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Two Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II fighter jets have successfully landed on board HMS Queen Elizabeth for the first time, laying the foundations for the next 50 years of fixed wing aviation in support of the UK’s Carrier Strike Capability.
Royal Navy Commander, Nathan Gray, 41, made history by being the first to land on board HMS Queen Elizabeth, carefully maneuvering his stealth jet onto the thermal coated deck. He was followed by Royal Navy Squadron Leader Andy Edgell, RAF, both of whom are test pilots, operating with the Integrated Test Force (ITF) based at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.
Shortly afterwards, once a deck inspection has been conducted and the all-clear given, Cmdr Gray became the first pilot to take off using the ship’s ski-ramp.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather, stealth, fifth-generation, multirole combat aircraft, designed for ground-attack and air-superiority missions. It is built by Lockheed Martin and many subcontractors, including Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney, and BAE Systems.
The F-35 has three main models: the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A (CTOL), the short take-off and vertical-landing F-35B (STOVL), and the catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery, carrier-based F-35C (CATOBAR). The F-35 descends from the Lockheed Martin X-35, the design that was awarded the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program over the competing Boeing X-32. The official Lightning II name has proven deeply unpopular and USAF pilots have nicknamed it Panther, instead.
The United States principally funds F-35 development, with additional funding from other NATO members and close U.S. allies, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Canada, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and formerly Turkey. These funders generally receive subcontracts to manufacture components for the aircraft; for example, Turkey was the sole supplier of several F-35 parts until its removal from the program in July 2019. Several other countries have ordered, or are considering ordering, the aircraft.
As the largest and most expensive military program ever, the F-35 became the subject of much scrutiny and criticism in the U.S. and in other countries. In 2013 and 2014, critics argued that the plane was "plagued with design flaws", with many blaming the procurement process in which Lockheed was allowed "to design, test, and produce the F-35 all at the same time," instead of identifying and fixing "defects before firing up its production line". By 2014, the program was "$163 billion over budget [and] seven years behind schedule". Critics also contend that the program's high sunk costs and political momentum make it "too big to kill".
The F-35 first flew on 15 December 2006. In July 2015, the United States Marines declared its first squadron of F-35B fighters ready for deployment. However, the DOD-based durability testing indicated the service life of early-production F-35B aircraft is well under the expected 8,000 flight hours, and may be as low as 2,100 flight hours. Lot 9 and later aircraft include design changes but service life testing has yet to occur. The U.S. Air Force declared its first squadron of F-35As ready for deployment in August 2016. The U.S. Navy declared its first F-35Cs ready in February 2019. In 2018, the F-35 made its combat debut with the Israeli Air Force.
The U.S. stated plan is to buy 2,663 F-35s, which will provide the bulk of the crewed tactical airpower of the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps in coming decades. Deliveries of the F-35 for the U.S. military are scheduled until 2037 with a projected service life up to 2070.
Development
F-35 development started in 1992 with the origins of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program and was to culminate in full production by 2018. The X-35 first flew on 24 October 2000 and the F-35A on 15 December 2006.
The F-35 was developed to replace most US fighter jets with the variants of a single design that would be common to all branches of the military. It was developed in co-operation with a number of foreign partners, and, unlike the F-22 Raptor, intended to be available for export. Three variants were designed: the F-35A (CTOL), the F-35B (STOVL), and the F-35C (CATOBAR). Despite being intended to share most of their parts to reduce costs and improve maintenance logistics, by 2017, the effective commonality was only 20%. The program received considerable criticism for cost overruns during development and for the total projected cost of the program over the lifetime of the jets.
By 2017, the program was expected to cost $406.5 billion over its lifetime (i.e. until 2070) for acquisition of the jets, and an additional $1.1 trillion for operations and maintenance. A number of design deficiencies were alleged, such as: carrying a small internal payload; performance inferior to the aircraft being replaced, particularly the F-16; lack of safety in relying on a single engine; and flaws such as the vulnerability of the fuel tank to fire and the propensity for transonic roll-off (wing drop). The possible obsolescence of stealth technology was also criticized.
Design
Overview
Although several experimental designs have been developed since the 1960s, such as the unsuccessful Rockwell XFV-12, the F-35B is to be the first operational supersonic STOVL stealth fighter. The single-engine F-35 resembles the larger twin-engined Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, drawing design elements from it. The exhaust duct design was inspired by the General Dynamics Model 200, proposed for a 1972 supersonic VTOL fighter requirement for the Sea Control Ship.
Lockheed Martin has suggested that the F-35 could replace the USAF's F-15C/D fighters in the air-superiority role and the F-15E Strike Eagle in the ground-attack role. It has also stated the F-35 is intended to have close- and long-range air-to-air capability second only to that of the F-22 Raptor, and that the F-35 has an advantage over the F-22 in basing flexibility and possesses "advanced sensors and information fusion".
Testifying before the House Appropriations Committee on 25 March 2009, acquisition deputy to the assistant secretary of the Air Force, Lt. Gen. Mark D. "Shack" Shackelford, stated that the F-35 is designed to be America's "premier surface-to-air missile killer, and is uniquely equipped for this mission with cutting-edge processing power, synthetic aperture radar integration techniques, and advanced target recognition".
Improvements
Ostensible improvements over past-generation fighter aircraft include:
Durable, low-maintenance stealth technology, using structural fiber mat instead of the high-maintenance coatings of legacy stealth platforms
Integrated avionics and sensor fusion that combine information from off- and on-board sensors to increase the pilot's situational awareness and improve target identification and weapon delivery, and to relay information quickly to other command and control (C2) nodes
High-speed data networking including IEEE 1394b and Fibre Channel (Fibre Channel is also used on Boeing's Super Hornet.
The Autonomic Logistics Global Sustainment, Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS), and Computerized maintenance management system to help ensure the aircraft can remain operational with minimal maintenance manpower The Pentagon has moved to open up the competitive bidding by other companies. This was after Lockheed Martin stated that instead of costing 20% less than the F-16 per flight hour, the F-35 would actually cost 12% more. Though the ALGS is intended to reduce maintenance costs, the company disagrees with including the cost of this system in the aircraft ownership calculations. The USMC has implemented a workaround for a cyber vulnerability in the system. The ALIS system currently requires a shipping-container load of servers to run, but Lockheed is working on a more portable version to support the Marines' expeditionary operations.
Electro-hydrostatic actuators run by a power-by-wire flight-control system
A modern and updated flight simulator, which may be used for a greater fraction of pilot training to reduce the costly flight hours of the actual aircraft
Lightweight, powerful lithium-ion batteries to provide power to run the control surfaces in an emergency
Structural composites in the F-35 are 35% of the airframe weight (up from 25% in the F-22). The majority of these are bismaleimide and composite epoxy materials. The F-35 will be the first mass-produced aircraft to include structural nanocomposites, namely carbon nanotube-reinforced epoxy. Experience of the F-22's problems with corrosion led to the F-35 using a gap filler that causes less galvanic corrosion to the airframe's skin, designed with fewer gaps requiring filler and implementing better drainage. The relatively short 35-foot wingspan of the A and B variants is set by the F-35B's requirement to fit inside the Navy's current amphibious assault ship parking area and elevators; the F-35C's longer wing is considered to be more fuel efficient.
Costs
A U.S. Navy study found that the F-35 will cost 30 to 40% more to maintain than current jet fighters, not accounting for inflation over the F-35's operational lifetime. A Pentagon study concluded a $1 trillion maintenance cost for the entire fleet over its lifespan, not accounting for inflation. The F-35 program office found that as of January 2014, costs for the F-35 fleet over a 53-year lifecycle was $857 billion. Costs for the fighter have been dropping and accounted for the 22 percent life cycle drop since 2010. Lockheed stated that by 2019, pricing for the fifth-generation aircraft will be less than fourth-generation fighters. An F-35A in 2019 is expected to cost $85 million per unit complete with engines and full mission systems, inflation adjusted from $75 million in December 2013.
Location also given as "on the edge of a wood near Letmathe" in Jagdtiger Vol. 2 by Andrew Devey, page 269. This is in the Sauerland region of western Germany (Ruhr Pocket).
The white tactical number at first vaguely looks like "231", but until this higher resolution scan emerged there's only been evidence of Pz.Jg.Abt.512 using a white alpha-numeric system, prefixed "X" to identify 1. Kompanie Jagdtigers and one example of "Y" with no numeral, which has been attributed to 2. Kompanie (Panzerwrecks 12, p.3) and also 3. Kompanie (Devey, Vol.2 p.261).
If the location is correct, is the tactical number above "231" or "Z3"?
[Edit: a more precise location 15km N-N-E of Letmathe, between Billmerich and Strickherdicke is linked below]
Ian's on the road again, wearing different shoes again.
Or something.
Yes, have audit will travel is taking me back to the north west and head office (UK) in Warrington.
I wasn't keen to go, as I would be one of those being audited, rather than being the auditor.
So it goes.
Up even earlier than usual, Jools went swimming first thing, while I woke up and packed.
It was to be a bright if cold day, and the promise of actual snow once I reached Manchester, so that was something to look forward to. No?
Jools dropped me off on the prom so I could have a walk, take some snaps before picking up the car.
It was cold.
Not Canada cold, clearly.
Minus three. And too cold to linger to watch the actual sunrise, so made do with snapping the reflected light of the hotels and a ferry coming into the harbour. I walked over Townwall Street, now cold to the bone, hoping the car hire place would be open on time.
It wasn't, but a couple of minutes later, a guy came to open up and let me inside where it was slightly warmer.
My old ruse of getting an automatic thus getting a larger car was ruined this time was I was given a Toyota Yaris. It struggled to get up Jubilee Way without the engine screaming. You'd better behave yourself for the next three days I told it.
Back home for breakfast, load the car and say goodbye to the cats. One last look, and I was off. The car had no sat nav, so had to use the phone.
Before going to the hotel, I was going to visit a former colleague who lives in Warrington, or nearly St Helens as I found out later, so programmed her address in, and off I went, along our street and towards the A2 and the long slog up to Dartford.
I connected my phone to charge, and straight away tunes from my Apple music store started playing. So, apart from the free U2 album it forced on all users, the rest was good if a little Skids and Velvet Underground heavy.
The miles were eaten up, even if I had to turn the music way up to drown the sound of the screaming engine.
Like all trips, I had something extra to sweeten the time away, and in this case it was a church. But not just any church, as you will see.
I watched a short documentary on Monday about Mary Queen of Scots, and remembered that she had been imprisoned and executed at Fotheringhay Castle in what is now Northamptonshire, and if I went over the Dartford Crossing, up the M11 to Cambridge, then were the A14 crossed the Great North Road, ten miles north was Fotheringhay.
So, I pressed on, under the river and into Essex, then along to the bottom of the M11, and north past Stanstead to Cambridge. Traffic wasn't bad, so I made good time, my phone telling me I would reach Fotheringhay at midday.
Turning off the A1, down narrow lanes, then the view to the church opens up, in what is possibly one of the finest vistas in all of England. St Mary and All Saints, 15th century and in its Perpendicular finest, it looks too good to be that old, but is.
Not only is the church mostly as it was, if plain inside, this was the parish church of the House of York, of several Kings including the final, Richard III.
This is real history.
I crossed over the narrow hump-back bridge that spanned the fast flowing, and nearly flooding, River Neane, into the village and parked outside the church. A set of grand gates lead off the main road to the northern porch, lined with fine trees, naked it being winter.
The tower seems over-large for the Nave and Chancel, it stands 116 feet tall, and is a chonker, the rest of the church seems small beside it, but the interior of the church is a large space, high to its vaulted roof.
I take shots, not as many as perhaps I should, but the church doesn't have centuries of memorials, but does have two House of York tombs, or mausoleums.
I had some time, so I thought I would visit any interesting church I might see before getting back on the A14.
That was the plan.
The road took me round Oundle, which had at least two interesting looking churches, but them being what you might call "urban", I passed both and carried on over the rolling hills of Northamptonshire, much hillier than you might have thought.
Just before the A14, I see a large tower, and a lane lead to the village of Titchmarsh.
Titchmarsh is the name of a very famous TV gardener over here in Britain, not sure if this is where he hails from.
The village itself is set along a long high street, lined with half-timbered houses, most thatched, which was very picturesque.
I parked up, screams from the primary school, out for lunch, filled the air. But I had eyes on the church.
Oddly, on the north side, the churchyard is marked by a haha, or half of one.
A ha?
Certainly not a ditch, but there was a grille in the wall to allow water to get out.
Access to the church was over a small bridge, the grand porch in front.
The door opened easily, and I saw first, lots of wall paintings. Not old, perhaps Victorian.
I set to work taking shots, using the compact to snap close ups of the windows.
In truth, not much of great interest, and I was aware from the radio there being talk of snow.
Better get going and head north.
Back outside, my phone tells me I should be in Warrington by four, my friend, Teresa, wouldn't be home until half past, so I could have another break on the way.
The sat nav took me back to the A14, and from there it is just a 60 mile drive to the bottom of the M6 and then the hike two hours north.
At least it was a sunny day, though clouds were building, and was it my imagination, or did it look like snow falling already?
No, it was snow. big, fat, wet flakes at first, not much to worry about, but I pressed on past Coventry to the toll road, I sopped for half an hour there, enough time to have a drink and some crisps, then back outside where darkness was falling, as well as more snow.
The M6 might have had its upgrade complete, but a trip on it is rarely without delays. And for me, an hour delayed just before Warrington due to a crash, so we inched along in near darkness.
Teresa lived the other side of Warrington, so I had to press on further north, then along other main roads, round a bonkers roundabout before entering the town. Roads were lined with two up/two downs, doors leading straight onto the pavement. Cozy and northern.
They have two dog-mountains, I'm not sure of the breed, but think of something like a St Bernard and go bigger. They had just been for a walk, were damp and happy to be inside, laying on the kitchen floor. Taking up all the kitchen floor.
We talked for an hour, then I received a call from a guy I was supposed to be meeting up with: heavy snow was falling, I should get there sooner than later. So, I said my goodbyes and programmed the route to the hotel. Sorry, resort. Golf resort.
16 miles.
Snow was falling heavy, not too bad on main roads back to the motorway, though traffic on that was only going 40, it was fast enough. But the final six miles was long a main road, but it was covered in snow, with more falling.
The the fuel warning light went on.
Ignore that, I just wanted to get to the hotel safe and have dinner. Not end up in a hedge.
The final mile was very scary, snow only an inch deep, but slippery. There was a gatehouse marking the entrance to the golf club, I turned in and parked in the first space I came to.
Phew.
I checked in, and the place is huge, swish, but full of golfers.
But it does a sideline in conferences, training centre and a hotel. It was full.
I checked in, walked to the room, which is huge, and very comfortable, dropped my bags and went to the bar for dinner of beer and burgers. The place was almost empty, I watched cricket live from South Africa while I ate and drank.
Would I be tempted by the cheeseboard?
I would, dear reader, I would.
To my room to watch the football and relax while snow fell outside.
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Another bike ride into the wilds and wolds of Northamptonshire. I set off from Huntingdon railway station, and after a sixteen mile slog into the wind I crossed the county boundary at Clopton, a church I visited three weeks ago. Now, the real bike ride could now begin. Resisting a revisit to the church, I turned off on a very lonely, narrow lane through the woodlands. The Cambs/Northants borderlands are often like this, remote and lonely, wooded and rolling, devoid of houses outside the villages and with only the rare car, horse or other cyclist. It reminds me of parts of France.
After a couple of miles I came to Titchmarsh, and its splendid church, a big church in a pretty stone village. The tower is enormous ('The finest church tower in England outside of Somerset' - FJ Allen) and there is no spire. The churchyard is surrounded by a haha, with a little bridge across the moat. The church was being prepared for a rock concert, with a stage built up under the tower and tables and chairs in the nave. Not a huge amount to see in any case, although I liked the memorial to a servant who saved his master's life by getting in the way of an assassin's knife, only to later drown in the Nene. As you'd expect in this part of the world, good stone capitals in the arcades, with stiffleaves you could cut yourself on as well as dripping fruit.
And then it was on past the IKEA warehouse ('the largest building in the British Isles') into the town of Thrapston.
Simon Knott, July 2017.
www.flickr.com/photos/norfolkodyssey/35483761652/in/photo...
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The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, standing in a prominent position on the higher ground to the North of the village, has been the centre of the Christian community in Titchmarsh for some 800 years.
The name of Tichmarsh (or the modern version Titchmarsh) seems to date from Anglo-Saxon times when a piece of land was granted to one Ticcea and became known as Ticcea’s marsh (Ticceanmersce, Tychemerche, etc).
The earliest records of the church date from 1240. It was from Tichmarsh that Viscount Lovell left his manor to fight with Richard III at Bosworth. Before that he had employed his Somerset mason to build what Pevsner described as “the noblest village tower outside Somerset”, on top of which in 1588 an Armada beacon was lit.
The church is remarkable for its magnificent tower, its long and lofty clerestory, its spacious chancel, and for its light and uncluttered interior. It also houses a collection of unique and interesting wall monuments, fine stained glass windows and a recently restored 1870 TC Lewis organ. (see separate links)
The building that you see today is not the first church to have existed on this site. The remains of a 12th century doorway in the chancel is the only relic of the Norman building, and the subsequent centuries have each made their distinctive architectural contribution. The building assumed its present appearance when, late in the 15th century, the tower, clerestory and porch were added, and the present perpendicular style windows were inserted. In the late 17th and early 18th century the Pickering family contributed a number of important memorials, including one to John Dryden the poet- laureate, who spent his childhood in Titchmarsh. In the 19th century a number of the windows had stained glass inserted, a vestry was added in the northwest corner, and much of the internal woodwork was replaced (including the pews, recently adapted to provide more mobile seating).
The focus of the church, both architecturally and spiritually, is the Altar. This is God’s table, at which the faithful share in the power of Christ’s Risen Life, by feeding on the Sacrament of his Body and Blood under the forms of bread and wine. The reredos of Caen stone and Derby alabaster (1866) depicts the Old Testament scenes of Melchizedek’s offering of bread and wine, and Abraham’s offering of his only son Isaac, illustrating different aspects of the eucharistic theme.
The semi-circular Norman arch to the south side is a visible reminder that Christian worship has been offered on this site for at least some eight centuries.
The two-level sedilia and the piscine are of the 13th century, as is also the arcading which opens into the north chapel (now occupied by the organ). The opening known as a hagioscope or squint, gave additional visual access from the north chapel to the High Altar. The low, pointed 13th century doorway to the north of the Altar probably led to a tomb or chantry adjoining the Chancel on the north side. Much of this work can be attributed to the patronage of the Lovel family, who were Lords of the Manor from about 1268 until 1485.
Piercing the north-west corner of the Chancel wall are the remains of the stairway which originally led to the Rood-loft.
Dimly discernible in the apex of the Chancel arch is a crowned head. Experts suggest that it most closely resembles Edward IV who died in 1483 when Francis 1st (and only) Viscount Lovel was Lord of the Manor. The last years of the reign of Edward IV covered a peaceful period, favourable to the rebuilding of a church. In 1486 Henry VII granted the Manor of Tichmarsh to Sir Charles Somerset when Francis Lord Lovel who had supported Richard III was deprived of his estates at the end of the War of the Roses. This is the Lovell, who as Richard III’s Chamberlain and friend, was lampooned in the contemporary rhyme:
‘The Cat, the Rat, and Lovell our dog
Rule all England under the Hog’.
The walls and windows of the chancel were much embellished in Victorian times. The stained glass in the chancel windows is all by Messrs. Hardman of Birmingham. The east window depicts Christ’s Nativity, Baptism, Crucifixion and Ascension, and several episodes from the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom the church is dedicated. The windows on the south side of the chancel depict various incidents from the New Testament, giving particular prominence to St Mary Magdalene and St Peter.
The reredos of Caen stone and Derby alabaster were completed.
The organ, a good example of the work of TC Lewis was installed and first used in 1870. (fully restored in 2016). We learn from the Parish Magazine that prior to the installation of the instrument, music for Devine service had been supplied by a barrel organ, the introduction of which in 1837 replaced the services of the eight singers who had occupied a musicians gallery under the tower, and sang very loud. Singing was also led by string and woodwind instruments until 1861.
According to the parish magazines, the paintings on the chancel walls were by Miss Agnes Saunders, who was sister-in-law to the Rev. F M Stopford, (rector 1861-1912). The fine limed oak chancel screen was the gift of Canon A M Luckock, (rector 1912-1962).
The North Chapel and Transept
This was largely rebuilt in the 14th century, and now houses many mural memorials to the Pickering family
Gilbert Pickering bought the manor of Tichmarsh from Charles Somerset’s grandson in 1553, and for more than two hundred years it remained in the possession of his descendants. When the direct line came to an end, the estates were acquired in 1778 by Thomas Powys, later the first Lord Lilford.
John Pickering married Susannah Dryden of Canons Ashby in 1609, and twenty-one years later, Susannah’s brother Erasmus married John’s cousin Mary Pickering. Of these unions were born two men well known in the highest circles of their day, the notorious Sir Gilbert Pickering (1613-1668) and the famous John Dryden the poet (1631-1700).
Sir Gilbert was a convinced Parliamentarian, and became Lord Chamberlain to Oliver Cromwell. John Dryden’s upbringing in Tichmarsh is mentioned in one of the memorials. This and another were painted by Sir Gilbert’s daughter, Elizabeth, who became the wife of John Creed.
A woman of talent with needle, pen and brush, Elizabeth Creed was responsible also for the wording of the altar tomb and wall angle memorials of the south aisle as well as the Dryden monument which has been moved to the north transept.
The South Aisle
Here we find Mrs Creed lamenting the death of her husband, a boon companion of Samuel Pepys, of their son Christ’s family. By ancient custom the Font stands near the main (west) door of the physical building, as a reminder that it is through Baptism that we enter Christ’s Church.
The West Window
The tracery of the tower window is 15th century, (extensively restored in 2016). In 1904 the west window was filled with stained glass, the gift of Rev’d F M Stopford to mark his 50th year in Holy Orders. It is a powerful representation of Christ’s Second Coming and the Day of Judgement, and approximately balances the episodes of Christ’s first Advent depicted in the east window. The same firm of artists, Messrs Hardman of Birmingham, was employed for the work, and it is interesting to notice how the passage of some forty years makes a considerable difference in style and taste between the tower window and their earlier work.
The Bells
The tower houses a fine ring of eight bells. All were recast and re-hung in 1913 as a memorial to Rev’d F M Stopford who died in office in 1912 having been rector for 51 years, and a chaplain to Queen Victoria, Edward VII and George V. Before recasting, the oldest bells dated from 1688, with additions in 1708 and 1781. The ring was completed in1885 by the gift of two bells in memory of Florence Augusta Stopford, the rector’s first wife. At the same time the present church clock, which strikes the hours and quarters, replaced the previous one made by George Eayre in 1745.
At the base of the tower are some interesting photographs of the re-hanging of the bells.
The South Porch
The original porch was a single storey structure, with window openings to east and west. The upper storey was added in1583 and housed the Pickering family pew, complete with fire place! After the death of the last Tichmarsh Pickerings the wall opening was blocked up. It was reopened in 1931, when Canon Luckock (rector 1912-1962) and his wife put in the present glass panel and hung the massive oak south door as a thanksgiving for their silver wedding. The seating around the walls of the porch is a reminder of its earlier function as a place of meeting.
The Exterior
The large and splendid tower is built in four stages, richly decorated with triple bands of quatrefoils in circles on the ground storey and similar bands on the second and third stages. The niches on the west face contain modern stone figures representing Moses and Aaron, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Peter, and the archangels Michael and Gabriel. The parish magazine for 1901 records that the rector’s wife paid for the replacements by breeding and selling black fantail pigeons.
The ‘crown’, ie. parapet and pinnacles above the fourth stage is considered by experts to date from about 1500. The will of one Thomas Gryndall, dated 1474, bequeaths money towards the building of the tower, probably completed except for the ‘crown’ in about 1480.
The prominence and size of the tower made it a significant landmark. In 1585 when the country prepared to resist the threatened invasion from Spain, the Lord Lieutenant, Sir Christopher Hatton of Kirby Hall, gave order for Beacons to be made in places accustomed and that ‘Tychemershe Beacon’ be sett upon Tychemershe church steeple
On the south wall of the tower is a painted sundial, dated 1798, and below it a disused clock face made in 1745. There are three scratch dials on the south side of the church – on the porch and on two of the buttresses.
The churchyard, which contains many good examples of local stonemasons’ work of the 18th and 19th centuries, is remarkable and perhaps unique in being bounded almost entirely by a ha-ha.
Acknowlegements: The Victoria County History of Northamptonshire; Northamptonshire by Niklaus Pevsner; and to various numbers of the Titchmarsh Parish Magazine; Titchmarsh Past and Present by Helen Belgion, published 1979
titchmarsh.info/church-of-st-mary-the-virgin/church-history/
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Given I haven't been out for a sunrise in well let's call it a very long time, so I went to the archives & found a variation of some previous photos from one of my favourite mornings.
Sunrise Rush with a bit of colour punch to wake you up : )
Despite the richness of the sunrays through the clouds, I love the foreground & the water movement over the rocks shelf.
....
Marc Alexander Photography - All Rights Reserved ©
The name "Damascus" is attributed by some scholars to Damaskos, son of Hermes, who is said to have lived in this area and given it his name. Others attribute the name to the myth of Askos or that of Damas, who accompanied Dionysias, and offered him a skene (skin) thus the name "Damaskene". While others believe that the origin of the name came from Damakina, the wife of the god of water. Linguistically analysed, some feel that the name "Damascus" was derived from " The Water Land".
THE HISTORY OF DAMASCUS
Damascus is as old as history itself. In ancient times the significance of its location contributed to the rise of a small village with a temple. At the end of the 2nd millennium Rezon the Aramean leader established his kingdom in Damascus. He was well known for defending the whole area and uniting the Arab Aramean kingdoms. In 732 B.C. the Assyrians took power untill 605 B.C., when Damascus went under Chaldean rule. In 538 B.C. the Akhemaeans ruled over Damascus area. During this period the geographer Estrabon mentions Damascus as the most famous city in the west of Asia. When Nabateans, under the rule of Al-Hareth III rose to power (87 B.C.) they made Damascus their Capital. In 105 A.D. the Romans destroyed the Nabatean kingdom, and established a Roman state with Bosra as its capital.
After the Roman Empire dissension, Damascus like the other parts of Syria, Came under the rule of the Byzantine Empire during which the influence of the Ghassanites increased.
In 635 A.D. the Arab Moslems took over damascus from the Byzantines, and it became the capital of the first Arab state at the time of the Omayyads. This marked the beginning of its golden epoch, and for a whole century it was the center of the young Islamic Empire. The Omayyads took a genuine intrest in building up the city, organizing its souqs and districts, improving its water supply, and erecting palaces and hospitals in its various parts.
Following the decline and fall of the Omayyads, 749 A.D. Damscus went through different periods: Abbassid, Tolonian, Ikhshidian, Fatemite, Ayyoubite, Mamluk, ottoman and the French Colonization seeing prosperity sometimes, and suffering neglect and deterioration other times.
DAMASCUS MUSEUMS
The National Museum of Damascus, with artistic and scientific items exhibited.
The National Museum of the Arts and popular Tradtions of Syria.
The Historical Museum of Damascus in Khaled Al-Azem palace.
The museum of Epigraphy.
The Military Museum.
Damascus Museum of Agriculture.
Damascus Internatinal Fair (sptember, every year).
Damascus Flower Show. (May, every year).
DAMASCUS MARKETS
Damascus is quite famous for its popular markets:
Al-Hamidieh Souq: one of the most famous and attractive souqs in the world with its constant show of traditional arts. It begins near the Damascus Ayyyoubite Citadel and ends at the Large Gate of the Omayyad Mosque.
Madhat Basha Souq: reminds one with the Biblical story of St. Paul, St. Hananya and the Straight road.
Al-Buzurieh Souq:Famouse for its eastren spices and the local confectionaries.
The Handicradts Souq: in the small Al-Takya building, contains all of Syria's most famous handicrafts: Glass-blowing, wood carving, carpet and textile weaving, articles made from Damascene silk, and hand made silver and gold jewelleries.
Al-Salihieh Souq.
CAFES & BATHS
Avariety of small cafes dot the city of Damascus. In Nawfara square east of Omayyad Mosque, there are many popular cafes to satisfy the tourist's need for relaxation and fun. They are famous for offering delicious and aromatic tea and coffe, soft drinks and the Nargileh (Water pipe)for smoking.
Nureddin popular bath is one of the most famous in Damascus. Many other baths are scattered in different areas ( Hammam al-Ward, Hammam Al-Malek al-Dhaher, etc..)
HISTORICAL & ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
The Ayoubite Citadel of Damascus: The strength and silence of the Citadel generate a feeling of the epics of steadfastness against the tatars, the Crusaders and the Mongols.
The Wall of Damascus and its Ramparts: Ancient Damascus was surrounded completely by the city wall; parts of which can still be seen near Bab Sharqi, Bab Tuma and Bab Kissan. Glimpses of the ramparts that supported the city wall can also be seen.
Bab Sharqi: This was the most important Bab (gate) of the ancient Damascus and it is characterized by its beautiful architecture.
Tetrapil Archway: This Archway is midway between Bab Sharqi and Bab Jabieh, near Al-Maryamyah Church.
Ancient Damascus Palaces: Al-Azem Palace, Khaled Al-Azem House, Al-Siba'i House, Jabri House, Nizam House and Naasan Palace are all fine examples which indicate that ancient Syrians considered one's home, one's paradise. The desire to creat a personal paradise inspired them to build beautiful homes embellished with drawings, decorations, water fountains, larg yards, trees and flowers. These lovely homes are made visually more attractive by entering from narrow lanes into open, sunny, green court yards.
RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS
The Omayyad Mosque of Damascus: This wonder of architecture which dates back to Al-walid Ibn Abdel Malek (705-715), is characterized by its width, high walls and the beauty of its three minarets and dome. The mosaic panels, one of the treasuers of the building, are made of colored and gilded glass rather than stone. Set between two pillars is the Tomb of St. John the Baptist, a domed shrine. The visitor can also visit the Omayyad Mosque Museum and have a look at the relics of the temple of Jupiter the Damascene and the tomb of saladin that lies north to the mosque.
Al Takya Al Sulaymanya: This building is especially famous for the beauty of its dome, symmetry of its two graceful minarets, the organization of its floors, the width of its pool and the multitude of flowers.
Hanania Chapel: This ancient church is particularly fascinating to visitors because of its connection with the story of St. Paul and his conversion to christianity through the help of Hanania.
St. Paul's Church: Bab Kissan, near Bab Shrqi, was changed into a church in memory of St. Paul's leaving Damascus through this gate.
Al-Maryamyah Cathedral: (The Cathedral of Virgin Mary), located near the Tetrapil Archway on Straight Street, this is one of the most beautiful and ancient churches of Damascus. Many people enjoy listening to its lovely hymns and taking a quiet time for prayer.
Other Locations of Intrest: The mosque of Al-Sheik Muhiddin Pasha in Salihiyeh; Darwish Pasha Mosque, noted for its wonderful marbel; Al-Sinanieh mosque, distinguished for its minaret covered with green marble; Al-Tayrouzi mosque in Bab Srijeh, with marble decorated walles; Murad Pasha mosque, located in suwaiqa on Midan Road, featuring a beautiful dome and saiyida Raqiya mosque; located in Al-Amara.
QUARTERS OF ANCIENT DAMASCUS
Located within the old city Wall, this area is characterized by relatively narrow lanes and locally beautiful architecture. Strolling down these lanes adds a new dimension to the visitor's enjoyment of the Old City.
Through the centuries, visitors have described Damascus in many different ways. Whatever words one chooses to describe her, there is little doubt that it leaves an indelible mark on the heart and imagination. Damascus becomes more than just another city visited, she becomes a friend.
تَعِبَ الكلامُ من الكلامِ…
1 -
لم يبقَ عندي ما أقولُ.
لم يبقَ عندي ما أقولُ.
تعبَ الكلاَمُ من الكَلامِ…
وماتَ في أحداق أعيُننَا النخيلُ…
شَفَتايَ من خَشَبٍ…
ووجهُكِ مُرْهَقٌ
والنَهْدُ… ما عَادَت تُدَقُّ لهُ الطُبولُ!!
- 2 -
لم يبقَ عندي ما أقولُ.
الثلجُ يسقطُ في حديقتنا
ويسقطُ من مشاعِرنا…
ويسقُط من اصابعنا…
ويسقطُ في الكُؤوسِ
وفي النبيذِ…
وفي السريرِ
فأينَ هوَ البديلُ؟!
- 3 -
لم يبقَ عندي ما أقولُ.
يَبسَت شرايينُ القصيدة…
وانتهى عصرُ الرتابةِ… والصبابةِ…
وانتهى العُمرُ الجميلُ!…
- 4 -
الشِعرُ غادرني
فلا بحرٌ بسيطٌ… أو خفيفٌ… أو طويلُ…
والحب غادرني
فلا قمرٌ…
ولا وترٌ…
ولا ظِلُّ ظليلُ…
- 5 -
لم يبقَ عندي ما أقولُ.
لم يبقَ في الميدان فُرسانٌ…
ولا بقيتْ خُيُولُ…
فالجِنسُ صعبٌ…
والوصُولُ الى كُنوزِكِ مُستحيلُ!!…
والنهدُ يقتُلُني…
ويزعمُ أنه الطرفُ القتيلُ!!
والموجُ يرفعني… ويرميني… كثورٍ هائجٍ…
فلأيِّ ناحيةٍ أميلُ؟؟
ماذا سيبقى من حصانِ الحُبِّ…
لو ماتَ الصهيلُ؟؟
- 6 -
لم يبقَ شيءٌ في يدي…
هربت عصافيرُ الطفولةِ من يدي…
هربت حبيباتي…
وذاكرتي…
وأَقلامي…
وأُوراقي…
وأقفرتِ الشواطئ… والحقولُ…
- 7 -
لم يبقَ عندي ما أقولُ
طارَ الحمامُ من النوافذِ هارباً…
والريش سافرَ… والهديلُ…
ضاعت رسائلنا القديمةُ كلها…
وتناثرت أوراقُها.
وتناثرت أشواقُها.
وتناثرت كلماتها الخضراءُ في كلّ الزوايا…
فبكى الغمامُ على رسائلنا…
كما بكتِ السنابلُ…
والجداولُ…
والسُهُولُ…
- 8 -
عيناكِ تاريخانِ من كحلٍ حجازيٍ…
ومن حُزنٍ رماديٍ…
ومن قلقٍ نسائيٍ…
فكيف يكونُ، سيّدتي الرحيلُ…
إنّي أفرُّ الى أمامي دائماً…
فهل ابتعادي عنكٍ، سيدتي وصُولُ؟…
ماذا سأفعلُ كيف أفكّ سلاسِلي؟
لا الشِعرُ يجديني… ولا تُجدي الكحولُ!!…
- 9 -
لم يبقَ شيءٌ في يدي.
كلُّ البُطولاتِ انتهت…
والعنترياتُ انتهت…
ومعاركُ الإعرابِ… والصرفِ… انتهت…
لا ياسمينُ الشام يعرفُني
ولا الأنهارُ. والصفصافُ… والأهدابُ… والخدُّ الأسيلُ…
وأنا أحدِّقُ في الفراغِ…
وفي يدَيكِ…
وفي أحاسيسي…
فيغمرُني الذُهولُ…
- 10 -
أرجوُ السماحَ…
إذا جلستُ على الأريكة مُحبطاً.
ومُشتتاً…
ومُبعثراً…
أرجُو سماحكِ…
إن نسيتُ بلاغتي…
لم يبقَ من لُغَةِ الهوى إلا القليلُ!!
(لندن 15 آذار (مارس) 1997)
طَعَنُوا العُرُوبةَ في الظلام بخنجرٍ
- 1 -
لا تَسأليني،
يا صديقةُ، مَنْ أنا؟
ما عُدْتُ أعرفُ…
- حينَ اكتُبُ -
ما أُريدُ…
رَحلتْ عباءَاتٌ غزَلتُ خُيُوطَها…
وتَمَلمَلَت منّي
العُيُون السُودُ…
لا الياسمينُ تجيئُني أخبارُهُ…
أمَّا البَريدُ…
فليسَ ثَمَّ بَريدُ…
لم يَبقَ في نَجدٍ… مكانٌ للهوى
أو في الرَصَافَةِ…
طائرٌ غِرِّيدُ…
- 2 -
العَالَمُ العربيُّ…
ضَيَّعَ شعرَهُ… وشُعُورهُ…
والكاتبُ العربيُّ…
بينَ حُرُوفِهِ… مَفْقُودُ!!
- 3 -
الشعرُ، في هذا الزمانِ…
فَضِيحةٌ…
والحُبُّ، في هذا الزمانِ…
شَهيدُ…
- 4 -
ما زالّ للشِعر القديمِ
نضارةٌ…
أما الجديدُ…
فما هناكَ جديدُ!!
لُغةٌ… بلا لُغةٍ…
وجوقُ ضفادعٍ…
وزوابعُ ورقيّةٌ
ورُعُودُ
هم يذبحونَ الشِعرَ…
مثل دجاجةٍ…
ويُزّورونَ…
وما هناكَ شهودُ!!
- 5 -
رحلَ المُغنون الكِبارُ
بشعرِنا…
نفي الفرزدقُ من عشيرتهِ
وفرَّ لبيدُ!!
- 6 -
هل أصبحَ المنفى
بديلَ بيُوتنا؟
وهل الحمامُ، مع الرحيلِ…
سعيدُ؟؟
- 7 -
الشعرُ… في المنفى الجميلِ…
تحرّرٌ…
والشِعرُ في الوطنِ الأصيلِ…
قيودُ!!…
- 8 -
هل لندنٌ…
للشعرِ، آخرُ خيمةٍ؟
هل ليلُ باريسٍ…
ومدريدٍ…
وبرلينٍ…
ولُوزانٍ…
يبدّدُ وحشتي؟
فتفيضُ من جسدي
الجداولُ…
والقصائدُ…
والورودُ؟؟…
- 9 -
لا تسأليني…
يا صديقةُ: أين تبتدئ الدموعُ…
وأين يبتدئ النشيدُ؟
أنا مركبٌ سكرانُ…
يُقلعُ دونَ أشرعةٍ
ويُبحرُ دون بُوصلةٍ…
ويدخُلُ في بحار الله مُنتحراً…
ويجهلُ ما أرادَ… وما يريدُ…
- 10 -
لا تسأليني عن مخازي أُمتي
ما عدتُ أعرفُ – حين أغضبُ -
ما أُريدُ…
وإذا السيوفَ تكسرت أنصالُها
فشجاعةُ الكلماتِ… ليس تُفيدُ…
- 11 -
لا تسأليني…
من هو المأمونُ… والمنصورُ؟
أو من كان مروانٌ؟
ومن كانَ الرشيدُ؟
أيامَ كان السيفُ مرفوعاً…
وكان الرأسُ مرفوعاً…
وصوتُ الله مسموعاً…
وكانت تملأ الدنيا…
الكتائبُ… والبنودُ…
واليومَ، تختـــجلُ العروبة من عروبتنا…
وتختجلُ الرجولةُ من رجولتنا…
ويختجلُ التهافتُ من تهافتنا…
ويلعننا هشامٌ… والوليدُ!
- 12 -
لا تسأليني…
مرةً أخرى… عن التاريخ…
فهو إشاعةُ عربيةٌ…
وقصاصةٌ صحفيةٌ…
وروايةٌ عبثية…
لا تسألي، إن السّؤَالَ مذلةٌ…
وكذا الجوابُ مذلةٌ…
نحنُ انقرضنا…
مثل أسماكِ بلا رأسٍ…
وما انقرضَ اليهودُ!!
- 13 -
أنا من بلادٍ…
كالطحينِ تناثرَت…
مِزَقاً…
فلا ربٌّ… ولا توحيدُ…
تغزو القبائلُ بعضها بشهيةٍ
كبرى…
وتفترسُ الحُدودَ… حدودُ!!
- 14 -
أنا من بلادٍ…
نكّست راياتها…
فكتابُها التوراةُ… والتلمودُ…
- 15 -
هل في أقاليم العروبةٍ كُلّها…
رجلٌ سَوِيُّ العقلِ…
يجرؤ ان يقول: أنا سعيدُ؟؟…
- 16 -
لا تسأليني من أنا؟
أنا ذلك الهِندي…
قد سرقوا مزارعهُ…
وقد سرقوا ثقافته…
وقد سرقوا حضارتهُ…
فلا بقيت عظامٌ منهُ…
أو بقِيت جُلودُ!!…
- 17 -
أنيابُ أمريكا
تغوصُ بلحمِنا…
والحِسُّ في أعماقنا مفقودُ…
- 18 -
نتقبلُ (الفيتو)…
ونلثمُ كفَّها…
ومتى يثورُ على السياطِ عبيدُ؟؟
- 19 -
والآن جاؤوا من وراء البحرِ…
حتى يشربُوا بترولنا…
ويبدّدوا أموالنا…
ويُلوّثوا أفكارنا…
ويُصدِّروا عُهراً الى أولادنا…
وكأننا عربٌ هنودُ!!
- 20 -
لا تسأليني. فالسؤالُ إهانةٌ.
نيران اسرائيل تحرقُ أهلنا…
وبلادنا… وتُراثنا الباقي…
ونحنُ جليدُ!!
- 21 -
لا تسأليني، يا صديقةُ، ما أرى.
فالليلُ أعمى…
والصباحُ بعيدُ…
طعنوا العروبةَ في الظلام بخنجرٍ
فإذا هُمُ… بين اليهودِ يهودُ!!
(لندن 1 نيسان (ابريل) 97)
أنا قصِيدةُ حُبٍّ…
- 1 -
أنا مسؤولٌ… عن كلِّ قصيدةِ حُبٍّ كَتَبتُها…
ابتداءً من الوصول الى جَبَل طارقْ…
وانتهاءً بمغادرة (قصر الحمراءْ)…
مسؤولٌ عن سُيُوف (بني الأحمر)…
واحداً… واحداً…
وعن تنهُّداتهمْ… واحداً… واحداً…
- 2 -
أنا مسؤولٌُ عن هذا الوطن الجميلْ…
الذي رسَمْتُهُ مرةً بانتصاراتي…
ومرةً… بفتوحاتي… وأوسمتي…
ومرةً… بانكساراتي… ودُمُوعي…
- 3 -
أنا مئذنةُ حزينةٌ…
من مآذنِ قُرْطبهْ…
تُريدُ أن تعُودَ الى دمشقْ…
- 4 -
أنا تراثُ أمي… من الياسمينْ والخبّيزَهْ…
لا يزالُ ينكُشُ تحت ثيابي!!
- 5 -
أنا قصيدةُ حُبٍّ
كانتْ سَبَباً…
في سُقُوط العَرَب من الأندلسْ!!
- 6 -
أنا أوَّلُ البكاءْ…
وآخرُ البكاءْ…
- 7 -
أنا مجموعة من الأحزان…
يستعملها الرُهْبان لصنع شُمُوعهْم…
- 8 -
أنا في النهارْ…
سَيْفٌ من سُيُوف عبدالرحمن الداخِلْ…
وفي الليل، مَرْوَحةٌ من الريشْ…
في يد إحدى راقصات (الفلامِنْكُو)…
- 9 -
أنا موشَّحٌ أندلسيّ…
لم تكتُبْ ساحاتُ (الحَمْراء) أجملَ منه…
قيثارةٌ… تنتحِبُ
على صدر (غارثيا لُوركَا)…
- 10 -
أنا ياسمينةٌ تتسَّلَقُ صباحاً
على عباءة (أبي عبدالله الصغيْر)!!
- 11 -
أنا مجموعةٌ من المواويلْ…
تستعملُها جبالُ لبنانْ…
للتعبير عن بكائها…
- 12 -
أنا كلُّ أوجاع العالَمْ…
من جُولْييت غريكو…
الى بابلو نيرُودّا…
- 13 -
على شفتيكِ
أيتها الأندلسيّة…
أبحثُ عن خط الاستواءْ
وعن غابات إفريقيا…
وعن حبّ الهالْ…
والفلفلِ الأسودْ…
ونبيذ مالاغا…
وزرقة القلوع
على شاطئ (ماربيا)…
- 14 -
أنا مسؤولٌ…
عن (زمان الوصلِ بالأندلُسِ)…
وعن غَزَلياتِ (العبّاس بن الأحتَفْ…)
وعن كلّ وردةٍ حمراءْ…
تضعُها (الولاّدةُ بنتُ المستكْفي)…
على جبينها…
- 15 -
أنا مجموعةٌ من الدموْع…
تسبحُ من بلاد الشعرْ…
ولا يعرفُ أحدٌ…
في أيّ مكانٍ على شاطئ عُيُوني…
تصُبّ…
(سبتمبر 1997)
لو
- 1 -
لو أنكِ جئتِ… قبيل ثلاثين عاماً
الى موعدي المنتظَرْ…
لكانَ تغير وجهُ القَضَاءِ…
ووجهُ القَدَرْ…
- 2 -
لو أنكِ جئتِ… قبيل ثلاثينَ قرناً
لطرّزتُ بالكلماتِ يدْيَكِ…
وبللتُ بالماء وجهَ القَمرْ…
- 3 -
لو انكِ كنتِ حبيبةَ قلبي…
قبيل ثلاثين قرناً…
لزادت مياهُ البحورْ…
وزادَ أخضرارُ الشَجَرْ…
- 4 -
لو أنكِ كنتِ رفيقةَ دربي…
لفجرَّتُ من شفتيكِ الشُموسَ…
وأخرجتُ من بين نهديكِ…
ألفَ قَمرْ…
- 5 -
لو أنكِ كنتِ حبيبةَ قلبي
قُبيلَ ثلاثينَ قرناً…
تغيرَّ تاريخُ هذا البَلدْ…
فقبلكِ… ليس هناكَ نساءٌ.
وبعدَكِ…
ليس هناكَ أحدْ!!…
(أكتوبر 1997)
مُرَبّعات…
- 1 -
أنا مُرَّبعٌ…
يبحثُ منذُ القرنِ الأولْ
عن بقية أضلاعِهْ…
يبحثُ منذ بدايات التكوينْ…
عن صورة وجهِهْ…
يبحثُ منذُ بداياتِ النساءْ…
عن اسمِ امرأتِهِ الضائعةْ!!…
- 2 -
أنا المسيحُ عيسى بنُ مريمْ…
أبحثُ منذ تاريخ صَلبي
عن دمي… وجراحي… ومساميري!!
- 3 -
أنا في مربَّع، إسمُهُ أنتِ.
فلا أستطيعُ الهُروبَ الى امرأةٍ ثانيهْ…
أنا بين نهديكِ في مأزقٍ…
ولا أستطيعُ الخلاصَ من الهاويَهْ!!
- 4 -
أنا في مربَّعٍ اسمُهُ الشعرْ…
فلا أستطيعُ الذهابَ شمالاً…
ولا أستطيعُ الذهاب جنوباً…
وأعرف أنّي سأُقتَلُ بالضربة القاضية…
- 5 -
أنا شاعرٌ عربيّ… يمُوتُ…
على خنجر العشْق يوماً…
ويوماً… على خنجر القافية.
- 6 -
أنا في مربَّعٍِ، اسمهُ الأنوثة…
فأيُّ الجميلات تُفرجُ عنّي…
وليس هنالكَ لبنَى… ولا راويَهْ…
- 7 -
أنا في مربَّعٍ… اسمُهُ القصيدَة…
في أساورها تلبُسِني…
في خواتمها تحبسني…
في ضفائرها تحاصرني…
في قدَميْها تزيّنُ بي…
كخلاخيل الحرَّية!!
- 8 -
أنا في مربَّعٍ مفتوحٍ عليكْ…
من الجهات الأربَعْ…
من الشعر الأسود… الى الحَلَقِ الفضيّ
ومن الأصابع المرصعة بالنُجومْ…
الى الشامات التي لا عدَدَ لها…
- 9 -
أنا مربعٌ أخضرُ… في بحر عينيكِ…
وما زلتُ أُبحرُ…
ما زلتُ أغرقُ…
ما زلتُ أطفو… وأرسو…
وأجهلُ في أيّ وقتٍ…
يكونُ وصُولي…
الى رمل صدرِكِ… أيتها الغاليهْ…
- 10 -
أنا في مربعٍ… اسمُهُ الكتابة…
ولا أستطيعُ التحرّر منكِ…
ولا أستطيعُ التحررُ مني…
فأينَ يداكِ…
تُضيئان أياميَ الآتيةْ…
- 11 -
أحبكِ…
يا مَنْ ألملِمُ من شفتَيها
بقيّةَ أحلاميَ الباقيهْ…
- 12 -
أحبُّك…
يا ألفَ امرأةٍ في ثيابي…
ويا ألفَ بيتٍ من الشِعر…
يملأُ أوراقيَهْ…
(مارس 1998)
القصيدة الأخيرة(مقاطع)
ما تُراني أقولُ ليلةَ عُرسي؟
جَف وردُ الهوى، ونامِ السامر.
ما تُراني أقولُ يا أصدقائي
في زمانٍ تموتُ فيه المشاعر؟
لم يعد في فمي قصيدةُ حبٍ
سقطَ القلبُ تحت وقع الحوافِرْ
ألف شكرٍ لكم… فأنتم شراعي
وبحاري، والغالياتُ الجواهرْ
فأنا منكُمُ سرقتُ الأحاسيس
وعنكم أخذتُ لونَ المحاجِر
أنتم المبدعُونَ أجمل شِعري
وبغير الشعوب، ما طار طائر
فعلى صوتكُم أُدوزِنُ شعري
وبأعراسِكم أزفُّ البشائرْ.
* * *
أنزفُ الشعر، منذ خمسينَ عاماً
ليس سهلاً أن يصبحَ المرءُ شاعر
هذه مِهنةُ المجانين في الأرضِ
وطعمُ الجُنون طعمٌ باهِر…
أنزِفُ العشقَ والنساءَ بصمتٍ
هل لهذا الحزنِ الدمشقي آخر؟
لستُ أشكو قصيدةً ذبحتني
قدري أن أموت فوق الدفاتر
بي شيءٌ من عزة المُتنبي
وبقايا من نار مجنون عامرْ…
لم يكن دائماً فراشي حريراً
فلكم نمت فوق حدِّ الخناجرْ
فخذُوا شُهرتي التي أرهقتني
والإذاعاتِ كلَّها… والمنابرْ
وامنحوني صدراً أنامُ عليهِ
واصلُبوني على سواد الضفائر…
* * *
أنا من أُمّةٍ على شكل ناي
هي دوماً حُبلى بمليون شاعرْ
كلُّ أطفالنا يقولونَ شعراً
والعصافيرُ، والرُبى، والبيادرْ.
ما بنا حاجةٌ لمليونِ ديكٍ
نحنُ في حاجةٍ لمليونِ ثائرْ
تُطلِعُ الأرضُ شاعراً كلَّ قرنٍ
لا تباعُ الأشعارُ مثلَ السجائر…
هل سعِدنا بشعرنا أم شقينا
أم غفونا على رنين القياثِر؟
فانتصرنا يوماً ببحرٍ طويلٍ
وانهزمنا يوماً ببحر الوافرْ
Why not tell a story to your children this weekend...
The Orphan Boy and His Dog
Story adapted from a T'boli tale by Laura Simms
This tale was gathered originally by three T'Boli Scholars: Faw-Wanan, Waning Negwan, and Gadu Udal. The tales were collected and written down in 1973 and later translated into English. (The T'boli live on the southern part of the island of Mindanoa in the Philippines. They are Malay in complexion and gather in seven villages around Lake Sebu. The datu is the head man in charge of village affairs. Until recently, they have had little contact with the modern world, but are known for their sophisticated weaving and their epic literature. Laura Simms visited the T'Boli in autumn 1996. The manuscript from which this story is adapted was given to Laura by anthropologist Helen Alegado in Davoa City, Mindanoa.)
There was an orphan boy who was unhappy. His only companion was a little dog. He lived with his aunt and uncle who mistreated him. They beat the child, gave him only leftovers to eat, and rags instead of clothes. The poor child worked all day and slept in the ashes by the fire at night.
The orphan boy did whatever he was told. He worked hard and never complained. If he disobeyed he was burned or beaten, and the little dog was beaten as well. Everyone in the village made fun of the child, "He is lazy and stupid." The other children avoided him calling out, "He is an ugly child who has no clothes."
One morning, the boy was sent to fetch water. The puppy followed behind him. When they got to the well, the dog began to bark. A tiny old man stood near the cliff. His white beard hung to the earth. The child was frightened, but the puppy began to yelp and ran toward the little man.
The little man said, "Do not be afraid of me. I have something to tell you." The boy walked toward the man as if he was under a spell.
"I have seen how much you suffer," said the little man, "You and your puppy must follow me." They followed the man to the foot of a tree.
"I do not see anything," remarked the boy.
The man said, "Your eyes are blurred." He gave the boy and the dog medicine with which they washed their eyes.
Then the little man said, "Keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them." The boy was afraid. He heard the man unsheathe his bolo (sword). The child trembled, afraid to move. But he could not stand his fear and opened his eyes. He saw a huge snake moving toward him. He screamed, "I am going to die."
He heard a strange voice, like the buzz of a mosquito, "If you obey me you will have good fortune. But if you keep your eyes open, you will have bad fortune. Do not be afraid of the snake." The boy closed his eyes.
All of a sudden, he heard his puppy wail. Then someone tapped him on the forehead saying, "open your eyes." When he opened his eyes he saw a large dog standing before him. When he looked at himself he was dressed in sparkling clothes. His scars and dirt were gone. He was standing next to a house with glass walls.
The man spoke, "You are away from your village and you are away from danger. In my house there are many treasures. But, you can not eat any food in my world because you will not be able to return home. My family is away for four days. You must return home and then come back here to meet them. Your people have been very cruel to you, but one day they will honor you."
The old man gave the boy and the dog some special medicine so they could return to the glass house when they needed to return, then he turned them into their former selves, and turned himself back into a little old man.
The orphan was standing beside the well. He heard his aunt calling angrily for him, "What takes you so long to draw water?"
The orphan boy ran with the water. The little dog ran behind him. At home, his aunt beat him and the dog with a bamboo stick and pushed them into the garbage.
At that time, in the house where the boy was living, there was to be a great wedding feast. The three sons of the datu were to marry three princesses.
The orphan boy was given three times as many chores to do in preparation for the wedding. The three sons were not present because they were looking for the many gifts that the girls asked for their dowries: tedyung (black cloth to make skirts), kamagi (gold for jewelry), fanid ndol (the woven cloth called tinaluk), kfilan (special swords), ulew ndol (red turbans) and brass musical instruments.
The three daughters arrived and waited.
The orphan and the puppy left the kitchen to watch the celebrations. But the people called out, "Drive that ugly filthy child and his hideous dog away. They will bring bad luck. They are a source of embarrassment." The aunt mercilessly beat the boy and the puppy and then forced them to work again. No one took pity on the child.
The child and the dog ran as fast as they could to the well. They covered themselves with the medicine the old man had given them and passed through to the other world. The man welcomed them. He introduced the boy to his wife and two children. The man's wife was a beautiful. Her hair was coiled on the top of her head as elegantly as a finely woven basket. If she was to let down her hair it would reach her feet. She said, "Stay with us until the feast is over. You have suffered enough."
The orphan boy was given food to eat. The big dog was also given food. The man gave the boy two charms: one for good luck and one for bad luck. He said, "Use the good charm tonight at midnight. The youngest princess will see who you are. But, be careful not to confuse the two charms."
Then the boy and the puppy returned as they were before. When they reached the house they were beaten again, because they had been gone so long.
All evening and all night the boy tended the fire and stirred the rice. Eventually, everyone went to sleep. Only the youngest princess could not sleep because she did not want to marry one of the three datus. As the orphan was stirring the rice he thought, "The three datus think that they are the most powerful leaders. But they do not realize that I, whom they despise, will be the most powerful datu."
At midnight, he carefully chose the good luck charm and rubbed it on himself. The fireplace instantly turned into a well-woven mat. The bamboo frame of the stove became two pillows. The fire turned into a lamp and the stones on which he slept became valuable gongs. Everything in the kitchen became a priceless treasure of this world, and theorphan boy became a handsome young man and the dog became ferocious.
The youngest princess went into the kitchen. To her amazement she saw the young man and his place of treasures. She saw his beauty and the power of the dog. She knew it was not a dream. She awoke her mother, but when the old woman went to look, she saw only the filthy orphan boy and his ragged dog.
The youngest princess returned to her bed. She fell asleep and dreamed. The little old man came to her dream and said, "When you must choose a young man tomorrow, choose the orphan boy. You will live in a house of glass and mirrors and be surrounded by treasures. He will be kind and loving. The orphan boy will be the strongest datu." She awoke to the sound of bells and gongs. The wedding ceremonies were beginning.
Each of the young men was seated under nets. Behind the men were rows of horses, cows, water buffalo, sheep and goats. This was the dowry to be given to the fathers of the brides.
As the sun rose, each of the girls was to sit beside their chosen husband under the mosquito net. But the youngest princess had made a form from a pillow the size of a girl and she placed that beneath the net beside the youngest datu. When it was discovered, her father yelled at her. "You must go and choose your husband."
The youngest princess started running. She ran near to the datu, but instead of sitting down beside him, she ran all the way to the orphan boy and sat beside him near the fire. Her father tried to pull her away. She cried out, "If you pull me away or harm the orphan, I will die with him."
The youngest datu was enraged. He lifted up his sword and went to kill the orphan and the princess. But, the orphan took out his good luck charm. He rubbed it on himself and on the dog. He shed his ugly skin and stood up a powerful and handsome young man. The dog grew ten times its size and pounced on the datu's son. Everything in the kitchen turned to treasures.
The people who saw what had happened fell to their knees. The aunt, who had been so cruel, ran to the boy, and put her head by his feet. But, the dog intercepted and bit her hands.
The orphan boy married the princess, and from that day onwards he became the most powerful datu. They lived in that village for a long time.
Then, one morning, all the people saw a flash of lightening. Suddenly, the little old man appeared. His white beard hung down to the earth. When the sky cleared, the boy, the princess, the old man and the dog were gone. They all lived happily in the other world in the house of treasures.
One of my favourite things is my love of music.
There was always singing and music in my house when I was growing up.
This is my first record player, an old Dansette Viva from the 60's with a couple of my old Beatles albums.
These albums and many others have given me so much pleasure over the years.
There is not a day that goes by that I don't have music in my life.
This old Dansette has played records at 33, 45 and 78 rpm but I never did find any that needed the 16rpm speed.
I understand that they were very long playing educational and training records at the time.
The Sgt. Pepper's album cover from the Summer of Love in 1967 still fascinates me today.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - "We hope you have enjoyed the show."
58 years of memories. Where does the time go?
Miami (/maɪˈæmi/; Spanish pronunciation: [miˈami]) is a seaport city at the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Florida and its Atlantic coast. As the seat of Miami-Dade County, the municipality is the principal, central, and the most populous city of the Miami metropolitan area and part of the second-most populous metropolis in the southeastern United States.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Miami's metro area is the eighth-most populous and fourth-largest urban area in the U.S., with a population of around 5.5 million.
Miami is a major center, and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, media, entertainment, the arts, and international trade. In 2012, Miami was classified as an Alpha−World City in the World Cities Study Group's inventory. In 2010, Miami ranked seventh in the United States in terms of finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, education, and other sectors. It ranked 33rd among global cities. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Miami "America's Cleanest City", for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets, and citywide recycling programs.
According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities, Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States, and the world's fifth-richest city in terms of purchasing power. Miami is nicknamed the "Capital of Latin America" and is the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality.
Miami has the third tallest skyline in the U.S. with over 300 high-rises. Downtown Miami is home to the largest concentration of international banks in the United States, and many large national and international companies. The Civic Center is a major center for hospitals, research institutes, medical centers, and biotechnology industries.
For more than two decades, the Port of Miami, known as the "Cruise Capital of the World", has been the number one cruise passenger port in the world. It accommodates some of the world's largest cruise ships and operations, and is the busiest port in both passenger traffic and cruise lines.
Metropolitan Miami is the major tourism hub in the American South, number two in the U.S. after New York City and number 13 in the world, including the popular destination of Miami Beach.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
The Halliwell Manuscript, also known as the Regius Poem, is the earliest of the Old Charges. It consists of 64 vellum pages of Middle English written in rhyming couplets.The Halliwell Manuscript, also known as the Regius Poem, is the earliest of the Old Charges. It consists of 64 vellum pages of Middle English written in rhyming couplets. In this, it differs from the prose of all the later charges. The poem begins by describing how Euclid "counterfeited geometry" , for the employment of the children of the nobility in Ancient Egypt.The Will o' the Wisp is the most common name given to the mysterious lights that were said to lead travellers from the well-trodden paths into treacherous marshes. The tradition exists with slight variation, the lights often bearing a regional name.There are various explanations for the Will o' the Wisps, the most general being that they are malevolent spirits either of the dead or non-human intelligence. They have a mischievous and often malevolent nature, luring unwary travellers into dangerous situations. Wirt Sikes in his book British Goblins alludes a common story about a Welsh Will o' the Wisp (Pwca or Ellylldan); a peasant, who is travelling home late in the evening sees a bright light travelling before him, looking closer he sees that the light is a lantern held by a "dusky little figure" which he follows for several miles, suddenly he finds himself standing on the edge of a great chasm with a roaring torrent of water rushing below him. At that moment the lantern carrier leaps across the fissure, raises the light over its head and lets out a malicious laugh, after which it blows out the light leaving the unfortunate man far from home, standing in pitch darkness at the edge of a precipice. They were not always so dangerous, and there are tales told about the Will o' the Wisp being guardians of treasure, leading those brave enough to follow them to sure riches.
Cette règle s’enracine dans une filiation traditionnelle qui assigne à l'alchimie un rôle spécifique dans l’économie générale de la création. Si les anciens constructeurs de Cathédrales, avaient pour objectif de mettre en ordre la matière selon les normes de la géométrie pour l’ordonner à la perfection et d’œuvrer sur la pierre vivante pour construire un espace destiné à porter la création à son parachèvement, à son idéale beautéLES STATUTS DE L'ART DE LA GÉOMÉTRIE SELON ŒUCLIDE donnera la peine de chercher et de lire, trouver dans un vieux livre l'histoire de grands seigneurs et dames qui avaient beaucoup d'enfants, et n'avaient pas de revenus pour les entretenir ni en ville, ni aux champs, ni dans les bois.Ils tinrent conseil par amour pour leurs enfants, afin de voir comment ils pourraient mener leur vie confortablement, sans souci et sans lutte. Ils étaient fort préoccupés par le sort de leurs descendants après leur mort. Ils envoyèrent alors chercher des clercs instruits pour leur enseigner de bons métiers. Et nous les prions, pour l'amour de Notre Seigneur, de donner à nos enfants un travail qui leur permette de gagner leur vie de façon décente et honnête, et en toute sécurité ».La bonne géométrie et cet honnête métier qu'est l'architecture furent constitués et mis au point par les clercs. À la demande des seigneurs ils créèrent un art qu'ils nommèrent architecture en se basant sur le modèle de la géométrie, décidés à en faire le plus honnête des métiers.Les enfants des seigneurs étudièrent la géométrie, celui qui apprenait le mieux, était honnête et le plus appliqué, avait droit à plus d'égards et en était honoré. Le nom de ce grand clerc était Euclide et sa renommée s'est répandue au loin. Il ordonna que celui qui était le plus doué devait instruire celui qui l'était moins pour l'améliorer dans cet art honnête; ainsi ils devaient s'instruire l'un l'autre et s'aimer tous comme frères et sœurs. Il ordonna encore que le plus avancé soit appelé maître, afin qu'il soit particulièrement honoré. Mais les architectes ne devaient jamais s'appeler entre eux de noms de sujets ou de serviteurs, car ils sont unis dans le métier, même si l'un est moins avancé que l'autre. Ils doivent s'appeler compagnons, car ils sont tous de noble naissance.la science de la géométrie est à la source de l'architecture, ainsi que le clerc Euclide a inventé cet art de la géométrie sur les bords du Nil. Il l'enseigna dans toute l'Égypte, et en divers pays, de tous côtés.Les châteaux, demeures, et des temples majestueux ont des défauts à corriger au moyen de bons conseils, s'ils le pouvaient. Il put alors réunir une assemblée comprenant divers seigneurs ainsi que des grands bourgeois. Tous étaient là, chacun à son rang, et ils siégèrent sans désemparer pour donner un statut aux architectes .Chacun avec sa connaissance, chercha comment il pourrait définir le métier et leurs recherches produisirent quinze articles et quinze points“L’initiation alchimiste ressemble au plan d'un grand Architecte de la création. Cette theorie est fondée sur la géométrie et l'harmonie résultante des lignes de descentes de charges. Les forces divines sont dans le cœur d'Adam, sa science de la géométrie (Anderson) afin que ses descendants puissent percevoir l’harmonie du monde et sa magnificence ”.
The Parish Church of ST MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS, Newburn is in the centre of the village, just above the library. (NE15 8LT) The building stands in its commanding position on the north side of the Tyne Valley overlooking the village of Newburn.
It was restored following a fire in 2006 which caused £2.6million in damage. The building consists of a four bay nave with transepts and aisles, a west tower, a south porch, an unaisled chancel with a vestry and organ chamber to the north.
Before this present building, there was a wooden church on the site, which was burnt down in 1067 AD. (So we are not very good with fires!) Around this time a man, Copsi, an appointee of the Norman Ruler William I, was found murdered near the church door. He was hated by the local lords, whom he had displaced.
From the start of the second millennium with the murder of Copsi, there have been battles between the Scottish and the English which have frequently bathed the parish in blood. There was a plague of Cholera in the village in 1832 in which 66 of the 550 population died, including the vicar, The Reverend James Edmonson, and the village doctor.
Newburn is a village and district of Newcastle upon Tyne, in Tyne and Wear, England. Situated on the North bank of the River Tyne, it is built rising up the valley from the river. It is situated approximately 5 miles (8 km) from the city centre, 14 miles (23 km) east of Hexham and 13 miles (21 km) south south west of Morpeth. In the 2001 census, the population was given as 9,301, increasing to 9,536 at the 2011 Census. Newburn is in the Newcastle upon Tyne district of Tyne and Wear and is part of the parliamentary constituency of Newcastle upon Tyne North.
Historically, the area was larger than Newcastle upon Tyne as it was the most eastern fordable point of the River Tyne. The area has Roman remains, and a Norman church dating from 1070 AD. In 1640, the Battle of Newburn took place. The area grew with the Industrial Revolution with the discovery of coal, and in 1822 Spencer's Steelworks was opened. The village's steelworks fell into decline after the First World War, and the area is now home to a country park and various leisure facilities.
History
Though some claim the area's name comes from the Old English for "New Fort or Castle" (burh or burg being the Old English for fort or castle), the name is more commonly thought to have come from the Dewley or New Burn, which runs through the area. This is somewhat substantiated by the fact that the settlement was recorded as Neuburna in 1121, rather than Neuburh.
Newburn was originally considered to have pre-eminence over Newcastle, as Newburn was the first point up from the mouth of the river that was fordable. The Romans marked this ford with a framework of stones, and may have built a fort to command the crossing. The area has other Roman connections, with the route of Hadrian's Wall cutting across its northern half, before running toward Throckley. From the eighth century, Newburn was a royal vill or town, and Newcastle didn't become a more important settlement until Plantagenet times.
Between 1332 and 1974 the Percy family were associated with Newburn, and Hugh Percy was the last to inherit Newburn Manor House, which was built in the 16th century. Also in the area at this time was Newburn Hall, which was built in the 15th century.
Newburn Country Park
On 28 August 1640, the Battle of Newburn took place. The Scottish Covenanters, led by Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven, planted guns at Newburn to protect them while fording the river, after which they defeated the English on the south side of the river at Stellahaugh, and subsequently occupied Newcastle upon Tyne. The Scottish claim this occupation to have been the prologue to the English Civil War. The name of Scotswood, one of the manufacturing areas between Newburn and the city centre, commemorates one of their positions.
Newburn and nearby Lemington had always been considered among the greenest areas of Newcastle, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the majority of vegetables supplied to local markets came from Newburn and Hexham. Prior to the early 19th century, the majority of employment in the Newburn area was for fishermen, keelmen and miners.
The district has many associations with the early development of the railway. The famous engineer George Stephenson, who was born in Wylam a few miles to the west of Newburn, was twice married in Newburn Church, though he is buried in Chesterfield in Derbyshire, and worked in the Water Row pit in Newburn. The area is also the birthplace of an earlier steam pioneer William Hedley, whose first locomotive Puffing Billy was built in 1812, two years prior to his rival's first locomotive Blücher. A gravestone in Newburn churchyard marks Hedley's burial in 1843. The future railway engineers Joseph and George Armstrong both lived in the village from 1824, and found their first employment at nearby Walbottle Colliery.
In 1855, William Whellan's History, Topography, and Directory of Northumberland described the banks of the Tyne at this point having extensive iron works, coal staithes, brickyards, chemical works and other manufactories.
In 1822 John Spencer established Newburn Steelworks in a small mill for grinding files, on the Dewley Burn in the north of Newburn. Over the course of next hundred or so years his mill grew to take over much of Newburn as the demand for steel boomed with the growth of railways and other industries. By the late 19th century, the works had spread to the east of the area along the banks of the Tyne to such an extent Newburn Hall was "embedded" in them. In 1916 the mill had a weekly output of 1,500 tons. Steel plates for the liner RMS Mauretania were made by Spencers. However the industry was hit hard by the depression after the First World War and the steel works closed between 1924 and 1926, despite a large effort to raise £75,000 needed to save the works. The works' large number of 130-foot (40 m) high chimneys were demolished in 1933. A number of buildings connected with the works still stand today, although with new uses, including two large sheds which are now owned by H. Pringle, used as a large indoor scrapyard, and offices which are now used by the Multi-Lab company.
In the 1850s, the Newburn Brickworks was built as part of the North Wallbottle and Blucher Colliery Company. The works were situated near Spencer's early mill in the north of Newburn. It was connected to the colliery at Blucher by a small railway, which continued onto the staithes at Lemington. Newburn bricks were mainly used for industrial buildings such as sewers, tunnels and arches. The works closed in 1965 and demolished in 1979 to make way for a council-run recycling centre. Its sister plant, Throckley Brick Works, still operates.
In the early twentieth century, around 4,000 people lived in the area. A working men's club was built, comprising a library, reading rooms and lecture rooms for community meetings. By 1925 the building was used as a dole office, and in 1990 adapted for use as a residential care home.
In 1922, Newburn U.D.C. High Street Fire Station was built. The building still stands today, but the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service moved to West Denton in December 1980.
Governance
In 1894, Newburn Urban District Council was formed. This governed Newburn, along with other suburbs to the west of Newcastle. In 1911, the district council offices were officially opened. On 1 April 1974, following the Local Government Act 1972, it became part of the metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear. The area is now part of the parliamentary constituency of Newcastle upon Tyne
Demography
According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the population of the Newburn ward was 9,301, making up 3.6% of the population of the Newcastle upon Tyne area.
Economy
Prior to its closure, Spencer's Steel Works was a major local employer. Newburn Industrial Park, and the Newburn Riverside business park are now two of the key local employers.
Culture and Community
In the late nineteenth century there was a funfair, known as Newburn Hoppings, set up near the area. This was similar to The Hoppings on Newcastle's Town Moor.
There was a wooden picturedrome on Westmacott Street in the early twentieth century. On 18 October 1911, the Imperial Cinema on Station Road opened. Designed by Thomas Eltringham of Throckley colliery, it originally had seating for 550. A 131-seat gallery was added later. By 1919, the cinema was doing so well, two shows a night could not satisfy demand. However, with the opening of the Lyric Cinema in Throckley in 1935, the cinema's audience was divided. Despite this the cinema was refurbished and given a modern façade. But with the impact of television, the Imperial Cinema was one of many small picture houses to close down, shutting in 1961. It was used as a bingo hall for a time, but is now owned by Industrial Engravers, producing signs, vehicle liveries and banners.
Landmarks
In 1920, the area's war memorial was unveiled. The Battle of the Somme in 1916 accounts for many of the names on the statue's honour roll.
The independent micro brewery The Big Lamp is attached to The Keelman public house which serves the brewery's own cask ale. Originally constructed in 1855 as a pumping station, it lay derelict for a number of years but was protected from demolition by becoming a grade II* listed building, renovated in 1996 and converted into a brewery and public house. The Keelman stands at the entrance to the Tyne Riverside Country Park and is approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) east from the neighbouring village of Wylam.
The Boat House pub stands near Newburn Bridge on Water Row. On it is marked the flood levels of 1771, 1815, 1832 and 1850.
Transport
In 1748, the Wylam wagonway opened between Wylam and Lemington, passing through Newburn in doing so. This used horse-drawn carts to take coal from Wylam colliery to the staithes at Lemington. This was upgraded to a five-foot gauge line, and then to a standard gauge line in 1862. Newburn was served by Newburn railway station on the Scotswood, Newburn & Wylam Railway (SN&WR) from 12 July 1875. This railway followed in part the old wagonway. In 1895, the Newburn Hotel was built by F.M. Laing. Located next to the station, the Hotel provided accommodation and stabling facilities for travelers. In 1927 it was acquired by Robert Deuchar. On 15 September 1958 the SN&WR was closed to passengers, preceding the Beeching Axe. The station was finally closed to goods trains on 26 April 1965. The railway line was closed in 1968. The route of the wagonway can still be followed today in the form of a bridleway leading to the Tyne Riverside Country Park, developed in the 1980s.
In the late nineteenth century, the Tyne Improvement Commission arranged for dredging and other works to improve the navigability of the River Tyne. For Newburn, it made the town not only easier to reach by boat, but necessitated the building of a river crossing, and so in 1893 Newburn Bridge was built. It was originally operated as a toll bridge, but was only freed of its tolls on 2 September 1947, making it the last bridge on the Tyne to do so.
In 1914, the Newcastle tramway network was extended to Throckley through Newburn. By then Newburn was a thriving community because of the expansion of Newcastle and the improvement in transport links. In 1946, the tram line to Throckley was replaced by a bus service.
Education
Newburn Library was built in the 1960s. However, it has bad accessibility and so there are plans to build a new library near Newburn's community centre. The new library is expected to incorporate a doctor's surgery and pharmacy, costing £24 million, with a planned opening of 2012. Newburn Hall Motor Museum is situated in the north of Newburn. The museum is housed in buildings originally built in 1924 as a drill hall for the 4th Northumberland Fusiliers. It became derelict in 1979 but was renovated by car enthusiasts and opened in 1981 to house vintage cars and motorcycles.
Newburn has a primary school and nursery called Newburn Manor Primary School, which has been part of the community since 1890.
Religious sites
St Michael and All Angels' church was built in a commanding position above the area on the site of an earlier wooden-built church, which was burned down in 1067. Osulf II of Bamburgh attacked Copsi, an appointee of William the Conqueror, setting the church alight and slaying Copsi when he emerged from its door. The current church was built over the course of 30 years, beginning in 1070. Parts of Hadrian's Wall were used in its construction. The church was damaged in another fire in 2006, but the current tower has stood since 1100.[6][19] In the early twentieth century, the Newburn Wesleyan Church was built. This has since been demolished.
Sport
Since the early twentieth century, football has been an overwhelming obsession of the north east working man and almost every village had football team. During World War I, there was a women's team from Spencer's Steelworks played in the league. Newburn A.F.C. played at various times through the twentieth century. Newburn won the Northern Football Alliance League Championship on several occasions; 1910–11, 1911–12, 1946–47, 1951–52, and 1961–62. They also won the Premier Division Championship Runners-up Trophy in 1960–61. They were runners-up in the Northern Alliance Challenge Cup in 1951–52, 1952–53 and 1955–56, where they played the Newcastle United A team. They won the Challenge Cup in 1956–57. The team folded in the 1950s, but Bill Humble restarted the team in 1961 and ran it through the 1960s.
Newburn Leisure Centre was built on the site of the club's ground in the 1980s. The land was reclaimed in 1980 as part of the Tyne Riverside Country Park. The first of the centre's two stages was completed in 1985, comprising changing rooms, management and staff facilities, a function room and car parking. The second phase was completed in 1989, with the completion of the sports hall, storage and ancillary facilities. The centre was formally opened in 1987 by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The Centre houses Newburn Judo Club, which has produced a number of junior medalists, and is the British Judo Association's centre of excellence for the northern area. The centre also houses a climbing wall, gym and day care, and provides facilities for archery, badminton and football, amongst other sports.
A number of rowing clubs also operate on the River Tyne at Newburn, including Durham University Boat Club, Tyne United Rowing Club, Tyne Rowing Club and Newcastle University Boat Club.
Notable people
Born in Newburn
Billy Allen, professional football
Jack Allen, professional footballer, centre forward
Ralph Allen, professional footballer
William Elsdon, railway engineer in Australia
Matt Forster, professional footballer
Tommy Hall, professional footballer
William Hedley, engineer
Jimmy Jones, professional footballer
Norman Smith, professional footballer for Charlton Athletic and Queens Park Rangers
Norman Smith, professional footballer for Huddersfield Town, Sheffield Wednesday and Queens Park Rangers. Later manager of Newcastle United.
Ralph Spencer, cricketer
Owen Swindlehurst, Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle
Worked in Newburn
Andrew Aitken, footballer, played for Newburn Athletic for a time
Fraser Forster, footballer, played for Newburn FC as a boy
John Ingham, footballer, played for Newburn AFC for a time
Jim Mackey, footballer, played for Newburn Colliery FC
Andy Thompson, footballer, played for Newburn FC for a time
Joe Spence, footballer, played for Newburn FC for a time
George Stephenson, engineer, worked in Newburn's Water Row pit for a time
William John Allen, councillor for Newburn Urban District Council for 34 years until his death in 1949. Governor at RVI and Westerhope Primary School. Miners leader. Social housing. Plaque on house on Stamfordham Road / Windsor Gardens
Lived in Newburn
Joseph Armstrong, engineer
Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle is a cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the River Tyne's northern bank, opposite Gateshead to the south. It is the most populous settlement in the Tyneside conurbation and North East England.
Newcastle developed around a Roman settlement called Pons Aelius, the settlement became known as Monkchester before taking on the name of a castle built in 1080 by William the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert Curthose. It was one of the world's largest ship building and repair centres during the industrial revolution. Newcastle was part of the county of Northumberland until 1400, when it separated and formed a county of itself. In 1974, Newcastle became part of Tyne and Wear. Since 2018, the city council has been part of the North of Tyne Combined Authority.
The history of Newcastle upon Tyne dates back almost 2,000 years, during which it has been controlled by the Romans, the Angles and the Norsemen amongst others. Newcastle upon Tyne was originally known by its Roman name Pons Aelius. The name "Newcastle" has been used since the Norman conquest of England. Due to its prime location on the River Tyne, the town developed greatly during the Middle Ages and it was to play a major role in the Industrial Revolution, being granted city status in 1882. Today, the city is a major retail, commercial and cultural centre.
Roman settlement
The history of Newcastle dates from AD 122, when the Romans built the first bridge to cross the River Tyne at that point. The bridge was called Pons Aelius or 'Bridge of Aelius', Aelius being the family name of Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was responsible for the Roman wall built across northern England along the Tyne–Solway gap. Hadrian's Wall ran through present-day Newcastle, with stretches of wall and turrets visible along the West Road, and at a temple in Benwell. Traces of a milecastle were found on Westgate Road, midway between Clayton Street and Grainger Street, and it is likely that the course of the wall corresponded to present-day Westgate Road. The course of the wall can be traced eastwards to the Segedunum Roman fort at Wallsend, with the fort of Arbeia down-river at the mouth of the Tyne, on the south bank in what is now South Shields. The Tyne was then a wider, shallower river at this point and it is thought that the bridge was probably about 700 feet (210 m) long, made of wood and supported on stone piers. It is probable that it was sited near the current Swing Bridge, due to the fact that Roman artefacts were found there during the building of the latter bridge. Hadrian himself probably visited the site in 122. A shrine was set up on the completed bridge in 123 by the 6th Legion, with two altars to Neptune and Oceanus respectively. The two altars were subsequently found in the river and are on display in the Great North Museum in Newcastle.
The Romans built a stone-walled fort in 150 to protect the river crossing which was at the foot of the Tyne Gorge, and this took the name of the bridge so that the whole settlement was known as Pons Aelius. The fort was situated on a rocky outcrop overlooking the new bridge, on the site of the present Castle Keep. Pons Aelius is last mentioned in 400, in a Roman document listing all of the Roman military outposts. It is likely that nestling in the shadow of the fort would have been a small vicus, or village. Unfortunately, no buildings have been detected; only a few pieces of flagging. It is clear that there was a Roman cemetery near Clavering Place, behind the Central station, as a number of Roman coffins and sarcophagi have been unearthed there.
Despite the presence of the bridge, the settlement of Pons Aelius was not particularly important among the northern Roman settlements. The most important stations were those on the highway of Dere Street running from Eboracum (York) through Corstopitum (Corbridge) and to the lands north of the Wall. Corstopitum, being a major arsenal and supply centre, was much larger and more populous than Pons Aelius.
Anglo-Saxon development
The Angles arrived in the North-East of England in about 500 and may have landed on the Tyne. There is no evidence of an Anglo-Saxon settlement on or near the site of Pons Aelius during the Anglo-Saxon age. The bridge probably survived and there may well have been a small village at the northern end, but no evidence survives. At that time the region was dominated by two kingdoms, Bernicia, north of the Tees and ruled from Bamburgh, and Deira, south of the Tees and ruled from York. Bernicia and Deira combined to form the kingdom of Northanhymbra (Northumbria) early in the 7th century. There were three local kings who held the title of Bretwalda – 'Lord of Britain', Edwin of Deira (627–632), Oswald of Bernicia (633–641) and Oswy of Northumbria (641–658). The 7th century became known as the 'Golden Age of Northumbria', when the area was a beacon of culture and learning in Europe. The greatness of this period was based on its generally Christian culture and resulted in the Lindisfarne Gospels amongst other treasures. The Tyne valley was dotted with monasteries, with those at Monkwearmouth, Hexham and Jarrow being the most famous. Bede, who was based at Jarrow, wrote of a royal estate, known as Ad Murum, 'at the Wall', 12 miles (19 km) from the sea. It is thought that this estate may have been in what is now Newcastle. At some unknown time, the site of Newcastle came to be known as Monkchester. The reason for this title is unknown, as we are unaware of any specific monasteries at the site, and Bede made no reference to it. In 875 Halfdan Ragnarsson, the Danish Viking conqueror of York, led an army that attacked and pillaged various monasteries in the area, and it is thought that Monkchester was also pillaged at this time. Little more was heard of it until the coming of the Normans.
Norman period
After the arrival of William the Conqueror in England in 1066, the whole of England was quickly subjected to Norman rule. However, in Northumbria there was great resistance to the Normans, and in 1069 the newly appointed Norman Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Comines and 700 of his men were killed by the local population at Durham. The Northumbrians then marched on York, but William was able to suppress the uprising. That same year, a second uprising occurred when a Danish fleet landed in the Humber. The Northumbrians again attacked York and destroyed the garrison there. William was again able to suppress the uprising, but this time he took revenge. He laid waste to the whole of the Midlands and the land from York to the Tees. In 1080, William Walcher, the Norman bishop of Durham and his followers were brutally murdered at Gateshead. This time Odo, bishop of Bayeux, William's half brother, devastated the land between the Tees and the Tweed. This was known as the 'Harrying of the North'. This devastation is reflected in the Domesday Book. The destruction had such an effect that the North remained poor and backward at least until Tudor times and perhaps until the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle suffered in this respect with the rest of the North.
In 1080 William sent his eldest son, Robert Curthose, north to defend the kingdom against the Scots. After his campaign, he moved to Monkchester and began the building of a 'New Castle'. This was of the "motte-and-bailey" type of construction, a wooden tower on top of an earthen mound (motte), surrounded by a moat and wooden stockade (bailey). It was this castle that gave Newcastle its name. In 1095 the Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Mowbray, rose up against the king, William Rufus, and Rufus sent an army north to recapture the castle. From then on the castle became crown property and was an important base from which the king could control the northern barons. The Northumbrian earldom was abolished and a Sheriff of Northumberland was appointed to administer the region. In 1091 the parish church of St Nicholas was consecrated on the site of the present Anglican cathedral, close by the bailey of the new castle. The church is believed to have been a wooden building on stone footings.
Not a trace of the tower or mound of the motte and bailey castle remains now. Henry II replaced it with a rectangular stone keep, which was built between 1172 and 1177 at a cost of £1,444. A stone bailey, in the form of a triangle, replaced the previous wooden one. The great outer gateway to the castle, called 'the Black Gate', was built later, between 1247 and 1250, in the reign of Henry III. There were at that time no town walls and when attacked by the Scots, the townspeople had to crowd into the bailey for safety. It is probable that the new castle acted as a magnet for local merchants because of the safety it provided. This in turn would help to expand trade in the town. At this time wool, skins and lead were being exported, whilst alum, pepper and ginger were being imported from France and Flanders.
Middle Ages
Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England's northern fortress, the centre for assembled armies. The Border war against Scotland lasted intermittently for several centuries – possibly the longest border war ever waged. During the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, David 1st of Scotland and his son were granted Cumbria and Northumberland respectively, so that for a period from 1139 to 1157, Newcastle was effectively in Scottish hands. It is believed that during this period, King David may have built the church of St Andrew and the Benedictine nunnery in Newcastle. However, King Stephen's successor, Henry II was strong enough to take back the Earldom of Northumbria from Malcolm IV.
The Scots king William the Lion was imprisoned in Newcastle, in 1174, after being captured at the Battle of Alnwick. Edward I brought the Stone of Scone and William Wallace south through the town and Newcastle was successfully defended against the Scots three times during the 14th century.
Around 1200, stone-faced, clay-filled jetties were starting to project into the river, an indication that trade was increasing in Newcastle. As the Roman roads continued to deteriorate, sea travel was gaining in importance. By 1275 Newcastle was the sixth largest wool exporting port in England. The principal exports at this time were wool, timber, coal, millstones, dairy produce, fish, salt and hides. Much of the developing trade was with the Baltic countries and Germany. Most of the Newcastle merchants were situated near the river, below the Castle. The earliest known charter was dated 1175 in the reign of Henry II, giving the townspeople some control over their town. In 1216 King John granted Newcastle a mayor[8] and also allowed the formation of guilds (known as Mysteries). These were cartels formed within different trades, which restricted trade to guild members. There were initially twelve guilds. Coal was being exported from Newcastle by 1250, and by 1350 the burgesses received a royal licence to export coal. This licence to export coal was jealously guarded by the Newcastle burgesses, and they tried to prevent any one else on the Tyne from exporting coal except through Newcastle. The burgesses similarly tried to prevent fish from being sold anywhere else on the Tyne except Newcastle. This led to conflicts with Gateshead and South Shields.
In 1265, the town was granted permission to impose a 'Wall Tax' or Murage, to pay for the construction of a fortified wall to enclose the town and protect it from Scottish invaders. The town walls were not completed until early in the 14th century. They were two miles (3 km) long, 9 feet (2.7 m) thick and 25 feet (7.6 m) high. They had six main gates, as well as some smaller gates, and had 17 towers. The land within the walls was divided almost equally by the Lort Burn, which flowed southwards and joined the Tyne to the east of the Castle. The town began to expand north of the Castle and west of the Lort Burn with various markets being set up within the walls.
In 1400 Henry IV granted a new charter, creating a County corporate which separated the town, but not the Castle, from the county of Northumberland and recognised it as a "county of itself" with a right to have a sheriff of its own. The burgesses were now allowed to choose six aldermen who, with the mayor would be justices of the peace. The mayor and sheriff were allowed to hold borough courts in the Guildhall.
Religious houses
During the Middle Ages a number of religious houses were established within the walls: the first of these was the Benedictine nunnery of St Bartholomew founded in 1086 near the present-day Nun Street. Both David I of Scotland and Henry I of England were benefactors of the religious house. Nothing of the nunnery remains now.
The friary of Blackfriars, Newcastle (Dominican) was established in 1239. These were also known as the Preaching Friars or Shod Friars, because they wore sandals, as opposed to other orders. The friary was situated in the present-day Friars Street. In 1280 the order was granted royal permission to make a postern in the town walls to communicate with their gardens outside the walls. On 19 June 1334, Edward Balliol, claimant to be King of Scotland, did homage to King Edward III, on behalf of the kingdom of Scotland, in the church of the friary. Much of the original buildings of the friary still exist, mainly because, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries the friary of Blackfriars was rented out by the corporation to nine of the local trade guilds.
The friary of Whitefriars (Carmelite) was established in 1262. The order was originally housed on the Wall Knoll in Pandon, but in 1307 it took over the buildings of another order, which went out of existence, the Friars of the Sac. The land, which had originally been given by Robert the Bruce, was situated in the present-day Hanover Square, behind the Central station. Nothing of the friary remains now.
The friary of Austinfriars (Augustinian) was established in 1290. The friary was on the site where the Holy Jesus Hospital was built in 1682. The friary was traditionally the lodging place of English kings whenever they visited or passed through Newcastle. In 1503 Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII of England, stayed two days at the friary on her way to join her new husband James IV of Scotland.
The friary of Greyfriars (Franciscans) was established in 1274. The friary was in the present-day area between Pilgrim Street, Grey Street, Market Street and High Chare. Nothing of the original buildings remains.
The friary of the Order of the Holy Trinity, also known as the Trinitarians, was established in 1360. The order devoted a third of its income to buying back captives of the Saracens, during the Crusades. Their house was on the Wall Knoll, in Pandon, to the east of the city, but within the walls. Wall Knoll had previously been occupied by the White Friars until they moved to new premises in 1307.
All of the above religious houses were closed in about 1540, when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.
An important street running through Newcastle at the time was Pilgrim Street, running northwards inside the walls and leading to the Pilgrim Gate on the north wall. The street still exists today as arguably Newcastle's main shopping street.
Tudor period
The Scottish border wars continued for much of the 16th century, so that during that time, Newcastle was often threatened with invasion by the Scots, but also remained important as a border stronghold against them.
During the Reformation begun by Henry VIII in 1536, the five Newcastle friaries and the single nunnery were dissolved and the land was sold to the Corporation and to rich merchants. At this time there were fewer than 60 inmates of the religious houses in Newcastle. The convent of Blackfriars was leased to nine craft guilds to be used as their headquarters. This probably explains why it is the only one of the religious houses whose building survives to the present day. The priories at Tynemouth and Durham were also dissolved, thus ending the long-running rivalry between Newcastle and the church for control of trade on the Tyne. A little later, the property of the nunnery of St Bartholomew and of Grey Friars were bought by Robert Anderson, who had the buildings demolished to build his grand Newe House (also known as Anderson Place).
With the gradual decline of the Scottish border wars the town walls were allowed to decline as well as the castle. By 1547, about 10,000 people were living in Newcastle. At the beginning of the 16th century exports of wool from Newcastle were more than twice the value of exports of coal, but during the century coal exports continued to increase.
Under Edward VI, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, sponsored an act allowing Newcastle to annexe Gateshead as its suburb. The main reason for this was to allow the Newcastle Hostmen, who controlled the export of Tyne coal, to get their hands on the Gateshead coal mines, previously controlled by the Bishop of Durham. However, when Mary I came to power, Dudley met his downfall and the decision was reversed. The Reformation allowed private access to coal mines previously owned by Tynemouth and Durham priories and as a result coal exports increase dramatically, from 15,000 tons in 1500 to 35,000 tons in 1565, and to 400,000 tons in 1625.
The plague visited Newcastle four times during the 16th century, in 1579 when 2,000 people died, in 1589 when 1700 died, in 1595 and finally in 1597.
In 1600 Elizabeth I granted Newcastle a charter for an exclusive body of electors, the right to elect the mayor and burgesses. The charter also gave the Hostmen exclusive rights to load coal at any point on the Tyne. The Hostmen developed as an exclusive group within the Merchant Adventurers who had been incorporated by a charter in 1547.
Stuart period
In 1636 there was a serious outbreak of bubonic plague in Newcastle. There had been several previous outbreaks of the disease over the years, but this was the most serious. It is thought to have arrived from the Netherlands via ships that were trading between the Tyne and that country. It first appeared in the lower part of the town near the docks but gradually spread to all parts of the town. As the disease gained hold the authorities took measures to control it by boarding up any properties that contained infected persons, meaning that whole families were locked up together with the infected family members. Other infected persons were put in huts outside the town walls and left to die. Plague pits were dug next to the town's four churches and outside the town walls to receive the bodies in mass burials. Over the course of the outbreak 5,631 deaths were recorded out of an estimated population of 12,000, a death rate of 47%.
In 1637 Charles I tried to raise money by doubling the 'voluntary' tax on coal in return for allowing the Newcastle Hostmen to regulate production and fix prices. This caused outrage amongst the London importers and the East Anglian shippers. Both groups decided to boycott Tyne coal and as a result forced Charles to reverse his decision in 1638.
In 1640 during the Second Bishops' War, the Scots successfully invaded Newcastle. The occupying army demanded £850 per day from the Corporation to billet the Scottish troops. Trade from the Tyne ground to a halt during the occupation. The Scots left in 1641 after receiving a Parliamentary pardon and a £4,000,000 loan from the town.
In 1642 the English Civil War began. King Charles realised the value of the Tyne coal trade and therefore garrisoned Newcastle. A Royalist was appointed as governor. At that time, Newcastle and King's Lynn were the only important seaports to support the crown. In 1644 Parliament blockaded the Tyne to prevent the king from receiving revenue from the Tyne coal trade. Coal exports fell from 450,000 to 3,000 tons and London suffered a hard winter without fuel. Parliament encouraged the coal trade from the Wear to try to replace that lost from Newcastle but that was not enough to make up for the lost Tyneside tonnage.
In 1644 the Scots crossed the border. Newcastle strengthened its defences in preparation. The Scottish army, with 40,000 troops, besieged Newcastle for three months until the garrison of 1,500 surrendered. During the siege, the Scots bombarded the walls with their artillery, situated in Gateshead and Castle Leazes. The Scottish commander threatened to destroy the steeple of St Nicholas's Church by gunfire if the mayor, Sir John Marley, did not surrender the town. The mayor responded by placing Scottish prisoners that they had captured in the steeple, so saving it from destruction. The town walls were finally breached by a combination of artillery and sapping. In gratitude for this defence, Charles gave Newcastle the motto 'Fortiter Defendit Triumphans' to be added to its coat of arms. The Scottish army occupied Northumberland and Durham for two years. The coal taxes had to pay for the Scottish occupation. In 1645 Charles surrendered to the Scots and was imprisoned in Newcastle for nine months. After the Civil War the coal trade on the Tyne soon picked up and exceeded its pre-war levels.
A new Guildhall was completed on the Sandhill next to the river in 1655, replacing an earlier facility damaged by fire in 1639, and became the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council. In 1681 the Hospital of the Holy Jesus was built partly on the site of the Austin Friars. The Guildhall and Holy Jesus Hospital still exist.
Charles II tried to impose a charter on Newcastle to give the king the right to appoint the mayor, sheriff, recorder and town clerk. Charles died before the charter came into effect. In 1685, James II tried to replace Corporation members with named Catholics. However, James' mandate was suspended in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution welcoming William of Orange. In 1689, after the fall of James II, the people of Newcastle tore down his bronze equestrian statue in Sandhill and tossed it into the Tyne. The bronze was later used to make bells for All Saints Church.
In 1689 the Lort Burn was covered over. At this time it was an open sewer. The channel followed by the Lort Burn became the present day Dean Street. At that time, the centre of Newcastle was still the Sandhill area, with many merchants living along the Close or on the Side. The path of the main road through Newcastle ran from the single Tyne bridge, through Sandhill to the Side, a narrow street which climbed steeply on the north-east side of the castle hill until it reached the higher ground alongside St Nicholas' Church. As Newcastle developed, the Side became lined with buildings with projecting upper stories, so that the main street through Newcastle was a narrow, congested, steep thoroughfare.
In 1701 the Keelmen's Hospital was built in the Sandgate area of the city, using funds provided by the keelmen. The building still stands today.
Eighteenth century
In the 18th century, Newcastle was the country's largest print centre after London, Oxford and Cambridge, and the Literary and Philosophical Society of 1793, with its erudite debates and large stock of books in several languages predated the London Library by half a century.
In 1715, during the Jacobite rising in favour of the Old Pretender, an army of Jacobite supporters marched on Newcastle. Many of the Northumbrian gentry joined the rebels. The citizens prepared for its arrival by arresting Jacobite supporters and accepting 700 extra recruits into the local militia. The gates of the city were closed against the rebels. This proved enough to delay an attack until reinforcements arrived forcing the rebel army to move across to the west coast. The rebels finally surrendered at Preston.
In 1745, during a second Jacobite rising in favour of the Young Pretender, a Scottish army crossed the border led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Once again Newcastle prepared by arresting Jacobite supporters and inducting 800 volunteers into the local militia. The town walls were strengthened, most of the gates were blocked up and some 200 cannon were deployed. 20,000 regulars were billeted on the Town Moor. These preparations were enough to force the rebel army to travel south via the west coast. They were eventually defeated at Culloden in 1746.
Newcastle's actions during the 1715 rising in resisting the rebels and declaring for George I, in contrast to the rest of the region, is the most likely source of the nickname 'Geordie', applied to people from Tyneside, or more accurately Newcastle. Another theory, however, is that the name 'Geordie' came from the inventor of the Geordie lamp, George Stephenson. It was a type of safety lamp used in mining, but was not invented until 1815. Apparently the term 'German Geordie' was in common use during the 18th century.
The city's first hospital, Newcastle Infirmary opened in 1753; it was funded by public subscription. A lying-in hospital was established in Newcastle in 1760. The city's first public hospital for mentally ill patients, Wardens Close Lunatic Hospital was opened in October 1767.
In 1771 a flood swept away much of the bridge at Newcastle. The bridge had been built in 1250 and repaired after a flood in 1339. The bridge supported various houses and three towers and an old chapel. A blue stone was placed in the middle of the bridge to mark the boundary between Newcastle and the Palatinate of Durham. A temporary wooden bridge had to be built, and this remained in use until 1781, when a new stone bridge was completed. The new bridge consisted of nine arches. In 1801, because of the pressure of traffic, the bridge had to be widened.
A permanent military presence was established in the city with the completion of Fenham Barracks in 1806. The facilities at the Castle for holding assizes, which had been condemned for their inconvenience and unhealthiness, were replaced when the Moot Hall opened in August 1812.
Victorian period
Present-day Newcastle owes much of its architecture to the work of the builder Richard Grainger, aided by architects John Dobson, Thomas Oliver, John and Benjamin Green and others. In 1834 Grainger won a competition to produce a new plan for central Newcastle. He put this plan into effect using the above architects as well as architects employed in his own office. Grainger and Oliver had already built Leazes Terrace, Leazes Crescent and Leazes Place between 1829 and 1834. Grainger and Dobson had also built the Royal Arcade at the foot of Pilgrim Street between 1830 and 1832. The most ambitious project covered 12 acres 12 acres (49,000 m2) in central Newcastle, on the site of Newe House (also called Anderson Place). Grainger built three new thoroughfares, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street with many connecting streets, as well as the Central Exchange and the Grainger Market. John Wardle and George Walker, working in Grainger's office, designed Clayton Street, Grainger Street and most of Grey Street. Dobson designed the Grainger Market and much of the east side of Grey Street. John and Benjamin Green designed the Theatre Royal at the top of Grey Street, where Grainger placed the column of Grey's Monument as a focus for the whole scheme. Grey Street is considered to be one of the finest streets in the country, with its elegant curve. Unfortunately most of old Eldon Square was demolished in the 1960s in the name of progress. The Royal Arcade met a similar fate.
In 1849 a new bridge was built across the river at Newcastle. This was the High Level Bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson, and slightly up river from the existing bridge. The bridge was designed to carry road and rail traffic across the Tyne Gorge on two decks with rail traffic on the upper deck and road traffic on the lower. The new bridge meant that traffic could pass through Newcastle without having to negotiate the steep, narrow Side, as had been necessary for centuries. The bridge was opened by Queen Victoria, who one year later opened the new Central Station, designed by John Dobson. Trains were now able to cross the river, directly into the centre of Newcastle and carry on up to Scotland. The Army Riding School was also completed in 1849.
In 1854 a large fire started on the Gateshead quayside and an explosion caused it to spread across the river to the Newcastle quayside. A huge conflagration amongst the narrow alleys, or 'chares', destroyed the homes of 800 families as well as many business premises. The narrow alleys that had been destroyed were replaced by streets containing blocks of modern offices.
In 1863 the Town Hall in St Nicholas Square replaced the Guildhall as the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council.
In 1876 the low level bridge was replaced by a new bridge known as the Swing Bridge, so called because the bridge was able to swing horizontally on a central axis and allow ships to pass on either side. This meant that for the first time sizeable ships could pass up-river beyond Newcastle. The bridge was built and paid for by William Armstrong, a local arms manufacturer, who needed to have warships access his Elswick arms factory to fit armaments to them. The Swing Bridge's rotating mechanism is adapted from the cannon mounts developed in Armstrong's arms works. In 1882 the Elswick works began to build ships as well as to arm them. The Barrack Road drill hall was completed in 1890.
Industrialisation
In the 19th century, shipbuilding and heavy engineering were central to the city's prosperity; and the city was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle's development as a major city owed most to its central role in the production and export of coal. The phrase "taking coals to Newcastle" was first recorded in 1538; it proverbially denotes bringing a particular commodity to a place that has more than enough of it already.
Innovation in Newcastle and surrounding areas included the following:
George Stephenson developed a miner's safety lamp at the same time that Humphry Davy developed a rival design. The lamp made possible the opening up of ever deeper mines to provide the coal that powered the industrial revolution.
George and his son Robert Stephenson were hugely influential figures in the development of the early railways. George developed Blücher, a locomotive working at Killingworth colliery in 1814, whilst Robert was instrumental in the design of Rocket, a revolutionary design that was the forerunner of modern locomotives. Both men were involved in planning and building railway lines, all over this country and abroad.
Joseph Swan demonstrated a working electric light bulb about a year before Thomas Edison did the same in the USA. This led to a dispute as to who had actually invented the light bulb. Eventually the two rivals agreed to form a mutual company between them, the Edison and Swan Electric Light Company, known as Ediswan.
Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine, for marine use and for power generation. He used Turbinia, a small, turbine-powered ship, to demonstrate the speed that a steam turbine could generate. Turbinia literally ran rings around the British Fleet at a review at Spithead in 1897.
William Armstrong invented a hydraulic crane that was installed in dockyards up and down the country. He then began to design light, accurate field guns for the British army. These were a vast improvement on the existing guns that were then in use.
The following major industries developed in Newcastle or its surrounding area:
Glassmaking
A small glass industry existed in Newcastle from the mid-15th century. In 1615 restrictions were put on the use of wood for manufacturing glass. It was found that glass could be manufactured using the local coal, and so a glassmaking industry grew up on Tyneside. Huguenot glassmakers came over from France as refugees from persecution and set up glasshouses in the Skinnerburn area of Newcastle. Eventually, glass production moved to the Ouseburn area of Newcastle. In 1684 the Dagnia family, Sephardic Jewish emigrants from Altare, arrived in Newcastle from Stourbridge and established glasshouses along the Close, to manufacture high quality flint glass. The glass manufacturers used sand ballast from the boats arriving in the river as the main raw material. The glassware was then exported in collier brigs. The period from 1730 to 1785 was the highpoint of Newcastle glass manufacture, when the local glassmakers produced the 'Newcastle Light Baluster'. The glassmaking industry still exists in the west end of the city with local Artist and Glassmaker Jane Charles carrying on over four hundred years of hot glass blowing in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Locomotive manufacture
In 1823 George Stephenson and his son Robert established the world's first locomotive factory near Forth Street in Newcastle. Here they built locomotives for the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, as well as many others. It was here that the famous locomotive Rocket was designed and manufactured in preparation for the Rainhill Trials. Apart from building locomotives for the British market, the Newcastle works also produced locomotives for Europe and America. The Forth Street works continued to build locomotives until 1960.
Shipbuilding
In 1296 a wooden, 135 ft (41 m) long galley was constructed at the mouth of the Lort Burn in Newcastle, as part of a twenty-ship order from the king. The ship cost £205, and is the earliest record of shipbuilding in Newcastle. However the rise of the Tyne as a shipbuilding area was due to the need for collier brigs for the coal export trade. These wooden sailing ships were usually built locally, establishing local expertise in building ships. As ships changed from wood to steel, and from sail to steam, the local shipbuilding industry changed to build the new ships. Although shipbuilding was carried out up and down both sides of the river, the two main areas for building ships in Newcastle were Elswick, to the west, and Walker, to the east. By 1800 Tyneside was the third largest producer of ships in Britain. Unfortunately, after the Second World War, lack of modernisation and competition from abroad gradually caused the local industry to decline and die.
Armaments
In 1847 William Armstrong established a huge factory in Elswick, west of Newcastle. This was initially used to produce hydraulic cranes but subsequently began also to produce guns for both the army and the navy. After the Swing Bridge was built in 1876 allowing ships to pass up river, warships could have their armaments fitted alongside the Elswick works. Armstrong's company took over its industrial rival, Joseph Whitworth of Manchester in 1897.
Steam turbines
Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine and, in 1889, founded his own company C. A. Parsons and Company in Heaton, Newcastle to make steam turbines. Shortly after this, he realised that steam turbines could be used to propel ships and, in 1897, he founded a second company, Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company in Wallsend. It is there that he designed and manufactured Turbinia. Parsons turbines were initially used in warships but soon came to be used in merchant and passenger vessels, including the liner Mauretania which held the blue riband for the Atlantic crossing until 1929. Parsons' company in Heaton began to make turbo-generators for power stations and supplied power stations all over the world. The Heaton works, reduced in size, remains as part of the Siemens AG industrial giant.
Pottery
In 1762 the Maling pottery was founded in Sunderland by French Huguenots, but transferred to Newcastle in 1817. A factory was built in the Ouseburn area of the city. The factory was rebuilt twice, finally occupying a 14-acre (57,000 m2) site that was claimed to be the biggest pottery in the world and which had its own railway station. The pottery pioneered use of machines in making potteries as opposed to hand production. In the 1890s the company went up-market and employed in-house designers. The period up to the Second World War was the most profitable with a constant stream of new designs being introduced. However, after the war, production gradually declined and the company closed in 1963.
Expansion of the city
Newcastle was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835: the reformed municipal borough included the parishes of Byker, Elswick, Heaton, Jesmond, Newcastle All Saints, Newcastle St Andrew, Newcastle St John, Newcastle St Nicholas, and Westgate. The urban districts of Benwell and Fenham and Walker were added in 1904. In 1935, Newcastle gained Kenton and parts of the parishes of West Brunton, East Denton, Fawdon, Longbenton. The most recent expansion in Newcastle's boundaries took place under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974, when Newcastle became a metropolitan borough, also including the urban districts of Gosforth and Newburn, and the parishes of Brunswick, Dinnington, Hazlerigg, North Gosforth and Woolsington from the Castle Ward Rural District, and the village of Westerhope.
Meanwhile Northumberland County Council was formed under the Local Government Act 1888 and benefited from a dedicated meeting place when County Hall was completed in the Castle Garth area of Newcastle in 1910. Following the Local Government Act 1972 County Hall relocated to Morpeth in April 1981.
Twentieth century
In 1925 work began on a new high-level road bridge to span the Tyne Gorge between Newcastle and Gateshead. The capacity of the existing High-Level Bridge and Swing Bridge were being strained to the limit, and an additional bridge had been discussed for a long time. The contract was awarded to the Dorman Long Company and the bridge was finally opened by King George V in 1928. The road deck was 84 feet (26 m) above the river and was supported by a 531 feet (162 m) steel arch. The new Tyne Bridge quickly became a symbol for Newcastle and Tyneside, and remains so today.
During the Second World War, Newcastle was largely spared the horrors inflicted upon other British cities bombed during the Blitz. Although the armaments factories and shipyards along the River Tyne were targeted by the Luftwaffe, they largely escaped unscathed. Manors goods yard and railway terminal, to the east of the city centre, and the suburbs of Jesmond and Heaton suffered bombing during 1941. There were 141 deaths and 587 injuries, a relatively small figure compared to the casualties in other industrial centres of Britain.
In 1963 the city gained its own university, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, by act of parliament. A School of Medicine and Surgery had been established in Newcastle in 1834. This eventually developed into a college of medicine attached to Durham University. A college of physical science was also founded and became Armstrong College in 1904. In 1934 the two colleges merged to become King's College, Durham. This remained as part of Durham University until the new university was created in 1963. In 1992 the city gained its second university when Newcastle Polytechnic was granted university status as Northumbria University.
Newcastle City Council moved to the new Newcastle Civic Centre in 1968.
As heavy industries declined in the second half of the 20th century, large sections of the city centre were demolished along with many areas of slum housing. The leading political figure in the city during the 1960s was T. Dan Smith who oversaw a massive building programme of highrise housing estates and authorised the demolition of a quarter of the Georgian Grainger Town to make way for Eldon Square Shopping Centre. Smith's control in Newcastle collapsed when it was exposed that he had used public contracts to advantage himself and his business associates and for a time Newcastle became a byword for civic corruption as depicted in the films Get Carter and Stormy Monday and in the television series Our Friends in the North. However, much of the historic Grainger Town area survived and was, for the most part, fully restored in the late 1990s. Northumberland Street, initially the A1, was gradually closed to traffic from the 1970s and completely pedestrianised by 1998.
In 1978 a new rapid transport system, the Metro, was built, linking the Tyneside area. The system opened in August 1980. A new bridge was built to carry the Metro across the river between Gateshead and Newcastle. This was the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, commonly known as the Metro Bridge. Eventually the Metro system was extended to reach Newcastle Airport in 1991, and in 2002 the Metro system was extended to the nearby city of Sunderland.
As the 20th century progressed, trade on the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides gradually declined, until by the 1980s both sides of the river were looking rather derelict. Shipping company offices had closed along with offices of firms related to shipping. There were also derelict warehouses lining the riverbank. Local government produced a master plan to re-develop the Newcastle quayside and this was begun in the 1990s. New offices, restaurants, bars and residential accommodation were built and the area has changed in the space of a few years into a vibrant area, partially returning the focus of Newcastle to the riverside, where it was in medieval times.
The Gateshead Millennium Bridge, a foot and cycle bridge, 26 feet (7.9 m) wide and 413 feet (126 m) long, was completed in 2001. The road deck is in the form of a curve and is supported by a steel arch. To allow ships to pass, the whole structure, both arch and road-deck, rotates on huge bearings at either end so that the road deck is lifted. The bridge can be said to open and shut like a human eye. It is an important addition to the re-developed quayside area, providing a vital link between the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides.
Recent developments
Today the city is a vibrant centre for office and retail employment, but just a short distance away there are impoverished inner-city housing estates, in areas originally built to provide affordable housing for employees of the shipyards and other heavy industries that lined the River Tyne. In the 2010s Newcastle City Council began implementing plans to regenerate these depressed areas, such as those along the Ouseburn Valley.
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This photograph was taken in the magic at an altitude of Nine hundred and eighty eight metres, at 16:11pm on Friday May 13th 2016 off Klondike Highway 2 at the point where it become the Klondike Highway 98 and Canada gives way to Alaska in the United States of America at the border (marked by this very famous sign).
White pass summit rises to 1003 metres with amazing panoramic views from Canada to the USA. At this point we cross from Yukon territory into Alaska and the Klondike Highway becomes the 98.
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Nikon D800 Focal length 70mm Shutter speed 1/200s Aperture f/14.0 iso100 RAW (14Bit) Nikon back focus button enabled. AF-C Continuous point focus with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Nikon AF Fine tune on (+9).
Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED IF. Jessops 77mm UV filter. Nikon MB-D12 battery grip. Two Nikon EN-EL15 batteries. Nikon DK-17M 1.2x Magnifying Eyepiece. Nikon DK-19 soft rubber eyecup. Digi-Chip 64GB Class 10 UHS-1 SDXC card. Lowepro Transporter camera strap. Lowepro Vertex 200 AW Photo/ 15.4" Notebook Backpack camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS unit.
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LATITUDE: N 59d 37m 41.16s
LONGITUDE: W 135d 9m 52.19s
ALTITUDE: 988.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE SIZE: 103.00MB (NEF 74.0MB)
PROCESSED (JPeg) SIZE: 25.40MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D800 Firmware versions A 1.10 B 1.10 L 2.009 (Lens distortion control version 2)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX2 Version 2.10.3 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
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Based on a true adventures of a rogue active in the waning years of the 1930’s as discovered in the criminal archives of Chatwick University.
Act 1
I begin my tale in the present…
That afternoon a soiree was given as part of the purchase price of the tickets for the annual Autumn Charity Ball to be presented later that evening at the manor’s great house. Since I was alone, I just went mainly for the free food and to rub my elbows with the wealthy guests who would be in happy attendance there, and at the Ball. I was alone, but certainly not bored. There was a game I enjoyed playing to pass the time at these affairs that entailed scoping out by their dress and day jewels worn, those ladies whom would be most likely to be wearing the better costumes and sparklers that evening. It often proved to be a most beneficial insight into the actions and mannerisms of the very rich. I walked amongst the cheerful guests, eying one here ( a lady in satin and pearls) and another there( a high spirited girl with a diamond pin at the throat of her frilly silken blouse). It was as I was passing the latter that the friend she had been talking too (dressed like a vamp), bumped up against me. I caught her, steadying her as they both giggled. I didn’t mind, for the lassie’s too tight satin sheath tea dress had been an enticement to hold, and the gold bracelet that had been dangling from her gloved wrist had been a pleasure to observe. I kissed her gloved hand, rings glittering, as I apologized gallantly for my clumsiness. Her eyes were bright, almost as bright as the twin necklaces of gold that hung swaying down pleasantly from between her ample bosom. I left them, moving on to greener pastures, and it was very green, all of it….
It was then that I detected another pretty lassie. It was her long fiery red hair with falling wispy curls that first captured my attention. She was wearing a fetchingly smart white chiffon party dress that commanded me to acquire a closer examination. She appeared to be a blithe spirit, seemingly content with just being by herself and roaming about with casual elegance, the extensive grounds of the manor proper. I began to discreetly follow her at a distance. Although she did not wear any jewelry, her manner and the eloquent way she moved is what attracted me the most. It would be very interesting to seek her out later that evening and she what she would have chosen to decorate herself with. I followed her as she sojourned into the depths of a traditional English garden with a maze of lushly green trimmed 8 foot high hedges
As I strolled through the hedgerows in her wake I allowed my mind to wander its own course. Suddenly I straightened up, my reverie broken by an epiphany of sorts. I allowed myself to grin and the lady whose enchantment I was swollen up in, at that moment turned, and seeing my beaming smile assumed it was for her and gave me a rather cute nod of her head. I answered in same, as I headed en route to a nearby stone garden bench to allow my thoughts to think through themselves.
But before I go on, allow me the pleasure to sojourn and reminisce about an incident that occurred several years prior:
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I was still working unaided in those days, travelling on to a new next quest that would take me just outside of Surrey.
I had just purchased my train ticket and had seen my luggage safe on board when I decided to rest in the lounge, it being some 45 minutes before allowed to enter personally aboard. Being so early the lounge was almost deserted, only one other occupant. I assumed she was waiting for someone on an incoming train due to the fact she carried no luggage. She was obviously well off, well dressed in satins and lace, and her jewels shone magnificently in the dim lights. Especially one of her rings, noticeably lying loosely around a finger, it sparkled with an expensive brilliance. I had seen one like it in a tiffanies store, worth almost 250 pounds. But she did not appreciate the show her jewelry was putting on under the lounge lights, for she was fast asleep.
I circled around her, aiming for a seat next to her, eyeing her and her possessions carefully. I noticed her purse had fallen off her lap and lay on the floor. An idea popped into my head, and I picked the purse up, and looked around carefully, before placing my plan into action. But I was thwarted as an older, matronly lady was spotted heading our way. I slipped the purse into my jacket and moved off before I was noticed. Of course she came in and took the empty seat across form the sleeping princess, and soon busied herself with knitting. As the older lady had sat down, not quietly, the wealthy lady stirred waking up at the noise. I went into a corner and sat, waiting. The two ladies soon fell into conversation; the minute’s ticked by excruciatingly slow. Soon I noticed we even had more company.
He was a lad of only fourteen, but with a devilish look about him that marked him a kindred spirit to meself, and his quick eyes were darting about taking it all in as he stood outside the paned glass window.
It was as the first announcement of boarding the train that I saw a chance for opportunity to strike.
The older lady folded up her knitting and clinching her bag, bid adieu to her new friend,( befuddled a little by the old ladies constant stream of gossip), and headed to the train. I was twenty steps ahead of her and was standing behind the youth as she left the lounge. I tapped him on the shoulder; he looked around at me suspiciously, and then caught sight of the shilling I was holding in front of his nose. I quickly whispered a few words into his ear on how he could earn it, and his grin spread as he bought into my story. I still held onto the shilling as he darted around and inside the lounge. I watched as he ran up behind the lady, circling her, then running in front of her he tripped over her leg, as she helped him up, her hand with the ring reaching down, he turned and spat onto the wrist and sleeve of that hand, than standing he ran away. Running alongside me, I handed him the shilling in passing as he ran off, disappearing in to the street.
I went inside and approached the astonished lady, as she was looking for her purse to get a handkerchief, confused as to its absence, while she held up her soiled hand( ring glittering furiously) in utter disbelief. I approached, catching her attention by the soothing words I uttered to her. I took her hand, unbelieving with her at just had happened, and I as I apologized for the youth of today I produced my own silk handkerchief and starting with her silky sleeve, began to wipe it off, continuing my tirade of displeasure and contempt at what had just occurred to the dear lady as I did so. As I finishing wiping her down, ending with her warm slender fingers, I kissed them, just as the last boarding announcement came over (perfect timing!) I let her go, explaining that I must catch my train. I turned and without looking back made the train just as it was letting off steam before chugging off.
I gained my private carriage just as the train began to lurch away. It wasn’t until after the train began its journey that I casually removed my silk handkerchief from my pocket and unwrapped it carefully, admiring up close the shimmering, valuable tiffany ring that was lying inside. I pocketed it, and then remembered the purse. I took it out and examined its contents: coin and notes equaling a handsome amount, a gold (gilded) case, embroidered lacy handkerchief, small silver flask of perfume, and ( of all things)a large shimmering prism , like one that would have dangled from a fancy crystal chandelier. A prism?, I questioned with interest as I examined it. It was pretty thing, about the circumference of a cricket ball, but shaped like a pendulum, it shimmered and glittered like the most precious of jewels. Why she had it in her purse? I couldn’t guess, and I saw no value in it, so I pocketed it and allowed it to leave my mind.
As I settled into my seat I began to think of the lad I had just met, I had been right on the money as far as his eagerness for mischief. Actually he reminded me of myself at that age, and I wondered if that lad with the shifty eyes would also turn out to follow the same course I had explored.
Which Begs the question, what had I turned out to become. And since I’m still reminiscing
I’ll give little background material about me, hopefully I don’t come across as being too conceited about my self-taught skills..
I had never been one to take the hard road, and even at a young age I was always looking for angles, or short cuts to make some money.
Once, while watching for some time a street magician and his acts. I observed a pick pocket working the crowd. He approached a pair of well-dressed ladies in shiny clothes, and standing behind them bided his time and then lifted a small pouch from one velvet purse, and a fat wallet from a silken one, then he moved on. Now both ladies were wearing shiny bracelets, one with jewels. I thought that he could have realized a greater profit if he had nicked one or both of the bracelets first, than try for the contents of their purses. The bracelets’ alone would have realized a far greater profit than what he lifted from their purses. It further occurred to me that by mimicking some of the sleight of hand tricks and misdirection that the magician was using on his audience, it could be accomplished. A hand placed on the right shoulder and as the lady turned right, whisk off the bracelet from her left wrist, and excuse oneself, that sort of thing.
So, I practiced (on my sisters, who proved to be willing accomplices to “my game”) and learned to pick their purses and pockets. I than moved onto their jewelry, starting by lifting bracelets and slipping away rings, before advancing to the brooches, necklaces and earrings they were wearing. After I was satisfied at my skill level, I went out and worked the streets. Sometimes using my one sister who was also hooked on what I was doing as a willing partner.
But I found myself still not being satisfied, in the back of my mind I thought there had to be a more lucrative way to turn a profit.
I’d found my answer when an attractive lady in a rustling satin gown zeroed in on me while I was “visiting” a ballroom. She was jeweled like a princess right up to the diamond band she wore holding up her piles of soft locks like a glimmering crown. The more she drank, the closer she got and I decided that her necklace would definitely help pay my expenses more than the contents of her purse (although I had already lifted the fat wallet from her small purse), and I did have very expensive tastes to pay for. So I took her onto the dance floor.
I was amazed at how easily I had been able to open the necklace’s clasp , slipping it over her satiny shoulder, lifting it off and placing it safely in my pocket with almost no effort. Then she decided to be playful once the song ended and brushed up against me. She felt the necklace in my pocket and before I could act she had her hand in and pulled it out.
The silly naive twit thought I was teasing her and told me that for my penance I had to go up to her suite in order to put it back on for her. I kept up the charade as best as I could.
And that’s where we ended up. A little bit of light fondling began as I placed the necklace back around her throat. I began to tease her, plied her with more and more alcohol as I tried to keep my distance, and virginity. Finally she passed out in a drunken stupor, but not before I had learned where she hid her valuables by suggesting she should lock her jewels up for the night..
With her safely unconscious, I began to strip her clean off all her jewels, reclaiming the necklace first. Then I visited all her jewelry casket and began looting it. I even took her small rhinestone clutch with the diamond clasp; of course I already had liberated its small wallet.
When I’d left her lying happily asleep in bed, still in her satin gown( the only item left to her that shined), I knew I had found a much more profitable line of “work”
So I began making circuits around to the haunts of the very rich, I still kept may hand in pickpocketing, so to speak, but centered only on those “pockets” containing mainly jewelry. I also began to carefully explore new ways of acquiring jewels” in masse”, so to speak.
Soon I had accumulated many tricks and tools, having them at my disposal to put into action once required, and for the remaining years up till the present had managed to live quite comfortably off of the ill-gotten gains using them allowed me to acquire.
Which brings me back to the train ride, my prism, and the rest of my background story before I retun to the present tale. Please be patient.
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So, anyway, I reached Surry without any further incident and disembarking, made my way out to the large country house where I would be staying to take a short rest, vacation if you will. But, pardon the play on words, for there is never any rest for the wicked, is there?
I had become acquainted with a servant of the old mansion ( almost a small castle, really) , that was about a mile off. I managed to learn a great deal, and soon found myself, on the pretense of visiting her, exploring the grounds. There was to be a grand ball taking place a couple of weekends away , and the maid had filled my ears with the riches that would be displayed by the multitude of regal ladies making an appearance. I began to think about trying to make a little bit of profit from my vacation. I am not sure how the idea developed, but the prism that I still had in my possession, came up centrally into my plans.
Late on the evening of the regal affair, I snuck over, covered head to toe in black, with my small satchel off tools by my side. I set up a candle behind an old stone ivy covered wall in a far corner of the rather large and intricate English garden that surrounded the inner circle around the mansion. I than strung the jewel-like prism in front of it. Standing behind the wall, I would strike the prism with a long stick I was holding whenever I observed sparkles emanating from silkily gowned ladies walking in the distance, solitary or in pairs. The prism would flash fire, sort of like a showy lure being used when fishing in a crooked trout stream. Only I was fishing for far sweeter game than trout. My objective was to trick certain types of jeweled ladies (scatterbrains some may call them) by luring them down onto the path beyond the wall, using their natural curiosity to my advantage.
I had at least two strikes rise up to my lure in the second hour.
On was a pretty lady in flowing green satin number, decorated with plenty of emeralds, which, hidden in the shadows, I observed were probably paste. I let her wonder about; as she looked and played with the shiny toy, remaining hidden until she grew bored and wandered off.
The second was a slender maiden wearing a long sleek black gown with long ivory silk gloves. I had never before seen a lady so decked out in jewels, literally head to toe. With the exception of the rhinestones adorning her heels, the rest of the lot was real, so valuably real that I could feel my mouth salivating at the thoughts of acquiring her riches. Now in Edwardian times only older, married ladies would be allowed the privilege of wearing a diamond Tiara. But in these modern times, it had become culturally acceptable for any well-to do lady, single or otherwise, to wear one out in society. Even so, they were still rarely worn, and seldom seen outside the safety of large gatherings. But there it was, a small, delicately slender piece of intricate art that glistened from the top of her head like some elegant beacon. That piece alone was probably worth more than I had made all the last four months combined!
I began to skirt around in the shadows, placing myself in position to cut off her retreat. Her diamonds blazed as she approached, eyeing the swinging prism with total concentration. Which was unfortunate, because as I was about to leave the shadows, she walked into the thorns of a rose bush, screeching out, and attracting the notice of a pair of gentlemen who had just crossed the path quite a ways off, called out when they heard the commotion. She started to become chatty with them, obviously coming on to her rescuers, my prism all but forgotten. Than before I knew it, in a swishing of her long gown, she was gone, “swimming” off before I was able to set me ”hook”.
Which I was able to do on the third strike, almost an hour later, just as I was beginning to ponder wither I should call it off and head back home..
They were a pair of young damsels in their young twenties. They may have been sisters, or cousins at the least. I still remember how my heart leapt into my throat as they observed my colourful prism and turned down the old flagstone path. I had not seen anyone out and about for some time, so I knew they would be no would be rescuers around to come to their aid
And, best of all, they were both dressed for the kill!
One, the blonde, was clad in a black velvet number that one could cannily describe as quite form fitting. As were the small ropes of pearls that hung from all points of interest, pretty with a matching pricelessness.
But her cousin, as I will refer to her, out shone black velvet quite literally.
This one, a stunning raven haired beauty, wore a long streaming gown of liquid ivory satin. A diamond brooch sparkled as it held up a fold of the gown to her waist. The fold allowed her to show a rather daring amount of a slender bare calf. The brooch was not paste, but a real jewel that had been added for the nights festivities ( To be successful, one learns to read these signs accurately) Her ears and neckline were home to a matching set of pure white diamonds. A wide diamond bracelet graced a bare right wrist ,so she must be left handed I instinctively thought, an observation that would have aided me if I were planning on having a go for slipping the bracelet from her wrist, but tonight I was planning a much more daring attempt to empty the entire jewel casket, so to speak.
They went to the prism, playing with it a bit, I had begun to circle around, when I noticed black velvet pointing out with multiple ringed fingers, to something further down the path past the wall.
With a clicking of heels I let the pair pass, they apparently wanted to see what was on the other side of the wall. I followed; it was not hard, because the necklace the raven haired one wore, diamonds fully encircling her throat, rippled and sparkled from their perch, caught in the full harvest moon’s cast, giving me more than enough light to shadow them quietly .
After a while they caught on that something/someone was following them, but as they turned they could see nothing. I was in black, and hooded, invisible to them in the shadows of the trees. They whispered amongst themselves, now worried, realizing that there were dangers lurking beyond the pale, in their case, the safety of the gardens , especially for ones decked out as they were. They then turned and headed right back from where they had come, right into my waiting arms.
It is interesting what good breeding does for young, poised ladies. For, as I stepped out of the shadows, a finger of my right hand to my lips, my Fairborn in my left hand, its black blade glinting wickedly in the moonlight , they did not scream out or shout for help. Instead the pair merely let out small gasps, and then they both, in a quite charming synchronized display of disbelief, place each one hand over their open mouths, and the other upon their perspective necklaces.
And as I flourished my wicked looking Fairbairn–Sykes blade in their direction, they unquestioningly reached around and undid those pretty necklaces, tremblingly handing them out to me, like actresses following a well-read script. I took the little pretties and after stuffing them into my satchel, held out again my free hand, my fingers beckoning. Not a word was spoken between us, as the frightened pair of young ladies began removing their shimmering jewels and added them in a neat little growing pile along my open palm. The raven haired girl even undid her brooch without me having to command her to do so. Once I had stashed it all away, I motioned for them to turn back around, than with a little helpful prodding on my part, they began moving forward back down the hill, away from the garden. The one in white hobbling a little now as she kept tripping over the hem of her dress, now no longer held up by the stolen brooch.
After we had traveled about 200 meters I had them stop, and take off their high heels. Then picking the pretty things up, I motioned them to turn back around and made them walk back the way we had come in their bare feet, watching the pair awkwardly hobble barefooted down the wooded path. They would be quite a while on their journey back, allowing me more than ample time to make me escape. I threw their shoes off to the side and went briskly the other way, reaching the place was staying at , gaining my room without notice. But not before I had hidden the jewels inside an old stump to retrieve them at a later date. I never really heard so much as a whisper of the incident, other than from the pretty lips of my friendly maiden. The wee hours of the morning before my early departure for the train station found me revisiting the stump and retrieving my satchel and its precious cargo. After hiding it all in a false bottom of my case I laid my head on the pillow and drifted off to sleep as I wondered what had happened to the little prism, marveling at how useful it had ended up proving to be.
So, how does this story (journey rather) relate to the one I had already started? Please read on, and enrich your curiosity… my dear readers.
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Act 2
So, with apologies for my lengthy elucidation, but I now return you back to the garden party I was now attending on that warm fall day. But, as you will see, my prism story needed to be told in order to add a bit of flavor to what was about to unfold.
As I sat on the garden bench I formulated my plans. I should be able to acquire the main piece tonight at the Ball, I would have time this afternoon to retrieve my ever handy satchel and its array of tools and have it hidden at the spot I had already selected. It was perfect, located at the end of the path I had found, or rather the charming lady in the smart chiffon dress had found for me. A gas lamp would provide adequate light for my “lure”, and it led to a back wood where I could lead any victims away and liberate them of their valuables before making my escape. I rose, just enough time to walk my escape route, before setting up and then be dressed for the evening’s festivities. I looked around, I was alone now, my lady in white had disappeared, following her own course, whatever it may have been.
The Autumn Ball that evening was in full swing by the time I arrived. Being a cool fall day, most of the women were wearing long gowns and dresses, and that, for whatever the reason, usually meant they were decked out with more layers of jewelry than say , if it had been the middle of summer. In order to put my plan in action I need and intrinsic piece of the trap, a prism. The one I had once had was long ago lost, a minor pawn in a game to take a pair of princesses.
I knew exactly the type of prism required for my plan, and so began mingling amongst the guests with that in mind.
I started out by walking through to the chamber like ballroom where a full orchestra was starting to play. The first person I saw from the garden party was the little tramp who had been wearing the too tight satin tea dress. That dress had been replaced with a long silky gown, her gold jewelry replaced with emeralds; including a thin bracelet that had taken the place of the gold one that she had so obligingly dangled in my larcenous path. I decided to avoid her In principle, and in doing so spied someone quite interesting.
That someone was a pretty lady in a long velvet gown standing off to one side, idly watching the many dancers out on the floor. The dancing couples were forming an imagery of a rainbow coloured sea of slinky swirling gowns and with erupting fireworks of sparkling jewels, ignited by pair of immensely large chandeliers that hung over the dance floor, setting them off. I made my way, skirting the dance floor to reach her, my eyes on her jewels, which were making pretty fireworks of their own. I happened to walk up just as a waiter with a tray of drinks was passing by. Plucking off a drink I offered it to the lady with one hand, my other hand placed on her back as If to steady myself. She laughed prettily, and taking the drink I met her eyes, as she was focused on reaching and holding the glass in her slippery gloved hand, mine was on the ruby and diamond necklace. My hand behind her had flicked open the simple hook and eye clasp of the antique piece and was in the process of lifting it up and whisking it away from her throat. As I said a few words to her, I pocketed it, while also taking in the rest of her lovely figure and its shiny decorations, before biding adieu. She smiled, her pale bare neckline now quite glaringly extinguished of its fire.
It was about an hour later, after spotting, but unable to make inroads with several likely candidates, that I finally struck gold (figuratively). It came in the form of a young couple arguing between themselves in a far corner of the chamber. She was lecturing a rather handsome man in a tux, her jeweled fingers flying in his face. If she hadn’t been moving about in such an animated fashion as she lectured, I may not have even noticed her. But as it happened I did, especially noticeable was the sanctimonious lady’s wide jeweled bracelet that was bursting out in a rainbow of colorful flickers as her hand was emphatically waving, as her long gown of silk swished around with every movement she made. Perfect. I watched for a bit, and sure enough they moved off, the man heading for the patio leading outside, the wealthy girl following him, still giving him lashes with her tongue. I moved and managed to have her bump into me simply by stepping on the hemline of her long gown. For a few seconds I was the one on the receiving end of her wrath, but I took it like a man, I could see in the eyes of her tongue lashed husband, that he was grateful for the respite. I was also grateful; grateful for the quite wide, very shimmering, bracelet that I had removed from her wrist and now was residing in my pocket.
I began to leave the patio, but was stopped by a matronly lady in ruffles, laces and pearls, her breath heavy with alcohol. She started to question me on what the couple had been on about. Then without waiting for an answer she launched herself into a tirade of her own, her gem encrusted, silken gloved fingers, waving in my face for emphasis. It was almost ten minutes before I was able to make my escape. Which I did, but not before slipping off one of the lecturing ladies vulgarly large cocktail rings.
I headed onto the patio; the time was getting ripe for my plan, which I was now ready to put into motion, now having acquired its most essential piece. I went to the end of the large patio, weaving in and out of the by now well liquored guests whom had assembled there. Across the way I saw a lady tripping over her own gown. By the time I reached her she had fallen down, giggling merrily. Two of us rushed to her aid, she was busy gushed her thanks to the rescuer she knew, while ignoring the one she didn’t! Which was unfortunate on her part, for by ignoring me, she also was ignorant of the fact that I was busy lifting the small stands of black pearls from her wrist. I left unnoticed, much like a shadow fading out of the light, or at least that’s how it seemed. Finally I reached the patios outer edge without further incident, or gain. I went on the grass and turned a corner with the intention of going, post haste around the house to reach the gardens by the long way, hoping not to be seen by anyone. But I no sooner turned the corner, when I realized that it was not to be the case.
It was my blithe spirit in white chiffon from the garden party, pardon me, soiree. She was unescorted, looking up at the moon above a stone turret with one lit window, so intently that my presence had not been noticed. I had been absolutely correct in my observation of her as far as what she would be wearing for the evening. For what she had lacked in ornaments at the soiree, she had more than made up for in the evening festivities. She was absolutely gorgeous, resplendent in as beautiful a silvery satin gown that I had ever witness. It was just pouring down, shimmering along her delightful figure. Her long blazing red hair was still curling down and free, but now a pair of long chandelier earrings cascading down from her earlobes, were peeking out every now and then as they swayed with her every movement. Her blazingly rippling necklace was all diamonds, dripping down the front of her tightly satin covered bosom, twinkling iridescently like an intensively glimmering waterfall. Her slender gloved wrists were home to a pair of dangling diamond bracelets that were almost outshone by her many glistening rings. All in all she was quite a lure all too herself
I came up to her, starling her from her reverie. Taking up her hand, I looked into her startled, suddenly blushing face. I complimented her on the fine gown she wore. She thanked me, and I could see I that she suddenly remembered she me as the chap who she thought smiled to her in the garden. She seemed to accept my compliment quite readily. I chanced it( although Lord knows I was short on time) and asked her to a dance. I did not think she would agree, so it was with a little bit of surprise, hoping she would politely decline and walk off, leaving me free to go about my business unobserved. But she accepted, and I will admit that my heart leapt as she agreed (although in the back of my mind I knew I should be off if my plan was to work). The music had stopped so we made small talk as we slowly walked back to the ballroom. Her name was Katrina. It seems she was waiting for someone, which suited my plans, but he was late and so she had time. Which may have sounded dismissive, but from the apologetic way she said it, it was anything but the sort.
The orchestra started to tune back up as we entered, and taking her offered hand up, was soon lost in the elegance of my appealing partner. It was a long dance, and a formal one, but I could tell she was subtly anxious to be off on her meeting, as I was to be off to my own adventure. But Katrina did not really allow it to show, which was very uncharacteristic of her someone with her obvious breeding. So I was ready when the by the end of the music she begged her condolences and took flight. I watched her as she fluidly moved away, her jewels sparkling, all of them. On her mission to meet Mr. X I thought, for whom I was already harboring a quite jealous dislike. I should be off I thought to meself.
But I stood, still as stone; totally mesmerized by the way Katrina’s swirling silvery satin gown was playing out along her petite, jewel sparkling figure. It wasn’t till the last of her gown swished around a corner out of sight that I moved, but not without having to shake my head to clear the thoughts of her out of it. Well old son, focus. For by now the guests were starting to wander a bit afield in the waning hours of the Autumn Ball, and my small window of opportunity was closing fast. If my little plan was going to have any chance of success it would have to be now.
I walked out and made my way to one of the outside exist of the garden wall. Reaching into my pocket as I did so, fingering the bracelet, now cold, that had belonged to the quarrelsome lady,and soon would be playing another role, far from one its former mistress would ever have dreamed off. I also felt my new acquisition, still warm from my dance partner’s body. I will admit that I had felt a twinge of regret for taking it from a lady I had found to be most charmingly captivating. But slipping off the diamonds up and away from her throat had been as temptingly easy as it had been automatic. I had advantageously made use of the sleekness of her scintillatingly silky gown, and with the distractions created by the movements of the dance, successfully managed to keep Katrina’s attention safely diverted from the reality of why my fingers were ever so gently, caressingly sliding along her slippery gowns neckline. The truth was I had originally placed my hand there because it had felt so right, and I was a little startled when my fingers had subconsciously started playing with her necklaces clasp. Before I knew it, they had flicked open the gemstone clasp of her obviously expensive diamond necklace, and had lifted up. As I watched out of the corner of my eye, almost like I was a spectator, as opposed to being the perpetrator, I saw the chain move up and over her shoulder; its diamonds sparkling with is as the necklace disappeared from view behind her back.
It was a favored technique that I had perfected to the point that by this stage of my career I nearly always acquired my objective. But, as odd as it sounds, I was not happy with myself on this occasion.
But I did not long dwell on my mixed feelings on taking the charming lass’s diamonds, for by now I had reached my place of ambush. It was in one of the farthest reaches of the garden, at a bend on the end of a long path that, with a gas lamp at its beginning just off the patio, would allow me to see from some distance off. Behind me was a break in the hedge wide enough for a person to walk through comfortably. It was here, off a tree limb, underneath a second ornate cast iron gas lamp, which was now lit, that I hung the shimmering bracelet that I had sought out and acquired for just that reason
I walked around and saw that it could be seen flickered off in the distance from the woods, Perfect! Earlier I had hidden my satchel with a hood and knife and bit of rope in the hollow of an old tree. I now retrieved them, and after getting ready, found my position and waited. At 10 minutes past the first hour of my wait, with nary a single glimpse of anyone, I started to fidget. My corner may be just a bit too desolated I was beginning to admit to myself. It seemed that most of the guests were staying by the patio. I was starting to think that I should pack it in, possibly rejoining the guests for one last parting( of someone from her Jewelry). I was just reaching down to pick up my satchel when I suddenly saw something flash under the gas lamp at the beginning of the path, and my senses immediately perked up. I watched as the wisps of rich shimmery satin moved closer, I stiffened, drooling with anticipation, the game was afoot.
I could see clearly the flickering jewels she wore, and by their blazing sparkles of rippling fire, I knew that my long vigil would not have been in vain. As the lady drew I recognized her gown of silvery satin! I knew who was making those tantalizing flashes of appealing treasures. Katrina!
I watched as she approached, in all her glittering elegance. My heart and conscious was in turmoil, but I knew I probably would not get a second chance. I could not let her get away unscathed. Beside, from the shock of being confronted with a masked scoundrel wielding a wicked blade, she would be in no shape to recognize her assailant. She stopped, apprehensively looking back towards the bright lights of the Manor, Then turning back I saw she had a self-satisfied smile creeping upon her face. She reached up, and undoing her hair, shook it down, curls of softness cascading down, hanging loosely down. It was as she performed this provocative act, that I saw her eyes open wide in curiosity; she had spied my pretty little “prism”. The charming fish was hooked.
I waited, watching her approaching ever closer to fate, and from my concealment, I basked in her glow. My heart beating fast, my adrenaline pumping, for the remaining jewels (I thought of her necklace in my custody) that she possessed I already had witnessed were quite valuable. She passed my hiding spot and went to the hanging, shimmering object. As she reached up, looking around, she failed to see me approaching in the shadows. I came up from behind, jabbing a finger in her back as I reached her, I gruffly in no uncertain terms, snarled for her to freeze and make no sound. She stiffened under my touch, but made no move or outcry. I went around; pointing my knife in her direction, looking into her sad doe wide eyes as she realized what was going to happen next. She was trembling; from fear I guessed, and knew I had her right where I wanted. As I made my demands upon her, gimme them jewels sister, she, not surprisingly, was very compliant in giving them up to me. She reached for her necklace last, and looked entirely shocked to find her throat bare, as she searched the neckline of her gown I saw her look into my hand, now dripping with her precious jewelry, almost as if to see if she had not already removed it. She looked apologetically into my eyes, startled; almost pleading that she didn’t know what had happened to it. I just played dump. She than spoke for the first time, sir, may I ask to keep my purse? Her words would have instantly melted even the coldest chunk of ice, I looked down at the little silvery clutch hanging from her arm on its rhinestone chain, I nodded, indicating that she could, and saw relief wash over her face. I told her she now needed to turn around and walk off into the woods ahead of me. She hesitated, and I told her no harm would befall her, I had no intentions along those lines.
About 5 meters in I stopped her, and had her remove her shoes, as she bent over to undo the high heels rhinestone clasps I watched her gown tightly outlining her figure. She tripped on the hem of her gown, and as she attempted to keep her balance, accidently let her purse slip off her shoulder. Without thinking I reached down to pick it up for her as she tried reached for it simultaneously
The small purse was far heavier than it should have been. Curious I opened it, finding that it contained a rather extensive array of mismatched jewelry, glittering in unbelievably expensive fire . I looked into Katrina’s horror struck eyes dumb founded, as she looked guiltily into mine. The gig was up. The jewels belonged to the lady of the manor, my muse in silver was a thief, a female version of me very self.
Aye, what’s this than luv? I questioned her as she looked into my eyes, hers large with a mixture of fright and disbelief. She melted before me, fainting, I caught her in my arms, and it was no ruse. I held her as she came to, holding her warm, silky figure lovingly to mine. I did not know what to think. Nor could I ever explain what possessed me to do what I did next. As she came to, her eyes opened, and I removed my mask, looking back into them deeply.
Oh, she gasped, I’m glad it was you, startled that she had said the words out loud. She than started to coyly blushes, quite demurely. Something sparked in me, and unless she was an incredibly good actress, it did also for Katrina. Our eyes both looked into the others, melting away in the lust of the moment. We embraced, deeply, and I held her squirming warm slick figure tight in my enveloping arms. I looked over her shoulder, eyeing the glistening bracelet hanging from its branch. To catch a thief, the thought suddenly opened in my mind, what a great title for a novel I thought to myself, as I buried my nose into Katrina’s luxuriously soft hair.
We talked for a bit, walking off into the woods, then she looked into my eyes again, a coy, look that melted me on the spot, and that was the end of it, we embraced again, and wholly gave ourselves to one another. What about your man I asked suddenly remembering, my man she questioned , than oh, you mean the Lord, I was waiting for him to come down from smoking in his tower study, that’s where the lady’s jewels are kept. She broke into an Irish brogue as she said the last bit, and that I guessed was her natural tongue. she laid a hand on the side of my face, thanks for being jealous though, me lad.
I should collect my lure I said, which made her smile; it was such an enticing smile at that. We started to head back and watched as it dangled in front of us flickering. With a far off look in her green eyes, Katrina spoke as if in deep though.
The daughter of the house, she has a bracelet on like the one you have dangling, a bracelet of diamonds that I had taken a fancy to, wishing it had been in the safe along with the rest of the ladies of manors jewelry. I knew who she was talking about. The one in green taffeta I asked? Aye lad, that’s the one. Actually her necklace would be just as easy, and worth more I said. Just then her bright green eyes gleamed, Give me about a half an hour, she told me, we will put your little lure to use again. She noticed my hesitation, don’t worry luv she said soothingly placing a gloved hand to my cheek, no longer was it sparkly with its stolen bracelet and rings. I’ll leave my purse with you, can’t very well be carrying it around now can I? I nodded my consent, my mind burning with the thoughts she had alluringly placed there.
She turned, and then hesitated; turning back she said I probably should not go back in naked luv. I smiled, reaching in I pulled out her necklace and placed it around her throat. With a little gasp she blurted, so it was you, I was wondering who and when it had happened. It’s not the first time I’ve had me jewels lifted, but it’s a bloody annoyance to have to let them get away with it, crawls under my skin to have pretend not to notice so that I don’t draw any attention to me self before making my move to steal the posh ones jewels.
But you, mister, I never felt as much as a prickling. I was ready to assume my pretties had been a victim of a broken clasp this time. I gave a little nod in acceptance. That wasn’t exactly a compliment lad, she said in what I hopped was a subtle jest. Just last summer some clumsy bugger slipped of me earrings, my favorite pearls, as we were danc… she stopped, seeing the guilt in my eyes. Men! As thieves you are all of the same skin she spat out angrily, or attempted to sound angry, for the look in her eyes to me she wasn’t. I best be off, before I change me mind about out little endeavor.
With that she swirled around on her heels, and started off, but not before turning and giving me an extremely coy look of interest. As she swirled back around I heard her say loud enough for my ears, I’ll learn me self to be a picker of pockets, see how males like to be taken advantage of in their vulnerabilities! She nodded to herself as she said it. Then suddenly she stopped, than twirled on her heels, her gown swirling enticingly along her figure. Looking me dead in the eye she said, “Vie ne est pas d'attendre que la tempête , mais d'apprendre à danser sous la pluie” !
What does that mean? I questioned in a low voice, perplexed.
Maybe, Mon Cheri, someday I will tell you… And with that she turned on her heel, her gown once again swirling about, and went, determinedly, swishing her way back up the path. I just watched. I had never heard anyone speak French with an Irish Brogue and I had found it to be rather provocative!
I watched as she swished and swayed her way back through the hedge and regained the path leading back to the manor. Her plan was simple; she would lead the daughter of the house to my corner and as she had done, go out with her to look at the swinging charm. I would then make my appearance, rob both ladies of their finery, and telling the daughter to wait until I released her friend, walk off with Katrina as a hostage, and we would both take off and make good our escape. A simple plan, so simple it should actually work.
So, there I was. Holding a purse with a small fortune in jewels, my pocket full of more jewels worth an additional pretty farthing, and her charms were wearing off by her leaving. And my thieving nature coming back, reawakened from the spell they had been under!
The devil of my conscious crept out on my shoulder, the angel markedly absent from the other.
Look mate, she may not be all she seems, and possibly has some other game in mind. Maybe she does have a male confidante helping her out… and was actually on her way to fetch him. He said in my inner ear. And, after all, you took her diamonds twice, didn’t ye now? Do you really think shell forgive you of that me lad?
And there is no honor amongst thieves, as the saying goes, he added as a closing argument...
I rolled it over in my mind…I could leave, absconding with it all, book a cruise to the states or down under where there lay untried fertile grounds to ply my trade. Not to mention working over my fellow passengers aboard the cruise ship while they attended the fancy affairs that were always going on, or so the brochures always seemed to show……
Then In the distance I caught a wisp of Katrina’s long silvery gown. She was coming, and not only with the daughter of the manor, but also with a spare. For I could see a purple coloured gown swishing alongside with the prey in rustling green taffeta.. I watched as all three ladies, resplendent with the rippling fiery gems they all possessed, came up the path, gowns sweeping out , shimmery from the now misty distance.
The thought of making my escape with all the loot continued to haunt me, there was still time now to take off without notice, or I could rob all three, and leave with purple silk as my hostage, Katrina would not be able to say anything on chance of giving up her part of the game, or I could just be a good lad and sty with the script that Katrina had written. Take a chance, roll the dice and believe that she was all she had me believing she could ever be.
As they came closer I knew my time was running out. The thoughts of just looking out for myself kept coming up playing the devil with my conscience as the precious seconds ticked away…
No honor amongst thieves…
What will it be, old boy I challenged myself,
What will you have it be?........
To see what his decision ultimately was, and the eventual path it led to, see the album question answered)
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Life is not about waiting out the storm, but about learning to dance in the rain.
Vie ne est pas d'attendre que la tempête , mais d'apprendre à danser sous la pluie .
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Courtesy of Chatwick University Archives
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I was given Alexa by the kids last month as a birthday present and I just love "her." For those that don't know Alexa is an intelligent personal assistant developed by Amazon.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Two hundred and thirty five metres, at 13:48pm on Saturday 18th September 2019 off Ainslie Point Road and Canal Road at the summit of Mount Norman on South Pender Island in British Columbia, Canada.
The summit is nestled within the forrest within the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, and here we have a view out across to North Pender Island, and the Soutrhern Gulf Islands of British Columbia.
Designated as the fortieth national park in 2003 and covering 36 square kilometres (14 sq mi) of area with 16 islands and more than 30 islets, reefs and surrounding waters, it also contains Douglas-fir trees as well as Pacific dogwood, bigleaf maple, red alder and Western red cedar.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 70mm Shutter speed 1/320s Aperture f/16.0 iso160 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Cokin GND4 resin filter . Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.
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LATITUDE: N 48d 45m 31.06s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 14m 28.13s
ALTITUDE: 235.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 90.4MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 40.90MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Given to me when my Mother passed away , by my lovely friend Kim. This rose smells so lovely in my garden
Given these easter times I thought that this might be a fitting photo. This is the centrepiece of the Vatican: The St. Peters cathedral which is lit up at night. As you - and the man admiring it can see it is quite an imposing sight up close. This was taken last summer a bit after this photo when the night had fallen completly. Here is another one taken the same night.
You should really watch this Large On Black since that brings out a lot more detail. My pictures aren't balanced for a white background and a lot of the finer details are lost in this small format.
Name: Thomas Harrington
Arrested for: not given
Arrested at: North Shields
Arrested on: 28 September 1914
Tyne and Wear Archives ref: DX1388-1-254-Thomas Harrington
The Shields Daily News for 28 September 1914 reports:
“INDECENT ASSAULT AT NO. SHIELDS.
Today at North Shields, Thomas Harrington, telephone wireman, was charged with indecently assaulting a girl under 16, at North Shields on Saturday, and was sent to prison for three months with hard labour”.
These images are taken from an album of photographs of prisoners brought before the North Shields Police Court between 1902 and 1916 (TWAM ref. DX1388/1). This set is our selection of the best mugshots taken during the First World War. They have been chosen because of the sharpness and general quality of the images. The album doesn’t record the details of each prisoner’s crimes, just their names and dates of arrest.
In order to discover the stories behind the mugshots, staff from Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums visited North Shields Local Studies Library where they carefully searched through microfilm copies of the ‘Shields Daily News’ looking for newspaper reports of the court cases. The newspaper reports have been transcribed and added below each mugshot.
Combining these two separate records gives us a fascinating insight into life on the Home Front during the First World War. These images document the lives of people of different ages and backgrounds, both civilians and soldiers. Our purpose here is not to judge them but simply to reflect the realities of their time.
(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.
St Michael, Woolverstone, Suffolk
It was a crisp, bright morning towards the end of November 2016, a perfect day for a bike ride. I headed out of town onto the Shotley Peninsula, the first stretch of my journey necessarily along the horrid main road which runs along the south bank of the Orwell. I soon came to Woolverstone, which you can see at once was rebuilt as a late 19th Century estate village. A narrow lane runs between fields and copses northwards to the church of St Michael sitting on its mound above the river.
The setting is idyllic. The great pile of Woolverstone Hall, today home to Ipswich Girls High School, stands beside it, and above me the jackdaws chattered in the skeletal trees, the fields were full of sheep, the damp woods full of the cries of pheasants. Woolverstone Hall was built in the 1770s by John Johnson for William Berners. Johnson had been the main architect of the Berners Estate, an area of London known more commonly today as Fitzrovia, and the fabulously wealthy Berners family took up residence in this remote Suffolk spot above the Orwell. They paid for George Gilbert Scott's restoration of the 1860s, which is pretty much all that can be seen of the church from the south apart from the tower, but in the 1880s they did rather more. James Piers St Aubyn, one of the most famous architects of the day, was brought in to expand the church massively towards the north, and when you enter you see that the effect is really that of two churches side by side, separated by a fairly low and rounded arcade. The new part was designed to be used for shadowy, incense-led worship, and although that tradition has long gone it is still the main part of the church today.
The wealth of the Berners family means that the restoration was overwhelming, but the quality of it is high. And in any case, there are few medieval survivals anywhere on the Shotley Peninsula. The only old object here is the font, and it is a curiosity. On the face of it, the style is that of a typical East Anglian font bowl, lions alternating with angels, but the carving is quite unlike anything I've seen elsewhere, the crouching lions shown in profile. Pevsner calls the carving 'crude', which is not untrue. Was it done by a local hand, perhaps? It has been reset on a modern stem with upright, alert little lions, 19th Century but much more in the East Anglian medieval style.
The glass is also generally of high quality, or at least expensive, and to various members of the Berners family. Heaton Butler & Bayne's rather alarmingly yellow Saints Martin, Agnes, Margaret and Augustine, installed as a memorial to Archdeacon Henry Berners and his wife, stand proudly in an overwhelmingly wide south nave window which works externally as a kind of optical illusion, making Scott's nave appear wider than his chancel, which it isn't.
The same firm provided the east window in St Aubyn's north aisle to John and Henrietta Berners, which depicts the crucifixion flanked by Joseph of Arimathea, the Blessed Virgin, St John and St Mary Magdalene. It is interesting to note, given the not uncommon conflation of their imagery in medieval times, the similarity between the figures of St John and St Mary Magdalene. The studio might almost have been working from the same cartoon. Both the windows were installed in the 1880s under St Aubyn's direction.
There was once an earler 19th Century window at Gilbert Scott's east end, of which the upper tracery survives, but the main lights were destroyed by blast damage during the Second World War, a not uncommon fate for church windows on the Shotley Peninsula - indeed, the church in the neighbouring village, Chelmondiston, was completely ruined. The 1947 replacement, by AL Wilkinson, depicts Christ the Saviour of the World flanked by St Michael and St Gabriel.
The High Church, even Anglo-catholic, enthusiasms of the Berners family may be judged by Woolverstone House back in the village, which was built for a community of Anglican nuns based at St Peter, Kilburn. It was intended as their retreat house and school, and the architect was Edwin Lutyens. Today it is a private house, but the church is now open every day. When I'd first visited every Suffolk church in the late 1990s I had found it locked. Coming back in 2006, the interior was full of scaffolding, and I couldn't go in. Curiously, the avenue of yew trees which lined the path up to the south porch at that time have now been reduced to stumps. Despite St Michael being barely five miles from my house, it had taken until this idyllic crisp, sunny day in late November 2016 for me to get back there, discover this, and explore the inside for the first time.
It was time to head on to Harkstead. The view from the south porch back up the hilly lane was breathtaking in the low winter sunshine. I stepped out, wandering down to the east to look across to the Hall. The Berners family sold it as part of the Estate in 1937, assuming that it would be demolished for farming land, but after a period of requisition by the army during the War the Hall was bought by the London County Council for use as a boarding school. It was intended both for children taken into care and also for those whose parents were working overseas, an odd combination, but people seem to have happy memories of it. The writer Ian McEwan is a famous ex-pupil. The school closed in the 1980s; its massive library was broken up, and you still regularly come across items from it in Suffolk's second-hand bookshops. In a grand sale in the Ipswich Corn Exchange shortly after the closure, I bought the school's copies of McEwan's books for 50p each. The Hall lay empty for several years, until the Girls High School moved out here from central Ipswich, and restored it to something like its former glory. The jackdaws which inhabit the great 19th Century water tower which stands beside it wheeled above my head as I cycled back to the Shotley road.
Given that the 25 was needed in a roadworthy condition imminently, a replacement registration plate was quickly sourced - RB need every serviceable single decker they can get at the moment, so having one out of action with such a trivial issue wouldn't be a good situation.
The old P&R livery is not going away as quickly as I want it to. I mean, there's nothing really wrong with the livery itself, but my circa 2018 application of it to the models is... utterly dogshite terrible. For the same livery but decently painted, see ELC Vyking 31, which has been treated to a repaint but kept the old-style P&R livery. Eventually it'll be the base for something else, but like most things with the model fleet, it's an "it'll happen one day. Probably."
Robertson Buses 25 - P709 VEX - Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Enviro-Dart
Robertson Buses 29 - HF03 ODU - Wright Gemini bodied Volvo B7TL
I got one of those new iPod Shuffles last week and I am impressed with the size of the thing and the fidelity of the sound given just how tiny it is - it can hold around 1000 songs!
Apparently there has been a bit of a hooha on the internet about Apple abolishing the controls and sticking an inline 'thumb-remote' on the headphones but after a couple of minutes I found it quite intuitive pressing the button twice to change tracks or three times to step back. The technology is nothing new, resistive multiplexors as they are called have been around in remotes since the days of cassette players (My 7 year-old daughter Ella asked me the other day what a cassette was!)
There's a neat little feature that when you hold down the button on the remote for a few seconds a pre-recorded digital voice tells you the name of the artist and track - this makes up for the lack of display and is in keeping with the new wave of design and engineering that says strip it back as far as you can go. Its in these disciplined and self-imposed limitations that designers are finding freedom from unlimited choice. You can also see this phenomena happening with Nintendo (with their new DSi) and Twitter (160 characters). Boundaries force people to think creatively which is the reason I set up the Flickr group bit.ly/1bwf where the artist must only take 10 minutes to capture the essence of what they are drawing.
The tide of miniaturisation is inevitable and the advent of Apples inline remote removes the one limitation on size that they had with the previous generation of iPod shuffles - buttons were required to change tracks. What's to follow are smaller and smaller iPods until, like their musical kinder, iPod will eventually become an intangible idea. The Apple logo will be laser etched on to our ears and we will be able to change tracks with a blink.
For some time I've been thinking that if I was given a WWII battledress, Captain's cap and stick I could do a passable impression of Captain Mainwaring (on the left) with a little practice. Certainly, if I was invited to a fancy dress do I think I might give it a go. I can still watch the shows over and over and still find them funny.
You might notice that in recent times I've commented on the state of the world and the growing confusion I have for what is right and wrong, good and bad....... So when I saw a piece in The Daily Mail this morning I was easily able to slip into character and follow the dialogue below.
Now if you are not British, and not at least 40 you might not get this, so see if you can get in the swing of things by watching this clip before launching into the text below:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAAbw7udjMI
We're all going to be beheaded! DON'T PANIC! (A short play by Richard Littlejohn)
The Government wants to recruit a Dad’s Army squad of ex-military men to supplement overstretched police firearms and anti-terror officers. Why not just bring the Walmington-on-Sea platoon out of retirement? Enter Captain Mainwaring . . .
I say, Wilson, what are those peculiar flags doing hanging outside the church hall?
Flags, sir?
Yes, Wilson, flags. One is a hideous rainbow-coloured affair and the other is black and white and appears to be covered in badly-drawn Nazi warplanes.
They’re not warplanes, Mr Mainwaring. They’re sex aids.
Sex aids? One of them looks just like a V-1 flying bomb.
It’s not a doodlebug, sir, it’s called a Steely Dan.
Sounds lethal, Wilson. Hang on, how do you know what it’s called?
I accidentally found one in Mrs Pike’s sewing basket.
Sometimes I worry about you, Wilson. That still doesn’t explain why these flags are flying outside the church hall?
It was the vicar’s idea.
Has he been at the communion wine again?
No more than usual, sir. The rainbow flag is the official emblem of the Walmington-on-Sea LGBT committee.
What on earth is that?
It stands for Lesbians, Gays and, oh, I forget. Bi-something or other. And I think the ‘T’ is for Transvestites. Men who like dressing up in women’s clothing.
Like Old Mother Riley, you mean?
Not exactly, sir, no.
And what’s all this got to do with the vicar?
He’s chairman of the LGBT organising committee. They’re having a march through Walmington on Saturday, for Gay Pride week. They’re also protesting about British military aggression in the Middle East.
Not in my name, they’re not. We’ll soon see about that. Where is the vicar?
Conducting a marriage ceremony next door. Two women from the bowls club.
Who are they getting married to?
Each other, sir.
Good grief. And the vicar is performing the ceremony, you say? In the church, of all places? Is nothing sacred? I’ve always had my doubts about that man, Wilson. Bit of a nancy boy, if you ask me.
Oh, I don’t know. I think it’s rather sweet. Two women, or two men, getting married. To each other.
You would think that, Wilson. It’s exactly what I’d expect from you decadent, namby-pamby public-school types, just like that Old Etonian Prime Minister chum of yours.
Anyway, they’re having the reception in the church hall. So we’d better hurry up with the parade.
They can jolly well wait, Wilson. Don’t they know there’s a war on? Fall the men in, at the double.
Come along you chaps. Would you be so awfully kind as to get in line?
Now pay attention, men. As some of you may have heard on the Home Service, the barbarians are at the gate and the future of our scepterd isle is imperilled once more. The enemy hordes are massing on the other side of the Channel and it falls to us to form the first line of defence. Wilson, I want you to get down to the ferry terminal and arrest any suspicious character trying to sneak into Britain.
Do you think that’s wise, sir?
What do you mean?
Under the Human Rights Act we have to give asylum to anyone who turns up in Walmington-on-Sea claiming to be fleeing persecution.
You don’t believe any of that guff, do you? Trained assassins from Isil are pretending to be refugees in order to murder us all in our beds.
(Corporal Jones): Permission to interject, Mr Mainwaring.
Go ahead, Jones.
What’s Isil?
(Pike): It’s that shiny toilet paper, silly, ever so hard, like what you get at school and in public conveniences. My mum doesn’t like me using it, says it’s unhygienic and it don’t half chafe . . .
Shut up, Pike, you stupid boy. Anyway, that’s not Isil, that’s Izal. Isil, or Isis, or Islamic State, is a terrorist organisation dedicated to the overthrow of Western society. And it’s our job to stop them.
Excuse me, Mr Mainwaring.
What is it now, Wilson?
Apparently, we can’t call them Islamic State any more. The mayor has had a complaint from the local mosque saying that what’s going on in Syria hasn’t got anything to do with Islam.
So what are we supposed to call them?
Dish-dash, dish-cloth. Something like that.
I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous in all my life. Now get along to the ferry terminal and take Godfrey with you.
(Godfrey): My sister Dolly’s at the ferry terminal, Mr Mainwaring, handing out upside-down cakes to the migrants. She says they must be starving after travelling all the way from Afghanistan.
For heaven’s sake, man. We shouldn’t be rolling out the red carpet for these people. How do we know they’re not Fifth Columnists planning to attack sunbathers on Walmington beach?
(Jones): Permission to speak, sir. I’d like to volunteer to stop them, Mr Mainwaring. I served in Libya and the Sudan during the last lot. Fierce fighting people, they are, very keen on beheading. But they don’t like it up ’em, Mr Mainwaring. Those fuzzy-wuzzies do not like it up ’em.
(Wilson): Er, I don’t think we can say fuzzy-wuzzies any more, either. Not on the BBC. Terribly racist, these days.
I thought we’d already been banned from the BBC, Wilson.
Not yet, sir. That’s It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum.
So it is. Now then, men. I have received a letter from the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, who is anxious to recruit experienced snipers to supplement his firearms officers.
(Pike): I’d like to volunteer to be a sniper, Mr Mainwaring.
You haven’t got any experience, Pike.
I’ve seen that new film American Sniper at the Roxy, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper, who was in The Hangover and is now the Elephant Man, he’s this crack marksman who is sent to Iraq to kill terrorists and there’s this scene where he’s on a roof and he’s about to shoot the world’s most wanted man from about a mile away, but just as he’s taking aim his wife calls him on the mobile to moan about the fridge being broken or something, then he gets sent home suffering from PMT. It would have been better if it had starred Clint Eastwood as the sniper, even though he’s over 80, he was brilliant in Dirty Harry — ‘Go ahead, punk, make my day’ — and the special effects are great especially when people’s heads explode. I could do that, please Captain Mainwaring.
Stupid boy.
(Enter Private Walker): Evenin’, Mr Mainwaring, sorry I’m late.
Where have you been?
Well, I popped over to Calais on a booze cruise. You can save a small fortune if you know the right people, get my drift. Practically giving it away, they are. You won’t catch me voting to leave the EU in the referendum. I’ve got some very nice Beaujolais Nouveau, if you’re interested, fiver a bottle to you, Mr M . . .
Get on with it, Walker.
Anyway, when I got to the port to catch the ferry home, the lorries was all backed up for miles because of a strike and there was thousands of young foreign blokes trying to break into containers and hide in the luggage compartments of coaches. They was coming from all over the place, wave after wave, like in Zulu.
(Pike): That’s one of my favourites, Joe, with Michael Caine and Stanley Baker and Dave, the barman from Minder. Not a lot of people know that.
I won’t tell you again, Pike. Is there a point to this story, Walker?
Sorry, Captain. Anyway, this is three days ago. It was like we’d all been taken hostage. Finally, I gets back to the lock-up and as soon as I pull in, half a dozen geezers in black tracksuits and balaclavas jump out of the back of the van, waving Kalashnikovs, and starts running in the direction of the dual carriageway, shouting ‘Allo Acton’ or something. So I phones the Old Bill and Warden Hodges but they sez there’s nuffink they can do ’cos of yuman rites and elf’n’safety an’ that, and then they only goes an’ threatens to fine me two grand a head for bringing them in, bloody cheek. So I bungs ’em both a case of Chateau Collapso and Bob’s yer mother’s wossname. Them foreign geezers, though, whoever they are, probably half way to Toddington Services by now.
(Jones): We’re all going to be beheaded! Don’t panic! Don’t panic!
(Private Fraser): We’re doomed. We’re all doomed!
A volunteer who has given 2,253 hours since joining in June last year has swapped her role as HR advisor at a bank to becoming one of our new recruit police officers on the frontline.
Emma Donbavand joined GMP's Special Constabulary to "dip her toe in the water" before making a decision to apply to become a full-time officer and after the thousands of hours she's given to the force, she's now been accepted to become a police officer this month and finished her last shift as a Special Constable last night (14 December 2021).
Special Constables are part-time, voluntary police officers who have the same powers, uniform and equipment as regular officers and work alongside frontline officers as well as police staff to help make Greater Manchester a safer place to be.
The 22-year-old previously worked as a HR advisor for Natwest but decided to join in June 2020 and wanted to do so many hours that she joined a response team of officers in Tameside - almost balancing two jobs voluntarily. Some of the her highlights include being promoted to a Specials Team Leader this year, assisting with the huge policing operation for Parklife 2021 and jumping into a river to save a man in June this year.
She said: "I initially joined the Special Constabulary because I wanted to dip my toe in the water first as I was starting to think about becoming a police officer but everyone made me feel so welcome and after 18 months, I decided to join.
"After joining and training in June last year, I've done just over 2,250 hours and sometimes I'd finish my day job as a HR advisor at 5pm and go straight to work with one of the response teams in Tameside. I've loved it and everyone in the district has made me feel so welcome."
Before becoming a HR advisor for a bank, Emma wanted to go into musical theatre but her dreams were shattered after she broke her leg.
She added: "I wanted to go into musical theatre but I broke my leg in two places on a trampoline. I still do some shows on the side and often go to London though.
"When I joined the Specials though, I quickly realised that no two jobs were the same and it's become an experience like no other so that's why I ended up applying to join as a police officer."
Emma has joined GMP under the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship and is currently underway with her training.
"Being a Special is an experience like no other - there's no other volunteering you can do that gives you such life experience where you're on the streets and helping people," she added.
The Special Constabulary at GMP is recruiting. To find out more, visit: Special constables | Greater Manchester Police (gmp.police.uk)
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 34.801+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on January 26th 2020
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1201634667 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,016th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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This Four seconds long exposure was taken at an altitude of Four metres, at 05:41am on Sunday 5th September 2019 around sunrise off 1st Street and Bevan Avenue, bewteen the boat jetty and Bevan Avenue Fishing Pier in beautiful Sidney by the sea on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
In the distance we see Mt Baker in Washington State, USA . Known to the Lummi First nation people ( Lhaq'temish) as Kwelshán ('Shooting place' in Nooksack), to the Halkomelem as Kwelxá:lxw, to Lushootseed speakers along the Skagit River as Teqwúbe7 “snow-capped peak'', to the Nooksack language as Kweq’ Smánit (“white mountain'') and also known as Koma Kulshan, (pronounced kō-ō’mah’ kool-shän’), the name for the Middle Fork which originates from the glaciers such as Deming and Thunder on the western slopes, she is an active glaciated andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington State in the United States, standing 3,286 metres tall and was first ascended in 1868, her last eruption recorded in 1880.
The name Mount Baker first appeared in print in Captain Vancouver’s 1798 narrative of his voyage around Vancouver Island. Legend has it that his third-lieutenant, Joseph Baker, was the first to spot the mountain while they sailed into Dungeness Bay on April 30th, 1792.
The Bevan Avenue fishing pier is one of the main focal points in Sidney, and Work commenced on the pier in 1993 with Phase one, a 90 metre straight section being completed in 1996. A year later the 110 metre Phase two section was completed.
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Nikon D850. Focal length 32mm Shutter speed: Four seconds long exposure Aperture f/16.0 iso5000 RAW (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus 51 point with 3D- tracking. AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode - Aperture priority exposure. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Matrix metering. ISO Sensitivity: Auto. White balance: Natural light auto. Colour space Adobe RGB. Nikon Distortion control on. Picture control: Auto. High ISO NR on. Vignette control: normal. Active D-lighting Auto.
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.6 (2 stops) ND Grad soft resin.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon EN-EL15a battery.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod 3 Sections (Payload: 5.6kgs). Manfrotto 327RC2 Light Duty Grip Ball Magnesium Tripod Head (Payload: 5.5kgs). Manfrotto quick release plate 200PL-14. Jessops Tripod bag.Nikon MC-DC2 remote shutter release cable.
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LATITUDE: N 48d 38m 52.66s
LONGITUDE: W 123d 23m 36.65s
ALTITUDE: 4.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 91.3MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 25.90MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.017 (20/3/18) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit (Version 1.3.1 11/07/2019). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit (Version 1.4.7 15/03/2018). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 1.3.2 15/03/2018). Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
11/09/2014 World War II Memorial, Washington DC
In remembrance of all who serve and my two grandfathers who served in WWII.
Colosseum
Following, a text, in english, from the Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia:
The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium, Italian Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo), is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering.
Occupying a site just east of the Roman Forum, its construction started between 70 and 72 AD[1] under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under Titus,[2] with further modifications being made during Domitian's reign (81–96).[3] The name "Amphitheatrum Flavium" derives from both Vespasian's and Titus's family name (Flavius, from the gens Flavia).
Capable of seating 50,000 spectators,[1][4][5] the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.
Although in the 21st century it stays partially ruined because of damage caused by devastating earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It is one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions and still has close connections with the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession that starts in the area around the Colosseum.[6]
The Colosseum is also depicted on the Italian version of the five-cent euro coin.
The Colosseum's original Latin name was Amphitheatrum Flavium, often anglicized as Flavian Amphitheater. The building was constructed by emperors of the Flavian dynasty, hence its original name, after the reign of Emperor Nero.[7] This name is still used in modern English, but generally the structure is better known as the Colosseum. In antiquity, Romans may have referred to the Colosseum by the unofficial name Amphitheatrum Caesareum; this name could have been strictly poetic.[8][9] This name was not exclusive to the Colosseum; Vespasian and Titus, builders of the Colosseum, also constructed an amphitheater of the same name in Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli).[10]
The name Colosseum has long been believed to be derived from a colossal statue of Nero nearby.[3] (the statue of Nero itself being named after one of the original ancient wonders, the Colossus of Rhodes[citation needed]. This statue was later remodeled by Nero's successors into the likeness of Helios (Sol) or Apollo, the sun god, by adding the appropriate solar crown. Nero's head was also replaced several times with the heads of succeeding emperors. Despite its pagan links, the statue remained standing well into the medieval era and was credited with magical powers. It came to be seen as an iconic symbol of the permanence of Rome.
In the 8th century, a famous epigram attributed to the Venerable Bede celebrated the symbolic significance of the statue in a prophecy that is variously quoted: Quamdiu stat Colisæus, stat et Roma; quando cadet colisæus, cadet et Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus ("as long as the Colossus stands, so shall Rome; when the Colossus falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, so falls the world").[11] This is often mistranslated to refer to the Colosseum rather than the Colossus (as in, for instance, Byron's poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage). However, at the time that the Pseudo-Bede wrote, the masculine noun coliseus was applied to the statue rather than to what was still known as the Flavian amphitheatre.
The Colossus did eventually fall, possibly being pulled down to reuse its bronze. By the year 1000 the name "Colosseum" had been coined to refer to the amphitheatre. The statue itself was largely forgotten and only its base survives, situated between the Colosseum and the nearby Temple of Venus and Roma.[12]
The name further evolved to Coliseum during the Middle Ages. In Italy, the amphitheatre is still known as il Colosseo, and other Romance languages have come to use similar forms such as le Colisée (French), el Coliseo (Spanish) and o Coliseu (Portuguese).
Construction of the Colosseum began under the rule of the Emperor Vespasian[3] in around 70–72AD. The site chosen was a flat area on the floor of a low valley between the Caelian, Esquiline and Palatine Hills, through which a canalised stream ran. By the 2nd century BC the area was densely inhabited. It was devastated by the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, following which Nero seized much of the area to add to his personal domain. He built the grandiose Domus Aurea on the site, in front of which he created an artificial lake surrounded by pavilions, gardens and porticoes. The existing Aqua Claudia aqueduct was extended to supply water to the area and the gigantic bronze Colossus of Nero was set up nearby at the entrance to the Domus Aurea.[12]
Although the Colossus was preserved, much of the Domus Aurea was torn down. The lake was filled in and the land reused as the location for the new Flavian Amphitheatre. Gladiatorial schools and other support buildings were constructed nearby within the former grounds of the Domus Aurea. According to a reconstructed inscription found on the site, "the emperor Vespasian ordered this new amphitheatre to be erected from his general's share of the booty." This is thought to refer to the vast quantity of treasure seized by the Romans following their victory in the Great Jewish Revolt in 70AD. The Colosseum can be thus interpreted as a great triumphal monument built in the Roman tradition of celebrating great victories[12], placating the Roman people instead of returning soldiers. Vespasian's decision to build the Colosseum on the site of Nero's lake can also be seen as a populist gesture of returning to the people an area of the city which Nero had appropriated for his own use. In contrast to many other amphitheatres, which were located on the outskirts of a city, the Colosseum was constructed in the city centre; in effect, placing it both literally and symbolically at the heart of Rome.
The Colosseum had been completed up to the third story by the time of Vespasian's death in 79. The top level was finished and the building inaugurated by his son, Titus, in 80.[3] Dio Cassius recounts that over 9,000 wild animals were killed during the inaugural games of the amphitheatre. The building was remodelled further under Vespasian's younger son, the newly designated Emperor Domitian, who constructed the hypogeum, a series of underground tunnels used to house animals and slaves. He also added a gallery to the top of the Colosseum to increase its seating capacity.
In 217, the Colosseum was badly damaged by a major fire (caused by lightning, according to Dio Cassius[13]) which destroyed the wooden upper levels of the amphitheatre's interior. It was not fully repaired until about 240 and underwent further repairs in 250 or 252 and again in 320. An inscription records the restoration of various parts of the Colosseum under Theodosius II and Valentinian III (reigned 425–455), possibly to repair damage caused by a major earthquake in 443; more work followed in 484[14] and 508. The arena continued to be used for contests well into the 6th century, with gladiatorial fights last mentioned around 435. Animal hunts continued until at least 523, when Anicius Maximus celebrated his consulship with some venationes, criticised by King Theodoric the Great for their high cost.
The Colosseum underwent several radical changes of use during the medieval period. By the late 6th century a small church had been built into the structure of the amphitheatre, though this apparently did not confer any particular religious significance on the building as a whole. The arena was converted into a cemetery. The numerous vaulted spaces in the arcades under the seating were converted into housing and workshops, and are recorded as still being rented out as late as the 12th century. Around 1200 the Frangipani family took over the Colosseum and fortified it, apparently using it as a castle.
Severe damage was inflicted on the Colosseum by the great earthquake in 1349, causing the outer south side, lying on a less stable alluvional terrain, to collapse. Much of the tumbled stone was reused to build palaces, churches, hospitals and other buildings elsewhere in Rome. A religious order moved into the northern third of the Colosseum in the mid-14th century and continued to inhabit it until as late as the early 19th century. The interior of the amphitheatre was extensively stripped of stone, which was reused elsewhere, or (in the case of the marble façade) was burned to make quicklime.[12] The bronze clamps which held the stonework together were pried or hacked out of the walls, leaving numerous pockmarks which still scar the building today.
During the 16th and 17th century, Church officials sought a productive role for the vast derelict hulk of the Colosseum. Pope Sixtus V (1585–1590) planned to turn the building into a wool factory to provide employment for Rome's prostitutes, though this proposal fell through with his premature death.[15] In 1671 Cardinal Altieri authorized its use for bullfights; a public outcry caused the idea to be hastily abandoned.
In 1749, Pope Benedict XIV endorsed as official Church policy the view that the Colosseum was a sacred site where early Christians had been martyred. He forbade the use of the Colosseum as a quarry and consecrated the building to the Passion of Christ and installed Stations of the Cross, declaring it sanctified by the blood of the Christian martyrs who perished there (see Christians and the Colosseum). However there is no historical evidence to support Benedict's claim, nor is there even any evidence that anyone prior to the 16th century suggested this might be the case; the Catholic Encyclopedia concludes that there are no historical grounds for the supposition. Later popes initiated various stabilization and restoration projects, removing the extensive vegetation which had overgrown the structure and threatened to damage it further. The façade was reinforced with triangular brick wedges in 1807 and 1827, and the interior was repaired in 1831, 1846 and in the 1930s. The arena substructure was partly excavated in 1810–1814 and 1874 and was fully exposed under Benito Mussolini in the 1930s.
The Colosseum is today one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions, receiving millions of visitors annually. The effects of pollution and general deterioration over time prompted a major restoration programme carried out between 1993 and 2000, at a cost of 40 billion Italian lire ($19.3m / €20.6m at 2000 prices). In recent years it has become a symbol of the international campaign against capital punishment, which was abolished in Italy in 1948. Several anti–death penalty demonstrations took place in front of the Colosseum in 2000. Since that time, as a gesture against the death penalty, the local authorities of Rome change the color of the Colosseum's night time illumination from white to gold whenever a person condemned to the death penalty anywhere in the world gets their sentence commuted or is released,[16] or if a jurisdiction abolishes the death penalty. Most recently, the Colosseum was illuminated in gold when capital punishment was abolished in the American state of New Mexico in April 2009.
Because of the ruined state of the interior, it is impractical to use the Colosseum to host large events; only a few hundred spectators can be accommodated in temporary seating. However, much larger concerts have been held just outside, using the Colosseum as a backdrop. Performers who have played at the Colosseum in recent years have included Ray Charles (May 2002),[18] Paul McCartney (May 2003),[19] Elton John (September 2005),[20] and Billy Joel (July 2006).
Exterior
Unlike earlier Greek theatres that were built into hillsides, the Colosseum is an entirely free-standing structure. It derives its basic exterior and interior architecture from that of two Roman theatres back to back. It is elliptical in plan and is 189 meters (615 ft / 640 Roman feet) long, and 156 meters (510 ft / 528 Roman feet) wide, with a base area of 6 acres (24,000 m2). The height of the outer wall is 48 meters (157 ft / 165 Roman feet). The perimeter originally measured 545 meters (1,788 ft / 1,835 Roman feet). The central arena is an oval 87 m (287 ft) long and 55 m (180 ft) wide, surrounded by a wall 5 m (15 ft) high, above which rose tiers of seating.
The outer wall is estimated to have required over 100,000 cubic meters (131,000 cu yd) of travertine stone which were set without mortar held together by 300 tons of iron clamps.[12] However, it has suffered extensive damage over the centuries, with large segments having collapsed following earthquakes. The north side of the perimeter wall is still standing; the distinctive triangular brick wedges at each end are modern additions, having been constructed in the early 19th century to shore up the wall. The remainder of the present-day exterior of the Colosseum is in fact the original interior wall.
The surviving part of the outer wall's monumental façade comprises three stories of superimposed arcades surmounted by a podium on which stands a tall attic, both of which are pierced by windows interspersed at regular intervals. The arcades are framed by half-columns of the Tuscan, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, while the attic is decorated with Corinthian pilasters.[21] Each of the arches in the second- and third-floor arcades framed statues, probably honoring divinities and other figures from Classical mythology.
Two hundred and forty mast corbels were positioned around the top of the attic. They originally supported a retractable awning, known as the velarium, that kept the sun and rain off spectators. This consisted of a canvas-covered, net-like structure made of ropes, with a hole in the center.[3] It covered two-thirds of the arena, and sloped down towards the center to catch the wind and provide a breeze for the audience. Sailors, specially enlisted from the Roman naval headquarters at Misenum and housed in the nearby Castra Misenatium, were used to work the velarium.[22]
The Colosseum's huge crowd capacity made it essential that the venue could be filled or evacuated quickly. Its architects adopted solutions very similar to those used in modern stadiums to deal with the same problem. The amphitheatre was ringed by eighty entrances at ground level, 76 of which were used by ordinary spectators.[3] Each entrance and exit was numbered, as was each staircase. The northern main entrance was reserved for the Roman Emperor and his aides, whilst the other three axial entrances were most likely used by the elite. All four axial entrances were richly decorated with painted stucco reliefs, of which fragments survive. Many of the original outer entrances have disappeared with the collapse of the perimeter wall, but entrances XXIII (23) to LIV (54) still survive.[12]
Spectators were given tickets in the form of numbered pottery shards, which directed them to the appropriate section and row. They accessed their seats via vomitoria (singular vomitorium), passageways that opened into a tier of seats from below or behind. These quickly dispersed people into their seats and, upon conclusion of the event or in an emergency evacuation, could permit their exit within only a few minutes. The name vomitoria derived from the Latin word for a rapid discharge, from which English derives the word vomit.
Interior
According to the Codex-Calendar of 354, the Colosseum could accommodate 87,000 people, although modern estimates put the figure at around 50,000. They were seated in a tiered arrangement that reflected the rigidly stratified nature of Roman society. Special boxes were provided at the north and south ends respectively for the Emperor and the Vestal Virgins, providing the best views of the arena. Flanking them at the same level was a broad platform or podium for the senatorial class, who were allowed to bring their own chairs. The names of some 5th century senators can still be seen carved into the stonework, presumably reserving areas for their use.
The tier above the senators, known as the maenianum primum, was occupied by the non-senatorial noble class or knights (equites). The next level up, the maenianum secundum, was originally reserved for ordinary Roman citizens (plebians) and was divided into two sections. The lower part (the immum) was for wealthy citizens, while the upper part (the summum) was for poor citizens. Specific sectors were provided for other social groups: for instance, boys with their tutors, soldiers on leave, foreign dignitaries, scribes, heralds, priests and so on. Stone (and later marble) seating was provided for the citizens and nobles, who presumably would have brought their own cushions with them. Inscriptions identified the areas reserved for specific groups.
Another level, the maenianum secundum in legneis, was added at the very top of the building during the reign of Domitian. This comprised a gallery for the common poor, slaves and women. It would have been either standing room only, or would have had very steep wooden benches. Some groups were banned altogether from the Colosseum, notably gravediggers, actors and former gladiators.
Each tier was divided into sections (maeniana) by curved passages and low walls (praecinctiones or baltei), and were subdivided into cunei, or wedges, by the steps and aisles from the vomitoria. Each row (gradus) of seats was numbered, permitting each individual seat to be exactly designated by its gradus, cuneus, and number.
The arena itself was 83 meters by 48 meters (272 ft by 157 ft / 280 by 163 Roman feet).[12] It comprised a wooden floor covered by sand (the Latin word for sand is harena or arena), covering an elaborate underground structure called the hypogeum (literally meaning "underground"). Little now remains of the original arena floor, but the hypogeum is still clearly visible. It consisted of a two-level subterranean network of tunnels and cages beneath the arena where gladiators and animals were held before contests began. Eighty vertical shafts provided instant access to the arena for caged animals and scenery pieces concealed underneath; larger hinged platforms, called hegmata, provided access for elephants and the like. It was restructured on numerous occasions; at least twelve different phases of construction can be seen.[12]
The hypogeum was connected by underground tunnels to a number of points outside the Colosseum. Animals and performers were brought through the tunnel from nearby stables, with the gladiators' barracks at the Ludus Magnus to the east also being connected by tunnels. Separate tunnels were provided for the Emperor and the Vestal Virgins to permit them to enter and exit the Colosseum without needing to pass through the crowds.[12]
Substantial quantities of machinery also existed in the hypogeum. Elevators and pulleys raised and lowered scenery and props, as well as lifting caged animals to the surface for release. There is evidence for the existence of major hydraulic mechanisms[12] and according to ancient accounts, it was possible to flood the arena rapidly, presumably via a connection to a nearby aqueduct.
The Colosseum and its activities supported a substantial industry in the area. In addition to the amphitheatre itself, many other buildings nearby were linked to the games. Immediately to the east is the remains of the Ludus Magnus, a training school for gladiators. This was connected to the Colosseum by an underground passage, to allow easy access for the gladiators. The Ludus Magnus had its own miniature training arena, which was itself a popular attraction for Roman spectators. Other training schools were in the same area, including the Ludus Matutinus (Morning School), where fighters of animals were trained, plus the Dacian and Gallic Schools.
Also nearby were the Armamentarium, comprising an armory to store weapons; the Summum Choragium, where machinery was stored; the Sanitarium, which had facilities to treat wounded gladiators; and the Spoliarium, where bodies of dead gladiators were stripped of their armor and disposed of.
Around the perimeter of the Colosseum, at a distance of 18 m (59 ft) from the perimeter, was a series of tall stone posts, with five remaining on the eastern side. Various explanations have been advanced for their presence; they may have been a religious boundary, or an outer boundary for ticket checks, or an anchor for the velarium or awning.
Right next to the Colosseum is also the Arch of Constantine.
he Colosseum was used to host gladiatorial shows as well as a variety of other events. The shows, called munera, were always given by private individuals rather than the state. They had a strong religious element but were also demonstrations of power and family prestige, and were immensely popular with the population. Another popular type of show was the animal hunt, or venatio. This utilized a great variety of wild beasts, mainly imported from Africa and the Middle East, and included creatures such as rhinoceros, hippopotamuses, elephants, giraffes, aurochs, wisents, barbary lions, panthers, leopards, bears, caspian tigers, crocodiles and ostriches. Battles and hunts were often staged amid elaborate sets with movable trees and buildings. Such events were occasionally on a huge scale; Trajan is said to have celebrated his victories in Dacia in 107 with contests involving 11,000 animals and 10,000 gladiators over the course of 123 days.
During the early days of the Colosseum, ancient writers recorded that the building was used for naumachiae (more properly known as navalia proelia) or simulated sea battles. Accounts of the inaugural games held by Titus in AD 80 describe it being filled with water for a display of specially trained swimming horses and bulls. There is also an account of a re-enactment of a famous sea battle between the Corcyrean (Corfiot) Greeks and the Corinthians. This has been the subject of some debate among historians; although providing the water would not have been a problem, it is unclear how the arena could have been waterproofed, nor would there have been enough space in the arena for the warships to move around. It has been suggested that the reports either have the location wrong, or that the Colosseum originally featured a wide floodable channel down its central axis (which would later have been replaced by the hypogeum).[12]
Sylvae or recreations of natural scenes were also held in the arena. Painters, technicians and architects would construct a simulation of a forest with real trees and bushes planted in the arena's floor. Animals would be introduced to populate the scene for the delight of the crowd. Such scenes might be used simply to display a natural environment for the urban population, or could otherwise be used as the backdrop for hunts or dramas depicting episodes from mythology. They were also occasionally used for executions in which the hero of the story — played by a condemned person — was killed in one of various gruesome but mythologically authentic ways, such as being mauled by beasts or burned to death.
The Colosseum today is now a major tourist attraction in Rome with thousands of tourists each year paying to view the interior arena, though entrance for EU citizens is partially subsidised, and under-18 and over-65 EU citizens' entrances are free.[24] There is now a museum dedicated to Eros located in the upper floor of the outer wall of the building. Part of the arena floor has been re-floored. Beneath the Colosseum, a network of subterranean passageways once used to transport wild animals and gladiators to the arena opened to the public in summer 2010.[25]
The Colosseum is also the site of Roman Catholic ceremonies in the 20th and 21st centuries. For instance, Pope Benedict XVI leads the Stations of the Cross called the Scriptural Way of the Cross (which calls for more meditation) at the Colosseum[26][27] on Good Fridays.
In the Middle Ages, the Colosseum was clearly not regarded as a sacred site. Its use as a fortress and then a quarry demonstrates how little spiritual importance was attached to it, at a time when sites associated with martyrs were highly venerated. It was not included in the itineraries compiled for the use of pilgrims nor in works such as the 12th century Mirabilia Urbis Romae ("Marvels of the City of Rome"), which claims the Circus Flaminius — but not the Colosseum — as the site of martyrdoms. Part of the structure was inhabited by a Christian order, but apparently not for any particular religious reason.
It appears to have been only in the 16th and 17th centuries that the Colosseum came to be regarded as a Christian site. Pope Pius V (1566–1572) is said to have recommended that pilgrims gather sand from the arena of the Colosseum to serve as a relic, on the grounds that it was impregnated with the blood of martyrs. This seems to have been a minority view until it was popularised nearly a century later by Fioravante Martinelli, who listed the Colosseum at the head of a list of places sacred to the martyrs in his 1653 book Roma ex ethnica sacra.
Martinelli's book evidently had an effect on public opinion; in response to Cardinal Altieri's proposal some years later to turn the Colosseum into a bullring, Carlo Tomassi published a pamphlet in protest against what he regarded as an act of desecration. The ensuing controversy persuaded Pope Clement X to close the Colosseum's external arcades and declare it a sanctuary, though quarrying continued for some time.
At the instance of St. Leonard of Port Maurice, Pope Benedict XIV (1740–1758) forbade the quarrying of the Colosseum and erected Stations of the Cross around the arena, which remained until February 1874. St. Benedict Joseph Labre spent the later years of his life within the walls of the Colosseum, living on alms, prior to his death in 1783. Several 19th century popes funded repair and restoration work on the Colosseum, and it still retains a Christian connection today. Crosses stand in several points around the arena and every Good Friday the Pope leads a Via Crucis procession to the amphitheatre.
Coliseu (Colosseo)
A seguir, um texto, em português, da Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre:
O Coliseu, também conhecido como Anfiteatro Flaviano, deve seu nome à expressão latina Colosseum (ou Coliseus, no latim tardio), devido à estátua colossal de Nero, que ficava perto a edificação. Localizado no centro de Roma, é uma excepção de entre os anfiteatros pelo seu volume e relevo arquitectónico. Originalmente capaz de albergar perto de 50 000 pessoas, e com 48 metros de altura, era usado para variados espetáculos. Foi construído a leste do fórum romano e demorou entre 8 a 10 anos a ser construído.
O Coliseu foi utilizado durante aproximadamente 500 anos, tendo sido o último registro efetuado no século VI da nossa era, bastante depois da queda de Roma em 476. O edifício deixou de ser usado para entretenimento no começo da era medieval, mas foi mais tarde usado como habitação, oficina, forte, pedreira, sede de ordens religiosas e templo cristão.
Embora esteja agora em ruínas devido a terremotos e pilhagens, o Coliseu sempre foi visto como símbolo do Império Romano, sendo um dos melhores exemplos da sua arquitectura. Actualmente é uma das maiores atrações turísticas em Roma e em 7 de julho de 2007 foi eleita umas das "Sete maravilhas do mundo moderno". Além disso, o Coliseu ainda tem ligações à igreja, com o Papa a liderar a procissão da Via Sacra até ao Coliseu todas as Sextas-feiras Santas.
O coliseu era um local onde seriam exibidos toda uma série de espectáculos, inseridos nos vários tipos de jogos realizados na urbe. Os combates entre gladiadores, chamados muneras, eram sempre pagos por pessoas individuais em busca de prestígio e poder em vez do estado. A arena (87,5 m por 55 m) possuía um piso de madeira, normalmente coberto de areia para absorver o sangue dos combates (certa vez foi colocada água na representação de uma batalha naval), sob o qual existia um nível subterrâneo com celas e jaulas que tinham acessos diretos para a arena; Alguns detalhes dessa construção, como a cobertura removível que poupava os espectadores do sol, são bastante interessantes, e mostram o refinamento atingido pelos construtores romanos. Formado por cinco anéis concêntricos de arcos e abóbadas, o Coliseu representa bem o avanço introduzido pelos romanos à engenharia de estruturas. Esses arcos são de concreto (de cimento natural) revestidos por alvenaria. Na verdade, a alvenaria era construída simultaneamente e já servia de forma para a concretagem. Outro tipo de espetáculos era a caça de animais, ou venatio, onde eram utilizados animais selvagens importados de África. Os animais mais utilizados eram os grandes felinos como leões, leopardos e panteras, mas animais como rinocerontes, hipopótamos, elefantes, girafas, crocodilos e avestruzes eram também utilizados. As caçadas, tal como as representações de batalhas famosas, eram efetuadas em elaborados cenários onde constavam árvores e edifícios amovíveis.
Estas últimas eram por vezes representadas numa escala gigante; Trajano celebrou a sua vitória em Dácia no ano 107 com concursos envolvendo 11 000 animais e 10 000 gladiadores no decorrer de 123 dias.
Segundo o documentário produzido pelo canal televisivo fechado, History Channel, o Coliseu também era utilizado para a realização de naumaquias, ou batalhas navais. O coliseu era inundado por dutos subterrâneos alimentados pelos aquedutos que traziam água de longe. Passada esta fase, foi construída uma estrutura, que é a que podemos ver hoje nas ruínas do Coliseu, com altura de um prédio de dois andares, onde no passado se concentravam os gladiadores, feras e todo o pessoal que organizava os duelos que ocorreriam na arena. A arena era como um grande palco, feito de madeira, e se chama arena, que em italiano significa areia, porque era jogada areia sob a estrutura de madeira para esconder as imperfeições. Os animais podiam ser inseridos nos duelos a qualquer momento por um esquema de elevadores que surgiam em alguns pontos da arena; o filme "Gladiador" retrata muito bem esta questão dos elevadores. Os estudiosos, há pouco tempo, descobriram uma rede de dutos inundados por baixo da arena do Coliseu. Acredita-se que o Coliseu foi construído onde, outrora, foi o lago do Palácio Dourado de Nero; O imperador Vespasiano escolheu o local da construção para que o mal causado por Nero fosse esquecido por uma construção gloriosa.
Sylvae, ou recreações de cenas naturais eram também realizadas no Coliseu. Pintores, técnicos e arquitectos construiriam simulações de florestas com árvores e arbustos reais plantados no chão da arena. Animais seriam então introduzidos para dar vida à simulação. Esses cenários podiam servir só para agrado do público ou como pano de fundo para caçadas ou dramas representando episódios da mitologia romana, tão autênticos quanto possível, ao ponto de pessoas condenadas fazerem o papel de heróis onde eram mortos de maneiras horríveis mas mitologicamente autênticas, como mutilados por animais ou queimados vivos.
Embora o Coliseu tenha funcionado até ao século VI da nossa Era, foram proibidos os jogos com mortes humanas desde 404, sendo apenas massacrados animais como elefantes, panteras ou leões.
O Coliseu era sobretudo um enorme instrumento de propaganda e difusão da filosofia de toda uma civilização, e tal como era já profetizado pelo monge e historiador inglês Beda na sua obra do século VII "De temporibus liber": "Enquanto o Coliseu se mantiver de pé, Roma permanecerá; quando o Coliseu ruir, Roma ruirá e quando Roma cair, o mundo cairá".
A construção do Coliseu foi iniciada por Vespasiano, nos anos 70 da nossa era. O edifício foi inaugurado por Tito, em 80, embora apenas tivesse sido finalizado poucos anos depois. Empresa colossal, este edifício, inicialmente, poderia sustentar no seu interior cerca de 50 000 espectadores, constando de três andares. Aquando do reinado de Alexandre Severo e Gordiano III, é ampliado com um quarto andar, podendo suster agora cerca de 90 000 espectadores. A grandiosidade deste monumento testemunha verdadeiramente o poder e esplendor de Roma na época dos Flávios.
Os jogos inaugurais do Coliseu tiveram lugar ano 80, sob o mandato de Tito, para celebrar a finalização da construção. Depois do curto reinado de Tito começar com vários meses de desastres, incluindo a erupção do Monte Vesúvio, um incêndio em Roma, e um surto de peste, o mesmo imperador inaugurou o edifício com uns jogos pródigos que duraram mais de cem dias, talvez para tentar apaziguar o público romano e os deuses. Nesses jogos de cem dias terão ocorrido combates de gladiadores, venationes (lutas de animais), execuções, batalhas navais, caçadas e outros divertimentos numa escala sem precedentes.
O Coliseu, como não se encontrava inserido numa zona de encosta, enterrado, tal como normalmente sucede com a generalidade dos teatros e anfiteatros romanos, possuía um “anel” artificial de rocha à sua volta, para garantir sustentação e, ao mesmo tempo, esta substrutura serve como ornamento ao edifício e como condicionador da entrada dos espectadores. Tal como foi referido anteriormente, possuía três pisos, sendo mais tarde adicionado um outro. É construído em mármore, pedra travertina, ladrilho e tufo (pedra calcária com grandes poros). A sua planta elíptica mede dois eixos que se estendem aproximadamente de 190 m por 155 m. A fachada compõe-se de arcadas decoradas com colunas dóricas, jónicas e coríntias, de acordo com o pavimento em que se encontravam. Esta subdivisão deve-se ao facto de ser uma construção essencialmente vertical, criando assim uma diversificação do espaço.
Os assentos eram em mármore e a cavea, escadaria ou arquibancada, dividia-se em três partes, correspondentes às diferentes classes sociais: o podium, para as classes altas; as maeniana, sector destinado à classe média; e os portici, ou pórticos, construídos em madeira, para a plebe e as mulheres. O pulvinar, a tribuna imperial, encontrava-se situada no podium e era balizada pelos assentos reservados aos senadores e magistrados. Rampas no interior do edifício facilitavam o acesso às várias zonas de onde podiam visualizar o espectáculo, sendo protegidos por uma barreira e por uma série de arqueiros posicionados numa passagem de madeira, para o caso de algum acidente. Por cima dos muros ainda são visíveis as mísulas, que sustentavam o velarium, enorme cobertura de lona destinada a proteger do sol os espectadores e, nos subterrâneos, ficavam as jaulas dos animais, bem como todas as celas e galerias necessárias aos serviços do anfiteatro.
O monumento permaneceu como sede principal dos espetáculos da urbe romana até ao período do imperador Honorius, no século V. Danificado por um terremoto no começo do mesmo século, foi alvo de uma extensiva restauração na época de Valentinianus III. Em meados do século XIII, a família Frangipani transformou-o em fortaleza e, ao longo dos séculos XV e XVI, foi por diversas vezes saqueado, perdendo grande parte dos materiais nobres com os quais tinha sido construído.
Os relatos romanos referem-se a cristãos sendo martirizados em locais de Roma descritos pouco pormenorizadamente (no anfiteatro, na arena...), quando Roma tinha numerosos anfiteatros e arenas. Apesar de muito provavelmente o Coliseu não ter sido utilizado para martírios, o Papa Bento XIV consagrou-o no século XVII à Paixão de Cristo e declarou-o lugar sagrado. Os trabalhos de consolidação e restauração parcial do monumento, já há muito em ruínas, foram feitos sobretudo pelos pontífices Gregório XVI e Pio IX, no século XIX.
Given that Mari does not realize that I really am the Burning Bat, she did a very good job of imagining my appearance in uniform (see this).
Just for the sake of comparison I took a shot of how I REALLY look when I am on duty. Mari had, of course, left for her dance class before I took this shot so my identity remains safe.
But after having seen her image it is clear that I have to upgrade my burner.
Unfortunately the strong spring time sun was in the wrong place for this one, but given that I was working going somewhere more favourable was out of the question. CrossCountry HST power car no. 43184 (43384) leads 43366 into Derby Midland, working a Neville Hill to Derby via Woodhouse (into Sheffield), Barrow Hill and the Erewash Valley route learning trip.
Both EMR and CrossCountry had been undertaking diversionary route refreshers preparation for an upcoming closure of the Midland Mainline north of Derby, with these two doing the honours for CrossCountry for the past two weeks based out of Neville Hill.
43184 does look good - I caught a brief glimpse of it crossing the King Edward VII bridge in Newcastle when I was there for a weekend away, but typically didn't have my camera and it hasn't been out much since!
... is a facility given by my all time favourite hotel killa bhawan boasting to be india's first hotel to have a rooftop room that can be used by any of their guest without paying anything extra for this extra bed 'n place with stunning view of the town below, the palace on the side 'n the heaven above! i had a privilege to have photo-shoot assignment for their newly updated rooms 'n facilities for brochure, catalog 'n website. killa bhawan's interior 'n decor is a treat to our eyes 'n soul. naturally, it's rated among the top heritage hotels in numerous travel magazines.
see more HOTELs here.
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty six metres at 11:55am on a miserable cloudy and drizzly morning on Bank Holiday Monday 30th August 2021 off Woolwich Road A206 in the grounds of Abbey Wood Open Space in the London Borough of Bexley, England. Abbey wood joins to Lesnes abbey wood and Abbey wood open space as well as Bostall Heath and woods.
Here we see the bark from an English Oak tree (Quercus robur) on a pathway through the forest.
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Nikon D850 Hand held with Nikkor VR Vibration Reduction enabled on normal setting. Focal length 35mm Shutter speed: 1/15s Aperture f/9.0 iso1000 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX) Focus mode: AF-C focus AF-C Priority Selection: Release Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus AF-Area mode: 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable Exposure mode: Manual exposure Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1, 0 0 (4110K) Colour space: RGB Active D-lighting: Normal Picture control: (NL) Neutral (Sharpening A +2)
Nikkor AF-S 16-35mm f/4.0G IF ED VR. Lee filters SW150 holder. Lee filters SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee filters Circular Polariser Glass filter. Lee filters SW150 filters field pouch. Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 56.18s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 7m 57.71s
ALTITUDE: 56.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 92.7MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 64.60MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Forty nine metres at 09:41am on Saturday 20th February 2021 off Blackheath Avenue and Charlton Way in the grounds of Greenwich Park, one of the Royal Parks of London situated in Greenwich, South East London.
The Great tit (Parus major) is a passerine bird in the Paridae tit family, with a distinctive black head and neck, white cheeks and yellow/olive underparts. It is common throughout Europe. Males have a darker and more prominent black bib that extends to the sides.
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Nikon D850 Hand held with Sigma OS Optical Stabilization enabled on normal setting. Focal length 450mm Shutter speed: 1/400s Electronic front-curtain Aperture f/6.0 ISO800 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. Auto ISO 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Shutter priority mode. Matrix metering. White balance on: Auto1 (4370K). Colour space: RGB. Vignette control: Normal. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1)
Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3DG OS HSM SPORTS. Lee SW150 MKI filter holder with MK2 light shield and custom made velcro fitting for the Sigma lens. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.44s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 0m 18.32s
ALTITUDE: 43.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 93.6MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 40.70MB
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Name: Robert Jackson
Arrested for: not given
Arrested at: North Shields Police Station
Arrested on: 15 April 1907
Tyne and Wear Archives ref: DX1388-1-105-Robert Jackson
For an image of his accomplice Margaret Harker see www.flickr.com/photos/twm_news/16822680419/in/album-72157....
The Shields Daily News for 22 April 1907 reports:
“ROBBERY FROM THE PERSON.
At North Shields Police Court today, before Councillor J. Sanderson and Mr G.H. Stansfield, Margaret Harker, Normanby, and Janet Sanderson, Newcastle, were charged on demand with having stolen from the person of Joseph Conaty, 6d and a pot of rum on the 13th inst.
Prosecutor, who is a shipwright living at No. 2 Reed Street, stated that at 11.15 pm on the date named he was in Bedford Street, near to the Tiger Stairs, when he was accosted by the two women who asked him to go with them. They went to a room in Liddell Street and after he had given them each 1s they knocked him about, went through his pockets, and took 6d and a pot of rum. Later he was kicked downstairs by a man and upon getting outside he saw some police officers and informed them of what had occurred. PC Graham and Sergt. Wilson spoke to finding one of the women crouching in a recess in the yard of a house in Liddell Street.
Accused pleaded not guilty. The magistrates taking into consideration the fact that they had been in custody for some time, committed them only for one day.
Margaret Harker, in conjunction with Robert Jackson and Thos. Bell, were charged with loitering in Liddell Street, supposed for the purpose of committing a felony, on the 13th inst. PC Graham and Sergt. Wilson gave evidence in support of the charge. Chief Constable Huish said he had made enquiries concerning the accused and had found that they had all been convicted for larceny. Harker made her 47th appearance, Thos. Bell his 6th appearance and Jackson his 8th appearance. The last named had been imprisoned for shop-breaking and robbery with violence. The charge was stoutly denied by the accused who were each committed to prison for a month with hard labour.”
These images are a selection from an album of photographs of prisoners brought before the North Shields Police Court between 1902 and 1916 in the collection of Tyne & Wear Archives (TWA ref DX1388/1).
(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.
Tonight I went to a lecture in the lovely Legate Lecture Theatre in the Victoria Building. The lecture was given by a new professor at the University whose special area of interest is Salmonella virulence and genetics. Fascinating stuff!
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Thirty six metres at 10:28am on Wednesday 6th May 2020 off Abbey Road B213 and New Road in the grounds of Lesnes Abbey Woods in the London Borough of Bexley, England. Lesnes Abbey woods joins to abbey wood and Abbey wood open space as well as Bostall Heath and woods.
After weeks of self isolation due to the global pandemic that we know as COVID-19 Coronavirus, we are allowed to go out for exercise once per day and keep away from others. A walk in the local woodlands after the rain came today to taste the fresh air and get my limbs moving again.
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Nikon D850 Hand held with Nikkor VR Vibration Reduction enabled on normal setting. Focal length 16mm Shutter speed: 1/100s Aperture f/5.0 iso200 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto ISO sensitivity control on (Max iso 800/ Miniumum shutter speed 125). White blance on: Auto1. Colour space: RGB. Actve D-lighting: Normal. Vignette control: Normal. Nikon Distortion control: Enabled. Picture control: Auto (Sharpening A +1/Clarity A+1
Nikkor AF-S 16-35mm f/4.0G IF ED VR. Lee filters SW150 holder. Lee filters SW150 77mm screw in adapter ring. Lee filters Circular Polariser Glass filter. Lee filters SW150 filters field pouch. Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 29m 12.50s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 1.56s
ALTITUDE: 36.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 94.0MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 41.50MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Dreaming of a big, spilled swamp symbolizes small satisfactions. You are always trying to please yourself, in spite of obligations and other obstacles. You have rituals that are making you happy, so you always find time for them. You usually do sports, go out, take massages, or go to the cinema. Shrek since an elf is a fictional character, he may also represent the problems that you have created on your own. Symbolism:An elf represents festivity, problems, annoying people, intellectual minds, foes and health. If you dream of a laughing elf, it indicates the laughter of your enemy.
Despite Shrek's frightening and repulsive outer appearance and incorrect identification as a monster (devil figure), he turns out to be:
The Hero: Shrek fulfills the ultimate task of breaking Fiona's curse with the true love's kiss. He also follows the hero's journey with significant character development on his Quest.
Onion: Shrek speaks about how ogres are like onions, which also reflects on the universal theme of the movie. Onions have layers, and his analogy represents that despite his repugnant appearance, like that of an onion, he is actually kind-hearted and capable of love after you peel at the layers.
Wall: Shrek talks about putting up a wall around his swamp to keep people away, but I believe it's also a figurative symbol for his need for isolation and fear of not being accepted or loved. Shrek tries to shut people out before they can do the same to him.
Shrek's Swamp
By George Gantz
Name & Symbols where Shrek's symbols linked with Nephthis
live in the swamps of the Nile's delta... like King Moses with is born in the same Delta or Swamps!!!!
Afterlife, regeneration and Green Color slopes and the regeneration of trees on decaying boles in swamps.
'Nephthys' is the Latin version of her Egyptian name `Nebthwt' (also given as Nebet-het and Nebt-het) which translates as "Lady of the Temple Enclosure" or "Mistress of the House" and she is routinely pictured with the heiroglyph for 'house' on her crown. The 'house' is neither an earthly home nor temple but linked to the heavens as she was related to air and ether.
The 'enclosure' may refer to the courtyard outside a temple as she was represented by the pylons outside of temples. Shrek's pylons are his ears.
in her role as a protective goddess; just as the pylons and wall protected the inner temple, Nephthys protected the souls of the people. She was associated with death and decay from an early period and was regularly invoked during funeral services. Professional mourners at Egyptian funerals were known as "Hawks of Nephthys" and she is one of the four goddesses (along with Isis, Selket, and Neith) whose images were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun as guardians of his canopic vessels. Historian Margaret Bunson notes:Nephthys was associated with the mortuary cult in every era and was part of the ancient worship of Min [a god of fertility and reproduction]. The desert regions were dedicated to her and she was thought to be skilled in magic (188).
In folklore, a will-o'-the-wisp, will-o'-wisp or ignis fatuus is an atmospheric ghost light seen by travelers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or ... Folk belief attributes the phenomenon to fairies or elemental spirits, explicitly in the term " hobby and now in 2020 for the kids that's Shrek... mysterious lights as omens of death or the ghosts of once living human beings. In modern science, it is generally accepted that will-o'-the-wisp phenomena (ignis fatuus) are caused by the oxidation of phosphine (PH3), diphosphane (P2H4), and methane (CH4). These compounds, produced by organic decay, can cause photon emissions. Since phosphine and diphosphane mixtures spontaneously ignite on contact with the oxygen in air, only small quantities of it would be needed to ignite the much more abundant methane to create ephemeral fires. Furthermore, phosphine produces phosphorus pentoxide as a by-product, which forms phosphoric acid upon contact with water vapor, which can explain "viscous moisture" sometimes described as accompanying ignis fatuus.The idea of the will-o'-the-wisp phenomena being caused by natural gases can be found as early as 1596, as mentioned in the book Of Ghostes and Spirites, Walking by Night, And of Straunge Noyses, Crackes, and Sundrie forewarnings, which commonly happen before the death of men: Great Slaughters, and alterations of Kingdomes, by Ludwig Lavater, in the chapter titled "That many naturall things are taken to be ghoasts":
Many times candles & small fires appeare in the night, and seeme to runne up and downe... Sometime these fires goe alone in the night season, and put such as see them, as they travel by night, in great feare. But these things, and many such lyke have their naturall causes... Natural Philosophers write, that thicke exhilations aryse out of the earth, and are kindled. Mynes full of sulphur and brimstone, if the aire enter unto it, as it lyeth in the holes and veines of the earth, will kindle on fier, and strive to get out. "Shrek lets fart in a fairy tale". Farting across the animal kingdom is wonderfully diverse, a new Tale with Shrek ... and our mammalian relatives, farts are mainly the result of digestion or regeneration.
Swamp monsters in folklore, legends, and mythology
The Will-o'-the-wisp appears in swamps, and in some areas there are legends of it being an evil spirit.
The Bunyip are a creature from Aboriginal mythology that lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes.
The Grootslang are huge elephant-like creature with a serpent's tail which according to legend live in caves, swamps, freshwater in South Africa.
The Lernaean Hydra in Greek and Roman mythology, was the creature Heracles killed in the swamp near Lake Lerna.
The Honey Island Swamp monster in Louisiana.
Mokele-mbembe, a legendary water-dwelling creature of Congo River basin folklore that resembles a Brontosaurus.
The skunk ape is a horrible smelling large ape creature said to live in swamps.
The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp.
In Beowulf, Grendel lived in a marsh near King Hrothgar's mead hall, as did Grendel's mother.
Our world seems to be mired in anxiety and fear; and civic discourse has degenerated to accusations, outright lies, and rhetoric. While we hear calls to “drain the swamp,” any common understanding of what that means, and a willing consensus required to achieve it, seems to elude us. Perhaps we are looking at the situation from too narrow a perspective. It is not just our politicians who are lost in the marsh; it is our spiritual life, too.
The English language is full of references to the soggy, wet places of the world. Have you ever gotten tangled up “in the weeds”? Or perhaps someone you know is “stuck in the mud” (or perhaps is a “stick-in-the-mud”)? Recently, we have heard calls to “drain the swamp” of Washington DC lobbyists and political insiders. These sayings all have a common origin: the idea that marshy places should be avoided, lest we become entrenched in the unpleasantness they represent. While modern environmental science is struggling to change this negative narrative about “wetlands,” there are natural contextual explanations for it. The negative imagery is quite powerful, and it holds true on a variety of levels: from natural to psychological, societal, and spiritual. Let’s unpack these different layers of meaning.
The Nature of Wetlands
Marshes, mires, and swamps—collectively referred to as “wetlands”—are essential natural features found all around the globe. They often develop wherever the land intersects major bodies of water, at the interface, as water from terrestrial sources makes its way toward the sea. Technically, marshes are characterized by grassy or shrub-like vegetation, while swamps feature trees. Mires, or bogs, are acidic and contain accumulated humus deposits known as peat.
Marshes are often difficult to access and to maneuver in (especially for us humans). The water usually moves slowly and may be brackish, or salty. Typically, oxygen levels are low, a condition to which indigenous species adapt. Reeds, for example, grow hollow stems for sucking oxygen to their root structures. Marshes do, however, provide useful water storage and filtration functions: they fill up with water in rainy periods and drain water downstream in dry periods; and they serve as a filter and a sink basin for sediments and pollutants.
Marshes can be highly productive biologically. But they can be quite unpleasant and inhospitable as well, as some of that productivity includes a variety of parasites, leeches, spiders, snakes, and even alligators. Since marsh waters move slowly, oxygen may be depleted by respiration and decomposition, particularly when pollution levels are high. Hypoxia, or oxygen deficiency, may result, causing the death of fish and invertebrates. When decomposition turns anaerobic, fetid odors are produced. This all helps explain the negative reputation held by marshes, mires, and swamps. And as a result, they have become fertile sources for our imaginative depiction of the horrors of stagnation.
Marshes and their renewing properties are also vulnerable to degradation if the natural water cycles are disrupted, and their historically negative reputation has made them a great target for human intervention. We have been very aggressive in intentional filling and draining, damming for flood control, water withdrawals, agricultural and urban development, and pollution. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data, perhaps half of all the marshes in the United States were drained or destroyed prior to 1970. And that destruction has continued. A Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) study reported that in the five years between 2004 and 2009, almost one percent of coastal wetlands disappeared as a result of development pressures and silviculture (human-planned forests) expansion.
Psychological Stagnation
Stagnation is defined simply as “a state of not flowing,” yet our imagination associates the word with the unpleasant “marshy” qualities of death and decay. In the natural world, the low-oxygen conditions of stagnation are unfavorable to growth and change, and they give rise to illness and death. In the psychological sense, stagnation refers to the similar condition of being emotionally or rationally stuck or stunted. Without the ability to renew ourselves by absorbing new thoughts, ideas, experiences, and emotions, our vitality and resilience stagnate.
The story of Narcissus offers a good example. Narcissus was a beautiful Greek youth who fell in love with his own reflection. He became so enamored of his image that he forgot about food and rest, and he eventually died. This story is the origin of the modern personality diagnosis of narcissism, an excessive pre-occupation with self-gratification and self-image. Some current psychological research suggests that our omnipresent digital environment and our excessive attention to social media, in particular, promote narcissistic tendencies.
Depression is another psychological condition that represents the quality of stagnation, as it involves getting “stuck” in negative thought patterns and losing the motivation and energy to reach out to others or try something new. While the causes of depression may be varied and difficult to assess, it is clear that extreme emotional distress and feelings of isolation and alienation are shared by many: depression is on the rise worldwide, as is suicide, an ultimate and tragic statement of hopelessness. As we will see below, one key to preventing psychological stagnation may be found in better understanding our spiritual condition.
Societal Entrenchment
In economics and politics, marsh-like stagnation is often referred to as entrenchment. The word entrench simply means “to put in a trench,” which is suggestive of being stuck or tightly confined. A corporate management team may become entrenched, for example, if its members stick too closely together and refuse to bring in outside people or outside ideas. Entrenchment can be deadly for a business enterprise when upstart competitors with new and better ideas come along. An individual, a group, or an entire enterprise can get “mired in the weeds” arguing about minutiae while in the midst of a crisis. Stuck in this way, they are unable to break through an impasse or develop a realistic plan forward. As the saying goes, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned.” In the broader economic sense, monopolies, cartels, price-fixing, and insider trading represent different forms of entrenchment; they are all disastrous for productivity, creativity, and healthy markets.
In the political arena, entrenchment refers to the condition in which incumbents or small, tightly controlled elite groups are able to dominate and control the political process. By cutting out other participants, eliminating dissent, and rejecting new ideas, these groups set the agenda and determine the outcomes—all in their own favor. As a result, what is lost is any sense of renewal or accountability to the citizens whom the government is presumed to serve. It is on this basis that our nation’s capital is described as a swamp, dominated by professional politicians, who have been in office a long time, and their enablers, the lobbyists who wield immense war chests of campaign funds and who trade in secrets and inside information. The entrenchment narrative has become more prevalent in recent years, as indicated by the large volume of books and articles that talk about governments behaving as oligarchies, kleptocracies, or autocracies.
The common thread in our negative image of wetlands, psychological stagnation, and societal entrenchment is this: when what is pure and fresh—whether it be water, our emotions, or our relationships with others—does not flow into each of these systems, the system ceases to thrive and grow and goes into decomposition and decay.
But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. (Ezekiel 47:11)
Friendly Beast: The donkey aids Shrek throughout the journey and is his constant companion through all the trials. As an animal, he shows that nature supports Shrek.
Fire/Red/Black: The dragon has dark red skin representing violent passion and fire, setting up the character to be perceived as cruel and monstrous. Dark colors such as black are used in her tower to develop this theme as well.
The writers started with a fun and cartoony premise, and then layered in one technique after another which makes the film resonate with adults.
Our Spiritual Condition
Emanuel Swedenborg devoted much of his writing to the idea of spiritual correspondences. In a spiritual sense, flowing water is living truth. When the flow of water stops, this truth becomes stagnant and spiritual life dies. Being stuck in the marsh spiritually means becoming confirmed in falsities.
Those who cannot be reformed because they are in the falsities of evil are signified by “the miry places and marshes that are not healed, but are given to salt.” (Apocalypse Explained §513:7)
“To be given to salt” signif[ies] not to receive spiritual life, but to remain in a life merely natural, which, separate from spiritual life, is defiled by falsities and evils, which are “miry places” and “marshes.” (Apocalypse Explained §342:7)
One common feature of a healthy spiritual life is the belief in and commitment to a truth that is higher than just the laws that govern the natural world. Out of one’s personal commitment to a transcendent realm (the infinite) or agent (God), many blessings can flow. These include a sense of purpose, feelings of joy and gratitude, and the willingness to improve the world and the lives of those around us with love. Without such an affirmative commitment, our understanding of life is by definition constrained to the finite realm of physical space and time. If we do not believe in and are not open to spiritual ideas and experiences, then we destroy our potential to receive any inflow of such ideas and experiences.
Meaning and purpose, as they relate to Creation as a whole or to our lives in particular, become limited and relative only to the physical parts of experience. Some thinkers take this to an extreme, framing meaning and purpose as mere illusions. Love becomes just a biological function. Improving the world is defined in purely materialistic terms. This is the condition referred to in Ezekiel, above, where one’s spirit has been given to salt.
A commitment to the idea that there is no spiritual life—that the natural world is all there is—is destructive to spiritual life. When we are confirmed in this falsity, any goodness that we might see, feel, or experience is sucked out of life. We are stuck in the marsh and cannot be spiritually reformed, cleansed, and healed.
There is nothing more delightful than a marshy, and also a urinous [stink] to those who have confirmed themselves in falsities, and have extinguished in themselves the affection for truth. (Apocalypse Explained §659:5)
Conclusion
By following the chain of correspondences, we can identify solutions to the various forms of stagnation. As we know from the natural world, fresh water must continue to flow in and through the marsh in order to keep it healthy and biologically productive. In addition, external pollutants must be limited to what the marsh can absorb.
Similarly, our emotional and psychological lives need to include appropriate amounts of openness, recreation, and renewal in order for us to remain healthy. We need to balance our internal preoccupations with outward companionship, aesthetic experiences, and learning opportunities; and we need to avoid the “pollutants” of excessive stimulation, addiction, obsession, and distraction.
In society, we need to foster and support institutions that are resilient, responsive, and open to new people and new ideas. This requires that we go against our natural tendencies toward complacency and complicity and that we resist the temptations of using institutions for personal gain, as all of these behaviors pollute civic life.
To grow spiritually, we need to be open to transcendent possibilities, searching for knowledge and experiences that enrich our appreciation of spiritual truth. If we close ourselves off to spiritual ideas and to the possibility of having spiritual experiences, then our spiritual life will be deprived of sustenance and will decay.
If our spiritual life is “stuck,” then where is the foundation for a healthy psychological and emotional experience? When we focus on our own inadequacies or our personal gratifications, we undermine our opportunities to learn, to share love, and to be a full participant in our community. A healthy spiritual life is the wellspring for a healthy psychological and emotional life. It also sustains the virtues essential for a vibrant and thriving civic life: the commitment to truth and the dedication to the well-being of those we are responsible for serving.
Without a healthy civic life, we will never be able to agree on the rules and the practices that will assure that clean water flows into all our different marshes, refreshing, renewing, and rejuvenating the life that exists within them.
It all ends where it begins: with the water of truth that is the source of life.
George Gantz is a writer and philosopher at Spiral Inquiry and directs the Swedenborg Center Concord (SCC), a non-denominational educational project supported by the New Church of Concord, Massachusetts, that seeks to integrate the knowledge of science with the wisdom of religion.
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Here are some of those techniques:
Edgy Comedy
What's considered funny in our culture tends to change from time to time. It might be Mork and Mindy one year, Northern Exposure further down the line, and South Park a few years later. Of course, this is an over-simplification, for there are quite a number of popular comedy styles alive at any moment.
Still, there do tend to be trends, and adults are likely to be responsive to them. One trend alive today is a somewhat gross, edgy kind of comedy.
In Shrek the grossness doesn't have a sexual component, such as in American Pie, but there is a scene where Fiona sings a morning duet with a little bird in a nest. When Fiona hits an extremely high note, the bird swells up and explodes. The camera zooms in on the two little eggs left behind, then zooms out on them, now frying away, as Fiona cooks them for Shrek and Donkey.
In another scene, Fiona makes some cotton candy for Shrek by wrapping a spider's web around a stick, and then catching flies with the mess. She and Shrek both enjoy the delicacy. In yet another scene, Fiona and Shrek feast on cooked rats together.
This is very original, hip, and edgy comedy. It appeals to (at least some) adults.
Parody Humor: Spoofing Cultural References
When you spoof cultural references, especially when you do it well, you can create a kind of humor to which adults will respond.
In Shrek, Walt Disney Pictures and Disneyland bear the brunt of some clever spoofing. It was done with enough intelligence and wit that adults would appreciate it, such as:
Seeing, near the start of the film, various Disney-like animated characters depressed (and thus the opposite of their usual normal cheery selves) as they're being hauled away.
Lord Farquaad's castle, which possesses the ominous overtones of a nightmarish Disneyland, or
The weird singing toy figures which greet Shrek and Donkey at the castle wall, which spoof the singing toy figures in Disneyland's Small, Small World ride.
Non-Cliché Characters
A cliché character is one whom we've seen before, especially a character we've seen frequently. Shrek is certainly not a cliché. His personality is marked by some of the following attributes, or as I call them, Traits.
He likes himself (evident in the bathing scene under the opening credits).
He's clever. (He scares off the townspeople by convincing them he's much meaner than he is.)
He's brave (never shirking from a fight).
He's afraid of rejection, resulting in him pushing people away before they can reject him, which results in:
He's a loner (at least in the beginning), but he longs for connection with others, even as he also fights it off.
Can you think of another film or TV character with this exact set of traits? If you have a hard time remembering one, that's exactly why Shrek isn't a cliché.
Fiona also has an interesting array of traits:
She's romantic.
She's earthy. That's what I call women who eat rats.)
She's tough. She beats up Robin Hood with a few moves borrowed from The Matrix.)
She thinks she's ugly. And, like Shrek, she fears rejection.
Once again, we have a non-cliché character. Adults respond to characters who aren't clichés.
Emotional Problems We Can Relate To
Both Shrek and Fiona, for similar reasons (feeling that they're hideous), believe that no one could love them. This fear is so great in both of them, that it drives many of their actions.
Giving a character a powerful fear, a shame, or an emotional problem that adults can relate to will also help draw an adult audience -- as will that character's arc (his or her path of emotional growth) as circumstances in the plot force them to wrestle with this issue.
The Use Of Masks
A Mask is the term I use to describe ways characters can hide their fears and vulnerability.
There are at least eight different kinds of Masks that characters can hide behind. In Fiona's case, of course, her Mask is literally a visual lie: a fake body and face, created by magic.
Shrek's Mask is an attitude—the attitude that he doesn't need or want anyone in his life. (An Attitude is one of the eight types of Masks characters can hide their fears behind.) His behavior, stemming from this attitude, is the one I touched upon earlier: to push people away before they can reject him.
This is a Mask because, by watching this attitude and corresponding behavior, you might initially think that he hates others. But it simply covers up his fear that they would find him loathsome.
Using one of the eight types of Masks to create more complex characters is another technique that gives the film adult appeal.
Parallel Plot-Lines
There are about 100 techniques I'm aware of to give a feeling of emotional depth to a plot. I call these Plot Deepening Techniques.
(By the way, there are also Dialogue Deepening Techniques, Character Deepening Techniques [like the eight types of Masks], and Scene Deepening Techniques.)
The whole area of techniques which inject emotional and psychological depth into one's writing is vast, but we see one such Plot Deepening Technique used here, and that's parallel plot-lines.
There is the parallel of both Shrek and Fiona feeling too hideous to be lovable, but there's a third one too. The dragon, who falls in love with Donkey, uses such behaviors as shish-kabobbing people as a form of stopping them from getting too close.
Her efforts to frighten people off are very similar to the way Shrek handles the same fear.
As a general rule of thumb, Deepening Techniques work best when no more than 25% of the audience consciously notices them. Usually, to maximize their emotional effectiveness, you want them to operate a little bit outside the level of awareness of those watching the film.
All Plot Deepening Techniques contribute to making a film resonate more strongly with adults. The writers of Shrek employ many other techniques besides the one mentioned here, but my limited space here doesn't permit me to list them all.
Set-Ups And Payoffs
Sometimes a writer will introduce an object, and action, an image, or a phrase spoken by a character—the set-up—and then revisit it one or more times later in the script, usually in interesting ways (the payoff or payoffs).
It makes for sophisticated writing, which in turn makes the script appeal to adults.
Shrek utilizes many set-ups and payoffs. Here's one: When we first meet Shrek, he's in his outhouse. We learn his outhouse, like the rest of his swamp, is a place where he can be alone in total self-contentment. It's a symbol of his privacy, but here his desire for privacy is seen in a good light: as a reflection of his self-satisfaction.
Later in the film, when Shrek has experienced his worst nightmare—rejection by Fiona—and when he in turn has pushed Donkey away, he retreats into an outhouse. Now this symbol of solitude represents all his fears of getting close to others, and of literally shutting them out.
So, the outhouse is set up in the beginning, and then revisited later in an interesting payoff.
Don't worry if you didn't catch this when you saw the film, for, like Deepening techniques, set-ups and payoffs, in general, create their greatest emotional impact if they operate a little outside the conscious awareness of most people in the audience.
Summary:
The bottom line is that it's no accident that Shrek appealed as much to adults as it did to kids. The writers took a fun and amusing story which any kid would enjoy, and then artfully wove into the script a number of techniques not found in normal kids' fare.
The writing in this script is extremely tight. For me, tight means that most scenes accomplish several functions simultaneously: moving the story forward, drawing us into the characters, making us laugh or sad or both simultaneously, setting up elements which will be revisited later on, and always entertaining us with highly original lines and scenes.
If you want to reach both kids and adults and thus capture a wide demographic for your film, it wouldn't hurt to master the techniques these writers employed so artfully.
The stories below are flood stories from the world's folklore. I have included stories here if they are stories; they are folklore, not historical accounts or fiction by a known author; and they involve a flood. In most borderline cases, I included the story here anyway. For example, one story (Hopi) tells of a flood which was avoided and never occurred. The stories are summarized both to save space and to avoid copyright infringements, but I have attempted to preserve all the motifs and all the names that were given in the cited account. However, where the story gives intricate account of events before and/or after the flood (such as in the Zhuang story of Bubo vs. the Thunder God), some of the details peripheral to the flood itself may have been summarized out of existence. In a few cases, two or more overlapping and non-contradictory fragments from the same culture were combined into one summary. Complete references are given at the end; consult them for more details. Within each continent or region, stories are grouped by language family. See Language Grouping for Flood Stories for elaboration of the language groups which, as best I can determine, the stories belong to.
Zeus sent a flood to destroy the men of the Bronze Age. Prometheus advised his son Deucalion to build a chest. All other men perished except for a few who escaped to high mountains. The mountains in Thessaly were parted, and all the world beyond the Isthmus and Peloponnese was overwhelmed. Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha (daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora), after floating in the chest for nine days and nights, landed on Parnassus. When the rains ceased, he sacrificed to Zeus, the God of Escape. At the bidding of Zeus, he threw stones over his head; they became men, and the stones which Pyrrha threw became women. That is why people are called laoi, from laas, "a stone." [Apollodorus, 1.7.2]
The first race of people was completely destroyed because they were exceedingly wicked. The fountains of the deep opened, the rain fell in torrents, and the rivers and seas rose to cover the earth, killing all of them. Deucalion survived due to his prudence and piety and linked the first and second race of men. Onto a great ark he loaded his wives and children and all animals. The animals came to him, and by God's help, remained friendly for the duration of the flood. The flood waters escaped down a chasm opened in Hierapolis. [Frazer, pp. 153-154] An older version of the story told by Hellanicus has Deucalion's ark landing on Mount Othrys in Thessaly. Another account has him landing on a peak, probably Phouka, in Argolis, later called Nemea. [Gaster, p. 85] The Megarians told that Megarus, son of Zeus, escaped Deucalion's flood by swimming to the top of Mount Gerania, guided by the cries of cranes. [Gaster, p. 85-86] An earlier flood was reported to have occurred in the time of Ogyges, founder and king of Thebes. The flood covered the whole world and was so devastating that the country remained without kings until the reign of Cecrops. [Gaster, p. 87] Nannacus, king of Phrygia, lived before the time of Deucalion and foresaw that he and all people would perish in a coming flood. He and the Phrygians lamented bitterly, hence the old proverb about "weeping like (or for) Nannacus." After the deluge had destroyed all humanity, Zeus commanded Prometheus and Athena to fashion mud images, and Zeus summoned winds to breathe life into them. The place where they were made is called Iconium after these images. [Frazer, p. 155] "Many great deluges have taken place during the nine thousand years" since Athens and Atlantis were preeminent. Destruction by fire and other catastrophes was also common. In these floods, water rose from below, destroying city dwellers but not mountain people. The floods, especially the third great flood before Deucalion, washed away most of Athens' fertile soil. [Plato, "Timaeus" 22, "Critias"
The gods had decided to destroy mankind. The god Enlil warned the priest-king Ziusudra ("Long of Life") of the coming flood by speaking to a wall while Ziusudra listened at the side. He was instructed to build a great ship and carry beasts and birds upon it. Violent winds came, and a flood of rain covered the earth for seven days and nights. Then Ziusudra opened a window in the large boat, allowing sunlight to enter, and he prostrated himself before the sun-god Utu. After landing, he sacrificed a sheep and an ox and bowed before Anu and Enlil. For protecting the animals and the seed of mankind, he was granted eternal life and taken to the country of Dilmun, where the sun rises. [Hammerly-Dupuy, p. 56; Heidel, pp. 102-106]
Three times (every 1200 years), the gods were distressed by the disturbance from human overpopulation. The gods dealt with the problem first by plague, then by famine. Both times, the god Enki advised men to bribe the god causing the problem. The third time, Enlil advised the gods to destroy all humans with a flood, but Enki had Atrahasis build an ark and so escape. Also on the boat were cattle, wild animals and birds, and Atrahasis' family. When the storm came, Atrahasis sealed the door with bitumen and cut the boat's rope. The storm god Adad raged, turning the day black. After the seven-day flood, the gods regretted their action. Atrahasis made an offering to them, at which the gods gathered like flies, and Enki established barren women and stillbirth to avoid the problem in the future. [Dalley, pp. 23-35]
The gods, led by Enlil, agreed to cleanse the earth of an overpopulated humanity, but Utnapishtim was warned by the god Ea in a dream. He and some craftsmen built a large boat (one acre in area, seven decks) in a week. He then loaded it with his family, the craftsmen, and "the seed of all living creatures." The waters of the abyss rose up, and it stormed for six days. Even the gods were frightened by the flood's fury. Upon seeing all the people killed, the gods repented and wept. The waters covered everything but the top of the mountain Nisur, where the boat landed. Seven days later, Utnapishtim released a dove, but it returned finding nowhere else to land. He next returned a sparrow, which also returned, and then a raven, which did not return. Thus he knew the waters had receded enough for the people to emerge. Utnapishtim made a sacrifice to the gods. He and his wife were given immortality and lived at the end of the earth. [Sandars, chpt. 5] Sharur destroyed Asag, demon of sickness and disease, by flooding his abode. In the process, "The primeval waters of Kur rose to the surface, and as a result of their violence no fresh waters could reach the fields and gardens." [Kramer, p. 105]
The god Chronos in a vision warned Xisuthrus, the tenth king of Babylon, of a flood coming on the fifteenth day of the month of Daesius. The god ordered him to write a history and bury it in Sippara, and told him to build and provision a vessel (5 stadia by 2 stadia) for himself, his friends and relations, and all kinds of animals. Xisuthrus asked where he should sail, and Chronos answered, "to the gods, but first pray for all good things to men." Xisuthrus built a ship five furlongs by two furlongs and loaded it as ordered. After the flood had come and abated somewhat, he sent out some birds, which returned. Later, he tried again, and the birds returned with mud on their feet. On the third trial, the birds didn't return. He saw that land had appeared above the waters, so he parted some seams of his ship, saw the shore, and drove his ship aground in the Corcyraean mountains in Armenia. He disembarked with his wife, daughter, and pilot, and offered sacrifices to the gods. Those four were translated to live with the gods. The others at first were grieved when they could not find the four, but they heard Xisuthrus' voice in the air telling them to be pious and to seek his writings at Sippara. Part of the ship remains to this day, and some people make charms from its bitumen. [Frazer, pp. 108-110; G. Smith, pp. 42-43] According to accounts attributed to Berosus, the antediluvians were giants who became impious and depraved, except one among them that reverenced the gods and was wise and prudent. His name was Noa, and he dwelt in Syria with his three sons Sem, Japet, Chem, and their wives Tidea, Pandora, Noela, and Noegla. From the stars, he foresaw destruction, and he began building an ark. 78 years after he began building, the oceans, inland seas, and rivers burst forth from beneath, attended by many days of violent rain. The waters overflowed all the mountains, and the human race was drowned except Noa and his family who survived on his ship. The ship came to rest at last on the top of the Gendyae or Mountain. Parts of it still remain, which men take bitumen from to make charms against evil. [H. Miller, pp. 291-292]
God, upset at mankind's wickedness, resolved to destroy it, but Noah was righteous and found favor with Him. God told Noah to build an ark, 450 x 75 x 45 feet, with three decks. Noah did so, and took aboard his family (8 people in all) and pairs of all kinds of animals (7 of the clean ones). For 40 days and nights, floodwaters came from the heavens and from the deeps, until the highest mountains were covered. The waters flooded the earth for 150 days; then God sent a wind and the waters receded, and the ark came to rest in Ararat. After 40 days, Noah sent out a raven, which kept flying until the waters had dried up. He next sent out a dove, which returned without finding a perch. A week later he set out the dove again, and it returned with an olive leaf. The next week, the dove didn't return. After a year and 10 days from the start of the flood, everyone and everything emerged from the ark. Noah sacrificed some clean animals and birds to God, and God, pleased with this, promised never again to destroy all living creatures with a flood, giving the rainbow as a sign of this covenant. Animals became wild and became suitable food, and Noah and his family were told to repopulate the earth. Noah planted a vineyard and one day got drunk. His son Ham saw him lying naked in his tent and told his brothers Shem and Japheth, who came and covered Noah with their faces turned. When Noah awoke, he cursed Ham and his descendants and blessed his other sons. [Genesis 6-9]
Men lived at ease before the flood; a single harvest provided for forty years, children were born after only a few days instead of nine months and could walk and talk immediately, and people could command the sun and moon. This indolence led men astray, especially to the sins of wantonness and rapacity. God determined to destroy the sinners, but in mercy he instructed Noah to warn them of the threat of a flood and to preach to them to mend their ways. Noah did this for 120 years. God gave mankind a final week of grace during which the sun reversed course, but the wicked men did not repent; they only mocked Noah for building the ark. Noah learned how to make the ark from a book, given to Adam by the angel Raziel, which contained all knowledge. This book was made of sapphires, and Noah put it in a golden casket and, during the flood, used it to tell day from night, for the sun and moon did not shine at that time. The flood was caused by male waters from the sky meeting the female waters from the ground. God made holes in the sky for the waters to issue from by removing two stars from the Pleiades. He later closed the hole by borrowing two stars from the Bear. That is why the Bear always runs after the Pleiades. The animals came to the ark in such numbers that Noah could not take them all; he had them sit by the door of the ark, and he took in the animals which lay down at the door. 365 species of reptiles and 32 species of bird were taken. Since seven pairs of each kind of clean animal were taken, the clean animals outnumbered the unclean after the flood. One creatures, the reem was so big it had to be tethered outside the ark and follow behind. The giant Og, king of Bashan, was also too big and escaped the flood sitting atop the ark. In addition to Noah, his wife Naamah, and their sons and sons' wives, Falsehood and Misfortune also took refuge on the ark. Falsehood was initially turned away when he presented himself without a mate, so he induced Misfortune to join him and returned. When the flood began, the sinners gathered around it and rushed the door, but the wild beasts aboard the ark guarded the door and set upon them. Those which escaped the beasts drowned in the flood. The ark, and the animals in it, were tossed around on the waters for a year, but Noah's greatest difficulty was feeding all the animals, for he had to work day and night to feed both the diurnal and nocturnal animals. When Noah once tarried in feeding the lion, the lion gave him a blow which made him lame for the rest of his life and prevented him from serving as a priest. On the tenth day of the month of Tammuz, Noah sent forth a raven, but the raven found a corpse to devour and did not return. A week later Noah sent out a dove, and on its third flight it returned with an olive leaf plucked from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, for the Holy Land had not suffered from the flood. Noah wept at the devastation when he left the ark, and Shem offered a thank-offering; Noah could not officiate due to his encounter with the lion. [Ginzberg, pp. 319-335; see also Frazer, pp. 143-145] Aprocryphal scripture tells that Adam directed that his body, together with gold, incense, and myrrh, should be taken aboard the Ark and, after the flood, should be laid in the middle of the earth. God would come from thence and save mankind. [Platt, p. 66, 80 (2 Adam 8:9-18, 21:7-11)] A woman "clothed with the sun" gave birth to a man child who was taken up by God. The woman then lived in the wilderness, where the Devil-dragon, cast down to earth, persecuted her. At one time he cast a flood of water from his mouth trying to wash her away, but the earth helped the woman and swallowed the flood. [Revelation 12]
Yima, under divine superintendence, reigned over the world for 900 years. As there was no disease or death, the population increased so that it was necessary to enlarge the earth after 300 years; Yima accomplished this with the help of a gold ring and gold-inlaid dagger he had received from Ahura Mazda, the Creator. Enlargement of the earth was necessary again after 600 years. When the population became too great after 900 years, Ahura Mazda warned Yima that destruction was coming in the form of winter, frost, and subsequent melting of the snow. He instructed Yima to build a vara, a large square enclosure, in which to keep specimens of small and large cattle, human beings, dogs, birds, red flaming fires, plants and foodstuffs, two of every kind. The men and cattle he brought in were to be the finest on earth. Within the enclosure, men passed the happiest of lives, with each year seeming like a day. [Frazer, pp. 180-182; Dresden, p. 344]
In early times, the earth was full of malign creatures fashioned by the evil Ahriman. The angel Tistar (the star Sirius) descended three times, in the form of man, horse, and bull respectively, causing ten days and nights of rain each time. Each rain drop became as big as a bowl, and the water rose the height of a man over the whole earth. The first flood drowned the creatures, but the dead noxious creatures went into holes in the earth. Before returning to cause the second flood, Tistar, in the form of a white horse, battled the demon Apaosha, who took the form of a black horse. Ormuzd blasted the demon with lightning, making the demon give a cry which can still be heard in thunderstorms, and Tistar prevailed and caused rivers to flow. The poison washed from the land by the second flood made the seas salty. The waters were driven to the ends of the earth by a great wind and became the sea Vourukasha ("Wide-Gulfed"). [Carnoy, p. 270; Vitaliano, pp. 161-162; H. Miller, p. 288]
Allah sent Noah to warn the people to serve none but Allah, but most of them would not listen. They challenged Noah to make good his threats and mocked him when, under Allah's inspiration, he built a ship. Allah told Noah not to speak to Him on behalf of wrongdoers; they would be drowned. In time, water gushed from underground and fell from the sky. Noah loaded onto his ship pairs of all kinds, his household, and those few who believed. One of Noah's sons didn't believe and said he would seek safety in the mountains. He was among the drowned. The ship sailed amid great waves. Allah commanded the earth to swallow the water and the sky to clear, and the ship came to rest on Al-Judi. Noah complained to Allah for taking his son. Allah admonished that the son was an evildoer and not of Noah's household, and Noah prayed for forgiveness. Allah told Noah to go with blessings on him and on some nations that will arise from those with him. [Koran 11:25-48]
Manu, the first human, found a small fish in his washwater. The fish begged protection from the larger fishes, in return for which it would save Manu. Manu kept the fish safe, transferring it to larger and larger reservoirs as it grew, eventually taking it to the ocean. The fish warned Manu of a coming deluge and told him to build a ship. When the flood rose, the fish came, and Manu tied the craft to its horn. The fish led him to a northern mountain and told Manu to tie the ship's rope to a tree to prevent it from drifting. Manu, alone of all creatures, survived. He made offerings of clarified butter, sour milk, whey, and curds. From these, a woman arose, calling herself Manu's daughter. Whatever blessings he invoked through her were granted him. Through her, he generated this race. [Gaster, pp. 94-95; Kelsen, p. 128; Brinton, pp. 227-228]
The great sage Manu, son of Vivasvat, practiced austere fervor. He stood on one leg with upraised arm, looking down unblinkingly, for 10,000 years. While so engaged on the banks of the Chirini, a fish came to him and asked to be saved from larger fish. Manu took the fish to a jar and, as the fish grew, from thence to a large pond, then to the river Ganga, then to the ocean. Though large, the fish was pleasant and easy to carry. Upon being released into the ocean, the fish told Manu that soon all terrestrial objects would be dissolved in the time of the purification. It told him to build a strong ship with a cable attached and to embark with the seven sages (rishis) and certain seeds, and to then watch for the fish, since the waters could not be crossed without it. Manu embarked as enjoined and thought on the fish. The fish, knowing his desire, came, and Manu fastened the ship's cable to its horn. The fish dragged the ship through roiling waters for many years, at last bringing it to the highest peak of Himavat, which is still known as Naubandhana ("the Binding of the Ship"). The fish then revealed itself as Parjapati Brahma and said Manu shall create all living things and all things moving and fixed. Manu performed a great act of austere fervor to clear his uncertainty and then began calling things into existence. [Frazer, pp. 185-187]
The heroic king Manu, son of the Sun, practiced austere fervor in Malaya and attained transcendent union with the Deity. After a million years, Brahma bestowed on Manu a boon and asked him to choose it. Manu asked for the power to preserve all existing things upon the dissolution of the universe. Later, while offering oblations in his hermitage, a carp fell in his hands, which Manu preserved. The fish grew and cried to Manu to preserve it, and Manu moved it to progressively larger vessels, eventually moving it to the river Ganga and then to the ocean. When it filled the ocean, Manu recognized it as the god Janardana, or Brahma. It told Manu that the end of the yuga was approaching, and soon all would be covered with water. He was to preserve all creatures and plants aboard a ship which had been prepared. It said that a hundred years of drought and famine would begin this day, which would be followed by fires from the sun and from underground that would consume the earth and the ether, destroying this world, the gods, and the planets. Seven clouds from the steam of the fire will inundate the earth, and the three worlds will be reduced to one ocean. Manu's ship alone will remain, fastened by a rope to the great fish's horn. Having announced all this, the great being vanished. The deluge occurred as stated; Janardana appeared in the form of a horned fish, and the serpent Ananta came in the form of a rope. Manu, by contemplation, drew all creatures towards him and stowed them in the ship and, after making obeisance to Janardana, attached the ship to the fish's horn with the serpent-rope. [Frazer, pp. 188-190] At the end of the past kalpa, the demon Hayagriva stole the sacred books from Brahma, and the whole human race became corrupt except the seven Nishis, and especially Satyavrata, the prince of a maritime region. One day when he was bathing in a river, he was visited by a fish which craved protection and which he transferred to successively larger vessels as it grew. At last Satyavrata recognized it as the god Vishnu, "The Lord of the Universe." Vishnu told him that in seven days all the corrupt creatures will be destroyed by a deluge, but Satyavrata would be saved in a large vessel. He was told to take aboard the miraculous vessel all kinds of medicinal herbs, food esculant grains, the seven Nishis and their wives, and pairs of brute animals. After seven days, the oceans began to overflow the coasts and constant rain began flooding the earth. A large vessel floated in on the rising waters, and Satyavrata and the Nishis entered with their wives and cargo. During the deluge, Vishnu preserved the ark by again taking the form of a giant fish and tying the ark to himself with a huge sea serpent. When the waters subsided, he slew the demon who had stolen the holy books and communicated their contents to Satyavrata. [H. Miller, pp. 289-290; Howey, pp. 389-390; Frazer, pp. 191-193] One windy day, the sea flooded the port city of Dwaravati. All its occupants perished except Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, and his brother Balarama, who were walking in the forests of Raivataka Hill. Krishna left his brother alone. Sesha, the serpent who supports the world, withdrew his energy from Balarama; in a jet of light, Balarama's spirit entered the sea, and his body fell over. Krishna decided that tomorrow he would destroy the world for all its evils, and he went to sleep. Jara the hunter passed by, mistook Krishna's foot for the face of a stag, and shot it. The wound to Krishna's foot was slight, but Jara found Krishna dead. He had saffron robes, four arms, and a jewel on his breast. The waters still rose and soon lapped at Jara's feet. Jara felt ashamed but helpless; he left deciding never to speak of the incident. [Buck, pp. 408-409]
The Supreme Sovereign ordered the water god Gong Gong to create a flood as punishment and warning for human misbehavior. Gong Gong extended the flood for 22 years, and people had to live in high mountain caves and in trees, fighting with wild animals for scarce resources. Unable to persuade the Supreme Sovereign to stop the flood, and told by an owl and a turkey about _Xirang_ or Growing Soil, the supernatural hero Gun stole Growing Soil from heaven to dam the waters. Before Gun was finished, however, the Supreme Sovereign sent the fire god Zhu Rong to execute him for his theft. The Growing Soil was taken back to heaven, and the floods continued. However, Gun's body didn't decay, and when it was cut apart three years later, his son Yu emerged in the form of a horned dragon. Gun's body also transformed into a dragon at that time and thenceforth lived quietly in the deeps. The Supreme Sovereign was fearful of Yu's power, so he cooperated and gave Yu the Growing Soil and the use of the dragon Ying. Yu led other gods to drive away Gong Gong, distributed the Growing Soil to remove most of the flood, and led the people to fashion rivers from Ying's tracks and thus channel the remaining floodwaters to the sea. [Walls, pp. 94-100] The goddess Nu Kua fought and defeated the chief of a neighboring tribe, driving him up a mountain. The chief, chagrined at being defeated by a woman, beat his head against the Heavenly Bamboo with the aim of wreaking vengeance on his enemies and killing himself. He knocked it down, tearing a hole in the sky. Floods poured out, inundating the world and killing everyone but Nu Kua and her army; her divinity made her and her followers safe from it. Nu Kua patched the hole with a plaster made from stones of five different colors, and the floods ceased. [Werner, p. 225; Vitaliano, p. 163]
Name: Thomas Melia
Arrested for: not given
Arrested at: North Shields Police Station
Arrested on: 15 December 1905
Tyne and Wear Archives ref: DX1388-1-81-Thomas Melia
The Shields Daily News for 18 December 1905 reports:
“THEFT FROM THE PERSON AT NORTH SHIELDS.
At North Shields Police Court today, Thomas Melia (29), Causey Bank and John Casey (44), Clive Street, were charged with being concerned together in stealing 8s from a Norwegian seaman named Elens Sjursen on the 13th inst. Prosecutor stated that on the 12th inst. he was paid off from the SS Kingscote at Middlesbro’. He came to North Shields the same day, and on the following day, between 11 and 12pm he was in Clive Street, a little the worse for drink, and he met the two prisoners and asked them where a woman named Hunter lived. They said they would show him and they took him to a house and as he was about to go in Casey struck him in the face, blackening his right eye, and Melia got him by the neck and took his money out of his pocket after which they made off.
Further evidence having been given by two women, who witnessed the assault and robbery, and Detective Sergt. Scougal, who arrested them, the accused were formally charged and pleaded not guilty. Previous convictions were put in against both prisoners and the magistrates sent them to prison for a month”.
As this report indicates it certainly wasn’t Melia’s first brush with the law. The Shields Daily News for 6 February 1905 reports:
“AN UNMITIGATED SHAMELESS BLACKGUARD. EXEMPLARY PUNISHMENT.
At North Shields Police Court today, Thomas Melia (29), Causey Bank, was charged with living upon the proceeds of the prostitution of Bridget Lamb, between Oct 1st and Jan 31st. Evidence having been given, the Chairman (Mr T. Young) said the accused was the most unmitigated, shameless blackguard that had ever been brought before them and he would have to go to prison for 3 months with hard labour”.
These images are a selection from an album of photographs of prisoners brought before the North Shields Police Court between 1902 and 1916 in the collection of Tyne & Wear Archives (TWA ref DX1388/1).
(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.
The Marrabel Roman Catholic Church was built on land given by one of Marrabel’s first settlers, Mr Garrett Hannan.
There was already a temporary pine and pug Chapel. Tenders were called for in February 1867: by July the foundation stone was laid, and the church opened on 5 July 1868. Wright, Woods & Hamilton were the architects.
*The Very Rev John Smyth, VG, assisted by the Rev Joseph Tappeiner and the pastor of the district, laid on Sunday, 7th instant, the foundation stone of a Catholic Church, under the title of St Agnes the Martyr. Though the constant and heavy rains during the week had rendered the roads in many places almost impassable, and the day itself was unsettled and showery, yet no fewer than about 400 persons came to see laid the first stone of their church.
At 10 o'clock am the Rev Joseph Tappeiner celebrated mass, after which the priests and laity walked in procession from the small and unsightly building hitherto used as a chapel to the site of the new church.
The Vicar-General having laid the foundation stone, according to the Roman Ritual, preached an excellent sermon
The handsome sum of £84 14s 10d was then laid upon the stone. The building will be Gothic: the nave will measure 60 by 25 feet, besides chancel, sacristies, and porch. The plinth, quoins, and buttresses will be cut stone; and as the site is elevated, with a background of fine old gumtrees, the building will greatly contribute to the beauty of the young and rising township of Marrabel. [Ref: Express and Telegraph 11-7-1867]
Catholic Church, Marrabel,—
*The Very Rev John Smyth VG, assisted by the Rev Messrs Polk and Huger SJ, solemnly blessed and opened the Church of St Agnes, at Marrabel on Sunday, the 5th instant.
The very rev gentlemen preached an eloquent sermon on the occasion, and the handsome sum of £170 was received towards the liquidation of the debt, which is only a little over £400. When it is borne in mind that the building cost £1,000 independently of the stones, which were given and carted free of charge, the liberality of the congregation and friends will be more clearly understood. [Ref: Adelaide Observer from the Kapunda Herald 18-7-1868]
*The Rev Chas Van der Heyden – We are requested to inform our readers that this gentleman has removed from Riverton, and is now living in the new presbytery at Marrabel, recently erected by the Catholics of the district. [Ref: Irish Harp and Farmers’ Herald 12-3-1870]
*S. Agnes, Marrabel — A bazaar in aid of the church and new presbytery at Marrabel was held in S. Joseph's schoolroom on Wednesday, the 15th instant and following days. There was a large, effective and artistic display of useful and ornamental articles…praise is due to the ladies of the community for their enthusiastic zeal and persevering endeavours to make the Bazaar a success. [Ref: Irish Harp and Farmers’ Herald 25-3-1871]
*Presentations to Rev Michael Kennedy of Marrabel.
On Friday evening, April 30, many of the parishioners of the Mission of Marrabel met at Tothill's Creek to present an address and a purse of sovereigns to the Rev Michael Kennedy, in acknowledgment of the many services which had been done them by the rev gentleman during his long sojourn among them.
The residents of the parish of Marrabel, thought it our duty to assemble here this evening for the purpose of tendering our thanks for the able and cheerful manner in which you have for the last five years forwarded our interests … especially for the great efforts which you made to liquidate the debt which had been incurred some years ago for the purpose of building our church and parochial residence at Marrabel.
Independent of the outlay of £120 on the interior of the church, and some smaller sums spent in various other improvements, he had collected towards the debt on the church and presbytery £631 in the space of five years. [Ref: South Australian Advertiser 17-5-1877]
*The annual picnic in connection the with St Agnes Church, Marrabel, was held on Easter Monday. There was good attendance, notwithstanding that the weather was cold and wet.
In the evening the Rev W O’Dowling delivered an interesting lecture on the life of Dan O’Connell. The lecture was followed by a ball, which wound up a very enjoyable day. [Ref: Kapunda Herald 20-4-1900]
*The tender of Mr S H Roberts, of Saddleworth, has been accepted for building a sanctuary and vestry at St Agnes Church, Marrabel.
The price of the tender was £563. [Ref: Kapunda Herald 18-9-1914]
*Mr O Colmer of Riverton has obtained the contract for extensive repairs to the Catholic Church at Marrabel, including the putting in of a new ceiling. It is anticipated that he will start during this week. [Ref: Kapunda Herald 7-8-1936]
Given by my grandfather to my grandmother for her ruby wedding anniversary
Lighting information: one Olympus FL-600R camera right, diffused by Polaroid mini-diffuser. One Olympus FL-300R camera left, undiffused. Both triggered optically by Olympus FL-LM2, on camera, also contributing to the exposure.
See here for an illustration of the lighting setup: flic.kr/p/2n4Thjp
Name: Dora A Sanderson
Arrested for: not given
Arrested at: North Shields Police Station
Arrested on: 25 January 1906
Tyne and Wear Archives ref: DX1388-1-39-Dora A Sanderson
The Shields Daily News for 23 January 1906 reports:
"CHARGE AGAINST A DOMESTIC.
Dora Agnes Sanderson (16), domestic servant, 19 Second Avenue, Heaton was charged with having stolen from Chirton Hill Top Farm, a lady's gold watch, 2 gold earrings, 2 gold brooches, 2 gold bracelets and other articles, the property of Robt. Wardhaugh. On application of the Chief Constable the accused was remanded for 8 days to enable the police to recover the missing property. Chief Constable Huish told the magistrates that the accused swallowed some embrocation yesterday and the stomach pump had to be used".
The Shields Daily News for 30 January 1906 reports:
"THEFT BY A DOMESTIC AT NORTH SHIELDS
At North Shields Police Court to-day, Dora A. Sanderson (16), domestic servant, Heaton, was charged with having stolen on the 22nd inst., from Chirton Hill Top Farm, several article of jewellery, a blouse, and a cloth bag, valued at £12, the property of Robert Wardhaugh.
Prosecutor said that on the date in question he missed a watch, earrings and a brooch from his overcoat pocket. He searched the house and also missed two gold bangles, another brooch, a blouse and a cloth bag. He examined the prisoner's box and found the blouse, cloth bag and one of the brooches and gave information to the police.
William Green, labourer, 7 Meeting House Lane, Duke Street, said that on the 21st inst., he was coming from Backworth. In walking down Balkwell Lane, which is close to the farm, his feet came in contact with a parcel, which contained the articles of jewellery produced - a watch, two gold bangles and a brooch. PC Abernethy proved the arrest.
Prisoner pleaded guilty to stealing one brooch, a blouse and cloth bag but denied all knowledge of the other articles. The charge was amended , the accused being indicted for stealing one of the brooches, the blouse and the cloth bag only, these being valued at 21s 6d. The father of the girl came forward and handed to the magistrates credentials which his daughter had received from previous employers. They shewed that the accused bore an excellent character. The magistrates bound the father over in £5 to bring his daughter up to receive judgement if called upon within twelve months".
These images are a selection from an album of photographs of prisoners brought before the North Shields Police Court between 1902 and 1916 in the collection of Tyne & Wear Archives (TWA ref DX1388/1).
This set contains mugshots of boys and girls under the age of 21. This reflects the fact that until 1970 that was the legal age of majority in the UK.
(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.
2011 Ford Crown Victoria PCF with the California Highway Patrol. I was given the chance to photograph it somewhere that was not in a station parking lot or next to a brick wall, rather out in its natural habitat! Most of us know that this car was retired in recent months from CHP Contra Costa (320). All of these photos are located in Brentwood, CA making for beautiful scenery! It racked up quite a bit of miles, I believe it was around 188k which is not much compared to some of its sisters. The officer loved it to death, and never wanted to get rid of it but time goes on. Never forget the polar bear!
NSW TrainLink's North-West Xplorer, NP24, is being given a priority run around a crowd of queued up coal trains as it takes the down main in the up direction to travel between Singleton and Maitland. All other traffic was stopped for some time to allow the passenger trains to pass through without incurring delay. Most of the Main North Double Line (or more) between Maitland and Muswellbrook has Bi-Directional signalling.
2018-08-03 NSW TrainLink EC2528 Belford NP24