Taylor Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour is her fifth concert tour. Reputation began on May 8, 2018 in Glendale and is set to conclude on November 21, 2018 in Tokyo, comprising 53 concerts.

Reputation Stadium Tour - Soldier Field 6/2/18

Contax G lens of the 1990s especially the 45 mm normal lens had a reputation for sharpness, color accuracy, and in my film days were a favorite. Adapted for Nikon Z the lens continues to show its Zeiss design, sharp and a color balance that is natural, although some photographers might all say it lacks a bit of soul for this reason, a "clinical" lens. The legendary Elcan is the opposite, originally designed as mil spec for the army it has only 4 elements produced by Leica and only 500 made- today those lenses are very expensive- like 40-50k$ expensive being rare. Light Lens Lab has produced a clone of these lenses maintaining even the same glass. The Elcan stopped down is reasonably sharp, not as sharp as my reference Zeiss Contax, in color it is apparent just placing through a viewfinder it has warmth to it that is pleasing. Light Lens Lab made only a few hundred replicas and might be out of stock. The Elcan being a military lens is designed for outdoors, has wide temperature tolerance. It is tiny. It is definitely not "clinical". This a first comparison, lots more outdoors to try, and it will be curious how it holds up in various lighting, and temperature conductions. It will be fun to take it on the road to spots that are more in keeping with the Elcan presumed mil spec utility.

Late turned the Austrian Academy of Sciences itself to its Nazi history: The Learned Society was more deeply involved than it seemed. More than half of its members were party members.

By Marianne Enigl and Christa Zöchling

At its inception in 1847, the Academy of Sciences should be a haven of free thought, research and publishing. The complete independence the imperial family had guaranteed. The Oriental Studies and the Natural Sciences soon acquired a reputation beyond the borders of the Habsburg empire. Here worldwide the first institute was established to study the radioactivity.

With the end of the monarchy became the illustrious circle, who had been appointed by the Emperor, the Republic of Scholars, which chose its members.

All this abandoned the professors in 1938. On 18 March they sent Hitler a telegram of submissivity. As the scholars the "leader" five days after the German invasion insured their loyalty in the noble halls of their Vienna's city palace, SA, SS and Gestapo had already begun mass arrests.

For the 75th Anniversary of the so-called "Anschluss" is the Austrian Academy of Sciences for the first time based keeping track its history in the National Socialism. profile there has present the as yet unpublished study, which will be presented on 11th March 2013. ("The Academy of Sciences in Vienna from 1938 to 1945," edited by Feichtinger/ Matis/ Sienell/ Uhl, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 2013, the exhibition catalog)

Many Academy members had for years offered their servises as illegal Nazis the new rulers. The highest administrative staff of the Academy, in which all the threads of the learned society came together, had been as "Old Fighter" since 1933 in the NSDAP.

Their high level of education put the men assiduously in the service of Nazi policies. Just a year before, in 1937, they had discussed in a joint meeting with the German Academies on the exclusion of Jewish colleagues.

Under its new president, the historian and admirer of Adolf Hitler Heinrich Srbik, in 1939 they were "free of Jews", as noted in a log. The Vienna Academy had 21 of their most respected members excluded. Among them three Nobel Prize winners.

Absolutely thrilled, anthropologists, historians, geographers, biologists, medical physicists put themselves into the service of the Nazis, wanted the racial fanatism, the conquests, the enslavement of the "Easterners" "scientifically substantiate". For the "racial science" and measurement of prisoners of war, the scientists had even actively applied.

Only the mounting of a Hitler Bust, the Academy offered, she refused. For cost reasons.

When the war ended in 1945, more than half of the members of the Academy of Sciences were National Socialist Party members . A denazification was practically non-existent. Even an SS-Sturmbannführer was recorded "resting" after a few years of membership.

What the German historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler noted for society as a whole, was especially valid for the circle of top scholars: "Not Hitler's individual psychopathology is the real problem but the condition of a society that had him ascended and ruled till April 1945".

Who moved with the time

Henry Knight of Srbik: (1878-1951), whose ancestors had been poor Czech peasants in spite of his proud name, which throughout his life he tried to hide, was up in the sixties considered as one of the most important Austrian historians. The passage of time can be seen in his attitude. The imperial period, he conducted research - towards the Habsburgs friendly disposed - ober the dominions, after the collapse of the monarchy, he published essays, which suggested a closeness to social democracy. In time for the seizure of power by the National Socialists in Germany, he published his major work "The German unity", a witness of German megalomania an a plea for German living space. The time of Nazi rule were Srbiks best years. In May 1938 his application for membership to the Nazi Party, in which he had introduced himself as "the founder of the all-German conception of history", was approved. Srbiks anti-Semitism was based on the belief in the superiority of the German "race". He got honorary a low member number of the NSDAP to which otherwise only illegal members had been entitled. For president of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna him the Nazi rulers suggested. Adolf Hitler personally sent him to the German Reichstag.

In his inaugural speech as the new president of the Academy in 1938 Srbik thanked "the genius of our leader", and urged the "communion of the blood the earth, the spirit and the heart and the epochal changes of the body of the Reich and the German people". Science should not be in "complete objectivity lose", it had to put itself in the "service of the German people". The Nazi bombast ran through each of his appearances. In the academy, he performed the exclusion of all Jewish scientists and the occupation of their positions with meritorious Nazi party supporters. In one case, his employment for a candidate has been documented who "was recommended by the Party as an illegal".

From 1943, when the German Wehrmacht in Russia was on the decline and Stalingrad had been lost, there were exhortations to hold out. Srbik praised the "sacrifice of his own life for the mission of the nation". It must "burn pure life so that it illuminates the world as a flame of sacrifice".

In March 1945, the President of the Academy went off and away to the Tyrolean Ehrwald. Srbik owned a second home there. Vienna, he should never enter again. Now in his numerous publications, he represented a cultural Austria-German patriotism. As a sign of detachment from the Nazi regime, he led the denazification process, he had the Nazi Party candidate and poet Max Mell awarded the Grillparzer Prize, although propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels did not fully appreciate this. And he had insisted on the term "archives for the Austrian history". Srbiks Friends brought after the war in his favor, he had allowed to quote "non-Aryan" scientists.

Srbik was then already 70 years old. Over the intervention of the Social Democratic Interior Minister Oskar Helmer him was undiminished awarded his pension. Some of his students made ​​great careers in the Second Republic: in his lectures the openly anti-Semitic World Trade Professor Taras Borodajkewycz however triggered the largest post-war protests and was forced to retire in 1966. Christian Broda, who had doctoral work at Srbik 1940 "People and Leadership" was SPÖ Minister of Justice. Srbiks former student was ÖVP Chancellor Josef Klaus.

Srbiks Nazi past had been concealed or glossed over in the postwar period Legends arose. He is said to have as president of the Academy rescued Dutch cultural historian Johan Huizinga, who had been transferred to a concentration camp as a hostage. In fact, he had written a letter, but his request was denied. Huizinga was released for health reasons at the end. The historian and Srbik-expert Martina Pesditschek considers it "unlikely" that Srbiks intervention was decisive.

When Henry Srbik died in 1951, his three honorific obituaries were written in the context of the academy. The uncritical praise lasted until the late seventies. In Ehrwald today is even a street named after him.

Expelled and persecuted

Karl Bühler: (1879-1963), psychologist and philosopher, teacher of Karl Popper, was appointed in the twenties from Dresden to Vienna University, where he with his wife Charlotte, inter alia, set important stimuli in the Gestalt and child psychology. From 1934 he was a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences. 1938 Buhler lost on "racial" grounds his professorship, was imprisoned, escaped with his wife in the United States. In October 1940, he was expelled from the Academy of Sciences.

Victor Franz Hess (1883-1964), born in Styria, working as a physicist at the famous Institute for Radium Research of the Academy - the first to explore the radioactivity worldwide. Hess was awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics for the of him in 1912 in Vienna discovered cosmic radiation. Professorships at several universities in Austria (he initiated the station Hafelekar, Innsbruck), cooperation in the construction of the Radium Corporation in the United States, 1938 loss of professor in Graz, imprisonment and exile with his Jewish wife to the USA. Corresponding member of the Academy since 1933, exclusion from the Academy in 1940.

Stefan Meyer (1872-1949), born in Vienna, Ludwig Boltzmann's assistant at the Physics Institute of the University of Vienna and later professor here, directed the Academy-Institute for Radium Research. After the "Anschluss" of "racial" reasons persecuted, survived retreated in Bad Ischl. Member of the Academy since 1921, declared himself his resignation in late 1938, and so he forestalled his exclusion.

Erwin Schrödinger: (1887-1961), Vienna, taught theoretical physics at Jena, Zurich, Berlin, 1933 Nobel Laureate in Physics. In the same year emigrated to England. From 1936 professor in Graz, in 1938 flight to Ireland. Member of the Academy of Sciences in 1928, 1940 excluded. He was taken in 1945 again .

Nazi careers

Victor Christian: (1885-1963), member of the NSDAP and SS -Hauptsturmführer. The Viennese philologist in 1938 was dean at the University of Vienna and head of the SS Research Centre "Ancestral Heritage" in 1939, the Academy elected him as a full member. In 1945 he was one of four with Nazi heavily burdened whose membership was declared "extinct" than five years later resumption.

Fritz Knoll: (1883-1981), the Styrian-born was a botanist, a German National, emerged as "Illegal" desolate agitating at the University of Vienna in leather boots and black riding pants on, the secret police recorded 1937 in Knolls Institute reign a "provocative Nazi majority". After the "Anschluss" of Austria in March 1938, he was Acting Rector of the University and immediately launched the "wild expulsions" (historian Gerhard Botz) until the end of April 1938 250 teachers were removed of "racial" or political reasons. At the same time, "Your Magnificence" Knoll end of March was politely asked by the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences", ... to take over the interests of the Nazi Party" in the academy. The following year, Academy President Srbik declared himself Nazi officer, Knoll received the honor of full membership. 1945, this was listed as "extinct". Three years later, Knoll was resumed, the Academy president wrote to him". It will be my pleasure to welcome you at the next meeting again". At the University the ex-rector further had ban on entering the house, at the Academy of Sciences, should he ascend the late fifties to the Secretary General. The Republic honored Knoll, who had once proudly proclaimed", the Jew is gone from our science and indeed for all times", with the Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class, the academy thanked itself with the medal "Bene Merito".

Oswald Menghin: (1888-1973) was born in Merano, prehistory at the University of Vienna, mid thirties Rector and active in the integration of "Illegal" in the corporate state. Member of the NSDAP in 1938 as minister of education responsible for political and "racial" cleansing of the universities. 1945, the "first List of war criminals", U.S. internment, then escape to Argentina. Membership in the Academy were suspended in 1945, resumed in 1959.

Josef Nadler: (1884-1963), German scholar from Bohemia, appointed with his literary history of the German estates to professor, since 1934 regular Academy member. NSDAP-party member; in National Socialism director of Germanic Languages ​​at the University of Vienna. 1945 was banned from teaching at the University of Vienna, his academy membership were suspended, reactivated from 1948.

Gustav Ortner: (1900-1984), physicist, born in Styria, "Illegal", took over in 1938 the famous Institute for Radium Research of the Academy. Ortner 1945 was seized by the University of Vienna with teaching ban, put his academy affiliation dormant and reactivated in 1948. Ortner 1960 was a professor at the Vienna University of Technology, 1961, he was Head of the Atomic Institute of the Austrian Universities.

 

www.profil.at/articles/1306/560/352237/die-ns-geschichte-...

 

reputation.bad@gmail.com

badreputati0n@yahoo.com.br

Participants enjoy some relaxing yoga with instructor Anna at the Dowd YMCA's Taylor Swift: Reputation Party.

Reputation to the contrary notwithstanding, we've had a lot of rain in San Diego recently. This is, I suppose, small fish to fry given the amount of snow hitting the east coast. Still, I am getting sick of the rain. The worst part is that the rain forces me to commute by car, so I'm getting well behind in my bike mileage, and consequently losing what small fitness I had. (Some people ride even in the rain, but I'm not that tough -- or Belgian....)

 

Please View On Black.

The 'Reputation Complex' is a moving combination of various factors, components and drivers that are linked in a close and complicated way. This combination brings with it, for all organizations, equal risks and opportunities – the first to be managed and the second to be exploited in the right manner.

MSLGROUP's Chief Strategy Officer Pascal Beucler shares his thoughts on the fast transformation of reputation management and what it means for our clients and for us.

The 'Reputation Complex' is a moving combination of various factors, components and drivers that are linked in a close and complicated way. This combination brings with it, for all organizations, equal risks and opportunities – the first to be managed and the second to be exploited in the right manner.

MSLGROUP's Chief Strategy Officer Pascal Beucler shares his thoughts on the fast transformation of reputation management and what it means for our clients and for us.

www.jedwardswinery.com/wines/

 

Jonathan Edwards Winery is quickly gaining a reputation for creating premium quality Napa Valley wines. While living in Napa Valley, winemaker Jonathan Edwards carefully selected grapes from specific vineyards each chosen to enhance the grapes varietal characteristics. These vineyards were then placed under long term contracts with our winery which ensures product consistency. During harvest season our grapes are hand picked under our direct supervision, and then immediately begin their transition into wine in California. Jonathan does this to maintain optimal freshness and stability of our premium wines. The young wine is then brought to Connecticut in refrigerated trucks to begin 12-18 months of barrel aging and bottling. This allows us to bring the best the West Coast has to offer to your doorstep. Jonathan Edwards Winery currently features Napa Valley Chardonnay, Merlot, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Petite Sirah. We produce a new ruby Port each year focusing on a new variety. We have had a Zinfandel Port, Syrah Port and most recently our Sierra Foothills Zinfandel Port. The port production is limited and can only be purchased at the winery.

 

Our Connecticut Wines

We also offer a full line of premium estate Connecticut wines. Jonathan has selected varietals that highlight our unique New England coastal climate. These grapes are harvested from our vineyards by hand, often by our own customers! Traditional fruit forward flavors are to be expected. Our estate wines currently include Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer and Cabernet Franc and Pinot Gris.

 

The Vineyards

Upon purchasing the winery, previously called Crosswoods Vineyards, all of the vineyards had to be removed due to years of neglect. As sad as that may seem, it provided an excellent opportunity to start fresh and utilize the latest technology in our vineyards. Located nine miles from the coast, our site provides us with moderating temperatures from the Long Island Sound which extends the fall season for optimal grape maturation. Being perched on the South side of a hill allows for full sun exposure for our grapes and excellent airflow to dry off our vines after a summertime shower. Additionally, an extensive drainage system known as "tiling" has been installed throughout our vineyards. Every vineyard row now has a drainage tile to allow excess water to drain down and out of the vineyard, allowing warmer soils in the spring, increased aeration in the soil, and prevention of excess moisture in the winter. Our vineyard is the only fully "tiled" vineyard in New England and we believe this gives our site a distinct advantage. Our vineyard staff devotes all of their time and energy into making sure that each vine gets the individual hands-on attention that ultimately leads to healthy, balanced, premium vines. We at the Jonathan Edwards Winery believe that fine wine is truly created in the vineyard.

First introduced in 1959, the Ferrari 250 GT SWB quickly built up a reputation on the world’s race circuits. In 1960, the car’s first full race season, it achieved class wins at Brands Hatch, Goodwood, Le Mans, Monza and Spa.

 

In 1961 Ferrari introduced some modifications to the 250 GT SWB in an effort to keep it competitive, giving the engine bigger valves and a higher compression ratio as well as high-lift cams and twin-choke carburettors.

 

The success of these modifications meant that the 1961 chassis 2689GT has an interesting history and story to tell.

 

The car was first owned by Pierre Noblet, an amateur racer, and was in fact a replacement for chassis 2021GT, one of the original 250 GT SWBs, which was badly damaged at Clermont-Ferrand by his friend Pierre Damay. Being a true gentleman, as they were back in those days, Damay ordered a new 250 GT SWB to replace the one he damaged. The new car was delivered in early 1961 but too late for the pre-Le Mans test. However, Noblet managed to have the car ready for the race itself. Along with fellow amateur racing driver Jean Guichet, the two drivers were undeterred and drove the 250 GT SWB to an impressive class-winning third place overall, only beaten by two factory-run Ferrari 250 TRI/61s.

 

The car’s racing career was a short one, but it did go on to win at Monza and on the old Brussels street circuit before being exported to America, where the car unfortunately fell into disrepair.

 

The car has however now been fully restored to its ’61 specification and is currently owned by much respected Californian car collector Bruce Meyer.

 

The Ferrari 250 GT SWB is certainly considered to be one of the all-time greatest Ferraris, and perhaps even the greatest of all sports cars ever produced. The 250 GT SWB handled superbly on the road and was near-invincible in the GT racing category, giving Ferrari the title for GT Manufacturers in 1960 and 1961, and is today, over half a century later, one of the most coveted cars ever produced in Maranello. This was a car that even by today’s standards was quick, being able to achieve the 0-60mph sprint in just 6.7 seconds and go onto a top speed of 158mph.

1-12-13 Wyndham Street Races

 

Laverda (Moto Laverda S.A.S. – Dottore Francesco Laverda e fratelli) was an Italian manufacturer of high performance motorcycles. The motorcycles in their day gained a reputation for being robust and innovative.

The Laverda brand was absorbed by Piaggio when, in 2004, Piaggio absorbed Aprilia. Piaggio has elected to quietly close all activities related to the Laverda brand and has publicly stated that they would be willing to sell the rights to the brand if an investor should appear. Currently Laverda.com redirects to Aprilia's website.

 

750:

The true birth of Laverda as a serious big bike brand occurred with the introduction of 750 cc; its appearance halted sales of the recently introduced 650. Many of the first bikes were produced for the American market under the brand "American Eagle", which were imported to the US from 1968 until 1969 by Jack McCormack. The 750 was identical to the 650 except for the lower compression and carburettor rejetting. In 1969 the "750 S" and the "750 GT" were born, both equipped with an engine which would truly start the Laverda fame. Both engine and frame were reworked: power was increased to 60 bhp (45 kW) for the S. 3 bikes were entered by the factory at the 1969 Dutch 24 hour endurance race in Oss, the 750S was clearly the fastest bike until piston failure left just one machine to finish fourth.

Just like the agricultural machinery made by Laverda S.p.A., the other family business, Laverdas were built to be indestructible. The parallel twin cylinder engine featured no less than five main bearings (four crankcase bearings and a needle-roller outrigger bearing in the primary chaincase cover), a duplex cam chain, and a starter motor easily twice as powerful as needed. Of course, this made the engine and subsequently the entire bike heavier than other bikes of the same vintage, such as the Ducati 750.

 

Laverda 750 SFC

The SF evolved to include disc brakes and cast alloy wheels. Developed from the 750S road bike was the 750 SFC (super freni competizione), a half-faired racer that was developed to win endurance events like the Oss 24 hours, Barcelona 24 hours and the Bol D'Or at Le Mans. This it did, often placed first, second and third in the same race, and dominating the international endurance race circuit in 1971. Distinguished by its characteristic orange paint which would become the company's race department colour, its smooth aerodynamic fairing and upswept exhaust, the SFC was Laverda's flagship product and best advertisement, flaunting pedigree and the message of durability, quality, and exclusivity. The SFC "Series 15,000" was featured in the Guggenheim Museum in New York's 1999 exhibit The Art of the Motorcycle as one of the most iconic bikes of the 1970s.

Source: Wikipedia

 

Review:

By the late 1990s Laverda were developing their parallel twin sportster into a decent bike, which was also getting cheaper in the UK as the pound got stronger.

 

An almost entirely new engine, watercooled and breathing through fuel injection, boosted power to over 80bhp, plus vibration was reduced with balancer shafts.

 

The crude, twin cylinder motor had always been the Laverda’s weak point and now, with a torquier, smoother mill, the twin spar chassis and Brembo brakes could really shine. Suddenly, the old fashioned big twin concept seemed to make sense.

  

One quick blast up the road is all it takes to confirm that the 750S is the start of something big for Laverda. At a glance the bike is very similar to the firm’s previous parallel twins. Its chassis is almost identical, its styling owes much to earlier models, and despite being watercooled the new, grey-finished motor fires up with a mechanical whir and a familiar chuffing from its twin pipes.

 

But the 750S motor responds more quickly to a blip of the throttle, its clutch is notably lighter than before, and the new twin has a distinctly smoother feel as it pulls away. There’s still plenty of Laverda twin character, but the whole bike seems more refined. Then you crack open the throttle in first gear, and the front wheel heads for the clouds to show that, despite its sophisticated manners, this bike is much more of a hooligan than any of its predecessors.

 

If that hasn’t convinced you that the 750S is a brilliantly enjoyable motorbike, the first tight bend will do the trick. Squeeze the Laverda’s big front Brembo discs and you slow with tackle-crunching ferocity. Flick the clip-ons and the bike cranks onto its side with suspension and tyres carving a precise line through the corner. Wind open the throttle and the twin-pot motor revs smoothly and hard towards its redline at just over nine grand.

 

Those first few hundred yards are what stick in my mind after a day spent thrashing about on the new Lav mainly because I hadn’t expected the bike to be anything like this good. Laverda have been steadily refining the age-old parallel twin format since bike-mad local textile baron Francesco Tognon took over and began rebuilding the firm a little over three years ago. But despite that, the oil/aircooled parallel twin motors have always felt a bit crude, and I’d expected the 750S to be just another small step in the process of evolution.

 

Instead the new bike takes Laverda a big leap forward, thanks largely to a watercooled engine whose basic layout is similar to that of its predecessors, but which shares few components and is a far more sophisticated piece of work. The 750S is the first bike that the new company regards as its own design. Tognon says it represents the second phase of Laverda’s recovery and riding it shows that he ain’t exaggerating.

 

The five-strong design and engineering team at Laverda’s base in Zan in north-eastern Italy left no stone unturned in their attempt to uprate the twin-cam, eight-valve parallel twin unit that has helped put the firm back on the map. Boring out the motor from 78.5 to 83mm increases capacity to 747cc from the old lump’s 668cc.

 

The 180-degree crankshaft’s stroke remains at 69mm, but changes including a new balancer shaft are intended to reduce vibration. A new pair of camshafts sit in a narrower cylinder head that also features the novelty of watercooled seats for the exhaust valves. Compression ratio is up from 9:1 to 10.5:1 which, along with the new twin-pipe exhaust system, helps increase the claimed peak output from 70 to 82.5bhp at 7000rpm. The six-speed gearbox incorporates revised teeth and dogs; changes to the clutch include a new master cylinder designed to give a lighter feel at the lever.

 

The chassis is essentially that of the 668cc twins, based around a twin-spar aluminium frame built for the original 650 model that appeared back in 1992. Laverda have never skimped on cycle parts, and the new bike carries on the tradition. Paioli supply the 41mm upside-down forks and the rear shock, both multi-adjustable. Brembo provide brakes (four-pot calipers and 320mm discs up front); wheels are three-spoke Marchesinis wearing Pirelli Dragons.

 

Fork-tops are pushed well through the yokes to quicken the steering compared to the Ghost models (rake is still a less-than-racy 26.5 degrees, even so). At 192kg dry the Lav weighs a bit less than Ducati’s 748, the same as Honda’s VTR1000 and slightly more than Suzuki’s TL1000. But the 750S is very slim and low, and its under-seat fuel tank helps make for a very light and manoeuvrable bike that immediately makes you feel at home.

 

The motor’s new-found smoothness is obvious, and you soon discover that there’s extra power through most of the rev range too. At very low revs the bike judders like a road drill, shaking the mirrors that are mounted to the flimsy fairing. But the vibration fades by 3000rpm, and from then on the Laverda punches with a force that is not exactly earth-shattering (Ducati’s 900SS probably has slightly more midrange), but which is more than enough to make you grin.

 

Previous Laverda twins certainly don’t wheelie like this bike does given a first-gear crack of the throttle and they don’t tempt you to keep thrashing them in the same way either. Response from the revised, faster-reacting Weber fuel-injection system is ace. And the motor’s added smoothness is just as important as its extra power, because you’re more tempted to keep the revs in the sweet zone between 6000 and 8000rpm.

 

Same goes for the new gearbox, which is a big improvement on previous Laverda efforts. The box shifted cleanly at speed, and was let down only by an occasional reluctance to find neutral at a standstill. Word from the factory is that this was caused by this pre-production bike’s slightly dragging clutch, and that a modification has already been found to prevent the same thing happening to production machines. (What’s more, Laverda seem so on-the-ball these days that it’s probably true...)

 

Provided it’s kept revving the 750S is respectably quick as it heads for a top speed of close to 140mph. Granted, that makes it by no means the fastest sports bike in the world. Acceleration above 120mph is pretty gentle, and many riders would doubtless prefer a bit more poke for track days and serious Sunday morning scratching. But the rest of the time that performance gives the perfect excuse for plenty of full-throttle craziness.

 

Predictably the chassis copes effortlessly with everything the engine and rider can throw at it. Laverda really got it right with the 668cc models a few years ago, since when they’ve merely added a few refinements. The hefty twin-spar frame doesn’t have to break sweat to keep 80 horses under control. Forks and shock are firm enough to jar a bit over big bumps, and the riding position means you wouldn’t want to ride in traffic for long (steering lock is pretty tight too). But suspension control is superb and the bike feels better the harder it’s ridden.

 

Despite its less than radical geometry the short, light 750S steers pretty quickly. And it also has a stunningly stable, well-planted cornering feel, with no sign of TL1000-style twitchiness. The rear Dragon is a fairly narrow 160-section cover on a five-inch rim, but for road use the 750S has heaps of grip, and enough ground clearance to need it. The front tyre has to work hard, too, when Brembo’s excellent stoppers are used in anger.

 

Not that I needed the brakes to slow down when, only a few miles after setting off from importers Three Cross, the bike suddenly lost all life and coasted to a halt at the roadside. It turned out that the sidestand cut-out switch was killing the sparks, although the stand was fully retracted. A few turns of a spanner from the toolkit soon had it sorted, but this is the sort of silly problem that Laverda need to avoid if they’re going to steal sales from the big boys.

 

Another electrics-related niggle was that the 19 litre fuel tank’s low warning light had a habit of flashing on far too early, in typical Italian fashion. But quality generally seemed good. Laverda boss Tognon has made a serious investment in an attempt to improve reliability. Finish of parts such as the frame, bodywork and paint (any colour you like as long as it’s black) is well up to standard.

 

When you consider that only a few years ago Laverda seemed to be in a terminal crisis, following the collapse of yet another attempted revival, the appearance of the firm’s first truly new bike is a result in itself. That the 750S is so good is a minor miracle. And what’s more, the normal Italian bike sting in the tail a price several thousand quid higher than the Japanese competition doesn’t apply.

 

Three Cross have pitched the 750S at a very competitive £7499 on the road, hardly more than the 668cc Lavs and substantially cheaper than the TL1000S and VTR1000, let alone Ducati’s 748. If you’re looking for a twin-cylinder sports bike with a bit of character, the 750S is worth checking out. One quick blast up the road is all it takes...

 

Source: www.carolenash.com/insidebikes/bike-reviews/laverda/750s/

Participants enjoy some relaxing yoga with instructor Anna at the Dowd YMCA's Taylor Swift: Reputation Party.

Please don't use my images on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission - rr.restifo@gmail.com. © All rights reserved.

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Da www.famefestival.it/?page_id=4:

 

FAME festival è morto

Come siete eravamo. come siamo sarete, sempre peggio e tardi.

 

FAME festival is dead

How you are we were. how we are you will be. always too late though.

 

What you’ll read below is the old text:

 

FAME (eng) = the state or quality of being widely honored and acclaimed,favorable public reputation (ita = fama, successo).

 

FAME (ita) = bisogno molesto di mangiare, carestia, grande miseria, grande desiderio (eng = starvation, hunger).

 

Here’s the text, it’s the same from the first year, if you have it says it all and still, you stupid journalists cant write a decent article!

 

In order to avoid rhetorical somersaults of the case, Studiocromie is pleased to announce FAME festival for what it is: the meeting of a dozen international artists in a small italian centre, Grottaglie.

 

The city is famous for its ancient ceramics tradition and there’s a whole area exclusively dealing with ceramics production.

 

FAME wants to be a new point of view on the original structure of this quarter and the city. While politicians and institutions only care about their personal interests, we’d like to give back to the town and its original asset the light they deserves.

 

The name of the event, FAME, refers to the ironic difference of meaning of the word itself between Italian and English. If in Italian FAME means hunger, in English is FAME, understood as honour and success status, things that Italy can only have exactly a great hunger.

 

The idea is to host the artists for variable length of time (from 1 to 4 weeks) and to offer them the cooperation of the local artisans for the production of pottery works and limited edition prints.

 

Furthermore the artists will have at their disposal several walls to paint around the city, in order to upgrade a few areas which are aesthetically depressed.

 

At the end of their stay, everything created, including new original artworks, screenprints and ceramic pieces made with the collaboration of local artisians will be showcased in a final group show. It will take place in one of the most ancient ceramics workshop of the area.

 

More importantly, it has to be said, the festival is entirely financed and curated by Studiocromie, wich is a one-man (+ his parents) screenprinting studio, without any kind of sponsorship from external sources.

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Da www.artribune.com/2014/05/chiudere-allapice-della-notorie...:

 

Chiudere all’apice della notorietà. Angelo Milano racconta il Fame Festival.

 

Grottaglie, provincia di Taranto. Angelo Milano e un gruppo di amici si inventano un festival di Street Art. Gli attriti con gli amministratori locali non mancano ma il “Fame” diventa un caso. E così tutto si ammoscia. E Angelo Milano, allora, decide di chiudere. Lo abbiamo intervistato.

 

Iniziamo con un po’ di storia. Quando, come e in che circostanze è nato il Fame? Da quali idee, da quali esigenze, da quali stimoli?

Eravamo a cavallo fra il 2007 e 2008, la prima edizione col nome Fame è stata nell’estate 2008. È successo perché ero tornato a Grottaglie e non volevo annoiarmi, è stato necessario importare stimoli da fuori. Un bisogno molto personale, anche lavorativo, che in un certo senso era in linea con i bisogni del Paese intero.

 

Quando hai capito che la cosa stava prendendo piede e aveva successo?

Quando ho cominciato ad annoiarmi. I primi anni era molto meglio, perché generava molti contrasti ed era divertente, da lì in poi, vista la fama che gli artisti invitati stavano guadagnando, sui giornali e su Internet girava voce che il Fame Festival fosse un evento da supportare. Di conseguenza i contrasti sono spariti e si è affievolito tutto in un consenso generale, letteralmente dettato dai media: più stupido era l’articolo (vedi le gallerie di Repubblica e altre testate ritenute “serie”), più conferiva autorità al festival. La gente spesso non capisce un cazzo!

 

Economicamente com’è stata questa iniziativa? Ci hai guadagnato? È stato un bagno di sangue?

Dall’inizio è stata una scommessa dalla posta altissima: se fosse andata male ci avrei rimesso a vita! Fortunatamente ogni anno avevo un colpo di fortuna, e non ci ho mai rimesso; al contrario, l’interesse nel festival ha generato traffico sul sito dove commercializzo le serigrafie che produco con gli artisti. Ho venduto molto, per finanziare il festival e per camparci allegramente. Quindi tutto bene, e sempre meglio.

 

Qual è stato il rapporto con la cittadinanza?

I primi anni, un sacco di punti interrogativi: la gente ovviamente non era pronta né abituata. Poi, come dicevo, quando l’opinione pubblica è stata influenzata dai media, è andato tutto più liscio, e anche quei pochi compaesani ostici hanno cambiato atteggiamento. Che peccato!

 

Qual è stato il rapporto con le istituzioni locali?

Una tristezza rara. Due-tre assessori ignorantissimi, al pari del sindaco, si sono dati la zappa sui piedi il primo anno, cancellando un murale di Ericailcane. Da lì in poi, avendo ricevuto insulti da tutti i lati, non hanno più aperto bocca né mosso un dito. Erano sotto la costante minaccia del dover argomentare la loro ignoranza. E allora meglio stare zitti.

 

Quali sono stati i rapporti a livello internazionale?

Con gli artisti rapporti di amicizia, tranne con qualche ego strabordante; con il pubblico sempre molto buoni. Sono venuti dappertutto a vedere cosa stavamo combinando qui.

 

Quali sono stati i passaggi più difficili e quelli invece che ti hanno dato maggiore soddisfazione?

I più difficili sono stati nella transizione dall’inizio, in cui eravamo un giro di amici (io e gli artisti) che facevano cose per il gusto di farle, stando bene insieme e guadagnandosi da vivere, al momento in cui gli artisti erano - sono - osannati ovunque, con le conseguenze che puoi immaginare: meno tempo per fare quello che ti piace, più preoccupazioni, più rapporti coi soldi (che, attenzione, non vuol dire più soldi)…

 

Nel 2012 hai allestito l’ultima edizione del festival. Ci elenchi i motivi che ti hanno fatto decidere di chiudere questa iniziativa?

Alla fine dell’ultima edizione era tutto facile: dipingere in giro, fare video, spaccare cose, anche sotto gli occhi delle autorità. Ci abbiamo provato a fare cose brutte e provocatorie, ma in cambio c’erano solo sorrisi e accoglienza. L’attrito originale era scomparso, e questo già non era in rima con lo spirito e l’attitudine del festival.

In più, in giro per la Penisola, come in tutta Europa e non solo, i festival si sono moltiplicati, diventando tutti uguali e interscambiabili. Amministrazioni e politici hanno finanziato il loro festivalino dando due euro al curatorino di turno, e il consumo da parte dell’osservatore medio si è circoscritto al tempo di un paio di click su Facebook. Ho avvertito una totale mancanza di senso in quello che stavamo facendo.

 

E quindi hai deciso di chiudere…

Penso che un po’ tutti, artisti inclusi, siano mortalmente annoiati da quello che stanno facendo. Diciamo che ho avuto le palle per fermarmi nel momento in cui andava meglio - soprattutto economicamente - per cominciare altro e non finire a fare cose senza stimoli. A dire il vero, invidio gli artisti che da dieci anni continuano a fare la stessa identica cosa, estendendo il loro pubblico (Instagram!) e limando gli spigoli della loro comunicazione. A me sembra che, lima e lima, alla fine diventi una palla, vai d’accordo con tutti e non c’hai più niente da dire, però rotoli e puoi farlo all’infinito! In alcuni casi si è addirittura arrivati alla demagogia, fortuna che la gente non se ne accorge…

Quindi sì, Fame è morto. Non era più divertente, adesso ci sono altri 600 festival in giro, con gli stessi artisti, organizzati da ‘sti curatori senza idee che, poveracci, combattono per la sopravvivenza.

 

E dunque ora, nel 2014, che fai? Hai smesso di occuparti di Street Art?

Non mi sono mai occupato di Street Art, a me piaceva invitare i miei amici qui e fare casino. La Street Art è quella dei libri inglesi con le foto rubate da Flickr. O quella di cui si parla su testate come questa, adesso che Sky fa i minidocumentari. Né io né i miei amici abbiamo mai avuto a che fare con ‘ste stronzate. Faccio un paio di marchette all’estero sfruttando l’eredità del lavoro fatto finora, Milestone Project a Girona per esempio, che faccio per soldi e divertimento, e mi sono messo a fare vestiti. È più onesto, civile, profondo e responsabile vendere vestiti piuttosto che arte!

 

Participants enjoy some relaxing yoga with instructor Anna at the Dowd YMCA's Taylor Swift: Reputation Party.

Participants enjoy an intense arms/abs workout with instructor Holly at the Dowd YMCA's Taylor Swift: Reputation Party.

Bhutan is not a country that is generally well known. If asked, most people might say that it lies somewhere in the Himalayas and is a bit hilly. If pressed, they might think of yaks and snow leopards and rhododendrons, or maybe know it as the land where development is measured in terms of Gross National Happiness rather than Gross Domestic Privation.

 

And in fact, this latter characteristic most fits with my experiences of this mountainous kingdom – the happiness of the people stands out a mile. In the short time that I was there I cannot recall a frown or a curse or even so much as a tiny disagreement. Even the use of the car horn is limited to polite little peeps or playful messages sent to pretty girls as they saunter along the pavement. It is such a gentle society.

 

It’s also an equal and an emancipated one. Women are first in line to inherit following the death of their parents; it is they who get the house and the property and the rights, not the son (whether he’s older or not). Women can have as many spouses as men. Women are very forthright when it comes to flirting: within a couple of hours at my first hotel I was invited to a dance that evening and asked if I wanted to marry one of the waitresses. I didn’t take advantage of either offer but, given the beauty of the women here, I was sorely tempted. They really are extremely lovely – slim and wiggly bodies, velvety black hair that never seems to grey, wonderful dimpled smiles, and eyes that just penetrate into the heart of you.

 

They seem to be a very sexually liberated lot (well, that’s one way of calling it). My guide, Kinlay, was forever talking about his girlfriends (even though he’s married with two sons), hanky-panky (but no spanky, perhaps that was pushing revelations a mite too far given that I’d only just met him), and jiggy-jiggy (or, in local parlance, ‘jeggy-jeggy’), or shouting, ‘Charimdumaray’ (‘You’re lovely’) through the window at any passing female. But then he’s very young, he’s in his thirties … Or maybe he’s just trying to live up to the reputation of his namesake, Lama Drukpa Kunley (1455-1529), aka ‘The Divine Madman’, a saint who had the MO of driving out demons by means of excessive drinking and fornication which sounds a perfectly valid and jolly method of exorcism to me. His signature, a big phallus , now adorns many buildings throughout the area – a sign to ward off evil and protect the household. I wonder how this would go down with the good citizens of Ayr?

 

Many people still revere His Mad Divineship / Holy Madness and consequently many people have been given his name (or that of the temple that was dedicated to him, ‘Chimey Lhakhang’). The first two people I met in Bhutan were called Kunley. Then the third (who was confusingly a woman ) turned out to be a Kunley too. And so was the fourth. I gave up asking after that.

 

Bhutan is now a constitutional monarchy since the present king relinquished absolute rule in 2008. Like a 21 year old with the keys to life, the new democracy is revelling in its liberation, independence and autonomy and is enjoying furnishing its own flat and buying its own clothes and food. But at the same time it looks up to the person who granted it its freedom, and the whole country remains loyal and truly affectionate towards the Royal Family.

 

The king (31, Pisces - they like such details here) married his young betrothed (21, Virgo ) on the 13th October. Every shop had photos of the couple posted outside and inside, decorated with ribbons in the colours of the Buddha – blue (for the sky), white (for the clouds), red (for fire), green (for water) and yellow (for the soil). Huge banners adorned hillsides and town gates. Radio programmes were filled with callers wishing the happy pair a long, fruitful, loving union. And as I watched the wedding in a restaurant in Paro , with the assembled masses in the crowds and in the organised dances that must have taken weeks to rehearse, and thought that there could not be a single person in the nation who was not either at the ceremony or who was not glued to the TV, it occurred to me that this was what it must have been like with QEII 50 years ago . How long will this state of innocent bliss last?

 

Maybe for a long time yet. Not only is this a peaceful society (I never once felt threatened) but it’s also relatively prosperous, well organised, and, crucially and in a real way, it actually is a society. It is not a collection of individuals out to benefit for themselves. This is one big nation of people (about 650 000 of them) who believe they are part of a larger community of family, friends and neighbours. The neighbours may be from the east of the country (300 miles away and effectively 2 days travelling) who speak another dialect and wear different clothes, but they are still part of the same community.

 

Free education for all plays an important role in levelling classes and bringing people together. The king (apparently) lives in a ‘cottage’ and he is certainly one who puts much effort in meeting and greeting. The ceremony he attended in Thimpu, after the wedding, lasted from 0900 to 1700 and for a lot of that time he was moving amongst the crowds, shaking hands and speaking with (not ‘to’ – I don’t think he’s a Charlie. ‘And what do you do?’ – probably isn’t his stock, opening gambit) virtually everyone there.

 

Communities work in unison to improve the environment and their own lives. They harvest the rice together, it’s a communal thing. Often I saw small congregations on the hillside, burning juniper as incense, intoning incantations, chanting with monks. Several times I saw parties of villagers or school children walking along the roadside picking up litter. The land is free of piles of rubbish. This is a clean country. The drains and rivers are not open sewers. Not once did I see a rat.

 

Smoking was banned recently. It’s an offence to smoke – you could be imprisoned. For grass it’s up to three years for possession and 9 years for dealing. This was the first country to outlaw plastic bags too. Unfortunately, however, for both fags and bags neither law is strictly enforced and both are commonly (if expensively for the former) available.

 

But Bhutan is not Shangri La. In 1999 TV was introduced for the first time. Now the two favourite programmes are World Federation Wrestling from the USA, and ‘Bhutan Idol’ (the third series) – it was this programme that Kinlay said would prevent me from watching any footie on TV in the bars. ‘Idol’ was that popular! Everyone now has a TV and there is a good link between the growth in its distribution and the incidence of crime in the country.

Mobile phones came in in 2003 (so my guide said) and they are now ubiquitous. Young people have adopted the global practice of meeting up and then spending all the time texting and / or phoning other friends elsewhere. That’s when they can stop blowing bubble gum for long enough to say anything. One person I met had a sophisticated ring tone system that alerted him to whoever was trying to contact him: his wife’s ring tone was his young son’s crying and gurgling; his mate’s tone was an extract from his favourite blue movie accompanied by the obligatory image of a busty brunette.

 

The people like to dress up for occasions (like the festival – Tseschu – in Thimpu) with their finest national gear: beautiful, iridescent, brightly coloured silk dresses for the women; rather more subdued but still unique skirts and knee-high stockings for the men. When visiting national monuments (such as museums, temples, dzongs ) or events they have to dress in national costume. But these days, for normal everyday wear, they tend far more towards the boring western norm of t-shirts and jeans and track-suits (usually with ‘Man Utd’ written on them. Damn their souls!). There was a great contrast between the clothes worn to the formal Tseschu festival and the far less formal singalong in Thimpu town square – colourful, vibrant, exciting of the exotic compared with the dull, drab, grey and black of the mundane (and the future).

 

Traditional sports seem to be holding their own against the overwhelming and inexorable influence of football . Archery is something the Bhutanese are especially good at having won medals of all colours at recent Olympics. These days they employ carbon composite bows for main competitions. Traditional bows of bamboo are still found and used but mainly to simply maintain the tradition. The target is a wooden board about 40cm high and usually 140m from the archer. No wonder they’re good at it.

 

Darts (not the UK variety) – about 15cm long consisting of a 3cm metal point, a wooden shaft and 5cm feathers – is also played at weekends. The ‘court’ is longer than a cricket pitch and the target is a 30cm wooden board with a bulls-eye near the top. A wall of earth or concrete backdrops the target, really just a sop to health and safety. They are not overly concerned with H&S, which is healthy.

 

For both archery and darts, the opposing team (all wearing fine traditional skirts ) line up alongside the target and watch intently as the projectile is released and heads towards them. The observers’ reaction time for the darts is far less than that for archery. I think I was happier watching the archery. When a dart or arrow actually hits the board it triggers a mediaeval ritual of chanting and dancing by both of the teams, in praise of the gods for such a blessing. If only our supporters and ‘sportsmen’ took win and loss in the same spirit.

 

There are cars in Bhutan as well. Not many of them because there aren’t that many people. They are in good condition and few of them send out blasts of poisonous black smoke. I saw my first privately-owned electric car here. They are generally new (the favourites being Hyundais and Toyota) and without any dents. Motorbikes are rare and tuc-tucs are entirely absent (which is such a relief!). Roads (maintained and built by Indians, and funded by the RoI government) are largely pothole-free and gloriously smooth. It still takes a long time to get anywhere because of the winding nature of the terrain, but at least it’s almost painless.

 

But, of course, this road system comes at a cost. Gangs of Indians, thousands of them, have been imported and have set up semi-permanent residence in Bhutan (without citizen rights, of course) and their sole employment, occupation and raison d’etre is road building and repair. They work very long hours (0600 to 1600 hrs) for a pittance. Their tools are mainly their hands: hauling large stones over cliffs or onto lorries. Primitive implements are provided: back bent double as they use pathetic brushes to sweep the road; women shovelling sand and gravel and throwing it through sieves. Some (men as well as women) actually break rocks with hammers, all day long, like a work detail from a ‘40s state penitentiary, a modern day chain-gang. These gangs have their own settlements and schools; they are separate from mainstream Bhutanese society. But they don’t seem to be discriminated or prejudiced against. There is, at least, no bigotry in Bhutan.

 

Except perhaps against the Nepalese. This is not talked about, but many Bhutanese who originated in Nepal (two or three or more generations back) were forcibly deported in the ‘90s (?) and now reside in refugee camps in Nepal. I met only one person whose ancestors came from Nepal but he seemed contented and calm. He might have said more but we’d been caught up in a delay caused by a landslide and the obstruction had just been removed so we had to move on. 11 days is not enough in Bhutan.

 

You might think that a Buddhist democracy consisting of less than three quarters of a million people might not need or, especially, want an army. How could they justify killing? And anyway, what could their paltry population hope to accomplish against the might of the Indians or Chinese if they chose to invade ? But it’s a career path to some (Kinlay considered it after university (in Chennai) if tourism didn’t work out), and for others the army really is a necessity.

 

Earlier in the noughties there was some trouble with Assamese rebels. They had occupied some of the forests of the duars in Bhutan (just across the border) and were causing problems (not with the locals – the Assamese were generous with their payment for goods – but with the (Indian?) politicians). Negotiations with the rebels were not successful and so the Bhutanese government sent in the troops. This resulted in the insurgents being ousted but at the cost of 12 Bhutanese soldiers being killed. The effects of this battle / war seems to have become deeply embedded within the psyche of the Bhutanese; a large memorial (at Dochu La consisting of 108 chortens) was established to commemorate the conflict and one of the on-going repercussions is that the army are more popular than ever. Not that it would ever sink to the depths of the Burmese army and become a junta. That would be unthinkable.

 

So the army is needed . But what about religious or moral objections, after all Costa Rica doesn’t have a standing army so surely a strict Buddhist nation could do without one? But then the Bhutanese love meat. They are devout devourers of pork and beef and, to a slightly lesser extent, chicken? So long as they don’t have to kill the animals themselves they are happy to consume flesh.

 

Do I hear calls of ‘Hypocracy’? Well, I’m not going to shout them down.

 

But all religions are institutionally hypocritical and Buddhism is no worse than any other. An army of a Buddhist nation sounds contradictory but religion has always been political, nations are essentially political beasts with artificial boundaries, politicians need to maintain and protect those boundaries as well as they can given limited resources, and armies are the main way of providing protection.

 

At least this army is not there to violate other nations or supress the population or support an unauthorised government. It provides comfort and a sense of security, a source of pride, and a life for many people. Who am I to criticise it?

 

The trekking in Bhutan was far better than in Nepal (although Nepal was good). Here it was proper camping, there it was in Guesthouses. Nepal is over-populated, there is no getting away from people; waves of trekkers (ramblers) met you head on along the Poon Hill circuit; football crowds gathered to catch the dawn view of Annapurna; dogs, locals, cows, agricultural terraces … they all swarm and cover the slopes of Nepal.

 

But in Bhutan … ah, it’s different. I met perhaps 10 other trekkers on my 5 day stint. Yes, there were monks and the occasional dog, but mainly it was me in the wild, in untouched, blue pine forests and stands of huge or dwarf rhodies and junipers and alpine meadows of the highest hills. Alongside the soft beats of the wings of the goshawk, and ‘glowps’ of ravens, and cheeky cawings of choughs there was the whisper of winds and ripple of drying leaves. No sounds of machinery. No barking . No drunken laughter . It was heaven.

 

Of course I was spoilt. Apart from the landscape, and the views, and the sky and the clouds, and the wildlife and the vegetation, I had a platoon of (for wont of a better word ) servants to look after my every needs. I had my own chef, and he had a helper. I had a guide who made sure I didn’t fall down a cliff or take the wrong path. I had a horseman who looked after the seven ponies that accompanied our small expedition. The only person I lacked was a masseur (which, incidentally, was what I really needed).

 

They erected my tent and decamped for me. They cooked me three meals a day and washed up after me. I was served at my table and they even ran off to buy beer for me . They set up my own private lav, provided loo paper, and filled the hole in after me. My guide even carried my water bottle. They did everything for me except tuck me in at night (for which I was grateful).

 

It was hard walking, some of the slopes were steep, and it was bloody cold at night. I met a couple of Aussies on the second day and, after I remarked how bloody cold it was the previous night (not that I was fixated or anything), they said, ‘Well, it gets colder. There was frost on the ground two nights ago.’ I said, ‘Great. Good job my sleeping bag isn’t as good as I thought it was (and the zip’s broken), and that I forgot my socks.’ They said, ‘You forgot your socks?! Are you mad?’ I didn’t say anything. ‘But you’re from Scotland, right?’ ‘Aye,’ I said, ‘You’ll be fine then.’ They were nice people but they could afford to be because they’d survived the ordeal and were now heading back to civilisation. They had had socks. Smug bastards. Nice people though.

 

Ten minutes later, as I was watching a huge thanka being unfolded by the Phajoding monks, the lady (to my shame I never did get to know her name) ran up to me and offered, like a true Buddhist using both hands, a pair of socks. ‘They’re a day and a half old,’ she said, ‘but they’ll save your life!’ I didn’t know what to say so I kept repeating, like the simpleton John Miles played in ‘Ryan’s Daughter’, ‘Thank you, thank you.’ I refrained from saying ‘God bless’, but I was genuinely touched (in more ways than one) and didn’t even have the sense to ask for their address so that I could send them back to Oz. Which was just as well. But I would have had them washed.

 

And the socks really were a Godsend. Never before have I held so much regard for footware. They (along with the extra blanket supplied by chef) actually made the next three nights bearable (just. There was still the issue of the bells and the thin mattress). Thanks Australia ;-)

 

Overall, you might think that a minimum of $200 a day to visit and exist in Bhutan is a lot of money. And it is. No argument. But … this money covers everything apart from incidentals such as snacks and souvenirs , and so, although it’s expensive, it’s not that expensive and is, actually, when it comes down to it, damned good value for money. Outside of Bhutan, how much would it cost to have what they provided me? A personal guide (just for little old me) who answers most of the inane and arcane questions I usually pose to myself or strangers (who aren’t good at responding. Either of them) and panders to almost my every whim My own transport (so I can say, ‘Why don’t we go down this wee road?’, ‘Can we just stop here for a minute to take a photo’, and ‘STOP! There’s a bird I haven’t seen, I’m sure of it. Might be new to science too. Come on, we’ll be famous!’ ) My your own private expeditionary force to conquer the Himalayas? The chance to stay in top class hotels (with clean, unstained sheets and electrics that work. Luxury). To have all your meals provided for you (most of them excellent). And to have the flexibility to be able to change itinerary and venues / hotels depending on how you feel … and all this amongst the beauty, serenity and unspoilt splendour of a country which is Bhutan …

 

Well, what can I say? It’s not a perfect country, but it comes damned close to it.

 

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Charli XCX Reputation Tour Live from Tokyo, Japan Day 2 - Album Cover

The church is dedicated to St Magnus the Martyr, earl of Orkney, who died on 16 April 1118. He was executed on the island of Egilsay having been captured during a power struggle with his cousin, a political rival. Magnus had a reputation for piety and gentleness and was canonised in 1135.

 

The identity of the St Magnus referred to in the church's dedication was only confirmed by the Bishop of London in 1926. Following this decision a patronal festival service was held on 16 April 1926. In the 13th century the patronage was attributed to one of the several saints by the name of Magnus who share a feast day on 19 August, probably St Magnus of Anagni (bishop and martyr, who was slain in the persecution of the Emperor Decius in the middle of the 3rd century). However, by the early 18th century it was suggested that the church was either "dedicated to the memory of St Magnus or Magnes, who suffer'd under the Emperor Aurelian in 276 [see St Mammes of Caesarea, feast day 17 August], or else to a person of that name, who was the famous Apostle or Bishop of the Orcades." For the next century historians followed the suggestion that the church was dedicated to the Roman saint of Cæsarea. The famous Danish archaeologist Professor Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae (1821–85) promoted the attribution to St Magnus of Orkney during his visit to the British Isles in 1846-7, when he was formulating the concept of the 'Viking Age', and a history of London written in 1901 concluded that "the Danes, on their second invasion ... added at least two churches with Danish names, Olaf and Magnus". A guide to the City Churches published in 1917 reverted to the view that St Magnus was dedicated to a martyr of the third century, but the discovery of St Magnus of Orkney's relics in 1919 renewed interest in a Scandinavian patron and this connection was encouraged by the Rector who arrived in 1921.

 

A metropolitan bishop of London attended the Council of Arles in 314, which indicates that there must have been a Christian community in Londinium by this date, and it has been suggested that a large aisled building excavated in 1993 near Tower Hill can be compared with the 4th-century Cathedral of St Tecla in Milan. However, there is no archaeological evidence to suggest that any of the mediaeval churches in the City of London had a Roman foundation. A grant from William I in 1067 to Westminster Abbey, which refers to the stone church of St Magnus near the bridge ("lapidee eccle sci magni prope pontem"), is generally accepted to be 12th century forgery, and it is possible that a charter of confirmation in 1108-16 might also be a later fabrication. Nonetheless, these manuscripts may preserve valid evidence of a date of foundation in the 11th century.

 

Archaeological evidence suggests that the area of the bridgehead was not occupied from the early 5th century until the early 10th century. Environmental evidence indicates that the area was waste ground during this period, colonised by elder and nettles. Following Alfred's decision to reoccupy the walled area of London in 886, new harbours were established at Queenhithe and Billingsgate. A bridge was in place by the early 11th century, a factor which would have encouraged the occupation of the bridgehead by craftsmen and traders. A lane connecting Botolph's Wharf and Billingsgate to the rebuilt bridge may have developed by the mid-11th century. The waterfront at this time was a hive of activity, with the construction of embankments sloping down from the riverside wall to the river. Thames Street appeared in the second half of the 11th century immediately behind (north of) the old Roman riverside wall and in 1931 a piling from this was discovered during the excavation of the foundations of a nearby building. It now stands at the base of the church tower. St Magnus was built to the south of Thames Street to serve the growing population of the bridgehead area and was certainly in existence by 1128-33.

 

The small ancient parish extended about 110 yards along the waterfront either side of the old bridge, from 'Stepheneslane' (later Churchehawlane or Church Yard Alley) and 'Oystergate' (later called Water Lane or Gully Hole) on the West side to 'Retheresgate' (a southern extension of Pudding Lane) on the East side, and was centred on the crossroads formed by Fish Street Hill (originally Bridge Street, then New Fish Street) and Thames Street. The mediaeval parish also included Drinkwater's Wharf (named after the owner, Thomas Drinkwater), which was located immediately West of the bridge, and Fish Wharf, which was to the South of the church. The latter was of considerable importance as the fishmongers had their shops on the wharf. The tenement was devised by Andrew Hunte to the Rector and Churchwardens in 1446. The ancient parish was situated in the South East part of Bridge Ward, which had evolved in the 11th century between the embankments to either side of the bridge.

 

In 1182 the Abbot of Westminster and the Prior of Bermondsey agreed that the advowson of St Magnus should be divided equally between them. Later in the 1180s, on their presentation, the Archdeacon of London inducted his nephew as parson.

 

Between the late Saxon period and 1209 there was a series of wooden bridges across the Thames, but in that year a stone bridge was completed. The work was overseen by Peter de Colechurch, a priest and head of the Fraternity of the Brethren of London Bridge. The Church had from early times encouraged the building of bridges and this activity was so important it was perceived to be an act of piety - a commitment to God which should be supported by the giving of alms. London’s citizens made gifts of land and money "to God and the Bridge". The Bridge House Estates became part of the City's jurisdiction in 1282.

 

Until 1831 the bridge was aligned with Fish Street Hill, so the main entrance into the City from the south passed the West door of St Magnus on the north bank of the river. The bridge included a chapel dedicated to St Thomas à Becket for the use of pilgrims journeying to Canterbury Cathedral to visit his tomb. The chapel and about two thirds of the bridge were in the parish of St Magnus. After some years of rivalry a dispute arose between the church and the chapel over the offerings given to the chapel by the pilgrims. The matter was resolved by the brethren of the chapel making an annual contribution to St Magnus. At the Reformation the chapel was turned into a house and later a warehouse, the latter being demolished in 1757-58.

 

The church grew in importance. On 21 November 1234 a grant of land was made to the parson of St Magnus for the enlargement of the church. The London eyre of 1244 recorded that in 1238 "A thief named William of Ewelme of the county of Buckingham fled to the church of St. Magnus the Martyr, London, and there acknowledged the theft and abjured the realm. He had no chattels." Another entry recorded that "The City answers saying that the church of ... St. Magnus the Martyr ... which [is] situated on the king's highway ... ought to belong to the king and be in his gift". The church presumably jutted into the road running to the bridge, as it did in later times. In 1276 it was recorded that "the church of St. Magnus the Martyr is worth £15 yearly and Master Geoffrey de la Wade now holds it by the grant of the prior of Bermundeseie and the abbot of Westminster to whom King Henry conferred the advowson by his charter."

 

In 1274 "came King Edward and his wife (Eleanor) from the Holy Land and were crowned at Westminster on the Sunday next after the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady (15 August), being the Feast of Saint Magnus (19 August); and the Conduit in Chepe ran all the day with red wine and white wine to drink, for all such as wished." Stow records that "in the year 1293, for victory obtained by Edward I against the Scots, every citizen, according to their several trade, made their several show, but especially the fishmongers" whose solemn procession including a knight "representing St Magnus, because it was upon St Magnus' day".

 

An important religious guild, the Confraternity de Salve Regina, was in existence by 1343, having been founded by the "better sort of the Parish of St Magnus" to sing the anthem 'Salve Regina' every evening. The Guild certificates of 1389 record that the Confraternity of Salve Regina and the guild of St Thomas the Martyr in the chapel on the bridge, whose members belonged to St Magnus parish, had determined to become one, to have the anthem of St Thomas after the Salve Regina and to devote their united resources to restoring and enlarging the church of St Magnus. An Act of Parliament of 1437 provided that all incorporated fraternities and companies should register their charters and have their ordinances approved by the civic authorities. Fear of enquiry into their privileges may have led established fraternities to seek a firm foundation for their rights. The letters patent of the fraternity of St Mary and St Thomas the Martyr of Salve Regina in St Magnus dated 26 May 1448 mention that the fraternity had petitioned for a charter on the grounds that the society was not duly founded.

 

In the mid-14th century the Pope was the Patron of the living and appointed five rectors to the benefice.

 

Henry Yevele, the master mason whose work included the rebuilding of Westminster Hall and the naves of Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral, was a parishioner and rebuilt the chapel on London Bridge between 1384 and 1397. He served as a warden of London Bridge and was buried at St Magnus on his death in 1400. His monument was extant in John Stow's time, but was probably destroyed by the fire of 1666.

 

Yevele, as the King’s Mason, was overseen by Geoffrey Chaucer in his capacity as the Clerk of the King's Works. In The General Prologue of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales the five guildsmen "were clothed alle in o lyveree Of a solempne and a greet fraternitee" and may be thought of as belonging to the guild in the parish of St Magnus, or one like it. Chaucer's family home was near to the bridge in Thames Street.

 

In 1417 a dispute arose concerning who should take the place of honour amongst the Rectors in the City churches at the Whit Monday procession, a place that had been claimed from time to time by the Rectors of St Peter Cornhill, St Magnus the Martyr and St Nicholas Cole Abbey. The Mayor and Aldermen decided that the Rector of St Peter Cornhill should take precedence.

 

St Magnus Corner at the north end of London Bridge was an important meeting place in mediaeval London, where notices were exhibited, proclamations read out and wrongdoers punished. As it was conveniently close to the River Thames, the church was chosen by the Bishop between the 15th and 17th centuries as a convenient venue for general meetings of the clergy in his diocese. In pictures from the mid-16th century the old church looks very similar to the present-day St Giles without Cripplegate in the Barbican. According to the martyrologist John Foxe, a woman was imprisoned in the 'cage' on London Bridge in April 1555 and told to "cool herself there" for refusing to pray at St Magnus for the recently-deceased Pope Julius III.

 

Simon Lowe, a Member of Parliament and Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company during the reign of Queen Mary and one of the jurors who acquitted Sir Nicholas Throckmorton in 1554, was a parishioner. He was a mourner at the funeral of Maurice Griffith, Bishop of Rochester from 1554 to 1558 and Rector of St Magnus from 1537 to 1558, who was interred in the church on 30 November 1558 with much solemnity. In accordance with the Catholic church's desire to restore ecclesiastical pageantry in England, the funeral was a splendid affair, ending in a magnificent dinner.

 

Lowe was included in a return of recusants in the Diocese of Rochester in 1577, but was buried at St Magnus on 6 February 1578. Stow refers to his monument in the church. His eldest son, Timothy (died 1617), was knighted in 1603. His second son, Alderman Sir Thomas Lowe (1550–1623), was Master of the Haberdashers' Company on several occasions, Sheriff of London in 1595/96, Lord Mayor in 1604/05 and a Member of Parliament for London. His youngest son, Blessed John Lowe (1553–1586), having originally been a Protestant minister, converted to Roman Catholicism, studied for the priesthood at Douay and Rome and returned to London as a missionary priest. His absence had already been noted; a list of 1581 of "such persons of the Diocese of London as have any children ... beyond the seas" records "John Low son to Margaret Low of the Bridge, absent without licence four years". Having gained 500 converts to Catholicism between 1583 and 1586, he was arrested whilst walking with his mother near London Bridge, committed to The Clink and executed at Tyburn on 8 October 1586. He was beatified in 1987 as one of the eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales.

 

Sir William Garrard, Master of the Haberdashers' Company, Alderman, Sheriff of London in 1553/53, Lord Mayor in 1555/56 and a Member of Parliament was born in the parish and buried at St Magnus in 1571. Sir William Romney, merchant, philanthropist, Master of the Haberdashers' Company, Alderman for Bridge Within and Sheriff of London in 1603/04 was married at St Magnus in 1582. Ben Jonson is believed to have been married at St Magnus in 1594.

 

The patronage of St Magnus, having previously been in the Abbots and Convents of Westminster and Bermondsey (who presented alternatively), fell to the Crown on the suppression of the monasteries. In 1553, Queen Mary, by letters patent, granted it to the Bishop of London and his successors.

 

The church had a series of distinguished Rectors in the second half of the 16th and first half of the 17th century, including Myles Coverdale (Rector 1564-66), John Young (Rector 1566-92), Theophilus Aylmer (Rector 1592-1625), (Archdeacon of London and son of John Aylmer), and Cornelius Burges (Rector 1626-41). Coverdale was buried in the chancel of St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange, but when that church was pulled down in 1840 his remains were removed to St Magnus.

 

On 5 November 1562 the churchwardens were ordered to break, or cause to be broken, in two parts all the altar stones in the church. Coverdale, an anti-vestiarian, was Rector at the peak of the vestments controversy. In March 1566 Archbishop Parker caused great consternation among many clergy by his edicts prescribing what was to be worn and by his summoning the London clergy to Lambeth to require their compliance. Coverdale excused himself from attending. Stow records that a non-conforming Scot who normally preached at St Magnus twice a day precipitated a fight on Palm Sunday 1566 at Little All Hallows in Thames Street with his preaching against vestments. Coverdale's resignation from St Magnus in summer 1566 may have been associated with these events. Separatist congregations started to emerge after 1566 and the first such, who called themselves 'Puritans' or 'Unspottyd Lambs of the Lord', was discovered close to St Magnus at Plumbers' Hall in Thames Street on 19 June 1567.

 

St Magnus narrowly escaped destruction in 1633. A later edition of Stow's Survey records that "On the 13th day of February, between eleven and twelve at night, there happened in the house of one Briggs, a Needle-maker near St Magnus Church, at the North end of the Bridge, by the carelessness of a Maid-Servant setting a tub of hot sea-coal ashes under a pair of stairs, a sad and lamentable fire, which consumed all the buildings before eight of the clock the next morning, from the North end of the Bridge to the first vacancy on both sides, containing forty-two houses; water then being very scarce, the Thames being almost frozen over." Susannah Chambers "by her last will & testament bearing date 28th December 1640 gave the sum of Twenty-two shillings and Sixpence Yearly for a Sermon to be preached on the 12th day of February in every Year within the Church of Saint Magnus in commemoration of God's merciful preservation of the said Church of Saint Magnus from Ruin, by the late and terrible Fire on London Bridge. Likewise Annually to the Poor the sum of 17/6. "The tradition of a "Fire Sermon" was revived on 12 February 2004, when the first preacher was the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Richard Chartres, Bishop of London.

 

Parliamentarian rule and the more Protestant ethos of the 1640s led to the removal or destruction of "superstitious" and "idolatrous" images and fittings. Glass painters such as Baptista Sutton, who had previously installed "Laudian innovations", found new employment by repairing and replacing these to meet increasingly strict Protestant standards. In January 1642 Sutton replaced 93 feet of glass at St Magnus and in June 1644 he was called back to take down the "painted imagery glass" and replace it. In June 1641 "rail riots" broke out at a number of churches. This was a time of high tension following the trial and execution of the Earl of Strafford and rumours of army and popish plots were rife. The Protestation Oath, with its pledge to defend the true religion "against all Popery and popish innovation", triggered demands from parishioners for the removal of the rails as popish innovations which the Protestation had bound them to reform. The minister arranged a meeting between those for and against the pulling down of the rails, but was unsuccessful in reaching a compromise and it was feared that they would be demolished by force. However, in 1663 the parish resumed Laudian practice and re-erected rails around its communion table.

 

Joseph Caryl was incumbent from 1645 until his ejection in 1662. In 1663 he was reportedly living near London Bridge and preaching to an Independent congregation that met at various places in the City.

 

During the Great Plague of 1665, the City authorities ordered fires to be kept burning night and day, in the hope that the air would be cleansed. Daniel Defoe's semi-fictictional, but highly realistic, work A Journal of the Plague Year records that one of these was "just by St Magnus Church".

 

Despite its escape in 1633, the church was one of the first buildings to be destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. St Magnus stood less than 300 yards from the bakehouse of Thomas Farriner in Pudding Lane where the fire started. Farriner, a former churchwarden of St Magnus, was buried in the middle aisle of the church on 11 December 1670, perhaps within a temporary structure erected for holding services.

 

The parish engaged the master mason George Dowdeswell to start the work of rebuilding in 1668. The work was carried forward between 1671 and 1687 under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren, the body of the church being substantially complete by 1676. At a cost of £9,579 19s 10d St Magnus was one of Wren's most expensive churches. The church of St Margaret New Fish Street was not rebuilt after the fire and its parish was united to that of St Magnus.

 

The chancels of many of Wren’s city churches had chequered marble floors and the chancel of St Magnus is an example, the parish agreeing after some debate to place the communion table on a marble ascent with steps and to commission altar rails of Sussex wrought iron. The nave and aisles are paved with freestone flags. A steeple, closely modelled on one built between 1614 and 1624 by François d'Aguilon and Pieter Huyssens for the church of St Carolus Borromeus in Antwerp, was added between 1703 and 1706. London's skyline was transformed by Wren's tall steeples and that of St Magnus is considered to be one his finest.

 

The large clock projecting from the tower was a well-known landmark in the city as it hung over the roadway of Old London Bridge. It was presented to the church in 1709 by Sir Charles Duncombe (Alderman for the Ward of Bridge Within and, in 1708/09, Lord Mayor of London). Tradition says "that it was erected in consequence of a vow made by the donor, who, in the earlier part of his life, had once to wait a considerable time in a cart upon London Bridge, without being able to learn the hour, when he made a promise, that if he ever became successful in the world, he would give to that Church a public clock ... that all passengers might see the time of day." The maker was Langley Bradley, a clockmaker in Fenchurch Street, who had worked for Wren on many other projects, including the clock for the new St Paul's Cathedral. The sword rest in the church, designed to hold the Lord Mayor's sword and mace when he attended divine service "in state", dates from 1708.

 

Duncombe and his benefactions to St Magnus feature prominently in Daniel Defoe's The True-Born Englishman, a biting satire on critics of William III that went through several editions from 1700 (the year in which Duncombe was elected Sheriff).

 

Shortly before his death in 1711, Duncombe commissioned an organ for the church, the first to have a swell-box, by Abraham Jordan (father and son). The Spectator announced that "Whereas Mr Abraham Jordan, senior and junior, have, with their own hands, joinery excepted, made and erected a very large organ in St Magnus' Church, at the foot of London Bridge, consisting of four sets of keys, one of which is adapted to the art of emitting sounds by swelling notes, which never was in any organ before; this instrument will be publicly opened on Sunday next [14 February 1712], the performance by Mr John Robinson. The above-said Abraham Jordan gives notice to all masters and performers, that he will attend every day next week at the said Church, to accommodate all those gentlemen who shall have a curiosity to hear it".

 

The organ case, which remains in its original state, is looked upon as one of the finest existing examples of the Grinling Gibbons's school of wood carving. The first organist of St Magnus was John Robinson (1682–1762), who served in that role for fifty years and in addition as organist of Westminster Abbey from 1727. Other organists have included the blind organist George Warne (1792–1868, organist 1820-26 until his appointment to the Temple Church), James Coward (1824–80, organist 1868-80 who was also organist to the Crystal Palace and renowned for his powers of improvisation) and George Frederick Smith FRCO (1856–1918, organist 1880-1918 and Professor of Music at the Guildhall School of Music). The organ has been restored several times - in 1760, 1782, 1804, 1855, 1861, 1879, 1891, 1924, 1949 after wartime damage and 1997 - since it was first built. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was one of several patrons of the organ appeal in the mid-1990s and John Scott gave an inaugural recital on 20 May 1998 following the completion of that restoration. The instrument has an Historic Organ Certificate and full details are recorded in the National Pipe Organ Register.

 

The hymn tune "St Magnus", usually sung at Ascensiontide to the text "The head that once was crowned with thorns", was written by Jeremiah Clarke in 1701 and named for the church.

 

Canaletto drew St Magnus and old London Bridge as they appeared in the late 1740s. Between 1756 and 1762, under the London Bridge Improvement Act of 1756 (c. 40), the Corporation of London demolished the buildings on London Bridge to widen the roadway, ease traffic congestion and improve safety for pedestrians. The churchwardens’ accounts of St Magnus list many payments to those injured on the Bridge and record that in 1752 a man was crushed to death between two carts. After the House of Commons had resolved upon the alteration of London Bridge, the Rev Robert Gibson, Rector of St Magnus, applied to the House for relief; stating that £48 6s. 2d. per annum, part of his salary of £170 per annum, was assessed upon houses on London Bridge; which he should utterly lose by their removal unless a clause in the bill about to be passed should provide a remedy. Accordingly, Sections 18 and 19 of 1756 Act provided that the relevant amounts of tithe and poor rate should be a charge on the Bridge House Estates.

 

A serious fire broke out on 18 April 1760 in an oil shop at the south east corner of the church, which consumed most of the church roof and did considerable damage to the fabric. The fire burnt warehouses to the south of the church and a number of houses on the northern end of London Bridge.

 

As part of the bridge improvements, overseen by the architect Sir Robert Taylor, a new pedestrian walkway was built along the eastern side of the bridge. With the other buildings gone St Magnus blocked the new walkway. As a consequence it was necessary in 1762 to 1763 to remove the vestry rooms at the West end of the church and open up the side arches of the tower so that people could pass underneath the tower. The tower’s lower storey thus became an external porch. Internally a lobby was created at the West end under the organ gallery and a screen with fine octagonal glazing inserted. A new Vestry was built to the South of the church. The Act also provided that the land taken from the church for the widening was "to be considered ... as part of the cemetery of the said church ... but if the pavement thereof be broken up on account of the burying of any persons, the same shall be ... made good ... by the churchwardens".

 

Soldiers were stationed in the Vestry House of St Magnus during the Gordon Riots in June 1780.

 

By 1782 the noise level from the activities of Billingsgate Fish Market had become unbearable and the large windows on the north side of the church were blocked up leaving only circular windows high up in the wall. At some point between the 1760s and 1814 the present clerestory was constructed with its oval windows and fluted and coffered plasterwork. J. M. W. Turner painted the church in the mid-1790s.

 

The rector of St Magnus between 1792 and 1808, following the death of Robert Gibson on 28 July 1791, was Thomas Rennell FRS. Rennell was President of Sion College in 1806/07. There is a monument to Thomas Leigh (Rector 1808-48 and President of Sion College 1829/30, at St Peter's Church, Goldhanger in Essex. Richard Hazard (1761–1837) was connected with the church as sexton, parish clerk and ward beadle for nearly 50 years and served as Master of the Parish Clerks' Company in 1831/32.

 

In 1825 the church was "repaired and beautified at a very considerable expense. During the reparation the east window, which had been closed, was restored, and the interior of the fabric conformed to the state in which it was left by its great architect, Sir Christopher Wren. The magnificent organ ... was taken down and rebuilt by Mr Parsons, and re-opened, with the church, on the 12th February, 1826". Unfortunately, as a contemporary writer records, "On the night of the 31st of July, 1827, [the church's] safety was threatened by the great fire which consumed the adjacent warehouses, and it is perhaps owing to the strenuous and praiseworthy exertions of the firemen, that the structure exists at present. ... divine service was suspended and not resumed until the 20th January 1828. In the interval the church received such tasteful and elegant decorations, that it may now compete with any church in the metropolis."

 

In 1823 royal assent was given to ‘An Act for the Rebuilding of London Bridge’ and in 1825 John Garratt, Lord Mayor and Alderman of the Ward of Bridge Within, laid the first stone of the new London Bridge. In 1831 Sir John Rennie’s new bridge was opened further upstream and the old bridge demolished. St Magnus ceased to be the gateway to London as it had been for over 600 years. Peter de Colechurch had been buried in the crypt of the chapel on the bridge and his bones were unceremoniously dumped in the River Thames. In 1921 two stones from Old London Bridge were discovered across the road from the church. They now stand in the churchyard.

 

Wren's church of St Michael Crooked Lane was demolished, the final service on Sunday 20 March 1831 having to be abandoned due to the effects of the building work. The Rector of St Michael preached a sermon the following Sunday at St Magnus lamenting the demolition of his church with its monuments and "the disturbance of the worship of his parishioners on the preceeding Sabbath". The parish of St Michael Crooked Lane was united to that of St Magnus, which itself lost a burial ground in Church Yard Alley to the approach road for the new bridge. However, in substitution it had restored to it the land taken for the widening of the old bridge in 1762 and was also given part of the approach lands to the east of the old bridge. In 1838 the Committee for the London Bridge Approaches reported to Common Council that new burial grounds had been provided for the parishes of St Michael, Crooked Lane and St Magnus, London Bridge.

 

Depictions of St Magnus after the building of the new bridge, seen behind Fresh Wharf and the new London Bridge Wharf, include paintings by W. Fenoulhet in 1841 and by Charles Ginner in 1913. This prospect was affected in 1924 by the building of Adelaide House to a design by John James Burnet, The Times commenting that "the new ‘architectural Matterhorn’ ... conceals all but the tip of the church spire". There was, however, an excellent view of the church for a few years between the demolition of Adelaide Buildings and the erection of its replacement. Adelaide House is now listed. Regis House, on the site of the abandoned King William Street terminus of the City & South London Railway (subsequently the Northern Line), and the Steam Packet Inn, on the corner of Lower Thames Street and Fish Street Hill, were developed in 1931.

 

By the early 1960s traffic congestion had become a problem and Lower Thames Street was widened over the next decade to form part of a significant new east-west transport artery (the A3211). The setting of the church was further affected by the construction of a new London Bridge between 1967 and 1973. The New Fresh Wharf warehouse to the east of the church, built in 1939, was demolished in 1973-4 following the collapse of commercial traffic in the Pool of London and, after an archaeological excavation, St Magnus House was constructed on the site in 1978 to a design by R. Seifert & Partners. This development now allows a clear view of the church from the east side. The site to the south east of The Monument (between Fish Street Hill and Pudding Lane), formerly predominantly occupied by fish merchants, was redeveloped as Centurion House and Gartmore (now Providian) House at the time of the closure of old Billingsgate Market in January 1982. A comprehensive redevelopment of Centurion House began in October 2011 with completion planned in 2013. Regis House, to the south west of The Monument, was redeveloped by Land Securities PLC in 1998.

 

The vista from The Monument south to the River Thames, over the roof of St Magnus, is protected under the City of London Unitary Development Plan, although the South bank of the river is now dominated by The Shard. Since 2004 the City of London Corporation has been exploring ways of enhancing the Riverside Walk to the south of St Magnus. Work on a new staircase to connect London Bridge to the Riverside Walk is due to commence in March 2013. The story of St Magnus's relationship with London Bridge and an interview with the rector featured in the television programme The Bridges That Built London with Dan Cruickshank, first broadcast on BBC Four on 14 June 2012. The City Corporation's 'Fenchurch and Monument Area Enhancement Strategy' of August 2012 recommended ways of reconnecting St Magnus and the riverside to the area north of Lower Thames Street.

 

www.stmagnusmartyr.org.uk/history/history-church

 

I went to Rock Creek Station, State Historical Park on 6/2/18 for their annual historical reenactment. The reenactment involved people dressed in historically accurate costumes doing some of the activities common in the 1850's and 1860's when the station was active on the Oregon and California trails and also when it was one of the stations in the short lived Pony Express system. One of the main attractions was a reenactment of the "McCanles - Hickok Fracas". This 'fracas' was the start to Wild Bill Hickok's legendary status as a lawman, soldier, gunfighter, and gambler. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bill_Hickok). McCanles was the first person Hickok killed in the establishment of his reputation.

 

"Established in 1857 along the Oregon and California Trails, Rock Creek Station, near what is now Fairbury, Nebraska, is today preserved as a Nebraska State Park.

The history here is rich in its tales of emigrating pioneers as well as legends of the Old West. Located along the west bank of Rock Creek, the station served as a supply center and resting spot for the many travelers headed westward in the 19th century.

When it was originally built by S.C. Glenn, the "station" consisted of little more than a cabin, a barn, and a make-shift store, where Glenn sold limited supplies, hay, and grain.

In the Spring of 1859 along came a man named David C. McCanles, and his brother, James, who were on their way to the Colorado gold fields.

David became discouraged as he continually met miners returning from Colorado with nothing in their pockets but disappointment. Changing tactics, David McCanles bought the Rock Creek Station from Glenn in March, deciding to take up "road ranching" rather than gold prospecting.

McCanles continued to operate the small store and built a toll bridge across the creek. Prior to the bridge, pioneers were required to hoist and lower their wagons down into the creek, before pulling it up on the other side - quite a tedious process that could take hours for each wagon. When the toll bridge opened, each wagon paid from 10¢ to 50¢ to cross the bridge depending on the size of their load and their ability to pay. McCanles also built a cabin and dug a well on the east side of Rock Creek which became known as the East Ranch.

The following year, McCanles leased the East Ranch to the Russell, Waddell, and Majors Company, which owned the Overland Stage Company and founded the Pony Express. They installed Horace G. Wellman as their company agent and station keeper and hired James W. "Doc" Brink as a stock tender. Later, the company made arrangements with McCanles to buy the station with a cash down payment and the remainder in installments.

The East Ranch was then used as a stage and Pony Express relay station, while the West Ranch continued to be used as an emigrant rest stop, a freight station, and the home of the McCanles family.

In April 1861, McCanles sold the West Ranch to freighters Hagenstein and Wolfe and moved his family to another location about three miles south of Rock Creek Station. Always trying to make money, McCanles sold the toll bridge several times with a number of specific requirements in the contract. When the new owner failed to meet the stipulations, he would take it back and sell it again.

In April or early May of 1861, the station hired on then-24-year-old stock tender James Butler "Bill" Hickok and he became immediately at odds with David McCanles, who had earned a reputation as the local bully. Allegedly, McCanles teased Hickok unmercifully about his girlish build and feminine features, as well as nicknaming him "Duck Bill" referring to his long nose and protruding lips.

Perhaps in retaliation, Hickok began courting a woman by the name of Kate Shell, who, even though McCanles was married, apparently had his eye on.

In the meantime, the Overland Stage Company had fallen behind on their installment payments and on July 12, 1861, McCanles, along with his 12-year-old son, Monroe, and two friends by the names of James Woods and James Gordon came to the station to inquire upon the status of the installments.

Not long after their arrival, an argument ensued and profanities were exchanged, soon leading to gunfire. In the melee, Hickok shot David McCanles, and both James Woods and James Gordon, who was seriously wounded, later died of their wounds. Twelve-year-old Monroe escaped to his home some three miles south of Rock Creek.

Though the details of what actually happened on that fateful day continue to be debated, the versions vary widely. Monroe McCanles, who witnessed the entire event, told a version something like this: When David McCanles had not received full payment from the Overland Stage Company, he planned to take it up with the station manager, Horace Wellman. That very day, the station manager had allegedly gone to the company office in Brownville in order to obtain the money, he returned empty-handed.

Upon hearing this, an angry McCanles soon arrived with two options in mind - either collect the money owed or repossess the ranch. Showing up with his son, and two employees - James Woods and James Gordon, McCanles called for Wellman to come out. Instead, Jane Wellman, the station managerâs wife, appeared at the door, closely followed by James (Bill) Hickok. Horace Wellman's specific whereabouts are unknown, but he was obviously close by.

Disconcerted by Hickok's interference, McCanles alleged asked, "Jim, haven't we been friends all the time?" After Hickok assured him that they were, McCanles, biding his time, asked for a drink of water and came inside. The other three stayed outside the cabin.

Suddenly, McCanles sensed danger, returned the dipper and moved toward the other door at about the same time Hickok moved behind a curtain partition. Unarmed, McCanles said, "Now, Jim, if you have anything against me, come out and fight me fair."

However, Hickok's answer was a blast from a rifle, killing McCanles and dropping him to the floor. Ironically, the story tells that it was McCanles' own rifle that he had left with Wellman to defend the station that he was killed with. Hearing the blast, Woods and Gordon rushed toward the cabin, but Woods was stopped with Hickok's Colt revolver. In the meantime, Wellman bludgeoned him with a hoe, until he died. Gordon, who was also wounded by gunfire, fled to the creek but was followed by Doc Brink, the station's stock tender, who killed him with a blast from his shotgun. Monroe dodged a blow from Wellman's hoe and escaped to his home some three miles south.

McCanles and Woods were originally buried in a single crude box on Soldier Hill. Gordon was buried in a blanket at the spot where he was killed near Rock Creek. In the early 1880's the construction of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad intersected Soldier Hill and the bodies of McCanles and Woods were re-interred at the Fairbury Cemetery.

In the meantime, James A. McCanles, David's brother, filed an arrest warrant for Hickok, Wellman, and Brink on July 15, 1861, and the trio were charged for the murders of McCanles, Woods, and Gordon. A trial was held in Beatrice and though Monroe McCanles adamantly claimed that his father and the other two men were unarmed, he was not allowed to testify because of his age. After the trio plead self-defense and defense of company property, all three were acquitted.

Later, when Hickok's fame began to spread, he told an entirely different version of the tale, making McCanles out to be a ruthless killer and an outlaw, who was the leader of a vicious gang who was terrorizing the region. This story, told by Colonel Ward Nichols and published in Harper's Monthly Magazine in 1867, tells a version that is embellished to the degree that Wild Bill had polished off ten of the West's most dangerous desperados and was left with eleven buck-shot and thirteen knife wounds.

Hickok's tale describes himself as scouting for the U.S. Cavalry detachment when he arrived at Rock Creek that fateful day, rather than working as a stock tender. Describing the McCanles' Gang as reckless, blood-thirsty devils, he said he came upon the station to hear a tale from Mrs. Wellman that McCanles was within minutes of the cabin, dragging a preacher by his neck with a rope.

His tale goes on to describe how he fought off the entire McCanles Gang with only a revolver and a bowie knife, killing all of them in the end and spending weeks recovering from his own injuries.

This event, called the McCanles Massacre, by writers, was the beginning of the Wild Bill Hickok legend. Though Hickok's "legend" was already well-known by the time the article appeared in Harper's Magazine in 1867, Nicholl's glamorized version of the fighting frontier hero, further perpetuated his fame.

No one really knows the specifics of this bloody and seemingly one-sided fight, with numerous versions having been provided, including tales of jealousy, theft, and the ongoing conflict between the north and south. Some tales even allege that it was not Bill Hickok who killed McCanles, rather, it was Horace Wellman.

Continuing to be scrutinized years after the incident and long after Bill Hickok's death, a man named F.G. Elliott was interviewed by a WPA writer in 1938. His tale, though not supporting the glorified story told by Nichols in Harper's Magazine, does support Hickok's rightful killing of David McCanles. It may or may not add more light on the actual events of that fateful day, depending upon your point of view.

By 1866, the railroad had reached Kearney, Nebraska and trail traffic dramatically diminished, leaving the road ranchers to find other occupations.

In 1980, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission began to develop the area as a state historical park. Today, the buildings of the original Rock Creek Station and Pony Express have been reconstructed in the park that now includes some 350 acres, a visitor's center, hiking trails, picnic areas, and a campground. The terrain includes prairie hilltops, timber-studded creek bottoms, and rugged ravines, along with the deep ruts of the Oregon and California Trails, carved more than a century ago by the many wagons that traveled westward along this path." (www.legendsofamerica.com/ne-rockcreek/2/)

Despite St Brendan’s bleak reputation, the hospital was established on foot of a wave of sensitivity towards the needs of the mentally ill. In postrevolutionary France, Philippe Pinel struck the chains off his patients at an asylum, convinced a more humanitarian approach would be more effective than restraint and control. This “moral management” philosophy had much in common with what we now consider key aspects of mental-health treatment: a good doctor-patient relationship, a therapeutic environment, good diet, exercise and an occupation.

Richmond Asylum, as St Brendan’s was formerly known, was established on these principles. It was the beginning of a frenzied period of asylum-building that resulted in large-scale institutions being established in towns and cities around the country. In reality, most asylums quickly became overcrowded, dirty and unmanageable.

“When you look back you find that many physicians had progressive plans, and they implemented many of them to do with education or living outside the asylum,” says Dr Brendan Kelly, a consultant psychiatrist with the Health Service Executive, who has researched the history of psychiatry in Ireland. “However, the asylums became too large. Once an institution becomes sufficiently large, attention shifts from caring for the individual to managing the institution. Once that happens, problems emerge.”

Asylums, which were run initially by lay people, were gradually were taken over by the medical establishment. Medical superintendents – the equivalent of psychiatrists – introduced a medical approach to treating mental ill health, and moral management, with its focus on the individual, began to fade. This was a time of discredited and experimental approaches to treating people with mental-health problems. They included “Dr Cox’s circulating swing”, which involved spinning a patient at high speed; the “bath of surprise”, a gallows-style platform that dumped a patient into icy water; and enforced “purging”, or vomiting.

Much later, other forms of brutal treatment came and went, including insulin-coma therapy, where patients were repeatedly injected with the hormone to induce a coma, and lobotomies, which involved removing parts of the brain. These procedures continued in some Irish psychiatric hospitals until the 1960s and 1970s.

The sheer number of people admitted to mental institutions in the years after the Famine was striking. The number of “certified lunatics” increased by 60 per cent in two decades in the late 1800s. Little of this had anything to do with an increase in mental ill health.

“The population had halved, but the number of beds remained the same,” says Dr Ivor Browne, former chief psychiatrist with the Eastern Health Board, who began working at St Brendan’s in 1962. “Conditions for many were desperate, so the asylums were like a suction [drawing people in]. People could get three meals a day.”

Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions remained major problems for decades afterwards. As a result, there was no meaningful relationship between doctor and patient. Browne recalls visiting the women’s section of St Brendan’s in the 1950s, not long after qualifying as a doctor. Even though he had worked in other areas of psychiatry, he was shocked by what he saw. “Many of the wards had more than 100 people in them. There were crowds of patients, jostling each other, some of the women with their dresses pulled over their heads, and here and there a nurse, struggling amid the chaos,” he says.

“There was a cacophony of sound, and I felt as though I was lost in some kind of hell . . . I remember passing a little old lady, quite sane and conscious, sitting in bed and shaking with terror.”

Anyone who fell through society’s cracks tended to end up in an asylum. He recalls seeing patients being admitted for spurious reasons – alcoholism, disruptive behaviour, promiscuity – who often never left. They aged inside and became hopelessly institutionalised.

But the perception of the asylum as a simply brutal environment is too simplistic and doesn’t credit the efforts of staff and doctors, according to Dick Bennett, a former staff nurse who worked at St Brendan’s from the 1970s to the 1990s.

“It was like an asylum in the old meaning of the word: it was a refuge from the outside world,” he says. “There was a sense of community there. The standard of care was excellent. There were older people who lived to their 80s or 90s, which says something about the care.”

Browne adds: “In many ways, there was a great humanity about the place because they couldn’t refuse anyone. There was a kind of acceptance of suffering. There were some nurses who could be quite brutal, but most were quite benign.”

When he took over as chief psychiatrist, in the mid 1960s, one of the first things he did was arrange for some of the high perimeter walls to be knocked down, a symbolic demolition of the barrier between the patients and the community. “Ironically, we ended up having to put up railings instead. Not to keep people in but to prevent antisocial behaviour from outside.” He also set up an assessment unit to try to prevent unnecessary admissions and set about transferring some patients back into the community. Sometimes people were so institutionalised that the prospect of leaving was terrifying.

“I remember one fellow who was keen on gardening and growing things. He had a little hut. I thought he would be a prospect for living in the community. We got a place for him in the community. But he walled himself up in his hut and suffocated himself, because he couldn’t face leaving.”

By the time Browne left, in the late 1990s, the population of St Brendan’s, which had peaked at 2,500, had fallen to about 400.

He says moving patients into the community made sense, but he acknowledges that it didn’t fully work. “What I didn’t realise early on was that any real community in a city like Dublin had ceased to exist. So the only place they could go to was either some offshoot of a mental hospital, like a day hostel, or a rehabilitation centre, which were often like mini-institutions.”

In a few days the old asylum will close and the care centre, which looks more like a corporate headquarters, will take its place. Much has changed in our approach to mental ill health in the past two centuries, and nowadays the vast majority of people are cared for and supported in the community.

Some aspects of the system are still considered antiquated – the admission of teenagers into adult units or the housing of intellectually disabled in “de-designated” wings of old psychiatric hospitals – and concern remains about patchy community-based care and an overreliance on medicine rather than talk therapy. But most agree that we are on the right road to a service that involves patients in their own care and respects their human rights.

“What’s very positive about the future is that the size of the in-patient unit is much smaller,” Kelly says. “The Phoenix Care Centre has a maximum of 54 beds, compared to 2,500 beds at the start of the 1900s. That’s a huge change. It allows more focus on the individual. Sometimes, in the history of the asylums, that’s what was lost, quite simply.”

 

Source : Irish Times Health Supplement, February 2013

 

To the young boy riding in this beautiful Rolls Royce, if you ever read this may I just take the liberty to say, you know you've got it made when you're riding around in the front seat of a classic Rolls Royce at your age!

 

Yes, we all knew this was coming, it's a car that defined my childhood dreams and is still something I pine for today, the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, a car that has been credited as the most revolutionary Rolls Royce ever made, but holds a reputation of mixed perceptions, either being considered the last of the great one's, or the first of the worst.

 

In 1965 it was apparent that the nearly 10 year old Silver Cloud was starting to look its age, and as time continued to crawl on the aristocratic look of the Rolls Royce was no longer its biggest selling point. Prior to the 1960's society was clearly defined, with what was known as the 'Glass Ceiling' through which none of the lower classes could rise up through the ranks. It was very easy for the Upper Class and Aristocracy to lose their titles and come down, but even if you were a Lower Class person who'd made it rich, you'd still be socially unacceptable due to your background. However, after World War I the emergence of the new Middle Class was starting to bend the rules, and as time went on the ways in which money could be obtained started to become easier thanks to stage and screen. After World War II the influence of the new generation distorted the lines of society even more with the appearance of the Beatles and Elvis Presley, people from low backgrounds who had managed to get a free ticket to the top due to their fame in the music industry. Of course when someone gets money, the first thing they want to do is spend it on luxury items, and nothing back then was more luxury than owning a Rolls Royce.

 

However, when the Cloud was designed society was still very much in the same Victorian ideal as before, and so its aristocratic look was about as hip and with-it as a China Cabinet in a Discotheque. In order to survive, Rolls Royce was going to have to adapt, so in 1965 they launched the Silver Shadow, a car that was designed for the new money, and the first Roller to be brought to the masses. What made it so appealing was a case of many things.

 

For starters, it was the first Rolls Royce to be a 'Driver's' car. Previous models had always been built with chauffeur driven passengers in mind, but the Shadow with upgraded suspension, an updated Rolls Royce V8 engine and the same general driving feel of a regular car (if not better with innovative power steering), made it ideal for the 'posers' of the upmarket realm. Secondly, the car was the first to be built with a monocoque, where the body and chassis are part of the same structure. Previously, Rolls Royce would provide the owner with a chassis, and then it was up to the owner what body would be put on it, with a variety of coachbuilders available to do the job including H.J Muliner Park Ward, Hoopers of London and James Young. The advent of the monocoque meant that potential buyers didn't have to go through the rigmarole of buying a chassis and then having a body constructed for it at extra cost.

 

As mentioned though, reception was something of a mixed bag, whilst motoring press and many people gave it critical acclaim for its revolutionary design, the usual Rolls Royce customer base saw it as something of a mongrel, appealing to the lowest common denominator rather than holding up the traditional standard that the Double R was famed for. But just because it was built for the masses didn't make it any less a car, each individual Shadow cost £7,000 new, weighed 2.2 tonnes and took 3 months to build. The interior was compiled of 12 square feet of wood, and three cows had to sacrifice themselves to create the leather hides that line the seats. Soft and springy Wilton Carpets made up the floor and power from Rolls Royce's astounding V8 engine could whisk the car to about 100mph, but why would you want a sporty Rolls Royce anyway? *Cough* Rolls Royce Wraith *Cough*

 

After launch the Silver Shadow was whipped up by pretty much anyone and everyone who wanted to show off their wealth, with a total of 25,000 examples being built during its 15 year production life, making it the most numerous Rolls Royce ever built. The Silver Shadow also formed the basis of several other designs, including the convertible Rolls Royce Silver Shadow 2-Door Saloon which later became the Corniche in 1971, the Bentley T-Series which was exactly the same only with Bentley badge and grille, and the controversial Rolls Royce Camargue of 1975 which was designed by Pininfarina.

 

For a time the Shadow was on top of the world, but things started to crumble fast in the 1970's. New American legislation meant that the car had to conform at the cost of its class, with the chrome bumpers being replaced by composite or rubber, and the ditch lights being slumped underneath on a rather unsightly chin-spoiler. In 1977 this revised car was launched as the Silver Shadow II, which I consider to be but a shadow of its former self due to the fact that this was when Rolls Royce started to become downplayed and underwhelming. Indeed the best intentions were in mind with safety, but without the chrome to adorn its lovely body, the Shadow was merely a husk.

 

This was added to by the fuel crisis of the mid-1970's, which made motoring a very expensive practice, especially if you ran a Shadow. Shadow's are incredible gas guzzlers at less than 20MPG, and refilling one will set you back in today's money about £80. At the same time it was considered socially unacceptable to be seen driving around in one of these after such a blow, almost as if you were driving a giant middle-finger down the street to everyone else who couldn't afford to drive. Because of this, owners turned to more subtle cars such as Mercedes so as not to fall victim to vindictive passers by. With sales starting to drop, Rolls Royce had to see off the Silver Shadow as soon as possible. After nearly 10 years of development, 1980 saw the launch of the much more angular and somewhat mundane Silver Spirit/Spur range, and with that now on the go the shadows grew long for the Silver Shadow, which was killed off the same year. Spiritually however, the design of the 60's lived on in the Corniche, which was to be built for another 15 years before that too was ended in 1995.

 

In some ways the Shadow became a failure of its own success, with Rolls Royce building far too many cars for the market that intended to buy them, with the result that the 2nd hand market became saturated with nearly new cars that fell into some disreputable company. Throughout the 1980's the Shadow was noted for being the ride of sleazy salesmen, gang lords and Members of Parliament (pure evil!). Additionally, many Shadows were bought cheap simply for the way they made the owner look.

 

If you were intending to use your cheapy Shadow to plunder yourself some girls and didn't have the attraction of money to back you up, you'd be out of luck and soon out of cash, because the bills required to run a hand-built luxury car would very quickly be walking through the door, both in terms of fuel and maintenance. Critical failures are rare and these cars are very reliable (although Jeremy Clarkson would have you think otherwise), but when they do happen, it would probably be cheaper to buy yourself another car. The worst problem you could face is a failure of the hydraulics that controlled the rear suspension, the steering and the brakes, which would render the car inoperable if something were to go awry.

 

Frequent maintenance of a Shadow however (every 4 to 6 months) will probably even out at about £100, which when you consider the £10,000 or more you'd be paying to replace the hydraulic system, is a small sacrifice. Rust is another problem, especially for early Shadows. The Chrome sills and guttering on the roof are especially prone, although the most critical problem is rust on the chassis, which if left can compromise the whole car and essentially write it off. A bit of a buying tip, if the car's body looks good, be sure to check underneath because you may see some costly rust gremlins down there that could ruin your investment.

 

Another place the Shadow has found itself is in the world of movies. Of course any film that has an upper-crust theme or feel to it would have to include a Rolls, but since 2nd hand Shadows could be picked up for a song you could easily put them in your movie. Sadly, most movies that feature Shadows are ones which feature them being destroyed.

 

So why do I love Shadows so much? Basically because it's a mixture of all things you'd want in a car. It has a spacious, luxury interior, it has a world beating design dripping with chrome and adorned with the finest hood ornament, and because it's dimensions aren't that far off a normal car, it can easily be used as an everyday machine unlike the Silver Cloud which is simply too big for everyday use. The Shadow is also a very personable sort of machine, if I was to own one I would treat it like a pet, and probably name it Sally (old girlfriend of mine).

 

Today, Shadows are by no means rare and the ones you'll find on the road are probably the best. Most of the poorer 2nd Hand ones rusted away and died back in the 1980's and 90's (or were blown up in movies, or put in swimming pools), which means that the survivors are largely under the ownership of avid enthusiasts who cherish their cars. You can find Shadows for next to nothing, with some examples going for as little as £4,000, but you'd have to be very desperate to get one of those as they'd probably be in very bad condition. Minters however can go for about £15,000 to £20,000, which when compared to some of the other cars of comparative size and quality such as the BMW's and Mercs of this world, is not a bad deal. :)

1-12-13 Wyndham Street Races

 

Laverda (Moto Laverda S.A.S. – Dottore Francesco Laverda e fratelli) was an Italian manufacturer of high performance motorcycles. The motorcycles in their day gained a reputation for being robust and innovative.

The Laverda brand was absorbed by Piaggio when, in 2004, Piaggio absorbed Aprilia. Piaggio has elected to quietly close all activities related to the Laverda brand and has publicly stated that they would be willing to sell the rights to the brand if an investor should appear. Currently Laverda.com redirects to Aprilia's website.

 

750:

The true birth of Laverda as a serious big bike brand occurred with the introduction of 750 cc; its appearance halted sales of the recently introduced 650. Many of the first bikes were produced for the American market under the brand "American Eagle", which were imported to the US from 1968 until 1969 by Jack McCormack. The 750 was identical to the 650 except for the lower compression and carburettor rejetting. In 1969 the "750 S" and the "750 GT" were born, both equipped with an engine which would truly start the Laverda fame. Both engine and frame were reworked: power was increased to 60 bhp (45 kW) for the S. 3 bikes were entered by the factory at the 1969 Dutch 24 hour endurance race in Oss, the 750S was clearly the fastest bike until piston failure left just one machine to finish fourth.

Just like the agricultural machinery made by Laverda S.p.A., the other family business, Laverdas were built to be indestructible. The parallel twin cylinder engine featured no less than five main bearings (four crankcase bearings and a needle-roller outrigger bearing in the primary chaincase cover), a duplex cam chain, and a starter motor easily twice as powerful as needed. Of course, this made the engine and subsequently the entire bike heavier than other bikes of the same vintage, such as the Ducati 750.

 

Laverda 750 SFC

The SF evolved to include disc brakes and cast alloy wheels. Developed from the 750S road bike was the 750 SFC (super freni competizione), a half-faired racer that was developed to win endurance events like the Oss 24 hours, Barcelona 24 hours and the Bol D'Or at Le Mans. This it did, often placed first, second and third in the same race, and dominating the international endurance race circuit in 1971. Distinguished by its characteristic orange paint which would become the company's race department colour, its smooth aerodynamic fairing and upswept exhaust, the SFC was Laverda's flagship product and best advertisement, flaunting pedigree and the message of durability, quality, and exclusivity. The SFC "Series 15,000" was featured in the Guggenheim Museum in New York's 1999 exhibit The Art of the Motorcycle as one of the most iconic bikes of the 1970s.

Source: Wikipedia

 

Review:

By the late 1990s Laverda were developing their parallel twin sportster into a decent bike, which was also getting cheaper in the UK as the pound got stronger.

 

An almost entirely new engine, watercooled and breathing through fuel injection, boosted power to over 80bhp, plus vibration was reduced with balancer shafts.

 

The crude, twin cylinder motor had always been the Laverda’s weak point and now, with a torquier, smoother mill, the twin spar chassis and Brembo brakes could really shine. Suddenly, the old fashioned big twin concept seemed to make sense.

  

One quick blast up the road is all it takes to confirm that the 750S is the start of something big for Laverda. At a glance the bike is very similar to the firm’s previous parallel twins. Its chassis is almost identical, its styling owes much to earlier models, and despite being watercooled the new, grey-finished motor fires up with a mechanical whir and a familiar chuffing from its twin pipes.

 

But the 750S motor responds more quickly to a blip of the throttle, its clutch is notably lighter than before, and the new twin has a distinctly smoother feel as it pulls away. There’s still plenty of Laverda twin character, but the whole bike seems more refined. Then you crack open the throttle in first gear, and the front wheel heads for the clouds to show that, despite its sophisticated manners, this bike is much more of a hooligan than any of its predecessors.

 

If that hasn’t convinced you that the 750S is a brilliantly enjoyable motorbike, the first tight bend will do the trick. Squeeze the Laverda’s big front Brembo discs and you slow with tackle-crunching ferocity. Flick the clip-ons and the bike cranks onto its side with suspension and tyres carving a precise line through the corner. Wind open the throttle and the twin-pot motor revs smoothly and hard towards its redline at just over nine grand.

 

Those first few hundred yards are what stick in my mind after a day spent thrashing about on the new Lav mainly because I hadn’t expected the bike to be anything like this good. Laverda have been steadily refining the age-old parallel twin format since bike-mad local textile baron Francesco Tognon took over and began rebuilding the firm a little over three years ago. But despite that, the oil/aircooled parallel twin motors have always felt a bit crude, and I’d expected the 750S to be just another small step in the process of evolution.

 

Instead the new bike takes Laverda a big leap forward, thanks largely to a watercooled engine whose basic layout is similar to that of its predecessors, but which shares few components and is a far more sophisticated piece of work. The 750S is the first bike that the new company regards as its own design. Tognon says it represents the second phase of Laverda’s recovery and riding it shows that he ain’t exaggerating.

 

The five-strong design and engineering team at Laverda’s base in Zan in north-eastern Italy left no stone unturned in their attempt to uprate the twin-cam, eight-valve parallel twin unit that has helped put the firm back on the map. Boring out the motor from 78.5 to 83mm increases capacity to 747cc from the old lump’s 668cc.

 

The 180-degree crankshaft’s stroke remains at 69mm, but changes including a new balancer shaft are intended to reduce vibration. A new pair of camshafts sit in a narrower cylinder head that also features the novelty of watercooled seats for the exhaust valves. Compression ratio is up from 9:1 to 10.5:1 which, along with the new twin-pipe exhaust system, helps increase the claimed peak output from 70 to 82.5bhp at 7000rpm. The six-speed gearbox incorporates revised teeth and dogs; changes to the clutch include a new master cylinder designed to give a lighter feel at the lever.

 

The chassis is essentially that of the 668cc twins, based around a twin-spar aluminium frame built for the original 650 model that appeared back in 1992. Laverda have never skimped on cycle parts, and the new bike carries on the tradition. Paioli supply the 41mm upside-down forks and the rear shock, both multi-adjustable. Brembo provide brakes (four-pot calipers and 320mm discs up front); wheels are three-spoke Marchesinis wearing Pirelli Dragons.

 

Fork-tops are pushed well through the yokes to quicken the steering compared to the Ghost models (rake is still a less-than-racy 26.5 degrees, even so). At 192kg dry the Lav weighs a bit less than Ducati’s 748, the same as Honda’s VTR1000 and slightly more than Suzuki’s TL1000. But the 750S is very slim and low, and its under-seat fuel tank helps make for a very light and manoeuvrable bike that immediately makes you feel at home.

 

The motor’s new-found smoothness is obvious, and you soon discover that there’s extra power through most of the rev range too. At very low revs the bike judders like a road drill, shaking the mirrors that are mounted to the flimsy fairing. But the vibration fades by 3000rpm, and from then on the Laverda punches with a force that is not exactly earth-shattering (Ducati’s 900SS probably has slightly more midrange), but which is more than enough to make you grin.

 

Previous Laverda twins certainly don’t wheelie like this bike does given a first-gear crack of the throttle and they don’t tempt you to keep thrashing them in the same way either. Response from the revised, faster-reacting Weber fuel-injection system is ace. And the motor’s added smoothness is just as important as its extra power, because you’re more tempted to keep the revs in the sweet zone between 6000 and 8000rpm.

 

Same goes for the new gearbox, which is a big improvement on previous Laverda efforts. The box shifted cleanly at speed, and was let down only by an occasional reluctance to find neutral at a standstill. Word from the factory is that this was caused by this pre-production bike’s slightly dragging clutch, and that a modification has already been found to prevent the same thing happening to production machines. (What’s more, Laverda seem so on-the-ball these days that it’s probably true...)

 

Provided it’s kept revving the 750S is respectably quick as it heads for a top speed of close to 140mph. Granted, that makes it by no means the fastest sports bike in the world. Acceleration above 120mph is pretty gentle, and many riders would doubtless prefer a bit more poke for track days and serious Sunday morning scratching. But the rest of the time that performance gives the perfect excuse for plenty of full-throttle craziness.

 

Predictably the chassis copes effortlessly with everything the engine and rider can throw at it. Laverda really got it right with the 668cc models a few years ago, since when they’ve merely added a few refinements. The hefty twin-spar frame doesn’t have to break sweat to keep 80 horses under control. Forks and shock are firm enough to jar a bit over big bumps, and the riding position means you wouldn’t want to ride in traffic for long (steering lock is pretty tight too). But suspension control is superb and the bike feels better the harder it’s ridden.

 

Despite its less than radical geometry the short, light 750S steers pretty quickly. And it also has a stunningly stable, well-planted cornering feel, with no sign of TL1000-style twitchiness. The rear Dragon is a fairly narrow 160-section cover on a five-inch rim, but for road use the 750S has heaps of grip, and enough ground clearance to need it. The front tyre has to work hard, too, when Brembo’s excellent stoppers are used in anger.

 

Not that I needed the brakes to slow down when, only a few miles after setting off from importers Three Cross, the bike suddenly lost all life and coasted to a halt at the roadside. It turned out that the sidestand cut-out switch was killing the sparks, although the stand was fully retracted. A few turns of a spanner from the toolkit soon had it sorted, but this is the sort of silly problem that Laverda need to avoid if they’re going to steal sales from the big boys.

 

Another electrics-related niggle was that the 19 litre fuel tank’s low warning light had a habit of flashing on far too early, in typical Italian fashion. But quality generally seemed good. Laverda boss Tognon has made a serious investment in an attempt to improve reliability. Finish of parts such as the frame, bodywork and paint (any colour you like as long as it’s black) is well up to standard.

 

When you consider that only a few years ago Laverda seemed to be in a terminal crisis, following the collapse of yet another attempted revival, the appearance of the firm’s first truly new bike is a result in itself. That the 750S is so good is a minor miracle. And what’s more, the normal Italian bike sting in the tail a price several thousand quid higher than the Japanese competition doesn’t apply.

 

Three Cross have pitched the 750S at a very competitive £7499 on the road, hardly more than the 668cc Lavs and substantially cheaper than the TL1000S and VTR1000, let alone Ducati’s 748. If you’re looking for a twin-cylinder sports bike with a bit of character, the 750S is worth checking out. One quick blast up the road is all it takes...

 

Source: www.carolenash.com/insidebikes/bike-reviews/laverda/750s/

The Journey so far.

 

New Model Army played their first gig in Bradford on October 23rd 1980. Its founding members were Justin Sullivan, Stuart Morrow and Phil Tompkins. The threesome had already been together for a couple of years in a number of Bradford bands with other musicians and singers but in the Autumn of 1980, they decided to form a stripped-down three-piece, their music drawing on a wide collection of influences and fuelled by their passions for Punk Rock and Northern Soul. Within a few months drummer Phil Tomkins had left to be replaced by Rob Waddington. The band slowly built up a local following and created a unique style based on Justin's song-writing and Stuart's virtuosity on lead-bass.

 

In Summer 1982, whispers about this band reached London and they were invited to perform at a couple of showcases. But in a scene hungry for "the next big thing" (the coming "New Romantics"), NMA's fearsome music and northern style did not win over the Major Record Companies and they returned to Bradford empty-handed. Rob Waddington left to be replaced by Robert Heaton, who had been working as a drum tech and occasional drummer for the band ‘Hawkwind‘. Undeterred by the indifference of the Music Business, NMA began to perform more and more around the country and frequently featured as opening act on a series of all-day concerts at the London Lyceum which heralded many of the "Post-Punk" bands. Although this meant traveling for several hours to play a twenty-five minute set for no money, the band embraced the opportunity and their reputation as a live act grew. A first small-label independent single "Bittersweet" was released in the summer of 1983, followed by "Great Expectations" on Abstract Records that autumn, both played frequently on late night radio by John Peel. Suddenly the band had a "Following", people who would travel to every concert around the country to see them.

 

Early in 1984, the producer of "The Tube", the most important live music show on TV, had seen NMA in concert and invited them to fill the ‘unknown' slot on the programme. Having originally asked the band to perform their provocative anti-anthem, "Vengeance", the TV Company suddenly got cold feet about the song's lyrics minutes before broadcast and asked the band to change songs. It made no difference. Somehow twenty to thirty followers had managed to get into the TV studio and when NMA began with "Christian Militia" the crowd went wild and an electric atmosphere was transmitted around the country. Suddenly NMA were underground news. Their first mini-album, "Vengeance" knocked "The Smiths" from the top of the Independent Charts and the major record companies, who had rejected them less than two years earlier, were now begging to sign the band.

 

The autumn of 1984 was a time of political turmoil in Britain. After five years of Mrs Thatcher's right-wing government, which had already fuelled so much of NMA's early fury, a final showdown with the National Union of Mineworkers (the strike that had begun in March and had split the country), entered a critical phase and much of Northern England began to resemble a Police State. NMA's last Independent EP "The Price" also featured "1984" a song written directly about the strike and, with their declared left-wing views, NMA's concerts became increasingly intense.

     

At the end of the year, NMA signed a contract of "complete artist control" with EMI (which included EMI giving a donation to a miners fund). The move surprised many people but the band were already looking beyond the confines of Britain and considered the deal to be the right one. In the Spring of 1985 the album "No Rest For The Wicked" and the single "No Rest" both reached the national top 40, but this success and now relative financial security had done little to soften NMA's confrontational attitude. They appeared on Top Of The Pops wearing T-shirts with a motif reading "Only Stupid Bastards Use Heroin" (a reaction against the fashionable drug of the time).

 

Then, halfway through the "No Rest" tour, the day after their hometown gig, Stuart Morrow decided to leave the band for personal reasons. Frantic negotiations were made (by a strange unhappy co-incidence, on the very same day as the Bradford City fire disaster killed 56 people at a football match), but to no avail. As a result, Justin and Robert decided to follow up the success of "No Rest" with an acoustic song from the album "Better Than Them" which had not involved Stuart and accompanied it with three specially recorded acoustic tracks, a move of principle which dumbfounded EMI. By the summer, Stuart had been replaced by 17 year-old Jason 'Moose' Harris, whose first gig was at a benefit for the families of the fire tragedy, and the "No Rest" tour continued.

 

Thatcher's victory over the miners, and by extension over all organised opposition, marked a new political reality. This, coupled with the shock of Stuarts's departure and increasing media hostility, resulted in the band taking an ever more defiant posture, exemplified by a typically fiery performance at the Glastonbury Festival. Then, despite being signed to Capitol Records in North America, all attempts to tour there were prevented when the band were refused visas. Many people, on both sides of the Atlantic, believed that this was for political reasons although this was never possible to prove. Instead, that autumn NMA set out on their first long tour of the European mainland, which unlike many UK acts, they found much to their liking, and later a trip to Japan. The year ended with yet another UK tour in support of a newly recorded EP: "Brave New World", a savage portrait of the Thatcher's Britain and "RIP", an equally furious study of the band's history thus far.

 

If 1985 had been a traumatic year, then 1986 saw one of the band's many resurrections, with the legendary Glyn Johns agreeing to produce their third album. Though relations between band and producer were often difficult, Justin recalls the sessions as "the biggest musical learning curve of my life". "The Ghost Of Cain" was well received by the critics and audience and many people began to see a band that were capable of developing and changing and adjusting to new realities while still staying true to their own principles; this was a band that were now pursuing their own musical agenda, completely unmoved by the whims of the music industry or the expectations of fans. Outside Britain, their name was slowly becoming known and in December of 1986, they finally made a first short tour of America.

 

1987 was a year of full bloom. In January, Justin and Robert recorded an album with the poet Joolz Denby. Joolz had been the band's first manager and has remained as a driving force and responsible for all of the band's artwork from the beginning to the present day. She had previously made spoken word albums and a series of EPs with Jah Wobble but it was inevitable that she would collaborate with NMA. The album "Hex" was recorded at the very special Sawmills Studio, a unique place in Cornwall, only reachable at high tide by boat. Although the studio is now well known, at that time it was infrequently used and accommodation was in primitive cabins deep in the woods. From this new setting, and freed from the pressures of "being New Model Army", Justin and Robert were able to explore all kinds of ideas and musical avenues that their experience with Glyn Johns had opened up. Later, they both considered "Hex" to have been one of the creative highlights of their musical partnership, with its strong, romantic soundscapes acting as the perfect accompaniment to Joolz' poetry.

 

Much of the writing of "Hex" had been done using samplers and the use of this new tool continued to take the band in unexpected directions. That summer they recorded the "Whitecoats" EP with its ecological lyric and mystical atmosphere. An interest in mysticism and spirituality had been becoming more and more apparent in Justin's lyrics (though this was no surprise to those who knew of his family's Quaker roots). The same summer, Red Sky Coven was born out of a group of friends who shared these interests and ideas. It included Justin, Joolz, singer-songwriter and storyteller Rev Hammer and musician Brett Selby. Together, the foursome decided to create a performance based on this friendship, a unique show which continues to tour on an occasional basis.

 

1987 also saw plenty more NMA concerts, including Reading Festival, a gig with David Bowie in front of the Reichstag in Berlin and a show-stopping performance at the Bizarre Festival at Lorelei in Germany. From time to time, the band added their friend Ricky Warwick as a second guitarist and also enlisted Mark Feltham, the legendary harmonica player who had graced "The Ghost Of Cain" and "Hex" to join them. At the very end of the year and the beginning of 1988, they returned to the Sawmills for two more inspired writing sessions, which laid the foundations for "Thunder and Consolation".

 

The following months, though, were far more difficult, while NMA chose a producer, another music legend - Tom Dowd - and set about recording the album. It was a long drawn-out process and relationships between band members became increasingly strained, only really maintained by the knowledge that they were making something truly special. "Thunder and Consolation" was finally released early in 1989, striking a perfect balance between the band's fascinations with rock, folk and soul music and Justin's lyrical interest in spirituality, politics and family relationships. The album brought critical praise and new levels of commercial success and the band toured Europe and North America, joined by Ed Alleyne Johnson playing electric violin and keyboards and Chris Mclaughlin on guitar. However, despite the success, relationships at the heart of the band had not really mended and even after Jason Harris left that summer, stresses remained.

 

By autumn Justin and Robert were back in the Sawmills working towards another album and, in the new year, they were joined by a new (and still current) bass player, Nelson, previously of a number of East Anglian cult bands, and a new second guitarist, Adrian Portas from Sheffield. The new musicians brought a stronger atmosphere to the touring band while, in the studio, Justin and Robert continued to explore different musical ideas. Partly self-produced, "Impurity" was finally finished and mixed by Pat Collier in the summer of 1990. Still featuring Ed Alleyne Johnson' violin, the album was more eclectic than "Thunder" but continued to win new fans and the world-wide tour that followed its release lasted the best part of a year, culminating in a rolling Festival in Germany involving David Bowie, Midnight Oil, The Pixies and NMA.

 

In mid-1991, "Raw Melody Men", a live album from the tour, was put together and released. It was to be NMA's last album for EMI. Unusually, given the history of the music business, the relationship between band and record company had always remained cordial but had now simply grown stale. There were minor dissatisfactions on both sides and, after lengthy negotiations, it was agreed to simply terminate the contract. NMA's own Management Company also imploded at this time and new management was drawn up. The band was not short of new record company offers and eventually chose Epic, for reasons to do with support in the US.

 

Although Mrs Thatcher had been ousted by her own Party in 1990 (a memorable night coinciding with NMA's first visit to Rome), the Conservative monolith that had ruled the country for so long remained in power and, against all expectations, won a further election in 1992. Outside Britain though, much was changed: there was recession and instability and a so-called "New World Order" in the wake of the collapse of Soviet Communism and the 1st Gulf War. Already the band was embarked upon a very dark album, driven equally by personal traumas, including Justin's near-death electrocution on stage in Switzerland and the changes in the world around them. Produced by Niko Bolas and mixed by Bob Clearmountain, "The Love Of Hopeless Causes" was not what anyone was expecting. Just as folk-rock, pioneered and inspired in part by NMA, became a fashionable and commercial sound, the band made a deliberate move away from it and straight and into guitar-driven rock music.

 

Replacing Adrian with Dave Blomberg on guitar, they embarked on the album tour and the European section featured their most successful concerts yet. However NMA's relationship with their new record company quickly deteriorated. Worse still, they found themselves caught in corporate dispute between London and New York, which was in no way related to them. By June, the band found themselves on an exhaustive US tour, in which they had invested much of their own money, with no support of any kind from Epic or any other source. The tour featured many outstanding concerts but it was a bittersweet experience. By the end of the summer, it had been agreed that there should be a year off for everyone to rest and consider the future, while the contract with Epic was quickly terminated.

 

Justin used 1993-4 to produce other artists (a second collaboration with Joolz entitled "Weird Sister", Rev Hammer's "Bishop Of Buffalo" album and also the unusual Berlin combo, The Inchtabokatables), tour with Red Sky Coven and create another way of performing NMA songs - in a duo with new guitarist Dave Blomberg. Together they went back to Justin's first love - small club touring - and eventually released an album of the live show entitled "Big Guitars in Little Europe", an album, which has proved enduringly popular. Robert's main wish was to spend more time at home with his family, which he was now able to do and Nelson formed a new band "Nelson's Column" which toured England. Ed Alleyne Johnson followed up his first solo album "The Purple Electric Violin Concerto" which had been so successful with a second entitled "Ultraviolet".

 

After the year was up, Justin and Robert tentatively began work on a new project and in December 1994, the band (with Dean White on keyboards replacing Ed Alleyne Johnson) reassembled to play a short series of concerts. However, the next two years were lost while Justin and Robert, plagued by ill health and personal-life distractions tried unsuccessfully to pin down hundreds of new musical ideas into an album. It became increasingly obvious to both of them (and everyone else in and around the band) that they were now on very different musical paths. In 1997, Tommy Tee who had been the band's Tour Manager in the 1980s returned to take control of the band's drifting affairs. He enlisted producer Simon Dawson to help finish the project and by the autumn "Strange Brotherhood" was completed. Unsurprisingly, it's an album full to the brim with different and contrasting musical ideas while the lyrics range from the politics of the British Road Protest movement (in which Sullivan had been actively involved during 1996) to the deeply personal and sometimes unusually obscure. During the mixing, it was agreed that Justin and Robert would go their separate ways after the tour.

 

Then, suddenly Robert was diagnosed as having a brain tumour, and though the operation to remove it was successful, any prospect of touring was impossible. So he suggested that his place be taken by Michael Dean, a young drummer who had been working as his technician since 1993. Having watched Robert for some years, Michael was immediately comfortable with the role of drummer and with all other aspects of the band. The "Strange Brotherhood" tour began in the spring of 1998 and, happy to be back on the road at last, for the first couple of months, the band embarked on an ambitious programme of doing two sets each night, a 50 minute acoustic set followed by a full 90 minute rock. The tour continued on and off through to the end of the year.

 

By now Justin and Tommy Tee had restructured New Model Army's set-up to take account of the changes that the Internet was bringing to the whole music industry. This included making sure that the band owned every aspect of their work, and included their own record label (Attack Attack) to be distributed by different companies in different territories. 1999 began with a review of live shows recorded the previous year and their amalgamation into a live double album entitled "New Model Army and Nobody Else". After this Justin (assisted by Michael) began to write new songs for the next album. This was done quickly and easily for the first time since "Thunder", with Justin claiming to be "reborn as a song-writer." To keep up the momentum, it was decided to self-produce and to record the album in the band's own studio. Again this was done quickly with mostly Justin, Michael and Dean at the controls. (Living 250 and 300 miles from Bradford meant that Nelson and Dave were more occasional contributors for purely geographical reasons). The whole process was very much a reaction to the slow progress of "Strange Brotherhood", with the album given the simple name "Eight" to go with its whole stripped-down approach. It was released in the Spring of 2000 and was followed by more touring.

 

On October 23rd 2000, the band celebrated their 20th anniversary by playing another two set marathon at Rock City in Nottingham and then three months later, further special concerts in London and Koln which featured four completely different sets spread over two nights - a 57 song marathon in each city attended by over 7000 people.

 

One of the legacies of the lost years of the mid 1990s was a lot of unfinished material and next, Justin, Michael and Dean worked to finish and assemble this into accessible form, a double album "Lost Songs" released in 2002. Another ‘unfinished' project was Justin's long promised solo album and it was at this moment that he decided to pursue it. Meant to take just a few weeks to record and tour, "Navigating By The Stars" became another marathon. Hooking up with film and TV music producer, Ty Unwin, the first week of working coincided with ‘9/11'. Rather than making a political or angry response to unfolding events, the album's purpose was to ‘make something beautiful in an increasingly ugly World'. The album came out in 2003 to surprised and favourable reaction. At first touring alone with Dean (including a long awaited return to America), Justin was then joined by Michael playing percussion and the threesome bought a large mobile home and set off across Europe. The live album "Tales of the Road", released in 2004 captures their unique sound and stripped-down rearrangements of some of NMA's lesser known songs.

 

In 2004, an exhibition of all Joolz' artwork for the band plus collected memorabilia was assembled for a touring exhibition. Entitled ‘One Family, One Tribe' it has been on display in art galleries in Otley, York, Bradford and Hamm in Germany and there are plans for more future showings. Meanwhile, the band work began work on a new NMA album, at first focused around Michael's increasing creativity as a drummer. "Carnival" was recorded with producer Chris Tsangerides and mixed by Nat Chan. It's lyrical subjects and musical roots were as usual very eclectic but included many people's favourite NMA track, "Fireworks Night", Justin's emotional response to the sudden and unexpected death of Robert that Autumn. "Carnival" was released in September 2005, but when it came to the tour, Dave Blomberg was unable to participate for family reasons and his place was taken by Marshall Gill, a blues guitarist from Ashton Under Lyne, completing the band's current line-up in what Sullivan calls “the best version of NMA since 1985”.

 

The Carnival Tour marked another dynamic new beginning for the band, with Nelson sometimes playing as a second drummer, Dean sometimes as third guitarist and Michael and Marshall's energy much in evidence. Such was the sense of momentum and togetherness that for the first time in years, NMA moved quickly on to making another album with major contributions from all members. "High" was written and recorded in five months at the beginning of 2007, produced by old friend (and another production star, Chris Kimsey) and was ‘angrier' than any releases for a while and lyrically very much in tune with current realities.

 

The "High" tour rolled through 4 continents with the new line up now firmly in tune with itself and Marshall bringing a tougher edge to the band's sound - even managing to re-arrange the classic violin led anthem "Vagabonds" into a guitar led version. This and 16 other songs were released on a new live album, "Fuck Texas, Sing For Us", in November 2008 (the title taken from a chant at the band's New Orleans show that serves as the intro to the album).

 

The year ended with tours in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and the customary December run of London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Koln with the band playing a fiery set of recent material. Remarkably, the band’s main 17 song set featured only two pre-2000 songs, as well as brand new material, a sure sign of the band’s forward momentum - and with their ticket sales up everywhere. Then, at Christmas, manager Tommy Tee died suddenly and unexpectedly. This was a major shock to everyone in and around the band, not only because as he ran all aspects of the band's affairs but also as a major part of the NMA family and history since 1982.

 

It took a while before the band could refocus but by Spring 2009, they were back in the studio working on their eleventh studio album, “Today Is A Good Day”. Mostly written in the wake of the 2008 Wall Street Collapse (an event celebrated in the white-hot opening title track), it was recorded in the band’s own studio in Bradford with Chris Kimsey once more at the controls. Chris wrote “the NMA 'family business' is back in full swing. The boys sound brave & united.” The album was hailed as one of their very best and the album tour began with a month in North America and went on for a further six months ending with a triumphant return to Glastonbury and other Festivals in the summer.

 

In the Autumn of 2010, the band celebrated their 30th Anniversary with the release of boxsets, books, DVDs and a full set of retrospective material and set out on the curious and challenging schedule. Promising to play a minimum of four songs from each of their 13 albums (including the two B-sides compilations) over two nights, they performed this marathon in different cities on four continents every weekend from September until Christmas. The final weekend in London was recorded and released in full as a five hour DVD.

 

After such a hectic year, 2011 was always going to be relatively quiet with the band concentrating on writing material for their next project. Consciously looking for something new after two convincing great rock band recorded live in a studio albums. this is a work in progress interrupted only by a handful of full band shows and rather more of the semi-acoustic Justin and Dean duo concerts. But then, as the year ended, disaster once again struck with a fire, started in the next door furniture outlet, raging through the band's Bradford base destroying pretty their whole studio set-up. No one was injured and the band have remarkably been able to salvage some of their touring gear from inside flight-cases. However, while remaining characteristically upbeat about the future, the band acknowledge that the loss of so much gear and a place to work will delay their plans for 2012. Meanwhile, in the background, BBC/Channel Four diector, Matt Reid, has been putting together a documentary film about the group for release sometime this year.

 

This is a remarkable band - as hungry and focused as ever, with a continually regenerating audience and insatiable creative ambition.

 

The historic suburb of Jericho is one of Oxford’s finest with a strong community feel and a reputation for its quirky nature.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho,_Oxford

 

Oxford Canal

 

The canal is one of Jericho's most attractive amenities and its towpath walk offers an alternative route to the city centre. Jericho is virtually the end of the canal, so many visitors moor here.

 

The canal was completed in 1790 as a way of linking Oxford with the West Midlands (it reaches just north of Coventry). The arrival of the railways eventually put paid to the canal for industrial transport and it is now used solely for leisure craft.

 

There used to be two boatyards to hire boats and to service them. One yard, Orchard Cruisers has now closed, but the other, College Cruisers, is still going strong.

 

Much of the canalside land in Jericho is now due to be redeveloped, which has led to an ongoing national controversy.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Canal

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GP500 motorcycle windshields

Kawasaki Motorcycle History

Kawasaki emerged out of the ashes of the second World War to become one of the big players from Japan. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, Kawasaki built a reputation for some of the most powerful engines on two wheels, spawning legendary sportbikes like the Ninja series and a line of championship-winning off-road bikes. .1896

The company is founded by Shozo Kawasaki. His firm will come to be known as Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Over time, the company’s principal areas of activity will be shipbuilding, railroad rolling stock, and electrical generating plants. Motorcycles will become a small part of this diversified industrial conglomerate. 1960

Kawasaki signs agreement to take over Meguro motorcycles, a major player in the nascent Japanese motorcycle manufacturing business. Meguro is one of the only Japanese companies making a 500cc bike. In England and the UK, Meguro’s 500 – which bears a strong resemblance to the BSA A7 – is derided as a cheap copy. But in fact, it is a pretty high-quality bike. 1961

Kawasaki produces its first complete motorcycle – the B8 125cc two-stroke. 1962

A series of the two-stroke models from 50-250cc is released. The 250cc disc-valve ‘Samurai’ attracts notice in the U.S. 1966

The 650W1 is released and is the biggest bike made in Japan at the time. It’s inspired by the BSA A10. Over the next few years it will get twin carbs, and high pipes for a ‘scrambler’ version. 1969

Dave Simmonds gives Kawasaki its first World Championship, in the 125cc class

The striking Kawasaki H1 (aka Mach III) a 500cc three-cylinder two-stroke is released. Although its handling leaves something to be desired, the motor is very powerful for the day. It’s one of the quickest production bikes in the quarter-mile. The Mach III establishes Kawasaki’s reputation in the U.S. (In particular, it establishes a reputation for powerful and somewhat antisocial motorcycles!) A wonderful H1R production racer is also released – a 500cc racing bike.

Over the next few years, larger and smaller versions of the H1, including the S1 (250cc) S2 (350cc) and H2 (750cc) will be released. They’re successful in the marketplace, and the H2R 750cc production racer is also successful on the race track, but Kawasaki knows that the days of the two-stroke streetbike are coming to an end.

The company plans to release a four-stroke, but is shocked by the arrival of the Honda 750-Four. Kawasaki goes back to the drawing board.

1973

The first new four-stroke since the W1 is released. It’s worth the wait. The 900cc Z1 goes one up on the Honda 750 with more power and double overhead cams. Over the next few years, its capacity will increase slightly and it will be rebadged the Z-1000. 1978

Kork Ballington wins the 250cc and 350cc World Championships with fore-and-aft parallel-Twin racers (Rotax also built racing motors in this configuration. Ballington will repeat the feat in ’79. In 1980 he will finish second in the premier 500cc class. Anton Mang takes over racing duties in the 250 and 350 classes, and he will win four more titles over the next three years. This is the most successful period for Kawasaki in the World Championship.

Kawasaki’s big-bore KZ1300 is released. Honda and Benelli have already released six-cylinder bikes by this time, but Kawasaki’s specification includes water cooling and shaft drive. To underline the efficiency of the cooling system, its launch is held in Death Valley. Despite its substantial weight, journalists are impressed.

Over the next few years, the KZ1300 will get digital fuel injection and a full-dress touring version will be sold as the ‘Voyager.’ This model is marketed as “a car without doors”!

1981

Eddie Lawson wins the AMA Superbike championship for Kawasaki after an epic battle with Honda’s Freddie Spencer. He will repeat as champion the following year.

Kawasaki releases the GPz550. It’s air-cooled and has only two valves per cylinder, but its performance threatens the 750cc machines of rival manufacturers. This is the bike that launches the 600 class.

1983

The liquid-cooled four-valve GPz900R ‘Ninja’ is shown to the motorcycle press for the first time at Laguna Seca. They’re stunned. 1985

James “Bubba” Stewart, Jr. is born. Kawasaki supplies his family with Team Green diapers. 1989

The first ‘ZXR’-designated bikes reach the market. They are 750cc and 400cc race replicas. 1990

The ZX-11 is launched and features a 1052cc engine. It is the first production motorcycle with ram-air induction and the fastest production bike on the market. 1991

The ZXR750R begins a four year run as the top bike in the FIM Endurance World Championship. 1993

Scott Russell wins the World Superbike Championship, much to Carl Fogarty’s dismay. 2000

The ZX-12R is released – the new flagship of the ZX series. 2002

Bubba Stewart wins AMA 125 MX championship. 2003

Stewart is AMA 125 West SX champ. “What the heck is he doing on the jumps?” people wonder. It’s the “Bubba Scrub.”

In a daring move that acknowledges that only a small percentage of supersports motorcycles are ever actually raced, Kawasaki ups the capacity of the ZX-6R to 636cc. Ordinary riders welcome a noticeable increase in mid-range power, and the bike is the king of the ‘real world’ middleweights.

2004

Stewart wins the AMA 125 East SX title, and the 125cc outdoor championship. There are only one or two riders on 250s who lap any faster than he does on the little bikes.

Just when we thought motorcycles couldn’t get any crazier, the ZX-10R is released. OMG, the power!

2007

Although his transition to the big bikes hasn’t been as smooth as many expected it to be, Stewart wins the 2007 AMA SX championship. 2008

Kawasaki gives the Concours a much-needed revamp in the Concours 14. Sharing the 1352cc engine from the ZX-14, it’s touted as the ultimate sport touring motorcycle.

While they’re at it, Kawasaki also decides to give the Ninja 250 and KLR 650 major updates, after years of inactivity.

FBI Stolen motorcycles

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Motorcycles VIN Decoder

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Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke née Mary Sidney (27 October 1561 – 25 September 1621), was one of the first English women to achieve a major reputation for her literary works, translations and literary patronage.

 

Born at Tickenhill, Bewdley, in 1561, she was one of the three daughters of Sir Henry Sidney and Lady Mary Sidney née Dudley. Her mother was the daughter of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland and President of the King's Council under Edward VI executed for treason after the failure to make Jane Grey Queen of England, and was the eldest sister of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Mary Dudley is known to have written poetry. A year after her daughter Mary's birth, Mary Sidney (née Dudley) nursed Queen Elizabeth I through smallpox and was herself severely disfigured. Though her husband, Sir Henry Sidney, never repudiated her, she often lived separately from her family.

 

After the death of her sister, Ambrosia, at Ludlow Castle in 1576, fifteen year old Mary Sidney, as the only surviving Sidney daughter, was summoned to London by the Queen to be one of her noble attendants. In 1577, the Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley arranged his niece's marriage to close ally, Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, then in his mid forties. At seventeen, Mary became the mistress of Wilton House near Salisbury and Baynard's Castle in London. Mary had four children, the first of whom, William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (1580–1630), is possibly the young man described in Shakespeare's Sonnets. The other surviving child, Philip, became the 4th Earl of Pembroke on his brother's death in 1630. Mary Sidney's sons are the "Incomparable Pair", to whom William Shakespeare's First Folio is dedicated. At different times, both were patrons of the King's Men, Shakespeare's acting troupe.

 

Mary Sidney was highly educated by tutors, who included a female Italian teacher. Like her learned aunt Jane Grey, she was educated in the Reformed humanist tradition. In the 16th century, noblewomen required a good understanding of theological issues and were taught to read original texts. Mary was also schooled in poetry, music, French, the Classics, possibly in Hebrew and rhetoric, in needlework and practical medicine. She later translated Petrarch's "Triumph of Death" and many other European works. She had a keen interest in chemistry and set up a chemistry laboratory at Wilton House, run by Walter Raleigh's half-brother. She turned Wilton into a "paradise for poets", known as "The Wilton Circle" which included Edmund Spenser, Michael Drayton, Sir John Davies and Samuel Daniel, a salon-type literary group sustained by the Countess's hospitality. Her aim was to banish barbarism (an aim she shared with John Florio), by strengthening and classicising the English language and also by practising "true religion", which, in her view, combined Calvinism, devotion to Christ and acts of charity. She propagated Italian culture and literature. She was herself a Calvinist theologian. Her public persona (at least) was pious, virtuous and learned. She was celebrated for her singing of the psalms, her warmth, charm and beauty. In private, she was witty and, some reported, flirtatious. She ran safehouses for French reformed refugees.

  

Mary Sidney was younger sister and disciple to the poet, courtier and soldier Sir Philip Sidney who was for some time, the heir of both Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, brothers to Guildford Dudley, husband of the Lady Jane Grey, who were regarded as Reformed martyrs, not just by the Dudley family, but by the reformed Protestant party. Philip Sidney was being prepared to be leader of the Protestant party at Court and supported the founding of a Protestant "empire" which would include the New World (North America) to counterbalance the threat of Catholic and Spanish domination. Mary Sidney financially supported the explorations of Frobisher. Her son William Herbert was a funder and supporter of New World explorations: there is a river in the US named after Pembroke.

  

After the death of her sister Ambrosia, the Countess appears to have been devoted to her brother Sir Philip Sidney. Mary was a natural cultural catalyst. She had a gift of inspiring creativity in all those around her, including her circle, relatives and servants. Philip wrote much of his "Arcadia" in her presence. Philip Sidney was engaged in preparing a new English version of the Book of Psalms (because the translations under Edward VI were deficient). He had completed 43 of the 150 Psalms at the time of his death during a military campaign against the Spanish in the Netherlands in 1586.

  

Mary Sidney took on the task of amplifying and editing his "Arcadia" which was published as The Countesse of Pembroke's Arcadia, one of the most widely read books for the next 300 years. She also finished Philip's translation of the Psalms (which are sung unaccompanied in Calvinist worship), composing Psalms 44-150 on her own poetry, using the 1560 Geneva Bible and commentaries by John Calvin and Theodore Beza. As a competent theologian, she was unafraid to disagree with Calvin on minor points. A copy of the completed book was presented to Elizabeth I of England in 1599. This work is usually referred to as "The Sidney Psalms" or "The Sidneian Psalms" and is regarded as an important influence on the development of English poetry in the late 16th and early 17th century. John Donne wrote a poem in celebration of them. The Psalms were drawn from previous English translations rather than original Hebrew texts and are therefore properly called "metaphrases" rather than translations. Like Philip's, Mary Sidney's versions use a wide variety of poetic forms and display a vivid imagination and vigorous phrasing.

  

Mary's husband died in 1600. Thereafter she played a large part in managing Wilton and the other Pembroke estates, on behalf of her son, William, who entirely took over her role of literary patronage. After James I visited her at Wilton in 1603 and was entertained by Shakespeare's company "The King's Men", Mary moved out of Wilton and rented a house in London. Though it is certain that the King's Men attended Wilton, whether William Shakespeare was with them is uncertain. However, it is reported that there was at Wilton at one time, a letter in which the Mary Sidney urges her son to attend Wilton, as "we have the man Shakespeare with us".[1] From 1609 to 1615 she lived at Crosby Hall, now a private residence relocated to Chelsea, London, but then located in the City of London. She may have secretly married her doctor, Sir Matthew Lister and she famously travelled to Spa on the Continent, where she relaxed by shooting pistols and played cards. She employed Italian architects to build a Bedfordshire country home with fine vistas, Houghton Hall, now in ruins, near Milton Keynes), which John Bunyan refers to in his works as the "House Beautiful".

  

She died of smallpox at her house in Aldersgate Street, London near the French Protestant Church and in the same street in which John Wesley was later converted in 1621, shortly after King James I visited her at Houghton Hall. After a grand funeral which celebrated her widely recognised literary achievements in St Paul's Cathedral, her body was buried next to that of the Earl, under the steps leading to the choirstalls in Salisbury Cathedral.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

 

Some background:

The Martin B-26 Marauder was a World War II twin-engine medium bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in the Pacific Theater in early 1942, it was also used in the Mediterranean Theater and in Western Europe.

 

After entering service with the U.S. Army, the aircraft received the reputation of a "Widowmaker" due to the early models' high accident rate during takeoffs and landings. The Marauder had to be flown at exact airspeeds, particularly on final runway approach and when one engine was out. The 150 mph (241 km/h) speed on short final runway approach was intimidating to pilots who were used to much slower speeds, and whenever they slowed down below what the manual stated, the aircraft would stall and crash.

 

The B-26 became a safer aircraft once crews were re-trained, and after aerodynamics modifications (an increase of wingspan and wing angle-of-incidence to give better takeoff performance, and a larger vertical stabilizer and rudder). After aerodynamic and design changes, the aircraft distinguished itself as "the chief bombardment weapon on the Western Front" according to a United States Army Air Forces dispatch from 1946. The Marauder ended World War II with the lowest loss rate of any USAAF bomber.

 

A total of 5.288 were produced between February 1941 and March 1945. By the time the United States Air Force was created as an independent service separate from the Army in 1947, all Martin B-26s had been retired from U.S. service. Furthermore, after the end of hostilities in the European theatre of operations, many airframes with low flying hour numbers were left in British airfield.

 

This was the situation when establishing Hunting Aircraft in 1944 by the purchase of Percival Aircraft: this business was absorbed into the British Aircraft Corporation in 1959.

 

At the end of 1945 the young British company Hunting Air Travel Ltd., a division of Hunting plc., based at Luton Airport, entered the scene - actually a commercial airline, not an aircraft manufacturer. The new airline began commercial operations from Bovingdon Airport at the start of 1946, and the lack of suitable passenger aircraft for domestic routes (or to continental neighbors) led to a private conversion program for leftover B-26 airframes.

 

This work was done by Percival Aircraft Ltd, which had become part of Hunting in 1936 and also had its headquarter at Luton. At first, only five B-26B bombers were planned to be converted into P.26 airliners. The airframes underwent considerably changes, primarily stripping them off of any military equipment, closing the bomb bays and adding a passenger cabin with appropriate seating and entry.

 

Furthermore, the bombers' original R-2800 engines were replaced by more powerful and efficient R-3350 radials with 2.000 hp/1.470 kW each. This was a simple task, since this engine had been an early design options and the mountings were compatible.

 

Other modifications included an enlarged wingspan, which was intended for a more economical flight as well as a reduced landing speed, especially when loaded.

 

The revamped aircraft entered service in 1951 when Hunting Air Travel changed its name to Hunting Air Transport. Flying primarily on the British Isles, the aircraft attained immediately some interest from other small airlines, also from continental Europe.

 

When Percival Aircraft Ltd changed its name to Hunting Percival Aircraft in 1954, a total of 21 B-26 bombers had been converted for Hunting-Clan Air Transport (6, Hunting Air Transport had changed its name in 1953), Aer Lingus (6), Derby Airlines (4), Sabena (3) and Manx Airlines (2).

 

All of these differed slightly, being tailored to their operators' needs, e. g. concerning seat capacity, engines or entry configurations. The last machines were re-built for Aer Lingus, with 27 passenger seats (nine rows in 2+1 configuration), a crew of four, and integral boarding ladder under the rear fuselage (instead of standard side doors). Furthermore, these final machines were driven by slightly more powerful (2.200 hp/1.640 kW) turbo-compound R-3350 engines, which offered a considerably improved fuel efficiency and an extended range (+20%).

 

By that time the civil aircraft industry had undergone a major recovery and new models like the turboprop-driven Fokker F.27 Friendship entered the scene - faster, with bigger passenger capacities and more efficient, and the P.26 could not keep up anymore. Another big weakness was the lack of a pressurized cabin, so that the P.26 could only operate at medium altitude. Until 1960 all remaining P.26 were withdrawn and scrapped, most of them had reached their service life, anyway, but operational costs had become prohibitive.

 

General characteristics:

Crew: 4 (pilot, navigator/radio operator, two service)

Capacity: 21–32 passengers

Length: 58 ft 3 in (17.8 m)

Wingspan: 79 ft 3 in (24.20 m)

Height: 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)

Wing area: 734 ft² (66 m²)

Empty weight: 24.000 lb (11.000 kg)

Loaded weight: 37.000 lb (17.000 kg)

Powerplant:

2× Wright R-3350-745C18BA-1 radial, each rated at 2.200 hp (1.640 kW),

driving four-bladed propellers

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 287 mph (250 knots, 460 km/h) at 5.000 feet (1.500 m)

Cruise speed: 225 mph (195 knots, 362 km/h)

Landing speed: 100 mph (79 knots, 161 km/h)

Range: 3.420 mi (2.975 nmi; 5.500 km)

Service ceiling: 21.000 ft (6.400 m)

Wing loading: 46,4 lb/ft² (228 kg/m²)

  

The kit and its assembly:

Another Group Build entry, this time for the 2015 "De-/Militarize it" GB at whatifmodelers.com that ran from June through August. I am not 100% certain how the idea of converting a B-26 bomber into a 50ies airliner came up - I have modified the aircraft before, and maybe handling with resin R-3350s for the Supermarine Stalwart flying boat had a subtle influence. However, it was a suitable idea, and I quickly got hands on a vintage Matchbox kit of the Marauder.

 

This one was chose because of the simplicity of the kit (e .g. without an open bomb bay) and its relatively clean surface. When I got it, though, I had to cope with missing parts: the complete cockpit was missing. The seller did not mention it, I did notice it too late, so I had to create the interior from scratch, as well as the civil pilot figures which were puzzled together, too.

Anyway, conversion was rather straightforward. All guns and turrets were closed/faired over. The dorsal turret received a plug, the nose is the OOB clear part hidden under a coat of putty and the new tail cone is actually a nose from a Frog Supermarine Attacker.

 

Additionally, some of the original windows were hidden (including the ventral entry hatch) while new round windows, esp. for the passenger cabin under the wing spar, were drilled. They were later filled with Clearfix, after all paint work was done.

 

The wing tips were enlarged with donations from a Hobby Boss La-7 pistion fighter, leftover from a former conversion project. Even though I did not expect much from this addition I think that the bigger wingspan (the total extension is less than 2", though) and the more pointed tips subtly change the look and the proportions of the B-26?

 

The OOB engines were replaced by resin R-3350 from Contrails: a perfect match, just the OOB nacelles had to be shortened because the R-3350s come with a complete exhaust section, they are pretty long compared to the R-2800s. Actually, this option was real: AFAIK the R-3350 was a high power alternative for the B-26, but I think that at the time of the aircraft's design it was not available yet, and when it came into production the B-29 received anything that rolled off of the production lines. But in this post WWII case it's a good and plausible modification, since airliners from that era (e .g. the Lockheed Constellation) were powered by this engine type, too.

 

Further mods include new wheels (just for a modernized look, instead of the WWII grass runway balloon tires) and the passengers received a retractable boarding staircase. This addition was originally intended as a display trick, because the B-26 kit is prone to tip over on its tail. But it turned out that the resin engines weigh so much that the kit even stands without extra weight inside now! Well, the scratched stair was fitted, anyway...

  

Painting and markings:

This was a bit complicated, because I wanted a 50ies livery, yet a colorful option. One early choice had been Belgian airline Sabena in dark blue and white, or the Netherland's KLM, but then I stumbled across a limited decal sheet from airliner specialist TwoSix Decals for a 1:72 Fokker F.27 in Aer Lingus service, upon the type's introduction in 1955. Perfect match, and since I like green and I could avoid white as far as possible, this was the winning design! :D

 

From that, things were again straightforward: the paint scheme remains close to the benchmark. The dark green on the upper fuselage is Humbrol 3 (Brunswick Green), the fin was sprayed in white and the metallic undersides were painted with different aluminum shades, including Revell Acrylics, Modelmaster 'Aluminum Plate' Metallizer and simple Aluminum paint, plus some Humbrol 56 for fake panel lines and the fabric-covered ailerons.

 

Panel lines on the upper fuselage and some dirt were painted with Humbrol 91 (Black Green). On top of that a very light black ink wash was applied in order to emphasize engravings, esp. on the wings and the white fin.

 

The decals came next (wonderfully printed, dead sharp, very thin carrier film), and they posed less problems than expected. The window openings on the white cheatline were simply covered and punched through, and after final cosmetic touch-ups incl. light soot stains behind the engine exhausts. I also added de-icing leading edges and some walking areas on the wings, cut from black and grey decals sheet (from TL Modellbau).

 

Finally the kit received a coat of glossy acrylic varnish from the rattle can (which did not turn out as evenly as expected, I guess to due to the age of the paint… The aircraft looks somewhat dirty now), et voilà, the Irish Marauder Commuter was ready for take-off!

  

I am really happy how this conversion turned out. I have seen pics of civilized B-26s (yes, this was actually done, but only in a few cases), and without all the lumps and bumps and with a decent paint job the aircraft looks really sleek and elegant. The classic, early Aer Lingus livery confirms this, a pretty and unusual bird!

1-12-13 Wyndham Street Races

 

Laverda (Moto Laverda S.A.S. – Dottore Francesco Laverda e fratelli) was an Italian manufacturer of high performance motorcycles. The motorcycles in their day gained a reputation for being robust and innovative.

The Laverda brand was absorbed by Piaggio when, in 2004, Piaggio absorbed Aprilia. Piaggio has elected to quietly close all activities related to the Laverda brand and has publicly stated that they would be willing to sell the rights to the brand if an investor should appear. Currently Laverda.com redirects to Aprilia's website.

 

750:

The true birth of Laverda as a serious big bike brand occurred with the introduction of 750 cc; its appearance halted sales of the recently introduced 650. Many of the first bikes were produced for the American market under the brand "American Eagle", which were imported to the US from 1968 until 1969 by Jack McCormack. The 750 was identical to the 650 except for the lower compression and carburettor rejetting. In 1969 the "750 S" and the "750 GT" were born, both equipped with an engine which would truly start the Laverda fame. Both engine and frame were reworked: power was increased to 60 bhp (45 kW) for the S. 3 bikes were entered by the factory at the 1969 Dutch 24 hour endurance race in Oss, the 750S was clearly the fastest bike until piston failure left just one machine to finish fourth.

Just like the agricultural machinery made by Laverda S.p.A., the other family business, Laverdas were built to be indestructible. The parallel twin cylinder engine featured no less than five main bearings (four crankcase bearings and a needle-roller outrigger bearing in the primary chaincase cover), a duplex cam chain, and a starter motor easily twice as powerful as needed. Of course, this made the engine and subsequently the entire bike heavier than other bikes of the same vintage, such as the Ducati 750.

 

Laverda 750 SFC

The SF evolved to include disc brakes and cast alloy wheels. Developed from the 750S road bike was the 750 SFC (super freni competizione), a half-faired racer that was developed to win endurance events like the Oss 24 hours, Barcelona 24 hours and the Bol D'Or at Le Mans. This it did, often placed first, second and third in the same race, and dominating the international endurance race circuit in 1971. Distinguished by its characteristic orange paint which would become the company's race department colour, its smooth aerodynamic fairing and upswept exhaust, the SFC was Laverda's flagship product and best advertisement, flaunting pedigree and the message of durability, quality, and exclusivity. The SFC "Series 15,000" was featured in the Guggenheim Museum in New York's 1999 exhibit The Art of the Motorcycle as one of the most iconic bikes of the 1970s.

Source: Wikipedia

 

Review:

By the late 1990s Laverda were developing their parallel twin sportster into a decent bike, which was also getting cheaper in the UK as the pound got stronger.

 

An almost entirely new engine, watercooled and breathing through fuel injection, boosted power to over 80bhp, plus vibration was reduced with balancer shafts.

 

The crude, twin cylinder motor had always been the Laverda’s weak point and now, with a torquier, smoother mill, the twin spar chassis and Brembo brakes could really shine. Suddenly, the old fashioned big twin concept seemed to make sense.

  

One quick blast up the road is all it takes to confirm that the 750S is the start of something big for Laverda. At a glance the bike is very similar to the firm’s previous parallel twins. Its chassis is almost identical, its styling owes much to earlier models, and despite being watercooled the new, grey-finished motor fires up with a mechanical whir and a familiar chuffing from its twin pipes.

 

But the 750S motor responds more quickly to a blip of the throttle, its clutch is notably lighter than before, and the new twin has a distinctly smoother feel as it pulls away. There’s still plenty of Laverda twin character, but the whole bike seems more refined. Then you crack open the throttle in first gear, and the front wheel heads for the clouds to show that, despite its sophisticated manners, this bike is much more of a hooligan than any of its predecessors.

 

If that hasn’t convinced you that the 750S is a brilliantly enjoyable motorbike, the first tight bend will do the trick. Squeeze the Laverda’s big front Brembo discs and you slow with tackle-crunching ferocity. Flick the clip-ons and the bike cranks onto its side with suspension and tyres carving a precise line through the corner. Wind open the throttle and the twin-pot motor revs smoothly and hard towards its redline at just over nine grand.

 

Those first few hundred yards are what stick in my mind after a day spent thrashing about on the new Lav mainly because I hadn’t expected the bike to be anything like this good. Laverda have been steadily refining the age-old parallel twin format since bike-mad local textile baron Francesco Tognon took over and began rebuilding the firm a little over three years ago. But despite that, the oil/aircooled parallel twin motors have always felt a bit crude, and I’d expected the 750S to be just another small step in the process of evolution.

 

Instead the new bike takes Laverda a big leap forward, thanks largely to a watercooled engine whose basic layout is similar to that of its predecessors, but which shares few components and is a far more sophisticated piece of work. The 750S is the first bike that the new company regards as its own design. Tognon says it represents the second phase of Laverda’s recovery and riding it shows that he ain’t exaggerating.

 

The five-strong design and engineering team at Laverda’s base in Zan in north-eastern Italy left no stone unturned in their attempt to uprate the twin-cam, eight-valve parallel twin unit that has helped put the firm back on the map. Boring out the motor from 78.5 to 83mm increases capacity to 747cc from the old lump’s 668cc.

 

The 180-degree crankshaft’s stroke remains at 69mm, but changes including a new balancer shaft are intended to reduce vibration. A new pair of camshafts sit in a narrower cylinder head that also features the novelty of watercooled seats for the exhaust valves. Compression ratio is up from 9:1 to 10.5:1 which, along with the new twin-pipe exhaust system, helps increase the claimed peak output from 70 to 82.5bhp at 7000rpm. The six-speed gearbox incorporates revised teeth and dogs; changes to the clutch include a new master cylinder designed to give a lighter feel at the lever.

 

The chassis is essentially that of the 668cc twins, based around a twin-spar aluminium frame built for the original 650 model that appeared back in 1992. Laverda have never skimped on cycle parts, and the new bike carries on the tradition. Paioli supply the 41mm upside-down forks and the rear shock, both multi-adjustable. Brembo provide brakes (four-pot calipers and 320mm discs up front); wheels are three-spoke Marchesinis wearing Pirelli Dragons.

 

Fork-tops are pushed well through the yokes to quicken the steering compared to the Ghost models (rake is still a less-than-racy 26.5 degrees, even so). At 192kg dry the Lav weighs a bit less than Ducati’s 748, the same as Honda’s VTR1000 and slightly more than Suzuki’s TL1000. But the 750S is very slim and low, and its under-seat fuel tank helps make for a very light and manoeuvrable bike that immediately makes you feel at home.

 

The motor’s new-found smoothness is obvious, and you soon discover that there’s extra power through most of the rev range too. At very low revs the bike judders like a road drill, shaking the mirrors that are mounted to the flimsy fairing. But the vibration fades by 3000rpm, and from then on the Laverda punches with a force that is not exactly earth-shattering (Ducati’s 900SS probably has slightly more midrange), but which is more than enough to make you grin.

 

Previous Laverda twins certainly don’t wheelie like this bike does given a first-gear crack of the throttle and they don’t tempt you to keep thrashing them in the same way either. Response from the revised, faster-reacting Weber fuel-injection system is ace. And the motor’s added smoothness is just as important as its extra power, because you’re more tempted to keep the revs in the sweet zone between 6000 and 8000rpm.

 

Same goes for the new gearbox, which is a big improvement on previous Laverda efforts. The box shifted cleanly at speed, and was let down only by an occasional reluctance to find neutral at a standstill. Word from the factory is that this was caused by this pre-production bike’s slightly dragging clutch, and that a modification has already been found to prevent the same thing happening to production machines. (What’s more, Laverda seem so on-the-ball these days that it’s probably true...)

 

Provided it’s kept revving the 750S is respectably quick as it heads for a top speed of close to 140mph. Granted, that makes it by no means the fastest sports bike in the world. Acceleration above 120mph is pretty gentle, and many riders would doubtless prefer a bit more poke for track days and serious Sunday morning scratching. But the rest of the time that performance gives the perfect excuse for plenty of full-throttle craziness.

 

Predictably the chassis copes effortlessly with everything the engine and rider can throw at it. Laverda really got it right with the 668cc models a few years ago, since when they’ve merely added a few refinements. The hefty twin-spar frame doesn’t have to break sweat to keep 80 horses under control. Forks and shock are firm enough to jar a bit over big bumps, and the riding position means you wouldn’t want to ride in traffic for long (steering lock is pretty tight too). But suspension control is superb and the bike feels better the harder it’s ridden.

 

Despite its less than radical geometry the short, light 750S steers pretty quickly. And it also has a stunningly stable, well-planted cornering feel, with no sign of TL1000-style twitchiness. The rear Dragon is a fairly narrow 160-section cover on a five-inch rim, but for road use the 750S has heaps of grip, and enough ground clearance to need it. The front tyre has to work hard, too, when Brembo’s excellent stoppers are used in anger.

 

Not that I needed the brakes to slow down when, only a few miles after setting off from importers Three Cross, the bike suddenly lost all life and coasted to a halt at the roadside. It turned out that the sidestand cut-out switch was killing the sparks, although the stand was fully retracted. A few turns of a spanner from the toolkit soon had it sorted, but this is the sort of silly problem that Laverda need to avoid if they’re going to steal sales from the big boys.

 

Another electrics-related niggle was that the 19 litre fuel tank’s low warning light had a habit of flashing on far too early, in typical Italian fashion. But quality generally seemed good. Laverda boss Tognon has made a serious investment in an attempt to improve reliability. Finish of parts such as the frame, bodywork and paint (any colour you like as long as it’s black) is well up to standard.

 

When you consider that only a few years ago Laverda seemed to be in a terminal crisis, following the collapse of yet another attempted revival, the appearance of the firm’s first truly new bike is a result in itself. That the 750S is so good is a minor miracle. And what’s more, the normal Italian bike sting in the tail a price several thousand quid higher than the Japanese competition doesn’t apply.

 

Three Cross have pitched the 750S at a very competitive £7499 on the road, hardly more than the 668cc Lavs and substantially cheaper than the TL1000S and VTR1000, let alone Ducati’s 748. If you’re looking for a twin-cylinder sports bike with a bit of character, the 750S is worth checking out. One quick blast up the road is all it takes...

 

Source: www.carolenash.com/insidebikes/bike-reviews/laverda/750s/

La mauvaise reputation / George Brassens

  

Au village, sans prétention,

J'ai mauvaise réputation.

Que je me démène ou que je reste coi

Je passe pour un je-ne-sais-quoi!

Je ne fait pourtant de tort à personne

En suivant mon chemin de petit bonhomme.

Mais les braves gens n'aiment pas que

L'on suive une autre route qu'eux,

Non les braves gens n'aiment pas que

L'on suive une autre route qu'eux,

Tout le monde médit de moi,

Sauf les muets, ça va de soi.

 

Le jour du Quatorze Juillet

Je reste dans mon lit douillet.

La musique qui marche au pas,

Cela ne me regarde pas.

Je ne fais pourtant de tort à personne,

En n'écoutant pas le clairon qui sonne.

Mais les braves gens n'aiment pas que

L'on suive une autre route qu'eux,

Non les braves gens n'aiment pas que

L'on suive une autre route qu'eux,

Tout le monde me montre du doigt

Sauf les manchots, ça va de soi.

 

Quand je croise un voleur malchanceux,

Poursuivi par un cul-terreux;

Je lance la patte et pourquoi le taire,

Le cul-terreux se retrouve par terre

Je ne fait pourtant de tort à personne,

En laissant courir les voleurs de pommes.

Mais les braves gens n'aiment pas que

L'on suive une autre route qu'eux,

Non les braves gens n'aiment pas que

L'on suive une autre route qu'eux,

Tout le monde se rue sur moi,

Sauf les culs-de-jatte, ça va de soi.

 

Pas besoin d'être Jérémie,

Pour deviner le sort qui m'est promis,

S'ils trouvent une corde à leur goût,

Ils me la passeront au cou,

Je ne fait pourtant de tort à personne,

En suivant les chemins qui ne mènent pas à Rome,

Mais les braves gens n'aiment pas que

L'on suive une autre route qu'eux,

Non les braves gens n'aiment pas que

L'on suive une autre route qu'eux,

Tout le monde viendra me voir pendu,

Sauf les aveugles, bien entendu.

 

George Brassens

 

La mala reputacion / Versió castellana de Paco Ibañez

 

En mi pueblo sin pretensión

Tengo mala reputación,

Haga lo que haga es igual

Todo lo consideran mal,

Yo no pienso pues hacer ningún daño

Queriendo vivir fuera del rebaño;

No, a la gente no gusta que

Uno tenga su propia fe

No, a la gente no gusta que

Uno tenga su propia fe

Todos todos me miran mal

Salvo los ciegos es natural.

 

Cuando la fiesta nacional

Yo me quedo en la cama igual,

Que la música militar

Nunca me pudo levantar.

En el mundo pues no hay mayor pecado

Que el de no seguir al abanderado

Y a la gente no gusta que

Uno tenga su propia fe

Y a la gente no gusta que

Uno tenga su propia fe

Todos me muestran con el dedo

Salvo los mancos, quiero y no puedo.

 

Si en la calle corre un ladrón

Y a la zaga va un ricachón

Zancadilla doy al señor

Y he aplastado el perseguidor

Eso sí que sí que será una lata

Siempre tengo yo que meter la pata

Y a la gente no gusta que

Uno tenga su propia fe

Y a la gente no gusta que

Uno tenga su propia fe

Tras de mí todos a correr

Salvo los cojos, es de creer.

 

Ya sé con mucha precisión

Como acabará la función

No les falta más que el garrote

Pa' matarme como un coyote

A pesar de que no arme ningún lío

Con que no va a Roma el camino mío

Que a le gente no gusta que

Uno tenga su propia fe

Que a le gente no gusta que

Uno tenga su propia fe

Tras de mí todos a ladrar

Salvo los mudos es de pensar.

 

VARIANTE DU DERNIER COUPLET:

No hace falta saber latín

Yo ya se cual será mi fin,

En el pueblo se empieza a oir,

Muerte, muerte al villano vil,

Yo no pienso pues armar ningún lío

Con que no va a Roma el camino mío,

No a la gente no gusta que

Uno tenga su propia fe

No a la gente no gusta que

Uno tenga su propia fe

Todos vendrán a verme ahorcar,

Salvo los ciegos, es natural.

 

George Brassens

  

The 'Reputation Complex' is a moving combination of various factors, components and drivers that are linked in a close and complicated way. This combination brings with it, for all organizations, equal risks and opportunities – the first to be managed and the second to be exploited in the right manner.

MSLGROUP's Chief Strategy Officer Pascal Beucler shares his thoughts on the fast transformation of reputation management and what it means for our clients and for us.

Niagara

 

•Church, Frederic Edwin

•American, 1826-1900

•1857

•Oil on Canvas

•Dimensions:

oOverall: 101.6 × 229.9 cm (40 × 90½ in.)

oFramed: 164.5 × 286.4 × 17.8 cm (64¾ × 112¾ × 7 in.)

•Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund)

•2014.79.10

•On View

 

Overview

 

Niagara’s tremendous success both in the United States and abroad secured Frederic Edwin Church’s reputation as the most famous American painter of his time. The acquisition of Niagara by the young Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1876 secured the institution’s reputation and inspired other major artists to seek representation in the collection.

 

In the 19th century, many American artists attempted to capture the power and beauty of Niagara Falls. Widely considered the nation’s greatest natural wonder as well as a symbol of its youthful vigor and promise, the site was also deemed far superior to any natural phenomenon in Europe. Church’s majestic 1857 canvas reveals the vista from the Canadian shore, based on oil and pencil sketches he had made during several visits to the site in 1856. He was the first to render the spectacle on such a grand scale, with such fine detail, naturalism, and immediacy. He heightened the illusion of reality by selecting a non-traditional format of canvas with a width twice as wide as its height to convey the panoramic expanse of the scene. Moreover, he pushed the plane of the falls nearest the viewer significantly downward to reveal more of the far side as well as the dramatic rush of water. Most notably, he eliminated any suggestion of a foreground, allowing the viewer to experience the scene as if precariously positioned on the brink of the falls. As one writer enthusiastically noted, “this is Niagara, with the roar left out!”

 

Critics and public alike marveled at the painting, which debuted in a one-painting exhibition at a New York City gallery shortly after its completion. The 25-cent admission allowed each visitor to view the monumental canvas, sometimes using binoculars or other optical aids to enhance the experience. The admission price also included a pamphlet reprinting critics’ praises of the canvas and offered exhibition-goers the opportunity to purchase a chromolithograph of the painting. Within two weeks, Niagara had lured 100,000 visitors to glimpse what one newspaper critic described as “the finest oil picture ever painted on this side of the Atlantic.” Following its phenomenal success in New York, the painting was exhibited in major cities along the eastern seaboard, made two tours of Britain, and was included in the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris.

 

Inscription

 

•Lower Right: F.E. Church / 1857

 

Provenance

 

Sold 1857 by the artist to (Williams, Stevens & Williams, New York); forfeited to (Brown Brothers Bankers, New York); (sale, Exhibition to Benefit the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, Tiffany & Co., New York, December 1861);[1] purchased by John Taylor Johnston, New York; purchased 1876 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.

 

[1] Jeremy Elwell Adamson, “Frederic Edwin Church’s ‘Niagara’: The Sublime as Transcendence,” 3 vols., Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1981, believes there to have been an as-yet unidentified owner between the Brown Brothers and Johnston, but cites no evidence for this claim beyond a letter from Church to MacLeod, 11 January 1877, which makes no such assertion. Adamson believed that Niagara was purchased by this unidentified owner from the bank for $5,000. This is the amount Church believed Johnston paid for the painting.

 

Exhibition History

 

•1857—Lloyd’s Gallery, Gracechurch Street, London, June-August 1857, no catalogue.

•1857—Tenth-Street Studio Building, New York, May 1857, no. catalogue.

•1857—Williams, Stevens and Williams, New York, May 1857, unnumbered catalogue, as The Great Fall, Niagara.

•1858—German Gallery, London, April-May 1858, no catalogue.

•1858—James McClure and Son Gallery, Glasgow, June 1858, no catalogue.

•1858—Manchester, England, June-July 1858, no catalogue.

•1858—Mr. Grundy’s Gallery, Church Street, Liverpool, July 1858, no catalogue.

•1858—Samson Cariss and Co., Baltimore, December-December 1858, no catalogue.

•1858—Washington, D.C., December 1858-January 1859, no catalogue.

•1858—Williams, Stevens & Williams, New York, September-December 1858, no catalogue.

•1859—Armory Hall, New Orleans, March-May 1859, no catalogue.

•1859—Hall of the Mechanics’ Institute, Richmond, January-January 1859, no catalogue.

•1859—Williams and Everett’s Gallery, Boston, December 1859-February 1860, no catalogue.

•1859—Williams, Stevens & Williams, New York, July 1859, no catalogue.

•1860—Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York, 11 October 1860, no catalogue.

•1860—Messrs. James S. Earle & Sons, Philadelphia, 28 February 1860, no catalogue.

•1861—Tiffany Exhibition (To benefit the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor), Old Dusseldorf Gallery, New York, 1861-1862, no catalogue.

•1864—Art Exhibition at the Metropolitan Fair, in Aid of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, New York, 4 April 1864, no. 14.

•1867—Exposition Universelle, United States Section, Class 1: Paintings on Canvas, Paris, 1867, no. 8.

•1867—First Winter Exhibition, Including the First Annual Collection of the American Society of Painters in Water Colors, and the Works from the American Art Department of the Paris Universal Exposition, National Academy of Design, New York, November 1867-March 1968, no. 646.

•1870—Second Annual Exhibition of the Yale School of the Fine Arts, Founded as a Department of Yale College, by the Late Augustus Russell Street, of New Haven, Conn., Yale School of Fine Arts, New Haven, 1870, no. 52.

•1874—Exhibition of Paintings, Engravings, Drawings, Aquarelles, and Works of Household Art, in the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition, Cincinnati, 1874, no. 132.

•1876—John Taylor Johnston’s Collection, National Academy of Design, New York, November-December 1876, no. 147.

•1876—New York Centennial Loan Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, July 1876, no. 102.

•1900—Paintings by Frederic E. Church, N.A., Special Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1900, unnumbered catalogue.

•1915—Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915-1916, no. 2935.

•1940—Survey of American Painting, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1940, no. 97.

•1949—De Gustibus: An Exhibition of American Paintings Illustrating a Century of Taste and Criticism, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949, no. 12.

•1957—Painting in America: The Story of 450 Years, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1957, no. 106.

•1962—American Painting, 1857-1869, Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts, Delaware Art Center, 1962, no. 13.

•1964—Three Centuries of Niagara Falls, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1964, no. 23.

•1966—Frederic Edwin Church, National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington; Albany Institute of History and Art; M. Knoedler and Company, New York, 1966, no. 39 (shown only in Washington).

•1970—19th-Century America: Paintings and Sculpture, An Exhibition in Celebration of the Hundredth Anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, no. 105.

•1971—The Beckoning Land: Nature and the American Artist: a Selection of Nineteenth Century Paintings, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, April-June 1971, no. 49.

•1971—The Natural Paradise: Painting in America, 1800-1950, Museum of Modern Art, New York, October-November 1971, unnumbered catalogue.

•1971—Wilderness, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 9 October – 14 November 1971, no. 62 (organized by the National Endowment for the Arts).

•1976—Corcoran [The American Genius]. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1976, unnumbered catalogue.

•1976—The Natural Paradise: Painting in America, 1800-1950, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1 October – 30 November 1976, no. 23.

•1978—The American Landscape Tradition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 31 January – 31 August 1978, no catalogue.

•1979—Close Observation: Selected Oil Sketches by Frederic E. Church, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; University of Pittsburgh Art Gallery; Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University; University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor; Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Brunnier Gallery, Iowa State University, Ames; Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri; Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, 1979, not in catalogue (shown only in Washington).

•1983—A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting 1760-1910, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Grand Palais, Paris, 1983-1984, no. 38.

•1985—Niagara: Two Centuries of Changing Attitudes, 1697-1901, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; New-York Historical Society, 1985-1986, no. 49.

•1987—American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1987-1988, unnumbered catalogue.

•1989—Frederic Edwin Church, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1989-1990, no. 30.

•1998—New Worlds From Old: 19th Century Australian and American Landscapes, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1998-1999, no. 73, repro.

•2002—American Sublime: Landscape Painting in the United States, 1820-1880, Tate Britain, London; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2002, unnumbered checklist (shown only in Philadelphia).

•2005—Encouraging American Genius: Master Paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 2005-2007, checklist no. 26.

•2008—Nature as Nation: 19th-Century American Landscapes from the Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 30 August 2008 – 18 October 2009, unpublished checklist.

•2009—American Paintings from the Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 6 June – 18 October 2009, unpublished checklist.

•2013—American Journeys: Visions of Place, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 21 September 2013 – 28 September 2014, unpublished checklist.

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GP500 motorcycle windshields

Kawasaki Motorcycle History

Kawasaki emerged out of the ashes of the second World War to become one of the big players from Japan. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, Kawasaki built a reputation for some of the most powerful engines on two wheels, spawning legendary sportbikes like the Ninja series and a line of championship-winning off-road bikes. .1896

The company is founded by Shozo Kawasaki. His firm will come to be known as Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Over time, the company’s principal areas of activity will be shipbuilding, railroad rolling stock, and electrical generating plants. Motorcycles will become a small part of this diversified industrial conglomerate. 1960

Kawasaki signs agreement to take over Meguro motorcycles, a major player in the nascent Japanese motorcycle manufacturing business. Meguro is one of the only Japanese companies making a 500cc bike. In England and the UK, Meguro’s 500 – which bears a strong resemblance to the BSA A7 – is derided as a cheap copy. But in fact, it is a pretty high-quality bike. 1961

Kawasaki produces its first complete motorcycle – the B8 125cc two-stroke. 1962

A series of the two-stroke models from 50-250cc is released. The 250cc disc-valve ‘Samurai’ attracts notice in the U.S. 1966

The 650W1 is released and is the biggest bike made in Japan at the time. It’s inspired by the BSA A10. Over the next few years it will get twin carbs, and high pipes for a ‘scrambler’ version. 1969

Dave Simmonds gives Kawasaki its first World Championship, in the 125cc class

The striking Kawasaki H1 (aka Mach III) a 500cc three-cylinder two-stroke is released. Although its handling leaves something to be desired, the motor is very powerful for the day. It’s one of the quickest production bikes in the quarter-mile. The Mach III establishes Kawasaki’s reputation in the U.S. (In particular, it establishes a reputation for powerful and somewhat antisocial motorcycles!) A wonderful H1R production racer is also released – a 500cc racing bike.

Over the next few years, larger and smaller versions of the H1, including the S1 (250cc) S2 (350cc) and H2 (750cc) will be released. They’re successful in the marketplace, and the H2R 750cc production racer is also successful on the race track, but Kawasaki knows that the days of the two-stroke streetbike are coming to an end.

The company plans to release a four-stroke, but is shocked by the arrival of the Honda 750-Four. Kawasaki goes back to the drawing board.

1973

The first new four-stroke since the W1 is released. It’s worth the wait. The 900cc Z1 goes one up on the Honda 750 with more power and double overhead cams. Over the next few years, its capacity will increase slightly and it will be rebadged the Z-1000. 1978

Kork Ballington wins the 250cc and 350cc World Championships with fore-and-aft parallel-Twin racers (Rotax also built racing motors in this configuration. Ballington will repeat the feat in ’79. In 1980 he will finish second in the premier 500cc class. Anton Mang takes over racing duties in the 250 and 350 classes, and he will win four more titles over the next three years. This is the most successful period for Kawasaki in the World Championship.

Kawasaki’s big-bore KZ1300 is released. Honda and Benelli have already released six-cylinder bikes by this time, but Kawasaki’s specification includes water cooling and shaft drive. To underline the efficiency of the cooling system, its launch is held in Death Valley. Despite its substantial weight, journalists are impressed.

Over the next few years, the KZ1300 will get digital fuel injection and a full-dress touring version will be sold as the ‘Voyager.’ This model is marketed as “a car without doors”!

1981

Eddie Lawson wins the AMA Superbike championship for Kawasaki after an epic battle with Honda’s Freddie Spencer. He will repeat as champion the following year.

Kawasaki releases the GPz550. It’s air-cooled and has only two valves per cylinder, but its performance threatens the 750cc machines of rival manufacturers. This is the bike that launches the 600 class.

1983

The liquid-cooled four-valve GPz900R ‘Ninja’ is shown to the motorcycle press for the first time at Laguna Seca. They’re stunned. 1985

James “Bubba” Stewart, Jr. is born. Kawasaki supplies his family with Team Green diapers. 1989

The first ‘ZXR’-designated bikes reach the market. They are 750cc and 400cc race replicas. 1990

The ZX-11 is launched and features a 1052cc engine. It is the first production motorcycle with ram-air induction and the fastest production bike on the market. 1991

The ZXR750R begins a four year run as the top bike in the FIM Endurance World Championship. 1993

Scott Russell wins the World Superbike Championship, much to Carl Fogarty’s dismay. 2000

The ZX-12R is released – the new flagship of the ZX series. 2002

Bubba Stewart wins AMA 125 MX championship. 2003

Stewart is AMA 125 West SX champ. “What the heck is he doing on the jumps?” people wonder. It’s the “Bubba Scrub.”

In a daring move that acknowledges that only a small percentage of supersports motorcycles are ever actually raced, Kawasaki ups the capacity of the ZX-6R to 636cc. Ordinary riders welcome a noticeable increase in mid-range power, and the bike is the king of the ‘real world’ middleweights.

2004

Stewart wins the AMA 125 East SX title, and the 125cc outdoor championship. There are only one or two riders on 250s who lap any faster than he does on the little bikes.

Just when we thought motorcycles couldn’t get any crazier, the ZX-10R is released. OMG, the power!

2007

Although his transition to the big bikes hasn’t been as smooth as many expected it to be, Stewart wins the 2007 AMA SX championship. 2008

Kawasaki gives the Concours a much-needed revamp in the Concours 14. Sharing the 1352cc engine from the ZX-14, it’s touted as the ultimate sport touring motorcycle.

While they’re at it, Kawasaki also decides to give the Ninja 250 and KLR 650 major updates, after years of inactivity.

FBI Stolen motorcycles

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Motorcycles VIN Decoder

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It has been many years since we were last here in Tenterden. So long ago that I fear the Kent church project had not yet started. Because, I had not visited St Mildred's before. It towers above to attractive town, which is stretched along the main road. A narrow turning to the right brings you into Church Road, and to the entrance to St Mildred.

 

Tenterden is the start of the Kent and East Sussex Railway, I think we were last here for a beer festival on the railway some years ago, maybe 5 years. And after riding for the first service from the day, I remember thinking ten in the morning was too early to be supping my first pint.

 

Tenterden is West Kent, go west a few miles and you are in Sussex, but the town and whole area is attractive; clapboard houses, oast houses, ancient churches, hop farms, steam trains, marshes. Its all here.

 

St Mildred is on a grand scale, lots of nooks and crannies to explore and snap.

 

Most wonderful feature is the 15th century roof, which is really special. Good glass, a nice alabaster memorial.

 

A great start to the day.

 

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A superb church, which despite a heavy-handed restoration by G.M. Hills (see also Newenden) in 1864 still has much of interest. The nave ceiling is exceptional fifteenth-century work, rather more domestic in feel than is normal in an ecclesiastical building. There are two blocked thirteenth-century windows above the chancel arch - an unusual position to find windows in Kent. The five bay aisles are extremely narrow. The glass in the south aisle windows by Hughes of 1865 are rather fun. In the north chapel is a fine alabaster standing monument to Herbert Whitfield (d. 1622) and his wife. This monument cuts off the base of the north-east window and displays many colourful coats of arms. The chancel screen and pulpit are late nineteenth century and fit in with the medieval architecture better than most works of that period.

 

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

 

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The history of Tenterden itself is lost in time, as is the origin of St. Mildred’s church. Perhaps all that can be said with any confidence is that the story of the town and the story of St. Mildred’s are bound together with each other, with the story of pre-conquest Kent, with the story of Christianity in Kent, and with the story of the ancient Kentish royal house.

 

Tenet-wara-den (the den of the Thanet folk) was the Wealden area used by the abbey of Minster-in-Thanet for Autumn pig-forage (acorns and beech mast to fatten the pigs for Winter). That abbey was founded by Domne Aefa (“the lady Aebba”?) of the Kentish royal family, and either she herself or her daughter, St. Mildred, was the first abbess. This is within the first century after the arrival in Canterbury of St. Augustine’s mission from Rome. Mildred’s holy reputation was an international one, and there can be no doubt that a church in her name was here from some point in the eighth to tenth centuries. The reign of Canute is the latest possible period and it was almost certainly much earlier. However, we have no record of any incumbent before 1180, and the oldest perceptible fabric of the church is of about that time too.

 

When you stand in the middle of St. Mildred’s, you see a large building reflecting the prosperity of the town in the later middle ages. The north arcade of the chancel is probably around 1200, but most of the chancel, nave, and aisles is work of the 13th to 15th centuries. The fine wagon-vault ceiling of the nave has been variously stated to be 14th or 15th century (with some Victorian additions). The tower of the church, a prominent Kentish landmark, was probably built by architect Thomas Stanley. This major building work was undertaken in the middle of the 15th century, at the height of Tenterden’s prosperity, it being no coincidence that the town gained a charter and Cinque Port status in support of Rye, at about the same time.

 

The town’s prosperity was reflected also in the presence of important shipbuilding yards at both Reading Street and Smallhythe, both on the tidal River Rother at that time. The settlement at Smallhythe was sufficiently large to gain its own chapel sometime in the middle ages, but we know nothing of that building, though it was probably dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Smallhythe itself was burnt in a huge fire in 1514, and we know that rebuilding of the chapel began virtually straight away. The current church of St. John the Baptist is a beautiful example of a brick-built Tudor church, box-like (so with an excellent acoustic). It has, during its history, had varying levels of dependence or independence from the town church of St. Mildred.

 

By the middle of the 19th century, the population was growing fast, and attitudes to worship were changing too. St. Mildred’s lost its box pews, and had the organ moved to its present position. A new church was planned for the hamlet of Boresisle at the northern end of Tenterden, the neat and small Gothic revival church being dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels. Two consequences were, firstly, the acquisition by Kent of another prominent landmark – the graceful spire, and secondly, the name Boresisle fell out of usage and the hamlet itself has ever since been known as “St. Michael’s”.

 

I do feel it important to append to this account of the Anglican church buildings a brief comment on the other churches of the town. There was always a Roman Catholic presence here, but after the Reformation, there was no church building until the Catholic priest in Tenterden, Canon Currie began, in the 1930s, a determined attempt to put that right, culminating in the building of St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic church in Ashford Road.

 

The history of “non-conformity” in Tenterden is a major and extensive one. Within a few decades of the development around the 1370s, by John Wyclife at Oxford, of the doctrines later known as “Lollardy”, there were significant numbers of people in Tenterden who ascribed to doctrines regarded as unorthodox. Moreover, following the Reformation of the 1540s to 1560s, there were many who rejected not only Roman ways, but were unhappy with the English church. We know that Tenterden families joined the 17th century exodus to the New World (notably to Massachusetts), and Tenterden acquired its first “non-conformist” chapel around 1700, that building now being the Unitarian church in Ashford Road, and one of Tenterden’s most interesting ancient relics. The nineteenth century saw the building of the Methodist church at West Cross, and two of the three Baptist churches – Zion in the High Street, and the Strict Baptist Jireh Chapel at St. Michael’s. Trinity Baptist in Ashford Road was built in 1928.

 

Those interested to pursue their enquiries further will find a guide in St. Mildred’s, and there is much information in standard texts of Kent history and architecture.

 

www.tenterdencofe.org/?page_ref=265

 

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THIS hundred contains within its bounds THE TOWN AND PARISH OF Tenterden, and part of the parish of Ebeney, containing the borough of Reading, the church of which is in another hundred.

 

This hundred was antiently accounted one of the Seven Hundreds, and was within the jurisdiction of the justices of the country, from which it was separated by Henry VI. who, on account of the impoverishment of the port and town of Rye, in Sussex, by his letters patent, in his 27th year, incorporated the town and hundred of Tenterden, by the name of the bailiff and commonaltie of the town and hundred of Tenterden, and granted that the same should be a member annexed and united to that town and port, and separated from the county of Kent, and that the bailiff and commonalty of this town and hundred should have for ever, on their contributing to the burthens and exigencies of that port and town from time to time, (fn. 1) many franchises, privileges, and freedoms, and all other liberties, freedoms, and free customs which the barons of the five ports had before that time enjoyed. In which state this town and hundred remained till the 42d year of queen Elizabeth's reign, when the name of their incorporation was changed to that of the mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town and hundred of Tenterden, by which it continues to be governed at this time.

 

THE CORPORATION consists of a mayor, twelve jurats, and as many common-councilmen, a chamberlain, and town clerk; the jurisdiction of it being exclusive from the justices of the county. The mayor is chosen yearly on August 29. The election used to be in the town-hall; but that being burnt down by some prisoners in the prison-room over it, it was afterwards made under one of the great old oaks, which are not far from the place, on the other side of the street, where it stood. A neat and elegant hall was finished in 1792, adjoining the Woolpack Inn, in which the mayor has been elected as heretofore, and it is occasionally used as an assembly room by the inhabitants. The mayor is coroner of both the town and hundred; there is no sheriff; the commoners must be resciants, and are chosen by the mayor and two of the jurats; the jurats are all justices of the peace. They hold sessions of oyer and terminer, but cannot try treason. At the sessions holden at Tenterden, August 10, 1785, two men were convicted of burglary, and executed near Gallows-green the 27th following. Both the charters of this corporation being destroyed by the fire of the court-hall in 1660, an exemplification of them was procured anno 12 George III.

 

The liberty of the court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds, claimed a paramount jurisdiction over this hundred, till the incorporation of the town of Tenterden, and the annexing this hundred to it in the reign of Henry VI. since which the mayor and jurats have been lords of the royalty of it, and continue so at this time.

 

The parish is divided into six boroughs, each having a borsholder chosen yearly, these are Town Borough, Castweasle, Boresile, Shrubcote, Dumborne, which includes all Smallhyth, and Reading, which is wholly in the parish of Ebene.

 

THE PARISH of Tenterden lies too near the marshes to be either healthy or pleasant, excepting that part where the town is situated near the northern boundaries of it, on what may be called for this country, high ground; it is about five miles across each way. The soil of it is various, the northern part being sand, towards the east it is a wet stiff clay, and towards the south and west towards the marshes a deep rich mould. The generality of the lands in it are pasture, but there are about one hundred acres of hop-ground dispersed in different parts of it; there is very little wood, and that mostly between the town and Smallhyth, a hamlet formerly of much more consequence, as will be further mentioned hereafter, situated at the southern boundary of it, on the road into the Isle of Oxney, close to the river Rother, which separates that part of this parish from the island. About a mile and a half eastward is the hamlet of Reading-street, built adjoining the high road to Apledore, close to the marshes below it, on the passage over the Rother into Ebeney, and the Isle of Oxney.

 

On Saturday, Nov. 1, 1755, between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon (being at the same time that the great bason at Portsmouth was disturbed) several ponds in this parish and neighbourhood, without any sensible motion of the earth, were greatly agitated, the water of them being forced up the banks with great violence, fretting and foaming with a noise similar to the coming in of the tide, so as to terrify many who were near them; some of these waters flowed up three times in this manner, others circled round into eddies, absorbing leaves, sticks, &c. and it was observed that only those ponds were affected, that had springs to supply the waters of them.

 

THE TOWN OF TENTERDEN is situated nearly in the centre of the parish and hundred. It stands on high ground, neither unpleasant nor unhealthy; the greatest part of it is built on each side of the high road leading from the western parts of Kent and Cranbrooke through this parish south-east to Apledore. A small part of it is paved, where there is a small antient market-place, built of timber; but the market, which is still held on a Friday, is but little frequented, only two millers, and seldom any butchers attending it. It is a well-built town, having many genteel houses, or rather seats, interspersed throughout it, among which are those of the Curteis's, a numerous and opulent family here, who bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three bulls heads, caboshed; (fn. 2) the Haffendens, who have been long resident here, and in Smarden and Halden, in this neighbourhood. Bugglesden, in the north part of Boresile borough, in this parish, was very antiently, and till within these few years, their property and residence. Richard Haffenden now resides in a new house, built by his father, called Homewood, at the west end of this town, and in the south part of Boresile borough. They bear for their arms, Chequy, sable and argent, on a bend, sable, three mullets, or; the Staces, who have been resident here from the beginning of the last century, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury, in several of which they are stiled gentlemen; the Blackmores, possessed of Westwell house, a handsome seat at the south east end of the town, built by James Blackmore, esq. in 1711, one of whose descendants afterwards becoming possessed by gift of the seat of Briggins, in Hertfordshire, removed thither, where they have continued ever since, and this of Westwell-house is now occupied by Mr. James Blackmore, the uncle of Thomas Blackmore, esq. of Briggins, who died possessed of it in 1789, having been thrice married. He left by his two first wives three sons and two daughters; his third. wife Anne, daughter of Mr. Tatnall, of Theobalds, now survives him. They bear for their arms, Argent, a fess between three balckmoors heads sideways, couped at the neck, sable; and several others, most of whose wealth, as well as that of the inhabitants of this town in general, has arisen from its near neighbourhood to Romneymarsh, where most of them have some occupation in the grazing business.

 

The church stands on the north side of the town, which, with the rest of the parish, consists of about three hundred houses, and two thousand inhabitants, of which about five hundred are diffenters, who have two meeting-houses here, one of Presbyterians, the other of Methodistical Baptists.

 

At the east end of the town is Craythorne-house, which formerly belonged to the Bargraves, and then to the Marshalls, who sold it to the late Mr. John Sawyer, who built a new house here, in which he afterwards resided, and his assigns now possess it. A branch of the family of Whitfield had once their residence in a large house at the east end likewise of this town. John Whitfield resided here, as did his son Herbert, who died in 1622; they were descended from an antient family in Northumberland, and bore for their arms, Argent, on a bend, plain, between two cotizes, ingrailed sable, a mullet, or. At length the heirs of Sir Herbert Whitfield, sold this seat to Wil liam Austen, esq. of Hernden, in this parish. Sir Robert Austen, bart. the last of that name, resided in it, and it now belongs to his heirs, and is made use of as a boarding school for young ladies.

 

There is a large fair held in this town on the first Monday in May yearly, for cattle, wool, merchandize, and shop goods of all sorts, to which there is a great resort from all the neighbouring country. Most of the road, leading from the town to Smallhyth, particularly the upper part of it, known by the name of Broad Tenterden, is said to have been lined with buildings on each side, and to have been the most populous part of the parish.

 

THERE ARE several places in this parish worthy notice, the first of them is HALES-PLACE, at the northwest end of this town, which was for many generations the residence of a branch of the family of Hales, who removed hither from their original seat, of the same name, in the adjoining parish of Halden. Henry Hales, who lived in the reign of Henry VI. was born here, and married Juhan, daughter and heir of Richard Capel, of Tenterden, by which he greatly increased his estate in this parish. He had by her two sons, of whom John Hales, the eldest, was of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, esq. and was one of the barons of the exchequer. He had four sons, Sir James Hales, one of the justices of the common pleas, who was of the Dungeon, where his descendants continued many generations afterwards; Thomas, who was seated at Thanington, whose descendant Robert was created a baronet in 1666, and was ancestor of the present Su Philip Hales, bart. Edward, the third son, inherited this seat and his father's possessions in this parish; and William, the fourth son, was of Recolver and Nackington, in this county. Edward Hales, esq. the third son, who inherited this seat and estate at Tenterden, resided at it, and left a son Sir Edward Hales, who was created a baronet on the 29th of June, 1611. He removed his residence from hence to the neighbouring parish of Woodchurch, in which parish he possessed the antient seat of the Herlackendens, in right of his wife Deborah, only daughter and heir of Martin Herlackenden, esq. of that place. His son Sir John Hales, having married Christian, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir James Cromer, of Tunstal, became possessed of the antient seat of the Cromers in that parish, where he resided, and died in his father's life-time, in 1639, whose son Edward Hales succeeded to the title of baronet on his grandfather's death, in 1654 whose heir he was, and resided at Tunstal. His son Sir Edward Hales, bart. having purchased the mansion of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, resided there, as his descendants have ever since; and from him this seat and estate at Tenterden at length descended down to his great-grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. now of St. Stephen's, who about forty-eight years ago pulled down the greatest part of this antient seat, and fitted up a smaller dwelling or farm-house on the scite of it, which, together with the antient offices or out-buildings of the mansion still remaining, continues part of his possessions.

 

HERNDEN, formerly spelt Heronden, was once an estate of considerable size in this parish, though it has been long since split into different parcels. The whole of it once belonged to a family of the name of Heronden, whose arms, as appears by the antient ordinaries in the Heralds-office, were, Argent, a heron volant, azure. At length one part of this estate was alienated by one of this family to Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, whose descendant Sir John Baker, knight and baronet, died possessed of it in 1661; but the capital mansion and other principal parts of it remained some time longer in the name of Heronden, one of whom, in the reign of Charles I. alienated some part of it, now called Little Hernden, to Short, a family whose ancestors had resided at Tenterden for some time. In the Heraldic Visitation of this county, anno 1619, is a pedigree of this family, beginning with Peter Short, of Tenterden, who lived in the reign of Henry VIII. They bore for their arms, Azure, a griffin passant, between three estoiles, or. At length one of them sold this part of it to Curteis, whose grandson Mr. Samuel Curteis is now in the possession of it. But the remainder of Hernden, in which was included the principal mansion, situated about a quarter of a mile southward of the town, was at the same time conveyed by sale to Mr. John Austen, the second son of William Austen, esq. of this parish, and elder brother of Robert, created a baronet anno 1660. He afterwards resided here, and dying in 1655, s. p. gave it by will to his nephew Robert Austen, esq. the second son of Sir Robert above-mentioned, by his second wife. He afterwards resided here, and had two sons, Robert and Ralph; the eldest of whom, Robert Austen, esq. resided here, and left three sons, William, of whom hereafter, and Edward and Robert, both of whom afterwards succeeded to the title of baronet. William Austen, esq. the eldest son, inherited Hernden, and in 1729, suffered a recovery of this, as well as all other the Kentish estates comprised in his grandfather's settlement of them, to the use of him and his heirs. He died in 1742, and by will devised it to Mr. Richard Righton, who afterwards resided here, and died possessed of it in 1772, and was buried, as was his wife afterwards, under a tomb on the south side of the church-yard; upon which it came into the hands of his son Benjamin Righton, esq. of Knightsbridge, who in 1782 conveyed Hernden, a farm called Pixhill, and other lands in this parish and Rolvenden, to Mr. Jeremiah Curteis, gent. of Rye, in Sussex, who finding this antient mansion, which seems, by a date remaining on it, to have been built in the year 1585, being the 28th of queen Elizabeth's reign, in a ruinous condition, pulled it down; but the scite of it, together with the lands belonging to it, still remain in his possession.

 

PITLESDEN, or Pittelesden, as it was antiently spelt, is situated near the west end of this town. It was once a seat of some note, being the residence of a family of that name, who bore for their arms, Sable, a fess, between three pelicans, or, in whose possession it continued till Stephen Pitlesden, (fn. 3) about the reign of Henry VI. leaving an only daughter and heir Julian, she carried it in marriage to Edward Guldeford, esq. of Halden, whose descendant Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter and heir Jane, she entitled her husband Sir John Dudley, afterwards created Duke of Northumberland, to the possession of this manor, and they, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. joined in the conveyance of it to Sir Thomas Cromwell, lord Cromwell, afterwards created Earl of Essex, who passed it away by sale to that king, and it remained in the hands of the crown till king Edward VI. in his 7th year, granted it, with the pend of water, wear and fishery, with the dove-house belonging to it, and all its appurtenances, to Sir John Baker, one of the privy council, to hold in capite by knight's service, in whose family it continued till Sir John Baker, bart. of Sissinghurst, in the reign of king Charles I. conveyed it by sale to Mr. Jasper Clayton, mercer, of London. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Mr. William Blackmore, gent. of this place, who at his death devised it to his daughter Sarah, who entitled her husband Mr. John Crumpe, of Frittenden, to the possession of it for her life, but the remainder, on her death, is vested in her brother Mr. Thomas Blackmore, gent. now of Tenterden.

 

LIGHTS, formerly called Lights Notinden, is a small manor here, which together with another called East Asherinden, the name of which is now almost forgotten, though there was a family of this name of Asherinden, or Ashenden, as it was afterwards spelt, who were resident in this parish, and were, as appears by their wills, possessed of lands here called Ashenden, so late as the year 1595. These manors belonged partly to a chantry founded in this parish, and partly to the manor of Brooke, near Wye, which was part of the possessions of the priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury; in which state they continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when, on the suppression both of that priory and of the chantry likewise, they were granted by that king to Sir John Baker, his attorneygeneral, whose descendant Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, knight and baronet, died possessed of them in 1661. How long they continued in his descendants, I do not find; but the former is now-become the property of Mr. William Mantell, and the latter belongs to Mr. William Children, who has lately built a house on it, in which he resides.

 

FINCHDEN is a seat here, situated on the denne of Leigh, at Leigh-green, which was formerly in the possession of a family, who were ancestors of the Finch's, whose posterity still continued till very lately in the possession of it. They were antiently called Finchden, from their seat here; one of them, William de Fyncheden, was chief justice of the king's bench in the 45th year of the reign of Edward III. (fn. 4) though his name in some old law books, which appear to be of that time, is written contractedly Finch, which probably was the original name, though I do not find any connection between this family and the descendants of Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, seated at Eastwell and elsewhere in this county; excepting that they hear the same coat of arms. In later times I find William Finch, gent. of this place, died possessed of it in 1637, and in his direct descendants this seat continued down to Mr. William Finch, gent. who resided in it, and died possessed of it in 1794, s. p. leaving his brother Mr. Richard Finch, of Tenterden, his next heir.

 

ELARDINDEN is an estate, which was formerly of some account here, and is parcel of the manor of Frid, or Frith, in Bethersden. It was antiently part of the possessions of the noble family of Mayney. Sir John de Mayney, of Biddenden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of Edward III. and in his descendants it continued till the reign of Henry VI. when it was alienated by one of them to William Darell, esq. whose descendant George Darell, esq. conveyed it by sale in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. to Sir John Hales, of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, one of the barons of the exchequer, who gave it to his third son Edward Hales, esq. of Tenterden, in whose descendants it has continued down to Sir Edward Hales of St. Stephens, near Canterbury, the present possessor of it.

 

THE MANORS OF GODDEN AND MORGIEU are situated in the south-west part of this parish. The former of them was once in the possession of a family of that name, one of whom, Roger de Godden, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as one knight's fee, which he held here of Stephen de la Hey. Soon after which it seems to have passed into the possession of the family of Aucher. How long it continued in this name I have not seen; but in the 36th year of Henry VI. the executors of Walter Shiryngton, clerk, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, having founded a chantry in the chapel near the north door of St. Paul's cathedral, London, which, from the founder, bore the name of Shiryngton's chantry, they purchased both these manors towards the endow ment of it. (fn. 5) These manors remained part of this foundation till the suppression of it, in the 1st year of Edward VI.when coming into the hands of the crown, they were granted by the king, the year afterwards, to Sir Miles Partridge, to hold in capite by knight's service, and he sold them, in the 6th year of that reign, to Thomas Argal; and from his descendant they passed into the possession of Sir John Colepeper, afterwards created lord Colepeper, who died possessed of them in 1660; upon which they came to his second son John, who on his elder brother's death without male issue, succeeded to the title of Lord Colepeper, and dying in 1719 without issue, bequeathed these manors to his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, of Hollingborne, who by will devised them to her nephew John Spencer Colepeper, esq. of the Charter-house, being the last of the vast possessions of the different branches of this family dispersed over this whole county. He, in 1781, alienated them to Mr. Richard Curteis, of Tenterden, the present possessor of them.

 

KENCHILL is a seat in this parish, which was formerly the property of the family of Guldeford, one of whom, Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret, and of the garter, possessed it in the reign of Henry VIII. His son Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter Jane, she carried it in marriage to Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, and he, about the 30th year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, conveyed it to that king, who, in his 36th year, granted it to Thomas Argal, to hold in capite by knight's service, on whole decease his son Thomas Argal had possession granted of it, in the 6th year of queen Elizabeth. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Robert Clarkson, esq. of London, who sold it in 1687 to Mr. John Mantell, grazier, of Tenterden, who was one of the instances of the quick accumlation of riches from Romney-marsh; for in fourteen year she had acquired sufficient to become the purchaser of this and other estates, which rented at 800l. per annum. He devised Kenchill by will, together with the manor of East Asherinden, already mentioned before, Dumborne, and other lands in this parish, to his son Reginald, who died possessed of them in 1743, and lies buried in this church-yard. They bear for their arms, Argent, a cross between four martlets, sable, as borne by the family of Horton Monks, excepting, that the latter bore the cross engrailed; and leaving no issue, he gave them to his nephew Mr. Edward Mantell, of Mersham, who left several sons and daughters, who afterwards joined in the sale of their respective interests in them to Mr. William Mantell, the then elder brother; by which means he became entitled to the entire see of Kenchill, with the manor of East Asherinden, and resided at the former of them. He married Anne Marshall, of Mersham, and died in 1789, leaving issue several children. The Rev. Mr. Thomas Mantell, the younger brother, re-purchased Dumborne, of which he is now possessed, having married in 1788 Miss S. Horne, by whom he has one daughter.

 

THE HAMLET OF SMALLHYTH, commonly called Smallit, is situated somewhat more than three miles from the town of Tenterden, at the southern boundary of this parish, close to the old channel of the river Rother, over which there is a passage from it into the Isle of Oxney. The inhabitants were formerly, by report, very numerous, and this place of much more consequence than at present, from the expressions frequently made use of in old writings of those infra oppidum and intra oppidum de Smallhyth; the prevalent opinion being, that the buildings once extended towards Bullen westward; no proof of which, however, can be brought from the present state of it, as there remain only three or four straggling farm-houses on either side, and a few cottages in the street near the chapel. The sea came up to this place so lately as the year 1509, as is evident by the power then given of burying in this chapel-yard the bodies of those who were cast by shipwreck on the shore of the sea infra predictum oppidum de Smalhyth; which are the very words of the faculty granted for that purpose.

 

At this place A CHAPEL was built, and was soon afterwards licensed by faculty from archbishop Warham, anno 1509, on the petition of the inhabitants, on account of the distance from their parish church of Tenterden, the badness of the roads, and the dangers they underwent from the waters being out in their way thither; and was dedicated to St. John Baptist. The words of it are very remarkable: And we William, archbishop aforesaid, of the infinite mercy of Almighty God, and by the authority of St. Peter and St. Paul the apostles, and also of our patrons St. Alphage and St. Thomas, remit, &c.

 

Divine service still continues to be performed in this chapel, which is repaired and maintained, and the salary of the chaplain paid out of the rents of lands in this parish and Wittersham, which are vested in trustees; who pay him the annual produce of them, the rents of them being at this time 52l. 10s. per annum, though it is set down in Bacon's Liber Regis, as only of the clear yearly certified value of forty five pounds. The present curate is Thomas Morphett, appointed in 1773.

 

Charities.

 

JOHN WOOD, by will in 1560, gave an annuity of 40s. per annum, out of certain lands in Tenterden, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. payable to the churchwardens, towards the repair of the church; which gift is confirmed by a decree of the court of chancery; the lands being in the occupation of Richard Farby.

 

LADY JANE MAYNARD GAVE by will in 1660, thirty acres of land in Snave and Rucking, let at 24l. per annum, for putting out poor children apprentices, whose fathers are dead or otherwise disabled by sickness; the overplus to be given to poor, honest and aged widows of this parish, that have not been nor are likely to become chargeable to it.

 

MR. ANNE SHELTON, widow, by will in 1674, gave nine acres of land in Brookland and Brenset, now let at twelve guineas per annum, to the vicar and churchwardens to put out one or more children, born in Tenterden, apprentices to some honest handicrast trade.

 

DAME FRANCES NORTON, widow, sister of Judith, wife of Robert Austen the elder, of Heronden, esq. gave by deed in 1719, an estate, of 35l. per annum, in Hollingborne, for the joint benefit in equal moieties of this parish and Hollingborne. Since which, by a commission of charitable uses, in 1748 a farm of 15l. per annum, in Hucking, has been purchased and added to it; the division of the profits of which between them, and the application of them, has been already fully related under the description of the parish of Hollingborne, in the fifth volume of this history, p. 473.

 

AN ANCESTOR of the family of Heyman, of Somerfield, many years since founded the free school in this town, for teaching the Latin tongue gratis, to so many poor children of this parish as the mayor and jurats should think proper, who are trustees of it, and appoint the master; but at present there are no children on this foundation.

 

WILLAIM MARSHALL, clerk, about the year 1521, gave 10l. per ann. to be paid the master of this school, out of a messuage and twelve acres of land, in this parish, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. which was confirmed by a decree in the Exchequer, anno 4 queen Anne, and then in the occupation of Thomas Scoone.

 

JOHN MANTELL,gent in 1702, gave 200l. which was laid out in the purchasing of a piece of fresh marsh land, containing ten acres, in St. Maries, let at 10l. per annum, to be paid to the master of this school.

 

The south chancel of the church is appropriated to the use of this school.

 

TENTERDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mildred, is a large handsome building, consisting of two isles and three chancels, having a lofty well-built tower at the west end, which standing on high ground is seen from the country for many miles around it. There are eight bells in it, and a set of musical chimes. The two isles and chancels are all ceiled; the north isle is curiously ceiled with oak and ornamented. There are three galleries in the church. On the front of the steeple are the arms of St. Augustine's monastery, and likewise on a beam over the altar. In the north window a coat, Two chevrons, gules, on a canton, gules, a lion passant, or. In the south window, at the bottom, Or, a saltier, between four mullets, sable; and another, Gules, a bend sinister azure, fretted argent. The monuments and gravestones in this church, as well as the tomb-stones in the church-yard, are so numerous as to be far beyond the limits of this volume. Among them are those belonging to the families of the Austens, Curteis's, Blackmores, Haffendens, and other families mentioned before, as the modern possessors of estates and manors in this parish.

 

Thomas Petlesden, esq. by will in 1462, appears to have been buried in the chancel of St. Catherine, and gave one hundred marcs to the steeple here, to be paid out of his land, &c. as long as it was a werking. (fn. 6)

 

Till within these few years there hung a beacon, (a very singular instance remaining of one) over on the top of this steeple. It was a sort of iren kettle, holding about a gallon, with a ring or hoop of the same metal round the upper part of it, to hold still more coals, rosin, &c. It was hung at the end of a piece of timber, about eight feet long. The vanes on the four pinnacles were placed there in 1682. There was formerly a noted dropping stone, in the arch of the door-way going into the bell-lost, which has ceased to drop for many years. By the dropping of it, part of a stone, or two stones rather, were carried off, leaving a considerable rist or hollow where the stones were joined. Upon the water drying in 1720, where it fell underneath, the stone hardened and grew slippery, being probably of the nature of the stelastical water in the Peak of Derbyshire, at Poolshole.

 

There is a noted saying, that Tenterden steeple was the cause of the Goodwin Sands—which is thus accounted for: Goodwin, earl of Kent, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was owner of much flat land in the eastern part of it, near the isle of Thanet, which was desended from the sea by a great wall, which lands afterwards became part of the possessions of the abbot of St. Augustine's, near Canterbury still retaining the name of Goodwin, their former owner; and the abbot being at the same time owner of the rectory of Tenterden, the steeple of which church he had then began building, had employed during the course of it so much of his care and attention to the finishing of that work, that he neglected the care and preservation of that wall, insomuch, that on Nov. 3, 1099, the sea broke over and ruined it, drowning the lands within it, and overwhelming it with a light sand, still remaining on them, the place retaining to this time the name of the Goodwin Sands, and becoming dreadful and dangerous to navigators. Thus this steeple is said to be the cause of the Goodwin Sands. This is the common tradition; how far consistent with truth, so far as relates to these sands, will be taken notice of in its proper place. (fn. 7)

 

THE CHURCH of Tenterden was part of the antient possessions of the monastery of St. Augustine, to which it was appropriated in 1259, on condition of a proper portion being assigned for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar of it; and the official of the archbishop, on an inquisition concerning this vicarage, made his return that it then consisted in all tithes, obventions, and oblations belonging to the church; except the tithes of sheaves, corn, and hay, of which latter the vicar should receive yearly four loads from the abbot and convent, and that it was then valued at eighteen marcs and more per annum.

 

The abbot of St. Augustine took upon himself, about the year 1295, to constitute several new deanries, and apportioned the several churches belonging to his monastery to each of them, according to their vicinity; one of these was the deanry of Lenham, in which this church of Tenterden was included, but this raising great contests between the archbishops and them, it ended in stripping the abbot of these exemptions, and he was by the pope declared to be subject to the archbishop's jurisdiction in all matters whatsoever, which entirely dissolved these new deanries. (fn. 8)

 

This church had a manor antiently appendant to it, and on a quo warranto in the iter of H. de Stanton, and his sociates, justices itinerant, anno 7 Edward II. the abbot was allowed year and waste, and cattle called weif, in his manor of Tentwardenne among others; and those liberties, with all others belonging to the abbot and convent, were confirmed by letters of inspeximus by Edward III. in his 36th year, and likewise the additional privilege of the chattels of their own tenants condemned and sugitive, within their manor here.

 

¶In which state this church continued till the general suppression of religious houses, when it came with the rest of the possessions of the abbey of St. Augustine, anno 30 Henry VIII. into the hands of the crown, after which the king, by his dotation charter in his 33d year, settled both the church appropriate of Tenterden, with the manor appendant and all its rights and appurtenances, and the advowson of the vicarage, among other premises, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom the inheritance of the parsonage remains. After the death of Charles I. on the dissolution of deans and chapters, this parsonage was surveyed in order for sale; when it appears to have consisted of one great barn, newly erected, on a close of pasture of five acres; together with all the tithes of corn within the parish; and several rents, out of lands and tenements in Tenterden, amounting to 26s. 8d. taken in right of the parsonage, which had been let in 1640 to Sir Edward Hales, at the yearly rent of 20l. 6s. 8d. but that they were worth over and above that rent seventy-eight pounds. That the lessee was bound to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church, and provide for the dean and officers, or pay the sum of 33s. 4d. The present lessee of it is Sir Edward Hales, bart. of St. Stephens, but the advowson of the vicarage the dean and chapter retain in their own hands.

 

In 1259 this vicarage was valued at thirty marcs, and in 1342 at forty-five marcs. It is valued in the king's books at 33l. 12s. 11d.and the yearly tenths at 3l. 7s. 3½d. In 1588 there were communicants five hundred and eighty-six. In 1640 it was valued at 120l. per annum. Communicants six hundred. It is now double that value.

 

There is a modus claimed throughout the parish, in the room of small tithes.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol7/pp200-219

It has been many years since we were last here in Tenterden. So long ago that I fear the Kent church project had not yet started. Because, I had not visited St Mildred's before. It towers above to attractive town, which is stretched along the main road. A narrow turning to the right brings you into Church Road, and to the entrance to St Mildred.

 

Tenterden is the start of the Kent and East Sussex Railway, I think we were last here for a beer festival on the railway some years ago, maybe 5 years. And after riding for the first service from the day, I remember thinking ten in the morning was too early to be supping my first pint.

 

Tenterden is West Kent, go west a few miles and you are in Sussex, but the town and whole area is attractive; clapboard houses, oast houses, ancient churches, hop farms, steam trains, marshes. Its all here.

 

St Mildred is on a grand scale, lots of nooks and crannies to explore and snap.

 

Most wonderful feature is the 15th century roof, which is really special. Good glass, a nice alabaster memorial.

 

A great start to the day.

 

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A superb church, which despite a heavy-handed restoration by G.M. Hills (see also Newenden) in 1864 still has much of interest. The nave ceiling is exceptional fifteenth-century work, rather more domestic in feel than is normal in an ecclesiastical building. There are two blocked thirteenth-century windows above the chancel arch - an unusual position to find windows in Kent. The five bay aisles are extremely narrow. The glass in the south aisle windows by Hughes of 1865 are rather fun. In the north chapel is a fine alabaster standing monument to Herbert Whitfield (d. 1622) and his wife. This monument cuts off the base of the north-east window and displays many colourful coats of arms. The chancel screen and pulpit are late nineteenth century and fit in with the medieval architecture better than most works of that period.

 

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

 

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The history of Tenterden itself is lost in time, as is the origin of St. Mildred’s church. Perhaps all that can be said with any confidence is that the story of the town and the story of St. Mildred’s are bound together with each other, with the story of pre-conquest Kent, with the story of Christianity in Kent, and with the story of the ancient Kentish royal house.

 

Tenet-wara-den (the den of the Thanet folk) was the Wealden area used by the abbey of Minster-in-Thanet for Autumn pig-forage (acorns and beech mast to fatten the pigs for Winter). That abbey was founded by Domne Aefa (“the lady Aebba”?) of the Kentish royal family, and either she herself or her daughter, St. Mildred, was the first abbess. This is within the first century after the arrival in Canterbury of St. Augustine’s mission from Rome. Mildred’s holy reputation was an international one, and there can be no doubt that a church in her name was here from some point in the eighth to tenth centuries. The reign of Canute is the latest possible period and it was almost certainly much earlier. However, we have no record of any incumbent before 1180, and the oldest perceptible fabric of the church is of about that time too.

 

When you stand in the middle of St. Mildred’s, you see a large building reflecting the prosperity of the town in the later middle ages. The north arcade of the chancel is probably around 1200, but most of the chancel, nave, and aisles is work of the 13th to 15th centuries. The fine wagon-vault ceiling of the nave has been variously stated to be 14th or 15th century (with some Victorian additions). The tower of the church, a prominent Kentish landmark, was probably built by architect Thomas Stanley. This major building work was undertaken in the middle of the 15th century, at the height of Tenterden’s prosperity, it being no coincidence that the town gained a charter and Cinque Port status in support of Rye, at about the same time.

 

The town’s prosperity was reflected also in the presence of important shipbuilding yards at both Reading Street and Smallhythe, both on the tidal River Rother at that time. The settlement at Smallhythe was sufficiently large to gain its own chapel sometime in the middle ages, but we know nothing of that building, though it was probably dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Smallhythe itself was burnt in a huge fire in 1514, and we know that rebuilding of the chapel began virtually straight away. The current church of St. John the Baptist is a beautiful example of a brick-built Tudor church, box-like (so with an excellent acoustic). It has, during its history, had varying levels of dependence or independence from the town church of St. Mildred.

 

By the middle of the 19th century, the population was growing fast, and attitudes to worship were changing too. St. Mildred’s lost its box pews, and had the organ moved to its present position. A new church was planned for the hamlet of Boresisle at the northern end of Tenterden, the neat and small Gothic revival church being dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels. Two consequences were, firstly, the acquisition by Kent of another prominent landmark – the graceful spire, and secondly, the name Boresisle fell out of usage and the hamlet itself has ever since been known as “St. Michael’s”.

 

I do feel it important to append to this account of the Anglican church buildings a brief comment on the other churches of the town. There was always a Roman Catholic presence here, but after the Reformation, there was no church building until the Catholic priest in Tenterden, Canon Currie began, in the 1930s, a determined attempt to put that right, culminating in the building of St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic church in Ashford Road.

 

The history of “non-conformity” in Tenterden is a major and extensive one. Within a few decades of the development around the 1370s, by John Wyclife at Oxford, of the doctrines later known as “Lollardy”, there were significant numbers of people in Tenterden who ascribed to doctrines regarded as unorthodox. Moreover, following the Reformation of the 1540s to 1560s, there were many who rejected not only Roman ways, but were unhappy with the English church. We know that Tenterden families joined the 17th century exodus to the New World (notably to Massachusetts), and Tenterden acquired its first “non-conformist” chapel around 1700, that building now being the Unitarian church in Ashford Road, and one of Tenterden’s most interesting ancient relics. The nineteenth century saw the building of the Methodist church at West Cross, and two of the three Baptist churches – Zion in the High Street, and the Strict Baptist Jireh Chapel at St. Michael’s. Trinity Baptist in Ashford Road was built in 1928.

 

Those interested to pursue their enquiries further will find a guide in St. Mildred’s, and there is much information in standard texts of Kent history and architecture.

 

www.tenterdencofe.org/?page_ref=265

 

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THIS hundred contains within its bounds THE TOWN AND PARISH OF Tenterden, and part of the parish of Ebeney, containing the borough of Reading, the church of which is in another hundred.

 

This hundred was antiently accounted one of the Seven Hundreds, and was within the jurisdiction of the justices of the country, from which it was separated by Henry VI. who, on account of the impoverishment of the port and town of Rye, in Sussex, by his letters patent, in his 27th year, incorporated the town and hundred of Tenterden, by the name of the bailiff and commonaltie of the town and hundred of Tenterden, and granted that the same should be a member annexed and united to that town and port, and separated from the county of Kent, and that the bailiff and commonalty of this town and hundred should have for ever, on their contributing to the burthens and exigencies of that port and town from time to time, (fn. 1) many franchises, privileges, and freedoms, and all other liberties, freedoms, and free customs which the barons of the five ports had before that time enjoyed. In which state this town and hundred remained till the 42d year of queen Elizabeth's reign, when the name of their incorporation was changed to that of the mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town and hundred of Tenterden, by which it continues to be governed at this time.

 

THE CORPORATION consists of a mayor, twelve jurats, and as many common-councilmen, a chamberlain, and town clerk; the jurisdiction of it being exclusive from the justices of the county. The mayor is chosen yearly on August 29. The election used to be in the town-hall; but that being burnt down by some prisoners in the prison-room over it, it was afterwards made under one of the great old oaks, which are not far from the place, on the other side of the street, where it stood. A neat and elegant hall was finished in 1792, adjoining the Woolpack Inn, in which the mayor has been elected as heretofore, and it is occasionally used as an assembly room by the inhabitants. The mayor is coroner of both the town and hundred; there is no sheriff; the commoners must be resciants, and are chosen by the mayor and two of the jurats; the jurats are all justices of the peace. They hold sessions of oyer and terminer, but cannot try treason. At the sessions holden at Tenterden, August 10, 1785, two men were convicted of burglary, and executed near Gallows-green the 27th following. Both the charters of this corporation being destroyed by the fire of the court-hall in 1660, an exemplification of them was procured anno 12 George III.

 

The liberty of the court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds, claimed a paramount jurisdiction over this hundred, till the incorporation of the town of Tenterden, and the annexing this hundred to it in the reign of Henry VI. since which the mayor and jurats have been lords of the royalty of it, and continue so at this time.

 

The parish is divided into six boroughs, each having a borsholder chosen yearly, these are Town Borough, Castweasle, Boresile, Shrubcote, Dumborne, which includes all Smallhyth, and Reading, which is wholly in the parish of Ebene.

 

THE PARISH of Tenterden lies too near the marshes to be either healthy or pleasant, excepting that part where the town is situated near the northern boundaries of it, on what may be called for this country, high ground; it is about five miles across each way. The soil of it is various, the northern part being sand, towards the east it is a wet stiff clay, and towards the south and west towards the marshes a deep rich mould. The generality of the lands in it are pasture, but there are about one hundred acres of hop-ground dispersed in different parts of it; there is very little wood, and that mostly between the town and Smallhyth, a hamlet formerly of much more consequence, as will be further mentioned hereafter, situated at the southern boundary of it, on the road into the Isle of Oxney, close to the river Rother, which separates that part of this parish from the island. About a mile and a half eastward is the hamlet of Reading-street, built adjoining the high road to Apledore, close to the marshes below it, on the passage over the Rother into Ebeney, and the Isle of Oxney.

 

On Saturday, Nov. 1, 1755, between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon (being at the same time that the great bason at Portsmouth was disturbed) several ponds in this parish and neighbourhood, without any sensible motion of the earth, were greatly agitated, the water of them being forced up the banks with great violence, fretting and foaming with a noise similar to the coming in of the tide, so as to terrify many who were near them; some of these waters flowed up three times in this manner, others circled round into eddies, absorbing leaves, sticks, &c. and it was observed that only those ponds were affected, that had springs to supply the waters of them.

 

THE TOWN OF TENTERDEN is situated nearly in the centre of the parish and hundred. It stands on high ground, neither unpleasant nor unhealthy; the greatest part of it is built on each side of the high road leading from the western parts of Kent and Cranbrooke through this parish south-east to Apledore. A small part of it is paved, where there is a small antient market-place, built of timber; but the market, which is still held on a Friday, is but little frequented, only two millers, and seldom any butchers attending it. It is a well-built town, having many genteel houses, or rather seats, interspersed throughout it, among which are those of the Curteis's, a numerous and opulent family here, who bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three bulls heads, caboshed; (fn. 2) the Haffendens, who have been long resident here, and in Smarden and Halden, in this neighbourhood. Bugglesden, in the north part of Boresile borough, in this parish, was very antiently, and till within these few years, their property and residence. Richard Haffenden now resides in a new house, built by his father, called Homewood, at the west end of this town, and in the south part of Boresile borough. They bear for their arms, Chequy, sable and argent, on a bend, sable, three mullets, or; the Staces, who have been resident here from the beginning of the last century, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury, in several of which they are stiled gentlemen; the Blackmores, possessed of Westwell house, a handsome seat at the south east end of the town, built by James Blackmore, esq. in 1711, one of whose descendants afterwards becoming possessed by gift of the seat of Briggins, in Hertfordshire, removed thither, where they have continued ever since, and this of Westwell-house is now occupied by Mr. James Blackmore, the uncle of Thomas Blackmore, esq. of Briggins, who died possessed of it in 1789, having been thrice married. He left by his two first wives three sons and two daughters; his third. wife Anne, daughter of Mr. Tatnall, of Theobalds, now survives him. They bear for their arms, Argent, a fess between three balckmoors heads sideways, couped at the neck, sable; and several others, most of whose wealth, as well as that of the inhabitants of this town in general, has arisen from its near neighbourhood to Romneymarsh, where most of them have some occupation in the grazing business.

 

The church stands on the north side of the town, which, with the rest of the parish, consists of about three hundred houses, and two thousand inhabitants, of which about five hundred are diffenters, who have two meeting-houses here, one of Presbyterians, the other of Methodistical Baptists.

 

At the east end of the town is Craythorne-house, which formerly belonged to the Bargraves, and then to the Marshalls, who sold it to the late Mr. John Sawyer, who built a new house here, in which he afterwards resided, and his assigns now possess it. A branch of the family of Whitfield had once their residence in a large house at the east end likewise of this town. John Whitfield resided here, as did his son Herbert, who died in 1622; they were descended from an antient family in Northumberland, and bore for their arms, Argent, on a bend, plain, between two cotizes, ingrailed sable, a mullet, or. At length the heirs of Sir Herbert Whitfield, sold this seat to Wil liam Austen, esq. of Hernden, in this parish. Sir Robert Austen, bart. the last of that name, resided in it, and it now belongs to his heirs, and is made use of as a boarding school for young ladies.

 

There is a large fair held in this town on the first Monday in May yearly, for cattle, wool, merchandize, and shop goods of all sorts, to which there is a great resort from all the neighbouring country. Most of the road, leading from the town to Smallhyth, particularly the upper part of it, known by the name of Broad Tenterden, is said to have been lined with buildings on each side, and to have been the most populous part of the parish.

 

THERE ARE several places in this parish worthy notice, the first of them is HALES-PLACE, at the northwest end of this town, which was for many generations the residence of a branch of the family of Hales, who removed hither from their original seat, of the same name, in the adjoining parish of Halden. Henry Hales, who lived in the reign of Henry VI. was born here, and married Juhan, daughter and heir of Richard Capel, of Tenterden, by which he greatly increased his estate in this parish. He had by her two sons, of whom John Hales, the eldest, was of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, esq. and was one of the barons of the exchequer. He had four sons, Sir James Hales, one of the justices of the common pleas, who was of the Dungeon, where his descendants continued many generations afterwards; Thomas, who was seated at Thanington, whose descendant Robert was created a baronet in 1666, and was ancestor of the present Su Philip Hales, bart. Edward, the third son, inherited this seat and his father's possessions in this parish; and William, the fourth son, was of Recolver and Nackington, in this county. Edward Hales, esq. the third son, who inherited this seat and estate at Tenterden, resided at it, and left a son Sir Edward Hales, who was created a baronet on the 29th of June, 1611. He removed his residence from hence to the neighbouring parish of Woodchurch, in which parish he possessed the antient seat of the Herlackendens, in right of his wife Deborah, only daughter and heir of Martin Herlackenden, esq. of that place. His son Sir John Hales, having married Christian, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir James Cromer, of Tunstal, became possessed of the antient seat of the Cromers in that parish, where he resided, and died in his father's life-time, in 1639, whose son Edward Hales succeeded to the title of baronet on his grandfather's death, in 1654 whose heir he was, and resided at Tunstal. His son Sir Edward Hales, bart. having purchased the mansion of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, resided there, as his descendants have ever since; and from him this seat and estate at Tenterden at length descended down to his great-grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. now of St. Stephen's, who about forty-eight years ago pulled down the greatest part of this antient seat, and fitted up a smaller dwelling or farm-house on the scite of it, which, together with the antient offices or out-buildings of the mansion still remaining, continues part of his possessions.

 

HERNDEN, formerly spelt Heronden, was once an estate of considerable size in this parish, though it has been long since split into different parcels. The whole of it once belonged to a family of the name of Heronden, whose arms, as appears by the antient ordinaries in the Heralds-office, were, Argent, a heron volant, azure. At length one part of this estate was alienated by one of this family to Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, whose descendant Sir John Baker, knight and baronet, died possessed of it in 1661; but the capital mansion and other principal parts of it remained some time longer in the name of Heronden, one of whom, in the reign of Charles I. alienated some part of it, now called Little Hernden, to Short, a family whose ancestors had resided at Tenterden for some time. In the Heraldic Visitation of this county, anno 1619, is a pedigree of this family, beginning with Peter Short, of Tenterden, who lived in the reign of Henry VIII. They bore for their arms, Azure, a griffin passant, between three estoiles, or. At length one of them sold this part of it to Curteis, whose grandson Mr. Samuel Curteis is now in the possession of it. But the remainder of Hernden, in which was included the principal mansion, situated about a quarter of a mile southward of the town, was at the same time conveyed by sale to Mr. John Austen, the second son of William Austen, esq. of this parish, and elder brother of Robert, created a baronet anno 1660. He afterwards resided here, and dying in 1655, s. p. gave it by will to his nephew Robert Austen, esq. the second son of Sir Robert above-mentioned, by his second wife. He afterwards resided here, and had two sons, Robert and Ralph; the eldest of whom, Robert Austen, esq. resided here, and left three sons, William, of whom hereafter, and Edward and Robert, both of whom afterwards succeeded to the title of baronet. William Austen, esq. the eldest son, inherited Hernden, and in 1729, suffered a recovery of this, as well as all other the Kentish estates comprised in his grandfather's settlement of them, to the use of him and his heirs. He died in 1742, and by will devised it to Mr. Richard Righton, who afterwards resided here, and died possessed of it in 1772, and was buried, as was his wife afterwards, under a tomb on the south side of the church-yard; upon which it came into the hands of his son Benjamin Righton, esq. of Knightsbridge, who in 1782 conveyed Hernden, a farm called Pixhill, and other lands in this parish and Rolvenden, to Mr. Jeremiah Curteis, gent. of Rye, in Sussex, who finding this antient mansion, which seems, by a date remaining on it, to have been built in the year 1585, being the 28th of queen Elizabeth's reign, in a ruinous condition, pulled it down; but the scite of it, together with the lands belonging to it, still remain in his possession.

 

PITLESDEN, or Pittelesden, as it was antiently spelt, is situated near the west end of this town. It was once a seat of some note, being the residence of a family of that name, who bore for their arms, Sable, a fess, between three pelicans, or, in whose possession it continued till Stephen Pitlesden, (fn. 3) about the reign of Henry VI. leaving an only daughter and heir Julian, she carried it in marriage to Edward Guldeford, esq. of Halden, whose descendant Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter and heir Jane, she entitled her husband Sir John Dudley, afterwards created Duke of Northumberland, to the possession of this manor, and they, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. joined in the conveyance of it to Sir Thomas Cromwell, lord Cromwell, afterwards created Earl of Essex, who passed it away by sale to that king, and it remained in the hands of the crown till king Edward VI. in his 7th year, granted it, with the pend of water, wear and fishery, with the dove-house belonging to it, and all its appurtenances, to Sir John Baker, one of the privy council, to hold in capite by knight's service, in whose family it continued till Sir John Baker, bart. of Sissinghurst, in the reign of king Charles I. conveyed it by sale to Mr. Jasper Clayton, mercer, of London. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Mr. William Blackmore, gent. of this place, who at his death devised it to his daughter Sarah, who entitled her husband Mr. John Crumpe, of Frittenden, to the possession of it for her life, but the remainder, on her death, is vested in her brother Mr. Thomas Blackmore, gent. now of Tenterden.

 

LIGHTS, formerly called Lights Notinden, is a small manor here, which together with another called East Asherinden, the name of which is now almost forgotten, though there was a family of this name of Asherinden, or Ashenden, as it was afterwards spelt, who were resident in this parish, and were, as appears by their wills, possessed of lands here called Ashenden, so late as the year 1595. These manors belonged partly to a chantry founded in this parish, and partly to the manor of Brooke, near Wye, which was part of the possessions of the priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury; in which state they continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when, on the suppression both of that priory and of the chantry likewise, they were granted by that king to Sir John Baker, his attorneygeneral, whose descendant Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, knight and baronet, died possessed of them in 1661. How long they continued in his descendants, I do not find; but the former is now-become the property of Mr. William Mantell, and the latter belongs to Mr. William Children, who has lately built a house on it, in which he resides.

 

FINCHDEN is a seat here, situated on the denne of Leigh, at Leigh-green, which was formerly in the possession of a family, who were ancestors of the Finch's, whose posterity still continued till very lately in the possession of it. They were antiently called Finchden, from their seat here; one of them, William de Fyncheden, was chief justice of the king's bench in the 45th year of the reign of Edward III. (fn. 4) though his name in some old law books, which appear to be of that time, is written contractedly Finch, which probably was the original name, though I do not find any connection between this family and the descendants of Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, seated at Eastwell and elsewhere in this county; excepting that they hear the same coat of arms. In later times I find William Finch, gent. of this place, died possessed of it in 1637, and in his direct descendants this seat continued down to Mr. William Finch, gent. who resided in it, and died possessed of it in 1794, s. p. leaving his brother Mr. Richard Finch, of Tenterden, his next heir.

 

ELARDINDEN is an estate, which was formerly of some account here, and is parcel of the manor of Frid, or Frith, in Bethersden. It was antiently part of the possessions of the noble family of Mayney. Sir John de Mayney, of Biddenden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of Edward III. and in his descendants it continued till the reign of Henry VI. when it was alienated by one of them to William Darell, esq. whose descendant George Darell, esq. conveyed it by sale in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. to Sir John Hales, of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, one of the barons of the exchequer, who gave it to his third son Edward Hales, esq. of Tenterden, in whose descendants it has continued down to Sir Edward Hales of St. Stephens, near Canterbury, the present possessor of it.

 

THE MANORS OF GODDEN AND MORGIEU are situated in the south-west part of this parish. The former of them was once in the possession of a family of that name, one of whom, Roger de Godden, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as one knight's fee, which he held here of Stephen de la Hey. Soon after which it seems to have passed into the possession of the family of Aucher. How long it continued in this name I have not seen; but in the 36th year of Henry VI. the executors of Walter Shiryngton, clerk, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, having founded a chantry in the chapel near the north door of St. Paul's cathedral, London, which, from the founder, bore the name of Shiryngton's chantry, they purchased both these manors towards the endow ment of it. (fn. 5) These manors remained part of this foundation till the suppression of it, in the 1st year of Edward VI.when coming into the hands of the crown, they were granted by the king, the year afterwards, to Sir Miles Partridge, to hold in capite by knight's service, and he sold them, in the 6th year of that reign, to Thomas Argal; and from his descendant they passed into the possession of Sir John Colepeper, afterwards created lord Colepeper, who died possessed of them in 1660; upon which they came to his second son John, who on his elder brother's death without male issue, succeeded to the title of Lord Colepeper, and dying in 1719 without issue, bequeathed these manors to his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, of Hollingborne, who by will devised them to her nephew John Spencer Colepeper, esq. of the Charter-house, being the last of the vast possessions of the different branches of this family dispersed over this whole county. He, in 1781, alienated them to Mr. Richard Curteis, of Tenterden, the present possessor of them.

 

KENCHILL is a seat in this parish, which was formerly the property of the family of Guldeford, one of whom, Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret, and of the garter, possessed it in the reign of Henry VIII. His son Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter Jane, she carried it in marriage to Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, and he, about the 30th year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, conveyed it to that king, who, in his 36th year, granted it to Thomas Argal, to hold in capite by knight's service, on whole decease his son Thomas Argal had possession granted of it, in the 6th year of queen Elizabeth. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Robert Clarkson, esq. of London, who sold it in 1687 to Mr. John Mantell, grazier, of Tenterden, who was one of the instances of the quick accumlation of riches from Romney-marsh; for in fourteen year she had acquired sufficient to become the purchaser of this and other estates, which rented at 800l. per annum. He devised Kenchill by will, together with the manor of East Asherinden, already mentioned before, Dumborne, and other lands in this parish, to his son Reginald, who died possessed of them in 1743, and lies buried in this church-yard. They bear for their arms, Argent, a cross between four martlets, sable, as borne by the family of Horton Monks, excepting, that the latter bore the cross engrailed; and leaving no issue, he gave them to his nephew Mr. Edward Mantell, of Mersham, who left several sons and daughters, who afterwards joined in the sale of their respective interests in them to Mr. William Mantell, the then elder brother; by which means he became entitled to the entire see of Kenchill, with the manor of East Asherinden, and resided at the former of them. He married Anne Marshall, of Mersham, and died in 1789, leaving issue several children. The Rev. Mr. Thomas Mantell, the younger brother, re-purchased Dumborne, of which he is now possessed, having married in 1788 Miss S. Horne, by whom he has one daughter.

 

THE HAMLET OF SMALLHYTH, commonly called Smallit, is situated somewhat more than three miles from the town of Tenterden, at the southern boundary of this parish, close to the old channel of the river Rother, over which there is a passage from it into the Isle of Oxney. The inhabitants were formerly, by report, very numerous, and this place of much more consequence than at present, from the expressions frequently made use of in old writings of those infra oppidum and intra oppidum de Smallhyth; the prevalent opinion being, that the buildings once extended towards Bullen westward; no proof of which, however, can be brought from the present state of it, as there remain only three or four straggling farm-houses on either side, and a few cottages in the street near the chapel. The sea came up to this place so lately as the year 1509, as is evident by the power then given of burying in this chapel-yard the bodies of those who were cast by shipwreck on the shore of the sea infra predictum oppidum de Smalhyth; which are the very words of the faculty granted for that purpose.

 

At this place A CHAPEL was built, and was soon afterwards licensed by faculty from archbishop Warham, anno 1509, on the petition of the inhabitants, on account of the distance from their parish church of Tenterden, the badness of the roads, and the dangers they underwent from the waters being out in their way thither; and was dedicated to St. John Baptist. The words of it are very remarkable: And we William, archbishop aforesaid, of the infinite mercy of Almighty God, and by the authority of St. Peter and St. Paul the apostles, and also of our patrons St. Alphage and St. Thomas, remit, &c.

 

Divine service still continues to be performed in this chapel, which is repaired and maintained, and the salary of the chaplain paid out of the rents of lands in this parish and Wittersham, which are vested in trustees; who pay him the annual produce of them, the rents of them being at this time 52l. 10s. per annum, though it is set down in Bacon's Liber Regis, as only of the clear yearly certified value of forty five pounds. The present curate is Thomas Morphett, appointed in 1773.

 

Charities.

 

JOHN WOOD, by will in 1560, gave an annuity of 40s. per annum, out of certain lands in Tenterden, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. payable to the churchwardens, towards the repair of the church; which gift is confirmed by a decree of the court of chancery; the lands being in the occupation of Richard Farby.

 

LADY JANE MAYNARD GAVE by will in 1660, thirty acres of land in Snave and Rucking, let at 24l. per annum, for putting out poor children apprentices, whose fathers are dead or otherwise disabled by sickness; the overplus to be given to poor, honest and aged widows of this parish, that have not been nor are likely to become chargeable to it.

 

MR. ANNE SHELTON, widow, by will in 1674, gave nine acres of land in Brookland and Brenset, now let at twelve guineas per annum, to the vicar and churchwardens to put out one or more children, born in Tenterden, apprentices to some honest handicrast trade.

 

DAME FRANCES NORTON, widow, sister of Judith, wife of Robert Austen the elder, of Heronden, esq. gave by deed in 1719, an estate, of 35l. per annum, in Hollingborne, for the joint benefit in equal moieties of this parish and Hollingborne. Since which, by a commission of charitable uses, in 1748 a farm of 15l. per annum, in Hucking, has been purchased and added to it; the division of the profits of which between them, and the application of them, has been already fully related under the description of the parish of Hollingborne, in the fifth volume of this history, p. 473.

 

AN ANCESTOR of the family of Heyman, of Somerfield, many years since founded the free school in this town, for teaching the Latin tongue gratis, to so many poor children of this parish as the mayor and jurats should think proper, who are trustees of it, and appoint the master; but at present there are no children on this foundation.

 

WILLAIM MARSHALL, clerk, about the year 1521, gave 10l. per ann. to be paid the master of this school, out of a messuage and twelve acres of land, in this parish, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. which was confirmed by a decree in the Exchequer, anno 4 queen Anne, and then in the occupation of Thomas Scoone.

 

JOHN MANTELL,gent in 1702, gave 200l. which was laid out in the purchasing of a piece of fresh marsh land, containing ten acres, in St. Maries, let at 10l. per annum, to be paid to the master of this school.

 

The south chancel of the church is appropriated to the use of this school.

 

TENTERDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mildred, is a large handsome building, consisting of two isles and three chancels, having a lofty well-built tower at the west end, which standing on high ground is seen from the country for many miles around it. There are eight bells in it, and a set of musical chimes. The two isles and chancels are all ceiled; the north isle is curiously ceiled with oak and ornamented. There are three galleries in the church. On the front of the steeple are the arms of St. Augustine's monastery, and likewise on a beam over the altar. In the north window a coat, Two chevrons, gules, on a canton, gules, a lion passant, or. In the south window, at the bottom, Or, a saltier, between four mullets, sable; and another, Gules, a bend sinister azure, fretted argent. The monuments and gravestones in this church, as well as the tomb-stones in the church-yard, are so numerous as to be far beyond the limits of this volume. Among them are those belonging to the families of the Austens, Curteis's, Blackmores, Haffendens, and other families mentioned before, as the modern possessors of estates and manors in this parish.

 

Thomas Petlesden, esq. by will in 1462, appears to have been buried in the chancel of St. Catherine, and gave one hundred marcs to the steeple here, to be paid out of his land, &c. as long as it was a werking. (fn. 6)

 

Till within these few years there hung a beacon, (a very singular instance remaining of one) over on the top of this steeple. It was a sort of iren kettle, holding about a gallon, with a ring or hoop of the same metal round the upper part of it, to hold still more coals, rosin, &c. It was hung at the end of a piece of timber, about eight feet long. The vanes on the four pinnacles were placed there in 1682. There was formerly a noted dropping stone, in the arch of the door-way going into the bell-lost, which has ceased to drop for many years. By the dropping of it, part of a stone, or two stones rather, were carried off, leaving a considerable rist or hollow where the stones were joined. Upon the water drying in 1720, where it fell underneath, the stone hardened and grew slippery, being probably of the nature of the stelastical water in the Peak of Derbyshire, at Poolshole.

 

There is a noted saying, that Tenterden steeple was the cause of the Goodwin Sands—which is thus accounted for: Goodwin, earl of Kent, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was owner of much flat land in the eastern part of it, near the isle of Thanet, which was desended from the sea by a great wall, which lands afterwards became part of the possessions of the abbot of St. Augustine's, near Canterbury still retaining the name of Goodwin, their former owner; and the abbot being at the same time owner of the rectory of Tenterden, the steeple of which church he had then began building, had employed during the course of it so much of his care and attention to the finishing of that work, that he neglected the care and preservation of that wall, insomuch, that on Nov. 3, 1099, the sea broke over and ruined it, drowning the lands within it, and overwhelming it with a light sand, still remaining on them, the place retaining to this time the name of the Goodwin Sands, and becoming dreadful and dangerous to navigators. Thus this steeple is said to be the cause of the Goodwin Sands. This is the common tradition; how far consistent with truth, so far as relates to these sands, will be taken notice of in its proper place. (fn. 7)

 

THE CHURCH of Tenterden was part of the antient possessions of the monastery of St. Augustine, to which it was appropriated in 1259, on condition of a proper portion being assigned for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar of it; and the official of the archbishop, on an inquisition concerning this vicarage, made his return that it then consisted in all tithes, obventions, and oblations belonging to the church; except the tithes of sheaves, corn, and hay, of which latter the vicar should receive yearly four loads from the abbot and convent, and that it was then valued at eighteen marcs and more per annum.

 

The abbot of St. Augustine took upon himself, about the year 1295, to constitute several new deanries, and apportioned the several churches belonging to his monastery to each of them, according to their vicinity; one of these was the deanry of Lenham, in which this church of Tenterden was included, but this raising great contests between the archbishops and them, it ended in stripping the abbot of these exemptions, and he was by the pope declared to be subject to the archbishop's jurisdiction in all matters whatsoever, which entirely dissolved these new deanries. (fn. 8)

 

This church had a manor antiently appendant to it, and on a quo warranto in the iter of H. de Stanton, and his sociates, justices itinerant, anno 7 Edward II. the abbot was allowed year and waste, and cattle called weif, in his manor of Tentwardenne among others; and those liberties, with all others belonging to the abbot and convent, were confirmed by letters of inspeximus by Edward III. in his 36th year, and likewise the additional privilege of the chattels of their own tenants condemned and sugitive, within their manor here.

 

¶In which state this church continued till the general suppression of religious houses, when it came with the rest of the possessions of the abbey of St. Augustine, anno 30 Henry VIII. into the hands of the crown, after which the king, by his dotation charter in his 33d year, settled both the church appropriate of Tenterden, with the manor appendant and all its rights and appurtenances, and the advowson of the vicarage, among other premises, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom the inheritance of the parsonage remains. After the death of Charles I. on the dissolution of deans and chapters, this parsonage was surveyed in order for sale; when it appears to have consisted of one great barn, newly erected, on a close of pasture of five acres; together with all the tithes of corn within the parish; and several rents, out of lands and tenements in Tenterden, amounting to 26s. 8d. taken in right of the parsonage, which had been let in 1640 to Sir Edward Hales, at the yearly rent of 20l. 6s. 8d. but that they were worth over and above that rent seventy-eight pounds. That the lessee was bound to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church, and provide for the dean and officers, or pay the sum of 33s. 4d. The present lessee of it is Sir Edward Hales, bart. of St. Stephens, but the advowson of the vicarage the dean and chapter retain in their own hands.

 

In 1259 this vicarage was valued at thirty marcs, and in 1342 at forty-five marcs. It is valued in the king's books at 33l. 12s. 11d.and the yearly tenths at 3l. 7s. 3½d. In 1588 there were communicants five hundred and eighty-six. In 1640 it was valued at 120l. per annum. Communicants six hundred. It is now double that value.

 

There is a modus claimed throughout the parish, in the room of small tithes.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol7/pp200-219

Birmingham New Street has a reputation for its gloomy platforms, however, Network Rail are clearly making an effort to brighten the station up. The afternoon sun is just coming off Platform 8's Tulips as West Midlands Railway's Class 323 No.323203 arrives with 2P41, 15:03 Bromsgrove - Lichfield Trent Valley.

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GP500 motorcycle windshields

Kawasaki Motorcycle History

Kawasaki emerged out of the ashes of the second World War to become one of the big players from Japan. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, Kawasaki built a reputation for some of the most powerful engines on two wheels, spawning legendary sportbikes like the Ninja series and a line of championship-winning off-road bikes. .1896

The company is founded by Shozo Kawasaki. His firm will come to be known as Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Over time, the company’s principal areas of activity will be shipbuilding, railroad rolling stock, and electrical generating plants. Motorcycles will become a small part of this diversified industrial conglomerate. 1960

Kawasaki signs agreement to take over Meguro motorcycles, a major player in the nascent Japanese motorcycle manufacturing business. Meguro is one of the only Japanese companies making a 500cc bike. In England and the UK, Meguro’s 500 – which bears a strong resemblance to the BSA A7 – is derided as a cheap copy. But in fact, it is a pretty high-quality bike. 1961

Kawasaki produces its first complete motorcycle – the B8 125cc two-stroke. 1962

A series of the two-stroke models from 50-250cc is released. The 250cc disc-valve ‘Samurai’ attracts notice in the U.S. 1966

The 650W1 is released and is the biggest bike made in Japan at the time. It’s inspired by the BSA A10. Over the next few years it will get twin carbs, and high pipes for a ‘scrambler’ version. 1969

Dave Simmonds gives Kawasaki its first World Championship, in the 125cc class

The striking Kawasaki H1 (aka Mach III) a 500cc three-cylinder two-stroke is released. Although its handling leaves something to be desired, the motor is very powerful for the day. It’s one of the quickest production bikes in the quarter-mile. The Mach III establishes Kawasaki’s reputation in the U.S. (In particular, it establishes a reputation for powerful and somewhat antisocial motorcycles!) A wonderful H1R production racer is also released – a 500cc racing bike.

Over the next few years, larger and smaller versions of the H1, including the S1 (250cc) S2 (350cc) and H2 (750cc) will be released. They’re successful in the marketplace, and the H2R 750cc production racer is also successful on the race track, but Kawasaki knows that the days of the two-stroke streetbike are coming to an end.

The company plans to release a four-stroke, but is shocked by the arrival of the Honda 750-Four. Kawasaki goes back to the drawing board.

1973

The first new four-stroke since the W1 is released. It’s worth the wait. The 900cc Z1 goes one up on the Honda 750 with more power and double overhead cams. Over the next few years, its capacity will increase slightly and it will be rebadged the Z-1000. 1978

Kork Ballington wins the 250cc and 350cc World Championships with fore-and-aft parallel-Twin racers (Rotax also built racing motors in this configuration. Ballington will repeat the feat in ’79. In 1980 he will finish second in the premier 500cc class. Anton Mang takes over racing duties in the 250 and 350 classes, and he will win four more titles over the next three years. This is the most successful period for Kawasaki in the World Championship.

Kawasaki’s big-bore KZ1300 is released. Honda and Benelli have already released six-cylinder bikes by this time, but Kawasaki’s specification includes water cooling and shaft drive. To underline the efficiency of the cooling system, its launch is held in Death Valley. Despite its substantial weight, journalists are impressed.

Over the next few years, the KZ1300 will get digital fuel injection and a full-dress touring version will be sold as the ‘Voyager.’ This model is marketed as “a car without doors”!

1981

Eddie Lawson wins the AMA Superbike championship for Kawasaki after an epic battle with Honda’s Freddie Spencer. He will repeat as champion the following year.

Kawasaki releases the GPz550. It’s air-cooled and has only two valves per cylinder, but its performance threatens the 750cc machines of rival manufacturers. This is the bike that launches the 600 class.

1983

The liquid-cooled four-valve GPz900R ‘Ninja’ is shown to the motorcycle press for the first time at Laguna Seca. They’re stunned. 1985

James “Bubba” Stewart, Jr. is born. Kawasaki supplies his family with Team Green diapers. 1989

The first ‘ZXR’-designated bikes reach the market. They are 750cc and 400cc race replicas. 1990

The ZX-11 is launched and features a 1052cc engine. It is the first production motorcycle with ram-air induction and the fastest production bike on the market. 1991

The ZXR750R begins a four year run as the top bike in the FIM Endurance World Championship. 1993

Scott Russell wins the World Superbike Championship, much to Carl Fogarty’s dismay. 2000

The ZX-12R is released – the new flagship of the ZX series. 2002

Bubba Stewart wins AMA 125 MX championship. 2003

Stewart is AMA 125 West SX champ. “What the heck is he doing on the jumps?” people wonder. It’s the “Bubba Scrub.”

In a daring move that acknowledges that only a small percentage of supersports motorcycles are ever actually raced, Kawasaki ups the capacity of the ZX-6R to 636cc. Ordinary riders welcome a noticeable increase in mid-range power, and the bike is the king of the ‘real world’ middleweights.

2004

Stewart wins the AMA 125 East SX title, and the 125cc outdoor championship. There are only one or two riders on 250s who lap any faster than he does on the little bikes.

Just when we thought motorcycles couldn’t get any crazier, the ZX-10R is released. OMG, the power!

2007

Although his transition to the big bikes hasn’t been as smooth as many expected it to be, Stewart wins the 2007 AMA SX championship. 2008

Kawasaki gives the Concours a much-needed revamp in the Concours 14. Sharing the 1352cc engine from the ZX-14, it’s touted as the ultimate sport touring motorcycle.

While they’re at it, Kawasaki also decides to give the Ninja 250 and KLR 650 major updates, after years of inactivity.

FBI Stolen motorcycles

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Motorcycles VIN Decoder

gp500.org/VIN_Decoder.html

 

"Date: 1881. Artist: Sculpture by Léon Chédeville (died 1883). Medium: Silver, partly enameled gold, hardstones, rock crystal, amethysts, and diamonds.

 

This clock was made for the great English collector Alfred Morrison; the designer, Lucien Falize, later proudly displayed it in the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle. The historical revival case has the form of a late Gothic tower, decorated elaborately with sculptural and architectural motifs. Its craftsmanship confirmed Falize’s reputation as an enameler and a jeweler. The clock’s movement is by Le Roy et Fils, a Paris firm with a London branch that held a Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria." - info from the Met.

 

"The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 Fifth Avenue, along the Museum Mile on the eastern edge of Central Park on Manhattan's Upper East Side, is by area one of the world's largest art museums. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from medieval Europe.

 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 with its mission to bring art and art education to the American people. The museum's permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings, and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes, and accessories, as well as antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from 1st-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries.

 

The Fifth Avenue building opened on March 30, 1880. In 2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the museum attracted 1,958,000 visitors, ranking fourth on the list of most-visited art museums in the world.

 

New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km2), New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. The city is within the southern tip of New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area – the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within 250 mi (400 km) of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, dining, art, fashion, and sports. New York is the most photographed city in the world. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy, an established safe haven for global investors, and is sometimes described as the capital of the world." - info from Wikipedia.

 

The fall of 2022 I did my 3rd major cycling tour. I began my adventure in Montreal, Canada and finished in Savannah, GA. This tour took me through the oldest parts of Quebec and the 13 original US states. During this adventure I cycled 7,126 km over the course of 2.5 months and took more than 68,000 photos. As with my previous tours, a major focus was to photograph historic architecture.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon or donate.

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard published by J. Beagles & Co. of London E.C. The photography was by Ellis & Walery of Conduit Street and later Regent Street, London, and the card was printed in England.

 

J. Beagles & Co.

 

The firm of J. Beagles & Co. was started by John Beagles (1844-1909). The company produced a variety of postcards including an extensive catalogue of celebrity (stage and screen) portrait postcards. After Beagle’s death, the business continued under its original name until it closed in 1939.

 

Miss Julia Neilson

 

Julia Emilie Neilson (12th. June 1868 - 27th. May 1957) was an English actress best known for her numerous performances as Lady Blakeney in 'The Scarlet Pimpernel', for her roles in many tragedies and historical romances, and for her portrayal of Rosalind in a long-running production of 'As You Like It'.

 

After establishing her reputation in a series of plays by W. S. Gilbert in 1888, Neilson joined the company of Herbert Beerbohm Tree, where she remained for five years, meeting her future husband, Fred Terry (brother to actresses Kate, Ellen, Marion and Florence Terry, and great uncle of John Gielgud).

 

With Terry, she played in London and on tour for nearly three decades. She was the mother of the actress Phyllis Neilson-Terry and actor Dennis Neilson-Terry.

 

Miss Julia Neilson - The Early Years

 

Neilson was born in London, the only child of Alexander Ritchie Neilson, a jeweller, and his wife, Emilie Davis, a member of a family of five Jewish sisters, many of whose offspring became actresses.

 

Neilson's parents divorced shortly after her birth, and her father soon died, leaving her mother to struggle to support her child. Her mother much later married a solicitor, William Morris, the widower of the actress Florence Terry, elder sister of the actor Fred Terry, who had, by that time, married Neilson.

 

Neilson was an indifferent student. At the age of twelve, she was sent to a boarding school in Wiesbaden, Germany, where she learned to speak French and German and began to study music, discovering that she excelled at this.

 

She returned to England to enter the Royal Academy of Music in 1884, at the age of fifteen, to study piano. She soon discovered that she had a talent as a singer, winning the Llewellyn Thomas Gold Medal (1885), the Westmoreland Scholarship (1886) and the Sainton Dolby Prize (1886). While at the Academy, in 1887, she sang at the St James's Hall and also played roles in amateur theatre.

 

Neilson met the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, who cast her in her first professional stage appearance in March 1888. She played Cynisca in a charity matinée of his play, 'Pygmalion and Galatea', at the Lyceum Theatre, and later that year, in the same play, she was the lead character, Galatea, in a similar matinée at the Savoy Theatre.

 

Gilbert suggested that the statuesque young woman concentrate her career on acting rather than singing, and he coached her on acting. Her next role was Lady Hilda in a revival of Gilbert's 'Broken Hearts'. Gilbert wrote the lyrics to a short song for her to sing during Act I, and she proposed that a fellow student of hers at the Royal Academy, Edward German, should set it to music.

 

She then played Selene in a revival of Gilbert's 'The Wicked World'. In November 1888, she created the role of Ruth Redmayne in Rutland Barrington's production of Gilbert's 'Brantinghame Hall'.

 

These roles led to an invitation for Neilson to join Herbert Beerbohm Tree's company, in which she toured in 'Captain Swift', 'The Red Lamp' and 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'. She remained with Tree's company for five years at the Haymarket Theatre as a tragedienne, beginning with the role of Julie de Noirville in 'A Man's Shadow', which opened in September 1889.

 

In 1891, Neilson married another actor in the company, Fred Terry, the brother of Gilbert's former protégée, Marion Terry (and the actresses Kate, Ellen and Florence Terry).

 

Neilson and her husband appeared together in Sydney Grundy's translation of the French play 'A Village Priest' and numerous other productions together with Tree's company, including 'Beau Austin', 'Hamlet', 'Peril' and Gilbert's 'Comedy and Tragedy' (1890).

 

She also played Drusilla Ives in 'The Dancing Girl' (1891) by Henry Arthur Jones.

 

Terry and Neilson's daughter Phyllis was born in 1892. Neilson was soon back on stage as Lady Isobel in Jones's 'The Tempter' (1893), and created the role of Hester Worsley in Oscar Wilde's 'A Woman of No Importance' (1893). A review of Neilson's performance in the play 'Ballad Monger' in 1890 declared:

 

"Miss Neilson's really wonderful singing

took the curtain up on the very keynote

of the beautiful and pathetic play.

And to her singing no higher tribute can

be paid.

One of these days, we do not doubt, it will

be possible to write in the same strain about

her acting. In that there is splendid promise.

And the promise will come the more near to

performance when she is a trifle less conscious

of her remarkable physical beauty, and of the

fact that she has been to some extent rushed

into her present position."

 

In June 1894, Neilson and Terry appeared together in 'Shall We Forgive Her?' by Frank Harvey at the Adelphi Theatre, with Neilson as Grace. The next year, she played Lady Chiltern in Wilde's comedy 'An Ideal Husband' at the Haymarket under the management of Lewis Waller.

 

Miss Julia Neilson - The Later Years

 

Julia gave birth to her second child, Dennis, in October 1895. Two months later, the family travelled to America to perform with John Hare's company. There they played together in New York in 'The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith' by Arthur Wing Pinero, with Neilson as Agnes.

 

In 1896, they returned to England where, at the St James's Theatre, Neilson played Princess Flavia in 'The Prisoner of Zenda' by Anthony Hope, remaining at that theatre for two years. There she played Rosalind in the extremely successful run of 'As You Like It' (in which role she toured North America in 1895 and 1910).

 

She played the title role in Pinero's 'The Princess and the Butterfly' in 1897. Her husband appeared with her in 'The Tree of Knowledge' and other plays from October 1897 until the summer of 1898; her roles included Beatrice in 'Much Ado About Nothing'.

 

Next, they appeared in 'The Gypsy Earl'. Again with Tree's company, now at Her Majesty's Theatre, Neilson was Constance in 'King John' (1899) (and appeared in an early short silent movie recreating King John's death scene at the end of the play) and Oberon in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (1900).

 

The couple entered into management together in 1900, producing and starring in 'Sweet Nell of Old Drury' by Paul Kester.

 

They would continue to produce plays together for the next 30 years, most notably, 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' (1905 at the New Theatre), in which they also starred. Despite scathing reviews from the critics, the play was a record-breaking hit, and played for more than 2,000 performances, then enjoying numerous revivals.

 

Neilson's roles also included the title role in Kester's adaptation of 'Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall' (1907). Neilson's and Terry's productions continued to favour historical romances or comedy melodramas, including 'Henry of Navarre' by William Devereux (1909 at the New Theatre). Henry and Sweet Nell became their signature pieces during many tours of the British provinces and during their US tour in 1910.

 

They also produced and starred with much success in 'For Sword or Song' by Robert Legge and Louis Calvert (1903), 'Dorothy o' the Hall' by Paul Kester and Charles Major (1906), 'The Popinjay' by Boyle Lawrence and Frederick Mouillot (1911), 'Mistress Wilful' by Ernest Hendrie (1915), 'The Borderer' (1921), 'The Marlboroughs' (1924), and 'The Wooing of Katherine Parr' by William Devereux (1926).

 

Neilson and Terry also starred in 'A Wreath of a Hundred Roses' (1922), which was a masque by Louis N. Parker at the Duke's Hall to celebrate the Royal Academy's centenary. In 1926, Neilson starred alongside Lawrence Grossmith in a revival of 'Henry of Navarre', which toured the provinces. She later starred in 'This Thing Called Love' in 1929.

 

Julia's son Dennis died of pneumonia in 1932, and her husband, Fred Terry, died in 1933. Neilson retired from the stage after a run as Josephine Popinot in the revival of the farce 'Vintage Wine' by Seymour Hicks and Ashley Dukes at Daly's Theatre.

 

In 1938, she was given a testimonial luncheon to mark her fiftieth anniversary as a performer. Neilson made a brief return to the stage in 1944 to play Lady Rutven in 'The Widow of 40' by Heron Carvic. She wrote a memoir entitled, 'This For Remembrance', which gives an account of her life in the theatre business.

 

The Death of Julia Neilson

 

Julia died in hospital in Hampstead, London, after a fall at her home, in 1957 at the age of 88. She was cremated at Golders Green, and she and her husband are both buried at Hampstead Cemetery in London.

 

Reputation Stadium Tour - Soldier Field 6/2/18

The 'Reputation Complex' is a moving combination of various factors, components and drivers that are linked in a close and complicated way. This combination brings with it, for all organizations, equal risks and opportunities – the first to be managed and the second to be exploited in the right manner.

MSLGROUP's Chief Strategy Officer Pascal Beucler shares his thoughts on the fast transformation of reputation management and what it means for our clients and for us.