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In the early hours of Thursday 19 March 2026 eight warrants were executed simultaneously across Tameside, Oldham and Rochdale to tackle a suspected criminal network involved in the distribution of class A drugs and firearms.
Officers from Tameside Programme Challenger team, the District Intelligence Unit (DIU), and our Tactical Aid Unit (TAU) were deployed to each of the addresses where a total of
11 people aged between 24 and 77 were arrested on suspicion of drug related offences following weeks of intelligence gathering and preparation.
A firearms strike was also carried out at one of the addresses.
Eight men and three women were arrested on suspicion of a range of offences including conspiracy to supply class A and B drugs, being part of an organised crime group, possession with intent to supply, money laundering, and possession of an offensive weapon.
During searches of the addresses, class A, B and C drugs including crack cocaine, heroin, cannabis and nitrous oxide were seized. Further recoveries of £70,000 in cash, a zombie knife, a BB gun and four vehicles were also made.
Chief Superintendent Shan Nasim, District Commander for Tameside, said: “Today’s operation has been a powerful example of our continued, determined effort to dismantle organised crime in our district and Greater Manchester.
“We have 11 people in custody being questioned by our investigation teams in relation to an organised crime group (OCG) that have been causing widespread harm across our communities.
“Today's action caused significant disruption of an organised crime group (OCG) and has prevented drugs and weapons from reaching the streets, as well as the associated harms that come hand in hand with organised crime.
“Organised criminals exploit vulnerable people and blight our communities; we will take robust action to catch offenders, keep our communities safe, and protect vulnerable people across Greater Manchester.”
Programme Challenger brings agencies across Greater Manchester together to protect vulnerable people, dismantle criminal networks and prevent exploitation in all its forms.
Members of the public are encouraged to share intelligence, which remains vital in disrupting criminal networks. GMP and partner agencies are committed to safeguarding vulnerable people who are victims of crime or at risk of committing offences.
If you are concerned about criminal activity in your area, contact police on 101, or call Crimestoppers, anonymously, via 0800 555 111.
ift.tt/2h5oGp1 #Charlie Brooks Jr. – the first inmate to be executed by lethal injection (1982) [1452 x 1860] #history #retro #vintage #dh #HistoryPorn ift.tt/2g9LUIx via Histolines
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 were displayed nearby in the Priory Visitors Centre, sadly since closed). 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, after all 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, all it's stained glass having 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. For more see below:-
dressage rider and background here with thanks
www.flickr.com/photos/snapeverything/3069713555/
www.flickr.com/groups/photoshopcontest/discuss/7215763005...
start image thanks to jaci XIII
Today, Thursday 16 November 2017, police executed warrants at eight addresses across the Moss Side and Hulme areas of Manchester.
The warrants were executed as the latest phase of Operation Malham, targeting the supply of drugs in South Manchester.
This follows previous raids last week, which means more than 14 properties have been searched and eight people arrested in total as part of the operation.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Walker, of GMP’s City of Manchester team, said: “We are dedicated to rooting out those who seek to make profits from putting drugs on our streets.
“Today’s raids have resulted in the arrests of five people which have only been made possible through the support of partner agencies and community intelligence.
“We are grateful for all your support and help and I would urge you to continue to report anything suspicious to help us stop people who are benefitting from crime and remove drugs from our city.”
Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit
You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.
Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.
The Katyń massacre ("zbrodnia katyńska" in Polish) was the mass murder of approximately 22000 Polish nationals carried out by the Soviet secret police (NKVD) in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by a proposal (dated 5th March 1940) from Lavrentiy Beria, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union, to execute all members of the Polish Officer Corps who had been captured and imprisoned by the USSR during the Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. This official document was approved and signed by the Soviet Politburo, including its leader Joseph Stalin.
As well as approximately 8000 officers of the Polish army, the victims of the Katyń massacre included 6000 police officers and thousands of university lecturers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, civic leaders, politicians, government officials, priests and other members of the "bourgeoisie" who had been targeted for arrest following the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland.
By physically eliminating Poland’s military and civilian elites, Stalin wanted to decapitate the Polish nation and ensure it was less able to resist the enforced Sovietisation of the occupied Polish territories.
The victims were all citizens of Poland, but not all were ethnically Polish - for example, the murdered army officers included Ukrainians, Belarusians and several hundred Jews, among them Baruch Steinberg, the Chief Rabbi of the Polish army. The majority were interned at three Soviet camps (Kozielsk, Starobielsk and Ostaszków) before being taken to NKVD mass murder sites, where they were executed and buried in mass graves.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Steinberg
Although the killings took place at several different locations in Soviet Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, the massacre is named after the Katyń forest in the Smolensk Oblast of western Russia where the graves of the Kozielsk prisoners were discovered in 1943. The exact fate of the other victims and the location of their graves was not confirmed until five decades later. After the discovery of the Katyń burial site the USSR denied responsibility for the massacre and tried to blame it on the Germans, and continued to lie about the killings for 50 years until finally admitting Soviet guilt in 1990 and revealing where the remaining victims were buried.
It eventually became possible to exhume and identify the bodies from the mass murder sites at Charków (Kharkiv), where the NKVD murdered the prisoners who were interned at Starobielsk, and Miednoje (Mednoye), where the NKVD murdered the prisoners who were interned at Ostaszków - as well as other locations such as Bykownia (Bykivnia).
Most of the Ostaszków prisoners were killed by Beria's chief executioner Vasily Blokhin, who was awarded the Order of the Red Banner by Stalin at the end of April 1940 for demonstrating "skill and organisation in the effective carrying out of special tasks".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Blokhin
Although several other ex-members of the NKVD eventually confessed to participating in the Katyń massacre, none of the perpetrators were ever brought to justice, and neither the Soviet government nor successive governments of Russia have ever permitted a full investigation of this war crime.
There's also no shortage of vatniks, tankies and other useful idiots out there who are still in denial about it, even though claims that the murders were carried out by the Germans have zero credibility and have been comprehensively debunked (it's actually impossible for the Polish prisoners interned at Ostaszków - who disappeared without trace in 1940 and whose bodies were found in Miednoje in 1991 - to have been captured, killed and buried by the Germans, who never reached either of these locations in Russia at any time during World War 2)....
holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2023/02/debunking-gro...
St Albans claims to be the earliest site of Christian pilgrimage in England, being named after our first martyr, who was executed at some point in the 3rd century AD (when the city was still known by its Roman name, Verulanium) having sheltered a persecuted Christian priest, St Amphibalus, and been impressed by his faith, offering himself for arrest in his place. Both men were buried here and Alban's tomb was venerated and marked in some form long before the present cathedral was built.
The cathedral is nonetheless one of the most ancient of our major churches, though its cathedral status dates only to 1877 when the new diocese of St Albans was formed. The church was originally founded as St Alban's Abbey, and built close to the presumed site of Alban's martyrdom. Founded in 793 by King Offa, the abbey was rebuilt several times with the earliest parts of the present cathedral dating back to the late 11th century. Much use was made of recycled material from the abandoned Roman city of Verulanium, and the handsome Romanesque tower appears to be entirely constructed of reused Roman bricks. The Abbey was built on an impressive scale, and must have once been a very wealthy institution owing to pilgrimages to the shrine of St Alban behind the high altar. However its fortunes had begun to decline even before the Reformation swept medieval monastic life away.
The abbey church miraculously survived the Dissolution in its entirety and was sold to the town for use as their parish church. The monastic buildings however were completely erased aside from the splendid Abbey Gatehouse near the west end, and only the weathered remains of arcading on the south side of the nave remains of the former cloisters. Upkeep thereafter seems to have been a serious challenge and the huge church spent much of the following centuries in poor repair, thus much work was done by a succession of architects in the Victorian period prior to the abbey church being raised to the status of cathedral. The most obvious interventions are those made by Edmund Beckett / Lord Grimthorpe, an amateur architect who paid for much of the work in the 1870s in return for a free hand in redesigning parts of the building. His are the strange turrets on ends of the transepts, along with their facade windows below and the west front, which is clearly a Victorian confection, though the medieval facade it replaced had been left in a rather bare, unfinished state.
The cathedral we see today is thus a rather surprising mixture of styles and materials, everything from Roman brick, flint and rubble to fine white limestone., which gives it a rather patchy appearance. Its great length however is remarkable, being the second longest medieval church in the country (only Winchester is longer, but St Albans has a longer nave). The oldest parts are the towers and transepts from the end of the 11th century, along with much of the north side of the nave, all fine examples of early Romanesque architecture. Most of the rest was rebuilt in the Gothic style in various phases throughout the 14th century, including the greater part of the nave and all of the choir and Lady Chapel (though the east end was heavily renewed externally in the Victorian restoration).
Entering the cathedral one cannot fail to be impressed by the enormous length of the nave,, mostly of late 13th and early 14th century date aside from the strikingly austere north arcade in the more easterly section, where the raw unadorned early Norman architecture contrasts dramatically with the more ornate Gothic arcade opposite. The Norman columns have the added appeal of retaining substantial remains of medieval mural decoration, with a succession of Crucifixion scenes that may have originally served as reredos to long vanished side altars. The medieval pulpitum screen remains and separates the eastern bays for use as the choir beyond it. This area also retains its flat late medieval wooden ceiling complete with painted panels of angels holding shields.
The transepts and crossing beneath the tower form an especially memorable interior space, again the architecture is of the more raw, auster Norman variety, but the tower arches are enlivened with painted decoration simulating brickwork and much Roman and Saxon material is incorporated in to the transepts. Beyond is the fully Gothic eastern limb with the presbytery covered by a handsome medieval wooden vault, again replete it medieval painted decoration, and the striking altar reredos, a towering late medieval screen populated with elaborate niches and statuary (the latter being Victorian replacements for originals long lost). Behind this is the re-assembled shrine of St Alban (along with that of St Amphibalus in the south choir aisle nearby). The Lady Chapel beyond is a handsome example of 14th century Decorated Gothic, though much restored following centuries of use as a schoolroom separated from the rest of the church.
There is much of interest to see in the cathedral, though most of the furnishings are Victorian (the originals having long vanished) and there are few monuments of note aside from the two late medieval chantry chapels of Abbot Ramryge and Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, the latter overlooking the shrine of St Alban and balanced by a 15th century wooden watching loft on the opposite side (a rare survival). There is a mixture of glass, the most notable pieces being the most recent additions in the south aisle and north transept rose window. The best features are the unusually extensive remnants of medieval mural painting in various parts of the church, a quite remarkable survival, making a thorough exploration of this cathedral all the more rewarding.
This was my third visit, and longest one, though my attempt at a fuller photographic record was severely compromised by accidents with my camera, which at one point fell from my tripod onto the stone floor in one of the chantry chapels. I was lucky it survived at all given the dreadful crash it made, but it was seriously affected and my photos were very hit and miss from that point onwards. My day however ended on a happier note, returning in the evening to attend a lovely performance of Mozart's Requiem, and the acoustics in there are indeed impressive.
For more about the cathedral see below.
Public Domain. Suggested credit: Library of Congress via pingnews. Additional information from source:
TITLE: The Law vindicated, - four of the Chicago anarchists pay the penalty of their crime ... / from sketches by Will E. Chapin.
CALL NUMBER: Illus. in AP2.L52 Case Y [P&P]
REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ62-109367 (b&w film copy neg.)
SUMMARY: Two scenes in the Cook County jail showing anarchist Parsons singing in his cell, and march of four Chicago anarchists to the scaffold before the moment of execution.
MEDIUM: 1 print : wood engraving.
CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1887.
NOTES:
Illus. in: Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, 1887 Nov. 19, p. 217.
SUBJECTS:
Executions--Illinois--1880-1890.
Jails--Illinois--1880-1890.
Anarchists--1880-1890.
FORMAT:
Periodical illustrations 1880-1890.
Wood engravings 1880-1890.
DIGITAL ID: (b&w film copy neg.) cph 3c09367 hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c09367
CARD #: 93517729
North Side of the Choir - 2
Group 2 shows a Woman robed with the Sun, representing the Church, and a seven headed dragon, representing Evil. The dragon wants to eat the Woman’s Child, but Michael and the angels, who represent Christianity, kill the dragon.
The Woman robed with the Sun and the Moon under her feet.
Rev 12.1 - And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun.
The seven-headed dragon.
Rev 12.4 - And the dragon stood before the woman to devour her child as soon as it was born.
The stained glass was executed by Saunders and Co from sketches by H W Lonsdale and cartoons by Fred Weekes.
The central focus of FDR’s second term was developing and executing the New Deal to bring the country out of economic turmoil. In this room, there are three scenes depicting the state of American citizens in the United States during the Great Depression. In front of you, a bread line is shown, representing the poverty and desperation of the working class during the Great Depression. Inscribed above the sculptures is the following quote from FDR’s second inaugural address: “I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.”
The urban companions to the rural couple are represented by a five-man portion of an urban breadline shuffling its way alongside a brick building. These lines, which formed outside food kitchens offering bread, soup, or groceries, often extended for many city blocks.
George Segal
George Segal was born in the Bronx, New York City, in 1924. His parents had immigrated from eastern Europe. George exhibited an interest in art early and won honors for his work while still in high school. George was raised in New Jersey, where his family settled, and he helped his parents with their chicken-raising business throughout his teens. Later, he took over the farm and still lives there with his wife Helen. Today, the old chicken coops house his art studio.
Everyday life and everyday happenings form the basis of George Segal’s sculptures. His pieces are cast directly from live models, mostly friends and relatives. George’s method of sculpting is unique. It depends heavily on real-life events and people said within environments which he constructs from real elements and furnishings. Segal’s work is therefore figurative but it does not romanticize or idealize the people whom he casts.
As the critic Phyllis Tuckman explains in the book, George Segal: Recent Painted Sculpture, “Segal’s figures radiate an aura of the familiar. They look like the kind of people with whom you come in daily contact…. These slices of life’s scenarios belie or masked other aspects of this haunting art.” Segal’s environments express more than what is visible on the surface. They dig deeply and say much about the universal elements of life through their focus on simple tasks.
It was for these reasons that George Segal was chosen to work within the themes of the Memorial. George has strong feelings and deep empathy for the Roosevelt era. He quickly selected three everyday images that were descriptive of the essence of the Depression years in our country, which had such a deep influence on the character and quality of our culture. Within these depictions the message is one of inherent individual dignity in the face of overwhelming odds.
George Segal developed his very personal casting technique in the early 1960s. He starts by dipping cloth bandages in wet plaster and then applying them directly to a body or to an object. He spends time working with his models before casting, describing the gestures he is trying to achieve and choreographing the positioning of their bodies in space within the constructed environment. Artist and model work together to finalize the pose before wrapping begins. Once the format has been fixed, the bandages are fitted around the various parts of the body. Hardening takes only minutes and then the bandages are removed by splitting them into sections. Later, they are reassembled to form the final figures or, as was the case for figures in the Memorial, they become molds for the final bronze sculptures.
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 were displayed nearby in the Priory Visitors Centre, sadly since closed). 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, after all 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, all it's stained glass having 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. For more see below:-
Violin belonging to cat burglar, Charles Peace, executed for killing a police officer in a burglary gone wrong in 1878. Peace was a musician serenading households by day; returning robber by night. © Museum of London / object courtesy the Metropolitan Police’s Crime Museum
Two important signatories of the National Covenant were James Graham, Marquess of Montrose, and Archibald Campbell, Marquess of Argyll. Both men professed loyalty to King Charles, but when the covenanters began to force people to sign the National Covenant, Montrose broke with what he perceived to be the excesses of Argyll's reforming party, and led a royalist army in Scotland against Argyll.
Montrose was executed outside St Giles' at the Mercat Cross in 1650, and his head placed on a spike outside the church. After the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660, Montrose's head and body were exhumed and reinterred in St Giles' with full honours. His memorial stands in the Chepman Aisle
The Origins of St Giles'
There is record of a parish church in Edinburgh by the year 854, served by a vicar from a monastic house, probably in England. It is possible that the first church, a modest affair, was in use for several centuries before it was formally dedicated by the bishop of St Andrews on 6 October 1243. The parish church of Edinburgh was subsequently reconsecrated and named in honour of the patron saint of the town, St Giles, whose feast day is celebrated on 1 September.
The Covenanters
In 1638, those opposed to King Charles’ plans to reintroduce episcopacy in Scotland signed the National Covenant. In 1643, following a split amongst those who disagreed with the king, the Solemn League and Covenant was drawn up and then ratified by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, then meeting in the Preston Aisle of St Giles’. The National Covenant may still be seen today in the Preston Aisle.
That St Giles, a 7th century hermit (and, later, abbot) who lived in France, became the patron of both town and church was probably due to the ancient ties between Scotland and France.
According to legend, Giles was accidentally wounded by a huntsman in pursuit of a hind and, after his death in the early 8th century, there were dedicated to him hospitals and safe houses for cripples, beggars and lepers were established throughout England and Scotland within easy reach of the impoverished and the infirm. St Giles is usually depicted protecting a hind from an arrow, which had pierced his own body, a fine relief of which rests in the tympanum over the west (main) doors of the Cathedral.
St Giles' in the Middle Ages
St Giles' was founded in the 1120s when the Scottish royal family, the sons of Queen (Saint) Margaret and King Malcolm Canmore, especially David I (1124-1153) made strenuous efforts to spread Catholic Christian worship throughout the Scottish lowlands.
This church was probably quite small, Norman (i.e. Romanesque, with rounded arches and elaborate carving) in style, like others built at the same time. Few traces of it survive in the present building.
In 1385, a much larger church (early Gothic, pointed arches and simple octagonal pillars) was partially burned. No record has been found of the building of this second church. It was quickly repaired.
Over the next 150 years many chapels were added. These included chapels set up by the craftsmen's guilds of Edinburgh, chapels endowed by prominent merchants and nobles, and a chapel for a relic of St Giles. By the middle of the 16th century, there were around fifty altars in the church.
The Church becomes a Cathedral
For more than a century after the Reformation, worship in St Giles’ was disrupted by the disagreements about church government. In 1633, King Charles I appointed Scottish Episcopal bishops in Scotland and in 1635 William Forbes became the first bishop of the new diocese of Edinburgh, with St Giles’ as its cathedral, which it remained until 1638 and again from 1661-1689. That St Giles’ is commonly called a cathedral dates from this period.
St Giles' in the 20th and 21st Centuries
In 1911 the Thistle Chapel (architect: Sir Robert Lorimer) was completed, to be used by the Knights of the Thistle, Scotland's order of chivalry. Though small, it is in 15th century high Gothic style and full of elaborate carvings in wood and stone and of colourful heraldry.
Over the last hundred years or more, St Giles' has hosted important events including state occasions and services of national thanksgiving.
A new restoration programme began in 1977. In addition to essential repairs to roof, stone and glass, the interior has been lightened, the focus of worship moved from the east end to a new sanctuary in the middle of the church ("the crossing") and a magnificent new organ installed. Space has been converted from old cellars and crypts for meeting and eating. Much remains to be done
This painting was executed for the hall of the Scuola Grande di San Marco with three other canvases (now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice).
A masterpiece of Tintoretto's full maturity, this painting is a profound expression of his originality. It creates a lyric spectacle out of extreme disquietude. In fact, it expresses a visionary notion that borders on the hallucination, and in this way the scene of the stealing of the body becomes a meteoric display. A memorable image is created that has the impact of a clap of thunder at a witches' ritual.
It has recently been shown that this picture does not, as was long assumed, show the rediscovery of the body of Saint Mark on June 25, 1094, but various miracles of healing worked by the Patron Saint of Venice: he is depicted raising a man from the dead, restoring a blind man's sight, and casting out devils. As in The Miracle of the Slave, which he painted for the same location, Tintoretto illustrates the power of Saint Mark by placing the invisible guidelines of his construction of the perspective in the Saint's outstretched hand. The donor Tommaso Rangone, who claimed great healing powers for himself, thereby making large sums of money, had his own figure painted kneeling humbly, but none the less wearing the magnificent golden robe of a cavalier aurato. Doge Girolamo Priuli had only recently bestowed the title of "Golden Knight" on him.
Tintoretto has adopted here and carried further the expressive means of Tuscan and Roman Mannerism. There is the explosive perspective (note how the peak of the visual pyramid coincides with the raised hand of the saint performing the miracle). There are the dynamic crossing of the compositional diagonals, the nervous contortion and the bold foreshortening of the figures. Then there is the light from various sources that erupts from the tombs or spreads from the mouth of the Long Hall, like a nocturne in the porticoes of Saint Mark's. It prints rainbow along the bays, leaving an impression of instability and obsession. Finally there is the macabre element of the tomb-robbing scene and the anxiety of the jumble of figures in the foreground. Unreality reaches a peak in the pictorial rendering. The disintegration of the color, an inheritance from Titian's late work, is seen in the dissociation of the brushstrokes from the material and their flickering, like a multitude of flames, against a somber and blurred surface.
My 3rd Cousin, Captain L C Matthews GC, MC, 8th Division Signals, 2nd AIF. Captain
Matthews was executed by the Japanese on 2 March 1944 for his part in
the secret intelligence organisation run between Sandakan POW Camp
and Sandakan town during 1942 and 1943. Matthews was posthumously awarded a George Cross for gallant and distinguished service whilst a POW at Sandakan.
Below is an excerpt which I believe describes Captian Lionel Matthews well...
There must have been many stories of the heroism of East Adelaide old scholars during the war, but that of Captain Lionel Matthews was singled out to be published in "The Children's Hour" in 1948.
"This is a story of supreme courage and unswerving devotion to duty. It is the story of a soldier who was a prisoner of war with the Japanese during the last war. He was determined fight for his country even though a prisoner. He knew only too well the price of his resistance, yet he was resolved to resist, and did resist, unto death.
His way not one impulsive act. It was a series of acts deliberately planned. The certain penalty of' discovery was execution following torture. For the sake of Australia and the security of 'you and me he accepted that risk.
He was betrayed. He was tortured. He was put to death by the Japanese.
He died as he had lived, a loyal and gallant soldier, with a smile on his lips in the face of the firing squad.
Lionel Matthews was born on the 15th August, 1912, at Stepney. He was educated at the public school s of East Adelaide and Magill, and the Norwood High School. His main hobby was Scouting. As a Sea scout he played a distinguished part in a sea tragedy at Henley in 1930. Subsequently he was a Scoutmaster and in Victoria did social work for the Scout rescue movement at Pentridge Gaol.
As Captain L. Matthews, he served with the 8th Australian Division in Malaya. I saw him at Gemas, after three days of strenuous work establishing communication in the thick of battle. He was thrilled at the thought that he was doing his job well. Later, on Singapore Island, he received the Military Cross for gallantry in action.
Then Singapore fell, and the dark and depressing curtain of' captivity cut us off from Australia. But Japanese restraint did not deter nor depress Lionel Matthews. He had made up his mind that, come what may, he would do his best for Australia. Such was his cheerful assurance to me as he left Changi Gaol in July, 1942, for an unknown destination. We now know that it was Sandakan in British North Borneo; a locality associated with one of the worst tragedies (a death rnarch) and one of the most gallant deeds of the war.
Shortly afterwards I was moved to Formosa and to us, late in 1943, came Governor Smith of the British North Borneo Company. He told us of an Australian, one Captain Matthews, who had supplied them through miles of jungles and across a stretch of' water with continuous news of' the outside world. This entailed not only the risky business of operating a listening set, but the organisation of a chain of native carriers through the Japanese controlled areas. These natives had been the North Borneo Constabulary until taken into captivity; but they remained loyal. Governor Smith made Matthews the Chief' of Police. To these natives he became Tuan Matthews.
We heard no more until we were more in contact with the civilised world. Then we heard that Matthews was dead, that his work had been betrayed to his captors, and that he had paid the supreme penalty.
Sandakan is a port in British North Borneo, now Sabah. It is surrounded by jungle which concealed malaria and other tropical diseases fatal to the white man. Its inhabitants consisted of Chinese, Malays, Sikhs, and Dusuns, any of' which would be capable of' the highest loyalty or the deepest treachery. The whole area was guarded and patrolled by Japanese soldiers. It took a very stout heart even to think of resistance in such conditions.
Matthews was Intelligence Officer of the prisoners. As such he did the most extraordinary things. He established contact with Europeans outside the gaol and had medical supplies smuggled in. He procured parts for a wireless receiver and established a listening post. This news he distributed throughout the camp and as far afield as Berhale Island. He made contact with Philippine guerillas and arranged escape parties and through them he had arms and ammunition secreted near the camp. He carefully laid plans for an insurrection when help from the outside world became available. These were extraordinary things for two reasons. Firstly, they could only be done with the greatest secrecy and at the gravest risk to himself. Secondly, and this is the most marvellous point of the story, he could have escaped himself but elected to stay and continue his dangerous task.
His end was brought about by the treachery of a coloured foreman. This man betrayed to the Japanese his coloured companions who were working for Matthews. Under torture Matthews work was revealed by the foreman to the Japanese. The terrible sequel was then inevitable.
We all revere brave men. The contemplation of their actions is a spur to us. We derive from them an inspiration to serve our country as nobly as we are able.
Australia has been blessed with many brave and noble men. Among the greatest of these is Captain Lionel Matthews. He was awarded posthumously the George Cross for his bravery.
The glory that is his shines through the melancholy tragedy of' Sandakan. If we can sense that glory and its inspiration, his work will not have been in vain."
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Detroit Industry Murals - 1932-1933
Diego M. Rivera - (Mexican, 1886 - 1957)
"Between 1932 and 1933, artist Diego Rivera, a premier leader in the 1920s Mexican Mural Movement, executed one of the country's finest, modern monumental artworks devoted to industry. Often considered to be the most complex artworks devoted to American Industry, the Detroit Industry mural cycle depicts the city's manufacturing base and labor force on all four walls of the Detroit Institute of Arts Garden Court, since renamed the Diego Court. Rivera's technique for painting frescoes, his portrayal of American life on public buildings, and the 1920s Mexican Mural Movement itself directly led to and influenced the New Deal mural programs of the 1930s and 1940s.
The Mexican Mural Movement came into being in 1920s at the end of the Mexican Revolution. Mexico's new president wanted to promote a Mexican culture. He appointed a new Minister of Education, Jose Vasconcelos, who envisioned a comprehensive program of popular education to teach Mexican peasants what it meant to be Mexican. Vasconcelos' plan was to adorn public buildings with murals to promote a national identity. One of the more prominent painters of this program was Diego Rivera. Rivera studied at the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts. He won a scholarship to study art in Europe, where he learned about Italy’s 13th and 14th century murals. This study helped him develop a philosophy of public art that would support the mural movement in post-revolutionary Mexico.
The Detroit Industry Murals consist of 27 panels spanning four walls. These panels depict industry and technology as the indigenous culture of Detroit. They emphasize a relationship between man and machine. Technology is portrayed in both its constructive and destructive uses, to illustrate the give-and-take relationships between North and South Americans, management and labor, and the cosmic and technological. The east and west walls depict the development of technology and the north and south walls show a representation of the four races, the automobile industry, and the secondary industries of Detroit-medicine, drugs, gas bomb production, and commercial chemicals."
www.nps.gov/places/detroit-industry-murals-detroit-instit...
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The Detroit Institute of Arts has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With more than 65,000 artworks that date from the earliest civilizations to the present, the museum offers visitors an encounter with human creativity from all over the world.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2E8t-aPwo4
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The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), one of the premier art museums in the United States, is home to more than 60,000 works that comprise a multicultural survey of human creativity from ancient times through the 21st century. From the first van Gogh painting to enter a U.S. museum (Self-Portrait, 1887), to Diego Rivera's world-renowned Detroit Industry murals (1932–33), the DIA's collection is known for its quality, range, and depth. The DIA’s mission is to create opportunities for all visitors to find personal meaning in art.
www.michigan.org/property/detroit-institute-arts
Detroit Institute of Arts, art museum in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., noted for its collection of American paintings from the 19th century and its Dutch, Flemish, and Italian paintings from the Renaissance through the Baroque period. It is also known for a large collection of arts of antiquity and of the Islamic world, based on works acquired by pharmaceutical magnate Frederick Stearns. The Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and ancient Persian holdings have been augmented by artifacts from western Europe, Mesopotamia, and ancient Arabia. The museum also houses traditional Asian, African, Oceanian, and Native American works and contemporary art from around the world.
The museum was founded in 1885 by a group of Detroit citizens. It was given to the city in 1919 and moved into its present Neoclassical-style structure in 1927. It was enlarged by additions completed in 1966 and 1971. The museum’s central courtyard is decorated with a series of 27 murals by the Mexican painter Diego Rivera that depict the automobile industry. In 2001 the museum created a new department, the General Motors Center for African American Art, and in 2010 it opened a gallery dedicated to Islamic art.
www.britannica.com/topic/Detroit-Institute-of-Arts
...
The Detroit Institute of Arts has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With more than 65,000 artworks that date from the earliest civilizations to the present, the museum offers visitors an encounter with human creativity from all over the world.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2E8t-aPwo4
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The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), one of the premier art museums in the United States, is home to more than 60,000 works that comprise a multicultural survey of human creativity from ancient times through the 21st century. From the first van Gogh painting to enter a U.S. museum (Self-Portrait, 1887), to Diego Rivera's world-renowned Detroit Industry murals (1932–33), the DIA's collection is known for its quality, range, and depth. The DIA’s mission is to create opportunities for all visitors to find personal meaning in art.
www.michigan.org/property/detroit-institute-arts
Detroit Institute of Arts, art museum in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., noted for its collection of American paintings from the 19th century and its Dutch, Flemish, and Italian paintings from the Renaissance through the Baroque period. It is also known for a large collection of arts of antiquity and of the Islamic world, based on works acquired by pharmaceutical magnate Frederick Stearns. The Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and ancient Persian holdings have been augmented by artifacts from western Europe, Mesopotamia, and ancient Arabia. The museum also houses traditional Asian, African, Oceanian, and Native American works and contemporary art from around the world.
The museum was founded in 1885 by a group of Detroit citizens. It was given to the city in 1919 and moved into its present Neoclassical-style structure in 1927. It was enlarged by additions completed in 1966 and 1971. The museum’s central courtyard is decorated with a series of 27 murals by the Mexican painter Diego Rivera that depict the automobile industry. In 2001 the museum created a new department, the General Motors Center for African American Art, and in 2010 it opened a gallery dedicated to Islamic art.
www.britannica.com/topic/Detroit-Institute-of-Arts
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§ The celestial nymphs (apsaras) of Angkor Vat were sculpted curvaceously nude to the waist with amply ornamentation of necklaces and recherche headdresses • The lower part of their bodies is clothed in drapery with elaborated low-slung belt, copious pendants of lanceolate, and long swaying sash at side • Though the sculptures were executed in bas-relief that one can precisely conceives in front rather than sides which are visually flat, but the sculptors had successfully disengaged their forms out of the background panesl—which were etched in delicate motifs—by cutting the contour of their forms in harmonious gradation creating smooth surrounding lines of shade and shadow • The jewelled necklaces which were sharply incised were predicated by contrasting them from smooth flesh of their bodily curves • It is an adroitness of woodcarving that imitated into the stone as characterised by the exquisite precision of carving, and the essentially shallow character of the relief •
St Mary (RC), Derby : Blessed Ralph Sherwin
St Mary (RC), Bridge Gate, Derby, 1838-39.
South Aisle Window - detail.
Ralph Sherwin (1550-1581) was a Roman Catholic priest, executed in 1581. He was born at Rodsley, Derbyshire and christened in Longford church. He was educated at Eton College. In 1568, he was nominated by Sir William Petre to one of the eight fellowships which he had founded at Exeter College, Oxford. A talented classical scholar, Sherwin graduated Master of Arts on 2 July 1574, and the following year converted to Roman Catholicism. He crossed to France on the pretext of studying medicine, but made for the English College at Douai, where he was ordained a priest on 23 March 1577. On 2 August 1577, he left for Rome, where he stayed at the English College, Rome for nearly three years.
On 18 April 1580, Sherwin and thirteen companions left Rome for England. On 9 November 1580, he was arrested while preaching in the house of Nicholas Roscarrock in London and imprisoned in the Marshalsea, where he converted many fellow prisoners, and on 4 December was transferred to the Tower of London, where he was tortured on the rack and then laid out in the snow.
After spending a year in prison he was finally brought to trial with Edmund Campion on a charge of treasonable conspiracy. He was convicted in Westminster Hall on 20 November 1581. Eleven days later he was taken to Tyburn along with Alexander Briant and Campion, where the three martyrs were hanged, drawn and quartered.
Sherwin was the first member of the English College in Rome to be martyred. He was beatified on 29 December 1886 by Pope Leo XIII. He was canonized on 25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales.
CEA Project Logistics recently executed a project for the Nissan Motor Company which involved the transportation of factory parts with a total weight of 5,200 tons.
The factory parts arrived by ship at Laem Chabang Port and were unloaded by the vessel onto the dock below. Two CEA 50 ton cranes were then used to lift the parts on to three different types of trailer Flatbed, Lowbed and Multi Axle, this was due to the cargo being oversized and varying in weight. All cargo was secured with ratchet straps and transported to the CEA yard in Laem Chabang for two weeks storage until delivery date.
Upon delivery date the same configuration of trailers made the 82km journey to the Nissan facility in Samut Prakan. As these parts were oversized cargo CEA employed the services of the local Highway Police for a full escort to ensure safety to all road users.
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 were displayed nearby in the Priory Visitors Centre, sadly since closed). 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, after all 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, all it's stained glass having 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. For more see below:-
Pickering Castle is situated on the southern edge of the North York Moors on a limestone bluff which formerly overlooked the meeting point of two of the main highways through the north of England: the east-west route along the Vale of Pickering and the north-south route through Newton Dale to Malton. The monument consists of a single area which includes the site of the 11th century motte and bailey castle and the 13th century shell keep castle. The former was built by William the Conqueror either during or shortly after the 'harrying of the north' in 1069-70. It consisted of an earth motte crowned by a timber palisade, flanked on the north-west side by a crescent-shaped inner bailey and, on the south-east side, by a contemporary or slightly later outer bailey. The inner bailey measured c.120m by c.35m and was bounded to the north by a steep natural slope surmounted by a palisade and to the south by deep 15m wide ditches linked to the ditch encircling the motte. The outer bailey, which measured c.185m by c.25m, was protected on the north side by these same ditches and, on the south side, by a 5-8m high palisaded bank with an outer ditch. To the immediate east of the outer bailey ditch a further earthwork bank may have provided additional defence on this side; alternatively it may be part of a medieval defence system associated with the adjacent settlement. The motte is c.20m high and has a base diameter of c.60m. It is not yet clear whether this is the original 11th century motte or a later medieval reconstruction. In the latter case, the earlier motte will have been preserved inside the later while, in addition, the buried remains of a wide range of domestic and service buildings will survive within the open areas of the baileys.
The reconstruction of the castle in stone largely took place between 1180 and 1236. There were three main phases to the work at this time, the earliest involving the late 12th century replacement of the palisade round the inner bailey with a curtain wall and also the probable construction of the first shell keep on the motte. In its present form the shell keep dates to the early 13th century but the foundations of the earlier wall will survive underneath. The remains of the early curtain wall still stand round the inner bailey, surviving best where the curtain was incorporated into later buildings. The earliest buildings so far identified are the early or mid- 12th century Old Hall, a free-standing residence whose surviving foundations show it to have been half-timbered, and the Coleman Tower, constructed at the same time as the inner curtain and an integral part of it. The Coleman Tower guarded the entry across the inner bailey ditch and was also a prison; hence its earlier name, the King's Prison. It was square in plan and had its entrance on the first floor, the level underneath being where the prisoners were kept. On the east side are the remains of a small building and also a stairway leading onto an adjacent wall. This wall, built across the motte ditch in the late 12th century, replaced an earlier palisade and provided access to the summit of the motte. A similar and contemporary length survives on the opposite side of the motte, crossing the ditch and joining the curtain alongside the later Rosamund's Tower. The keep consisted of a rubble wall enclosing a roughly circular area 20m wide. A wall walk would have lined the inside of the wall above a series of garrison buildings. The foundations of some of these buildings survive but it is not certain whether they date to the 13th or the 14th century. In some cases they will have replaced earlier timber structures whose buried remains will also survive. Also of uncertain date are the foundations of a number of buildings in the inner bailey, including a service range to the south-west and a group of buildings referred to as the Constable's Place in the accounts of the years 1441-43. The latter were half-timbered and some sections predate the inner curtain though others were clearly added later. A survey of 1537 lists a number of distinct structures, including the Constable's hall, a kitchen, buttery and pantry, and quarters for staff and servants. At the southern end of the group were a number of storage buildings, one of which is believed to have been the wool house. Two additional service buildings lay adjacent to the Old Hall and are thought, originally, to have been contemporary with it. To the south of these is the chantry-chapel which dates from c.1227 and is still complete though in a much altered state.
To the west of this is the early 14th century New Hall, initially built as a residence for Countess Alice, wife of Earl Thomas of Lancaster. This was later used as a courthouse which gave rise to it being named King's Hall or Motte (moot) Hall in later surveys. It was a penticed or lean-to building of two storeys which utilised the inner curtain for its outer wall. The inner walls were timber-framed and, as much of the surviving stonework is late 12th or early 13th century, it clearly replaced an earlier building. The upper chamber or solar of the 14th century hall was an elaborate plastered room with a decorated fireplace. The last major programme of building dates to 1324-26 when Edward II ordered extensive works to be carried out which included replacing the whole of the timber palisade round the outer bailey with a stone wall. This outer curtain included three projecting towers, a gatehouse with a drawbridge over the outer ditch and a postern gate which led from the north-east arm of the inner bailey ditch, underneath Rosamund's Tower and out onto the rampart. A second gate and drawbridge, built at this time alongside the Coleman Tower, had fallen out of use by the 16th century and can now no longer be seen. The three projecting towers, named from north-east to south-west, Rosamund's Tower, Diate Hill Tower and Mill Tower, are all square in plan and all would have led out onto the wall-walk along the inside of the curtain though, in the case of the Mill Tower, the curtain to either side has not survived sufficiently well to demonstrate this. The ground-floor entrance to the Mill Tower consisted of two doors linked by a short passage, in which the first door opened inwards and the second outwards indicating that the tower was built as a prison, a role it took over from the Coleman Tower. North of the Mill Tower, the outer curtain crossed the inner bailey ditch which can also be seen outside the castle walls on the west and north sides. This section of the ditch was part of the original 11th century defences and was quarried out of the rock on which the castle was built.
A levelled area alongside the inner edge indicates that quarrying of the rock-face continued after the ditch was cut. The quarried stone would have gone towards the construction of at least some of the castle buildings. Aside from its strategic and administrative roles, Pickering Castle had two other functions: to guard and manage the large forest which lay adjacent and to provide a court and place of detention for those found guilty of offences against it, such as poaching, unauthorised clearance and the theft of timber. The forest was an extremely important economic resource during the Middle Ages and its particular importance at Pickering can be seen in the great use made of wood in the castle buildings and also, most significantly, its continuous use in the defences down to the 14th century. Also important to the castle economy during the 14th century was the sale of wool, and it also had responsibility for managing the royal stud created by Edward II in c.1322. Possibly the stables known to have been located against the outer curtain at this time, between the gatehouse and Diate Hill tower, were connected with this. According to the Domesday Book, in 1086 the manor of Pickering was held by the king, that is, William the Conqueror. The castle established at this time as part of the subjugation of the rebellious North remained in royal hands until 1267 when it was conferred with the title Earl of Lancaster on Edmund Crouchback, younger son of Henry III. Edmund's son Thomas succeeded to both title and estates in 1296 but was executed for treason by Edward II in 1322, whereupon his estates reverted to the king. Following the unsuccessful Scottish campaign of the same year, and the ensuing retaliatory attacks on the north of England by Robert the Bruce, Edward ordered the building works noted above, clearly intending to keep Pickering a royal castle. However, in 1326 his son Edward III confirmed Henry, the younger brother of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, in his brother's titles and estates, and, in 1351, the castle became part of the Duchy of Lancaster when that title was created. Upon the elevation of the House of Lancaster to the throne in 1399, and in 1413, the succession of Henry V, the Duchy reverted to the Crown and Pickering became a royal castle once again. It has been in State care since 1926. A number of features within the protected area are excluded from the scheduling. These include the ticket office/sales point and its paved base and steps, all English Heritage fixtures and fittings such as bins, bridges, safety grilles, signs, railings and interpretation boards, the surfaces of all modern steps and paths inside and outside the castle walls, lighting and the modern walls and fences round the outside edge of the protected area but the ground beneath all these features is included.
P1020221
Edith Cavell est une infirmière anglaise qui dirigeait en 1907 une des premières écoles modernes de formation des infirmières à Bruxelles. Convaincue d'avoir aidé des soldats alliés à s'évader, elle fut jugée et exécutée en 1915.
Voici une courte biographie sur le site de l'académie de Lille :
Née le 4 décembre 1865 en Angleterre, Édith Cavell commence ses études d'infirmière en 1895. Ses qualités exceptionnelles lui vaudront de diriger un des services du London Hospital, puis en 1907, une école d'infirmières à Bruxelles.
En 1914, la guerre éclate. Dans toute la Belgique des organisations se forment. Nombreux furent ceux, soldats belges et français, qui, grâce à Miss Cavell, purent se réfugier en Hollande.
Édith Cavell fut dénoncée puis arrêtée par les allemands le 5 août 1915 alors qu'elle se trouvait au chevet de ses malades.
Son jugement et son exécution le 12 octobre 1915 soulevèrent l'indignation de nombreux pays. Ils frappaient une femme dont l'activité était entièrement vouée à secourir la douleur et la détresse humaine.
Ainsi que cet article très complet (en anglais) sur le site History Net, Nurse Edith Cavell, A fanatically selfless sense of duty drove nurse Edith Cavell to harbor Allied soldiers behind German lines.
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The plaque reads:
"The Waldorf Astoria Clock was executed by the Goldsmith Company of London for exhibition at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. It was purchased by the Waldorf Astoria and was the focal point outside the Rose Room of the original hotel at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. This clock weighs approximately two tons and stands nine feet tall. Around the eight sides of the base are likenesses of Cleveland, Harrison, Washington, Grant, Lincoln, Franklin, Jackson and Queen Victoria. Under these are bronze plaques depicting various sports and scenes. Westminster chimes ring on the quarter hour."
Terribly executed photo on my count, a quick sly walk by shot. Rather battered and bruised but I'd imagine its fairly low mileage as is the case with most EP91s. Must be quite easy to learn to drive in.
Poorly executed scan of a photo taken with a Polaroid Land 103. I didn't let the image develop long enough. This scan was edited for contrast and exposure.
Design of the ground floor by Henry van de Velde. Ca. 1922. The design was not executed. SEMBACH, Klaus-Jurgen (1989). Henry van de Velde. Thames and Hudson Ltd., London.
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Henry Clemens van de Velde (3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957 was a Belgian painter, architect and interior designer. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar he could be considered as one of the main founders and representatives of Art Nouveau in Belgium. Van de Velde spent the most important part of his career in Germany and had a decisive influence on German architecture and design at the beginning of the 20th century.
Van de Velde was born in Antwerp, where he studied painting under Charles Verlat at the famous Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp. He then went on to study at Carolus-Duran in Paris. As a young painter he was thoroughly influenced by Paul Signac and Georges Seurat and soon adopted a neo-impressionist style (pointillism). In 1889 he became a member of the Brussels-based artist group "Les XX". After Vincent van Gogh exhibited some work on the yearly exhibition of Les XX van de Velde became one of the first artists to be influenced by the Dutch painter. During this period he developed a lasting friendship with the painter Théo van Rysselberghe and the sculptor Constantin Meunier.
In 1892 he abandoned painting, devoting his time to arts of decoration and interior design (silver- and goldsmith’s trade, chinaware and cutlery, fashion design, carpet and fabric design). His own house, Bloemenwerf in Ukkel, was his first attempt at architecture, and was inspired by the British and American Arts and Crafts Movement. He also designed interiors and furniture for the influential art gallery "L'Art Nouveau" of Samuel Bing in Paris in 1895. This gave the movement its first designation as Art Nouveau. Bing’s pavilion at the 1900 Paris world fair also exhibited work by Van de Velde. Van de Velde was strongly influenced by John Ruskin and William Morris’s English Arts and Crafts movement and he was one of the first architects or furniture designers to apply curved lines in an abstract style. Van de Velde set his face against copying historical styles, resolutely opting for original (i.e. new) design, banning banality and ugliness from people’s minds.
Van de Velde's design work received good exposure in Germany, through periodicals like Innen-Dekoration, and subsequently he received commissions for interior designs in Berlin. Around the turn of the century, he designed Villa Leuring in the Netherlands, and Villa Esche in Chemnitz, two works that show his Art Nouveau style in architecture. He also designed the interior of the Folkwang Museum in Hagen (today the building houses the Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum) and the Nietzsche House in Weimar.
In 1899 he settled in Weimar, Germany, where in 1905 he established the Grand-Ducal School of Arts and Crafts, together with the Grand Duke of Weimar. It is the predecessor of the Bauhaus, which, following World War I, eventually replaced the School of Arts and Crafts, under new director Walter Gropius, who was suggested for the position by Van de Velde.
Although a Belgian, Van de Velde would play an important role in the German Werkbund, an association founded to help improve and promote German design by establishing close relations between industry and designers. He would oppose Hermann Muthesius at the Werkbund meeting of 1914 and their debate would mark the history of Modern Architecture. Van de Velde called for the upholding of the individuality of artists while Hermann Muthesius called for standardization as a key to development.
During World War I, Van de Velde, as a foreign national, was obliged to leave Weimar (although on good terms with the Weimar government), and returned to his native Belgium. Later, he lived in Switzerland and in the Netherlands where he designed the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo. In 1925 he was appointed professor at the Ghent University Institute of Art History and Archaeology, where he lectured architecture and applied arts from 1926 to 1936. He was instrumental in founding in Brussels, in 1926, today's renowned architecture and visual arts school La Cambre, under the name of "Institut supérieur des Arts décoratifs."
He continued his practice in architecture and design, which had demarcated itself significantly from the Art Nouveau phase, whose popularity was by 1910 in decline. During this period, he mentored the great Belgian architect, Victor Bourgeois. In 1933 he was commissioned to design the new building for the university library (the renowned Boekentoren). Construction started in 1936, but the work would not be completed until the end of the Second World War. For budget reasons, the eventual construction did not entirely match the original design. For instance, the reading room floor was executed in marble instead of the black rubber Van de Velde originally intended. He was also involved in the construction of the Ghent University Hospital. He died, aged 94, in Zürich (Wikipedia).
CEA Project Logistics recently executed a project for the Nissan Motor Company which involved the transportation of factory parts with a total weight of 5,200 tons.
The factory parts arrived by ship at Laem Chabang Port and were unloaded by the vessel onto the dock below. Two CEA 50 ton cranes were then used to lift the parts on to three different types of trailer Flatbed, Lowbed and Multi Axle, this was due to the cargo being oversized and varying in weight. All cargo was secured with ratchet straps and transported to the CEA yard in Laem Chabang for two weeks storage until delivery date.
Upon delivery date the same configuration of trailers made the 82km journey to the Nissan facility in Samut Prakan. As these parts were oversized cargo CEA employed the services of the local Highway Police for a full escort to ensure safety to all road users.
Francais\French.
VL2011-0312-481.
1 décembre 2011.
Garnison Valcartier, QC.
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L'exercice du 3eme Bataillon du Royal 22e Régiment (3 R22R) dans les secteurs d'entraînement de Valcartier, QC, le 1 décembre 2011. Pendant l'exercice NMC3, les membres du 3 R22R ont sautés en parachute, exécuté une marche de 13 km ainsi qu'une attaque de peloton avec munitions réelles et une évacutation de blessés..
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Photo par: Cpl Roxanne Shewchuk.
Section Imagerie Valcartier.
Copyright © 2011 DND-MDN.
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English\Anglais.
VL2011-0312-481.
1 December 2011.
Garnison Valcartier, QC.
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The 3rd Bataillon of the Royal 22e Régiment (3 R22R) participate in an exercise in the training areas Valcartier, QC, on the December 1st 2011. During the exercise NMC3, the members of 3 R22R parachuted from a griffon helicopter, executed at 13 km march, as well as an platoon attack with live ammunition and completed a casualty evacuation (CASEVAC)..
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Photo by: Cpl Roxanne Shewchuk.
Section Imagerie Valcartier.
Copyright © 2011 DND-MDN
Arbour Hill is an inner city area of Dublin, on the Northside of the River Liffey, in the Dublin 7 postal district. Arbour Hill, the road of the same name, runs west from Blackhall Place in Stoneybatter, and separates Collins Barracks, now part of the National Museum of Ireland, to the south from Arbour Hill Prison to the north, whose graveyard includes the burial plot of the signatories of the Easter Proclamation that began the 1916 Rising.
The military cemetery at Arbour Hill is the last resting place of 14 of the executed leaders of the insurrection of 1916. Among those buried there are Patrick Pearse, James Connolly and Major John Mc Bride. The leaders were executed in Kilmainham and then their bodies were transported to Arbour Hill, where they were buried.
The graves are located under a low mound on a terrace of Wicklow granite in what was once the old prison yard. The gravesite is surrounded by a limestone wall on which their names are inscribed in Irish and English. On the prison wall opposite the gravesite is a plaque with the names of other people who gave their lives in 1916.
The adjoining Church of the Sacred Heart, which is the prison chapel for Arbour Hill prison, is maintained by the Department of Defence. At the rear of the church lies the old cemetery, where lie the remains of British military personnel who died in the Dublin area in the 19th and early 20th century.
A doorway beside the 1916 memorial gives access to the Irish United Nations Veterans Association house and memorial garden.
Press it before the time runs out!!!
(should be viewed full size so you can see the keys!)
Another pic of my Lost tribute. Only 24 more hours till showtime!!
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:
Poorly executed photo stitch of 4 frames captured from right to left in portrait orientation. With so many moving figures a burst approach would most effectively give the series of shots suitable for stitching on computer. Here the overlapping and ghost figures are partly visible, even after cropping out much of the lower part of the scene. The view shows the intersection of Albert Street looking east (left part of the image) and Abbot Road looking south to the MSU campus edge ( the right part of the photo).