbrünste, Türkenbelagerungen und Franzosenkriege überstanden. Doch in den letzten Wochen des Zweiten Weltkrieges blieb auch St. Stephan nicht mehr verschont vor der Wut der Vernichtung. Zeitzeuge Karl Strobl beobachtete damals "eine alte Wienerin, die über den brennenden Dom weinte".
Zu den fassungslosen Betrachtern der Zerstörung gesellte sich laut Presseberichten ein Mann in ausgebeulten Hosen und mit abgeschabtem Hut, der so nebenbei bemerkte: "Na, wir werden ihn (den Dom) halt wieder aufbauen müssen." Es handelte sich um Kardinal Theodor Innitzer. Nur wenige Wochen danach, am 15. Mai 1945, ließ der Wiener Erzbischof an die Gläubigen seiner Diözese verlautbaren: "Unsere Kathedrale, den Stephansdom, wieder in seiner ursprünglichen Schönheit erstehen zu helfen, ist eine Herzenssache aller Katholiken, eine Ehrenpflicht aller."
April 1945
Im April 1945 brannte nicht nur der Stephansdom. Wir haben für Sie recherchiert wa noch in diesem Monat geschah.
6. April: Das höchste Holzbauwerk aller Zeiten, der 190 Meter hohe Holzsendeturm des Senders Mühlacker, wird von der SS gesprengt.
12. April: Nach dem Tod von Präsident Franklin D. Roosevelt wird Harry S. Truman als 33. Präsident der USA vereidigt.
13. April: Wiener Operation: Sowjetischen Truppen erobern Wien.
25. April: Björn Ulvaeus, schwedischer Sänger, Mitglied der Gruppe ABBA, kommt zur Welt.
27. April: Von der provisorischen Regierung Renner wird die österreichische Unabhängigkeitserklärung proklamiert.
30. April: Die Rote Armee hisst die sowjetische Fahne auf dem Reichstagsgebäude. Adolf Hitler, der Diktator des Dritten Reiches, begeht mit Eva Braun Selbstmord.
www.nachrichten.at/nachrichten/150jahre/ooenachrichten/Vo...
A beautifully executed restoration of this this little 'giant killer' 125 (24BHP @ 12,500RPM). This machine came to the current owner from a collector in Florida and has very liitle time on it since the restoration. Frame # 400-999259, engine # AS3-990259.
Pretty, rare and competent machine.
More at www.vintagemotorcyclesforsale.ca
George Junius Stinney Jr. (born October 21, 1929, died June 16, 1944) was, at age 14, the youngest person executed in the United States in the 20th century.
The case
Stinney, who was black, was arrested for murdering two white girls, Betty June Binnicker, age 11, and Mary Emma Thames, age 8, in Alcolu, located in Clarendon County, South Carolina, on March 23, 1944.
The girls had disappeared while out riding their bicycle looking for flowers. As they passed the Stinney property, they asked young George Stinney and his sister, Katherine, if they knew where to find "maypops", a type of flower. When the girls did not return, search parties were organized, with hundreds of volunteers, and their bodies were found the next morning in a ditch filled with muddy water. Both had suffered severe head wounds.
Stinney was arrested a few hours later and was interrogated by several white officers in a locked room with no witnesses aside from the officers; within an hour, a deputy announced that Stinney had confessed to the crime.
According to the confession, Stinney (90 lbs, 5'1") wanted to "have sex with" 11 year old Betty June Binnicker and could not do so until her companion, Mary Emma Thames, age 8, was removed from the scene; thus he decided to kill Mary Emma. When he went to kill Mary Emma, both girls "fought back" and he thus decided to kill Betty June, as well, with a 15 inch railroad spike that was found in the same ditch a distance from the bodies.
According to the accounts of deputies, Stinney apparently had been successful in killing both at once, causing major blunt trauma to their heads, shattering the skulls of each into at least 4-5 pieces. The next day, Stinney was charged with first-degree murder.
Jones describes the town's mood as grief, transformed in the span of a few hours into seething anger, with the murders raising racially and politically charged tension. Townsmen threatened to storm the local jail to lynch Stinney, but prior to this, he had been removed to Charleston by law enforcement. Stinney's father was fired from his job at the local lumber mill and the Stinney family left town during the night in fear for their lives.
The trial took place on April 24 at the Clarendon County Courthouse. Jury selection began at 10 am, ending just after noon, and the trial commenced at 2:30 pm. Stinney's court appointed lawyer was 30-year-old Charles Plowden, who had political aspirations. Plowden did not cross-examine witnesses, his defense was reported to consist of the claim that Stinney was too young to be held responsible for the crimes. However the law in South Carolina at the time regarded anyone over the age of 14 as an adult.
Closing arguments concluded at 4:30 pm, the jury retired just before 5 pm and deliberated for 10 minutes, returning a guilty verdict with no recommendation for mercy. Stinney was sentenced to death in the electric chair. When asked about appeals, Plowden replied that there would be no appeal, as the Stinney family had no money to pay for a continuation. When asked about the trial, Lorraine Binnicker Bailey, the sister of Betty June Binnicker, one of the murdered children, stated:
"Everybody knew that he done it, even before they had the trial they knew that he done it. But, I don't think that they had too much of a trial".
Local churches, the N.A.A.C.P., and unions pleaded with Governor Olin D. Johnston to stop the execution and commute the sentence to life imprisonment, citing Stinney's age as a mitigating factor. There was substantial controversy about the pending execution, with one citizen writing to Johnston, stating, "Child execution is only for Hitler". Still, there were supporters of Stinney's execution; another letter to Johnston stated: "Sure glad to hear of your decision regarding the nigger Stinney." Johnston did nothing, thereby allowing the execution to proceed.
Execution
The execution was carried out at the South Carolina State Penitentiary in Columbia, South Carolina on the morning of June 16, 1944, less than three months after the crime.
At 7:30 a.m. Stinney walked to the execution chamber, a bible under his arm. There were difficulties strapping the boy who at 5-1 feet and just over 90 lbs was comparably small for his age, to the electric chair. In addition, the face mask used in executions did not fit properly.
As a result, according to witnesses, it slid of his face during the execution, exposing his face to the witnesses. Stinney was pronounced dead less than four minutes after the execution began.
Controversy
Until today, the Stinney case has been regarded as controversial because it has not really satisfactorily been solved and because the investigations and judicial process showed severe shortcomings.
In this context, 1988, the case gave rise to the novel "Carolina Skeletons" by David Stout. 1991, it became the base for the film "Carolina Skeletons" (also "The End of Silence") directed by John Erman, featuring Kenny Blank (who changed his name to Kenn Michael later) as Linus Bragg, the 14 year old protagonist that is meant for George Stinney Jr.
It was later found that a beam with which the two girls had been killed weighed over twenty pounds. It was ruled that George wasn't able to lift the beam, let alone swing it hard enough to kill the two girls.
Wikipedia.org
Child killing
By Mark Gado
Alcolu is a small town off Route 521 in Clarendon County, South Carolina, about 50 miles east of Columbia. The first African-American woman to play tennis at Wimbledon, Althea Gibson, was born here. So was Peggy Parish, famous author of children’s books. Five governors of South Carolina were also born and raised here (http//www.clarendoncounty.com). Forest products are a major output of the region, along with tobacco, cotton and corn. Cucumbers are grown in abundance in Clarendon County. It is primarily an agricultural area that features only one small city: Manning, whose population in 1944 was less than 3,000. Essentially, the county was, and still is, a quiet farming community whose routine was rarely, if ever, interrupted by such a climatic event as child murder.
On the sunny afternoon of March 24, 1944, Betty June Binnicker, age 11, and her friend , Mary Emma Thames, age 8, had just left their homes to pick flowers. They were alternately walking and riding Betty’s bicycle along the railroad tracks that ran through Alcolu. The girls often played in this area on the opposite side of the town. By any measure, it was a beautiful spring day: the trees just beginning to bud, the first flowers of the season blooming among the tall grass along the tracks. As they ran and skipped their way through the grass, they saw a young black man along the same path. He also lived in this small lumber-producing town and both girls knew him. Everyone knew everyone else in Alcolu, it was that kind of place. However, within minutes, both girls lay dead on the ground, their skulls brutally bashed in by a huge railroad spike. Their bodies were dragged through the grass and dumped into a small ravine. Immediately after the murders, the killer hid the bloody weapon in the bushes and began the leisurely walk home. He seemed unconcerned and it is doubtful that he truly understood the repercussions of what he had done.
The killer of these children was a child himself. His name was George Junius Stinney Jr., 14 years old, the illiterate son of a local mill worker. And incredibly, in less than 90 days, George would meet death himself, tears streaming down his face, strapped to the electric chair inside the bleak walls of the Central Correctional Institution in Columbia. But the public would barely notice his death. For in June 1944, the country had its eyes fixed firmly upon the beaches of Normandy, where a million American sons were locked in the desperate battles of D-Day while the fate of a world hung in the balance. These were hard times in America. The daily newspapers were filled with graphic stories of killing and destruction on a scale that can scarcely be imagined today. No one had time or compassion for a black teenage killer of little white girls. Nevertheless, history would be made at the Central Correctional Institution on June 16, 1944. For on that day, George Junius Stinney Jr., age 14 and 7 months, would become the youngest person to be legally executed in the United States during the 20th century.
The history of juvenile execution in America reads like a novel with no plot: it seems to have no sense of purpose or destination. Since the early 17th century, 356 juvenile offenders have been executed in the United States (Grossfield, p. 4). USA Today reports: “the first known execution of a juvenile on these shores was in 1642: Thomas Graungery, 16, of Plymouth Colony, Mass. was hanged for bestiality” (Edmonds, p. 11). Some executions become appalling to us when we consider the age of some of these defendants. Contrary to what is generally believed, however, capital punishment in colonial America was a controversial issue. Although it was common to hang offenders in England for crimes like burglary, robbery and theft-related offences, this was rare in America (Friedman, p. 42). Lawrence Friedman writes in Crime and Punishment in American History: “All things considered, the colonies used the death penalty pretty sparingly” (p. 42).
And it must be said that any interpretation of past executions from the 18th and 19th century has to be viewed within the time frame they occurred. For it seems unrealistic to apply today’s standards, values and beliefs to a society that existed hundreds of years ago which can have no valid comparison to today’s world from a social and legal perspective. During colonial times the age of the defendants was often not considered in certain crimes. For example, in the State of New York, two young girls identified only as “Bett” age 12, a slave belonging to Phillip van Rensselear and “Dean”, age 14, a slave belonging to a Volkert Douw were executed on March 14, 1794. They were accused and convicted of starting a fire that burned down a large portion of the City of Albany on November 17, 1793 (Reynolds, pg. 384). It is difficult to identify the youngest person legally executed in American history, but it surely may be a Cherokee Indian who was hanged for murder in 1885. He was ten years old (Grossfield, p. 4). In modern times, there have been relatively few juvenile executions although 70 juvenile offenders presently sit on death row in America. In 1988 a ruling in the Supreme Court “prohibits the death penalty for juvenile offenders whose crimes were committed before they were 16” (Grossfield, p. 5). Prior to 1988, though it was not frequent, execution of children younger than 16 was permitted.
Within a few hours of the Alcolu murders on March 24, 1944, the families of the missing girls were already frantic. It was very unusual for the girls not to return home on time. Since they were always playing in the woods and were familiar with the local countryside, it was unlikely they were lost. The local lumber mill, Alderman Lumber Company, organized a search party that consisted of their employees and almost everyone who lived in Alcolu. The operation was under the direction of B.G. Alderman, owner of the lumber company, and included both blacks and whites. Although they searched throughout the night, they could not find the missing girls. Then, at about 7:30 in the morning of the next day, some of the men found small footprints in the soft ground. They followed the trail and soon discovered a pair of scissors. It was already known that Betty June had taken these same scissors from her home to cut flowers. Within minutes, the search party came upon a water filled ditch, surrounded by thick, thorn covered bushes. The bushes showed signs of being crushed. In the ditch, the faint outline of a child’s bicycle could be seen under the water. “There’s the girls!” one of the searchers screamed. Scott Lowden, a member of the search party, jumped into the muddy hole and the bodies of the missing girls were finally found. Betty June had severe head wounds in the back of the skull. Mary Emma had five separate skull fractures. The cause of death in both cases was later determined to be severe trauma to the head. The girls had been viciously beaten with a heavy, blunt object.
After a few hours of investigation, the local sheriff deputies located and arrested George Stinney Jr. who neighbors had seen in the area where the girls were found. He was brought to the local sheriff’s office where police interrogated him. Since 1944 was long before the Warren Court era, there were no Miranda Warnings, even to a juvenile. The interrogation continued without a parent being present or attorney representation. Clarendon County Sheriff's Deputy H. S. Newman and a representative did the questioning from the Governor’s Office, Officer S.J. Pratt ( The State, March 26, 1944). In less than one hour, Stinney confessed to the crime.
Deputy H.S. Newman later described the event for the court: “I was notified that the bodies had been found. I went down to where the bodies were at. I found Mary Emma she was rite at the edge of the ditch with four or five wounds on her head, on the other side of the ditch the Binnicker girl, were laying there with 4 or 5 wounds in her head, the bicycle which the little girls had were side of the little Binnicker girl. By information I received I arrested a boy by the name of George Stinney, he then made a confession and told me where a piece of iron about 15 inches long were, he said he put it in a ditch about 6 feet from the bicycle which was lying in the ditch” (from Deputy Newman’s written statement, March 26, 1944). Later that same day, Stinney voluntarily led police to the crime scene, a short distance outside of the town, where the murder weapon, a large railroad spike, at least 14 inches long, was recovered.
Immediately, there was grief and outrage in Alcolu. Never before had such a horrendous crime occurred in Clarendon County. Mill workers were especially angered since both girls had relatives who worked at the mill. Passions became further inflamed when details of the crime, supplied by Stinney, became public. The young defendant told police that he killed Mary Ellen because he wanted to have sex with Betty June, the older girl. Angry townspeople and mill workers gathered together in Alcolu and they quickly formed into a mob. On the night of March 26, 1944, a mob of angry whites headed for the Clarendon County jail to administer mob justice. Although, lynching was actually rare in the 1940s, the bitter memories of Southern vigilantism from the 1920s and 30s are a sad part of America’s history. But sheriff’s deputies wisely escorted Stinney out of the county jail to the City of Columbia in adjoining Sumter County where he was held in a more secure facility for his own safety.
On April 24, 1944, just one month after his arrest, Stinney went on trial for his life. The trial would take place at the county seat in the City of Manning. Since angry residents already ran the Stinney family out of town, George had virtually no one on his side. The county court appointed a local attorney to assist in his defense. He was a 30-year-old aspiring politician named Charles Plowden. His goal in the case was simple: to provide a bare bones defense that would fulfill his responsibilities as a defense attorney and, at the same time, not anger the local residents. Since Stinney already confessed to the police and his guilt was firmly established, there was a general feeling that a trial was only a formal requirement.
By the time the trial began on April 24 at the Clarendon County Courthouse, the case was well known throughout the region, though outside the county, it was not widely reported. Outside South Carolina, it was virtually unknown. At the courthouse, it was standing room only, for well over 1,500 people had come to witness the spectacle. The stairways and hallways were filled to capacity. At 10 AM that morning, jury selection began. The State, published in Columbia, reported that “the state rejected four and the defense eight jurors before the jury was impounded at 12:30” (Rowe, p. 1). Even more ominous, however, was the jury composite. The panel consisted of 12 white men: no blacks and no women. Of course, racial make-up of a jury does not guarantee nor prevent justice. The only standard, in 1944 as well as now, is that a juror must be able to maintain a degree of fairness and objectivity that displays no bias to either side.
Given the publicity of the murders and the nature of the crime, the defense would certainly have been better served by a change of venue. Defense Attorney Charles Plowden, however, made no such motion. After a brief lunch, testimony began. “The trial began at 2:30 PM after eight minor cases had been disposed of in the morning” (The Daily Item, April 25, 1944).
Prosecutor Frank McLeod introduced Stinney’s statements of March 25 into evidence. In his initial statement to Deputy Sheriff Newman, Stinney explained that he was near his own home outside Alcolu when the oldest girl came along and asked him where she could pick some flowers. As he attempted to show the girls where the flowers grew, he said, the younger girl accidentally fell into a ditch. As he tried to help Mary Emma, both girls suddenly attacked him. Stinney admitted to hitting the girls with the railroad spike but claimed he did so in self-defense.
In the second statement, also given to Deputy Newman and Officer Pratt, Stinney gave a different version of the event. He told police he was indeed at his own home when he first saw the girls go by. He stated that he then followed the girls into the woods. Stinney said that he was interested in the older one, Betty June. In order to have Betty June to himself, he killed Mary Emma first by hitting her with the railroad spike. Betty June then attempted to run away and Stinney chased and caught her. When she continued to resist his sexual advances, he battered her with the same railroad spike. The State reported that Judge P. Stoll, who was from Kingstree, just 15 miles from Alcolu, halted the testimony to give women in the courtroom a chance to leave prior to “morbid details” (Rowe, p.1).
Scott Lowden, who found the dead girls, was called to the stand. He testified as to the condition of the bodies when they were found. He described a broken bicycle, which lay over the girls. The bodies were entangled with each other and lay submerged in the water where Stinney had dumped them. Betty June’s sister testified that it was she who gave the scissors to the girls to cut flowers.
The prosecution then called Dr. R. F. Baker to testify. It was Dr. Baker and Dr. A. C. Bozard of the Tuomey Hospital in Sumter who performed the post mortem examination of the dead girls. The autopsy reports were read into testimony: “We examined the body of eleven year old white girl. There was evidence of at least seven blows on the head of the child that seemed to have been made by a blunt instrument with a small round head about the size of a hammer. Some of these have only cracked the skull while two have punched definite holes in the skull” (Dr. Bozard’s autopsy report). Although Dr. Baker was unable to positively state that a rape or sexual assault had occurred, he did say that it was possible (Rowe, p. 1). Stinney, dressed in blue Junes, maintained a calm demeanor throughout the afternoon; “He remained calm and apparently little concerned” (Rowe, p. 1).
The presentation of the case, led by McLeod, moved quickly. Too fast, some say. Plowden and his assistant, attorney J.W. Wireman of Manning, presented no witnesses or evidence for the defense of Stinney. Instead, Plowden attempted to portray Stinney as a child who was too young, by law, to be held responsible for his crimes. In retaliation, the prosecution introduced Stinney’s birth certificate, which indicated he was born on October 21, 1929. Under South Carolina law in 1944, an adult was anyone over the age of 14. George Stinney was 14 years and five months old. That was the end of the case. It had begun at 2:30 in the afternoon and was over by 5:30 PM. “The jury retired at five minutes before five to deliberate. Ten minutes later it returned with its verdict: guilty, with no recommendation for mercy” (Brock, sec. D). The entire court proceeding from opening statements to sentencing had taken less than 3 hours. George Stinney “only when asked to arise and be sentenced, did he appear nervous and slightly excited” (Rowe, p.1). Judge Stoll sentenced him to die in the electric chair at Central Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina on June 16, 1944. Stinney was quickly escorted out of court. He had less than two months to live.
The weeks passed as Stinney languished in prison. Some local organizations, like the N.A.A.C.P., churches and unions appealed to Governor Olin D. Johnston to stop the execution. The Daily Item reported on June 13, 1944 “The A.M.E. Church protested to Governor Olin D. Johnston in a telegram the imminent execution June 16 of a 14 year old Negro boy convicted of the murder of a young white girl”. A few days before the scheduled date, the Associated Press published a story on the Stinney case. The Governor’s office received hundreds of pleas to intervene in the name of mercy and fairness. Many cited Stinney’s age as an extraordinary factor that deserved consideration. One message received by the Governor’s Office read: “Child execution is only for Hitler” (Brock, p. D2). Others, however, had their own reasons for Stinney to die: “Sure glad to hear of your decision regarding the nigger Stinney” (Bruck, p. D2). Governor Johnston was unmoved by public sentiment and decided not to intervene. The Daily Item wrote: “The Governor said Friday he had studied the case and found no reason to intervene making this statement after the C.I.O., Tobacco Worker’s Union, the National Maritime Union and the White and Negro Ministerial Unions at Charleston asked him to commute the sentence to life imprisonment (June 13, 1944).
On the morning of June 16, 1944, a year in which 120 other convicts were executed in America’s prisons (U.S. Department of Justice), George Junius Stinney Jr. began his last walk on this earth at 7:30 AM. He carried a bible under one arm as he was escorted to the electric chair by prison guards. Stinney was of slight build. The teen-ager weighed just over 90 lbs and stood 5 feet, 1 inch tall. Since the electric chair was designed and constructed for adults, the attendants had a difficult time strapping him firmly into the seat. The mask that fitted upon the face also did not fit properly. Witnesses to the execution included Betty June’s father and brother Raymond. “Stinney refused to make any statement when given the opportunity by prison officials” (Daily Item, June 17, 1944). It was reported that the force of the electricity caused the mask to slip away from Stinney’s head, exposing his face to the gallery. Witnesses, it was said, would never forget the horror etched on Stinney’s childlike face in those final moments. He was pronounced dead less than four minutes later.
Although legitimate questions linger concerning the quality of Stinney’s defense team, no appeal was ever made. Politics may have played a strong role in that decision. In 1944, Plowden was scheduled to run for public office on the state level. There was speculation that he did not want to disrupt the community by appearing to be too enthusiastic about defending a killer who many felt deserved to die for his offense. Years later, in an interview, Plowden commented on the case: “There was nothing to appeal on” and added the Stinney family had no funds to continue the case (Bruck, sec. D).
Initially, it may appear that Stinney’s trial and execution were the product of a racist justice system, but it isn’t that final. Perhaps a case could be made as to the objectivity and fairness of the judicial process. The judge, prosecutor, defense attorney and jury all had friends, relatives and co-workers who lived in Alcolu. The Alderman Lumber Company employed hundreds of workers in the area who participated in the search. The crime and its lurid details were highly publicized and the racial nature of the case certainly influenced some of the community as well. However, nothing illegal was done during the investigation and prosecution of the case. All the procedures utilized by the police, courts, prosecution and prison system conform to the existing standards and legal requirements of the time and place. The court was well aware of Stinney’s age but the laws of the time allowed for a capital prosecution of a 14-year-old defendant.
The day after Stinney’s execution, June 16, 1944, a small, three-inch article appeared in The State newspaper, which contained the following line “Stinney, 14 years and five months old, was the youngest person ever to die in the chair”.
Incredibly, the crime for which he was executed had occurred just 81 days before, a time span that seems unthinkable to us today. In modern times, it is common for many years to pass before a convicted killer faces an execution. Stinney was buried in an unknown location and immediately forgotten by everyone except his family. In 1994, on the 50th anniversary of the case, Stinney’s sister, Catherine Robinson was interviewed. She stated that her brother wrote to her parents while he was on Death Row in Columbia, South Carolina. George told them he was innocent (The State, June 17, 1994).
However, Vermelle Tucker, Betty June’s sister, had this to say in the same article: “All my dad said was ‘Thank God he won’t do it to anybody else’” (The State, June 17, 1994). Indeed, he never would. But George Junius Stinney Jr., on June 16, 1944, became a tragic and unwilling fragment of American history as the youngest person legally executed in America during the 20th century
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First flown in 1964, the aircraft has served many roles and missions. It was initially modified to conduct search and rescue missions, provide a command and control platform, in-flight-refuel helicopters and carry supplemental fuel for extending range and increasing loiter time during search operations.
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Height: 38 feet, 6 inches (11.7 meters)
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Crew: Three officers (pilot, co-pilot, navigator) and four enlisted (flight engineer, airborne communications specialist, two loadmasters). Additional crewmembers include a Guardian Angel team consisting of one combat rescue officer and three pararescuemen
Unit Cost: $77 million (fiscal 2008 replacement cost)
Initial operating capability: 1964
Inventory: Active force, 13; ANG, 13; Reserve, 10
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Detail of the Baptistry Window, a masterpiece of abstract stained glass designed by John Piper and executed by Patrick Reyntiens.
Coventry's Cathedral is a unique synthesis of old a new, born of wartime suffering and forged in the spirit of postwar optimism, famous for it's history and for being the most radically modern of Anglican cathedrals. Two cathedral's stand side by side, the ruins of the medieval building, destroyed by incendiary bombs in 1940 and the bold new building designed by Basil Spence and opened in 1962.
It is a common misconception that Coventry lost it's first cathedral in the wartime blitz, but the bombs actually destroyed it's second; the original medieval cathedral was the monastic St Mary's, a large cruciform building believed to have been similar in appearance to Lichfield Cathedral (whose diocese it shared). Tragically it became the only English cathedral to be destroyed during the Reformation, after which it was quickly quarried away, leaving only scant fragments, but enough evidence survives to indicate it's rich decoration (some pieces displayed nearby in the Priory Visitors Centre). Foundations of it's apse were found during the building of the new cathedral in the 1950s, thus technically three cathedrals share the same site.
The mainly 15th century St Michael's parish church became the seat of the new diocese of Coventry in 1918, and being one of the largest parish churches in the country it was upgraded to cathedral status without structural changes (unlike most 'parish church' cathedrals created in the early 20th century). It lasted in this role a mere 22 years before being burned to the ground in the 1940 Coventry Blitz, leaving only the outer walls and the magnificent tapering tower and spire (the extensive arcades and clerestoreys collapsed completely in the fire, precipitated by the roof reinforcement girders, installed in the Victorian restoration, that buckled in the intense heat).
The determination to rebuild the cathedral in some form was born on the day of the bombing, however it wasn't until the mid 1950s that a competition was held and Sir Basil Spence's design was chosen. Spence had been so moved by experiencing the ruined church he resolved to retain it entirely to serve as a forecourt to the new church. He envisaged the two being linked by a glass screen wall so that the old church would be visible from within the new.
Built between 1957-62 at a right-angle to the ruins, the new cathedral attracted controversy for it's modern form, and yet some modernists argued that it didn't go far enough, afterall there are echoes of the gothic style in the great stone-mullioned windows of the nave and the net vaulting (actually a free-standing canopy) within. What is exceptional is the way art has been used as such an integral part of the building, a watershed moment, revolutionising the concept of religious art in Britain.
Spence employed some of the biggest names in contemporary art to contribute their vision to his; the exterior is adorned with Jacob Epstein's triumphant bronze figures of Archangel Michael (patron of the cathedral) vanquishing the Devil. At the entrance is the remarkable glass wall, engraved by John Hutton with strikingly stylised figures of saints and angels, and allowing the interior of the new to communicate with the ruin. Inside, the great tapestry of Christ in majesty surrounded by the evangelistic creatures, draws the eye beyond the high altar; it was designed by Graham Sutherland and was the largest tapestry ever made.
However one of the greatest features of Coventry is it's wealth of modern stained glass, something Spence resolved to include having witnessed the bleakness of Chartres Cathedral in wartime, when all it's stained glass had been removed. The first window encountered on entering is the enormous 'chess-board' baptistry window filled with stunning abstract glass by John Piper & Patrick Reyntiens, a symphony of glowing colour. The staggered nave walls are illuminated by ten narrow floor to ceiling windows filled with semi-abstract symbolic designs arranged in pairs of dominant colours (green, red, multi-coloured, purple/blue and gold) representing the souls journey to maturity, and revealed gradually as one approaches the altar. This amazing project was the work of three designers lead by master glass artist Lawrence Lee of the Royal College of Art along with Keith New and Geoffrey Clarke (each artist designed three of the windows individually and all collaborated on the last).
The cathedral still dazzles the visitor with the boldness of it's vision, but alas, half a century on, it was not a vision to be repeated and few of the churches and cathedrals built since can claim to have embraced the synthesis of art and architecture in the way Basil Spence did at Coventry.
The cathedral is generally open to visitors most days, but now charges an entry fee (a fix for recent financial worries; gone are the frequent days I used to wander around it in search of inspiration!)and sadly visitors are also encouraged to enter by the far end of the building, contrary to Spence's intentions.
For more see below:-
Klinkicht, Gerhard, * 1915, † 14.03.2000 Bavaria, Wehrmacht Captain. A commemorative plaque on St. Stephen's Cathedral (side of the gate Singertor) recalls that in April 1945 Klinkicht refused to execute the order to bombard the cathedral.
Klinkicht, Gerhard, * 1915, † 14.03.2000 Bayern, Wehrmachtshauptmann. Eine Gedenktafel am Stephansdom (Seite des Singertors) hält in Erinnerung, dass sich Klinkicht im April 1945 geweigert hatte, den Befehl zur Beschießung des Doms auszuführen.
Fire in St. Stephen's Cathedral: eyewitnesses cried in the face of devastation.
Despite great need after the war, the landmark of Austria was rebuilt within seven years.
04th April 2015
What happened in the heart of Vienna 70 years ago brought tears to many horrified residents. On 12 April 1945, the Pummerin, the largest bell of St. Stephen's Cathedral, fell as a result of a roof fire in the tower hall and broke to pieces. The following day, a collapsing retaining wall pierced through the vault of the southern side choir, the penetrating the cathedral fire destroyed the choir stalls and choir organ, the Imperial oratory and the rood screen cross. St. Stephen's Cathedral offered a pitiful image of senseless destruction, almost at the end of that terrible time when the Viennese asked after each bombing anxiously: "Is Steffl still standing?"
100 grenades for the cathedral
Already on April 10, the cathedral was to be razed to the ground. In retaliation for hoisting a white flag on St. Stephen's Cathedral, the dome must be reduced to rubble and ash with a fiery blast of a hundred shells. Such was the insane command of the commander of an SS Artillery Division in the already lost battle for Vienna against the Red Army.
The Wehrmacht Captain Gerhard Klinkicht, from Celle near Hanover, read the written order to his soldiers and tore the note in front of them with the words: "No, this order will not be executed."
What the SS failed to do, settled looters the day after. The most important witness of the events from April 11 to 13, became Domkurat (cathedral curate) Lothar Kodeischka (1905-1994), who, as the sacristan director of St. Stephen, was practically on the spot throughout these days. When Waffen-SS and Red Army confronted each other on the Danube Canal on April 11, according to Kodeischka a report had appeared that SS units were making a counter-attack over the Augarten Bridge. Parts of the Soviet artillery were then withdrawn from Saint Stephen's square. For hours, the central area of the city center was without occupying forces. This was helped by gangs of raiders who set fire to the afflicted shops.
As a stone witness to the imperishable, the cathedral had defied all adversity for over 800 years, survived the conflagrations, siege of the Turks and the French wars, but in the last weeks of the Second World War St. Stephen was no longer spared the rage of annihilation. Contemporary witness Karl Strobl in those days observed "an old Viennese lady who wept over the burning cathedral".
The stunned spectators of destruction were joined, according to press reports, by a man in baggy trousers and a shabby hat, who incidentally remarked, "Well, we'll just have to rebuild him (the dome)." It was Cardinal Theodor Innitzer. Only a few weeks later, on May 15, 1945, the Viennese archbishop proclaimed to the faithful of his diocese: "Helping our cathedral, St. Stephen's Cathedral, to regain its original beauty is an affair of the heart of all Catholics, a duty of honor for all."
April 1945
In April 1945, not only St. Stephen's Cathedral burned. We did some research for you this month.
April 6: The tallest wooden structure of all time, the 190 meter high wooden tower (short-wave transmitter) of the transmitter Mühlacker, is blown up by the SS.
April 12: Following the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman is sworn in as the 33rd US President.
April 13: Vienna Operation: Soviet troops conquer Vienna.
April 25: Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer, member of the ABBA group, is born.
April 27: The provisional government Renner proclaims the Austrian declaration of independence.
April 30: The Red Army hoists the Soviet flag on the Reichstag building. Adolf Hitler, the dictator of the Third Reich, commits suicide with Eva Braun.
Brand im Stephansdom: Augenzeugen weinten angesichts der Verwüstung.
Trotz großer Not nach dem Krieg wurde das Wahrzeichen Österreichs binnen sieben Jahren wieder aufgebaut.
04. April 2015
Was vor 70 Jahren im Herzen Wiens passierte, trieb vielen entsetzten Bewohnern die Tränen in die Augen. Am 12. April 1945 stürzte die Pummerin, die größte Glocke des Stephansdoms, als Folge eines Dachbrandes in die Turmhalle herab und zerbrach. Tags darauf durchschlug eine einbrechende Stützmauer das Gewölbe des südlichen Seitenchors, das in den Dom eindringende Feuer zerstörte Chorgestühl und Chororgel, Kaiseroratorium und Lettnerkreuz. Der Stephansdom bot ein erbarmungswürdiges Bild sinnloser Zerstörung, und das fast am Ende jener Schreckenszeit, in der die Wiener nach jedem Bombenangriff bang fragten: "Steht der Steffl noch?"
100 Granaten für den Dom
Bereits am 10. April sollte der Dom dem Erdboden gleichgemacht werden. Als Vergeltung für das Hissen einer weißen Fahne auf dem Stephansdom ist der Dom mit einem Feuerschlag von 100 Granaten in Schutt und Asche zu legen. So lautete der wahnwitzige Befehl des Kommandanten einer SS-Artillerieabteilung im schon verlorenen Kampf um Wien gegen die Rote Armee.
Der aus Celle bei Hannover stammende Wehrmachtshauptmann Gerhard Klinkicht las die schriftlich übermittelte Anordnung seinen Soldaten vor und zerriss den Zettel vor aller Augen mit den Worten: "Nein, dieser Befehl wird nicht ausgeführt."
Was der SS nicht gelang, besorgten einen Tag später Plünderer: Zum wichtigsten Zeugen der Geschehnisse vom 11. bis 13. April wurde Domkurat Lothar Kodeischka (1905–1994), der als Sakristeidirektor von St. Stephan in diesen Tagen praktisch durchgehend an Ort und Stelle war. Als am 11. April Waffen-SS und Rote Armee einander am Donaukanal gegenüberstanden, war laut Kodeischka die Nachricht aufgetaucht, SS-Einheiten würden einen Gegenstoß über die Augartenbrücke unternehmen. Teile der sowjetischen Artillerie wurden daraufhin vom Stephansplatz abgezogen. Für Stunden sei der zentrale Bereich der Innenstadt ohne Besatzung gewesen. Dies nützten Banden von Plünderern, die Feuer in den heimgesuchten Geschäften legten.
Als steinerner Zeuge des Unvergänglichen hatte der Dom über 800 Jahre hinweg "allen Widrigkeiten getrotzt, hatte Feuersbrünste, Türkenbelagerungen und Franzosenkriege überstanden. Doch in den letzten Wochen des Zweiten Weltkrieges blieb auch St. Stephan nicht mehr verschont vor der Wut der Vernichtung. Zeitzeuge Karl Strobl beobachtete damals "eine alte Wienerin, die über den brennenden Dom weinte".
Zu den fassungslosen Betrachtern der Zerstörung gesellte sich laut Presseberichten ein Mann in ausgebeulten Hosen und mit abgeschabtem Hut, der so nebenbei bemerkte: "Na, wir werden ihn (den Dom) halt wieder aufbauen müssen." Es handelte sich um Kardinal Theodor Innitzer. Nur wenige Wochen danach, am 15. Mai 1945, ließ der Wiener Erzbischof an die Gläubigen seiner Diözese verlautbaren: "Unsere Kathedrale, den Stephansdom, wieder in seiner ursprünglichen Schönheit erstehen zu helfen, ist eine Herzenssache aller Katholiken, eine Ehrenpflicht aller."
April 1945
Im April 1945 brannte nicht nur der Stephansdom. Wir haben für Sie recherchiert wa noch in diesem Monat geschah.
6. April: Das höchste Holzbauwerk aller Zeiten, der 190 Meter hohe Holzsendeturm des Senders Mühlacker, wird von der SS gesprengt.
12. April: Nach dem Tod von Präsident Franklin D. Roosevelt wird Harry S. Truman als 33. Präsident der USA vereidigt.
13. April: Wiener Operation: Sowjetischen Truppen erobern Wien.
25. April: Björn Ulvaeus, schwedischer Sänger, Mitglied der Gruppe ABBA, kommt zur Welt.
27. April: Von der provisorischen Regierung Renner wird die österreichische Unabhängigkeitserklärung proklamiert.
30. April: Die Rote Armee hisst die sowjetische Fahne auf dem Reichstagsgebäude. Adolf Hitler, der Diktator des Dritten Reiches, begeht mit Eva Braun Selbstmord.
www.nachrichten.at/nachrichten/150jahre/ooenachrichten/Vo...
Guillotine brought to Vietnam by the French colonialists - In late 1950s, this guillotine was moved to several provinces in South Vietnam to execute revolutionists --- The guillotine was a device used for carrying out executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which a heavy blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the victim's head from his or her body. The device is noted for long being the main method of execution in France and, more particularly, for its use during the French Revolution. [Wikipedia.org]
A beautifully executed restoration of this this little 'giant killer' 125 (24BHP @ 12,500RPM). This machine came to the current owner from a collector in Florida and has very liitle time on it since the restoration. Frame # 400-999259, engine # AS3-990259.
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Detail from one of a pair of wrought-iron gates, designed by the artist-architect THOMAS RALPH SPENCE (1845-1918), and executed by the art-metalworker ALFRED JAMES SHIRLEY (c.1848-1912).
Spence moved to London from Newcastle late in 1885, setting up as an 'architectural-decorator'. He seems to have quickly fallen into business partnership with Shirley, whose Cable Street works were close by the church of St. George's-in-the East, one of Spence's earliest decorating jobs in the capital. By c.1888-9, Shirley had opened a new showroom at 45 Rathbone Place, where Spence also had his office (in an arrangement very similar to J.D. Sedding's with Henry Longden in nearby Oxford Street); the partnership was formally dissolved in 1896.
Much of Spence's metalwork done in collaboration with Shirley has unfortunately been lost. A good amount survives at the Anglican church of St. George, (West) Jesmond, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; these gates at St. Peter's are rare survivng examples in London itself. The gates were installed as part of Francis W. Tasker's (d.1904) refronting of the church (including a prominent Italianate loggia) in 1891.
Ref. Jackson, F. Hamilton: ‘Metal-Work of an Architect and Designer – T.R. Spence’ in 'The Magazine of Art' (London 1902), pp.365-70.
The photo is an edited digital montage of four images from the left-hand set.