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John Constable is best known for his landscape paintings around Dedham Vale, Suffolk. Less well known are a series of paintings from October and November 1816 when he and his bride took a 6 week honeymoon in Osmington, Dorset. Several of those paintings will feature here in the coming weeks, with comparison photos taken 200 years later.
First up is Constable's painting of Weymouth Bay, looking from the shore of Osmington Mills some 15-20 minutes walk from where he was staying. Note that the view today is essentially the same although the small fishing boats no longer use the tiny harbour.
As always with fossils, I stress that we are very much amateurs on the subject and welcome alternative identification suggestions .
Found by Kim on Charmouth beach, we had no clue as to what this was. So, as you do, we asked a man who clearly knew a lot more than we did. We can only take his word but straight away he said it is in chert rock so therefore from the Cretaceous period, approximately 145 to 66 million years ago and was a sponge.
Even on large size it is hard to see numerous tiny pits. However, they can be clearly seen through a hand lens. The diameter of the central ring is c10mm / around half and inch. The coin is a British 5p piece.
We think the central 'depression' might be where the water used to flow out through what is known as the osculum.
The regulars will know that I'm not much of a pub person partly because I don't drink and drive but also because a night out at a pub now costs rather a lot. Even a couple of pints or two glasses of can cost up to Β£10, an insane price that has spelt the end for many pubs across Britain.
However, Saturday Timewatch seems a suitable place to record the closure of Portland Bill's Pulpit Inn, a place we have been to a couple of times for b-side's annual music and history events. Like so many pubs it has clearly struggled in recent years and from chatting to several locals, didn't have the best reputation for either food or drink. They also claimed it was much more loved in past decades.
Originally The Devenish Arms, supplied by Weymouth's Devenish Brewery, the mid 1950's building is now likely to be demolished and rebuilt to become holiday homes with some sort of bar and restaurant on the ground floor. I would imagine that with sea views all around, the cost of staying there will be very high.
NOTE : During a short break away from Dorset, internet access is likely to be sporadic for the next few days.
This week's Saturday Timewatch features a $1 coin found a few weeks ago in the washetaria / laundrette. Apparently they are not uncommon but I am pretty damn sure I've never seen one before.
This one is known as a Susan B. Anthony one dollar coin, minted from 1979-81 and again in 1999. You can read the Wiki here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_B._Anthony_dollar
As can seen from the photo below it dates from 1979. This coin has had quite a lot of use so the mint stamp is hard to read but is probably a 'P' for Philadelphia.
The unexpected is what American road trips are all about. This required a u-turn.
At a height of 19 1/2 feet and weighing 500 lbs, Howard Huge was made sometime in the 1960s by International Fibreglass of Lawndale, CA. Although Roadside Giants were a common sight along US highways 50 years ago, all the original molds were destroyed so only approximately 185 remain.
Howard was stored in Maine for over 30 years. The Fat Ass Ranch and Brewery, near Fredericksburg, won a nationwide auction in 2017 and Howard arrived on site in December 2018.
Long wave, medium wave or short wave?
No, nothing to do with radio stations but a malt extract used in the 20th century en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Malt Personally I don't remember this at all though I would just about be in an age group for which it was sold. As it is still available, I certainly know of Soreen, a type of malt bread loaf.
The photo was taken in the chemist 'shop' that is installed in Bradford-on-Avon Museum, using artefacts from the actual local chemists when it closed.
New title courtesy of Mark!!
Another totally unexpected 'discovery'. Born in Dinant, Belgium, where this photo was taken, Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone which he patented in 1846. Bought for Β£5 in a junk shop some 50 years ago, a saxophone is the only instrument I have ever owned. Frankly, cats howling made a more tuneful sound than I could manage and my enthusiasm quickly faded.
However, this is a perfect opportunity to add a 1954 tune to the jukebox by my favourite sax player of all time.
BITHBOX # 102
Coleman Hawkins "Time on my Hands"
The sound of NYC, after dark, plumes of steam rising from the city streets in a black and white film..........
This week's Saturday Timewatch goes back approximately 75 years to the short-lived steam era on Norway's Flam Railway. The line only opened in 1940 but by 1944 electric traction was already being introduced. So this is probably one of the few steam photographs taken in that era.
My photo is that of an old photo shown on the tv screen of the modern day service. The tv programme features interpretative material about the railway.
Given the circumstances, the photographic quality of this post cannot be good. However, what is particularly fascinating is that purely by chance, the location is almost identical to my previously posted photo taken just a few weeks ago....see below!
With emphasis on the huge size of the building, Mrs Kim gives scale to the Tithe Barn in Bradford-on-Avon. Dating from around 1340, it stored the 'tithes' i.e. agricultural grain etc which was a tax in kind to the landlord which in this case was originally the church. I believe that, remarkably, the roof trusses are the originals.
A rare find! I can find little information about this old school garage. However, it is still clearly open for business doing vehicle repairs. I don't know if that pump is still in use, possibly selling red (agricultural) diesel?
This week's Saturday Timewatch goes back to WW2. There are still quite a few buildings from that era that stand in and around Ringstead. Two, including this one, have recently been converted into very unusual holiday homes. In this instance, The Bunker was part of RAF Ringstead, a component of the Chain Home radar. That was a coastal early warning system that stretched from Cornwall in the west to Norfolk in the east.
You can see photographs of the modern inside here, courtesy of Sykes Cottages
www.sykescottages.co.uk/cottage/DorsetSomerset-Spring-Bot...
This week's Saturday Timewatch features the first of what will be several posts concerning the history of Castletown, Portland, Dorset. The small town is immediately adjacent to Portland Harbour. Remarkably still intact, this is the Public Bar window of The Jolly Sailor. According to the Encyclopaedia of Portland History, the original pub was established on this site in 1775 with the existing, now derelict building dating to the mid to late 19th century. It closed earlier this century and has remained unwanted and uinloved ever since.
A nice find today was this chunk of ammonite. The Charmouth ammonites are usually dated to around 190 - 200 million years old.
This week's Saturday Timewatch history slot is filled with a short-lived aviation oddity that I had never heard of until visiting the 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby Airport, Houston.
At first I thought that maybe Braniff had Concorde on order but at some stage had pulled out of the deal. No! Braniff did actually fly Concorde, as can be seen from the timetable shown below. However the story is a strange one and I have to admit does change a bit depending which source you read. However the bare bones are consistent. British Airways and Air France crews flew across the Atlantic to Washington Dulles DC. From there Braniff crews took over for subsonic flights to and from Dallas Fort Worth, TX.....no supersonic flights were allowed over North American land.
Details are less certain but the following seem likely to have been true.
I read somewhere, but can't find it again now, that lawyers literally transferred ownership to Braniff for each flight and then back again. What seems more likely is that a legal lease existed and quite definitely all-American documentation was placed in the cockpit for the DFW flights whilst the European papers got stored on board (the forward loo is mentioned!) and vice versa.
40 years ago, in order to operate a domestic US segment, planes had to be temporarily registered in the US. Photographs confirm that upon landing from Europe the aircraft's G or F was covered over with tape, and an βNβ followed by either β-81β or ββ94β replaced the first two letters of the European registration. The last two registration letters were left in place. As a result, G-BOAC would become N-81AC, while F-BVFD would become N-94FD. A total of nine Concordes eventually wound up in the interchange program running for Braniff. However, none were repainted in Braniff colours as illustrated in the model above.
Initially fares for the Braniff leg were $15 higher than their usual first-class fares on their B727. However, sales were poor and they dropped to parity. Sales remained sparse and the service only lasted just over one year, January 1979 - May 1980.
Today's "Saturday Timewatch" returns to Castletown, Portland, Dorset. The terraced dockyard street still has several boozers. However in the late 19th and early 20th century there were 7 pubs plus hotels, almost next door to each other. Rowdy behaviour, drunkeness and fighting, mostly from sailors on shore leave, gained such a reputation that the locals coined the name Drunkard's Row, still commemorated by a modern sign.
Below is a old photo (date unknown) taken off an interpretation board in the area.
This week's Saturday Timewatch travels just a few miles up the road from Hell Lane, Dorset. This is where we found another classic phonebox put to new use but now in further need of attention (see below). It is interesting how these iconic boxes from the last century have found new lives.
This historic photo shows a 1942 photo taken by Dorothea Lange on the corner of 8th and Franklin, Oakland, CA. It was part of an exhibition about the Minidoka War Relocation Center, Idaho, one of 10 similar internment camps. (Note : Although her photo exhibit was in Idaho, I have geotagged it as Oakland)
After Pearl Harbor, all Japanese Americans were interned, almost 10,000 being sent to Minidoka. This was not a "concentration camp" such as those in Germany. However, it certainly destroyed existing lives. It is not clear whether the Masuda family, who before internment owned the Wanto Company store, were sent to Minidoka or another camp. However, what is clear is that many did not return to their previous lives after the war ended and that many lost everything as a result.
Dating from over 150 million years ago, these fossil seashells, mostly bivalves, are fairly easy to find on one part of Ringstead beach. They are all firmly embedded in a mostly horizontal rock pavement that can be seen as the tide goes out.
City of Wells (34092) departs Swanage Station during this long weekend's Strictly Bullied 11 event. In all the heritage line has managed to get eight Bulleid Pacifics together in steam for the first time since 1967. City of Wells, built in 1949 is one of them.
Saturday Timewatch features an old photo of the railway station and Front St, Palestine, Texas. I don't know the exact date of this and am tempted to say around the turn of the 19th to 20th century. However, on the far side of the street, directly above the nearest point of the rail carriages, are those two cars parked up?? If so, the date moves forward to around a century ago.
I might have this completely wrong. However, I reckon this old, disused shed might have started life elsewhere during World War 2 as an air raid shelter. Apart from a nearby airstrip, Portland Harbour and Dockyard are only about one hour away by road. There must surely have been many such shelters in the surrounding urban areas of Portland and Weymouth.
To narrow this down I think it may have been an Anderson Shelter, with a modified entrance door when it became an agricultural or forestry store shed.
Any thoughts on the subject are welcome!
Regular viewers might remember that on the Isle of Portland, "ope" refers to an opening down to the sea. One of the lesser known examples is Longstone Ope. Long since abandoned, the site of the old Longstone Quarry still has a derrick that used to load stone blocks down onto a waiting vessel for onward transport.
A derrick can be seen at a distance in the old photo below.
The blocks of stone will be originals that were never shipped. However, I am not sure whether my more recent photo below (2015) shows the same derrick that has somehow survived or a more modern replica.
(Note : I have added the photos to the flickr map but for some reason they are not currently showing)
Regulars will know that I'm more of a wine than beer drinker. However, this one not only tickled my taste buds but also curiosity as to the origin of the name and label. I quote from the Brewery Roman website :
"The noose-wearers :
Gentse Strop owes its name to the proud people of Ghent who are nicknamed βstroppendragersβ or noose-wearers. In 1540, the people of Ghent refused to pay an additional war tax, with the result that Emperor Charles V had the ringleaders parade through Ghent with a noose around their necks, as a sign that they deserved to go to the gallows. Still today, the noose continues to symbolise proud resistance against any form of tyranny and misplaced authority."
Tarr Steps crosses the River Barle in Exmoor. It is constructed of large flat slabs of stone which are supported on stone piers. The date of this bridge is unknown. Some people claim Tarr Steps goes back to the Bronze Age though the official listing suggests a Medieval origin.
Look what has found the light of day from the vaults! It is my first ever passport dating from July 1967.
Rather than a full passport lasting 10 years, this was known as a British Visitors Passport, was printed on lightweight card and was valid for just one year. Inside it gives my full name, date of birth, place of birth, height, colour of eyes, distinguishing marks and home address. There is my photo and my signature.
For foreign exchange purposes, it shows the National Provincial Bank issued me with Β£45. If I remember correctly, that was Β£5 less than the maximum Β£50 set by the government for an individual travelling abroad.
There is just a single stamp in the passport, dated 5th August 1967, at the port of Ostend, Belgium.
(Note : Even though it is more than 50 years later, for security reasons I have blanked out certain details, just to be on the safe side)
One of the old advertising signs displayed at Swanage Railway Station. I certainly remember the massive Fort Dunlop factory adjacent to the M6 in Birmingham!
Kitty and Rebecca, aka Two Crooked Ladies, made these traditional rural Corn Dollies for an exhibition in the window of Sherborne Museum. A very ancient craft, the dolly symbolically carried the Corn Spirit through winter after which it was committed back to the earth at the first ploughing of spring.
United's A320 N475UA "Friend Ship" retro livery dates from the airline's 85th anniversary in 2011. A contender for Rob's netflicks album, Kim managed a phone photo arriving at Houston George Bush Intercontinental. My Lumix simply wouldn't catch focus through some sort of terminal security glass.
Meanwhile, back at London Heathrow, I've now seen British Airways A319 G-EUPJ on several occasions and still only have a photo of the front end of the aircraft that features as a BEA (British European Airways) retro livery. The photo was taken whilst taxiing out from Terminal 2. It was a choice between a nose-on shot or this angle with the aircraft partly obscured by another BA plane on hold whilst waiting ATC permission to proceed.
(Thanks again to Kim for the diptych. I've geotagged as LHR)
Following on from yesterday's puzzle flic.kr/p/2pSUazX this set shows the LLCR in operation. Opening in 1890, it is the highest and the steepest totally water powered railway in the world. The top station is 500' above the lower sea level station.
In this photo, the two cars have just set off from their respective stations.
This is the company's website that has lots of information and also a video www.cliffrailwaylynton.co.uk/
The history is here www.cliffrailwaylynton.co.uk/about-the-railway/history/
This week's Saturday Timewatch goes back to the age of the dinosaurs and shows the tracks of at least one plant-eatring Sauropod exposed by operations at Keates Quarry, Purbeck in 1997. There are around 100 prints, dating back c145 million years. The closest modern analogy is that of a herd of elephants gathering to drink at a water hole.
This week's Saturday Flashback features Warrington Transporter Bridge (aka Bank Quay or Crosfield Transporter Bridge). This is what WikiWhoKnowsAlmostEverything has to say :
"The Warrington Transporter Bridge across the River Mersey is a structural steel transporter bridge with a span of 200 feet. It is 30 feet wide and 76 feet above high water level, with an overall length of 339 feet. It was built in 1915 and although it has been out of use since about 1964, it is still standing. It was designed by William Henry Hunter and built by William Arrol.
It was originally one of two such bridges across the Mersey at Warrington, the other having been erected in 1905 slightly to the north of the existing bridge, and described in The Engineer in 1908. A third transporter bridge over the Mersey was the Widnes-Runcorn Transporter Bridge built in 1905 and dismantled in 1961.
The bridge is privately owned and was built to connect the two parts of the large chemical and soap works of Joseph Crosfield and Sons. It was originally used to carry rail vehicles up to 18 tons in weight, and was converted for road vehicles in 1940. In 1953 it was modified to carry loads of up to 30 tons.
The bridge is designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building and because of its poor condition it is on their Buildings at Risk Register. The bridge is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument"
Thanks to tarboat www.flickr.com/photos/93173492@N00/8490008464/in/photostream for another good day out. Amazingly, as I only live 10 miles away, I had never heard of let alone visited this remarkable structure. Perhaps that is due to the access being on a legal public right of way that actually runs straight through an active chemical works, where access in practice is heavily discouraged. "Your presence on site is being monitored by security" said a loudspeaker voice as we passed through a gate. No, we didn't get arrested!
Built at Doncaster in1888. Saw both GNR and LNER passenger service.
BR departmental No βDE940281Eβ.
Withdrawn 1966 and preserved by the Vintage Carriage Trust.
Seen in the workshop area of the VCT operated Museum of Rail Travel.
Ingrow Station, Keighley & Worth Valley Railway
06-08-2015
The following details are from the VCT website:-
This coach was built in Doncaster by the Great Northern Railway. Its interior would have been quite comfortable, compared with other Third Class carriages of the same period. The four compartments had buttoned, upholstered seats (not yet restored), lit by gas, and the Guard's compartment had "ducketts" by which means he could view down the length of the train.
The London & North Eastern Railway, which absorbed both the GNR and the NER in 1923, kept old carriages like this in service for most of their existence, with this vehicle becoming a Civil Engineer's Department Stores Van at some time before 1942. Having suffered damage to one of the Guard's doors, it was sent to York in 1966 for repair, but was then condemned. Members of the Vintage Carriages Trust then purchased the coach and it was delivered to Keighley on 25 May 1966, having travelled from York to Bradford as part of a parcels train on the previous day.
The Trust has brought it back to its original external condition as far as research presently allows, but what is immediately striking is the varnished teak exterior panelling, for which products of the Doncaster Works were famous. Further detailed investigation has revealed the original running number, 589. This appears on the back of a number of components - including on the back of the door ventilator cover
The acquisition of GNR 2856 has provided accurate information regarding the colour of the Guard's Brake compartment roof lining and the size and spacing of the timber slats on the floor of the brake compartment. These have now been modified accordingly. Full restoration (including of the interior) is planned for this carriage, with research and costing now in hand.
Filming credits for this carriage:
Testament of Youth (2014 version); North and South; He Knew He Was Right; Sons and Lovers; The Way We Live Now; Possession; Timewatch; The Woman In White; Jude; The Secret Agent (1995 cinema version); Tomorrow's World; The Feast of July; The Secret Agent (1992 BBCTV version); I've Been here Before; Trains from the Arc; The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Final Problem ; A Testament of Youth; Raffles: The First Step; Country Matters - The Black Dog ; The Railway Children (1970 EMI version); The Railway Children (1968 BBCTV version).
...with a remarkable zero comments...
jukebox # 522
With the long-term decline in traditional AM radio stations continuing, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find radio towers. They are disappearing just like gas holders in the UK! This tower in Bellville was originally used by KACO, a country station. Numerous owners and station idents came and went culminating in KULF. That finally closed down in 2022. The tower is now used by an amateur radio club.
Joe Ely's track is one of my favourites, so evocative of place and time. So permit me a memory.
It was back in the 1960s when most European stations closed down at midnight. At that time it was quite possible to pick up American AM stations that 'skipped' the Atlantic at night. One that regularly drifted in was clear-channel 50,000 watt WOWO out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. On my first ever US visit using the Greyhound to travel around, imagine my delight when the bus unexpectedly rolled past WOWO's massive tower situated on a hill outside of town!
This week's Saturday Timewatch goes back to 1879 and a list of items coming into or out of the small harbour at Lyme Regis. You'll have to look on large size to see the fascinating detail and how much was charged on each item. The sign hangs on one of the Cobb buildings.
Crowdfunded by the people of Sturminster Newton, Geoffrey the Bull (named by Oliver Currie aged 7) commemorates the town's livestock market that closed on 30th June 1997 ending a 700 year old existence in this small rural market town.
The first airplane built and flown in Texas, 1912. This is the original that has been preserved and restored, now displayed at Midland Airport, Texas.
www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/pliska-john-valentine
Tonight's red-eye flight back to Britain will be on something a little larger, a United Boeing 777.
I'll be absent from flickr for a couple of days. Cheers!
John Constable is best known for his landscape paintings around Dedham Vale, Suffolk. Less well known are a series of paintings from October and November 1816 when he and his bride took a 6 week honeymoon in Osmington, Dorset. Several of those paintings are featuring here during November, with comparison photos taken 200 years later.
This was rather more difficult than last week's Constable painting to compare with the modern day. The agriculture has changed in the foreground. Likewise, a large Pontin's holiday camp was built after World War 2 and is now the private land of PGL, a children's activity holiday centre that is just visible in the post below to the right of the photo. The comparison isn't helped by totally different cloudscapes.
Nevertheless, John Constable clearly did his painting somewhere quite close to the spot where I took the recent photo shown below of Weymouth Bay and the Isle of Portland.
You may remember that last year three posts were uploaded comparing Constable paintings then and now? John Constable is best known for his landscape paintings around Dedham Vale, Suffolk. Less well known are the series of paintings from October and November 1816 when he and his bride took a 6 week honeymoon in Osmington, Dorset.
This is the last in the series. Although recognisable in the photo below, the village of Osmington has expanded sufficiently to make a modern comparison difficult. However by waiting until a sunny winter morning, the lack of foliage on the trees at least made a 'then and now' comparison possible....which it wasn't in the summer!
Here is one of the earlier posts www.flickr.com/photos/99303089@N00/30310655723/in/datepos...
Regular readers will know that I'm not a great fan of the diesel railbus, having commuted on them for far too many years. However, I'll readily admit that it was interesting to come across this German Class 798 unit now operating on the Dutch heritage line ZLSM, close to the German border. Apparently they were affectionately known in Germany as "Nebenbahnretter" which translates as "branch line saviours". Built more than half a century ago they were relatively cheap to manufacture and operate, hence rail lines were retained that might not otherwise have been profitable. They lasted in German scheduled service well into the 1990's.
I'm not entirely sure but think this is 798-09. If not, it is 798-04. In this photo it is leaving Simpleveld Junction towards Vetschau.
Sutton Mill, Sutton Poyntz.
As mentioned in previous posts, so long as a water source existed, almost every village in Dorset (and elsewhere) used to have a water mill for grinding grain. Sutton Poyntz was no exception having three along the grandly named River Jordan that is little more than a stream. What is now the village duck pond originated as the 'reservoir' for the mill to provide a sufficient and regular flow of water.
Originally built around 1820, it is now a Grade 11 Listed Building that was converted to residential use in the 1980s after being derelict for some years.
Foxfield Station is located on the Cumbrian Coast Line. Although the station dates from 1848, the still operational Foxfield signal box was opened somewhat later in 1879. It controls old school semaphore signals, one of which can just be seen between the signal box and the old water tower.
Oh dear. Whilst Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak mentioned this line for an upgrade and used the dreaded phrase "Energy Coast Line".
(Sketch artist unknown)
The date is January 12 / 13 1899. Maritime distress signals were sighted having been fired from the schooner Forrest Hall, disabled and dragging her anchor in near-hurricane conditions that caused significant damage across southern England.
With nor'westerlies blowing the Watchet lifeboat had no chance of reaching the vessel. So the call went out to Lynmouth, further down the coast. However, with mountainous waves crashing onto shore, the lifeboat Louisa would be smashed to pieces before even leaving harbour. The decision was made to launch from Porlock, a mere dozen or so miles away but a distance made almost impossible by some of the steepest gradients in Britain. For example, anyone who knows the area, is likely to have driven Porlock Hill that rises to over 1000' with a maximum gradient of 1 in 4 (25%).
Horse were found. Hitched to the lifeboat, the expedition set off in pouring rain with only lantern lights to guide them. Even by the top of the first major hill out of Lynmouth, a wheel came off the carriage and had to be repaired. Progress became easier over the moors, at least in part due to an advance party demolishing gateposts and walls to provide clearance. Going down Porlock Hill, the Louisa had to be braked hard all the way down.
After ten hours hard labour, the lifeboat was launched from Porlock Weir. 24 hours after leaving Lynmouth, Forrest Hall and 15 crew were saved by the lifeboat helping with two tugs that had also reached the scene to tow the vessel to a safe anchorage near Barry, South Wales.
The phrase "We'll launch from Porlock" has gone down in lifeboat history. The RNLI remains a charity that is always so worthwhile to support.