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1835 Mill was built in 1836 by millwright James Hardy for Michael Hardy, who was a miller and baker
1844 Mill sold at auction for £650 (reserve £540) Rent £30 per annum. The mill was bought by William Fendick.
1844 – 1909 The mill was owned by the Fendick family.
A steam engine was installed as auxiliary power and mill
operated using both wind and steam power.
1909 The mill was sold to Charles Robert Gray and Arthur James
Milk for £450.00.
1914 – 1918 World War 1, it was used for grist milling, oats, barley
etc. for animal feed including acorns for pigs. Wheat was no
longer milled for flour.
1922 Gray died.
The sails were removed about this time by Percy Bensley (Jack) Fysh of Portland House and the steam engine was replaced by a paraffin engine.
1926 Milk died and the firm was carried on by William Robert Gray, Arthur Payne Milk and Henry Jonas Harding Garlick trading as Robert Gray Ltd.
1937 Mill ceased working.
1949 Mill derelict.
1972 Mill given a Grade II listing.
1977 December: remains of cap frame and windshaft removed.
1978 Mill bought by Breckland District Council from Greens
(Nurseries) Ltd. for £1.
1986 New cap and fantail fitted.
1987 Mill fitted with new sails.
14th September: Mill opened to the public by J. O. C. Birkbeck
2002 Mill taken over by Dereham Town Council.
2004 Tuesday 13th January: Mill lost part of a sail during a gale. 2006 Tuesday 8th August: Sails removed for renovation with
£600,000 Lottery Grant being applied for.
2010 February: Mill to be boarded up and left weatherproof as all
attempts at funding failed.
Oct 2011 – July 2013 Funding organised and windmill underwent further renovation, including replacement sails.
September 2013 Windmill re-opened to
Triumph Herald 1200 (1961-68) Engine 1147cc S4 OHV Production 201,142
Registration Number MRE 906 B (Staffordshire)
TRIUMPH SET
www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623847263736...
The Herald was designed by Giovanni Michelotti and engineered by chief engineer Harry Webster.and originally launched at the Royal Albert Hall in 1959. Powered by a 948cc S4 OHV engine of the earlier Standard Pennant.
The range was updated in 1961 following an influx of funds after Standard-Triumphs take over by British Leyland. The model was relaunched in 1961 as the Triumph Herald 1200, powered by an 1147cc S4 OHV engine The new model featured white rubber bumpers, a wooden laminate dashboard and improved seating. Quality control was also tightened up. Twin carburettors were no longer fitted to any of the range as standard although they remained an option, the standard being a single down-draught Solex carburettor. Claimed maximum power of the Herald 1200 was 39 bhp against the 34.5bhp of the older model. Disc brakes also became an option from 1962. Sales of the Saloon increased, The convertible was popular as a 4-seater with decent weatherproofing and the estate made a practical alternative to the Morris Minor Traveller. The coupé was dropped from the range in late 1964 as it was by then in direct competition with the Triumph Spitfire.
Diolch yn fawr am 65,512,986 o olygfeydd anhygoel, mwynhewch ac arhoswch yn ddiogel
Thank you 65,512,986 amazing views, enjoy and stay safe
Shot 06.05.2018 at Catton Hall Car Show, Catton Hall, Walton on Trent, Derbyshire Ref 133-592
Spent a few minutes out in the snow tonight. Such a heavy snow is quite rare in Tokyo. Probably just once or twice a year so I decided to spend a few minutes out in the stuff with my (hopefully weatherproof) camera. Nothing too dramatic photographically before I was nearly soaked but this scene was typical of the evening.
photo rights reserved by B℮n
Rovaniemi is the capital of the province of Lapland in northern Finland. It is best known as the official home of Santa Claus and is located just above the Arctic Circle. Rovaniemi is known worldwide as the home of Santa Claus. The Santa Claus Village is a popular attraction, where visitors have the chance to meet Santa Claus, visit his post office and experience the magic of Christmas all year round. Rovaniemi is located right on the Arctic Circle, meaning it is an excellent location to see the Northern Lights, especially during the winter months. The city also offers unique experiences, such as the opportunity to cross the Arctic Circle. The Arktikum is the science center and museum and provides insight into Arctic nature and culture. It features exhibitions on the history, geology, flora and fauna of the region. Located near Rovaniemi, Ranua Zoo is the northernmost zoo in the world. It is home to a variety of Arctic animals, including polar bears, lynx, reindeer and arctic foxes. Rovaniemi enjoys abundant snow cover during most of the winter. Snowfall usually starts in November and continues until April. This creates a fairytale winter environment. Periods of deep frost are common, with temperatures often dropping to -20°C or even lower. Cold waves with temperatures below -30°C are not uncommon. Rovaniemi offers extensive opportunities for outdoor activities, such as husky rides, reindeer sleigh rides, snowmobile tours and cross-country skiing, allowing visitors to explore the beautiful natural environment. It is important to be well prepared for the winter conditions in Rovaniemi by wearing appropriate clothing, such as thermal layers, insulated jackets, gloves and boots, to comfortably enjoy all the winter activities the region has to offer.
In Rovaniemi, Finland, temperatures can be extremely cold during the winter months, characteristic of the region's Arctic climate. January is often the coldest month, with average daily temperatures between -8 and -16 degrees Celsius. My son BieJee has already experienced temperatures of -38 degrees Celsius, so I was warned. The perceived temperatures are lower due to the presence of wind, which makes the cold climate even more intense. Upon arrival I experience a temperature of -21°C, and a fresh layer of snow has just fallen. In addition to my pants, I wear thermal underwear. My wind and water resistant jacket protects me from cold wind and snow, as well as several layers of comfortable thermal inner clothing. Several thin layers of clothing provide flexibility and warmth. I wear a hat and insulated gloves to prevent heat loss, and a scarf to protect my neck and face from the cold wind. My shoes are waterproof with a snow profile sole, and extra thermal socks keep my feet warm. Photography becomes more difficult in extreme temperatures; most cameras only work above 0°C. Camera batteries can have problems in cold weather. When it snows or it's cold, I keep my camera under my jacket. Although many Canon cameras are weatherproof, you also have to consider the human factor. Shooting in extreme environments is challenging for both you and your equipment, especially your hands that can get cold. Try to keep them as warm as possible. When entering a warmer room from the cold, condensation may form. It is better to keep your camera in one temperature zone to avoid this, although this is not always easy. Despite the challenges, snow, frost and ice make for spectacular winter scenes. Photo taken by my son BieJee of me immediately sinking deep off the beaten track in the snow.
Rovaniemi is de hoofdstad van de provincie Lapland in het noorden van Finland. De stad geniet van een overvloedige sneeuwbedekking gedurende het grootste deel van de winter. Sneeuwval begint meestal al in november en blijft tot april liggen. Hierdoor ontstaat een sprookjesachtige winterse omgeving. In Rovaniemi bezoek ik mijn zoon BieJee, die momenteel onderzoek verricht aan de Universiteit van Lapland, specifiek bij het Arktikum. Dit wetenschapscentrum en museum biedt inzicht in zowel de Arctische natuur als cultuur. Januari is vaak de koudste maand, met gemiddelde dagtemperaturen tussen -8 en -16 graden Celsius. Mijn zoon BieJee heeft al temperaturen van -38 graden Celsius meegemaakt, dus ik was gewaarschuwd. De gevoelstemperaturen zijn lager door de aanwezigheid van wind, wat het koude klimaat nog intenser maakt. Bij aankomst ervaar ik een temperatuur van -21°C, en er is net een vers pak sneeuw gevallen. Naast mijn broek draag ik thermische onderkleding. Mijn wind- en waterbestendige jas beschermt mij tegen koude wind en sneeuw, evenals verschillende lagen comfortabele thermische binnenkleding. Meerdere dunne lagen kleding zorgen voor flexibiliteit en warmte. Ik draag een muts en geïsoleerde handschoenen om warmteverlies te voorkomen, en een sjaal om mijn nek en gezicht te beschermen tegen de koude wind. Mijn schoenen zijn waterdicht met een sneeuwprofielzool, en extra thermosokken houden mijn voeten warm. Fotograferen wordt moeilijker bij extreme temperaturen; de meeste camera's werken alleen boven 0 °C. Camera batterijen kunnen problemen krijgen bij koud weer. Bij sneeuwval of kou houd ik mijn camera onder mijn jas. Hoewel veel Canon-camera's weerbestendig zijn, moet je ook rekening houden met de menselijke factor. Fotograferen in extreme omgevingen is zowel voor jou als voor je uitrusting uitdagend, vooral voor je handen die koud kunnen worden. Probeer ze zo warm mogelijk te houden. Bij het betreden van een warmere ruimte vanuit de kou kan er condensvorming ontstaan. Het is beter om je camera in één temperatuurzone te houden om dit te voorkomen, hoewel dit niet altijd eenvoudig is. Ondanks de uitdagingen zorgen sneeuw, vorst en ijs wel voor spectaculaire winterscènes. Foto gemaakt door mijn zoon BieJee van mij terwijl ik meteen diep wegzak buiten de gebaande paden in de sneeuw.
Vädret har ännu inte hindrat mig från att fota. Jag, ombord båten Hättan i Stockholm Foto: Dennis Törnkvist
seen from the dome of the Frauenkirche
von der Kuppel der Frauenkirche gesehen
The Fürstenzug (English: Procession of Princes) in Dresden, Germany, is a large mural of a mounted procession of the rulers of Saxony. It was originally painted between 1871 and 1876 to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Wettin Dynasty, Saxony's ruling family. In order to make the work weatherproof, it was replaced with approximately 23,000 Meissen porcelain tiles between 1904 and 1907. With a length of 102 metres (335 ft), it is known as the largest porcelain artwork in the world. The mural displays the ancestral portraits of the 35 margraves, electors, dukes and kings of the House of Wettin between 1127 and 1904.
The Fürstenzug is located on the outer wall of the Stallhof (Stables Courtyard) of Dresden Castle.
(Wikipedia)
Der Fürstenzug in Dresden ist ein überlebensgroßes Bild eines Reiterzuges, aufgetragen auf rund 23.000 Fliesen aus Meißner Porzellan. Das 102 Meter lange, als größtes Porzellanwandbild der Welt geltende Kunstwerk stellt die Ahnengalerie der zwischen 1127 und 1873 in Sachsen herrschenden 34 Markgrafen, Herzöge, Kurfürsten und Könige aus dem Geschlecht des Fürstenhauses Wettin dar.
Der Fürstenzug befindet sich in der Augustusstraße, unweit der Frauenkirche, zwischen Georgentor auf der einen Seite und dem Johanneum auf der anderen Seite. Hier wurde er in der heutigen Form im Jahre 1907 auf der Außenseite des Stallhofs vom Dresdner Residenzschloss angebracht.
(Wikipedia)
Parked precariously on the busy A329 as the sun started to set on my way home from Oxford...
There is a tower mill about 600 yards (550 m) north of Great Haseley village. It was built in 1760 but has a datestone giving the year 1806, probably referring to repairs or rebuilding work. It has four common sails and a fantail. It was modernised with some iron fittings in 1889, and seems to have ceased work early in the 20th century.
In about 1940 an amateur carpenter, a Mr Wood of Great Milton, started renting the mill from Lt-Col Muirhead for five shillings a year. Wood and his son conserved the mill by keeping the building weatherproof and repairing the machinery. In 1959 Wood's son, the engineer Sir Martin Wood, bought the mill, took over the project and in the 1970s undertook more maintenance and repairs. In 2005 Sir Martin transferred ownership to the newly formed Great Haseley Windmill Trust, which has since continued the restoration. The cap (i.e. roof) has been restored and in June 2014 the Trust fitted new common sails and fantail, completing the external part of the mill's restoration
Great Haseley, South Oxfordshire, UK
Shot at Khajjiar, Himachal Pradesh, India during an incredible hailstorm which lasted intermittently for several hours. The hail turned the balmy green meadow, the small lake and the dense forest into an icy fairy-tale landscape. It was the most intense and satisfying photo shoot I have ever done. I shot continuously right through the storm. I crossed the meadow and went into the forest. I waded into the semi frozen lake with my tripod mounted D700. I slipped and fell several times. I got hurt and bled a little. Mercifully my D700+ Nikon 28mm f/2.8 AI-s+Fisheye 16mm 2.8 proved to be storm-resistant! D700 is supposed to be a reasonably weatherproof camera. The old legacy Nikkors are probably sturdier than the new water and dust resistant G series pro glass! I was confident that they would be able to handle the ice and water. Whenever the storm got really bad, I took shelter under the giant deodar trees. I put the camera back into my Domke F2 Original ( which by the way is a stupendously rugged and sturdy camera bag). The front elements of the lenses were constantly speckled with droplets of ice and water. I kept wiping them with a micro fibre cloth. The droplets formed interesting patterns on many photographs!
It was supposed to rain when I shot this...but it wasn't. So this is a mix of practical effects and digital post-processing.
For the practical part, I sprayed down the environment, then taped an umbrella to a light stand and sprayed it with a garden hose for 15 minutes while taking photos of different splash patterns.
Then I composited the wet umbrella on top of the dry umbrella that I was holding after compositing myself into the LCD screen of the camera. Added some "rain" with spaced out brush marks and a motion blur filter.
The background is kinda boring, but I didn't want to stray too far from my garden hose, and carrying buckets of water to another location didn't seem too appealing.
This British Standard from Coventry was a real touring car, equipped with a weatherproof roof and removable side screens.
The passengers were protected from bad weather but could also enjoy the sunshine when the car was fully open. This relatively simple Standard was not meant to be driven by a chauffeur but by the owner himself. The 2.0-litre Standard Eleven SLO4 replaced the original SLO in 1922. This example is fitted with steel wheels, a relatively modern feature in the 1920s.
‘Count them on the Road’, was the proud slogan used by the Standard Motor Company. And deservedly so, because in 1923 it was the third largest car manufacturer in Britain, with an annual production of ten thousand cars.
Louwman Museum
Den Haag - The Hague
Nederland - Netherlands
September 2021
The Fürstenzug (Procession of Princes) in Dresden, Germany, is a large mural of a mounted procession of the rulers of Saxony. It was originally painted between 1871 and 1876 to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Wettin Dynasty, Saxony's ruling family.
In order to make the work weatherproof, it was replaced with approximately 23,000 Meissen porcelain tiles between 1904 and 1907. With a length of 102 metres, it is known as the largest porcelain artwork in the world. The mural displays the ancestral portraits of the 35 margraves, electors, dukes and kings of the House of Wettin between 1127 and 1904. The Fürstenzug is located on the outer wall of the Stallhof (Stables Courtyard) of Dresden Castle.
The Fürstenzug is 101.9 metres long and 10.5 metres high. Due to 18 windows in the upper part, the tile area comprises only 968 square meters. Each tile measures 20.5 centimetres by 20.5 centimetres. Hence, approximately 23,000 tiles are placed on the wall. Source: en.wikipedia.org
Because of the inevitable rain on Mulanje, I put my camera in a thick plastic bag every day. I taped it around the lens hood, cut a small hole for the viewfinder, and put a silica gel packet inside. It would protect against everything short of complete submersion. The 6D has some weatherproofing, but I've had two cameras shut down because of too much rain before!
This afternoon was the ultimate test. Not only was it raining constantly, but I was climbing over slippery rocks and logs in a river, with a tripod.
At one point, I lost my footing on an underwater stone. I ended up on my back in the stream, holding my camera above me. Thankfully, my camera and my body were unhurt.
The final photos may look like any other tropical stream, but knowing what was involved to get them makes them very special to me.
The Windmill Tower:
The oldest convict-built structure surviving in Queensland, the windmill tower has accommodated a range of uses. Constructed in 1828 to process the wheat and corn crops of the Moreton Bay penal settlement, it had a treadmill attached for times when there was no wind but also as a tool for punishing convicts. The mill ceased grinding grain in 1845 and the treadmill was removed sometime before 1849. From 1855 the tower was reused as a signal station to communicate shipping news between the entrance of the Brisbane River and the town. Substantial renovations were made to it in 1861 including the installation of a time ball to assist in regulating clocks and watches. Twenty years later a cottage for the signalman was constructed to the immediate west of the tower, with a detached kitchen erected to the south two years after that. Both were later demolished. The windmill tower was used as a facility for early radio, telephony and television communications research from the 1920s and underwent substantial conservation work in the 1980s and 2009.
In May 1825, after eight months of occupation at Redcliffe, the contingent of convicts, soldiers, administrators and their families comprising the Moreton Bay penal settlement relocated to the site of present-day Brisbane's central business district. The growing settlement was to be self-sufficient in feeding its residents by cultivating corn (also known as maize) and wheat crops at the government farm, which were then processed into meal and flour by hand mills.[1] By 1827, with a substantial crop to process, the settlement storekeeper recommended a treadmill be erected to grind the crop into flour. Commandant Logan indicated at this time that such a devise at Brisbane town would be of service and also provide an avenue for the punishment of convicts.[2]
There is little evidence confirming details of the windmill tower's planning and construction. In July 1828, Peter Beauclerk Spicer, the Superintendent of Convicts at the time, recorded in his diary that convicts were 'clearing ground for foundations for the Mill' and proceeded to dig a circular trench that reached bedrock and had a circumference of approximately 9 metres.[3] Allan Cunningham noted soon after that construction was in progress. The mill was constructed on the highest point overlooking the settlement on what is now Wickham Terrace. By 31 October 1828 the first grain was being ground at the site by a mill gang; however it is supposed that this was done by a treadmill as the rotating cap and sails associated with the wind-powered operation of the mill were not brought to the site until November.[4] Circumstantial evidence suggests that the wind-powered grinding of grain did not begin until December.
There were two pairs of millstones inside the tower, each driven independently by the treadmill and sail mechanisms. The former was located outside the tower, a shaft connecting the treadwheel and the mill cogwheels inside. Two sketches from the early 1830s show the windmill tower and its sail stocks in place,[5] while an 1839 description depicts a tower built from stone and brick, comprising four floors, a treadmill and windmill. From 1829 the windmill tower was said to be continually requiring repair, possibly because its equipment was all made from locally-available timber rather than iron[6].
The treadmill was an important component of the mill, for use as punishment without trial, and for times when there was no wind but the amounts of grain sufficient to sustain the settlement still required processing. No plans exist of the Brisbane treadmill, however, the Office of the Colonial Architect produced a standard Design for Tread Mill Adapted for Country Districts Average Estimate £120.[7] Between 25 and 30 men worked at the mill at any one time. Sixteen operated the treadmill, although as there are no plans, it is uncertain whether it comprised a standard 16-place treadmill, or two 8-place sections connected to a common shaft. Each man would climb five steps to get onto the wheel, standing on the 9 inch wide treads and holding on to the rail. The men would then work as though ascending steps to operate the treadmill. Some undertook this task while in leg irons, while the more able used one hand to hold on and the other to draw sketches of people, animals and scenes on the boards of the mill. The men would work from sunrise to sunset with three hours rest in the middle of the day in summer, and two hours in winter.[8] [9] The first casualty of the treadmill, which produced the first official record of its existence, occurred in September 1829 when prisoner Michael Collins lost his life after being entangled in the operating mechanism. Maps of 1840s Brisbane feature a rectangular structure attached to the outside of the tower, Robert Dixon's in particular showing a 6 x 5 metre structure, probably the treadmill, located on ground that was to become Wickham Terrace.
In July 1841 the Brisbane tower was reputedly the site of a public execution of two Aboriginal men who had been convicted in Sydney of the murder of Assistant Surveyor Stapylton and one of his party near Mount Lindsay. They were returned to Moreton Bay and hanged with about 100 Aboriginal people present, however it may be that the execution took place elsewhere on what was known as Windmill Hill.[10]
Indicative of the prominence of its physical position, the tower served as one of the stations for the trigonometrical survey of the Moreton Bay district conducted by Robert Dixon, Granville Stapylton and James Warner from May 1839 in preparation for the area being opened to free settlement.[11]
In February 1836 the windmill tower was struck by lightning, causing severe damage throughout, including to the treadmill. A convict millwright was brought from Sydney in June for the repairs, which amounted to a major rebuild of the structure that was not completed until May 1837.[12] In April 1839, with the closure of the Moreton Bay penal settlement being planned, the windmill tower was one of the buildings recommended for transfer to the colony. This was approved in 1840-41 but it continued to sporadically process grain until 1845, when due to crop failure, a stagnant population and the availability of imported flour, it finally ceased being used. The penal settlement had officially closed in February 1842. The treadmill operated until 1845 and had been removed by October 1849[13].
The windmill tower in Brisbane is the oldest of its type left standing in Australia and further distinguished by having been built by convict labour. The earliest standing stone windmill towers extant around the country date from the 1830s and include: one built in 1837 in South Perth, Western Australia[14]; another built in the same year at Oatlands in Tasmania which operated until 1890[15]; and another built at Mount Gilead near Campbelltown in New South Wales in 1836[16]. Most were built to process grains into flour. Other surviving mill towers are the one built in 1842 by FR Nixon at Mount Barker in South Australia; Chapman's mill built around 1850 at Wonnerup in Western Australia[17], and another built at a similar time on an island in the Murray River near Yunderup in Western Australia[18]. None of the nineteen windmill towers that characterised the early settlement at Sydney have survived.[19] Technological developments, most particularly steam power which was more dependable than wind power or that generated by convict labour at a treadmill, rendered wind-driven mills largely redundant.
After the cessation of milling operations there were discussions about possible future use of Brisbane's windmill tower. In December 1849 the tower was put up for auction and bought by a government official who promptly sought tenders for removal of it and its machinery (the auction terms required it to be cleared away by three months after the sale).[20] Ownership of the place quickly reverted to the Crown because of a legal problem with the sale, but not before some dismantling had occurred.[21] In a January 1850 article the Moreton Bay Courier continued its appeal for the windmill not to be pulled down and secured by the town, arguing that aside from its landmark and picturesque qualities it was the ‘best fixed point for land measurement in the district'. In this vein the site was the most accessible viewing point for the picturesque landscape of Brisbane and its environs. Despite earlier calls to erase evidence of Brisbane's convict past, 'sentiment and pragmatism combined to override the detrimental taint of convictism' saving the tower from destruction. The sails were still in place in 1854 and appear in a painting of the windmill completed in 1855.[22]
By 1855 Brisbane was the leading Queensland port and it became important to establish signal stations to communicate shipping news between the entrance of the Brisbane River and the town, one of which was set up on Windmill Hill. This required modifications to the tower to include a semaphore station connected to the electric telegraph. Information on ships entering the river was converted to semaphore signals using flags hoisted on a mast erected on top of the tower. The renovations were undertaken by John Petrie in October 1861 to plans by colonial architect Charles Tiffin and included the removal of the windmill stocks or arms and wheels; the laying of floors on each storey; new doors and windows; a weatherproof floor on the top of the tower with an iron railing; a new winding staircase from bottom to top; repair of stone, brickwork and plastering; and the installation of a high flagstaff to fly signals.[23] The tower's renovation at this time also fitted it out as a public observatory and it became known by that term.[24] The following year it became the first home of the newly founded Queensland Museum; serving this purpose until 1868 when other accommodation was provided in the old convict barracks or parliamentary building on Queen Street.[25]
Petrie also installed a time ball on the tower to provide a reliable authority for regulating clocks and watches. It was dropped at one o'clock each day based on observations relayed by telegraph from Sydney. The time ball was replaced by a time gun in 1866, with an embankment and shed constructed to hold the gun in 1874. After 1882 the gun and shed were moved to the eastern section of the current reserve before the shed was demolished in 1908. The time gun proved useful to people as far away as Logan, Caboolture and Ipswich. The old gun was replaced in 1888 with another before a new electrically-controlled time ball was installed in 1894. This was associated with the legislated implementation of a single time throughout the colony, being designated as ten hours earlier than the mean time at Greenwich. Adjustments were made to the tower at this time to accommodate the new time ball. The roof was lowered and the flagstaff pared down.[26]
A cottage for the signalman was constructed in 1883 to the immediate west of the tower to plans prepared by Government Architect FDG Stanley and on part of the Waterworks reserve. Two years later a detached kitchen was also constructed behind it to the south of the tower. Use of the signal station was discontinued in 1921 by the state government, which then sought a new use for the structure and land. [27] Despite this the flagstaff remained in place until 1949. From January 1893 the Fire Brigade implemented a nightly observation post from a specially-constructed platform on top of the tower. This was used until around 1922.
The Commonwealth government assumed responsibility for the site in 1901 but control reverted to the state in 1908 when it was designated as an Observatory Reserve. In 1902 it had been connected to the Railway Telegraph Office at Roma Street so that the railways had the correct time for their operations. The evidence of historical photographs suggests that sometime between 1902 and 1912 the cabin at the top was increased in size.[28] The time ball remained in operation until 1930.
The site was placed under the trusteeship of the Brisbane City Council in 1922. The site of the cottage remained in the hands of the Waterworks Board and a boundary re-arrangement had to occur to allow its continued use in relation to the observatory. At this time the Queensland Institute of Radio Engineers began wireless radio and telephony research at the tower, and used the signalman's cottage to meet two nights a month. Apparatus to operate a wireless radio station was installed in 1926. The cottage was occupied on a more regular basis in order to reduce the risk of vandalism to the tower, but fell vacant. In 1926 the City Architect, AH Foster, proposed a plan for beautifying the observatory, which included removal of the cottage and adjacent sheds. The tender of Messrs Guyomar and Wright to remove the cottage, shed and outhouse for £60 was accepted.[29] At this time the stone and wrought iron wall along Wickham Terrace was erected. It was intended to add 'dignity to the historical reserve, and harmonise with the massive character of the Tower'.[30]
From 1924 Thomas Elliott installed equipment in the tower to undertake cutting-edge television research; he and Allen Campbell giving a demonstration from the site in 1934 which constituted Queensland's first television broadcast. It was considered by many at the time as the most outstanding achievement thus far in the history of television in Australia. They gained a license from the government and continued experimental broadcasting from the tower until about 1944.[31]
From 1945 the Brisbane City Council was considering suitable action to preserve the tower, which had become a popular visitor attraction. Some restoration work was carried out in 1950 on the advice of Frank Costello (then Officer in Charge of Planning and Building with the City Council), which included removal of old render and re-rendering the entire structure. It was at this time that the flagstaff was removed in preparation for making the open ground of the reserve 'a real park'. Certainly these conservation efforts considered the heritage value of the place as well as the public's use of it.
However by 1962 the windmill tower was again in poor condition. Floodlighting to enhance its appearance for tourists was undertaken for the first time during the Warana Festival five years later. In the early 1970s the Council and the National Trust of Queensland undertook detailed investigations regarding restoration and transfer of trusteeship from the council to the trust (the latter were abandoned in 1976). None of the original plans or any of the original windmill machinery parts could be located at that time. Based on these findings the National Trust formed the opinion that the building should be preserved in its present form and not reconstructed to its windmill form.
In 1982 City Council undertook some external maintenance work on the observation house or cabin, including replacement of deteriorated timber to the balcony and sills, and corrugated iron on the roof, and repair of the time ball and its mast (which was shortened by about 300 mm to remove some part affected by dry rot).[32]
In 1987 a consortium of companies involved in the construction of the Central Plaza office building offered to assist the Brisbane City Council with the conservation of the Windmill Tower. To inform this work a conservation study was undertaken by Allom Lovell Marquis-Kyle Architects, which also oversaw conservation work[33]. Preliminary archaeological investigations undertaken at this time identified the remains of the original flagstaff base which was reinstated.[34] The conserved Windmill Tower was opened by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane on 3 November 1988. A further archaeological investigation was carried out at the site in 1989-90 by a University of Queensland team, revealing clear stratigraphic layers datable to each of the key phases of use of the site.[35] In August 1993 further investigations of the fabric of the tower were undertaken to explore the extent of the footings and the nature of construction of the curb and cap frame. More conservation work was carried out in May 1996. [36]
In 2009 the Brisbane City Council received considerable funding to carry out restoration work of the windmill tower through the State Government's Q150 Connecting Brisbane project. It was intended that the structure be publically accessible to allow visitors to experience the view from its observation platform, a practice that has been commented on since the 1860s.[37] In 2008 - 2009 the Brisbane CBD Archaeological Plan assessed the area of the observatory reserve and a length of Wickham Terrace associated with it as having exceptional archaeological research potential because of the combination of its association with the penal settlement and the low level of ground disturbance that has occurred there since.[38]
The Tower Mill Hotel:
Spring Hill is Brisbane’s oldest suburb containing many of Brisbane’s oldest structures. Opposite the site of the Tower Mill Motel is the convict-built windmill tower dating from 1828 and nearby the town’s first purpose-built reservoirs dating from 1866.
Being close to the town centre, Spring Hill developed as the town developed with fashionable, more expensive houses on the ridgeline above Brisbane Town and cheaper housing on the lower slopes and gullies. As the town spread in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, newer suburbs further out attracted development and Spring Hill was, by the early twentieth century, crowded, a bit run-down and cheap. In the postwar era, as prosperity returned in the 1950s and 1960s, a wave of new development swept the city. Young professionals and artists were attracted to Spring Hill as it was close to the city centre and the suburb experienced somewhat of a revival and the beginnings of gentrification.
The increased frequency and affordability of international travel also had an impact as Australia became a destination and new international style hotels were built. In Brisbane, the traditional corner hotels lacked the facilities and accommodation standards required by the growing modern tourist market. In the 1960s a number of new hotels were built, with the Tower Mill Motel being one of the first and an outstanding example of the new modern international style.
The site of the motel was previously occupied by a doctor’s surgery in-keeping with the development of Wickham Street over time as the location of private hospitals and specialist clinics. The site was purchased by Chacewater Pty Ltd who applied in November 1964 to build a seventy unit motel designed by architect, Stephen Trotter, estimated to cost £285,000.
Stephen Trotter was born in Brisbane in 1930 and trained in the offices of Mervyn Rylance and Fulton and Collin. He gained a Diploma of Architecture (Qld) in 1954 and became a registered architect in 1955. He started in practice as an associate of Fulton and Collin in 1958. His time with Mervyn Rylance, who specialized in Old English designs, instilled in Trotter a desire to design buildings that responded to the sub-tropical climate of Brisbane. In 1962 John Gillmour, Stephen Trotter and Graham Boys became partners in the firm. Influenced by the new international styles being constructed overseas and the new engineering technologies being developed after the war, Stephen Trotter successfully applied for a Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) Sisalkraft Scholarship in 1962. His application included the design of the Tower Mill Motel in his portfolio of works as an indication of his desire to study design responses to climatic conditions. Trotter’s whirlwind three-month tour of the world resulted in a study entitled “Cities in the Sun” which identified the elements of design relating to hot, dry; hot wet, warm wet and warm dry climates in the subcontinent, Persia, Oceania, South America, North America and Europe.
The Tower Mill Motel features a striking circular form, distinctive concrete sun-shading and a restaurant on the top floor. The circular form and roof detailing mirror the circular form and detailing of the diminutive historic windmill tower across the road. Embracing the new design technologies of the international style, the Tower Mill Motel features expressed concrete floor plates and columns and concrete awnings shading the full height glazed walls. It is completely different from the international style hotels being built in the city at this time which, although featuring curtain walls and full height glazing, generally adhered to a rectangular footprint and identical room layouts.
Stephen Trotter remained as a partner of Fulton, Collin, Boys, Gilmour and Trotter until 1999. During this period he taught architecture at the Queensland Institute of Technology (QIT now QUT), instilling an understanding of the importance of the environment and energy efficiency in building design to a generation of architecture students. As well as lecturing at QIT for nineteen years, Trotter was involved in the Queensland Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects for a number of years. Trotter retired from Fulton Trotter in 1999, however his sons Mark and Paul are now directors. Stephen Trotter also made an outstanding contribution to the University of Queensland residential college, International House, for over sixty years and he was made a Fellow in November 2011. Stephen Trotter passed away on 30 July 2015, aged 84.
The Tower Mill Motel was completed in 1964 and went on to become a destination for overseas visitors.
The outstanding innovative design of the Tower Mill Motel, not only is a unique example of a 1960s cyclindrical building that is sensitively designed to respond to the site and climate. The hotel was subdivided for 107 strata titled units in December 2002 with some being sold into private ownership and some being retained for use as hotel rooms. A recent change in ownership has seen the purchase of a number of private units to facilitate the return of the whole building to use as a hotel.
Source: Queensland Heritage Register & Brisbane City Council Heritage Register.
Olympus mju II (Stylus Epic) and some fujicolor superia HQ 200 film.
I thought I was going to fry my little camera out in the pouring New York rain but it survived. Originally they were sold as 'weatherproof' so I guess they had some additional bells that meant they could endure a brief rain encounter. It must be 20 years old so I'm impressed!
Instead of getting my pics on a CD I've got myself a Epson V600 scanner and I've scanned the negs. I really like the results, they resemble slide film a little. Enjoying the mild New York winter to date. Set the camera on a ledge here, self timer on, flash off.
Back to the art of fencing and the weatherproofing properties of paint. I got in closer for this patina shot. I liked the texture of the peeling paint under a steep sun on weathering wood at the abandoned feed lot. Some of the paint is actually sticking to the wood. I carefully wiped any Trump-19 from my camera after shooting this; did the virus singe this paint when I wasn't looking? This paint may or may not last the year; the wood, somewhat longer. It almost looks like this abandoned feed lot stretches out to the Rockies. As usual, I trekked out on the flats toward the Foothills for anything I may have missed by not thoroughly observing on previous passes. I even backtracked as I wandered. I found this detail shot and my trek became a bit of a release for me. Today is another crud day along the St. Vrain. Gotta do what I can while spring starts sprouting colors. I'll make another swing shortly on a better day.
As long as I found the abandoned feed lot, I decided to get detail shots I could as long as I saw no one around ready to give me a load of Don Corona Trumpandemic-19. At least two of the big Weld county slaughter houses are closed now due to serving up Trumedemic-19 to their workers instead of pork or beef. Our gov. had enough. I guess Smithfield plants are sending Trumporkolypse back to their owners in China. Here we go again, another round. Personally, as of today, we may be free of our last serious snow dumping, not so the Trumpocolypse. Boulder, CO set a new all-time snow fall record, and yet the gov. had to shut down the ski areas in the snow-laden Rockies to stop the spread of the orange contagion. Ever more Texans are doing the spreading, one Texan died in Park County. Texas is suing CO counties for shutting out non-residents. I thought Texas seceded?
I could no longer social distance at home last Saturday but decided that I probably had not contracted Donnievid-19. I never stopped and talked to anyone on my trek. I waited until Wednesday's senior moment at King Soaker's before shopping and will avoid shopping again until later in the week and practice my best dodge the virus moves; gov. ordered face masks for grocery workers for a period. I have not contracted Don Trump's corona by now, I must have dodged it one more time around. I have a couple of quarts of hydrogen peroxide horded for the duration of the Trumpandemic. The Germans horded TP, the Italians horded vino, the Frogs horded EU's condoms and the US horded mindless stupidity.
These corral fences ain't gonna keep that scurrilous Trumpvid-19 in nor out and sequestered to Pres. Agent Orange or even his FOX-Holer troops. His brain-damaged troops ought to be allowed to open the economy with a signed waiver of non-responsibilty for their subsequent causation of future dead. Let the courts finally open wide. I salute the efforts of us all for social distancing from the Trump Crime Family and it's ilk. I see no reason to coronate the Trump Crime Family instead of awarding them terms in prison. He already created his own entire corona-tion. Trump's and Jerod's daddies learned absolutely nothing in prison to pass on to their crime families. Maybe it's time for a return to the past and Trump-Jerod lockup? Admittedly, Trump is falling short of the million Boy George Bush slaughtered in useless conquest. I discovered the WHO - Trumpedemic problem; they failed to praise Trump the narciscist and cut him a check. He's having to rely on scamming the bailout funds for his filthy lucre.
What a president, after stealing 400 of the 500 ventilators Colorado was already buying is now pressing them into max use in FLA. I bet they will need them. What a peach... er orange. Indeed, summer is coming and we can all drink boiling water while contrails from Chinese aircraft dust us with Trump-19. Outstaters brought their virus to our ski areas but they are closed and we have already peaked due to a wise governor. Now we will have to ban the crime family and the Koch-owned Sen. Gardner from the state. We have a stable working governor instead of Agent Orange. I generally accost door to door thumpers or gift them with a bus tour to spring break in Mazatlan, Mexico and a cruise ship voyage back. Grifters all. Darwin requires his share and seems to be getting them.
This feedlot shot on my recent trek became a bit of release for me. We were just delivered another hammering of snow and another dud day. A cover of snow atop leftover corona will be our blow to the Trumpandemic virus. I've seen many things everywhere along my paths on display in the Rockies. My day stretched out nicely as I travel back and found other hits on rural routes on my way home and some captures I liked. I hookied over to Mac Lake for a look-see and little look-found. Even this day is stretching on. With so many snaps in my directories, pictures are everywhere if I break my safe home distancing.
Borgund Stave Church (Norwegian: Borgund stavkyrkje) is a former parish church of the Church of Norway in Lærdal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was built around the year 1200 as the village church of Borgund, and belonged to Lærdal parish (part of the Sogn prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin) until 1868, when its religious functions were transferred to a "new" Borgund Church, which was built nearby. The old church was restored, conserved and turned into a museum. It is funded and run by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments, and is classified as a triple-nave stave church of the Sogn-type. Its grounds contain Norway's sole surviving stave-built free-standing bell tower.
Borgund Stave Church was built sometime between 1180 and 1250 AD with later additions and restorations. Its walls are formed by vertical wooden boards, or staves, hence the name "stave church." The four corner posts are connected to one another by ground sills, resting on a stone foundation. The intervening staves rise from the ground sills; each is tongued and grooved, to interlock with its neighbours and form a sturdy wall. The exterior timber surfaces are darkened by protective layers of tar, distilled from pine.
Borgund is built on a basilica plan, with reduced side aisles, and an added chancel and apse. It has a raised central nave demarcated on four sides by an arcade. An ambulatory runs around this platform and into the chancel and apse, both added in the 14th century. An additional ambulatory, in the form of a porch, runs around the exterior of the building, sheltered under the overhanging shingled roof. The floor plan of this church resembles that of a central plan, double-shelled Greek cross with an apse attached to one end in place of the fourth arm. The entries to the church are in the three shorter arms of the cross.
Structurally, the building has been described as a "cube within a cube", each independent of the other. The inner "cube" is formed by continuous columns that rise from ground level to support the roof. The top of the arcade is formed by arched buttresses, knee jointed to the columns. Above the arcade, the columns are linked by cross-shaped, diagonal trusses, commonly dubbed "Saint Andrew's crosses"; these carry arched supports that offer the visual equivalent of a "second storey". While not a functional gallery, this is reminiscent of contemporary second story galleries of large stone churches elsewhere in Europe. Smaller beams running between these upper supporting columns help clamp everything firmly together. The weight of the roof is thus supported by buttresses and columns, preventing downward and outward movement of the stave walls.
The roof beams are supported by steeply angled scissor trusses that form an "X" shape with a narrow top span and a broader bottom span, tied by a bottom truss to prevent collapse. Additional support is given by a truss that cuts across the "X", below the crossing point but above the bottom truss. The roof is steeply pitched, boarded horizontally and clad with shingles. The original outer roof would have been weatherproofed with boards laid lengthwise, rather than shingles. In later years wooden shingles became more common. Scissor beam roof construction is typical of most stave churches.
Borgund has tiered, overhanging roofs, topped at their intersection by a shingle-roofed tower or steeple. On each of its four gables is a stylised "dragon" head, swooping from the carved roof ridge crests, Hohler remarks their similarity to the carved dragon heads found on the prows of Norse ships. Similar gable heads appear on small bronze church-shaped reliquaries common in Norway and Europe in this period. Borgund's current dragon heads are possible 18th century replacements; similar, original dragon heads remain on older structures, such as Lom Stave Church and nearby Urnes Stave Church. Borgund is one of the only stave churches to have preserved its crested ridge caps. They are carved with openwork vine and entangled plant designs.
The four outer dragon heads are perhaps the most distinctive of all non-Christian symbols adorning Borgund Stave Church. Their function is uncertain, and disputed; if pagan, they are recruited to the Christian cause in the battle between Good and Evil. They may have been intended to keep away evil spirits thought to threaten the church building; to ward off evil, rather than represent it,
On the lower side panel of the steeple are four carved circular cutouts. The carvings are weather-beaten, tarred and difficult to decipher, and there is disagreement about what they symbolize. Some[who?] believe they represent the four evangelists, symbolised by an eagle, an ox, a lion and a man. Hauglid describes the carvings as "dragons that extend their heads over to the neighboring field's dragon and bite into it", and points out their similarity to carvings at Høre Stave Church.
The church's west portal (the nave's main entrance), is surrounded by a larger carving of dragons biting each other in the neck and tail. At the bottom of the half-columns that flank the front entrance, two dragon heads spew vine stalks that wind upwards and are braided into the dragons above. The carving shares similarities with the west portal of Ål Stave Church, which also has kites[clarification needed] in a band braiding pattern, and follows the usual composition[clarification needed] in the Sogn-Valdres portals, a larger group of portals with very clear similarities. Bugge writes that Christian authority may have come to terms with such pagan and "wild scenes" in the church building because the rift could be interpreted as a struggle between good and evil; in Christian medieval art, the dragon was often used as a symbol of the devil himself but Bugge believes that the carvings were protective, like the dragon heads on the church roof.
The church interior is dark, as not much daylight enters the building. Some of the few sources of natural light are narrow circular windows along the roof, examples of daylighting. It was supposed that the narrow apertures would prevent the entry of evil spirits. Three entrances are heavily adorned with foliage and snakes, and are only wide enough for one person to enter, supposedly preventing the entry of evil spirits alongside the churchgoers. The portals were originally painted green, red, black, and white.
Most of the internal fittings have been removed. There is little in the building, apart from the row of benches that are installed along the wall inside the church in the ambulatory outside of the arcade and raised platform, a soapstone font, an altar (with 17th-century altarpiece), a 16th-century lectern, and a 16th-century cupboard for storing altar vessels. After the Reformation, when the church was converted for Protestant worship, pews, a pulpit and other standard church furnishings were included, however these have been removed since the building has come under the protection of the Fortidsminneforeningen (The Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments).
The interior structure of the church is characterized by the twelve free-standing columns that support the nave's elevated central space. On the long side of the church there is a double interval between the second and third pillars, but with a half pillar resting on the lower bracing beam (the pier) which runs in between. The double interval provides free access from the south portal to the church's central compartment, which would otherwise have been obstructed by the middle bar. The tops of the poles are finished with grotesque, carved human and animal masks. The tie-bars are secured with braces in the form of St. Andrew's crosses with a sun - shaped center and carved leaf shapes along the arms. The crosses reappear in less ornate form as braces along the church walls. On the north and south sides of the nave, a total of eight windows let in small amounts of light, and at the top of the nave's west gable is a window of more recent date - probably from pre-Reformation times. On the south wall of the nave, the inauguration crosses are still on the inside of the wall. The interior choir walls and west portal have engraved figures and runes, some of which date to the Middle Ages. One, among the commonest of runic graffiti, reads "Ave Maria". An inscription by Þórir (Thor), written "in the evening at St. Olav's Mass" blames the pagan Norns for his problems; perhaps a residue of ancient beliefs, as these female beings were thought to rule the personal destinies of all in Norse mythology and the Poetic Edda.
The medieval interior of the stave church is almost untouched, save for its restorations and repairs, though the medieval crucifix was removed after the Reformation. The original wooden floor and the benches that run along the walls of the nave are largely intact, together with a medieval stone altar and a box-shaped baptismal font in soapstone. The pulpit is from the period 1550–1570 and the altarpiece dates from 1654, while the frame around the tablet is dated to 1620. The painting on the altarpiece shows the crucifixion in the centre, flanked by the Virgin Mary on the left and John the Baptist on the right. In the tympanum field, a white dove hovers on a blue background. Below the painting is an inscription with golden letters on a black background. A sacrament from the period 1550–1570 in the same style as the pulpit is also preserved. A restoration of the building was carried out in the early 1870s, led by the architect Christian Christie, who removed benches, a second-floor gallery with seating, a ceiling over the chancel, and various windows including two large windows on the north and south sides. As the goal was to return the church to pre-Reformation condition, all post-Reformation interior paintwork was also removed.
Images from the 1990s show deer antlers hung on the lower, east-facing pillars. A local story claims that this is all that remains of a whole stuffed reindeer, shot when it tried to enter during a Mass. A travelogue from 1668 claims that a reindeer was shot during a sermon "when it marched like a wizard in front of the other animal carcasses"
To the south of the church is a free-standing stave-work bell tower that covers remnants of the mediaeval foundry used to cast the church bell. It was probably built in the mid-13th century. It is Norway's only remaining free-standing stave-work bell tower.It was given a new door around the year 1700 but this was removed and not replaced at some time between the 1920s and 1940s, leaving the foundry pit was exposed. To preserve the interior, new walls were built as cladding on the outside of the stave walls in the 1990s. One of the medieval bells is on display in the new Borgund church.
Management
In 1868 the building was abandoned as a church but was turned into a museum; this saved it from the commonplace demolition of stave churches in that period. A new Borgund Church was built in 1868 a short distance south of the old church. The old church has not been formally used for religious purposes since that year. Borgund Stave Church was bought by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments in 1877. The first guidebook in English for the stave church was published in 1898. From 2001, the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage has funded a program to research, restore, conserve and maintain stave churches.
Legacy
The church served as an example for the reconstruction of the Fantoft Stave Church in Fana, Bergen, in 1883 and for its rebuilding in 1997. The Gustav Adolf Stave Church in Hahnenklee, Germany, built in 1908, is modeled on the Borgund church. Four replicas exist in the United States, one at Chapel in the Hills, Rapid City, South Dakota, another in Lyme, Connecticut, the third on Washington Island, Wisconsin, and the fourth in Minot, North Dakota at the Scandinavian Heritage Park.
Borgund is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located in the southeastern part of the traditional district of Sogn. The 635-square-kilometre (245 sq mi) municipality existed from 1864 until its dissolution in 1964. It encompassed an area in the eastern part of the present-day Lærdal Municipality. The administrative center of Borgund was the village of Steinklepp, just northeast of the village of Borgund. Steinklepp was the site of a store, a bank, and a school. The historical Filefjell Kongevegen road passes through the Borgund area.
Location
The former municipality of Borgund was situated near the southeastern end of the Sognefjorden, along the Lærdalselvi river. The lower parts of the municipality were farms such as Sjurhaugen and Nedrehegg. They were at an elevation of about 270 m (890 ft) above sea level. Høgeloft, on the border with the neighboring municipality of Hemsedal, is a mountain in the Filefjell range and it was the highest point in Borgund at 1,920 m (6,300 ft) above sea level. The lakes Eldrevatnet, Juklevatnet, and Øljusjøen were also located near the border with Hemsedal.
History
Borgund was established as a municipality in 1864 when it was separated from the municipality of Lærdal. Initially it had a population of 963. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Borgund (population: 492) was merged with the Muggeteigen area (population: 11) of the neighboring Årdal Municipality and all of Lærdal Municipality (population: 1,755) were all merged to form a new, larger municipality of Lærdal
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a Nordic , European country and an independent state in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula . Geographically speaking, the country is long and narrow, and on the elongated coast towards the North Atlantic are Norway's well-known fjords . The Kingdom of Norway includes the main country (the mainland with adjacent islands within the baseline ), Jan Mayen and Svalbard . With these two Arctic areas, Norway covers a land area of 385,000 km² and has a population of approximately 5.5 million (2023). Mainland Norway borders Sweden in the east , Finland and Russia in the northeast .
Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy , where Harald V has been king and head of state since 1991 , and Jonas Gahr Støre ( Ap ) has been prime minister since 2021 . Norway is a unitary state , with two administrative levels below the state: counties and municipalities . The Sami part of the population has, through the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark Act , to a certain extent self-government and influence over traditionally Sami areas. Although Norway has rejected membership of the European Union through two referendums , through the EEA Agreement Norway has close ties with the Union, and through NATO with the United States . Norway is a significant contributor to the United Nations (UN), and has participated with soldiers in several foreign operations mandated by the UN. Norway is among the states that have participated from the founding of the UN , NATO , the Council of Europe , the OSCE and the Nordic Council , and in addition to these is a member of the EEA , the World Trade Organization , the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and is part of the Schengen area .
Norway is rich in many natural resources such as oil , gas , minerals , timber , seafood , fresh water and hydropower . Since the beginning of the 20th century, these natural conditions have given the country the opportunity for an increase in wealth that few other countries can now enjoy, and Norwegians have the second highest average income in the world, measured in GDP per capita, as of 2022. The petroleum industry accounts for around 14% of Norway's gross domestic product as of 2018. Norway is the world's largest producer of oil and gas per capita outside the Middle East. However, the number of employees linked to this industry fell from approx. 232,000 in 2013 to 207,000 in 2015.
In Norway, these natural resources have been managed for socially beneficial purposes. The country maintains a welfare model in line with the other Nordic countries. Important service areas such as health and higher education are state-funded, and the country has an extensive welfare system for its citizens. Public expenditure in 2018 is approx. 50% of GDP, and the majority of these expenses are related to education, healthcare, social security and welfare. Since 2001 and until 2021, when the country took second place, the UN has ranked Norway as the world's best country to live in . From 2010, Norway is also ranked at the top of the EIU's democracy index . Norway ranks third on the UN's World Happiness Report for the years 2016–2018, behind Finland and Denmark , a report published in March 2019.
The majority of the population is Nordic. In the last couple of years, immigration has accounted for more than half of population growth. The five largest minority groups are Norwegian-Poles , Lithuanians , Norwegian-Swedes , Norwegian-Syrians including Syrian Kurds and Norwegian-Pakistani .
Norway's national day is 17 May, on this day in 1814 the Norwegian Constitution was dated and signed by the presidency of the National Assembly at Eidsvoll . It is stipulated in the law of 26 April 1947 that 17 May are national public holidays. The Sami national day is 6 February. "Yes, we love this country" is Norway's national anthem, the song was written in 1859 by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910).
Norway's history of human settlement goes back at least 10,000 years, to the Late Paleolithic , the first period of the Stone Age . Archaeological finds of settlements along the entire Norwegian coast have so far been dated back to 10,400 before present (BP), the oldest find is today considered to be a settlement at Pauler in Brunlanes , Vestfold .
For a period these settlements were considered to be the remains of settlers from Doggerland , an area which today lies beneath the North Sea , but which was once a land bridge connecting today's British Isles with Danish Jutland . But the archaeologists who study the initial phase of the settlement in what is today Norway reckon that the first people who came here followed the coast along what is today Bohuslân. That they arrived in some form of boat is absolutely certain, and there is much evidence that they could easily move over large distances.
Since the last Ice Age, there has been continuous settlement in Norway. It cannot be ruled out that people lived in Norway during the interglacial period , but no trace of such a population or settlement has been found.
The Stone Age lasted a long time; half of the time that our country has been populated. There are no written accounts of what life was like back then. The knowledge we have has been painstakingly collected through investigations of places where people have stayed and left behind objects that we can understand have been processed by human hands. This field of knowledge is called archaeology . The archaeologists interpret their findings and the history of the surrounding landscape. In our country, the uplift after the Ice Age is fundamental. The history of the settlements at Pauler is no more than fifteen years old.
The Fosna culture settled parts of Norway sometime between 10,000–8,000 BC. (see Stone Age in Norway ). The dating of rock carvings is set to Neolithic times (in Norway between 4000 BC to 1700 BC) and show activities typical of hunters and gatherers .
Agriculture with livestock and arable farming was introduced in the Neolithic. Swad farming where the farmers move when the field does not produce the expected yield.
More permanent and persistent farm settlements developed in the Bronze Age (1700 BC to 500 BC) and the Iron Age . The earliest runes have been found on an arrowhead dated to around 200 BC. Many more inscriptions are dated to around 800, and a number of petty kingdoms developed during these centuries. In prehistoric times, there were no fixed national borders in the Nordic countries and Norway did not exist as a state. The population in Norway probably fell to year 0.
Events in this time period, the centuries before the year 1000, are glimpsed in written sources. Although the sagas were written down in the 13th century, many hundreds of years later, they provide a glimpse into what was already a distant past. The story of the fimbul winter gives us a historical picture of something that happened and which in our time, with the help of dendrochronology , can be interpreted as a natural disaster in the year 536, created by a volcanic eruption in El Salvador .
In the period between 800 and 1066 there was a significant expansion and it is referred to as the Viking Age . During this period, Norwegians, as Swedes and Danes also did, traveled abroad in longships with sails as explorers, traders, settlers and as Vikings (raiders and pirates ). By the middle of the 11th century, the Norwegian kingship had been firmly established, building its right as descendants of Harald Hårfagre and then as heirs of Olav the Holy . The Norwegian kings, and their subjects, now professed Christianity . In the time around Håkon Håkonsson , in the time after the civil war , there was a small renaissance in Norway with extensive literary activity and diplomatic activity with Europe. The black dew came to Norway in 1349 and killed around half of the population. The entire state apparatus and Norway then entered a period of decline.
Between 1396 and 1536, Norway was part of the Kalmar Union , and from 1536 until 1814 Norway had been reduced to a tributary part of Denmark , named as the Personal Union of Denmark-Norway . This staff union entered into an alliance with Napoléon Bonaparte with a war that brought bad times and famine in 1812 . In 1814, Denmark-Norway lost the Anglophone Wars , part of the Napoleonic Wars , and the Danish king was forced to cede Norway to the king of Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel on 14 January of that year. After a Norwegian attempt at independence, Norway was forced into a loose union with Sweden, but where Norway was allowed to create its own constitution, the Constitution of 1814 . In this period, Norwegian, romantic national feeling flourished, and the Norwegians tried to develop and establish their own national self-worth. The union with Sweden was broken in 1905 after it had been threatened with war, and Norway became an independent kingdom with its own monarch, Haakon VII .
Norway remained neutral during the First World War , and at the outbreak of the Second World War, Norway again declared itself neutral, but was invaded by National Socialist Germany on 9 April 1940 .
Norway became a member of the Western defense alliance NATO in 1949 . Two attempts to join the EU were voted down in referendums by small margins in 1972 and 1994 . Norway has been a close ally of the United States in the post-war period. Large discoveries of oil and natural gas in the North Sea at the end of the 1960s led to tremendous economic growth in the country, which is still ongoing. Traditional industries such as fishing are also part of Norway's economy.
Stone Age (before 1700 BC)
When most of the ice disappeared, vegetation spread over the landscape and due to a warm climate around 2000-3000 BC. the forest grew much taller than in modern times. Land uplift after the ice age led to a number of fjords becoming lakes and dry land. The first people probably came from the south along the coast of the Kattegat and overland into Finnmark from the east. The first people probably lived by gathering, hunting and trapping. A good number of Stone Age settlements have been found which show that such hunting and trapping people stayed for a long time in the same place or returned to the same place regularly. Large amounts of gnawed bones show that they lived on, among other things, reindeer, elk, small game and fish.
Flintstone was imported from Denmark and apart from small natural deposits along the southern coast, all flintstone in Norway is transported by people. At Espevær, greenstone was quarried for tools in the Stone Age, and greenstone tools from Espevær have been found over large parts of Western Norway. Around 2000-3000 BC the usual farm animals such as cows and sheep were introduced to Norway. Livestock probably meant a fundamental change in society in that part of the people had to be permanent residents or live a semi-nomadic life. Livestock farming may also have led to conflict with hunters.
The oldest traces of people in what is today Norway have been found at Pauler , a farm in Brunlanes in Larvik municipality in Vestfold . In 2007 and 2008, the farm has given its name to a number of Stone Age settlements that have been excavated and examined by archaeologists from the Cultural History Museum at UiO. The investigations have been carried out in connection with the new route for the E18 motorway west of Farris. The oldest settlement, located more than 127 m above sea level, is dated to be about 10,400 years old (uncalibrated, more than 11,000 years in real calendar years). From here, the ice sheet was perhaps visible when people settled here. This locality has been named Pauler I, and is today considered to be the oldest confirmed human traces in Norway to date. The place is in the mountains above the Pauler tunnel on the E18 between Larvik and Porsgrunn . The pioneer settlement is a term archaeologists have adopted for the oldest settlement. The archaeologists have speculated about where they came from, the first people in what is today Norway. It has been suggested that they could come by boat or perhaps across the ice from Doggerland or the North Sea, but there is now a large consensus that they came north along what is today the Bohuslän coast. The Fosna culture , the Komsa culture and the Nøstvet culture are the traditional terms for hunting cultures from the Stone Age. One thing is certain - getting to the water was something they mastered, the first people in our country. Therefore, within a short time they were able to use our entire long coast.
In the New Stone Age (4000 BC–1700 BC) there is a theory that a new people immigrated to the country, the so-called Stone Ax People . Rock carvings from this period show motifs from hunting and fishing , which were still important industries. From this period, a megalithic tomb has been found in Østfold .
It is uncertain whether there were organized societies or state-like associations in the Stone Age in Norway. Findings from settlements indicate that many lived together and that this was probably more than one family so that it was a slightly larger, organized herd.
Finnmark
In prehistoric times, animal husbandry and agriculture were of little economic importance in Finnmark. Livelihoods in Finnmark were mainly based on fish, gathering, hunting and trapping, and eventually domestic reindeer herding became widespread in the Middle Ages. Archaeological finds from the Stone Age have been referred to as the Komsa culture and comprise around 5,000 years of settlement. Finnmark probably got its first settlement around 8000 BC. It is believed that the coastal areas became ice-free 11,000 years BC and the fjord areas around 9,000 years BC. after which willows, grass, heather, birch and pine came into being. Finnmarksvidda was covered by pine forest around 6000 BC. After the Ice Age, the land rose around 80 meters in the inner fjord areas (Alta, Tana, Varanger). Due to ice melting in the polar region, the sea rose in the period 6400–3800 BC. and in areas with little land elevation, some settlements from the first part of the Stone Age were flooded. On Sørøya, the net sea level rise was 12 to 14 meters and many residential areas were flooded.
According to Bjørnar Olsen , there are many indications of a connection between the oldest settlement in Western Norway (the " Fosnakulturen ") and that in Finnmark, but it is uncertain in which direction the settlement took place. In the earliest part of the Stone Age, settlement in Finnmark was probably concentrated in the coastal areas, and these only reflected a lifestyle with great mobility and no permanent dwellings. The inner regions, such as Pasvik, were probably used seasonally. The archaeologically proven settlements from the Stone Age in inner Finnmark and Troms are linked to lakes and large watercourses. The oldest petroglyphs in Alta are usually dated to 4200 BC, that is, the Neolithic . Bjørnar Olsen believes that the oldest can be up to 2,000 years older than this.
From around 4000 BC a slow deforestation of Finnmark began and around 1800 BC the vegetation distribution was roughly the same as in modern times. The change in vegetation may have increased the distance between the reindeer's summer and winter grazing. The uplift continued slowly from around 4000 BC. at the same time as sea level rise stopped.
According to Gutorm Gjessing, the settlement in Finnmark and large parts of northern Norway in the Neolithic was semi-nomadic with movement between four seasonal settlements (following the pattern of life in Sami siida in historical times): On the outer coast in summer (fishing and seal catching) and inland in winter (hunting for reindeer, elk and bear). Povl Simonsen believed instead that the winter residence was in the inner fjord area in a village-like sod house settlement. Bjørnar Olsen believes that at the end of the Stone Age there was a relatively settled population along the coast, while inland there was less settlement and a more mobile lifestyle.
Bronze Age (1700 BC–500 BC)
Bronze was used for tools in Norway from around 1500 BC. Bronze is a mixture of tin and copper , and these metals were introduced because they were not mined in the country at the time. Bronze is believed to have been a relatively expensive material. The Bronze Age in Norway can be divided into two phases:
Early Bronze Age (1700–1100 BC)
Younger Bronze Age (1100–500 BC)
For the prehistoric (unwritten) era, there is limited knowledge about social conditions and possible state formations. From the Bronze Age, there are large burial mounds of stone piles along the coast of Vestfold and Agder, among others. It is likely that only chieftains or other great men could erect such grave monuments and there was probably some form of organized society linked to these. In the Bronze Age, society was more organized and stratified than in the Stone Age. Then a rich class of chieftains emerged who had close connections with southern Scandinavia. The settlements became more permanent and people adopted horses and ard . They acquired bronze status symbols, lived in longhouses and people were buried in large burial mounds . Petroglyphs from the Bronze Age indicate that humans practiced solar cultivation.
Finnmark
In the last millennium BC the climate became cooler and the pine forest disappears from the coast; pine forests, for example, were only found in the innermost part of the Altafjord, while the outer coast was almost treeless. Around the year 0, the limit for birch forest was south of Kirkenes. Animals with forest habitats (elk, bear and beaver) disappeared and the reindeer probably established their annual migration routes sometime at that time. In the period 1800–900 BC there were significantly more settlements in and utilization of the hinterland was particularly noticeable on Finnmarksvidda. From around 1800 BC until year 0 there was a significant increase in contact between Finnmark and areas in the east including Karelia (where metals were produced including copper) and central and eastern Russia. The youngest petroglyphs in Alta show far more boats than the earlier phases and the boats are reminiscent of types depicted in petroglyphs in southern Scandinavia. It is unclear what influence southern Scandinavian societies had as far north as Alta before the year 0. Many of the cultural features that are considered typical Sami in modern times were created or consolidated in the last millennium BC, this applies, among other things, to the custom of burying in brick chambers in stone urns. The Mortensnes burial ground may have been used for 2000 years until around 1600 AD.
Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 1050 AD)
The Einangsteinen is one of the oldest Norwegian runestones; it is from the 4th century
Simultaneous production of Vikings
Around 500 years BC the researchers reckon that the Bronze Age will be replaced by the Iron Age as iron takes over as the most important material for weapons and tools. Bronze, wood and stone were still used. Iron was cheaper than bronze, easier to work than flint , and could be used for many purposes; iron probably became common property. Iron could, among other things, be used to make solid and sharp axes which made it much easier to fell trees. In the Iron Age, gold and silver were also used partly for decoration and partly as means of payment. It is unknown which language was used in Norway before our era. From around the year 0 until around the year 800, everyone in Scandinavia (except the Sami) spoke Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Subsequently, several different languages developed in this area that were only partially mutually intelligible. The Iron Age is divided into several periods:
Early Iron Age
Pre-Roman Iron Age (c. 500 BC–c. 0)
Roman Iron Age (c. 0–c. AD 400)
Migration period (approx. 400–600). In the migration period (approx. 400–600), new peoples came to Norway, and ruins of fortress buildings etc. are interpreted as signs that there has been talk of a violent invasion.
Younger Iron Age
Merovingian period (500–800)
The Viking Age (793–1066)
Norwegian Vikings go on plundering expeditions and trade voyages around the coastal countries of Western Europe . Large groups of Norwegians emigrate to the British Isles , Iceland and Greenland . Harald Hårfagre starts a unification process of Norway late in the 8th century , which was completed by Harald Hardråde in the 1060s . The country was Christianized under the kings Olav Tryggvason , fell in the battle of Svolder ( 1000 ) and Olav Haraldsson (the saint), fell in the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 .
Sources of prehistoric times
Shrinking glaciers in the high mountains, including in Jotunheimen and Breheimen , have from around the year 2000 uncovered objects from the Viking Age and earlier. These are objects of organic material that have been preserved by the ice and that elsewhere in nature are broken down in a few months. The finds are getting older as the melting makes the archaeologists go deeper into the ice. About half of all archaeological discoveries on glaciers in the world are made in Oppland . In 2013, a 3,400-year-old shoe and a robe from the year 300 were found. Finds at Lomseggen in Lom published in 2020 revealed, among other things, well-preserved horseshoes used on a mountain pass. Many hundreds of items include preserved clothing, knives, whisks, mittens, leather shoes, wooden chests and horse equipment. A piece of cloth dated to the year 1000 has preserved its original colour. In 2014, a wooden ski from around the year 700 was found in Reinheimen . The ski is 172 cm long and 14 cm wide, with preserved binding of leather and wicker.
Pytheas from Massalia is the oldest known account of what was probably the coast of Norway, perhaps somewhere on the coast of Møre. Pytheas visited Britannia around 325 BC. and traveled further north to a country by the "Ice Sea". Pytheas described the short summer night and the midnight sun farther north. He wrote, among other things, that people there made a drink from grain and honey. Caesar wrote in his work about the Gallic campaign about the Germanic tribe Haruders. Other Roman sources around the year 0 mention the land of the Cimbri (Jutland) and the Cimbri headlands ( Skagen ) and that the sources stated that Cimbri and Charyds lived in this area. Some of these peoples may have immigrated to Norway and there become known as hordes (as in Hordaland). Sources from the Mediterranean area referred to the islands of Scandia, Scandinavia and Thule ("the outermost of all islands"). The Roman historian Tacitus wrote around the year 100 a work about Germania and mentioned the people of Scandia, the Sviones. Ptolemy wrote around the year 150 that the Kharudes (Hordes) lived further north than all the Cimbri, in the north lived the Finnoi (Finns or Sami) and in the south the Gutai (Goths). The Nordic countries and Norway were outside the Roman Empire , which dominated Europe at the time. The Gothic-born historian Jordanes wrote in the 5th century about 13 tribes or people groups in Norway, including raumaricii (probably Romerike ), ragnaricii ( Ranrike ) and finni or skretefinni (skrid finner or ski finner, i.e. Sami) as well as a number of unclear groups. Prokopios wrote at the same time about Thule north of the land of the Danes and Slavs, Thule was ten times as big as Britannia and the largest of all the islands. In Thule, the sun was up 40 days straight in the summer. After the migration period , southern Europeans' accounts of northern Europe became fuller and more reliable.
Settlement in prehistoric times
Norway has around 50,000 farms with their own names. Farm names have persisted for a long time, over 1000 years, perhaps as much as 2000 years. The name researchers have arranged different types of farm names chronologically, which provides a basis for determining when the place was used by people or received a permanent settlement. Uncompounded landscape names such as Haug, Eid, Vik and Berg are believed to be the oldest. Archaeological traces indicate that some areas have been inhabited earlier than assumed from the farm name. Burial mounds also indicate permanent settlement. For example, the burial ground at Svartelva in Løten was used from around the year 0 to the year 1000 when Christianity took over. The first farmers probably used large areas for inland and outland, and new farms were probably established based on some "mother farms". Names such as By (or Bø) show that it is an old place of residence. From the older Iron Age, names with -heim (a common Germanic word meaning place of residence) and -stad tell of settlement, while -vin and -land tell of the use of the place. Farm names in -heim are often found as -um , -eim or -em as in Lerum and Seim, there are often large farms in the center of the village. New farm names with -city and -country were also established in the Viking Age . The first farmers probably used the best areas. The largest burial grounds, the oldest archaeological finds and the oldest farm names are found where the arable land is richest and most spacious.
It is unclear whether the settlement expansion in Roman times, migrations and the Iron Age is due to immigration or internal development and population growth. Among other things, it is difficult to demonstrate where in Europe the immigrants have come from. The permanent residents had both fields (where grain was grown) and livestock that grazed in the open fields, but it is uncertain which of these was more important. Population growth from around the year 200 led to more utilization of open land, for example in the form of settlements in the mountains. During the migration period, it also seems that in parts of the country it became common to have cluster gardens or a form of village settlement.
Norwegian expansion northwards
From around the year 200, there was a certain migration by sea from Rogaland and Hordaland to Nordland and Sør-Troms. Those who moved settled down as a settled Iron Age population and became dominant over the original population which may have been Sami . The immigrant Norwegians, Bumen , farmed with livestock that were fed inside in the winter as well as some grain cultivation and fishing. The northern border of the Norwegians' settlement was originally at the Toppsundet near Harstad and around the year 500 there was a Norwegian settlement to Malangsgapet. That was as far north as it was possible to grow grain at the time. Malangen was considered the border between Hålogaland and Finnmork until around 1400 . Further into the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, there was immigration and settlement of Norwegian speakers along the coast north of Malangen. Around the year 800, Norwegians lived along the entire outer coast to Vannøy . The Norwegians partly copied Sami livelihoods such as whaling, fur hunting and reindeer husbandry. It was probably this area between Malangen and Vannøy that was Ottar from the Hålogaland area. In the Viking Age, there were also some Norwegian settlements further north and east. East of the North Cape are the scattered archaeological finds of Norwegian settlement in the Viking Age. There are Norwegian names for fjords and islands from the Viking Age, including fjord names with "-anger". Around the year 1050, there were Norwegian settlements on the outer coast of Western Finnmark. Traders and tax collectors traveled even further.
North of Malangen there were Norse farming settlements in the Iron Age. Malangen was considered Finnmark's western border until 1300. There are some archaeological traces of Norse activity around the coast from Tromsø to Kirkenes in the Viking Age. Around Tromsø, the research indicates a Norse/Sami mixed culture on the coast.
From the year 1100 and the next 200–300 years, there are no traces of Norwegian settlement north and east of Tromsø. It is uncertain whether this is due to depopulation, whether it is because the Norwegians further north were not Christianized or because there were no churches north of Lenvik or Tromsø . Norwegian settlement in the far north appears from sources from the 14th century. In the Hanseatic period , the settlement was developed into large areas specialized in commercial fishing, while earlier (in the Viking Age) there had been farms with a combination of fishing and agriculture. In 1307 , a fortress and the first church east of Tromsø were built in Vardø . Vardø became a small Norwegian town, while Vadsø remained Sami. Norwegian settlements and churches appeared along the outermost coast in the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, perhaps as a result of a decline in fish stocks or fish prices, there were Norwegian settlements in the inner fjord areas such as Lebesby in Laksefjord. Some fishing villages at the far end of the coast were abandoned for good. In the interior of Finnmark, there was no national border for a long time and Kautokeino and Karasjok were joint Norwegian-Swedish areas with strong Swedish influence. The border with Finland was established in 1751 and with Russia in 1826.
On a Swedish map from 1626, Norway's border is indicated at Malangen, while Sweden with this map showed a desire to control the Sami area which had been a common area.
The term Northern Norway only came into use at the end of the 19th century and administratively the area was referred to as Tromsø Diocese when Tromsø became a bishopric in 1840. There had been different designations previously: Hålogaland originally included only Helgeland and when Norse settlement spread north in the Viking Age and the Middle Ages, Hålogaland was used for the area north approximately to Malangen , while Finnmark or "Finnmarken", "the land of the Sami", lay outside. The term Northern Norway was coined at a cafe table in Kristiania in 1884 by members of the Nordlændingernes Forening and was first commonly used in the interwar period as it eventually supplanted "Hålogaland".
State formation
The battle in Hafrsfjord in the year 872 has long been regarded as the day when Norway became a kingdom. The year of the battle is uncertain (may have been 10-20 years later). The whole of Norway was not united in that battle: the process had begun earlier and continued a couple of hundred years later. This means that the geographical area became subject to a political authority and became a political unit. The geographical area was perceived as an area as it is known, among other things, from Ottar from Hålogaland's account for King Alfred of Wessex around the year 880. Ottar described "the land of the Norwegians" as very long and narrow, and it was narrowest in the far north. East of the wasteland in the south lay Sveoland and in the north lay Kvenaland in the east. When Ottar sailed south along the land from his home ( Malangen ) to Skiringssal, he always had Norway ("Nordveg") on his port side and the British Isles on his starboard side. The journey took a good month. Ottar perceived "Nordveg" as a geographical unit, but did not imply that it was a political unit. Ottar separated Norwegians from Swedes and Danes. It is unclear why Ottar perceived the population spread over such a large area as a whole. It is unclear whether Norway as a geographical term or Norwegians as the name of a ethnic group is the oldest. The Norwegians had a common language which in the centuries before Ottar did not differ much from the language of Denmark and Sweden.
According to Sverre Steen, it is unlikely that Harald Hårfagre was able to control this entire area as one kingdom. The saga of Harald was written 300 years later and at his death Norway was several smaller kingdoms. Harald probably controlled a larger area than anyone before him and at most Harald's kingdom probably included the coast from Trøndelag to Agder and Vestfold as well as parts of Viken . There were probably several smaller kingdoms of varying extent before Harald and some of these are reflected in traditional landscape names such as Ranrike and Ringerike . Landscape names of "-land" (Rogaland) and "-mark" (Hedmark) as well as names such as Agder and Sogn may have been political units before Harald.
According to Sverre Steen, the national assembly was completed at the earliest at the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 and the introduction of Christianity was probably a significant factor in the establishment of Norway as a state. Håkon I the good Adalsteinsfostre introduced the leasehold system where the "coastal land" (as far as the salmon went up the rivers) was divided into ship raiders who were to provide a longship with soldiers and supplies. The leidange was probably introduced as a defense against the Danes. The border with the Danes was traditionally at the Göta älv and several times before and after Harald Hårfagre the Danes had control over central parts of Norway.
Christianity was known and existed in Norway before Olav Haraldson's time. The spread occurred both from the south (today's Denmark and northern Germany) and from the west (England and Ireland). Ansgar of Bremen , called the "Apostle of the North", worked in Sweden, but he was never in Norway and probably had little influence in the country. Viking expeditions brought the Norwegians of that time into contact with Christian countries and some were baptized in England, Ireland and northern France. Olav Tryggvason and Olav Haraldson were Vikings who returned home. The first Christians in Norway were also linked to pre-Christian local religion, among other things, by mixing Christian symbols with symbols of Odin and other figures from Norse religion.
According to Sverre Steen, the introduction of Christianity in Norway should not be perceived as a nationwide revival. At Mostratinget, Christian law was introduced as law in the country and later incorporated into the laws of the individual jurisdictions. Christianity primarily involved new forms in social life, among other things exposure and images of gods were prohibited, it was forbidden to "put out" unwanted infants (to let them die), and it was forbidden to have multiple wives. The church became a nationwide institution with a special group of officials tasked with protecting the church and consolidating the new religion. According to Sverre Steen, Christianity and the church in the Middle Ages should therefore be considered together, and these became a new unifying factor in the country. The church and Christianity linked Norway to Roman Catholic Europe with Church Latin as the common language, the same time reckoning as the rest of Europe and the church in Norway was arranged much like the churches in Denmark, Sweden and England. Norway received papal approval in 1070 and became its own church province in 1152 with Archbishop Nidaros .
With Christianity, the country got three social powers: the peasants (organized through the things), the king with his officials and the church with the clergy. The things are the oldest institution: At allthings all armed men had the right to attend (in part an obligation to attend) and at lagthings met emissaries from an area (that is, the lagthings were representative assemblies). The Thing both ruled in conflicts and established laws. The laws were memorized by the participants and written down around the year 1000 or later in the Gulationsloven , Frostatingsloven , Eidsivatingsloven and Borgartingsloven . The person who had been successful at the hearing had to see to the implementation of the judgment themselves.
Early Middle Ages (1050s–1184)
The early Middle Ages is considered in Norwegian history to be the period between the end of the Viking Age around 1050 and the coronation of King Sverre in 1184 . The beginning of the period can be dated differently, from around the year 1000 when the Christianization of the country took place and up to 1100 when the Viking Age was over from an archaeological point of view. From 1035 to 1130 it was a time of (relative) internal peace in Norway, even several of the kings attempted campaigns abroad, including in 1066 and 1103 .
During this period, the church's organization was built up. This led to a gradual change in religious customs. Religion went from being a domestic matter to being regulated by common European Christian law and the royal power gained increased power and influence. Slavery (" servitude ") was gradually abolished. The population grew rapidly during this period, as the thousands of farm names ending in -rud show.
The urbanization of Norway is a historical process that has slowly but surely changed Norway from the early Viking Age to today, from a country based on agriculture and sea salvage, to increasingly trade and industry. As early as the ninth century, the country got its first urban community, and in the eleventh century we got the first permanent cities.
In the 1130s, civil war broke out . This was due to a power struggle and that anyone who claimed to be the king's son could claim the right to the throne. The disputes escalated into extensive year-round warfare when Sverre Sigurdsson started a rebellion against the church's and the landmen's candidate for the throne , Magnus Erlingsson .
Emergence of cities
The oldest Norwegian cities probably emerged from the end of the 9th century. Oslo, Bergen and Nidaros became episcopal seats, which stimulated urban development there, and the king built churches in Borg , Konghelle and Tønsberg. Hamar and Stavanger became new episcopal seats and are referred to in the late 12th century as towns together with the trading places Veøy in Romsdal and Kaupanger in Sogn. In the late Middle Ages, Borgund (on Sunnmøre), Veøy (in Romsdalsfjorden) and Vågan (in Lofoten) were referred to as small trading places. Urbanization in Norway occurred in few places compared to the neighboring countries, only 14 places appear as cities before 1350. Stavanger became a bishopric around 1120–1130, but it is unclear whether the place was already a city then. The fertile Jæren and outer Ryfylke were probably relatively densely populated at that time. A particularly large concentration of Irish artefacts from the Viking Age has been found in Stavanger and Nord-Jæren.
It has been difficult to estimate the population in the Norwegian medieval cities, but it is considered certain that the cities grew rapidly in the Middle Ages. Oscar Albert Johnsen estimated the city's population before the Black Death at 20,000, of which 7,000 in Bergen, 3,000 in Nidaros, 2,000 in Oslo and 1,500 in Tunsberg. Based on archaeological research, Lunden estimates that Oslo had around 1,500 inhabitants in 250 households in the year 1300. Bergen was built up more densely and, with the concentration of exports there, became Norway's largest city in a special position for several hundred years. Knut Helle suggests a city population of 20,000 at most in the High Middle Ages, of which almost half in Bergen.
The Bjarkøyretten regulated the conditions in cities (especially Bergen and Nidaros) and in trading places, and for Nidaros had many of the same provisions as the Frostating Act . Magnus Lagabøte's city law replaced the bjarkøretten and from 1276 regulated the settlement in Bergen and with corresponding laws also drawn up for Oslo, Nidaros and Tunsberg. The city law applied within the city's roof area . The City Act determined that the city's public streets consisted of wide commons (perpendicular to the shoreline) and ran parallel to the shoreline, similarly in Nidaros and Oslo. The roads were small streets of up to 3 cubits (1.4 metres) and linked to the individual property. From the Middle Ages, the Norwegian cities were usually surrounded by wooden fences. The urban development largely consisted of low wooden houses which stood in contrast to the relatively numerous and dominant churches and monasteries built in stone.
The City Act and supplementary provisions often determined where in the city different goods could be traded, in Bergen, for example, cattle and sheep could only be traded on the Square, and fish only on the Square or directly from the boats at the quayside. In Nidaros, the blacksmiths were required to stay away from the densely populated areas due to the risk of fire, while the tanners had to stay away from the settlements due to the strong smell. The City Act also attempted to regulate the influx of people into the city (among other things to prevent begging in the streets) and had provisions on fire protection. In Oslo, from the 13th century or earlier, it was common to have apartment buildings consisting of single buildings on a couple of floors around a courtyard with access from the street through a gate room. Oslo's medieval apartment buildings were home to one to four households. In the urban farms, livestock could be kept, including pigs and cows, while pastures and fields were found in the city's rooftops . In the apartment buildings there could be several outbuildings such as warehouses, barns and stables. Archaeological excavations show that much of the buildings in medieval Oslo, Trondheim and Tønsberg resembled the oblong farms that have been preserved at Bryggen in Bergen . The land boundaries in Oslo appear to have persisted for many hundreds of years, in Bergen right from the Middle Ages to modern times.
High Middle Ages (1184–1319)
After civil wars in the 12th century, the country had a relative heyday in the 13th century. Iceland and Greenland came under the royal authority in 1262 , and the Norwegian Empire reached its greatest extent under Håkon IV Håkonsson . The last king of Haraldsätten, Håkon V Magnusson , died sonless in 1319 . Until the 17th century, Norway stretched all the way down to the mouth of Göta älv , which was then Norway's border with Sweden and Denmark.
Just before the Black Death around 1350, there were between 65,000 and 85,000 farms in the country, and there had been a strong growth in the number of farms from 1050, especially in Eastern Norway. In the High Middle Ages, the church or ecclesiastical institutions controlled 40% of the land in Norway, while the aristocracy owned around 20% and the king owned 7%. The church and monasteries received land through gifts from the king and nobles, or through inheritance and gifts from ordinary farmers.
Settlement and demography in the Middle Ages
Before the Black Death, there were more and more farms in Norway due to farm division and clearing. The settlement spread to more marginal agricultural areas higher inland and further north. Eastern Norway had the largest areas to take off and had the most population growth towards the High Middle Ages. Along the coast north of Stad, settlement probably increased in line with the extent of fishing. The Icelandic Rimbegla tells around the year 1200 that the border between Finnmark (the land of the Sami) and resident Norwegians in the interior was at Malangen , while the border all the way out on the coast was at Kvaløya . From the end of the High Middle Ages, there were more Norwegians along the coast of Finnmark and Nord-Troms. In the inner forest and mountain tracts along the current border between Norway and Sweden, the Sami exploited the resources all the way down to Hedmark.
There are no censuses or other records of population and settlement in the Middle Ages. At the time of the Reformation, the population was below 200,000 and only in 1650 was the population at the same level as before the Black Death. When Christianity was introduced after the year 1000, the population was around 200,000. After the Black Death, many farms and settlements were abandoned and deserted, in the most marginal agricultural areas up to 80% of the farms were abandoned. Places such as Skien, Veøy and Borgund (Ålesund) went out of use as trading towns. By the year 1300, the population was somewhere between 300,000 and 560,000 depending on the calculation method. Common methods start from detailed information about farms in each village and compare this with the situation in 1660 when there are good headcounts. From 1300 to 1660, there was a change in the economic base so that the coastal villages received a larger share of the population. The inland areas of Eastern Norway had a relatively larger population in the High Middle Ages than after the Reformation. Kåre Lunden concludes that the population in the year 1300 was close to 500,000, of which 15,000 lived in cities. Lunden believes that the population in 1660 was still slightly lower than the peak before the Black Death and points out that farm settlement in 1660 did not reach the same extent as in the High Middle Ages. In 1660, the population in Troms and Finnmark was 6,000 and 3,000 respectively (2% of the total population), in 1300 these areas had an even smaller share of the country's population and in Finnmark there were hardly any Norwegian-speaking inhabitants. In the High Middle Ages, the climate was more favorable for grain cultivation in the north. Based on the number of farms, the population increased 162% from 1000 to 1300, in Northern and Western Europe as a whole the growth was 200% in the same period.
Late Middle Ages (1319–1537)
Due to repeated plague epidemics, the population was roughly halved and the least productive of the country's farms were laid waste. It took several hundred years before the population again reached the level before 1349 . However, those who survived the epidemics gained more financial resources by sharing. Tax revenues for the state almost collapsed, and a large part of the noble families died out or sank into peasant status due to the fall in national debt . The Hanseatic League took over trade and shipping and dominated fish exports. The Archbishop of Nidaros was the country's most powerful man economically and politically, as the royal dynasty married into the Swedish in 1319 and died out in 1387 . Eventually, Copenhagen became the political center of the kingdom and Bergen the commercial center, while Trondheim remained the religious center.
From Reformation to Autocracy (1537–1660)
In 1537 , the Reformation was carried out in Norway. With that, almost half of the country's property was confiscated by the royal power at the stroke of a pen. The large seizure increased the king's income and was able, among other things, to expand his military power and consolidated his power in the kingdom. From roughly the time of the Reformation and in the following centuries, the state increased its power and importance in people's lives. Until around 1620, the state administration was fairly simple and unspecialised: in Copenhagen, the central administration mainly consisted of a chancellery and an interest chamber ; and sheriffs ruled the civil (including bailiffs and sheriffs) and the military in their district, the sheriffs collected taxes and oversaw business. The accounts were not clear and without summaries. The clergy, which had great power as a separate organization, was appointed by the state church after the Reformation, administered from Copenhagen. In this period, Norway was ruled by (mainly) Danish noble sheriffs, who acted as intermediaries between the peasants and the Oldenborg king in the field of justice, tax and customs collection.
From 1620, the state apparatus went through major changes where specialization of functions was a main issue. The sheriff's tasks were divided between several, more specialized officials - the sheriffs retained the formal authority over these, who in practice were under the national administration in Copenhagen. Among other things, a separate military officer corps was established, a separate customs office was established and separate treasurers for taxes and fees were appointed. The Overbergamtet, the central governing body for overseeing mining operations in Norway, was established in 1654 with an office in Christiania and this agency was to oversee the mining chiefs in the Nordenfjeld and Sønnenfjeld areas (the mines at Kongsberg and Røros were established in the previous decades). The formal transition from county government to official government with fixed-paid county officials took place after 1660, but the real changes had taken place from around 1620. The increased specialization and transition to official government meant that experts, not amateurs, were in charge of each area, and this civil service meant, according to Sverre Steen that the dictatorship was not a personal dictatorship.
From 1570 until 1721, the Oldenborg dynasty was in repeated wars with the Vasa dynasty in Sweden. The financing of these wars led to a severe increase in taxation which caused great distress.
Politically-geographically, the Oldenborg kings had to cede to Sweden the Norwegian provinces of Jemtland , Herjedalen , Idre and Särna , as well as Båhuslen . As part of the financing of the wars, the state apparatus was expanded. Royal power began to assert itself to a greater extent in the administration of justice. Until this period, cases of violence and defamation had been treated as civil cases between citizens. The level of punishment was greatly increased. During this period, at least 307 people were also executed for witchcraft in Norway. Culturally, the country was marked by the fact that the written language became Danish because of the Bible translation and the University of Copenhagen's educational monopoly.
From the 16th century, business became more marked by production for sale and not just own consumption. In the past, it was particularly the fisheries that had produced such a large surplus of goods that it was sold to markets far away, the dried fish trade via Bergen is known from around the year 1100. In the 16th century, the yield from the fisheries multiplied, especially due to the introduction of herring in Western Norway and in Trøndelag and because new tools made fishing for herring and skre more efficient. Line fishing and cod nets that were introduced in the 17th century were controversial because the small fishermen believed it favored citizens in the cities.
Forestry and the timber trade became an important business, particularly because of the boom saw which made it possible to saw all kinds of tables and planks for sale abroad. The demand for timber increased at the same time in Europe, Norway had plenty of forests and in the 17th century timber became the country's most important export product. There were hundreds of sawmills in the country and the largest had the feel of factories . In 1680, the king regulated the timber trade by allowing exports only from privileged sawmills and in a certain quantity.
From the 1520s, some silver was mined in Telemark. When the peasants chased the German miners whereupon the king executed five peasants and demanded compensation from the other rebellious peasants. The background for the harsh treatment was that the king wanted to assert his authority over the extraction of precious metals. The search for metals led to the silver works at Kongsberg after 1624, copper in the mountain villages between Trøndelag and Eastern Norway, and iron, among other things, in Agder and lower Telemark. The financial gain of the quarries at that time is unclear because there are no reliable accounts. Kongsberg ma
In The Belly of a Bear - Calgary artists Caitlind r.c. Brown, Wayne Garrett and Lane Shordee were the masterminds behind the dome with an interior lined in thick, warm fur. The sphere’s dark look comes from slightly torching the surface layer of its wooden exterior, which also weatherproofs it. The installation was one of the most popular with visitors, perhaps put in mind of Leonard DiCaprio's Revenant character, who sleeps inside a horse’s belly for warmth.
2014
100x100 cm, Holzrahmen und Holzstange mit Fahne.
Auf dem Weg zu einer besonderen Aufstellung im Freien
100x100 cm, wooden frame and wooden pole with flag.
Towards an outdoor to a special installation.
In addition to the 1 square meter object of iron for permanent outdoor installation and the different wooden boxes filled with modeled locations of the memory I have made transportable 1qm objects from weatherproof painted wooden beams,
raise awareness at selected sites in the world.
I started but intends in rural, monitored space are short-term ups in town and country,
and experimental stays for visitors in this limited piece of land.
There's even a collection I have in mind, because this 1qm floating object, as already tested in Schluchsee (black forest).
Neben dem 1qm-Objekt aus Eisen für dauerhafte Aufstellung im Freien und den unterschiedlich gefüllten Holzkästen mit modellierten Stellen der Erinnerung habe ich transportable 1qm-Objekte aus wetterfest bemalten Holzbalken hergestellt,
um ausgewählte Stellen der Welt ins Bewusstsein rücken.
Angefangen habe ich in ländlichem, überwachten Raum, aber beabsichtigt sind kurzzeitige Aufstellungen in Stadt und Land,
auch für experimentelle Aufenthalte für Besucher in diesem begrenzten Stückchen Erde.
Sogar eine Wassersammlung habe ich im Sinn, denn dieses 1qm-Objekt schwimmt, wie im Schluchsee bereits ausprobiert.
Fuji HD-P
Fujinon 2.8/38mm
Lomocolor 400
On tumblr: theatreofthemundane.tumblr.com
On Instagram: lemonhats
Letter reads - 100 Mile House, B.C.
April 4, 1927 - Dear Sir, Your sample I just received - think its very nice. But before ordering - some I would like to hear in regard to getting it across the line into British Columbia. How much duty and freight charges would then be on a $10 order from their to Exeter, British Columbia as that is the closest Rail Road Station. Or could a $6 or $7 order come through the mail. If so how much would it cost. Kindly let me hear from you. or do you have a store handing it hear in Canada. Awaiting your reply. Mrs. H.E. Houseman, 100 Mile House, British Columbia
Clemy / Clemmie Elizabeth (nee Neil) Houseman
(b. 1884 in Nebraska, USA - d. 27 August 1940 at age 56 in Kamloops, British Columbia)
Her husband - Harvey Edward Houseman
(b. 14 January 1879 in Hillsville, Carroll County, Virginia, USA - d. 14 October 1961 at age 82 in Williams Lake, B.C. / Chetwynd, British Columbia) - occupation - rancher
Jeremiah "Jay" Houseman was born in Gig Harbour, Washington. His mother was Clemmie Elizabeth Neil from Nebraska and his father Harvey Edward Houseman from Virginia. They brought with them 16 head of horses and his mother drove a democrat. He has some memories of the trip but not many. They went first to Alberta and then shipped everything to Ashcroft. From Ashcroft they took the road over Pavillion Mountain because the other road was so bad. Jack Duboise ran the 83 Mile House and it took six teams to pull the wagon over the 83 Mile hill because the mud was so bad. They arrived in 100 Mile House on the 9th of May 1918. Jeremiah was four years old. They had made no prior arrangements about land and settled next to Ed Goodridge just this side of Houseman Road. There was an old Frenchman called Napoleon Fisset who lived one mile on the other side of Goodridge. His father took a pre emption located at the end of Houseman Road and filed in Clinton for $2.50. They were required to do $1500 in improvements. Ten acres had to be cleared and cultivated within 10 years. The property was inspected annually by the local forest ranger who came around on horseback. That summer they camped in a tent set up under a tree. The built a log house (14’ X 28’) on the same spot and lived in it for 15 years. They had no furniture although they had brought along a few things including some beds. Jeremiah has no memory of a stove but his dad probably bought on in Clinton. It was a one week trip to go to Clinton and back by wagon and team. There was also a store at 100 Mile House, a bunkhouse and a cookhouse. A man called Wheeler ran the store. Once that they had met the requirement on the first homestead they took a second. They were also able to buy land for $1 an acre or lease it for 10 cents an acre. Jay’s brother was Lorne Herman Houseman. The family raised milk cows which they bought at the 107 mile for $250 each. They also grew and sold a lot of grain. They sold eggs at 9 cents a dozen. When not ranching Jeremiah’s dad worked on the railway. After 1927 things went downhill and during the 1930s you couldn’t give a cow away. LINK to the complete article - sites.google.com/site/forestgrovehistory/Home/jeremiah-ja...
Reply to her letter reads: April 20, 1927 - Mrs. H.E. Houseman, / 100 Mile House, / B.C. Canada. / Dear Mrs. Houseman: We were pleased to receive your kind letter of the 4th., stating that the sample of Powdrpaint sent you has demonstrated its usefulness and economy. It is certainly filling a long felt want for a good durable paint that is cheaper than oil paint. For the convenience of out Canadian customers, we have arranged with the Ross Supply Company 613 McIntyre Block, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to distribute our products and you can send your order direct to them at the prices quoted on the enclosed price list. They carry a complete stock of paint on hand and can make very prompt shipment. The price includes duty and sales tax, but are F.O.B. Winnipeg. We hope you will send your order to them at once and if you do, we know you will be pleased with the service. Yours very truly, H-P
The W.S. Rice Co. was not the only business the Rice family was involved in here in Adams. In 1898 Arthur Leffingwell Rice, brother of William S. Rice, discovered the use of a new type of cement binder for water colors. He received a patent in 1900 for Powdrpaint water colors which he called ‘paint without oil’. He established the A.L. Rice Company. Powdrpaint was a dry powder, which mixed with cold water, made a paint. It was advertised as weatherproof, fireproof, sunproof and sanitary. Powdrpaint water colors could be used in combination with other ingredients for various painting purposes: he added turpentine to the paint formula to cover grease spots on floors and walls, raw or boiled linseed oil was added for painting in rainy climates, kerosene was added for painting iron work, a little varnish was added to make a thin glaze finish, castor oil & turpentine were added to make a window shade or roll-scenery paint, and to keep walls germ free and washable (such as in schools and hospitals) formaldehyde added to wash water hardened to powdrpaint colors and killed germs. The powdrpaint sold for 90 cents for 5 lb. carton; $4.37 for 25 lb. box; $8.50 for 50 lb. box; $16.50 for 100 lb. keg and $54.25 for 350 lb. barrel. The company was incorporated as A.L. Rice, Inc. in January 1906 for the sale of oil and water paints, walls coatings, general merchandise and mail orders. The capital stock was $25,000. and the directors were: Arthur L. Rice, William S. Rice, and R.H. Snyder. LINK to the complete article - hasjny.tripod.com/id31.html
Arthur Leffingwell Rice was born on October 12, 1860, in Henderon Harbor, New York, to William Henry Rice and Mila E. Rice. Arthur married Caroline Sophia Rice. They had 2 children: William K. Rice and Florence E. Brown. Arthur passed away on October 11, 1920, at age 59 in Washington, District of Columbia. Arthur Rice died suddenly on 10/11/1920 in Washington, DC while on a business trip. He was 59 years old. The company was run by Karl W. Rice from 1920 to 12/1/1934 when he sold it to Herbert E. Woodward. The company failed to secure a major promoter and succumbed to the competition.
The weatherproof Finnish Lapphund is a tough and substantial reindeer herder from north of the Arctic Circle. This remarkably empathetic breed is among the friendliest of all dogs
Out on the rocks near Faria Campground, Ventura, California.
The tide was up too high, the waves were a little too big, so I couldn't quite get where I wanted to be: down low, and pretty much in the water. I had to settle for up on the rocks a bit, and kept getting splashed nontheless.
I don't care about me getting wet of course, but my camera isn't weatherproof, and wiping the lens every couple shots isn't that much fun. (well, it kinda is... plus I'm pretty used to it.)
I'm calling this 'Finally' because there just hasn't been very many decent sunsets around here lately. Also, the sun is finally starting to set over the ocean as summer is drawing to a close.
Also, some of you may think that I have the saturation boosted a bit. Not so. It's at '0'. I almost turned it down in fact...
Canon XTi
0.3 sec (+1Ev), f/16, ISO 100
Tamron 17-50mm @ 17mm
Explored (barely)... thank you all very much!!
MacroMondays Theme - Clothing
Project Flickr Theme - Love
114 Pictures in 2014 - No. 105 "In My Wardrobe"
I've had this Barbour for a few years now and it's been invaluable in the recent, wet weather that we've had in the UK. Taking a close look at it makes me realise that I need to re-wax it!
© 2014 Nicola Riley
'COLOURS 2'
It's been a while since I created an urban, ultra hi-rez panorama so it was high time to make a new one! I captured it during my tour of Dubai with Colby Brown who was visting the town for week.
Featured from the left to right is the Tallest Block in the World at Dubai Marina, followed by skyscrapers which form the Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR).
Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT) development can also be seen behind the front row of the buildings.
Tech talk:
To cover the full width of the panorama, I need 7 overlapping exposures.
As I usually shoot HDR in order to capture a wider dynamic range, I decided to go with 3 bracketed exposures for each frame (-2EV to +2EV) for a total of 21 exposures.
I used Canon 5Dmk2 and Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM UD. I love this lens - it's compact, weatherproof, very sharp and L-quality construction. I highly recommend it.
Camera was mounted securely on a very sturdy Gitzo GT-5541LS tripod and RRS BH-55 ballhead. It's an epic combination. For bracketing, I used an external shutter trigger, the awesome Promote Remote Control.
I was shooting at 70mm / f9.0 which is the sweet spot for this lens. At 70mm, image is quite flat and distortion free which is very important when shooting panoramas, especially very wide ones.
Pre-processing of Canon RAW files was done in Lightroom 4.4. I applied very minor sharpening, white balance tweaking but most importantly, I enabled optical correction with Lens Profile which took care of all image distortion, corner vignette and Chroma Aberrations. Those are your biggest enemies if you're shooting panoramas.
I exported 16-bit TIFF files and ended up with with 21 files which had to be tonemapped into 7x HDR images.
I ran Oloneo PhotoEngine, loaded first 3 images, adjusted my parameters and when I was happy with the look, I saved the HDR settings and ran the Batch function and pointed it to directory where the rest of the images were. Few minutes later, Oloneo created 7 HDR images with identical settings.
At this point I was ready to stitch the panorama in Photoshop. I ran the Photomerge function, pointed it to the directory where 7 HDR photographs were saved, enabled 'Seamless Blending' and let the software do its magic. About 5 minutes later, I found myself looking at a VERY wide image on my screen. Resolution was over 25,000 pixels horizontally and approximately 5700 pixels vertically.
At this point, I had to do a lot of cropping, perspective adjustments, colour corrections and other stuff before I was looking at the final image.
Final resolution of this panorama after cropping is 19104 x 4704 or close to 91 megapixels. Details are quite amazing. You can even see the curtains and interiors of individual flats!
I'll post a 1:1 crop of this image shortly.
It should look pretty spectacular on a 6 foot wide canvas!
And yep, the minutes after the sky turned all dark with heavy rain. Lucky the a77ii is weatherproofed!
HDR 3 exp.
The Canon WP-1 is a waterproof 35mm film camera.
There is some discrepancy (in Amazon.com reviews) as to whether this camera is actually waterproof or merely weatherproof. I don't know why this is, since Canon's literature states pretty clearly that it's waterproof. I even went a step further and talked to a Canon rep, who confirmed it.
At any rate, I took it swimming with me last weekend, and the inside was bone dry when I opened it up afterward. The picture quality is supposed to be excellent, although I haven't had my film developed yet. At the very least, it should be much better than those one-time-use waterproof cameras you get at the drug store, and you can get one almost as cheaply.
The WP-1 is nearly identical to the Sure Shot A-1, but I don't know what the difference is, other than the color of the grip.
Production of the WP-1 began in April of 1994. Technical specs can be found at Canon's website.
Taken back in my medium format film days, here's an old well used trailer truck box in its second life serving as a wharf storage shed. The overall condition of this container was pretty poor, but good enough to provide a decent lockable weatherproof place for whatever the owner needed to store. The sun was just a few minutes from setting and its low angle and position was perfect for illuminating the interior of the box.
Pentax 6x7 (MLU version), SMC Pentax 6x7 45mm f4 lens, Kodak Gold 100 color negative 120 roll film. Image edges cropped slightly to yield a nearly square image. This was copied using a Nikon D3500 camera, 55mm f/3.5 Micro Nikkor lens fitted with a Nikon 4T closeup lens, with a Soligor 1.6x achromatic closeup lens on the 4T. Lighting was provided by a 5000K LED bulb in a desk lamp.
DSC-0877K
Kelly rounded the next corner and followed into a park. Before the Choke it must have been a well-manicured green space for the local residential area. Now it had reverted into an overgrown marshland.
A thin haze hung over the area, gently drifting over shallow ponds of stagnant water which had once been clean-cut grass. Weeping willows hung down to the ground, creating an impenetrable curtain of leaves around the perimeter of the park. Rusted benches and lamp posts had been repurposed by nature into trellises, being thoroughly covered by vines, weeds, and moss. Tree roots were tangled and jotted through the stone path, Kelly had to make a conscious effort to avoid tripping over them.
She soon spotted Brine, pacing alongside a fountain in the center of the park. He heard the metallic quiver of her feet and instinctively turned to face her. Kelly dug her cleated heels into the damp stoned ground and came to a skidding stop.
“I thought you said you’d be a few minutes.” She said.
“Didn’t wanna seem like I was rushing you. Apparently you took it a different way.”
She had to look up at her colleague, his heavy Oni-model chassis towered over her by almost a foot. The lofty automaton met her gaze with his orange glowing optical housing. His chin was obscured by the collar of the bulky blast armor making up his torso. The rest of his body was painted in a livery of blues, with weatherproof rubber covers over most of his joints. He held his usual heavy automatic rifle over his shoulder like a lumberjack with an axe.
“You good to go?”
“Wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.” She nodded. “You brought ‘Clifford’ with you?”
He gestured with his free hand behind him. A quadruped ‘packhorse’ support drone laid in resting mode to the edge of the sidewalk.
“You got the nav-coordinates for the place?”
“Yep.”
A 2D map of the city formed in the corner of Kelly’s HUD vision. Given the digital maps were decades old, most operatives treated them more as a suggestion rather than a direct guide.
“Looks to be simple enough.” She said, mostly to herself.
“Keep heading west till we reach the freeway. At that point its just a short cross and we’re there.”
“Let’s get a move on then.”
Brine looked back to their resting droid. A high pitched, synthetic chirp sounded and the robot jerked to life. It raised itself up on all four feet until it was straightened out. It then began mindlessly marching to get within the ‘leashed’ following range of its master. Brine lowered his rifle in both hands and the two began their hike through the deserted city.
------------------------------
I recently downloaded some light-based brushes and decided to play around with them in this scene. It definitely looks a LOT better than me just doing it from scratch.
If you fave, comment as well
Stormy skies over this interesting looking log cabin in Brentwood, CA. I am not so sure the roof is weatherproof.
This is a 7-frame HDR pano using the A75mm f/2.8 lens on the 645D. HDR processing using Nik HDR Efex and stitched in Photoshop.
Thanks for looking!
100 MILE HOUSE is a town and district municipality located in the South Cariboo region of central British Columbia, Canada. 100 Mile House was originally known as Bridge Creek House, named after the creek running through the area. Its origins as a settlement go back to the time when Thomas Miller owned a collection of ramshackle buildings serving the traffic of the gold rush as a resting point for travellers moving between Kamloops and Fort Alexandria, which was 98 miles (158 km) north of 100 Mile House farther along the HBC Brigade Trail. It acquired its current name during the Cariboo Gold Rush where a roadhouse was constructed in 1862 at the 100 miles (160 km) mark up the Old Cariboo Road from Lillooet. 100 Mile House residents often go by the demonyms "Hundred Milers, Huncity"
In 1930, Lord Martin Cecil left England to come to 100 Mile House and manage the estate owned by his father, the 5th Marquess of Exeter. The estate's train stop on the Pacific Great Eastern (now BC Rail leased and operated by Canadian National) railway is to the west of town and called Exeter. The town, which at the time consisted of the roadhouse, a general store, a post office, telegraph office and a power plant, had a population of 12. The original road house burned down in 1937.
(from - Wrigley's 1918 British Columbia Directory) - ONE HUNDRED MILE HOUSE - a post office and cattle ranch on the Cariboo Road, 54 miles from Clinton, and 15 miles from Lac La Hache, in Lillooet Provincial Electoral District, reached by stage.
The 100 Mile House Post Office was established - 1 February 1916.
LINK to a list of the Postmasters who served at the 100 MILE HOUSE Post Office - recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/home/record...
sent from - / 100 MILE HOUSE / AP 4 / 27 / B.C. / - split ring cancel - this split ring hammer (A1-1) was proofed - 10 January 1916 - (RF B).
- sent by - Mrs. Houseman / 100 Mile House / B.C., Canada
Clemy / Clemmie Elizabeth (nee Neil) Houseman
(b. 1884 in Nebraska, USA - d. 27 August 1940 at age 56 in Kamloops, British Columbia)
Her husband - Harvey Edward Houseman
(b. 14 January 1879 in Hillsville, Carroll County, Virginia, USA - d. 14 October 1961 at age 82 in Williams Lake, B.C. / Chetwynd, British Columbia) - occupation - rancher - LINK to his death certificate - search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/85...
Jeremiah "Jay" Houseman was born in Gig Harbour, Washington. His mother was Clemmie Elizabeth Neil from Nebraska and his father Harvey Edward Houseman from Virginia. They brought with them 16 head of horses and his mother drove a democrat. He has some memories of the trip but not many. They went first to Alberta and then shipped everything to Ashcroft. From Ashcroft they took the road over Pavillion Mountain because the other road was so bad. Jack Duboise ran the 83 Mile House and it took six teams to pull the wagon over the 83 Mile hill because the mud was so bad. They arrived in 100 Mile House on the 9th of May 1918. Jeremiah was four years old. They had made no prior arrangements about land and settled next to Ed Goodridge just this side of Houseman Road. There was an old Frenchman called Napoleon Fisset who lived one mile on the other side of Goodridge. His father took a pre emption located at the end of Houseman Road and filed in Clinton for $2.50. They were required to do $1500 in improvements. Ten acres had to be cleared and cultivated within 10 years. The property was inspected annually by the local forest ranger who came around on horseback. That summer they camped in a tent set up under a tree. The built a log house (14’ X 28’) on the same spot and lived in it for 15 years. They had no furniture although they had brought along a few things including some beds. Jeremiah has no memory of a stove but his dad probably bought on in Clinton. It was a one week trip to go to Clinton and back by wagon and team. There was also a store at 100 Mile House, a bunkhouse and a cookhouse. A man called Wheeler ran the store. Once that they had met the requirement on the first homestead they took a second. They were also able to buy land for $1 an acre or lease it for 10 cents an acre. Jay’s brother was Lorne Herman Houseman. The family raised milk cows which they bought at the 107 mile for $250 each. They also grew and sold a lot of grain. They sold eggs at 9 cents a dozen. When not ranching Jeremiah’s dad worked on the railway. After 1927 things went downhill and during the 1930s you couldn’t give a cow away. LINK to the complete article - sites.google.com/site/forestgrovehistory/Home/jeremiah-ja...
- addressed to - A. L. RICE, Inc., / Paint-Makers / Adams, / N.Y. - on a company issued envelope.
The W.S. Rice Co. was not the only business the Rice family was involved in here in Adams. In 1898 Arthur Leffingwell Rice, brother of William S. Rice, discovered the use of a new type of cement binder for water colors. He received a patent in 1900 for Powdrpaint water colors which he called ‘paint without oil’. He established the A.L. Rice Company. Powdrpaint was a dry powder, which mixed with cold water, made a paint. It was advertised as weatherproof, fireproof, sunproof and sanitary. Powdrpaint water colors could be used in combination with other ingredients for various painting purposes: he added turpentine to the paint formula to cover grease spots on floors and walls, raw or boiled linseed oil was added for painting in rainy climates, kerosene was added for painting iron work, a little varnish was added to make a thin glaze finish, castor oil & turpentine were added to make a window shade or roll-scenery paint, and to keep walls germ free and washable (such as in schools and hospitals) formaldehyde added to wash water hardened to powdrpaint colors and killed germs. The powdrpaint sold for 90 cents for 5 lb. carton; $4.37 for 25 lb. box; $8.50 for 50 lb. box; $16.50 for 100 lb. keg and $54.25 for 350 lb. barrel. The company was incorporated as A.L. Rice, Inc. in January 1906 for the sale of oil and water paints, walls coatings, general merchandise and mail orders. The capital stock was $25,000. and the directors were: Arthur L. Rice, William S. Rice, and R.H. Snyder. LINK to the complete article - hasjny.tripod.com/id31.html
Arthur Leffingwell Rice was born on October 12, 1860, in Henderon Harbor, New York, to William Henry Rice and Mila E. Rice. Arthur married Caroline Sophia Rice. They had 2 children: William K. Rice and Florence E. Brown. Arthur passed away on October 11, 1920, at age 59 in Washington, District of Columbia. Arthur Rice died suddenly on 10/11/1920 in Washington, DC while on a business trip. He was 59 years old. The company was run by Karl W. Rice from 1920 to 12/1/1934 when he sold it to Herbert E. Woodward. The company failed to secure a major promoter and succumbed to the competition.
Felt lonely last night, so took a stroll in the city late last night, just to discover a new fascination for night city photography. The only thing I had on me was a #3leggedthing & a #FujiFilm #XE1 .
Due to the weight & flexibility of the rig, I was able to let the creative juices flow smoothly, without any hurdles, weight issues or without the need to set up shop, every time I saw an interesting perspective. Scouting, setting up & execution has never been so easy. Just make it weatherproof & it would the perfect little companion :)
Ruysdaelkade 31/01/2021 13h27
A new phenomenon in the Netherlands and Amsterdam for a few years now; the mini library or public bookcase. This beautiful one is located on the Ruysdaelkade near the Stadhouderskade and Rijksmuseum in Zuid. In Dutch these book cases are named a minibieb (mini library). I was told that there are around 200 in the city of Amsterdam.
Minibieb
A public bookcase is a cabinet which may be freely and anonymously used for the exchange and storage of books without the formalities associated with libraries. When in public places these cabinets are of a robust and weatherproof design which are available at all times.
When the cupboard has the shape of a dovecote, it is also called a book house (in Dutch boekentil) .
The principle of these public bookcases is based on the idea that several people actively share and exchange books. It is not the intention to appropriate books without providing another book or a small financial compensation. Variants on the public bookcase can be open cabinets and bookshelves in (semi-) public buildings, within companies for the staff on duty or in cafes, hotels or hostels for travelers.
In the Netherlands it was national "Day of the minibieb" on September 19, 2020, where a lot of attention was drawn locally by the media for the various minibies. People cite sustainability, the accessibility of the cupboards, but also the closing of the public library in the neighborhood as motivation for placing a mini library.
The Fürstenzug (English: Procession of Princes) in Dresden, Germany, is a large mural of a mounted procession of the rulers of Saxony. It was originally painted between 1871 and 1876 to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Wettin Dynasty, Saxony's ruling family. In order to make the work weatherproof, it was replaced with approximately 23,000 Meissen porcelain tiles between 1904 and 1907. With a length of 102 metres (335 ft), it is known as the largest porcelain artwork in the world. The mural displays the ancestral portraits of the 35 margraves, electors, dukes and kings of the House of Wettin between 1127 and 1904.
Shot at Khajjiar, Himachal Pradesh, India during an incredible hailstorm which lasted intermittently for several hours. The hail turned the balmy green meadow, the small lake and the dense forest into an icy fairy-tale landscape. It was the most intense and satisfying photo shoot I have ever done. I shot continuously right through the storm. I crossed the meadow and went into the forest. I waded into the semi frozen lake with my tripod mounted D700. I slipped and fell several times. I got hurt and bled a little. Mercifully my D700+ Nikon 28mm f/2.8 AI-s+Fisheye 16mm 2.8 proved to be storm-resistant! D700 is supposed to be a reasonably weatherproof camera. The old legacy Nikkors are probably sturdier than the new water and dust resistant G series pro glass! I was confident that they would be able to handle the ice and water. Whenever the storm got really bad, I took shelter under the giant deodar trees. I put the camera back into my Domke F2 Original ( which by the way is a stupendously rugged and sturdy camera bag). The front elements of the lenses were constantly speckled with droplets of ice and water. I kept wiping them with a micro fibre cloth. The droplets formed interesting patterns on many photographs!
Because of the Allies’ post-1945 ban on German aircraft manufacturing (lifted at the end of the 1950s), Heinkel and Messerschmitt refocused on the production of microcars. Dornier also contemplated entering the market. Meanwhile, the motorcycle manufacturer Zündapp sought to develop a more weatherproof vehicle, leading it to collaborate with Dornier to produce the uniquely coming-and-going style Janus, with an opening door at each end. The production run was brief, with just 6,902 examples being supplied between 1957 and 1958. Heinkel, Messerschmitt and BMW-Isetta offered competing models and a lower price, endind Zündapp’s involvement in the microcar sector.
Walking along Walkergate in Beverley, East Riding I found this piece of Art work fastened to the wall of a building with a plaque which reads: -
Frederick W Elwell R A (1870 - 1958) Girl with a Kitten (undated)
The Girl with a Kitten is one of Fred's most popular paintings. Its sentiment appealed to Victorian sensibilities and the picture has an enduring charm. He painted the subject on a number of occasions and the picture even features in his self portrait, An Artist in his Studio, which was painted sometime between 1896 - 1910.
The display of this painting is sponsored by Mr and Mrs D Peckett. Congratulation to them and to Beverley for bring art to the people. (Hope its a weatherproof copy)
50018 Resolution arrives at Exeter St David's from Waterloo and passes 'West Box' in April 1978
A scan from a negative. Most of my photos from this era were taken as transparencies and are now in the ownership of my friend Martin Loader. See the website for some of these photos www.vanguardpublications.co.uk/tomderrington/index.htm
Exeter West box is preserved. The signal box contained a lever frame of 114 levers, but this was replaced in 1959 by an even larger new frame of 131 levers. The box remained in use until 1985, when colour light signalling controlled electrically from a new signal box at Exeter was brought into use. After closure of Exeter West in 1985, the Exeter West Group moved in and dismantled the signal box, marking each of the hundreds of parts for future reference.
Initially all of the parts were moved to Bristol and a start was made on restoring the box to be a feature at Temple Meads station.
By summer 1988 it was clear that this project had foundered, but a home was offered at the proposed Swindon Heritage Centre. Everything was moved there, and restoration work continued until 1990. However a seemingly indefinite postponement of the heritage project at Swindon made it necessary to seek another site.
Finally a home was found at Crewe. Having moved all of the many parts, a start was finally made on the complex task of putting the box back together again in May 1991, the structure was complete and weatherproofed by the end of that year, and the Internal rebuilding continued through 1992. The signal box was formally opened to the public on May Day 1993.
50018 Resolution to traffic as D418 in April 1968.
Named Resolution on 6-4-78.
Withdrawn on 22-7-91 after spending it's last few years om the Waterloo route.
Scrapped at MC Metals, Glasgow in January 1993.
Peter took this picture of Bell Street looking towards The Bull Ring, what the picture cannot convey is the awful pong of fish! This was Birmingham's fish market and as the picture shows the ventilation was open slats in the sky light. On the corner of Lease Lane is a run down pub the Grand Turk, owned by the brewery Atkinsons. On the left side of the road is the Market hall, a fine building but roofless after a direct hit from a German bomb in WWII, after the bomb hit the interior was cleared of debris and weatherproof shops and stalls filled the space.
Today the whole area is lost under the Bull Ring Centre.
Peter Shoesmith*
I am not keen to add maps etc to Peter's work but this picture is almost to find without one.
Copyright Geoff Dowling & John Whitehouse: all rights reserved
The Fürstenzug (English: Procession of Princes) in Dresden, Germany, is a large mural of a mounted procession of the rulers of Saxony. It was originally painted between 1871 and 1876 to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Wettin Dynasty, Saxony's ruling family. In order to make the work weatherproof, it was replaced with approximately 23,000 Meissen porcelain tiles between 1904 and 1907. With a length of 102 metres (335 ft), it is known as the largest porcelain artwork in the world. The mural displays the ancestral portraits of the 35 margraves, electors, dukes and kings of the House of Wettin between 1127 and 1904.
The Fürstenzug is located on the outer wall of the Stallhof (Stables Courtyard) of Dresden Castle.
By 1589, the outer wall of the recently built Stallhof (Stables Courtyard) of the Dresden Castle was already decorated with a fresco.
For the upcoming 800th anniversary of the House of Wettin in 1889, another stucco version of a large-scale mural was commissioned. It was painted by the artist Wilhelm Walther between 1871 and 1876. Since the picture rapidly deteriorated, it was replaced with about 23,000 Meissen porcelain tiles between 1904 and 1907. The mural depicts the 35 Saxon margraves, electors, dukes and kings from Conrad, Margrave of Meissen, who ruled in the 12th century, to George of Saxony who was king for only two years in the 20th century. The only ones missing are Heinrich I von Eilenburg (c. 1089) and the last king of Saxony, Frederick Augustus III, who ruled from 1904 to 1918. Also shown are 59 scientists, artisans, craftsmen, children and farmers.
Only minimal damage to the tiles resulted from the February 13, 1945 bombing of Dresden.
The 35 noblemen, Margraves, Electors, Dukes and Kings, are shown on horseback while foot soldiers and other people accompany them. The name of each ruler is inscribed below his image. Everyone depicted wears contemporary clothing.
The Fürstenzug is 101.9 metres (334 ft) long and 10.5 metres (34 ft) high. Due to 18 windows in the upper part, the tile area comprises only 968 square meters. Each tile measures 20.5 centimetres (8.1 in) by 20.5 centimetres (8.1 in). Hence, approximately 23,000 tiles are placed on the wall.
(Wikipedia)
Der Fürstenzug in Dresden ist ein überlebensgroßes Bild eines Reiterzuges, aufgetragen auf rund 23.000 Fliesen aus Meißner Porzellan. Das 102 Meter lange, als größtes Porzellanwandbild der Welt geltende Kunstwerk stellt die Ahnengalerie der zwischen 1127 und 1873 in Sachsen herrschenden 34 Markgrafen, Herzöge, Kurfürsten und Könige aus dem Geschlecht des Fürstenhauses Wettin dar. Rechnet man jedoch noch den am Schluss des Zuges reitenden Prinzen Georg hinzu, der später auch König war, dann ergibt sich eine Gesamtzahl von 35 Herrschern der Wettiner, die im Reiterzug zu sehen sind.
Der Fürstenzug befindet sich in der Augustusstraße, unweit der Frauenkirche, zwischen Georgentor auf der einen Seite und dem Johanneum auf der anderen Seite. Hier wurde er in der heutigen Form im Jahre 1907 auf der Außenseite des Stallhofs vom Dresdner Residenzschloss angebracht.
Schon 1589 versah man die äußere Nordwand des gerade entstandenen Stallhofs mit einer Kalkfarbenmalerei. Diese war jedoch im 19. Jahrhundert verwittert; 1865 legte der Historienmaler Wilhelm Walther einen Entwurf zur Neugestaltung vor: Ein Festzug sächsischer Regenten, passend zur bevorstehenden 800-Jahr-Feier des Fürstenhauses der Wettiner im Jahr 1889. Zwischen 1868 und 1872 erstellte Walther eine insgesamt einhundert Meter lange und vier Meter hohe Vorlagenzeichnung mit Kohle auf quadriertem Papier. Diese wird heute, auf Leinwand aufgelegt, in den Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden in vier Zinkrollen gelagert. Die Herstellung des Wandbildes in Sgraffitotechnik, einer Putzkratztechnik, dauerte von 1872 bis 1876. Walther versuchte, Gesichtszüge und historische Einzelheiten so genau wie möglich wiederzugeben, wozu vorab durchgeführte jahrelange Studien in der Gemäldegalerie und im Schloss sowie die Anfertigung von Kartons im Maßstab 1:1 halfen. Der anfänglich gefeierte schwarz-weiße Bilderfries war jedoch nicht sehr witterungsbeständig; um die Jahrhundertwende zeigte er bedeutende Schäden. In den Jahren 1904 bis 1907 ersetzte man ihn daher durch fugenlos angepasste Keramikfliesen der Meißner Porzellanmanufaktur, wobei ein neues Verfahren erstmals zum Einsatz kam: Die angefertigten Fliesen wurden bei 1380 °C scharf gebrannt, mit einer Farbschicht überzogen, und nochmals gebrannt. Danach übertrugen Porzellanmaler das Bild auf die Fliesen, wobei die bei der Putzkratztechnik benutzten Originalkartons zum Einsatz kamen. Um die Fliesen haltbar zu machen, wurden sie nochmals im Scharffeuer gebrannt. Die etwa 23.000 Fliesen befestigte man von April bis Juli 1907 auf einen vorbereiteten Untergrundputz. Verlegt wurden die Fliesen von Angestellten der Königlichen Porzellan Manufaktur Meißen, welches auch ein Hinweis an der rechten Oberkante der gesamten Bildwand belegt.
Während der Arbeiten verstarb König Georg, der den Fürstenzug noch als damaliger Prinz abschließt. Sein Nachfolger, der letzte sächsische König Friedrich August III., sollte später ebenfalls in den Zug aufgenommen werden. Auf Anweisung des damaligen Finanzministers wurde mit Zustimmung von Friedrich August III. darauf verzichtet; das schon historisch gewordene Bild sollte unverändert bestehen bleiben.
Die Luftangriffe auf Dresden am Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs im Februar 1945 überstand der Fürstenzug weitgehend unbeschadet; das Porzellan hielt die Gluthitze des Feuers aus. Von 1978 bis 1979 wurde das Bild gereinigt und restauriert. Dabei waren 212 vom Krieg weitgehend zerstörte Fliesen zu ersetzen. Gleichzeitig ergänzte man 442 Fliesen, die weniger beschädigt waren.
Das ganze Werk soll einen Wandteppich (Bildwirkerei) darstellen. Oben wird der Wandteppich von 38 unterschiedlich gestalteten Befestigungsknöpfen an einer vom Künstler gedachten Wand gehalten. Unten zieren 38 große und 999 kleine Quasten in unregelmäßigen Abständen das gesamte Bild. Der auf dem Wandteppich künstlerisch dargestellte Lichteinfall kommt von oben links, welches deutlich am Schatten der Befestigungsknöpfe sichtbar wird. Im Bild selbst kommt der Lichteinfall dagegen von vorne links.
Oberhalb vom Fries setzt sich das Werk mit einem bildlichen Nebenschmuck zwischen den achtzehn Fenstern und darüber fort. Die vielen dekorativen Festons aus Blumen- und Fruchtgewinden wurden hier einst vom Architekten Weißbach mitgestaltet. Am Fuße der gemalten Säulen findet man Köpfe von Bären, Ebern, Elchen, Füchsen, Wölfen sowie Fischadlern mit ihrer Beute.
Im Zierrahmen werden sich lang hinziehende Ranken von unterschiedlichen Blüten, Blättern und Früchten, aber auch zahlreiche Vögel und Schmetterlinge, in edlen Formen dargestellt.[6] Im Zierrahmen befinden sich 45 Vögel und 9 Schmetterlinge. Die Schmetterlinge sind dabei nur im oberen Zierrahmen vorhanden, während die Vögel im oberen und im unteren Zierrahmen verteilt sind. Eröffnet wird der Zug durch einen Herold zu Ross, welcher sich halb zum folgenden Zug umwendet. An der linken Seite ist gerade noch eine festlich mit Girlanden umwundene Steinsäule zu erkennen. Der Weg ist sandig und ist mit Streublumen verziert. Neben zahlreichen Gräsern sind Eichensetzlinge, Eichenzweige, Fingerhut, diverse Distelarten, Maiglöckchen, Löwenzahn, Gänseblümchen, Klee, Tannenzweige und Fichtenzweige zu erkennen. Rosen liegen ebenfalls auf dem Weg und im Hintergrund sind einzelne Rosenpflanzen sichtbar. Heinrich der Erlauchte trägt eine Zither (Cister) auf dem Rücken. Er war ein Freund vom Minnesang und soll mit diesem Detail an die Zeit der Minnesänger erinnern. Albrecht II. (der Entartete) trägt keine Kopfbedeckung, sondern einen Rosenkranz auf dem Kopf. Friedrich der Streitbare ist im Zug der erste meißnische Fürst, welcher mit dem Kurhute geschmückt ist. Unter dem rechten Hinterhuf des Pferdes von August II. (August der Starke) wird eine blühende Rose zertreten. Dieses Detail gab dem Betrachter schon immer Rätsel auf. Vermutlich hat der Künstler Wilhelm Walther hier diskret auf das Schicksal von Constantia von Cosel, auch Gräfin Cosel genannt, aufmerksam machen wollen. Unter dem Pferd von König Johann liegt eine große verlorengegangene Hutfeder, welche vermutlich aus dem Hutschmuck von Johann Georg I. stammen könnte. Keine der dargestellten Personen trägt einen Ring als Fingerschmuck. Zwei Personen tragen sichtbar einen Ohrring.
Im Fürstenzug werden insgesamt 94 Personen dargestellt, davon reiten 45 Personen zu Pferd und 49 Personen gehen zu Fuß. Obwohl viele Personen anscheinend intensiv miteinander kommunizieren, ist bei den Beteiligten der Mund geschlossen. Der Künstler W. Walther überließ Gestik und Gestikulation den Vorrang. Die einzige sichtbar sprechende Person ist der Köhler Georg Schmidt, Retter des entführten Prinzen Albrecht im Altenburger Prinzenraub, welcher als mittlere Person hinter Albrecht dem Beherzten schreitet. Sechzehn Personen schauen aus dem Bild heraus und treten mit dem Betrachter in direkten Blickkontakt. Neben den 45 Pferden gibt es noch zwei Hunde und im Zierrahmen sind Vögel sowie Schmetterlinge zu sehen. Somit sind im Fürstenzug vier Tierarten vertreten. Pferde, Hunde, Vögel und Schmetterlinge. Es werden im Zug elf Fahnen mitgeführt, außerdem haben die vier Fanfaren der Bläser einen Fahnenschmuck. Neun Personen haben keinerlei Kopfbedeckung und fünfzig Personen tragen sichtbar einen Bart. Der in der Schlussgruppe befindliche sächsische Bauer hat möglicherweise ein Feuermal oder Muttermal (Nävus) auf der linken Gesichtshälfte.
Unterschiedliche Waffenarten werden durch die auf dem Fürstenzug dargestellten Personen mitgeführt. Zu sehen sind dabei Hiebwaffen, Stichwaffen, Säbel, das Bajonett, Hellebarden, Speere, Spieße, das Spetum, die Partisane, Dolche, Messer und verschiedene Schwertformen. Außerdem präsentiert man dem Betrachter unterschiedliche Lanzen, Degen, das Florett, Rapiere und das Stilett. Moritz von Sachsen trägt einen Kriegshammer mit Schlagdorn. Bei Johann Georg I. wird erstmals eine Handfeuerwaffe Radschlosspistole sichtbar. Sie ist dabei in einem Holfter am Reitsattel befestigt. Nachfolgend werden auch andere Schusswaffen, wie die Flinte, die Muskete, Vorderladerhandwaffen und Hinterladergewehre getragen. Das Gesamtwerk gibt somit auch einen gewissen Einblick in die geschichtliche Entwicklung von Blank- und Feuerwaffen.
Die exakten Abmessungen des gesamten Wandbildes betragen – einer zeitgenössischen Bauzeichnung zufolge – 101,9 m Länge und 10,51 m Höhe.[7] Da sich im oberen Teil des Frieses 18 Fenster befinden, beträgt die mit Fliesen belegte Fläche lediglich 968 Quadratmeter. Die Abmessungen der einzelnen Fliesen sind 20,5 cm × 20,5 cm. Bei einer fugenfreien Verlegung sind damit ungefähr 23.000 Fliesen an der Wand angebracht, wobei wegen der eingeschlossenen Fenster auch Teilstücke zum Einsatz kamen.
Die oft genannte Zahl von ungefähr 25.000 Fliesen des Wandbildes entspricht der Anzahl, die insgesamt hergestellt wurden. Zahlreiche Fliesen benötigte man für die notwendigen Voruntersuchungen.
Insgesamt werden 94 Personen abgebildet. Es sind 34 Markgrafen, Herzöge, Kurfürsten und Könige Sachsens bis zum König Albert zu sehen. Hinter König Albert wurde vorausschauend schon dessen Bruder Georg, damals noch Prinz, ohne unten aufgeführte Regierungszeit in den Zug aufgenommen. Weiterhin sind 59 Wissenschaftler, Künstler, Handwerker, Soldaten, Kinder und Bauern, fünfundvierzig Pferde und zwei Windhunde dargestellt. Neben Vertretern der Kreuzschule, der Leipziger Universität und des Königlich Sächsischen Polytechnikums Dresden sind der Maler Ludwig Richter, die Bildhauer Ernst Hähnel und Johannes Schilling und schließlich Wilhelm Walther selbst mit Gehilfen hinter dem Tross der Regierungshäupter zu sehen. Seinen Lehrer Julius Hübner hat er zum Dank für die Weiterreichung des Auftrages an ihn und die Unterstützung als 12. Person von rechts abgebildet, den Entwurf des Fürstenzuges deshalb in Händen haltend. Bis auf Heinrich I. von Eilenburg (um 1089) und den letzten König Friedrich August III. sind sämtliche Regenten des Hauses Wettin in der Reihenfolge ihrer Regierungszeit angeordnet. Unter jedem, bis auf dem damals noch regierenden König Albert (nur Jahr vom Regierungsantritt) und dem noch nicht regierenden Prinzen Georg (ohne Jahr), ist der Name und die Regierungszeit der Person ablesbar.
In den meisten Beschreibungen werden nur 93 Personen erwähnt. Dies liegt daran, dass die 94. Person erst im Rahmen des „lebendigen“ Fürstenzuges anlässlich der 800-Jahr-Feier Dresdens gefunden wurde. Sie blieb hinter den Wissenschaftlern, Künstlern und Studenten unentdeckt, weil man von ihr nur die Kopfbedeckung und eine Fahne sieht.
(Wikipedia)
The History of Leasowe Lighthouse
Leasowe Lighthouse is the oldest surviving brick-built lighthouse in Europe and stands on the Leasowe common in the centre of the North Wirral Coastal Park. It was built in 1763 by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. A chart of 1689 shows no lighthouses or navigational aids so mariners took bearing from Mockbeggar Hall (Leasowe Castle) and buildings on Bidston and Grange Hills. Large vessels would make their way into the Hoyle Lake or the smaller ships, bound for Liverpool, would use the Rock Channel into the River Mersey.
Towards the end of the 18th Century, the merchants of the rapidly expanding port experienced serious losses due to shipwrecks on treacherous sandbanks of Liverpool Bay. It was at this time that a system of four light towers were built. Leasowe Lighthouse was one of these four lights on the North Wirral Foreshore. The Wallasey Embankment was later constructed between 1829 and 1850 by the Liverpool Corporation following an Act of Parliament, to prevent tides breaking through and joining Wallasey Pool.
Originally two lighthouses were built at Hoylake, then a major fishing port, and 2 at Leasowe. The Leasowe lighthouses were called the "Lower Mockbeggar Light" and the "Upper Mockbeggar Light". These two fixed lights, when lined up, provided and ensured a safe passage for ships into the Horse Channel. The “Lower Mockbeggar Light” was built a quarter of a mile out to sea but was washed away during a storm in 1769, only seven years after being constructed. It was replaced by one on Bidston Hill in 1771 (as seen below).
Leasowe Lighthouse was built with 660,000 hand-made bricks. The building is circular and all its cavity walls are over a metre thick. The lighthouse is approximately 34 metres tall and is said to have its foundations built on bales of cotton which came from a ship that foundered nearby. Leasowe lighthouse also provided living accommodation for the keepers and their families within its eight rooms.
The ground floor was a storeroom, the first floor housed the kitchen and living room, the second floor was used as a bathroom and a sitting room and the three levels above were used as bedrooms. Above that was a room with a domed roof which was said to be the Lumber Room. The top room was known as the Light Room.
To access these rooms, the building possessed 130 wooden steps, which gave access to the seven floors. A fire at another lighthouse lead to the wooden steps being replaced with cast iron ones in 1824.
The out-buildings comprised of a coach house, stable and hayloft, pigsty, W.C. and wash house. The light was coal fired and converted to oil burning in 1772. It remained an oil burner for the remainder of its operational life.
Lighthouse Keepers were first mentioned in the minutes of a Town Council on the 1st of February 1764, when it was ordered that “Alexander Smarley, John Bennett and Samuel Ainsdell be appointed to attend the Lighthouses to make the Lightfires there”. Alexander Smarley became the first keeper of Leasowe Lighthouse.
The last keepers at Leasowe were Mr Thomas Williams and Mrs Mary Elizabeth Williams who moved into the lighthouse in February 1892. Mr Williams died in 1894 and Mrs Williams then took over as keeper assisted by her daughters and was one of only a few known woman lighthouse keepers in her day. The light was extinguished in July 15th 1908 when the lamp ceased to function.
After a period as a tea room the lighthouse was closed to the public in 1935 when Mrs Mary Elizabeth Williams, died.
The Building remained derelict until 1989 during which time the lighthouse was neglected and badly vandalised. Wallasey Corporation purchased the lighthouse for £900 in 1930.
Public pressure eventually caused action to be taken to stop the decay and the exterior was painted in 1973. After several years of delays because of planning and leasing issues, plus the need to apply for grants, a firm of developers resubmitted plans for a £500,000 scheme to develop the lighthouse. This action failed and was directly instrumental in the formation of the ‘Friends of Leasowe Lighthouse’.
In 1989 the Council approved a £30,000 scheme to refurbish the lighthouse and a Rangers’ office was provided on the ground floor. 2006 saw The Countryside Agency award a Local Heritage Initiative Grant of £25,000 for a Heritage Banner Project, which is now permanently displayed in the ground floor exhibition area of the lighthouse.
The Friends of Leasowe Lighthouse have been working hard to raise money to restore this building since 1989 and are committed to the restoration and development of Leasowe Lighthouse and its environment, for the purpose of education and public enjoyment. Standing at the centre of the North Wirral Coastal Park, the Leasowe Lighthouse is adjacent to many sites of special scientific and biological interest, making it a natural centre for learning and a site of public interest. The Lighthouse features guided tours, special events and a Visitor Centre with displays about Leasowe Lighthouse, the North Wirral Coastal Park and the Wirral Coastline. It is the base for the Coastal Rangers and the focal point for the North Wirral Coastal Park.
The building is open to the public on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month from April to September and the 1st Sunday of each month from October to March. There is also a web cam, which is switched on 24/7. The webcam is on the top of the lighthouse and during daylight hours shows a view from the top of Leasowe Lighthouse. The camera is a professional weatherproof pan, tilt and zoom camera which is programmed to automatically point at different views from the lighthouse. The view changes around every five minutes with a panorama image set which is taken every hour. On a day with really clear weather you can just spot Blackpool Tower when the camera looks at Formby Point. Click on the menu link above or to the left to see the live view.
The oldest convict-built structure surviving in Queensland, the windmill tower has accommodated a range of uses. Constructed in 1828 to process the wheat and corn crops of the Moreton Bay penal settlement, it had a treadmill attached for times when there was no wind but also as a tool for punishing convicts. The mill ceased grinding grain in 1845 and the treadmill was removed sometime before 1849. From 1855 the tower was reused as a signal station to communicate shipping news between the entrance of the Brisbane River and the town. Substantial renovations were made to it in 1861 including the installation of a time ball to assist in regulating clocks and watches. Twenty years later a cottage for the signalman was constructed to the immediate west of the tower, with a detached kitchen erected to the south two years after that. Both were later demolished. The windmill tower was used as a facility for early radio, telephony and television communications research from the 1920s and underwent substantial conservation work in the 1980s and 2009.
In May 1825, after eight months of occupation at Redcliffe, the contingent of convicts, soldiers, administrators and their families comprising the Moreton Bay penal settlement relocated to the site of present-day Brisbane's central business district. The growing settlement was to be self-sufficient in feeding its residents by cultivating corn (also known as maize) and wheat crops at the government farm, which were then processed into meal and flour by hand mills.[1] By 1827, with a substantial crop to process, the settlement storekeeper recommended a treadmill be erected to grind the crop into flour. Commandant Logan indicated at this time that such a devise at Brisbane town would be of service and also provide an avenue for the punishment of convicts.[2]
There is little evidence confirming details of the windmill tower's planning and construction. In July 1828, Peter Beauclerk Spicer, the Superintendent of Convicts at the time, recorded in his diary that convicts were 'clearing ground for foundations for the Mill' and proceeded to dig a circular trench that reached bedrock and had a circumference of approximately 9 metres.[3] Allan Cunningham noted soon after that construction was in progress. The mill was constructed on the highest point overlooking the settlement on what is now Wickham Terrace. By 31 October 1828 the first grain was being ground at the site by a mill gang; however it is supposed that this was done by a treadmill as the rotating cap and sails associated with the wind-powered operation of the mill were not brought to the site until November.[4] Circumstantial evidence suggests that the wind-powered grinding of grain did not begin until December.
There were two pairs of millstones inside the tower, each driven independently by the treadmill and sail mechanisms. The former was located outside the tower, a shaft connecting the treadwheel and the mill cogwheels inside. Two sketches from the early 1830s show the windmill tower and its sail stocks in place,[5] while an 1839 description depicts a tower built from stone and brick, comprising four floors, a treadmill and windmill. From 1829 the windmill tower was said to be continually requiring repair, possibly because its equipment was all made from locally-available timber rather than iron[6].
The treadmill was an important component of the mill, for use as punishment without trial, and for times when there was no wind but the amounts of grain sufficient to sustain the settlement still required processing. No plans exist of the Brisbane treadmill, however, the Office of the Colonial Architect produced a standard Design for Tread Mill Adapted for Country Districts Average Estimate £120.[7] Between 25 and 30 men worked at the mill at any one time. Sixteen operated the treadmill, although as there are no plans, it is uncertain whether it comprised a standard 16-place treadmill, or two 8-place sections connected to a common shaft. Each man would climb five steps to get onto the wheel, standing on the 9 inch wide treads and holding on to the rail. The men would then work as though ascending steps to operate the treadmill. Some undertook this task while in leg irons, while the more able used one hand to hold on and the other to draw sketches of people, animals and scenes on the boards of the mill. The men would work from sunrise to sunset with three hours rest in the middle of the day in summer, and two hours in winter.[8] [9] The first casualty of the treadmill, which produced the first official record of its existence, occurred in September 1829 when prisoner Michael Collins lost his life after being entangled in the operating mechanism. Maps of 1840s Brisbane feature a rectangular structure attached to the outside of the tower, Robert Dixon's in particular showing a 6 x 5 metre structure, probably the treadmill, located on ground that was to become Wickham Terrace.
In July 1841 the Brisbane tower was reputedly the site of a public execution of two Aboriginal men who had been convicted in Sydney of the murder of Assistant Surveyor Stapylton and one of his party near Mount Lindsay. They were returned to Moreton Bay and hanged with about 100 Aboriginal people present, however it may be that the execution took place elsewhere on what was known as Windmill Hill.[10]
Indicative of the prominence of its physical position, the tower served as one of the stations for the trigonometrical survey of the Moreton Bay district conducted by Robert Dixon, Granville Stapylton and James Warner from May 1839 in preparation for the area being opened to free settlement.[11]
In February 1836 the windmill tower was struck by lightning, causing severe damage throughout, including to the treadmill. A convict millwright was brought from Sydney in June for the repairs, which amounted to a major rebuild of the structure that was not completed until May 1837.[12] In April 1839, with the closure of the Moreton Bay penal settlement being planned, the windmill tower was one of the buildings recommended for transfer to the colony. This was approved in 1840-41 but it continued to sporadically process grain until 1845, when due to crop failure, a stagnant population and the availability of imported flour, it finally ceased being used. The penal settlement had officially closed in February 1842. The treadmill operated until 1845 and had been removed by October 1849[13].
The windmill tower in Brisbane is the oldest of its type left standing in Australia and further distinguished by having been built by convict labour. The earliest standing stone windmill towers extant around the country date from the 1830s and include: one built in 1837 in South Perth, Western Australia[14]; another built in the same year at Oatlands in Tasmania which operated until 1890[15]; and another built at Mount Gilead near Campbelltown in New South Wales in 1836[16]. Most were built to process grains into flour. Other surviving mill towers are the one built in 1842 by FR Nixon at Mount Barker in South Australia; Chapman's mill built around 1850 at Wonnerup in Western Australia[17], and another built at a similar time on an island in the Murray River near Yunderup in Western Australia[18]. None of the nineteen windmill towers that characterised the early settlement at Sydney have survived.[19] Technological developments, most particularly steam power which was more dependable than wind power or that generated by convict labour at a treadmill, rendered wind-driven mills largely redundant.
After the cessation of milling operations there were discussions about possible future use of Brisbane's windmill tower. In December 1849 the tower was put up for auction and bought by a government official who promptly sought tenders for removal of it and its machinery (the auction terms required it to be cleared away by three months after the sale).[20] Ownership of the place quickly reverted to the Crown because of a legal problem with the sale, but not before some dismantling had occurred.[21] In a January 1850 article the Moreton Bay Courier continued its appeal for the windmill not to be pulled down and secured by the town, arguing that aside from its landmark and picturesque qualities it was the ‘best fixed point for land measurement in the district'. In this vein the site was the most accessible viewing point for the picturesque landscape of Brisbane and its environs. Despite earlier calls to erase evidence of Brisbane's convict past, 'sentiment and pragmatism combined to override the detrimental taint of convictism' saving the tower from destruction. The sails were still in place in 1854 and appear in a painting of the windmill completed in 1855.[22]
By 1855 Brisbane was the leading Queensland port and it became important to establish signal stations to communicate shipping news between the entrance of the Brisbane River and the town, one of which was set up on Windmill Hill. This required modifications to the tower to include a semaphore station connected to the electric telegraph. Information on ships entering the river was converted to semaphore signals using flags hoisted on a mast erected on top of the tower. The renovations were undertaken by John Petrie in October 1861 to plans by colonial architect Charles Tiffin and included the removal of the windmill stocks or arms and wheels; the laying of floors on each storey; new doors and windows; a weatherproof floor on the top of the tower with an iron railing; a new winding staircase from bottom to top; repair of stone, brickwork and plastering; and the installation of a high flagstaff to fly signals.[23] The tower's renovation at this time also fitted it out as a public observatory and it became known by that term.[24] The following year it became the first home of the newly founded Queensland Museum; serving this purpose until 1868 when other accommodation was provided in the old convict barracks or parliamentary building on Queen Street.[25]
Petrie also installed a time ball on the tower to provide a reliable authority for regulating clocks and watches. It was dropped at one o'clock each day based on observations relayed by telegraph from Sydney. The time ball was replaced by a time gun in 1866, with an embankment and shed constructed to hold the gun in 1874. After 1882 the gun and shed were moved to the eastern section of the current reserve before the shed was demolished in 1908. The time gun proved useful to people as far away as Logan, Caboolture and Ipswich. The old gun was replaced in 1888 with another before a new electrically-controlled time ball was installed in 1894. This was associated with the legislated implementation of a single time throughout the colony, being designated as ten hours earlier than the mean time at Greenwich. Adjustments were made to the tower at this time to accommodate the new time ball. The roof was lowered and the flagstaff pared down.[26]
A cottage for the signalman was constructed in 1883 to the immediate west of the tower to plans prepared by Government Architect FDG Stanley and on part of the Waterworks reserve. Two years later a detached kitchen was also constructed behind it to the south of the tower. Use of the signal station was discontinued in 1921 by the state government, which then sought a new use for the structure and land. [27] Despite this the flagstaff remained in place until 1949. From January 1893 the Fire Brigade implemented a nightly observation post from a specially-constructed platform on top of the tower. This was used until around 1922.
The Commonwealth government assumed responsibility for the site in 1901 but control reverted to the state in 1908 when it was designated as an Observatory Reserve. In 1902 it had been connected to the Railway Telegraph Office at Roma Street so that the railways had the correct time for their operations. The evidence of historical photographs suggests that sometime between 1902 and 1912 the cabin at the top was increased in size.[28] The time ball remained in operation until 1930.
The site was placed under the trusteeship of the Brisbane City Council in 1922. The site of the cottage remained in the hands of the Waterworks Board and a boundary re-arrangement had to occur to allow its continued use in relation to the observatory. At this time the Queensland Institute of Radio Engineers began wireless radio and telephony research at the tower, and used the signalman's cottage to meet two nights a month. Apparatus to operate a wireless radio station was installed in 1926. The cottage was occupied on a more regular basis in order to reduce the risk of vandalism to the tower, but fell vacant. In 1926 the City Architect, AH Foster, proposed a plan for beautifying the observatory, which included removal of the cottage and adjacent sheds. The tender of Messrs Guyomar and Wright to remove the cottage, shed and outhouse for £60 was accepted.[29] At this time the stone and wrought iron wall along Wickham Terrace was erected. It was intended to add 'dignity to the historical reserve, and harmonise with the massive character of the Tower'.[30]
From 1924 Thomas Elliott installed equipment in the tower to undertake cutting-edge television research; he and Allen Campbell giving a demonstration from the site in 1934 which constituted Queensland's first television broadcast. It was considered by many at the time as the most outstanding achievement thus far in the history of television in Australia. They gained a license from the government and continued experimental broadcasting from the tower until about 1944.[31]
From 1945 the Brisbane City Council was considering suitable action to preserve the tower, which had become a popular visitor attraction. Some restoration work was carried out in 1950 on the advice of Frank Costello (then Officer in Charge of Planning and Building with the City Council), which included removal of old render and re-rendering the entire structure. It was at this time that the flagstaff was removed in preparation for making the open ground of the reserve 'a real park'. Certainly these conservation efforts considered the heritage value of the place as well as the public's use of it.
However by 1962 the windmill tower was again in poor condition. Floodlighting to enhance its appearance for tourists was undertaken for the first time during the Warana Festival five years later. In the early 1970s the Council and the National Trust of Queensland undertook detailed investigations regarding restoration and transfer of trusteeship from the council to the trust (the latter were abandoned in 1976). None of the original plans or any of the original windmill machinery parts could be located at that time. Based on these findings the National Trust formed the opinion that the building should be preserved in its present form and not reconstructed to its windmill form.
In 1982 City Council undertook some external maintenance work on the observation house or cabin, including replacement of deteriorated timber to the balcony and sills, and corrugated iron on the roof, and repair of the time ball and its mast (which was shortened by about 300 mm to remove some part affected by dry rot).[32]
In 1987 a consortium of companies involved in the construction of the Central Plaza office building offered to assist the Brisbane City Council with the conservation of the Windmill Tower. To inform this work a conservation study was undertaken by Allom Lovell Marquis-Kyle Architects, which also oversaw conservation work[33]. Preliminary archaeological investigations undertaken at this time identified the remains of the original flagstaff base which was reinstated.[34] The conserved Windmill Tower was opened by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane on 3 November 1988. A further archaeological investigation was carried out at the site in 1989-90 by a University of Queensland team, revealing clear stratigraphic layers datable to each of the key phases of use of the site.[35] In August 1993 further investigations of the fabric of the tower were undertaken to explore the extent of the footings and the nature of construction of the curb and cap frame. More conservation work was carried out in May 1996.
In 2009 the Brisbane City Council received considerable funding to carry out restoration work of the windmill tower through the State Government's Q150 Connecting Brisbane project. It was intended that the structure be publically accessible to allow visitors to experience the view from its observation platform, a practice that has been commented on since the 1860s. In 2008 - 2009 the Brisbane CBD Archaeological Plan assessed the area of the observatory reserve and a length of Wickham Terrace associated with it as having exceptional archaeological research potential because of the combination of its association with the penal settlement and the low level of ground disturbance that has occurred there since.
Source: Queensland Heritage Register.
Some of you were concerned that I might not have been warm and dry enough last week. Trust me, I was :)
Simple yet complex craftsmanship of the open roof construction shows poles that give support, closed on all four sides by a double layer of river cane and straw, providing weatherproofing
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Mount Gilead, NC – 2019NOV10 – The Town Creek Site:
For our 23rd wedding anniversary, after church Joe & I paused for a picnic lunch on our way to Town Creek Site, set high on a low bluff of an oxbow on the west bank of the Little River near its confluence with Town Fork Creek in Mt. Gilead, NC, on the sunny southern side of the ancient Uwharrie Mountain Range located in the southeastern Piedmont region.
The protohistoric Native American ceremonial center – listed in the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark – is the first North Carolina State Historic Site, and it also remains the only state historic site in North Carolina dedicated to American Indian heritage, drawing astronomers, and visitors like us, from far and wide to this fascinating time capsule.
The Native American People legacy carries muffled mystery buried in its background of protohistory, a period that spans prehistory and history, when a culture or civilization had no developed writing but when other cultures notated its existence.
Excavating the earthen mound built of clay – one mound built atop former mounds – has been a focus of archaeological research under one director for more than half a century, an unusual phenomenon in the history of North American archaeology.
People lived here for 12,000 years, but why particularly here? The Town Creek site manager Rich Thompson shared with Joe and me how major rains will turn the ceremonial center into an island surrounded by floodwater then as well as recently, flooding from the parking lot halfway up to the front door of the Visitor Center.
Why the name Indian: fueled by bravery and ignorance financed by greed and arrogance, Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, heading "to India" but reaching the New World, and the Town Creek people vanished with no clue; we have no written record of explanation. Today we see these lovingly-reconstructed structures and can look and learn in amazement and wonder. So we invite you to view the best of our photos we set into 6 mini-themed albums:
• Mount Gilead, NC – 2019NOV10 – The Town Creek Site:
◦ Town Creek Site – 2019NOV10 – Stockade & North Entrance
◦ Town Creek Site – 2019NOV10 – Family Hut on its Burial Site
◦ Town Creek Site – 2019NOV10 – Mound & its Major Hut
◦ Town Creek Site – 2019NOV10 – Minor Ceremonial Hut
◦ Town Creek Site – 2019NOV10 – Ceremonial Center Plaza
◦ Town Creek Site – 2019NOV10 – Little River Bluff Overlook
Hope you also enjoy the 17% of 394 photos we took this day!