The Thirty-Seventh Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from March 27 to March 30, 2017.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

Carved from white Italian Carrara marble, the "Maiden with a Lute" sits picturesquely amid a well established tree Rhododendron. There is no indication as to which studio or artist carved her, but she is very elegant and beautiful in an almost melancholic way. She has obviously paused to gain some inspiration before taking up the lute to play again. How could she not find inspiration amid the beautiful Forest Glade Gardens in Mount Macedon where she resides?

 

The Forest Glade Gardens are well established European inspired landscaped gardens of six hectares that are to be found on the Mount Macedon Road in the hill station town of Mount Macedon.

 

The Forest Glade Gardens are just shy of one hundred years old. The gardens were originally two adjoining properties that comprised orchards and lush grazing paddocks. In 1941 local family the Newtons purchased and extended the property and set about creating one of Mount Macedon's most stunning gardens.

 

In 1971 the Forest Glade Gardens were acquired by Melbourne property developer Mr. Cyril Stokes who together with his partner Trevor Neil Bell, developed the gardens even further. Cyril was a great collector of European antiques, and his love of European antiquity is reflected in the gardens, particularly in the many classical marble and bronze statues dotted about the grounds.

 

Unfortunately the Forest Glade Gardens were partly destroyed by the tragic Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983. However, after many years of hard labour put in by Cyril and Trevor, The Forest Glade Gardens were reborn from the ashes. The gardens are built on a sloping block and consist of a range of terraces all of which offer wonderful vistas. A garden designed to give pleasure all year round, the Forest Glad Gardens contain several heritage listed trees and are made up of smaller themed gardens including; the Italian Garden, the Japanese Garden, the Daffodil Meadow, the Peony Walk, Hydrangea Hill, the Topiary Gardens, the Bluebell Meadow, the Fern Gully and the Laburnum Arch.

 

In 2011 the property was gifted to a registered charity - The Stokes Collection Limited - with the intention of keeping the Forest Glade Gardens maintained and open to the public.

 

I spent a delightful Saturday with the Famous Flickr Five+ Group in Mount Macedon, where I have never been before. Now I have, I would very much like to go back to such a picturesque place again.

 

The Mount Macedon township is located east of the Mount Macedon summit, which is approximately 60 km north-west of Melbourne.

 

The name of Mount Macedon is apparently derived from Philip II, who ruled Macedon between 359 and 336BC. The mountain was named by Thomas Mitchell, the New South Wales Surveyor General.

 

Settled in the 1850s by gold miners and timber cutters, the railway arrived at the Mount Macedon township in 1861, providing a vital connection to Melbourne, and sealing the town's future as a 'hill station' resort for wealthy Melburnians escaping the summer heat in the 1870s. With the land deforested, large blocks were sold and beautiful and extensive gardens were planted around the newly built homes. The rich soil and good rainfall also made the area suitable for large orchards and plant nurseries who could send fruit and flowers back to Melbourne. Newspaper owner, David Syme, built a house, "Rosenheim" in 1869. It was acquired in 1886 for Victorian Governors to use as a country retreat, making Mount Macedon an attractive destination for the well heeled of Melbourne society. A primary school was built in Mount Macedon in 1874, and as the decades progressed, hotels, guest houses, shops, a Presbyterian Church and Church of England were built. In 1983, Mount Macedon was devastated by the Ash Wednesday Bush Fires. A large portion of the town was raised, and a number of lives were lost. However, like a phoenix from the ashes, Mount Macedon has risen and rebuilt. Today it is still a popular holiday destination, particularly during spring time when the well established gardens flourish with flowers and in autumn when the exotic trees explode in a riot of reds and yellows.

I'm sure once I get out the silicone and staple gun Godzilla's mate will be recovering from her knee surgery as well as I am. And she won't have a football size wrapping!

We spent today at Garvestone again, and by the end of the day, the location case for the new level crossing ground frame was around 95% completed. Here is the view from the rear of all of the kit.

 

The top row of miniature plug in relays are 50V circuits: track circuit relays; track repeating relays (which provide more contacts than the two in a track relay); slot relay which provides control on the up gate home from Thuxton; power off relay; and the two on the right with many wires in, are twin relays which provide the directional control, indication and annunciator feeds. At the very right hand end is a polarised relay that proves the distant signal's arm and slot off.

 

On the second row is the 110V/50V transformer/rectifier, a post office relay that drives the 'train approaching annunciator' timing and then the 50V fuses and busbar.

 

The shelf contains 12V shelf relays which are the circuits controlling the ground frame gate lock release, colour light red light signal proving and power off relays. These relays and the various signal and gate lamps are 12V so that they are battery backed, which will maintain functionality for 48 hours in the event of a power supply failure in the DNO supply.

 

Finally at the bottom are the 12V and 110V fuses and busbars, with the 240V/110V transformer and 110V/12V battery charger.

 

We just have the 12V charger to wire up and a few other minor bits to add before it is complete. We can then buzz test it all to independently prove that all of the wires run between the intended contacts and wire count each of the terminals & contacts. This will prove the installation, enabling us to add fuses and begin function and principles testing once the outside world is connected into it.

There are a couple of live circuits already, in the form of AA Track Relay and the indication back to Thuxton signalbox, and the loc heater which keeps the condensation at bay.

 

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard that was published by George Harris of Saffron Walden. His name is embossed on the bottom right corner of the card.

 

The two women are wearing the same style of jacket and identical pairs of shoes, so they are perhaps sisters.

 

There are no indications as to the identity of the women or the date of the photograph, although someone has used a pencil in order to write the following on the divided back of the card:

 

"Miss Palmer,

1 Audley Road

in the morning.

Mr. Harris X

1034."

 

There is in fact an Audley Road in Saffron Walden.

 

There is another photograph taken by George Harris in this photostream showing two children. The same chair, in the same orientation, features in both photographs. To see the other photograph, please search for the tag 37SAB22

 

Saffron Walden

 

Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, 12 miles (19 km) north of Bishop's Stortford, 15 miles (24 km) south of Cambridge and 43 miles (69 km) north of London.

 

It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The 2001 parish population of 14,313 had risen to 15,504 by the 2011 census.

 

History of Saffron Walden

 

After the Norman invasion of 1066, a stone church was built. Walden Castle, dating from about 1140, may have been built on pre-existing fortifications.

 

A priory, Walden Abbey, was founded under the patronage of Brendan Wood, 1st Earl of Essex in about 1136, on the site of what is now Audley End village. After the dissolution of the monasteries, Sir Thomas Audley converted its cloisters into a dwelling. Later this became the site of Audley End House.

 

The market was moved from nearby Newport to Walden during de Mandeville's tenure, increasing the town's influence. This Tuesday market was held from 1295.

 

The town’s first charter was granted in about 1300, to what was known then as Chepyng (i. e. Market) Walden. The town at that time was largely confined to the castle's outer bailey, but in the 13th. century the Repel Ditches were built to enclose a larger area to the south. The focus of the town moved southwards to Market Square.

 

The main trading item in medieval times was wool. A guildhall was built by the wool-staplers in the market place, but demolished in 1847 to make way for a corn exchange. In the 16th. and 17th. centuries the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus) was widely grown, thanks to the town's favourable soil and climate.

 

The stigmas of the flower were used in medicines, as a condiment, in perfume, as an aphrodisiac, and as an expensive yellow dye. The industry gave Walden its present name.

 

By the end of the 18th. century, saffron was no longer in demand, and the industry was replaced by malt and barley. More than 40 maltings stood in the town by the end of the century. The trade was less lucrative than saffron, but the town continued to grow through the 19th. century, and had a cattle market, corn exchange and other civic buildings.

 

During this time Quakers became economically active in the area. The influential Gibsons - one of the founding families of Barclays Bank – aided the construction of several public buildings that remain today, such as the museum and town hall.

 

Industry arrived after the Second World War. Acrows Ltd, makers of falsework, built premises to the east of the town and became a significant employer in the area. Falsework refers to temporary framework structures used to support a building during its construction.

 

Light industry was added to the south of the town at Shire Hill. As the agricultural economy continued to mechanise, the new employment opportunities were welcome and migration into the town from surrounding villages led to a major expansion of housing estates in the 1970's and 1980's.

 

Coat of Arms and Maces

 

Saffron Walden's unofficial coat of arms showed the saffron crocus within the walls of the castle in the form of an heraldic pun – as in, "Saffron walled-in". In 1961, a formal coat of arms was granted by the College of Arms, and this was adapted in 1974 into its current form.

 

The town has three ceremonial maces. The large mace was given to Saffron Walden by James II in 1685, and provides an early recording of the unofficial coat of arms. Made of silver gilt, it is approximately 4 feet (1.2 m) long.

 

Two smaller silver maces were bought by the corporation in 1549 to commemorate the granting of a new town charter by Edward VI.

 

Sites and Buildings of Interest in Saffron Walden

 

The 12th-century Walden Castle, built or expanded by Geoffrey de Mandeville, the first Earl of Essex, is in ruins. After the medieval period, the castle fell into disuse, and much of the flint was taken and used in the construction of local houses and the wall surrounding the Audley End estate. All that remains is the ruined basement.

 

Near the castle is a turf maze, a series of circular excavations cut into the turf of the common. It is the largest example of this style of maze in England, the main part being about 100 feet (30 m) in diameter. The earliest record of it dates from 1699, although its origin may be earlier. It has been extensively restored several times, most recently in 1979.

 

The oldest inhabited building in the town is believed to be the former maltings at 1 Myddleton Place. The 15th.-century building with a courtyard garden was used by the Youth Hostel Association from 1947 to 2010. It is now used for functions. Pevsner described it as: "Without doubt, the best medieval house of Saffron Walden".

 

Other notable early buildings are in Bridge Street, Castle Street and the side streets off the High Street. The High Street contains some late-Georgian and Victorian buildings.

 

Bridge End Gardens, a group of seven interlinked 19th.-century gardens – including a maze, rose garden and walled garden – were originally laid out by the Gibson family. They have been restored with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund and volunteers.

 

St Mary the Virgin, Saffron Walden is the largest parish church in Essex. The church dates mainly from the end of the 15th. century, when an old smaller church was extensively rebuilt by the master mason John Wastell, who was building King's College Chapel in the nearby city of Cambridge.

 

In 1769 the church was damaged by lightning and the repairs, carried out in the 1790's, removed many medieval features. The spire was added in 1832 to replace an older lantern tower. The church is 183 feet (56 m) long and the spire, 193 feet (59 m) high, is the tallest in Essex.

 

The town's Catholic church, Our Lady of Compassion, is on Castle Street. Created in 1906 from a 16th-century barn, it was restored in 2004-5. With a long history of non-conformism, Saffron Walden has a Baptist church and a Quaker meeting house.

 

Audley End House - once one of the largest mansions in England - is now in the care of English Heritage and open to the public. During the summer months, picnic concerts and a last night in the style of the BBC Proms have been held in the grounds. Audley End Miniature Railway - originally built by Lord Braybrooke - is a 10 1⁄4 in (260 mm) gauge railway ride through woodland adjoining Audley End House. The track is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, and opened in 1964.

 

Saffron Walden Museum, which was established in 1835 by Saffron Walden Natural History Society, is close to the town castle. The museum had many benefactors from local families, including the Gibsons, Frys and Tukes. The museum contains the stuffed remains of a lion named Wallace (1812 – 1838), said to have inspired Marriott Edgar's comic poem "The Lion and Albert".

 

The Fry Art Gallery exhibits the work of artists who had an association with Saffron Walden and north west Essex. The collection includes extensive artworks by Edward Bawden, who lived in the town during the 1970's and 1980's, and Eric Ravilious.

 

Saffron Hall, which is attached to Saffron Walden County High School, opened in 2013. The 730-seater venue came about as a result of a £10 million donation by an anonymous music- loving donor. In 2014, former head of music at the Barbican Centre Angela Dixon became its director.

 

The Anglo American playing fields, located close to Bridge End Gardens on Catons Lane, are home to the town's cricket club. They were donated to Saffron Walden by the US forces after the war. Prior to that, Saffron Walden Cricket Club played on the town's common - with a history of cricket matches recorded back to 1757. A monument at the site commemorates the American airmen and people of Saffron Walden who died in the Second World War.

 

Notable Residents of Saffron Walden

 

Notable residents, in alphabetical order, are as follows:

 

- Edward Bawden (1903–1989), artist, was resident from 1970 at 2 Park Lane Studio.

 

- Stig Blomqvist (born 1946) and his son Tom Blomqvist (born 1993), racing drivers, live in the town.

 

- Elizabeth Butchill (c. 1758–1780), hanged for infanticide, was a native of the town.

 

- Rab Butler (1902–1982), cabinet minister, was MP for Saffron Walden between 1929 and 196565, before being created Baron Butler of Saffron Walden.

 

- Jack Cardiff (1914–2009), Oscar-winning cinematographer, lived at 7a High Street.

 

- Thomas Cornell (c. 1595–1655), a Quaker who emigrated to British North America and founded the Cornell family there.

 

- Charles Dunstone (born 1964), co-founder and chairman of Carphone Warehouse and chairman of TalkTalk Group, was born in the town.

 

- James Gapes (1822–1899), born in the town, became mayor of Christchurch, New Zealand.

 

- George Stacey Gibson (1813–1893), botanist, banker and philanthropist, lived at Hill House, High Street.

 

- Gabriel Harvey (1552–1631), scholar and writer, lived at 13–17 Gold Street.

 

- Imogen Heap, singer and songwriter, was a boarder at the Friends' School.

 

- Jeff Hordley (born 1970), actor, played Cain Dingle in Emmerdale.

 

- Gordon Jacob (1895–1984), composer, was resident in 1959–1984 at 1 Audley Road. He was president of Saffron Walden and District Music Club.

 

- Ian Lavender (born 1946), actor, best known as Pike in Dad's Army, lived in the town until 2001.

 

- Stephen McGann (born 1963), actor, resides in the town.

 

- Jojo Moyes, romantic fiction author, lives nearby in Great Sampford.

 

- Clare Mulley (born 1969), biographer, lives in the town.

 

- Sarah Ockwell-Smith (born 1976), child-care author, lives in the town.

 

- Cliff Parisi (born 1960), former Eastenders actor, who played Rick "Minty" Peterson.

 

- Tom Robinson (born 1950), singer-songwriter, attended the Friends' School in 1961–67.

 

- Sir Thomas Smith (1513–1577), scholar and diplomat, was born in the town.

 

- Stan Stammers, songwriter and musician, formerly of UK Subs, grew up in the town.

 

- William Strachey (1572–1621), historian, was born in the town.

 

- Heidi Thomas (born 1962), TV and film screenwriter, lives in the town.

 

- Stuart Wardley (born 10 September 1975 in Cambridge), professional footballer.

 

- Raymond Williams (1921–1988), cultural critic, divided his time between Saffron Walden and Wales in later life.

 

- Henry Winstanley (1644–1703), creator of the first Eddystone Lighthouse, was born in nearby Littlebury and lived at 5 Museum Street.

 

- Diana Wynne Jones (1934–2011), author, attended the Friends School (1946–1952).

The Thirty-Fourth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from November 16 to November 18, 2015.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

Traders indication: P13134.

The 4-door Amazon P120-series was designed by Jan Wilsgaard and introduced in 1956.

The 2-door P130-series coach was presented in Oct. 1961.

131 indicates a special version.

 

1986cc engine runs on LPG,

1084 kg.

Volvo P131 production: 1968-1970.

Official first admission of this car: May 22, 1968.

New Dutch license number: Autumn 1972.

 

Amsterdam-O., Oosterpark, Nov. 27, 2014.

 

© 2014 Sander Toonen Amsterdam | All Rights Reserved

The Thirty-Second Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from November 24 to November 26, 2014.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

Johann Zoffani (1733-1810), active in Regensburg, London, Florence and Calcutta

Archduke Franz Joseph Karl, the later Emperor Franz II/I (1768-1835), at the age of seven, 1774/75

The white uniform with the chain of the Order of St. Stephen as well as the Golden Fleece and a small sword, are indications of the future destiny of the Archduke as Emperor. Globus, books, harness and the antique bust of the Marc Aurel point to the comprehensive enlightened education that the future ruler received in Florence. Positioned on a plateau, the young monarch is on par with the viewer.

 

Johann Zoffani (1733-1810), tätig unter anderem in Regensburg, London, Florenz und Kalkutta

Erzherzog Franz Joseph Karl, der spätere Kaiser Franz II./I. (1768-1835), im Alter von sieben Jahren, 1774/75

Die weiße Uniform mit der Kette des Stephans-Ordens wie dem Goldenen Vlies und ein kleines Schwert sind Hinweise auf die künftige Bestimmung des Erzherzogs als Kaiser. Globus, Bücher, Harnisch und die antike Büste des Marc Aurel weisen auf die umfassenden aufgeklärte Bildung hin, die der zukünftige Herrscher in Florenz erhielt. Positioniert auf einem Plateau, ist der junge Monarch auf Augenhöhe mit dem Betrachter.

 

Austria Kunsthistorisches Museum

Federal Museum

Logo KHM

Regulatory authority (ies)/organs to the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture

Founded 17 October 1891

Headquartered Castle Ring (Burgring), Vienna 1, Austria

Management Sabine Haag

www.khm.at website

Main building of the Kunsthistorisches Museum at Maria-Theresa-Square

The Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM abbreviated) is an art museum in Vienna. It is one of the largest and most important museums in the world. It was opened in 1891 and 2012 visited of 1.351.940 million people.

The museum

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is with its opposite sister building, the Natural History Museum (Naturhistorisches Museum), the most important historicist large buildings of the Ringstrasse time. Together they stand around the Maria Theresa square, on which also the Maria Theresa monument stands. This course spans the former glacis between today's ring road and 2-line, and is forming a historical landmark that also belongs to World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Vienna.

History

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Gallery

The Museum came from the collections of the Habsburgs, especially from the portrait and armor collections of Ferdinand of Tyrol, the collection of Emperor Rudolf II (most of which, however scattered) and the art collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm into existence. Already In 1833 asked Joseph Arneth, curator (and later director) of the Imperial Coins and Antiquities Cabinet, bringing together all the imperial collections in a single building .

Architectural History

The contract to build the museum in the city had been given in 1858 by Emperor Franz Joseph. Subsequently, many designs were submitted for the ring road zone. Plans by August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Null planned to build two museum buildings in the immediate aftermath of the Imperial Palace on the left and right of the Heroes' Square (Heldenplatz). The architect Ludwig Förster planned museum buildings between the Schwarzenberg Square and the City Park, Martin Ritter von Kink favored buildings at the corner Währingerstraße/ Scots ring (Schottenring), Peter Joseph, the area Bellariastraße, Moritz von Loehr the south side of the opera ring, and Ludwig Zettl the southeast side of the grain market (Getreidemarkt).

From 1867, a competition was announced for the museums, and thereby set their current position - at the request of the Emperor, the museum should not be too close to the Imperial Palace, but arise beyond the ring road. The architect Carl von Hasenauer participated in this competition and was able the at that time in Zürich operating Gottfried Semper to encourage to work together. The two museum buildings should be built here in the sense of the style of the Italian Renaissance. The plans got the benevolence of the imperial family. In April 1869, there was an audience with of Joseph Semper at the Emperor Franz Joseph and an oral contract was concluded, in July 1870 was issued the written order to Semper and Hasenauer.

Crucial for the success of Semper and Hasenauer against the projects of other architects were among others Semper's vision of a large building complex called "Imperial Forum", in which the museums would have been a part of. Not least by the death of Semper in 1879 came the Imperial Forum not as planned for execution, the two museums were built, however.

Construction of the two museums began without ceremony on 27 November 1871 instead. Semper moved to Vienna in the sequence. From the beginning, there were considerable personal differences between him and Hasenauer, who finally in 1877 took over sole construction management. 1874, the scaffolds were placed up to the attic and the first floor completed, built in 1878, the first windows installed in 1879, the Attica and the balustrade from 1880 to 1881 and built the dome and the Tabernacle. The dome is topped with a bronze statue of Pallas Athena by Johannes Benk.

The lighting and air conditioning concept with double glazing of the ceilings made ​​the renunciation of artificial light (especially at that time, as gas light) possible, but this resulted due to seasonal variations depending on daylight to different opening times .

Kuppelhalle

Entrance (by clicking the link at the end of the side you can see all the pictures here indicated!)

Grand staircase

Hall

Empire

The Kunsthistorisches Museum was on 17 October 1891 officially opened by Emperor Franz Joseph I. Since 22 October 1891 , the museum is accessible to the public. Two years earlier, on 3 November 1889, the collection of arms, Arms and Armour today, had their doors open. On 1 January 1890 the library service resumed its operations. The merger and listing of other collections of the Highest Imperial Family from the Upper and Lower Belvedere, the Hofburg Palace and Ambras in Tyrol will need another two years.

189, the farm museum was organized in seven collections with three directorates:

Directorate of coins, medals and antiquities collection

The Egyptian Collection

The Antique Collection

The coins and medals collection

Management of the collection of weapons, art and industrial objects

Weapons collection

Collection of industrial art objects

Directorate of Art Gallery and Restaurieranstalt (Restoration Office)

Collection of watercolors, drawings, sketches, etc.

Restoration Office

Library

Very soon the room the Court Museum (Hofmuseum) for the imperial collections was offering became too narrow. To provide temporary help, an exhibition of ancient artifacts from Ephesus in the Theseus Temple was designed. However, additional space had to be rented in the Lower Belvedere.

1914, after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne, his " Estonian Forensic Collection " passed to the administration of the Court Museum. This collection, which emerged from the art collection of the house of d' Este and world travel collection of Franz Ferdinand, was placed in the New Imperial Palace since 1908. For these stocks, the present collection of old musical instruments and the Museum of Ethnology emerged.

The First World War went by, apart from the oppressive economic situation without loss. The farm museum remained during the five years of war regularly open to the public.

Until 1919 the K.K. Art Historical Court Museum was under the authority of the Oberstkämmereramt (head chamberlain office) and belonged to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. The officials and employees were part of the royal household.

First Republic

The transition from monarchy to republic, in the museum took place in complete tranquility. On 19 November 1918 the two imperial museums on Maria Theresa Square were placed under the state protection of the young Republic of German Austria. Threatening to the stocks of the museum were the claims raised in the following weeks and months of the "successor states" of the monarchy as well as Italy and Belgium on Austrian art collection. In fact, it came on 12th February 1919 to the violent removal of 62 paintings by armed Italian units. This "art theft" left a long time trauma among curators and art historians.

It was not until the Treaty of Saint-Germain of 10 September 1919, providing in Article 195 and 196 the settlement of rights in the cultural field by negotiations. The claims of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Italy again could mostly being averted in this way. Only Hungary, which presented the greatest demands by far, was met by more than ten years of negotiation in 147 cases.

On 3 April 1919 was the expropriation of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine by law and the acquisition of its property, including the "Collections of the Imperial House" , by the Republic. Of 18 June 1920 the then provisional administration of the former imperial museums and collections of Este and the secular and clergy treasury passed to the State Office of Internal Affairs and Education, since 10 November 1920, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Education. A few days later it was renamed the Art History Court Museum in the "Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna State", 1921 "Kunsthistorisches Museum" . Of 1st January 1921 the employees of the museum staff passed to the state of the Republic.

Through the acquisition of the former imperial collections owned by the state, the museum found itself in a complete new situation. In order to meet the changed circumstances in the museum area, designed Hans Tietze in 1919 the "Vienna Museum program". It provided a close cooperation between the individual museums to focus at different houses on main collections. So dominated exchange, sales and equalizing the acquisition policy in the interwar period. Thus resulting until today still valid collection trends. Also pointing the way was the relocation of the weapons collection from 1934 in its present premises in the New Castle, where since 1916 the collection of ancient musical instruments was placed.

With the change of the imperial collections in the ownership of the Republic the reorganization of the internal organization went hand in hand, too. Thus the museum was divided in 1919 into the

Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection (with the Oriental coins)

Collection of Classical Antiquities

Collection of ancient coins

Collection of modern coins and medals

Weapons collection

Collection of sculptures and crafts with the Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments

Picture Gallery

The Museum 1938-1945

Count Philipp Ludwig Wenzel Sinzendorf according to Rigaud. Clarisse 1948 by Baroness de Rothschildt "dedicated" to the memory of Baron Alphonse de Rothschildt; restituted to the Rothschilds in 1999, and in 1999 donated by Bettina Looram Rothschild, the last Austrian heiress.

With the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich all Jewish art collections such as the Rothschilds were forcibly "Aryanised". Collections were either "paid" or simply distributed by the Gestapo at the museums. This resulted in a significant increase in stocks. But the KHM was not the only museum that benefited from the linearization. Systematically looted Jewish property was sold to museums, collections or in pawnshops throughout the empire.

After the war, the museum struggled to reimburse the "Aryanised" art to the owners or their heirs. They forced the Rothschild family to leave the most important part of their own collection to the museum and called this "dedications", or "donations". As a reason, was the export law stated, which does not allow owners to perform certain works of art out of the country. Similar methods were used with other former owners. Only on the basis of international diplomatic and media pressure, to a large extent from the United States, the Austrian government decided to make a change in the law (Art Restitution Act of 1998, the so-called Lex Rothschild). The art objects were the Rothschild family refunded only in the 1990s.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum operates on the basis of the federal law on the restitution of art objects from the 4th December 1998 (Federal Law Gazette I, 181 /1998) extensive provenance research. Even before this decree was carried out in-house provenance research at the initiative of the then archive director Herbert Haupt. This was submitted in 1998 by him in collaboration with Lydia Grobl a comprehensive presentation of the facts about the changes in the inventory levels of the Kunsthistorisches Museum during the Nazi era and in the years leading up to the State Treaty of 1955, an important basis for further research provenance.

The two historians Susanne Hehenberger and Monika Löscher are since 1st April 2009 as provenance researchers at the Kunsthistorisches Museum on behalf of the Commission for Provenance Research operating and they deal with the investigation period from 1933 to the recent past.

The museum today

Today the museum is as a federal museum, with 1st January 1999 released to the full legal capacity - it was thus the first of the state museums of Austria, implementing the far-reaching self-financing. It is by far the most visited museum in Austria with 1.3 million visitors (2007).

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is under the name Kunsthistorisches Museum and Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian Theatre Museum with company number 182081t since 11 June 1999 as a research institution under public law of the Federal virtue of the Federal Museums Act, Federal Law Gazette I/115/1998 and the Museum of Procedure of the Kunsthistorisches Museum and Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian Theatre Museum, 3 January 2001, BGBl II 2/ 2001, in force since 1 January 2001, registered.

In fiscal 2008, the turnover was 37.185 million EUR and total assets amounted to EUR 22.204 million. In 2008 an average of 410 workers were employed.

Management

1919-1923: Gustav Glück as the first chairman of the College of science officials

1924-1933: Hermann Julius Hermann 1924-1925 as the first chairman of the College of the scientific officers in 1925 as first director

1933: Arpad Weixlgärtner first director

1934-1938: Alfred Stix first director

1938-1945: Fritz Dworschak 1938 as acting head, from 1938 as a chief in 1941 as first director

1945-1949: August von Loehr 1945-1948 as executive director of the State Art Collections in 1949 as general director of the historical collections of the Federation

1945-1949: Alfred Stix 1945-1948 as executive director of the State Art Collections in 1949 as general director of art historical collections of the Federation

1949-1950: Hans Demel as administrative director

1950: Karl Wisoko-Meytsky as general director of art and historical collections of the Federation

1951-1952: Fritz Eichler as administrative director

1953-1954: Ernst H. Buschbeck as administrative director

1955-1966: Vincent Oberhammer 1955-1959 as administrative director, from 1959 as first director

1967: Edward Holzmair as managing director

1968-1972: Erwin Auer first director

1973-1981: Friderike Klauner first director

1982-1990: Hermann Fillitz first director

1990: George Kugler as interim first director

1990-2008: Wilfried Seipel as general director

Since 2009: Sabine Haag as general director

Collections

To the Kunsthistorisches Museum are also belonging the collections of the New Castle, the Austrian Theatre Museum in Palais Lobkowitz, the Museum of Ethnology and the Wagenburg (wagon fortress) in an outbuilding of Schönbrunn Palace. A branch office is also Ambras in Innsbruck.

Kunsthistorisches Museum (main building)

Picture Gallery

Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection

Collection of Classical Antiquities

Vienna Chamber of Art

Numismatic Collection

Library

New Castle

Ephesus Museum

Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments

Arms and Armour

Archive

Hofburg

The imperial crown in the Treasury

Imperial Treasury of Vienna

Insignia of the Austrian Hereditary Homage

Insignia of imperial Austria

Insignia of the Holy Roman Empire

Burgundian Inheritance and the Order of the Golden Fleece

Habsburg-Lorraine Household Treasure

Ecclesiastical Treasury

Schönbrunn Palace

Imperial Carriage Museum Vienna

Armory in Ambras Castle

Ambras Castle

Collections of Ambras Castle

Major exhibits

Among the most important exhibits of the Art Gallery rank inter alia:

Jan van Eyck: Cardinal Niccolò Albergati, 1438

Martin Schongauer: Holy Family, 1475-80

Albrecht Dürer : Trinity Altar, 1509-16

Portrait Johann Kleeberger, 1526

Parmigianino: Self Portrait in Convex Mirror, 1523/24

Giuseppe Arcimboldo: Summer 1563

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio: Madonna of the Rosary 1606/ 07

Caravaggio: Madonna of the Rosary (1606-1607)

Titian: Nymph and Shepherd to 1570-75

Portrait of Jacopo de Strada, 1567/68

Raffaello Santi: Madonna of the Meadow, 1505 /06

Lorenzo Lotto: Portrait of a young man against white curtain, 1508

Peter Paul Rubens: The altar of St. Ildefonso, 1630-32

The Little Fur, about 1638

Jan Vermeer: The Art of Painting, 1665/66

Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Fight between Carnival and Lent, 1559

Kids, 1560

Tower of Babel, 1563

Christ Carrying the Cross, 1564

Gloomy Day (Early Spring), 1565

Return of the Herd (Autumn), 1565

Hunters in the Snow (Winter) 1565

Bauer and bird thief, 1568

Peasant Wedding, 1568/69

Peasant Dance, 1568/69

Paul's conversion (Conversion of St Paul), 1567

Cabinet of Curiosities:

Saliera from Benvenuto Cellini 1539-1543

Egyptian-Oriental Collection:

Mastaba of Ka Ni Nisut

Collection of Classical Antiquities:

Gemma Augustea

Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós

Gallery: Major exhibits

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunsthistorisches_Museum

An exhibition co-organized by WIPO and Turkey was held on the sidelines of the WIPO Assemblies, which met in Geneva from October 3 to 11, 2016.

 

The event entitled “Turkish Culture and Geographical Indications” showcased a snapshot of Turkey’s rich culture and geographical indications and was inaugurated on October 4, 2016.

 

It featured examples of Turkey’s protected geographic indications, including Afyon marble, Antep Kutnu cloth, Gaziantep mother-of-pearl inlaying and Safranbolu Turkish delight. The inauguration also featured a performance of traditional Turkish music.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Violaine Martin. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

After a bit of a wait, while the new crew got settled in it was time for 470 to continue on. Here it comes up to Roosevelt St. in Bensenville.

"Macedonian Wines" is an EU Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) for Greek wines produced in the historical region of ²Macedonia, Greece. FYROM used to violate the law for a number of years before it was finally banned from exporting its wines to EU with the designation "Macedonian". Since the end of 2013, the new PGI for the wines of FYROM is "Wines of Vardar River Valley" which is at least a reliable designation rightly associated with FYROM's actual geography and historical past as ¹Vardar Banovina.

 

However, wine labels bearing slavo-bulgarized names such as 'Alexandar' & 'Alexandria', though not illegal, they are clear examples of the "macedomania" and archaization process, let alone businesses through nationalist propaganda and vice versa, in ¹FYROM, a country factually and totally unrelated to ³Ancient Macedonia according to world's most credible academics (as for example Oxford University prof. Robin Lane Fox), the reliable sources, as well as the in-situ archeological finds.... (more references & maps in the comment window below)

 

#Μacedonia .. Macedonia Timeless Group

 

According to the Prespa Agreement, FYROM was re-named as "North Macedonia" after accepting the obvious, i.e. that the nation and the multiethnic citizens (Slavo-Bulgarians, Albanians, Serbs, Turks, Romani etc) of "North Macedonia" are totally irrelevant to the Greek culture (ancient heritage, language etc) of Macedonia, as well as the Macedonian people .

 

Therefore, a citizenship or a product of North Macedonia that is referred simply as "macedonian" without the clarification of the geographical identification "North", is against the Prespa Agreement and, if not by ignorance, it is a purposeful misuse of the name "macedonia" for preserving the very well exposed and confounded nationalistic causes and reasons of ...

the new Republic North of Macedonia ......

 

The history of the Vintners' Company is a fascinating story of trade, charity, politics and companionship. Although the medieval, possibly even Saxon, origins of the London guilds remains somewhat unknown, there is absolutely no doubt that in medieval London the livery companies, including the Vintners, exercised immense power in economic, social, political and religious spheres.

 

The origins of the Vintners' Company, like most Livery Companies, are rather obscure. Before the Norman Conquest, neighbourhood groups would meet in their local church in the case of the Vintners, St. Martin in the Vintry. In medieval London, persons of similar trade lived in the same area and so these local groups soon took on an economic element - the word 'guild' comes from the Anglo-Saxongildanmeaning 'to pay'. There are twelfth century references to 'lawful merchants of London' fixing the price of wine - one of the earliest indications of an official group governing trade.

 

The Vintners' first charter (15th July, 1363) was in fact a grant of monopoly for trade with Gascony. It gave far-reaching powers, including duties of search throughout England and the right to buy herrings and cloths to sell to the Gascons.

 

The wine trade was of immense importance to the medieval economy - between 1446 and 1448, wine made up nearly one-third of England's entire import trade. Since their first charter in 1363, it was the Vintners who presided over this trade. The Vintners' Company was placed eleventh out of the Twelve Great Livery Companies in the order of precedence of 1515.

 

By the sixteenth century, the Company's importance was in decline. It had lost its religious duties and Edward VI (1553) severely curtailed the Vintners' countrywide right to sell wine. Under the early Stuarts, the Company attempted to regain its importance, but having been involved with Charles I, it suffered in prestige from political attacks and financially from penal taxation when Parliament came to power in the 1640s. The further curtailment of privileges by Charles II and James II badly damaged the Company's influence and the Great Fire of London in 1666 destroyed not only the Hall but also many of its other properties and great financial loss resulted. Although William III and Mary II restored the privileges removed by James II, the Company did not recover its former dominance. In 1725 the duty of search was finally abandoned and fewer members of the Trade were becoming members of the Company.

 

The Vintners' Company was associated with the other City Companies in James I's scheme for the plantation of Ireland. It owned estates there known as "Vintners' Manor" or "Bellaghy" until 1737 when it sold them subject to a rent charge of £200 p.a. and "a brace of good bucks."

 

The Livery Companies came under violent political attack during the nineteenth century. Fortunately, the Company was able to show to the Charity Commission and the City of London Livery Companies' Commission that it was caring for its estates and was spending more on its charities than was legally required. It managed even to keep the remnants of its once enormous power, the privilege of selling wine without licence in London, within three miles of its walls and in certain specified ports and thoroughfare towns between London and Dover and London and Berwick. The twentieth century was marked by a steady progress towards the Company's renewed interest in and support for its trade, culminating in the granting of a new Charter on the 20th August, 1973.

 

www.vintnershall.co.uk/?page=origns_development

 

The Vintners of London have possessed a Hall situated between Upper Thames Street and the River Thames since the 15th century, and it is probable that for many years before that time they had occupied the same site and made use of a building there as their Common Hall.

 

The piece of land on which Vintners' Hall stands was bequeathed to the Vintners' Company in the will of Guy Shuldham, citizen and Vintner of London, dated 7 November 1446. The property is described in his will as follows: 'A great hall with kitchen and house for coals to be put in, and a pantry and a buttery and a void piece of land called the yard with a well and also a parlour above leaded and a counting house two chambers above the said house'. Shuldham also mentions '13 little mansions' on the site, which, he stated, were to provide homes for 13 poor and needy men and women of the said craft which their worldly goods by God's visitation and adverse fortune casually have lost and become very needy'. These 'mansions' became the Company's almshouses that were burnt down in the Great Fire and are now located at Eastbourne. Little is known about the appearance of the medieval Vintners' Hall as no plans or illustrations of it appear to survive. The building is believed to have been largely of timber but some parts, probably including the cellars, were of brick. The roof was tiled and the windows were glazed. There was a brass weather vane and a painted sundial on the outside of the Hall but it is not known where these were.

 

Information about the interior of the Hall is similarly limited -many rooms are named in the records but it is not known how large they were or in what position they stood relative to one another or to the yard. The earliest Hall inventory, which appears at the end of the accounts for 1546-8, gives a similar list of rooms to those described in Guy Shuldham's will. During the next hundred years, various architectural alterations and elaborations were made, such as stained glass windows and piped water.

 

Vintners' Hall and the almshouses were burnt down during the night of Sunday 2 September 1666, less than 24 hours after the Great Fire of London had broken out in Pudding Lane some 600 yards away. The Company officers had sufficient warning to enable them to remove some of the contents of the Hall, including the plate and Company's records, but nothing more could be done. On the morning of 3 September it seems that only some chimney stacks remained standing among the rubble that had once been Vintners' Hall.

 

The Company was to be without a meeting place for almost five years and during this period the meetings of the Court took place in City taverns which had escaped the fire. The rebuilding of the Hall was financed in a variety of ways: subscriptions were collected, the Company's fees were raised, heavy fines were imposed on members who wished to postpone taking the livery or who were unwilling to hold office and most of the Company's plate and even the rubble of the old Hall were sold. In addition the Company was able to meet some of the cost of the rebuilding from its own funds and from its Irish rents but even so the treasurer, John Billingsley (landlord of 'The Bell' in St Nicholas' Lane), complained of being 'much out of purse in carrying on the building of the Hall'.

 

The actual construction of the new Vintners' Hall took place in the 1670s. The new Vintners' Hall was a much larger and more magnificent structure than its predecessor. The committee acted in conference with the various master craftsmen engaged on the work, thus allowing for alterations and modifications to the plans as the building progressed. The plan adopted was to construct two wings at either end of the Hall, which together formed three sides of a square around a courtyard facing the street. The first Court meeting in the new Vintners' Hall was on 6 June 1671 and in June 1675 the Clerk was able to record that 'the buildings are near finished'.

 

During the 18th century only minor changes and improvements were made at Vintners' Hall, for example the windows were sashed and new iron gates with two lamps were installed. In the late eighteenth century, William Thornton wrote in A New History and Survey of London and Westminster that 'the hall is exceeding handsome and behind it is a garden with a passage to the Thames'. Alterations and elaborations continued to take place according to fashion, technological development and infringements or extensions to the block of land. Various rooms and architectural features were added and removed and the layout of the building was rearranged, although these changes did not affect the heart of the building. Vintners' Hall suffered only superficial damage during the Second World War and since then only subtle modernisation and redesign and careful restoration have taken place.

 

www.vintnershall.co.uk/?page=history_of_the_hall

The Postcard

 

A Star Series postcard that was published by G. D. & D. of London.

 

The card was posted in Chatham on Tuesday the 16th. February 1909 to:

 

Mrs. Harmer,

No. 64, Providence Street,

South Ashford,

Kent.

 

The message on the divided back was as follows:

 

"Dear Sister,

We shall be very pleased

to see you. Hope all are

well, also hope Bert is

better.

I'm sorry to tell you we've

heard nothing about our

things yet.

I hope they do find them

and punish them well for

it.

Will tell you all the news

when I see you.

Love from all,

F".

 

Chatham Town Hall

 

Chatham Town Hall is a municipal building in Dock Road in Chatham, Kent. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Chatham Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.

 

Following the incorporation of Chatham as a municipal borough on the 10th. December 1890, civic leaders decided to build a dedicated town hall: the site they selected was a plot of vacant land which was owned by the War Office.

 

The site was acquired and construction of the new building started in 1898. It was designed by George Edward Bond in the Renaissance style, and opened its doors in January 1900.

 

The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Dock Road; the central section of three bays, which projected slightly forward, featured four round-headed widows on the ground floor.

 

There was then the borough coat of arms with three sash windows above on the first floor, a large round-headed window on the second floor, and a pediment containing a carving with the year "1899" above.

 

At roof level the architect erected figures depicting justice, Britannia, agriculture and music.

 

The section of three bays to the left, on the corner with Barrier Road, featured round-headed doorways on the ground floor, a loggia with round-headed openings on the first floor, sash windows on the second floor, flanked by Corinthian order columns which spanned the second and third floors, and a parapet above.

 

Beyond that, there was a three-stage clock tower with a domed cupola.

 

The principal rooms, which were on the first floor, were the mayor's parlour, the council chamber, and a large assembly hall with a proscenium arch.

 

In the 1930's, in anticipation of the Second World War, the local civil defence headquarters was established in the basement of the building.

 

The town hall was the venue for various scenes in the satirical comedy film, Left Right and Centre, starring Ian Carmichael, in 1959.

 

The town hall ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Medway Borough Council was formed with its headquarters at Gun Wharf in 1974.

 

With the promotional motto "Putting The Arts Back Into The Medway", the town hall became the Medway Arts Centre in May 1987. It hosted concerts by rock bands such as My Bloody Valentine in January 1988, and went on to become the Brook Theatre, with a focus on children's theatre productions, in April 1997.

 

Two Mine Disasters in County Durham

 

So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?

 

Well, on the 16th. February 1909, 168 coal miners were killed at the West Stanley Colliery in Stanley, County Durham, England.

 

The West Stanley Colliery opened in 1832 and was closed in 1936. Over the years several seams were worked through four shafts: Kettledrum pit, Lamp pit, Mary pit and New pit.

 

An earlier underground explosion at the colliery in 1882 killed 13 men.

 

The Colliery

 

The colliery extended over an area of 70 acres (28 ha). There were a number of seams, some of which were too thin to be economically worked.

 

The seams which were being worked in 1876 and 1909 were:

 

-- Shield Row (6'11" at 39 fathoms)

-- Five Quarter (4'0" at 52 fathoms)

-- Brass Thill (5'0" at 62 fathoms)

-- Low Main (4'6" at 93 fathoms)

-- Hutton (3'9" at 97 fathoms)

-- Towneley (4'5" at 123 fathoms)

-- Busty (10'1" at 139 fathoms)

-- Brockwell (2'0" at 163 fathoms)

-- Victoria (2'1" at 170 fathoms)

 

Two of the pits: Busty pit and the Lamp shaft were sunk the full distance. By 1882 they had both reached the Busty coal.

 

Between then and 1902 they were deepened to reach the Brockwell seam. Subsequently, the Busty shaft was further deepened to reach the Victoria coal, but this coal was only worked for the last few years of the mine's life.

 

The other two pits (Kettledrum and Mary) were the first pits, and were only sunk to the Hutton seam. Unaccountably the investigating officer Morley claimed that only one of these pits reached the Hutton coal, the other stopped short at the Shield Row.

 

However the Durham Mining Museum states that in fact both reached the Hutton coal, supported by documents from the North of England Institute of Mining & Mechanical Engineers.

 

Since 1862 collieries have been required by law to have at least two pits reaching any seams being worked.

 

The Busty pit was the downcast pit, i.e. the pit down which air passed to ventilate the workings. The Lamp pit was the upcast pit, i.e. the one up which the air passes.

 

At the time of both disasters the ventilation draft was provided by a 30 (later 35) foot diameter fan. Coal was drawn up the Busty shaft from the Busty and Hutton seams in 1882.

 

Firedamp

 

Mines in which there was a significant amount of firedamp came into the category of "fiery mines" and had special rules applied to mitigate the danger.

 

In 1882 the then-manager (William Johnson) would not admit that West Stanley was a fiery mine, however the rules applicable to such a mine were in force. The official enquiry stated that:

 

"The presence of gas had been reported

frequently during the four or five months

before the explosion".

 

The 1882 Disaster

 

The 1882 explosion occurred in the Busty seam at 1 a.m. on the morning of the 19th. April. It was localised in the Busty seam. The explosion occurred where two men had been working. From the position of the men and their food, they appeared to have been taking a food break.

 

A large stone measuring 4 to 5 yards in length, 2 feet in breadth, and 10 to 12 inches in thickness (4m x 0.6m x 28 cm) had fallen from the roof.

 

Above it was a large hole going up at least 15 feet (4.6 m), and possibly as much as 36 feet (11 m) to the coal seam above.

 

The report concluded that this fall released a large quantity of firedamp which had been under pressure within the cavity.

 

The inspector was unable to decide which of two things then happened:

 

-- Either that the outrush of gas was sufficient to blow the flame through the gauze of one of their safety lamps

-- Or that as the men started to move away from the fall

they snatched up their lamps causing a sufficient air

current to pass the flame.

 

There had been prior indications of a large quantity of gas in the area; not only had it already been detected, but also hissing and bubbling sounds had been heard. There had also been a heaving of the floor, and fissures had been seen.

 

The lamps in use were Clanny lamps which were known to pass the flame in a moderate current. The mine owner had tried to introduce Mueseler lamps (which withstand a greater current of air) but the men had resisted them since they gave a poorer light. The six lamps found near the seat of the explosion were tested. All passed, but some were slightly damaged, and three were unlocked.

 

The inspector reported that the mine management was somewhat deficient:

 

-- No certified copy of the rules could be found

-- One of the deputies was illiterate, so could not

have read and enforced the rules

-- Reports were not made in the correct books

-- Licenses for men who were permitted to carry

lamp keys and fire shots were not issued

-- Barometer and thermometer records were not

correctly kept.

 

However, in his final remarks Morley accepted that on this occasion, the management deficiencies did not contribute to the disaster.

 

The 1909 Disaster

 

The 1909 explosion occurred at 3:45 p.m. on the 16th. February. By 2 a.m. the downcast shaft was available for rescue parties to descend. They entered the Towneley and Busty seams, and went into the Tilley seam.

 

In the latter they found and brought out 26 men. From the Townley seam four men were found, but one died from the effects of afterdamp 30 hours later.

 

Eventually 165 bodies were retrieved, although two were unaccounted for when the search was called off. In 1933 later workings broke into the Busty seam and two skeletons were discovered. They were identified as the missing men.

 

Before the 1909 Explosion

 

By 1909 a significant amount of electricity was being used underground. Two electrically driven coal cutting machines were used in the Townley seam, and one each in the Tilley and Brockwell seams.

 

The largest motors underground were the 100 horsepower (75 kW) pump in the Busty seam near to the Busty shaft and the 100 horsepower haulage motor in the Townley seam.

 

There were also two smaller 25 horsepower motors and three 5 horsepower motors elsewhere in the colliery. To power these motors a 40 Hz 550 volt 150 amp three phase generator was installed on the surface which delivered the power through insulated (but unarmoured) cables down the Busty shaft.

 

As well as the motors, there were a few incandescent lamps around the shafts. All other illumination was from Marsaut and Donald type safety lamps. The lamps were lit and locked on the surface, and if extinguished had to be sent back to the surface for relighting.

 

However, following the discovery in 1933 of the two skeletons an inquest was held. At this inquest J B Atkinson attempted to present fresh evidence that another type of lamp was in use. This was the Howart's Patent Deflector lamp which was larger than the standard lamps.

 

Atkinson claimed that as a result of the increased volume the lamp was unsafe; an explosion inside it would be large enough to pass through the gauze and ignite the surrounding atmosphere.

 

The coroner allowed him to read the statement, but the jury were directed to disregard it in their determination of the identity and cause of death.

 

Other safety measures were watering, control of shot firing and inspections. Watering to keep coal dust damp was performed regularly, however the inspector cast doubt upon its effectiveness, having observed pools of water next to dry dust.

 

Shot firing to bring down stone and, in some seams, coal appears to have been tightly controlled. Inspections on behalf of the men were meant to be carried out every three months, although the reports from January 1909 could not be produced. However those from September 1908 were produced, and were all satisfactory.

 

The 1909 Explosion

 

Five minutes before the explosion, the man in charge of the large pump in the Busty seam advised the generator house that he was about to start the pump. This was normal procedure.

 

Five minutes later there was a "burring" noise from the generators indicating an electrical overload, followed by two of the three (one per phase) fuses blowing. Smoke issued from the downcast shaft, in other words moving against the air flow, followed fifty seconds later by a fireball and cloud of smoke. A few moments later the cloud was sucked back down the downcast shaft as the air circulation re-established.

 

Both main shafts were damaged by the explosion. The downcast (Busty) shaft suffered damage all the way to the surface, and then the casing between the pit top and the heapstead was blown down.

 

The upcast (lamp) pit also suffered damage, but fortunately the fan continued to run. Before the district inspector arrived the shaftmen had already started to clear away the debris from the downshaft.

 

A temporary hospital was established at the pithead. Medical and rescue stores were brought in, and by 2 a.m. the cages could be lowered down the pit. The men mentioned above were brought up, but there were no further survivors.

 

Recovery and exploration work went on "unceasingly" until 6 days after the explosion all but two of the bodies had been recovered and brought up. The search for these two (the ones found in 1933) was abandoned due to increasing danger to the recovery parties.

 

The Investigation Into the 1909 Disaster

 

The first step in investigating a colliery explosion is to determine where the explosion occurred. In the case of West Stanley the official report states:

 

"In no case that we [ie Redmayne and Bain]

have investigated has it been more perplexing

than the one under consideration".

 

The first thought was that the seat of the explosion might have been in or near the engine house in the Towneley seam, but further investigation rendered this unlikely.

 

The Brockwell seam was next considered. There was evidence of some burning; this being the only place in the mine where it was observed. No cause of ignition, accumulation of gas or the presence of a blower was found. Further damage to the props and the separation door indicated that the explosion had swept into the seam ("inbye") before sweeping out ("outbye").

 

There was no damage to the Tilley seam and the men working there had been saved, so it was not considered further. The only seam left was the Busty coal.

 

The onsetter, Matthew Elliott, was the only man to have survived from the Busty seam and his evidence is quoted at length. Critically the electric lights went out at the time the explosion was heard ("Yes, it was instantaneous"), some time before the cloud was observed by a safety lamp.

 

Two mining engineers who had arrived at 8 p.m. following the explosion were cross examined and agreed that the explosion occurred in the Busty seam and was due to a coal dust. Neither could say how the dust had been ignited.

 

The inquiry then considered how the coal dust might have been ignited. Four possibilities were considered:

 

-- Open lights (lamps or matches), shot firing, sparking

from friction and electricity. No evidence of faulty lights

or contraband was found (though there remains the

question of the Howart's Patent Deflector reported at

the 1933 inquiry).

 

-- All shots were accounted for, and every shot hole

inspected; none was fired at the time or shortly before

the explosion.

 

-- Friction from tubs (coal wagons) against the rails or following a derailment was considered and dismissed.

 

-- Electricity was then considered. The fuses within the

mine did not blow, but evidence from the colliery

electrician mentioned a previous occasion when sparking

had burnt through a cable and not blown the fuses.

Dr W M Thornton, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Armstrong College was then called as a witness. He considered three causes, but settled on one in particular

as the most likely; that a train of coal dust between the terminals of a junction box or switch caused arcing

between the terminals which ignited the coal dust

causing an explosion within the box. This explosion

raised enough dust to trigger a bigger, fatal, explosion

which spread throughout the mine.

 

The report concluded with a number of recommendations including better mechanical protection of electrical equipment (impact and ingress of gas or dust), trip coils in place of fuses and better cleaning.

 

Aftermath

 

A pit-wheel memorial was erected at Chester Road in Stanley. It records all the men who died in the incident.

 

Additionally a memorial service was held in 2009 to mark the centenary of the disaster.

read this article

 

The unblocking of the web

By Matt Slater, October 2006

 

With the news that hugely popular websites such as MySpace and YouTube have finally been unblocked, it appears the shackles in internet use in Dubai have, if not come off, then at least been significantly loosened. Is this an indication the authorities are gearing up to allow less restricted access to the web than ever before? And what about the thousands of people who currently enjoy the complete freedom of the net because their connection is handled through Dubai Media City?

  

The unblocking of seemingly harmless community websites has been hailed as a victory for people power with the authorities finally being forced to give people the access they wanted. But Time Out can reveal it is actually improved web filtering programmes that have allowed access to sites such as MySpace for the first time – and as the technology continues to improve, internet access for the majority of people in Dubai is set to be less regulated than ever before.

 

However, for those who currently have censorship-free web access through the Dubai free zones, things are set to change due to a new policy being created by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.

 

‘In six months’ time the landscape in terms of what people in Dubai can and cannot see on the internet will be very different,’ said Tareque Choudhury, technical officer at Secure Computing – the firm responsible for operating the internet filter for Etisalat. ‘The things that have happened with websites such as MySpace is that the actual content on the sites can now be blocked by the filter. The technology has allowed the unblocking – without it, it would not have been possible. At the moment it is not at the very advanced stage but in six months we will literally be able to scan websites and block pieces of information. That will mean greater overall access without compromising the problem of people accessing unsuitable material. Put simply, there will be no need to block an entire website just because it contains something which needs to be blocked.’

 

Etisalat confirmed it is in the middle of an ‘ongoing process of website review’ and that it will always listen to customers’ opinions on the blocking of sites. A spokesman for the company said there were no plans to unblock any other sites for the time being but said they were now in a better position to provide greater freedom on the net. ‘Etisalat will promptly investigate and unblock sites if they have been inadvertently blocked and do not fall under the guidelines of the proxy. Members of the public can be assured of a quick response on such issues,’ he added.

 

The vast majority of communities close to Dubai’s Media City, such as The Greens, The Springs and Dubai Marina, currently have unrestricted access to the web. That is because they go through Media City where there is no blocking of websites – something that businesses there, and in nearby areas such as Internet City, say is essential. However, for the thousands of people who can presently use the internet with total freedom the situation could be about to change.

 

Du, the UAE’s new telecommunications firm, now handles these accounts and they will have to fall in line with a new internet policy being designed by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). ‘I cannot reveal details of what is in the document but Du will have to adhere to the new internet policy,’ said TRA technical manager Mohammed Gheyath. ‘It will change the situation but at this stage nobody can say how because things have to be approved on what is, essentially, a legal document. This is ongoing and discussions are still taking place on when and how it will be implemented. It would be wrong to come to any conclusions. People will have to wait for the decision to emerge but it is clear there has to be a correct policy regarding accessing the internet.’

 

Time Out asked Du whether it would like to see the current approach of unrestricted internet access for customers to remain in place. The company said that, at the moment, it was not willing to enter into a discussion about web restrictions and sent a statement which said, ‘This is not something that can be decided by us or indeed any operator in the UAE, the levels of content are decided thorough a policy set by a telecom regulatory authority in this country.’

 

One of the key issues regarding internet freedom in Dubai is the need to maintain a balance between giving businesses what they need while not allowing inappropriate material to be easily viewed. ‘A very important part of coming up with a solution is to make sure that if business people need to look at parts of the internet, they can do so,’ says Mohammed Gheyath. ‘That is a big part of what will eventually happen with the internet policy. Home customers are different and so the way it works in the future will be different.’

 

Etisalat is encouraging anyone who feels a website should be unblocked to contact them using the feedback form on their website www.etisalat.ae. You can also email at help@etisalat.ae or call 800 6100.

 

What is Du?

The way we use the internet in the UAE may be about to change dramatically – and new telecommunications firm Du will play a major part in these changes. The company was launched as a genuine rival to Etisalat amid great fanfare, with claims being made that the technologies available to the public would be better than ever before and hopes were high that competition would result in lower prices.

 

Du CEO Osman Sultan was vocal in expressing his belief that better broadband services were what internet users in Dubai and the rest of the UAE wanted. However, despite now having taken over the internet customer base in the Dubai free zones, no details are available about anything that Du will do differently, either now or in the future. When Time Out contacted the company it said that for several unspecified reasons at the present time they would be making no comment on any customer-related questions.

 

Du hinted that this situation was very likely to change in the next three to four weeks but all official enquiries were met with a ‘no comment’. When it was announced that Du had been granted a licence to launch as the second telecommunications provider it was revealed they would be able to go head-to-head with Etisalat in the mobile phone market.

 

Customers would be able to switch to Du from Etisalat and keep the same number, albeit with a different prefix and Osman Sultan said packages catered to individual needs would be created. Despite these claims there are still no concrete details or launch dates for when Du mobile phone services will be available.

 

Why the fuss over...

 

• MySpace

Tom Anderson has more friends than you. In fact, he counts well over 100 million people as his friends. MySpace is primarily a social networking site on which you can become ‘friends’ with people who share your buddies, have similar interests, or simply live in your area, and as president of MySpace, Tom Anderson automatically becomes friends with everybody who signs up. Three years on from launching in the summer of 2003, his site has become the world’s fourth most-popular English language website, has been purchased by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for US$580m, and has helped launch numerous bands, created a new breed of online celebrities, and helped people find dates – almost certainly the reason why Etisalat banned the site in the first place. www.myspace.com

 

• YouTube

Fancy rewatching your favourite ever music videos, the best goals ever scored, or simply want to post a video message of yourself so friends and family around the world can view it? The appeal of YouTube is obvious. Just about anything filmable – as long as it isn’t of an adult nature – can be found on the site, making it a brilliant communication tool, a resource for learning, and an opportunity for wannabe Scorseses to get their short films viewed by a worldwide audience. It’s simple to use, hopelessly addictive, and packed with long-forgotten televisual memories. Although YouTube only debuted in late 2005, it’s already been valued at around US$700m and 100 million videos are viewed on the site every day. www.youtube.com

 

• Flickr

Flickr is the world’s biggest photo sharing website. It allows registered users to upload their digital photographs, tag them according to subject matter (so that other users can locate them by browsing), and share them with friends. It also gives anybody with a camera the opportunity to build up a portfolio and show off their work. Before Etisalat’s original banning of Flickr, Dubaians were particularly active on the site, leading to several galleries of photos dedicated to all things UAE. Now the site is up and running again, we’re free to start up online photo albums, but parts of the site are still blocked – a look for ‘sex’, for example, in Flickr’s search field gets you the famous ‘Site Blocked’ page. www.flickr.com

 

• Hi5

Hi5 is like a watered-down, less successful version of MySpace, but many people in the UAE signed up after MySpace was blocked. It was blocked only a few weeks before Etisalat’s U-turn. www.hi5.com

 

The Thirty-Fourth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from November 16 to November 18, 2015.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

Photo of the “Geographical Indications and Appellations of Origin from Portugal” exhibition, co-organized by WIPO and the Government of Portugal.

 

Held on the sidelines of the Assemblies of WIPO Member States, the exhibition featured origin-based products from Portugal which benefit from intellectual property protection via geographical indications and appellations of origin.

 

The Assemblies of WIPO Member States took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from July 6-14, 2023.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Violaine Martin. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Items on display at an exhibition of India’s varied geographical indications, taking place at WIPO from October 6-14, 2015.

 

Co-organized by WIPO and the Government of India on the sidelines of the WIPO Assemblies of Member States, it was inaugurated with an event themed “Make in India” on October 6, 2015 featuring a recital of traditional Indian music and Indian artisans demonstrating their handiwork.

 

The event began with the screening of a WIPO-produced film on a capacity building project sponsored by WIPO’s Accessible Books Consortium in India and a keynote address by India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Ajit Kumar, followed by a screening of a film on the “Make in India” initiative.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Violaine Martin. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License..

The Thirty-Fifth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from April 25 to April 27, 2016.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

Voronezh is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects western Russia with the Urals and Siberia, the Caucasus and Ukraine, and the M4 highway (Moscow–Voronezh–Rostov-on-Don–Novorossiysk). In recent years the city has experienced rapid population growth, rising in 2021 to 1,057,681, up from 889,680 recorded in the 2010 Census, making it the 14th-most populous city in the country.

 

History

The first chronicle references to the word "Voronezh" are dated 1177, when the Ryazan prince Yaropolk, having lost the battle, fled "to Voronozh" and there was moving "from town to town". Modern data of archeology and history interpret Voronezh as a geographical region, which included the Voronezh river (tributary of the Don) and a number of settlements. In the lower reaches of the river, a unique Slavic town-planning complex of the 8th – early 11th century was discovered, which covered the territory of the present city of Voronezh and its environs (about 42 km long, about 13 forts and many unfortified villages). By the 12th – 13th centuries, most of the old towns were desolate, but new settlements appeared upstream, closer to Ryazan.

 

For many years, the hypothesis of the Soviet historian Vladimir Zagorovsky dominated: he produced the toponym "Voronezh" from the hypothetical Slavic personal name Voroneg. This man allegedly gave the name of a small town in the Chernigov Principality (now the village of Voronezh in Ukraine). Later, in the 11th or 12th century, the settlers were able to "transfer" this name to the Don region, where they named the second city Voronezh, and the river got its name from the city. However, now many researchers criticize the hypothesis, since in reality neither the name of Voroneg nor the second city was revealed, and usually the names of Russian cities repeated the names of the rivers, but not vice versa.

 

The linguistic comparative analysis of the name "Voronezh" was carried out by the Khovansky Foundation in 2009. There is an indication of the place names of many countries in Eurasia, which may partly be not only similar in sound, but also united by common Indo-European languages: Varanasi, Varna, Verona, Brno, etc.

 

A comprehensive scientific analysis was conducted in 2015–2016 by the historian Pavel Popov. His conclusion: "Voronezh" is a probable Slavic macrotoponym associated with outstanding signs of nature, has a root voron- (from the proto-Slavic vorn) in the meaning of "black, dark" and the suffix -ezh (-azh, -ozh). It was not “transferred” and in the 8th - 9th centuries it marked a vast territory covered with black forests (oak forests) - from the mouth of the Voronezh river to the Voronozhsky annalistic forests in the middle and upper reaches of the river, and in the west to the Don (many forests were cut down). The historian believes that the main "city" of the early town-planning complex could repeat the name of the region – Voronezh. Now the hillfort is located in the administrative part of the modern city, in the Voronezh upland oak forest. This is one of Europe's largest ancient Slavic hillforts, the area of which – more than 9 hectares – 13 times the area of the main settlement in Kyiv before the baptism of Rus.

 

In it is assumed that the word "Voronezh" means bluing - a technique to increase the corrosion resistance of iron products. This explanation fits well with the proximity to the ancient city of Voronezh of a large iron deposit and the city of Stary Oskol.

 

Folk etymology claims the name comes from combining the Russian words for raven (ворон) and hedgehog (еж) into Воронеж. According to this explanation two Slavic tribes named after the animals used this combination to name the river which later in turn provided the name for a settlement. There is not believed to be any scientific support for this explanation.

 

In the 16th century, the Middle Don basin, including the Voronezh river, was gradually conquered by Muscovy from the Nogai Horde (a successor state of the Golden Horde), and the current city of Voronezh was established in 1585 by Feodor I as a fort protecting the Muravsky Trail trade route against the slave raids of the Nogai and Crimean Tatars. The city was named after the river.

 

17th to 19th centuries

In the 17th century, Voronezh gradually evolved into a sizable town. Weronecz is shown on the Worona river in Resania in Joan Blaeu's map of 1645. Peter the Great built a dockyard in Voronezh where the Azov Flotilla was constructed for the Azov campaigns in 1695 and 1696. This fleet, the first ever built in Russia, included the first Russian ship of the line, Goto Predestinatsia. The Orthodox diocese of Voronezh was instituted in 1682 and its first bishop, Mitrofan of Voronezh, was later proclaimed the town's patron saint.

 

Owing to the Voronezh Admiralty Wharf, for a short time, Voronezh became the largest city of South Russia and the economic center of a large and fertile region. In 1711, it was made the seat of the Azov Governorate, which eventually morphed into the Voronezh Governorate.

 

In the 19th century, Voronezh was a center of the Central Black Earth Region. Manufacturing industry (mills, tallow-melting, butter-making, soap, leather, and other works) as well as bread, cattle, suet, and the hair trade developed in the town. A railway connected Voronezh with Moscow in 1868 and Rostov-on-Don in 1871.

 

20th century

World War II

During World War II, Voronezh was the scene of fierce fighting between Soviet and combined Axis troops. The Germans used it as a staging area for their attack on Stalingrad, and made it a key crossing point on the Don River. In June 1941, two BM-13 (Fighting machine #13 Katyusha) artillery installations were built at the Voronezh excavator factory. In July, the construction of Katyushas was rationalized so that their manufacture became easier and the time of volley repetition was shortened from five minutes to fifteen seconds. More than 300 BM-13 units manufactured in Voronezh were used in a counterattack near Moscow in December 1941. In October 22, 1941, the advance of the German troops prompted the establishment of a defense committee in the city. On November 7, 1941, there was a troop parade, devoted to the anniversary of the October Revolution. Only three such parades were organized that year: in Moscow, Kuybyshev, and Voronezh. In late June 1942, the city was attacked by German and Hungarian forces. In response, Soviet forces formed the Voronezh Front. By July 6, the German army occupied the western river-bank suburbs before being subjected to a fierce Soviet counter-attack. By July 24 the frontline had stabilised along the Voronezh River as the German forces continued southeast into the Great Bend of the Don. The attack on Voronezh represented the first phase of the German Army's 1942 campaign in the Soviet Union, codenamed Case Blue.

 

Until January 25, 1943, parts of the Second German Army and the Second Hungarian Army occupied the western part of Voronezh. During Operation Little Saturn, the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive, and the Voronezhsko-Kastornenskoy Offensive, the Voronezh Front exacted heavy casualties on Axis forces. On January 25, 1943, Voronezh was liberated after ten days of combat. During the war the city was almost completely ruined, with 92% of all buildings destroyed.

 

Post-war

By 1950, Voronezh had been rebuilt. Most buildings and historical monuments were repaired. It was also the location of a prestigious Suvorov Military School, a boarding school for young boys who were considered to be prospective military officers, many of whom had been orphaned by war.

 

In 1950–1960, new factories were established: a tire factory, a machine-tool factory, a factory of heavy mechanical pressing, and others. In 1968, Serial production of the Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic plane was established at the Voronezh Aviation factory. In October 1977, the first Soviet domestic wide-body plane, Ilyushin Il-86, was built there.

 

In 1989, TASS published details of an alleged UFO landing in the city's park and purported encounters with extraterrestrial beings reported by a number of children. A Russian scientist that was cited in initial TASS reports later told the Associated Press that he was misquoted, cautioning, "Don't believe all you hear from TASS," and "We never gave them part of what they published", and a TASS correspondent admitted the possibility that some "make-believe" had been added to the TASS story, saying, "I think there is a certain portion of truth, but it is not excluded that there is also fantasizing".

 

21st century

From 10 to 17 September 2011, Voronezh celebrated its 425th anniversary. The anniversary of the city was given the status of a federal scale celebration that helped attract large investments from the federal and regional budgets for development.

 

On December 17, 2012, Voronezh became the fifteenth city in Russia with a population of over one million people.

 

Today Voronezh is the economic, industrial, cultural, and scientific center of the Central Black Earth Region. As part of the annual tradition in the Russian city of Voronezh, every winter the main city square is thematically drawn around a classic literature. In 2020, the city was decorated using the motifs from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. In the year of 2021, the architects drew inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen as well as the animation classic The Snow Queen from the Soviet Union. The fairy tale replica city will feature the houses of Kai and Gerda, the palace of the snow queen, an ice rink, and illumination.

 

In June 2023, during the Wagner Group rebellion, forces of the Wagner Group claimed to have taken control of military facilities in the city. Later they were confirmed to have taken the city itself.

 

Administrative and municipal status

Voronezh is the administrative center of the oblast.[1] Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as Voronezh Urban Okrug—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.[1] As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban okrug status.

 

City divisions

The city is divided into six administrative districts:

 

Zheleznodorozhny (183,17 km²)

Tsentralny (63,96 km²)

Kominternovsky (47,41 km²)

Leninsky (18,53 km²)

Sovetsky (156,6 km²)

Levoberezhny (123,89 km²)

 

Economy

The leading sectors of the urban economy in the 20th century were mechanical engineering, metalworking, the electronics industry and the food industry.

 

In the city are such companies as:

Tupolev Tu-144

Voronezhselmash (agricultural engineering)

Sozvezdie[36] (headquarter, JSC Concern “Sozvezdie”, in 1958 the world's first created mobile telephony and wireless telephone Altai

Verofarm (pharmaceutics, owner Abbott Laboratories),

Voronezh Mechanical Plant[37] (production of missile and aircraft engines, oil and gas equipment)

Mining Machinery Holding - RUDGORMASH[38] (production of drilling, mineral processing and mining equipment)

VNiiPM Research Institute of Semiconductor Engineering (equipment for plasma-chemical processes, technical-chemical equipment for liquid operations, water treatment equipment)

KBKhA Chemical Automatics Design Bureau with notable products:.

Pirelli Voronezh.

On the territory of the city district government Maslovka Voronezh region with the support of the Investment Fund of Russia, is implementing a project to create an industrial park, "Maslowski", to accommodate more than 100 new businesses, including the transformer factory of Siemens. On September 7, 2011 in Voronezh there opened a Global network operation center of Nokia Siemens Networks, which was the fifth in the world and the first in Russia.

 

Construction

In 2014, 926,000 square meters of housing was delivered.

 

Clusters of Voronezh

In clusters of tax incentives and different preferences, the full support of the authorities. A cluster of Oil and Gas Equipment, Radio-electronic cluster, Furniture cluster, IT cluster, Cluster aircraft, Cluster Electromechanics, Transport and logistics cluster, Cluster building materials and technologies.

 

Geography

Urban layout

Information about the original urban layout of Voronezh is contained in the "Patrol Book" of 1615. At that time, the city fortress was logged and located on the banks of the Voronezh River. In plan, it was an irregular quadrangle with a perimeter of about 238 meter. inside it, due to lack of space, there was no housing or siege yards, and even the cathedral church was supposed to be taken out. However, at this small fortress there was a large garrison - 666 households of service people. These courtyards were reliably protected by the second line of fortifications by a standing prison on taras with 25 towers covered with earth; behind the prison was a moat, and beyond the moat there were stakes. Voronezh was a typical military settlement (ostrog). In the city prison there were only settlements of military men: Streletskaya, Kazachya, Belomestnaya atamanskaya, Zatinnaya and Pushkarskaya. The posad population received the territory between the ostrog and the river, where the Monastyrskaya settlements (at the Assumption Monastery) was formed. Subsequently, the Yamnaya Sloboda was added to them, and on the other side of the fort, on the Chizhovka Mountain, the Chizhovskaya Sloboda of archers and Cossacks appeared. As a result, the Voronezh settlements surrounded the fortress in a ring. The location of the parish churches emphasized this ring-like and even distribution of settlements: the Ilyinsky Church of the Streletskaya Sloboda, the Pyatnitskaya Cossack and Pokrovskaya Belomestnaya were brought out to the passage towers of the prison. The Nikolskaya Church of the Streletskaya Sloboda was located near the marketplace (and, accordingly, the front facade of the fortress), and the paired ensemble of the Rozhdestvenskaya and Georgievskaya churches of the Cossack Sloboda marked the main street of the city, going from the Cossack Gate to the fortress tower.

 

Climate

Voronezh experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb) with long, cold winters and short, warm summers.

 

Transportation

Air

The city is served by the Voronezh International Airport, which is located north of the city and is home to Polet Airlines. Voronezh is also home to the Pridacha Airport, a part of a major aircraft manufacturing facility VASO (Voronezhskoye Aktsionernoye Samoletostroitelnoye Obshchestvo, Voronezh aircraft production association) where the Tupolev Tu-144 (known in the West as the "Concordski"), was built and the only operational unit is still stored. Voronezh also hosts the Voronezh Malshevo air force base in the southwest of the city, which, according to a Natural Resources Defense Council report, houses nuclear bombers.[citation needed]

 

Rail

Since 1868, there is a railway connection between Voronezh and Moscow. Rail services form a part of the South Eastern Railway of the Russian Railways. Destinations served direct from Voronezh include Moscow, Kyiv, Kursk, Novorossiysk, Sochi, and Tambov. The main train station is called Voronezh-1 railway station and is located in the center of the city.

 

Bus

There are three bus stations in Voronezh that connect the city with destinations including Moscow, Belgorod, Lipetsk, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, and Astrakhan.

 

Education and culture

Aviastroiteley Park

The city has seven theaters, twelve museums, a number of movie theaters, a philharmonic hall, and a circus. It is also a major center of higher education in central Russia. The main educational facilities include:

 

Voronezh State University

Voronezh State Technical University

Voronezh State University of Architecture and Construction

Voronezh State Pedagogical University

Voronezh State Agricultural University

Voronezh State University of Engineering Technologies

Voronezh State Medical University named after N. N. Burdenko

Voronezh State Academy of Arts

Voronezh State University of Forestry and Technologies named after G.F. Morozov

Voronezh State Institute of Physical Training

Voronezh Institute of Russia's Home Affairs Ministry

Voronezh Institute of High Technologies

Military Educational and Scientific Center of the Air Force «N.E. Zhukovsky and Y.A. Gagarin Air Force Academy» (Voronezh)

Plekhanov Russian University of Economics (Voronezh branch)

Russian State University of Justice

Admiral Makarov State University of Sea and River Fleet (Voronezh branch)

International Institute of Computer Technologies

Voronezh Institute of Economics and Law

and a number of other affiliate and private-funded institutes and universities. There are 2000 schools within the city.

 

Theaters

Voronezh Chamber Theatre

Koltsov Academic Drama Theater

Voronezh State Opera and Ballet Theatre

Shut Puppet Theater

 

Festivals

Platonov International Arts Festival

 

Sports

ClubSportFoundedCurrent LeagueLeague

RankStadium

Fakel VoronezhFootball1947Russian Premier League1stTsentralnyi Profsoyuz Stadion

Energy VoronezhFootball1989Women's Premier League1stRudgormash Stadium

Buran VoronezhIce Hockey1977Higher Hockey League2ndYubileyny Sports Palace

VC VoronezhVolleyball2006Women's Higher Volleyball League A2ndKristall Sports Complex

 

Religion

Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral in Voronezh

Orthodox Christianity is the predominant religion in Voronezh.[citation needed] There is an Orthodox Jewish community in Voronezh, with a synagogue located on Stankevicha Street.

 

In 1682, the Voronezh diocese was formed to fight the schismatics. Its first head was Bishop Mitrofan (1623-1703) at the age of 58. Under him, the construction began on the new Annunciation Cathedral to replace the old one. In 1832, Mitrofan was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

 

In the 1990s, many Orthodox churches were returned to the diocese. Their restoration was continued. In 2009, instead of the lost one, a new Annunciation Cathedral was built with a monument to St. Mitrofan erected next to it.

 

Cemeteries

There are ten cemeteries in Voronezh:

Levoberezhnoye Cemetery

Lesnoye Cemetery

Jewish Cemetery

Nikolskoye Cemetery

Pravoberezhnoye Cemetery

Budyonnovskoe Cemetery

Yugo-Zapadnoye Cemetery

Podgorenskоye Cemetery

Kominternovskoe Cemetery

Ternovoye Cemetery is а historical site closed to the public.

 

Born in Voronezh

18th century

Yevgeny Bolkhovitinov (1767–1837), Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia

Mikhail Pavlov (1792–1840), Russian academic and professor at Moscow University

19th century

1801–1850

Aleksey Koltsov (1809–1842), Russian poet

Ivan Nikitin (1824–1861), Russian poet

Nikolai Ge (1831–1894), Russian realist painter famous for his works on historical and religious motifs

Vasily Sleptsov (1836–1878), Russian writer and social reformer

Nikolay Kashkin (1839–1920), Russian music critic

1851–1900

Valentin Zhukovski (1858–1918), Russian orientalist

Vasily Goncharov (1861–1915), Russian film director and screenwriter, one of the pioneers of the film industry in the Russian Empire

Anastasiya Verbitskaya (1861–1928), Russian novelist, playwright, screenplay writer, publisher and feminist

Mikhail Olminsky (1863–1933), Russian Communist

Serge Voronoff (1866–1951), French surgeon of Russian extraction

Andrei Shingarev (1869–1918), Russian doctor, publicist and politician

Ivan Bunin (1870–1953), the first Russian writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature

Alexander Ostuzhev (1874–1953), Russian and Soviet drama actor

Valerian Albanov (1881–1919), Russian navigator and polar explorer

Jan Hambourg (1882–1947), Russian violinist, a member of a famous musical family

Volin (1882–1945), anarchist

Boris Hambourg (1885–1954), Russian cellist who made his career in the USA, Canada, England and Europe

Boris Eikhenbaum (1886–1959), Russian and Soviet literary scholar, and historian of Russian literature

Anatoly Durov (1887–1928), Russian animal trainer

Samuil Marshak (1887–1964), Russian and Soviet writer, translator and children's poet

Eduard Shpolsky (1892–1975), Russian and Soviet physicist and educator

George of Syracuse (1893–1981), Eastern Orthodox archbishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

Yevgeny Gabrilovich (1899–1993), Soviet screenwriter

Semyon Krivoshein (1899–1978), Soviet tank commander; Lieutenant General

Andrei Platonov (1899–1951), Soviet Russian writer, playwright and poet

Ivan Pravov (1899–1971), Russian and Soviet film director and screenwriter

William Dameshek (1900–1969), American hematologist

20th century

1901–1930

Ivan Nikolaev (1901–1979), Soviet architect and educator

Galina Shubina (1902–1980), Russian poster and graphics artist

Pavel Cherenkov (1904–1990), Soviet physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1958 with Ilya Frank and Igor Tamm for the discovery of Cherenkov radiation, made in 1934

Yakov Kreizer (1905–1969), Soviet field commander, General of the army and Hero of the Soviet Union

Iosif Rudakovsky (1914–1947), Soviet chess master

Pawel Kassatkin (1915–1987), Russian writer

Alexander Shelepin (1918–1994), Soviet state security officer and party statesman

Grigory Baklanov (1923–2009), Russian writer

Gleb Strizhenov (1923–1985), Soviet actor

Vladimir Zagorovsky (1925–1994), Russian chess grandmaster of correspondence chess and the fourth ICCF World Champion between 1962 and 1965

Konstantin Feoktistov (1926–2009), cosmonaut and engineer

Vitaly Vorotnikov (1926–2012), Soviet statesman

Arkady Davidowitz (1930), writer and aphorist

1931–1950

Grigory Sanakoev (1935), Russian International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster, most famous for being the twelfth ICCF World Champion (1984–1991)

Yuri Zhuravlyov (1935), Russian mathematician

Mykola Koltsov (1936–2011), Soviet footballer and Ukrainian football children and youth trainer

Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov (1936), Russian composer

Iya Savvina (1936–2011), Soviet film actress

Tamara Zamotaylova (1939), Soviet gymnast, who won four Olympic medals at the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics

Yury Smolyakov (1941), Soviet Olympic fencer

Yevgeny Lapinsky (1942–1999), Soviet Olympic volleyball player

Galina Bukharina (1945), Soviet athlete

Vladimir Patkin (1945), Soviet Olympic volleyball player

Vladimir Proskurin (1945), Soviet Russian football player and coach

Aleksandr Maleyev (1947), Soviet artistic gymnast

Valeri Nenenko (1950), Russian professional football coach and player

1951–1970

Vladimir Rokhlin, Jr. (1952), Russian-American mathematician and professor of computer science and mathematics at the Yale University

Lyubov Burda (1953), Russian artistic gymnast

Mikhail Khryukin (1955), Russian swimmer

Aleksandr Tkachyov (1957), Russian gymnast and two times Olympic Champion

Nikolai Vasilyev (1957), Russian professional football coach and player

Aleksandr Babanov (1958), Russian professional football coach and player

Sergey Koliukh (1960), Russian political figure; 4th Mayor of Voronezh

Yelena Davydova (1961), Soviet gymnast

Aleksandr Borodyuk (1962), Russian football manager and former international player for USSR and Russia

Aleksandr Chayev (1962), Russian swimmer

Elena Fanailova (1962), Russian poet

Alexander Litvinenko (1962–2006), officer of the Russian FSB and political dissident

Yuri Shishkin (1963), Russian professional football coach and player

Yuri Klinskikh (1964–2000), Russian musician, singer, songwriter, arranger, founder rock band Sektor Gaza

Yelena Ruzina (1964), athlete

Igor Bragin (1965), footballer

Gennadi Remezov (1965), Russian professional footballer

Valeri Shmarov (1965), Russian football player and coach

Konstantin Chernyshov (1967), Russian chess grandmaster

Igor Pyvin (1967), Russian professional football coach and player

Vladimir Bobrezhov (1968), Soviet sprint canoer

1971–1980

Oleg Gorobiy (1971), Russian sprint canoer

Anatoli Kanishchev (1971), Russian professional association footballer

Ruslan Mashchenko (1971), Russian hurdler

Aleksandr Ovsyannikov (1974), Russian professional footballer

Dmitri Sautin (1974), Russian diver who has won more medals than any other Olympic diver

Sergey Verlin (1974), Russian sprint canoer

Maxim Narozhnyy (1975–2011), Paralympian athlete

Aleksandr Cherkes (1976), Russian football coach and player

Andrei Durov (1977), Russian professional footballer

Nikolai Kryukov (1978), Russian artistic gymnast

Kirill Gerstein (1979), Jewish American and Russian pianist

Evgeny Ignatov (1979), Russian sprint canoeist

Aleksey Nikolaev (1979), Russian-Uzbekistan footballer

Aleksandr Palchikov (1979), former Russian professional football player

Konstantin Skrylnikov (1979), Russian professional footballer

Aleksandr Varlamov (1979), Russian diver

Angelina Yushkova (1979), Russian gymnast

Maksim Potapov (1980), professional ice hockey player

1981–1990

Alexander Krysanov (1981), Russian professional ice hockey forward

Yulia Nachalova (1981–2019), Soviet and Russian singer, actress and television presenter

Andrei Ryabykh (1982), Russian football player

Maxim Shchyogolev (1982), Russian theatre and film actor

Eduard Vorganov (1982), Russian professional road bicycle racer

Anton Buslov (1983–2014), Russian astrophysicist, blogger, columnist at The New Times magazine and expert on transportation systems

Dmitri Grachyov (1983), Russian footballer

Aleksandr Kokorev (1984), Russian professional football player

Dmitry Kozonchuk (1984), Russian professional road bicycle racer for Team Katusha

Alexander Khatuntsev (1985), Russian professional road bicycle racer

Egor Vyaltsev (1985), Russian professional basketball player

Samvel Aslanyan (1986), Russian handball player

Maksim Chistyakov (1986), Russian football player

Yevgeniy Dorokhin (1986), Russian sprint canoer

Daniil Gridnev (1986), Russian professional footballer

Vladimir Moskalyov (1986), Russian football referee

Elena Danilova (1987), Russian football forward

Sektor Gaza (1987–2000), punk band

Regina Moroz (1987), Russian female volleyball player

Roman Shishkin (1987), Russian footballer

Viktor Stroyev (1987), Russian footballer

Elena Terekhova (1987), Russian international footballer

Natalia Goncharova (1988), Russian diver

Yelena Yudina (1988), Russian skeleton racer

Dmitry Abakumov (1989), Russian professional association football player

Igor Boev (1989), Russian professional racing cyclist

Ivan Dobronravov (1989), Russian actor

Anna Bogomazova (1990), Russian kickboxer, martial artist, professional wrestler and valet

Yuriy Kunakov (1990), Russian diver

Vitaly Melnikov (1990), Russian backstroke swimmer

Kristina Pravdina (1990), Russian female artistic gymnast

Vladislav Ryzhkov (1990), Russian footballer

1991–2000

Danila Poperechny (1994), Russian stand-up comedian, actor, youtuber, podcaster

Darya Stukalova (1994), Russian Paralympic swimmer

Viktoria Komova (1995), Russian Olympic gymnast

Vitali Lystsov (1995), Russian professional footballer

Marina Nekrasova (1995), Russian-born Azerbaijani artistic gymnast

Vladislav Parshikov (1996), Russian football player

Dmitri Skopintsev (1997), Russian footballer

Alexander Eickholtz (1998) American sportsman

Angelina Melnikova (2000), Russian Olympic gymnast

Lived in Voronezh

Aleksey Khovansky (1814–1899), editor

Ivan Kramskoi (1837–1887), Russian painter and art critic

Mitrofan Pyatnitsky (1864–1927), Russian musician

Mikhail Tsvet (1872–1919), Russian botanist

Alexander Kuprin (1880–1960), Russian painter, a member of the Jack of Diamonds group

Yevgeny Zamyatin (1884-1937), Russian writer, went to school in Voronezh

Osip Mandelstam (1891–1938), Russian poet

Nadezhda Mandelstam (1899-1980), Russian writer

Gavriil Troyepolsky (1905–1995), Soviet writer

Nikolay Basov (1922–2001), Soviet physicist and educator

Vasily Peskov (1930–2013), Russian writer, journalist, photographer, traveller and ecologist

Valentina Popova (1972), Russian weightlifter

Igor Samsonov, painter

Tatyana Zrazhevskaya, Russian boxer

Perhaps Zooey Deschanel plastic surgery had a small bit of Juvederm treated into her lip line? It is a typical indication of getting mature in females unfortunately; the mouth getting slimmer and as they get mature, many superstars fight keep up with companies the magnificently plump-lipped stunners like Angelina Jolie. plasticsurgerybeforeafter.net/zooey-deschanel-plastic-sur...

A short drive from Aylesford is Birling, a small but attractive village, stretched out along a winding street, and dominated by the church on a rise. The road winds round it then out of the village.

 

I was past the church and out of the village again before I knew it.

 

I found a place to park and walked to the church, hopeful it might be open.

 

It was not.

 

But details of the keyholder said they lived opposite, so I knocked and was presented with the large key from a rusty nail on the wall. I thought you were selling something she said.

 

I walk back through the lych gate, up the steps and turn the key in the lock. Turning the handle, I push and the door swung open, revealing the church to be dark. But there were light, I flicked them on.

 

-------------------------------------------------

 

Dominating the centre of this tiny village, Birling tower is a thinned down version of the familiar `beacon turret` so commonly found in Kent. Thinned down because there wasn't room for a properly proportioned structure, so close is it built to the end of the escarpment on which the church stands. The church is famed for two features, both connected with the Nevill family. The first is the cast-iron trapdoor the their burial vault in the chancel, resplendent with highly coloured bulls (the family emblem) and the family motto. The second is the font cover, carved by daughters of the family in the nineteenth century. Each section is initialled on the inside so that you can see who carved it. West tower, south aisle, nave, north aisle, chancel.

 

The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, is a handsome building, consisting of a nave, south isle, and chancel. It has a good tower at the west end of it.

 

The church of Birling, with certain land in this parish, was given by Walkelin de Maminot, lord of this place, in the 15th year of king Henry II. anno 1168, to the priory of Bermondsey, in perpetual alms; which gift was confirmed by that king. Soon after which it seems to have been confirmed and appropri ated to it by Walter, bishop of Rochester, at the king's request; and again more amply by the bishops Gualeran and Gilbert, his successor; and again by the Says, as heirs to the Maminots; and by Geoffry de Say, who married Alice, sister and coheir of Wakelin Maminot. The prior and convent of Rochester, in 1270, John, prior of, and the convent of St. Saviour, Bermondsey, acknowledged an annual pension of 20s. due from this church to the bishop of Rochester, which pension continues to be paid to the bishops of that see.

 

Upon a writ in the 20th year of king Edward III. the bishop certified, that the prior and convent possessed the appropriation of this church, which was taxed at ten pounds, and that the religious were not resident upon it. (fn. 14)

 

Richard Mann, perpetual vicar of this church, about the year 1447, anno 26 Henry VI. made complaint to the archbishop of Canterbury, of the insufficiency of the revenue of the vicarage for his maintenance, and that the prior and convent of Bermondsey, proprietaries of this church, refused to augment the portion of it; and he set forth that the produce and income belonging to the vicar and vicarage, did not exceed the annual value or sum of 4l. 15s. 8d. in the tithes of calves, milk, and foals 8s. 9d. yearly; in the tithes of lambs, wool, pigs, geese, apples, hemp, and in the tithes of the oblations of the four days yearly; and for sheep and cows forty one shillings and twelve-pence, in the pension paid to the vicar by the abbot and convent forty-four shillings and tenpence. And further, that the portion of the vicar and vicarage had been for some time, and was then insufficient, incompetent, and too slender; and that he could not, out of it, be supported in a proper manner, nor undergo the rights and burthens incumbent on him, or his vicarage, nor use that hospitality which he ought and was bound to do. That the parish church had a large and extended parish, containing six miles in circuit, having some of the parishioners of both sexes two miles or thereabout distant from the church, which, when there was occasion, he was bound to visit, and to administer to them the church offices and sacraments. That the mansion of the vicar there, and the buildings belonging to it, were, through the negligence of the abbot and convent, in a ruinous state, and would very soon, fall to the ground; which if they should they could not be rebuilt again for twenty pounds. That he the vicar had exercised the no small cure of fouls of the parish church, of one hundred parishioners, or thereabouts, although with great inconvenience, and in great misery and want during the whole time of his having been vicar, and had employed himself in every religious duty to the best of his abilities, and still continued so to do. That the portion of the fruits and profits of the parish church, belonging to the abbot and convent, proprietaries of it, had been from the time of the appropriation of it, and was then so rich and abundant, that, according to common estimation, the portion of the vicar might well be augmented out of it to the value of twenty marcs sterling, or thereabout; and that the abbot and convent, although they had been often requested, to augment the portion of the vicarage, out of the revenues of the church, in a competent manner, had, without alledging any reason, always refused it, or at least deferred it beyond reason, to the great damage, &c. Upon which it was decreed, that the prior and convent should augment the portion of the vicarage out of the fruits and profits of this church, or in money, to the amount of eight marcs sterling, beyond the antient portion of it, within the space of one month; and they were condemned in all costs, &c. but on their neglecting to obey this decree, a further one was made, that in satisfaction of the payment of the said eight marcs, there should be set apart and assigned to the vicar, and his successors, (at his request) the tithes, as well great as small, yearly accruing and arising from the lands, fields, and places below the lane, vulgarly called Benetis-lane, westward, and from the north side of the said lane, according to the bounds and limits of this parish, to those of the parish of Snodland on the north side, and from thence to the bounds and limits of the parish of East Malling on the east side, to the common pasture of Hordo, and from thence to the south end of Benetis-lane aforesaid, &c.

 

¶When the church of Birling, and the advowson of the vicarage passed from the above mentioned monastery, I have not found, but it appears by an inrolment made in chancery, and now in the Augmentation-office, that in the 13th year of king Henry VIII. George Nevill, lord Abergavenny, was possessed of a barn, and one hundred and fifty acres of land late belonging to that monastery, and then inclosed in the park of Birling, and also of the rectory of Birling, and all tithes, tenths, &c. belonging to it, and the advowson of the vicarage late belonging to the abbot and convent. Since which, they have descended down to the Right Hon. Henry, earl of Abergavenny, the present owner and patron of them.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol4/pp474-488

 

LOCATION: At c. 110 feet above O.D. on a Folkestone beds knoll at the north end of the village. Birling Place lies ¾ mile to the north-west.

 

DESCRIPTION: A church is mentioned in Domesday Book (1086), and it is probable that the nave of the present church, without its aisles, is Norman. The only evidence for this, however, is one tufa block on the south-west corner of the nave, and some detached (?reused) tufa blocks in the west face of the south-west buttress to the south aisle.

 

In the early 14th century first one aisle, then the other, was rebuilt with finely-tooled octagonal arcade piers of Kentish Ragstone. Above them are moulded capitals (slightly different south and north) with pointed arches over with double hollow chamfers. There are four bays of arcading, but the arches are not exactly regularly spaced, and the centre pier on the north is more elongated east-west, with an indication that there might have been a narrow partition on its north and south sides. There is also a slight scar opposite in the north wall. The south side has a separate gabled roof (of plain rafters, collars, braces and unmoulded tie-beams), and this is also perhaps 14th century. The aisle wall has three buttresses on the south, and at its east end (possibly the chapel of St. James) is a double trefoiled window. There is another in the south wall at the east end, with piscina just east of it. All the other windows in the south aisle are single trefoiled lights. The south doorway is also contemporary and has a hoodmould over its 2-centred arch. The door and hinges may also be original. Outside the door was a porch, but this was removed in the mid-19th century.

 

The north aisle outer wall has a more complicated history. At its east end, which may have been the Lady Chapel, two 2-light 15th century windows (on the north and east) seem to have been inserted into the 14th century fabric. There is also a high lancet over the east window, and a small blocked doorway (visible outside) in the north-east corner. A long thin pilaster buttress on the outside of the north wall, which slopes back into the wall, may have related to a later 15th century Rood stair. The west end of the aisle, which has an external plinth seems certainly to have been rebuilt in the late 15th or early 16th century, though the 2-light north window here appears to be a reset 14th century one. The north doorway has pyramid stops, and an early 14th century single-light trefoil-headed window above. It now leads into a 19th century vestry. There is also perhaps an original door here. The roof over the aisle has moulded beams and wall-plates, and a partitioned off vestry at its west end. Also the ground level in this aisle appears to have been lowered.

 

The west tower is a fine early 15th century ‘Kentish’ tower with a crenellated parapet and pyramid roof. It contains 8 bells (three of 1631) set in a new (1987) iron frame. It has also had many of its find Kentish ragstone dressings restored (also in 1986-7) with many new stones. This has been an over-zealous restoration. On the south-east side of the tower is a semi-octagonal stair-turret, which rises above the tower-top, and has its own tiled octagonal roof. The tower has diagonal western buttresses, and a square-headed western doorway with pyramid stops (all the dressings of this doorway, and the tracery of the Perpendicular windows above have recently - 1987 - been restored). Under the tower arch was a gallery until 1866.

 

As has already been seen, the west end of the north aisle was probably rebuilt in the later 15th century (there are a few red-bricks in the walls), and at the east end of this aisle a north and a south window seems to have been inserted, as well as possibly a Rood-stair. There is also a 15th century Ragstone font (with 1853 cover).

 

There is no chancel arch, and a large wide early 16th century chancel. This chancel must have been completely rebuilt in the 1520s by the Nevill family after they had acquired the patronage of the church from Bermondsey Abbey. On the south side are four square-headed early Tudor 2-light windows, and only the western one has Perpendicular tracery. The wall is in quasi-checker work, and has a hollow-chamfered plinth, which also goes round a diagonal (south-east) buttress and along the east wall. Here there is a large six-light window (also without tracery and perhaps with original ferromenta) that Hasted says contained glass with the arms of Sir George Nevill, Lord Bergavenney, ‘within the garter’ (He was a knight of the garter from 1514, and was buried here in 1535). There is also a small round-headed window in the east gable, with red bricks around it, but the wall and window had to be repaired after 1942 bomb damage. The very plain north wall of the chancel contains large Rag and ironstone blocks in quasi-checker pattern. It has no plinth and only one window (at the extreme western end), but also a north doorway from it into a 19th century vestry. Was there an earlier larger vestry?

 

The chancel has a moulded flat ceiling (painted in 1963), and the earlier steep-pitched roof was replaced in c.1828 with a low-pitched slate covered roof. At about the same time the Nevill family burial vault was rebuilt under the eastern third of the chancel. It has a cast-iron cover to the entry steps, and there are two early 19th century niches on either side of the sanctuary, with air-vents to the vault beneath. The family pews in the chancel, and the other fittings and memorials were put there in the mid-19th century. (Two fire helms from the chancel are now in ‘safekeeping’).

 

BUILDING MATERIALS: c.):

The principle rubble materials are local Ragstone and ironstone, with Ragstone dressings. A few perhaps reused tufa blocks from the early church are in the west wall, and some red brick is used in the early 16th century work.

 

Some Caenstone (?for restoration) and cement repairs.

 

EXCEPTIONAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCH: -

Various 19th century Nevill monuments in the church, especially in the chancel (with early 19th century burial vault below it). Royal Arms of 1700 above south doorway.

 

CHURCHYARD AND ENVIRONS:

Size & Shape: Large irregular area around the church with a steep drop to the north, west and south. It has been much extended to the north- east. There is a very good plan of the whole churchyard (with all known graves surveyed on it) hanging in the Church. Enlarged in the 19th century from small graveyard around the church. Very steep slope on the east side, down to the road (Horn Street)

 

Condition: Good.

 

Boundary walls: Ragstone walls retaining sunken lanes on north and west

 

Building in churchyard or on boundary: 1987 Lychgate to the south-west.

 

Exceptional monuments: Some good headstones.

 

Ecological potential: Yes.

 

HISTORICAL RECORD (where known):

Earliest ref. to church: Domesday Book.

 

Late med. status: Vicarage.

 

Patron: Given by the Lord of Birling manor to Bermondsey Abbey in 1168. It was appropriated soon afterwards. After the Dissolution (by c.1530) to Lord Abergavenny (Nevill formerly) till 1959.

 

Other documentary sources: Hasted IV (1798), 485 - 8.

Testamenta Cantiana (W.Kent, 1906), 5, mentions: Repair to one window on the south side of the church (1501). Also altars of ‘Our Lady in the chapel’ (1516) and ‘To be buried by side of Chaunsell of Birlyng at the hede of Saynt James aulter’ 1523).

 

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD:

Reused materials: A few reused Roman bricks, and tufa blocks in S.W. corner of south aisle.

 

SURVIVAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS:

Inside present church: ? Good, though there is a large vault under the chancel, and the floor level of the north aisle appears to have been lowered.

 

Outside present church: ? Good.

 

RECENT DISTURBANCES/ALTERATIONS:

To structure: The tower was very heavily restored with many new dressings, and a new iron bellframe on a reinforced concrete ringbeam in 1986-7.

 

ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT:

The church and churchyard: A few tufa blocks perhaps from the Norman nave west quoins, but otherwise the earliest visible fabric are the 14th century nave aisles and arcades. Early 15th century west tower. West end of north aisle rebuilt in c. 1500, and possibly a Rood stair made on the north side. Chancel completely rebuilt in the 1520s by the Nevill family.

The wider context: One of a small group with a rebuilt (by an important patron) early 16th century chancel.

 

REFERENCES: -

Guide Book: Leaflet (Revised) 1989 Anon.

 

Photographs: Photo of font and font cover in Kent Churches 1954, 127 (cover made 1853).

 

Plans & early drawings: Petrie 1807 view of church from S.E., showing steep-pitched roof over chancel. Also a porch on the south side of the church.

 

www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/01/03/BIG.htm

12 May 2019, Lubnice, Montenegro - Tourists enjoying an afternoon treat at Maja Kljajic's agro-tourism in Montenegro. With help from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Some 100 smallholder farmers from small mountain villages are now reaping the benefits of agro-tourism and getting recognition for preserving centuries-old culinary traditions and a way of life that, elsewhere, has been long abandoned or is slowing dying out. The FAO-EBRD project has linked smallholder farmers, hotel and restaurant owners to local government and tourism agencies to promote their agro-tourism initiatives. It connected farmers with restaurant and hotel owners; trained farmers and chefs in how to store and cook local products to meet the European Unions’ hygienic standards, and adapt old recipes for today’s use – all with the aim of encouraging locals to keep their traditions alive whilst boosting their incomes and bettering their lives. Elsewhere in the small mountainous villages of northern Montenegro, FAO and EBRD, with funding from Luxembourg, helped farmers get international recognition - Geographical Indication (GI) status - for some of their foods thanks to their high quality and unique production process.

 

Photo credit must be given: ©FAO/EBRD/Dermot Doorly. Editorial use only. Copyright ©FAO.

Gordana and Dragan Dulovic, Cheese Producers from Lipovo, Montenegro, make Kolasin Lisnati sir (layered cheese) and also offer a farm stay experience on their Dulovic Farm

 

In northern Montenegro, FAO and EBRD, with funding from Luxembourg, helped farmers like Gordana and Dragan Dulovic get international recognition - Geographical Indication (GI) status - for some of their foods thanks to their high quality and unique production process.

 

Crnogorska Goveđa pršuta (Montenegrin dried beef meat) and Crnogorska Stelja (Montenegrin dried and smoked sheep meat) received GI status in 2018.

 

Inspired by the project, five additional products have been registered as GI, including Kolasin Lisnati sir (layered cheese), which is produced mainly by women.

 

To get the GI certification, the project staff worked with farmers, food processors and local authorities to help them upgrade their products’ food safety and quality standards. This included helping producers develop and agree on a code of practice that they must respect in order to sell their products under the GI label – for example, the food must come from the designated areas, and high quality and hygiene standards must be upheld. The project has also supported policy dialogue and development of appropriate food safety standards in the meat sector at the national level, and raised producers’ and consumers’ awareness about the new standards.

 

The GI-labelled dried beef, for example, must be made from the best cuts of fresh beef fed mostly on grass, salted with sea salt, beechwood-smoked and dried in the mountain air. This gives the meat its distinctive dark plum colour, consistency and texture and prevents any bitter taste.

 

By supporting local traditions to build better livelihoods and empower communities, FAO and the EBRD are working toward a world free of poverty and hunger.

  

Indication de lumiere pas bien respectée ...

I had a lot of trouble at a strobist class because the instructor wanted us to increase the flash two stops. I was using a RadioPopper JrX and the unlabeled dial doesn't give any indication how much to turn. I got really frustrated with the lack of an indication sticker from RadioPopper, so I created this sticker that I mounted on my transmitter. I sent the sticker as a suggestion to RadioPopper, so hopefully they'll add something like this to the product in the future. If they do, I'd love a real sticker for my own unit.

The Thirty-Fifth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from April 25 to April 27, 2016.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

CSXT J783 with CSXT 4008,runs light power enroute back to The Queensgate Yard, meeting NS 4243 is seen here sitting idle waiting for a signal indication to proceed on forward on the Cincinnati Terminal Subdivision at Winton Place in Cincinnati, OH 8-16-21

An event co-organized by WIPO and the Indian Government on the sidelines of the WIPO Assemblies of Member States themed “Make in India” on October 6, 2015 featured an exhibition on India’s varied geographical indications, a recital of traditional Indian music and Indian artisans demonstrating their handiwork.

 

The event began with the screening of a WIPO-produced film on a capacity building project sponsored by WIPO’s Accessible Books Consortium in India and a keynote address by India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Ajit Kumar, followed by a screening of a film on the “Make in India” initiative.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

HISTORY

 

Blackburn Meadows electricity generating station was built by the Sheffield Corporation in 1921,mainly to support the steel industry in the Lower Don Valley. The station was expanded in the 1930s, requiring the construction of Cooling Towers 6 and 7 in 1937-8 to supplement earlier square cooling towers to the north east.

 

These new hyperbolic shaped towers were designed by LG Mouchell and Partners. This was the same partnership responsible for the first hyperbolic cooling towers in the country (built in Liverpool in 1925) and some 150 towers subsequently built across the United Kingdom. Blackburn Meadows was one of those power stations nationalised to form part of the National Grid after the Second World War. It was decommissioned and mainly demolished in the 1970s.

 

ASSESSMENT

 

The Blackburn Meadows cooling towers are nationally rare surviving remains of pre-nationalisation large scale electricity generation. They are thought to be the only pre-1950 hyperbolic cooling towers surviving nationally, with nearly all the other 500 or so towers in the country dating to 1960or later. In addition to their early date, the association with LG Mouchell, the design features such as the banding and the thinness of the shell all give the towers interest. The addition of the spray coating of concrete following the 1964 disaster at Ferrybridge adds further interest by showing a development in the industry.

 

Even without the clouds of steam that signify operational examples, the cooling towers are also very prominent landmark features, providing a visual indication of the former scale and importance of the Sheffield steel industry in the Lower Don Valley.

 

However the two hyperbolic cooling towers are just one component of an extensive complex that formerly existed. The plant at Blackburn Meadows generated electricity by using steam turbines to turn electric generators, with the steam produced using coal fired boilers, the coal supplied by rail.

 

The railway system, coal handling plant, boiler complex, turbine and generating halls, as well as the switchgear for connecting the plant to the electricity grid and the earlier square cooling towers have all been lost. Water used by the steam turbines would have been maintained within a closed system, the steam leaving the turbine then passing through a condenser to change it back to hot water before being reboiled to produce steam to turn the turbine.

 

The cooling towers were used to cool water circulating in a separate system that was used to cool the condensers other equipment.

 

With the demolition of the rest of the generating station, the surviving cooling towers have lost their context so it is difficult to see how they functioned as an integrated part of a much wider plant.

 

Functionally, cooling towers still in use consist of far more than just the shell of the tower that survives at Blackburn Meadows. In operation, water is piped into the lower portion of the cooling tower into a complex network of pipes or troughs ending with sprinklers.

 

A fine mist of water is then sprayed on to a timber or asbestos lattice of staging and screens filling the lower 4-5m of the tower, with the water being cooled via natural evaporation aided by air being drawn upwards by the tower above. Any water droplets carried by this updraft are intercepted by a layer of louvers positioned above the sprinklers. In addition, operational cooling towers have a network of maintenance access ways. All bar one pipe in one of the towers has been stripped out from the cooling towers at Blackburn Meadows, leaving very little indication of how the towers actually functioned.

 

The Blackburn Meadows cooling towers are thus not only a very partial survival of an electricity generating station, they are also only a very partial survival of a pair of cooling towers. Even given the national context of the highly fragmentary survival of the pre-nationalisation power generation industry, designation of the Blackburn Meadows cooling towers cannot be justified.

 

The rest of the generating station has been lost, depriving the towers of their functional context and the loss of pipe work, staging, screens and access ways means that a highly significant part of the interest of the towers as cooling towers has also been lost.

 

www.tinsley-towers.org.uk/pages/english_heritage.pdf

 

If you’ve ever driven into Sheffield from the M1, you’ll be familiar with the Tinsley Cooling Towers - a piece of industrial landscape that’s become one of the city’s most famous landmarks. For now at least.

 

Three quarters of the public want them saved

 

The BBC online poll established www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/content/image_galleries/tins… that three quarters of the public want them saved. This makes more than half a million supporters in Sheffield and Rotherham alone. E.ON’s own poll was flawed by a mix-up of criteria.

 

English Heritage wrote www.tinsley-towers.org.uk/pages/english_heritage.pdf that the Towers, built in 1938, are the oldest surviving hyperbolic Cooling Towers in the UK and that their prominence provides a visual indication of the former scale and importance of Sheffield’s steel industry.

The Thirty-Third Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from March 16 to March 20, 2015.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

A small photo tour at Parc de la Tête d'Or, Lyon, France, to test the Pentacon lens 2.8/135 mm (former Meyer-Optik Görlitz Orestor) with a color film Kodak 200.

 

The lens was mounted on my Pentacon Praktica VLC3 SLR camera body equipped with its pentaprism eye-level finder and the micro prisms focusing screen. The 24-exposure Kodak 200 was exposed for 200 ISO using the camera reading or the indication of my Minolta Autometer III with a 10° finder for selective measurement. After exposure the film was processed by a local lab service using the C41 process.

 

November 11, 2022

Parc de la Tête d'Or

69006 Lyon

France

 

After process the film was digitalized using a Sony A7 body and a Minolta Slide Duplicator with a Minolta Auto Bellows III with a lens Minolta Bellow Macro Rokkor 50mm f/3.5.

 

All views of the film, including the the film initialization, are presented in the dedicated album either in printed framed versions and unframed full size jpeg.

 

About the lens:

 

The Pentacon electric 1:2.8 f=135mm is the former German Meyer-Optik Görlitz Orestor 2.8/135mm lens, conceived in the sixties on the basis of a Sonnar optical formula. The company and the lenses incorporated the VEB Pentacon Dresden, Germany, in the seventies. This sample was also modified to include the electric transmission of the aperture coupling. The Orestor has also a less common 100mm companion. The 135 mm was massively produced and most of the Praktica enthusiasts had the 2.8/135mm in their kit as a compact telephoto lens not too heavy to be transported anywhere.

  

About the camera:

 

The Praktica VLC is of the 3rd generation (VLC3, 1978-1981) and was manufactured by "VEB Pentacon" (formally Zeiss-Ikon) in Dresden, Germany. It came with orignal Pentacon accessories including, a shade hood for its normal lens Pentacon "electric Multi-coated" 1:1,8 f=50mm, a waist finder, a straight magnification finder, and the regular pentaprism. There are also 6 different focusing screens, the Pentacon hot shoe for a flash, lens and body caps, and a Praktica ever-ready case.

 

The camera has a CdS photometric circuitry powered by an unusual 4.5V battery that I replaced by a set of 3 LR44 alkaline batteries in series. As the ASAHI PENTAX Spomatic SP, the bridge circuit is insensitive to the voltage difference. To be independent of the finders, the cell is functioning behind the mirror as in the Topcon Super D or the Miranda Auto Sensorex EE.

 

This Praktica operates at full aperture using an electrical transmission of the aperture using 3 contacts on the M42 lens mount. It could however operates any non electric M42 lenses at real aperture too by acting on the rotary switch at the top left. As for the other Praktica of the L series the shutter is made of vertical steel curtains making the X-flash synchro at about 1/125 s.

 

Overall Pentacon produced 85 000 Praktica VLC between 1974 and 1981 among about 3 millions of Praktica "L" (LLC MTL TL L etc).

The Thirty-Third Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from March 16 to March 20, 2015.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

CTV Regional Contact gave me 3 minutes on the local CTV News here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C2U_01ajdw

 

Mikey G Ottawa's 100 most interesting images as per Flickriver HERE: www.flickriver.com/photos/mikeygottawa/popular-interesting/

 

See Mikey G Ottawa's most popular Flickr Photo Albums HERE:

www.flickr.com/photos/mikeygottawa/albums

 

I'm Not Shy to promote my Flickr work. CBC Radio 1 gave me almost eight minutes. Listen here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=253iqLH82oA

 

Rogers Cable TV gave me 10 minutes on Camera Talk HERE:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-s4ZpS_t1Y

  

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/02/01/covid-omicron-va...

 

No indication new version of omicron causes more severe illness, WHO says

 

World Health Organization officials said Tuesday that a new version of the omicron variant known as BA. 2 appears to be slightly more transmissible. But they said there is no evidence that it causes more-severe disease and cautioned that information is still limited.

 

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference Tuesday that the global health organization is tracking four “sublineages” of the omicron variant, which has fueled a new wave of infections, hospitalizations and deaths. “This virus will continue to evolve,” Tedros said, adding that vaccines also may need to evolve.

 

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on covid-19, said the agency is working with thousands of experts to track the coronavirus. There is “no indication that there’s a change in severity” with BA. 2, she said.

 

Officials said the WHO will share more information on BA. 2 as it is available.

 

WHO leaders also expressed concern about a recent rise in covid-19 deaths in most regions of the world, and Tedros said more cases have been reported in the past 10 weeks — since omicron was identified — than in all of 2020.

 

Asked about countries that have moved to lift coronavirus restrictions, Van Kerkhove said: “Many countries have not gone through the peak of omicron yet. … Now is not the time to lift everything all at once.” She urged countries to increase vaccination and to use mask-wearing and distancing to slow the virus’s spread, although she acknowledged that each country’s situation is different.

 

Tedros said the WHO’s goal to have 70 percent of the global population vaccinated by this summer remains attainable.

 

“Ending this pandemic is not a matter of chance,” he said. “It’s a matter of choice.” By meeting vaccination goals, he said, the world “can end the pandemic.”

  

Key coronavirus updates from around the world

 

Here’s what to know about the top coronavirus stories around the globe:

 

■ Portugal’s prime minister said Tuesday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus, two days after his landslide election victory and just as he starts forming his new government. António Costa said he will self-isolate for seven days, in accordance with his country’s pandemic rules.

■ Denmark on Tuesday became the first European Union country to lift all of its coronavirus restrictions, relying on vaccinations to tackle the omicron variant. The country said it will remove requirements for masks and covid passes and scrap limited opening hours for shops and restaurants. Neighboring Norway said it will scrap most of its remaining lockdown measures, effective immediately, as a spike in infections is unlikely to jeopardize health services.

■ Pakistan will begin a nationwide door-to-door vaccination drive starting Tuesday, its National Command and Operation Center said. About 55,000 mobile vaccination teams will provide the doses, including boosters, and aim to vaccinate more than 35 million people.

■ Rwanda reopened its border with Uganda to truckers this week, after nearly three years. Regular travelers will still be restricted to only essential trips, authorities said, a decision that disappointed traders hoping for a return to normal business.

■ As the Beijing Winter Olympics kick off later this week, officials in China said Tuesday that the Games’ coronavirus situation is within the “expected controllable range,” despite a number of positive cases being detected. About 200 cases have been reported since Jan. 23 among airport arrivals and those in the “closed loop” area of the Games.

 

Pregnant journalist says she’s returning to New Zealand after strict covid rules left her in Afghanistan

 

A pregnant journalist who said she chose to stay in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan because her native New Zealand did not allow her to return due to strict coronavirus restrictions said the government reversed course — and that she would be going home “at the beginning of March to give birth to our baby girl.”

 

Charlotte Bellis, 35, from Christchurch, said in a statement Tuesday that her emergency application to return despite New Zealand’s closed border was approved overnight after a public back-and-forth with the government.

 

Bellis attracted international attention when she said in a New Zealand Herald column on Friday that the Taliban offered her “safe haven” as a pregnant and unmarried woman — whereas her own government refused her application for an emergency medical exemption to the lottery system that assigns returning citizens a spot in “managed isolation and quarantine,” or MIQ.

 

New Zealand officials said Tuesday that Bellis was given a voucher for a spot in government-mandated quarantine because they assessed that she faced threats to her safety in Afghanistan, according to the Associated Press.

 

Bellis, who says she does not feel like she is in danger in Kabul, said in her statement the government should expand its criteria for medical exemptions, which currently rely on travel being time-critical.

 

Pandemic creates tons of medical waste, threatening environment and human health, WHO says

 

The coronavirus pandemic is estimated to have created tens of thousands of tons of extra medical waste around the world, threatening the environment and human health, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

 

The pandemic has put a “tremendous strain on health care waste management systems around the world,” the WHO said, calling for improvements.

 

In a report published Tuesday, the United Nations agency estimated that about 87,000 tons of personal protective equipment was procured between March 2020 and November 2021 and shipped to support countries’ responses through a joint U.N. emergency initiative.

 

“Most of this equipment is expected to have ended up as waste,” the report’s authors said.

 

They noted that their estimate is only an indication of the scale of the waste problem and doesn’t take into account equipment acquired by countries outside the U.N. initiative or waste generated by the public through the purchase of items such as disposable masks.

 

A previous study by a group of researchers based in China and the United States last year found that some 8 million metric tons of pandemic-related plastic waste had been created by 193 countries, with about 26,000 tons of that ending up in the world’s oceans, where it threatens to disrupt marine life and further pollute beaches.

 

According to the WHO report, more than 140 million test kits, with a potential to generate 2,600 tons of noninfectious waste, mostly plastic, and some 731,000 liters of chemical waste — enough to fill a third of an Olympic-size swimming pool — have been shipped by the U.N. Meanwhile, more than 8 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally, producing 144,000 tons of waste in the form of syringes, needles and safety boxes.

 

“It is absolutely vital to provide health workers with the right PPE,” said Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program. “But it is also vital to ensure that it can be used safely without impacting on the surrounding environment.”

 

About 30 percent of health-care facilities — the majority of them in the least developed countries — are not equipped to handle pre-pandemic waste loads, let alone the coronavirus waste.

 

“This potentially exposes health workers to needle stick injuries, burns and pathogenic microorganisms, while also impacting communities living near poorly managed landfills and waste disposal sites through contaminated air from burning waste, poor water quality or disease carrying pests,” the WHO said.

 

U.S. bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor tests positive for coronavirus at Beijing Olympics

 

BEIJING — Elana Meyers Taylor, the most decorated American female Olympic bobsledder in history, revealed in a social media post that she tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday within the “closed loop” here, jeopardizing her ability to compete — although bobsled’s late placement on the Beijing 2022 schedule offers a shred of hope.

 

Meyers Taylor, 37, said she tested positive on Saturday in China, two days after she and her family — husband Nic Taylor, a fellow bobsledder and alternate for Team USA, and their nearly 2-year-old son Nico — arrived in the country. Because she is asymptomatic, she is quarantining at an official Beijing 2022 isolation facility and is required to test negative twice on different days to be released and allowed to compete.

 

Although the Olympics begin this week and the Opening Ceremonies are Friday, the bobsled competition doesn’t start until Feb. 13, with training runs starting Feb. 10 at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre.

The Thirty-First Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from March 17 to March 21, 2014.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

Old NYC-looking hardware and still-locked GRS signal heads govern nothing more than a high tension wire line in an empty field in Whiting, Indiana. I'm not so sure this would have been the NYC alignment at this location, perhaps someone here can elaborate. The current ex-NYC mains the NS ties into are to the left of the camera by at least 80ft. or so.

The Thirty-Sixth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from October 17 to October 19, 2016.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

Madraza de Granada, ﻣﺩﺭﺴة , Université Arabe de Grenade

 

English :

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

(Spanish: Madraza de Granada, also Yusufiyya, Casa de la Ciencia, Palacio de la Madraza) was a Madrasah or mosque school in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It was founded in 1349 by the Nasrid monarch Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada.The building is currently part of the University of Granada and is the seat of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Nuestra Señora de las Angustias ("Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Our Lady of Sorrows")

 

It is located on the street now known as Calle Oficios. The madrasah was built at the heart of the city, near the main mosque (now the site of the Granada Cathedral) and the Alcaicería, then the elite bazaar where silk, gold, linen and other cloth were traded. Ibn al-Khatib was an early student there; among his teachers were Ibn al-Fajjar, Ibn Marzuq, and Ibn al-Hayy (language and law); Ibn al-Hakam and the poet Ibn al-Yayyab (rhetoric); and Sheik Yahya ibn Hudayl (medicine and philosophy).

 

Among the subjects taught were theology, law, medicine, astronomy, logic, mathematics including geometry, and mechanics.

 

Ibn Hazm (Fisal) gives us some indication of the curriculum of the "Andalusian school of philosophy": "Consecrate the first fruits of your intelligence to mathematics and begin your scientific education by his deep study of the properties of numbers. Then gradually pass to consider the position of the stars, the apparent shape of the celestial sphere, how to verify the passage of the sun, moon and five planets (…) all other phenomena and accidents physical and atmospheric. Add to this the reading of certain books of the Greeks in which they determine the laws governing discursive reasoning."

 

The building

As was typical of the works of Yusuf I, the building was splendid with a white marble entrance whose remains are now in the Archaeological Museum of Granada. The building was originally organized around a pool in the center.

 

The façade was decorated with inscriptions of poetry and philosophy. Among these were the words "If in your spirit you provide a place for the desire to study and to flee from the shadows of ignorance, you will find in it the beautiful tree of honor. Make study shine like stars to the great, and to those who are not, bring to them the same brilliance."

 

After the completion of the Reconquista and the conversion to the Cabildo an adjacent house was annexed to enlarge the building. The octagonal Mudéjar Sala de Cabildos was constructed in this era; its 1513 decoration included an inscription alluding to the Christian conquest of the city. Eventually the pool was filled in and converted to other uses, although even after the modifications of 1554–1556, Francisco Henríquez de Jorquera describes a patio with a pool and a garden. The building was subject to major modifications, especially in the 1722–1729 at the height of the Baroque, so that what we have today is essentially an 18th-century building with elements of older buildings. The oratory or mihrab is original from the 14th century; the Sala de los Caballeros XXIV is Mudéjar.

 

The building, which belongs to the University of Granada,underwent extensive archeological excavations in 2006–2007.As of February 2009, restoration of the interior was just beginning, and the building is not currently open to the public.

 

History

 

The Madrasah functioned as a university until late 1499 or early 1500, under the Treaty of Granada (1491), under which the sultan Boabdil of the Emirate of Granada surrendered to the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. However, towards the end of 1499, the policy of tolerance and compliance with that treaty under archbishop Hernando de Talavera, came to an abrupt end with the arrival in Granada of Gonzalo Jiménez de Cisneros, who substituted a policy of forced religious conversions.

 

This new policy led to an uprising in Granada, above all in the Albaicín. Cisneros took advantage of the situation to assault the Madrasah, the contents of whose library was brought to the plaza of Bib-Rambla and burned in a public bonfire. Once pillaged and closed, the building was designated in 1500 by Ferdinand II to be the new Casa del Cabildo (city hall).

 

In 1858 the town hall moved to the Plaza del Carmen, and the building was sold to be used as a textile warehouse. Two years later, the principal inscription of the Mihrab was discovered. There was also some fire damage in this era; the Echeverría family, owners of the building, hired Mariano Contreras, the same architect who restored the Alhambra, to undertake the repairs.

 

The city bought back the building in the early 20th century, leading to further restoration work in 1939. There was an unsuccessful attempt in 1942 to turn the building into the seat of a new Instituto de los Reyes Católicos del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas ("Catholic Monarchs Institute of the Superior Council of Scientific Investigations"). In 1976, the building became part of the University of Granada.

 

Español:

 

Detalle de la fachada de la Madraza de Granada.

La Madraza de Granada (del árabe ﻣﺩﺭﺴة escuela; también llamada Yusufiyya, Casa de la Ciencia o Palacio de la Madraza) fue la primera universidad con la que contó Granada, en España. Fue inaugurada en 1349 por el rey nazarí Yusuf I de Granada.1 En la actualidad este palacio pertenece a la Universidad de Granada, dedicándose casi todo el edificio para actividades culturales. También es la sede de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Nuestra Señora de las Angustias.

 

Situada en la que actualmente se denomina calle Oficios, la madraza se encontraba en uno de los sitios privilegiados de la ciudad, junto a la Mezquita Mayor y la Alcaicería, la zona más noble del comercio. Entre sus profesores podemos nombrar a Ibn al-Fajjar, Ibn Lubb, Ibn Marzuk, al-Maqqari, Ibn al-Jatib, etc. Impartía, entre otras, enseñanzas de derecho, medicina y matemáticas.

 

Su arquitectura, como todas las obras de Yusuf I, era esplendorosa, con portada de mármol blanco cuyos restos se conservan en el Museo Arqueológico de Granada. El edificio se organizaba a partir de una alberca central (las recientes excavaciones arqueológicas realizadas en el edificio han incorporado estos restos al palacio). Dentro del mismo destaca la sala del Oratorio musulmán del siglo XIV y en planta superior el salón de Caballeros XXIV que conserva una impresionante armadura mudéjar del siglo XVI en la sala que sirvió como lugar de reuniones de los regidores de la ciudad tras la reconquista.

 

Entre los poemas que la decoraban podía leerse: "Si en tu espíritu hace asiento el deseo del estudio y de huir de las sombras de la ignorancia, hallarás en ella el hermoso árbol del honor. Hace el estudio brillar como estrellas a los grandes, y a los que no lo son los eleva a igual lucimiento".3

 

La Madraza funcionó como Universidad hasta finales de 1499 o principios de 1500, pues en las Capitulaciones, tras la conquista castellana, se hacía constar que la madraza seguiría funcionando como tal. Pero, hacia finales de 1499, con la llegada a Granada de Gonzalo Jiménez de Cisneros, la política de tolerancia y cumplimiento de las Capitulaciones que había venido desarrollando el arzobispo Hernando de Talavera fue sustituida por la conversión forzosa.4

 

Esta nueva política llevó a la sublevación de los moriscos, concentrados sobre todo en el Albaicín. La situación fue aprovechada por Cisneros para asaltar la Madraza, cuya biblioteca fue llevada a la plaza de Bib-Rambla y quemada en hoguera pública. Una vez expoliada y clausurada, el edificio de la Madraza fue donado por Fernando II de Aragón, en 1500, para el Cabildo (Ayuntamiento).

 

Actualmente, el edificio de la madraza pertenece a la Universidad de Granada.1 En los años 2006 y 2007 ha sido profundamente restaurado y se ha realizado también una excavación arqueológica del mismo. Desde finales de 2011 terminada la última fase de las restauraciones, la Madraza ha vuelto a abrirse al público, siendo uno de los edificios emblemáticos de la Universidad.

The Thirty-Fifth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from April 25 to April 27, 2016.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

The indication is "pot of gold" as a rainbow forms between a set of signals on the UP mainline in eastern Iowa on 7-12-14.

The Thirty-Fifth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from April 25 to April 27, 2016.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

The roses in the People's Garden

Plan

Rosarium History - Classification

Floribunda - new color range - Casting

Tree roses - new plantings - Pests - Winter Care

Rambling Roses - fertilizing, finishes

Shrub Roses - Rose Renner - Sponsorship - variety name

The history of roses in the People's Garden

The People's Garden, located between the Imperial Palace and the ring road is famous for its beautiful roses:

1000 standard roses

4000 Floribunda,

300 rambling roses,

(Also called Rose Park) 200 shrub roses.

Noteworthy is the diversity: there are about 400 varieties, including very old plants:

1859 - Rubens

1913 - Pearl of the Vienna Woods

1919 - Jean C.N. Forestier

The above amounts are from the Federal Gardens. My own count has brought other results:

730 tree roses

2300 Floribunda

132 rambling roses

100 shrub roses

That's about 3300 roses in total. Approx. 270 species I was able to verify. Approx. 50 rose bushes were not labeled. Some varieties come very often, others only once or twice.

Molineux 1994

Rubens 1859

Medialis 1993

Swan lake 1968

Once flourished here Lilac and Rhododendron bushes

1823 People's Garden was opened with the Temple of Theseus. Then made ​​multiple extensions.

The part of today's "Rosarium" along the Ring Road was built in 1862. (Picture fence 1874)

What is so obvious to today's Vienna, was not always so: most of the beds in the People's Garden originally were planted with lilac and rhododendron.

Only after the second World War II it was converted to the present generous rose jewelry.

Since then grow along the ring side creepers, high stem and floribunda roses. On the side of Heroes Square, with the outputs, shrub roses were placed, among which there are also some wild roses.

1889 emerged the Grillparzer Monument.

(All the pictures you can see by clicking the link at the end of the side!)

Rhododendrons, output Sisi Avenue, 1930

Classifications of roses

(Wild roses have 7 sheets - prize roses 5 sheets)

English Rose

Florybunda

Hybrid Tea Rose

Rambling Rose

At the Roses in the People´s Garden are hanging labels (if they do not fall victim to vandals or for souvenirs) with the year indication of breeding, the name of breeding and botanical description:

Hybrid Tea Rose (TB): 1 master, 1 flower;

Florybunda (Flb): 1 strain, many flowers;

English Rose (Engl): mixture of old and modern varieties Tb and Flb.

Called Schlingrose, also climbing rose

Florybunda: 1 strain, many flowers (Donauprinzessin)

Shrub Roses - Floribunda - Tree roses - Climbing Roses

Even as a child, we hear the tale of Sleeping Beauty, but roses have no thorns, but spines. Thorns are fused directly to the root and can not be easily removed as spines (upper wooden containers called).

All roses belong to the bush family (in contrast to perennials that "disappear" in the winter). Nevertheless, there is the term Shrub Rose: It's a chronological classification of roses that were on the market before 1867. They are very often planted as a soloist in a garden, which them has brought the name "Rose Park".

Hybrid Tea Rose: 1 master, 1 flower (rose Gaujard )

Other classifications are:

(High) standard roses: roses are not grafted near the ground, but at a certain strain level. With that, the rose gardener sets the height of the crown.

Floribunda roses : the compact and low bushy roses are ideal for group planting on beds

Crambling roses: They have neither roots nor can they stick up squirm. Their only auxiliary tool are their spines with which they are entangled in their ascent into each other

English Rose: mixture of old varieties, hybrid tea and Florybunda (Tradescanth)

4000 Floribunda

Floribunda roses are hardy, grow compact, knee-high and bushy, are durable and sturdy

There are few smelling varieties

Polyantha classification: a tribe, many small flowers; Florybunda: a tribe, many big blossoms

New concept of color: from red to light yellow

The thousands Floribunda opposite of Grillparzer Monument shimmer (still) in many colors. From historical records, however, is indicated that there was originally a different color scheme for the Floribunda than today: At the entrance of the Burgtheater side the roses were dark and were up to Grillparzer monument ever brighter - there they were then already white.

This color range they want again, somewhat modified, resume with new plantings: No white roses in front of the monument, but bright yellow, so that Grillparzer monument can better stand out. It has already begun, there was heavy frost damage during the winter 2011/12.

Colorful roses

2011: white and pink roses

2012: after winter damage new plantings in shades of yellow .

Because the domestic rose production is not large enough, the new, yellow roses were ordered in Germany (Castor).

Goldelse, candlelight, Hanseatic city of Rostock.

Watering

Waterinr of the Floribunda in the morning at 11 clock

What roses do not like at all, and what attracts pests really magically, the foliage is wet. Therefore, the Floribunda roses are in the People's Garde poured in the morning at 11 clock, so that the leaves can dry thoroughly.

Ground sprinklers pouring only the root crown, can not be used because the associated hoses should be buried in the earth, and that in turn collide with the Erdanhäufung (amassing of earth) that is made for winter protection. Choosing the right time to do it, it requires a lot of sense. Is it too early, so still too warm, the bed roses begin to drive again, but this young shoots freeze later, inevitably, because they are too thin.

1000 Tree roses

Most standard roses are found in the rose garden.

During the renovation of the Temple of Theseus the asphalt was renewed in 2011, which was partially only a few centimeters thick, and so was the danger that trucks with heavy transports break into. Due to this construction site the entire flower bed in front had to be replaced.

Now the high-stem Rose Maria Theresia is a nice contrast to the white temple, at her feet sits the self-cleaning floribunda aspirin. Self-cleaning means that withered flowers fall off and rarely maintenance care is needed.

Pink 'Maria Theresa' and white 'aspirin' before the temple of Theseus

Standard tree rose Maria Theresa

Floribunda aspirin

The concept of the (high) standard roses refers to a special type of rose decoration. Suitable varieties of roses are not grafted near the ground, but at a certain height of the trunk. With that the rose gardener sets the height of the crown fixed (60 cm, 90 cm, 140 cm)

Plantings - Pests - Winter Care

Normally about 50 roses in the People's Garden annually have to be replaced because of winter damages and senility. Till a high standard rose goes on sale, it is at least 4 years old. With replantings the soil to 50 cm depth is completely replaced (2/3 basic soil, 1/3 compost and some peat ).

Roses have enemies, such as aphids. Against them the Pirimor is used, against the Buchsbaumzünsler (Box Tree Moth, Cydalima perspectalis) Calypso (yet - a resistance is expected).

In popular garden roses are sprayed with poison, not only when needed, but also as a precaution, since mildew and fire rose (both are types of fungi) also overwinter.

Therefore it is also removed as far as possible with the standard roses before packing in winter the foliage.

Pest Control with Poison

The "Winter Package " first is made with paper bags, jute bags, then it will be pulled (eg cocoa or coffee sacks - the commercially available yard goods has not proven).

They are stored in the vault of the gardener deposit in the Burggarten (below the Palm House). There namely also run the heating pipes. Put above them, the bags after the winter can be properly dried.

Are during the winter the mice nesting into the packaged roses, has this consequences for the crows want to approach the small rodents and are getting the packaging tatty. It alreay has happened that 500 standard roses had to be re-wrapped.

"Winter Package" with paper and jute bags

300 ambling roses

The Schlingrosen (Climbing Roses) sit "as a framing" behind the standard roses.

Schlingrose pearl from the Vienna Woods

Schlingrose Danube

Schlingrose tenor

Although climbing roses are the fastest growing roses, they get along with very little garden space.

They have no rootlets as the evergreen ivy, nor can they wind up like a honeysuckle. Their only auxiliary tool are their spines with which they are entangled in their ascent mesh.

Climbing roses can reach stature heights of 2 to 3 meters.

4 x/year fertilizing

4 times a year, the soil is fertilized. From August, but no more, because everything then still new drives would freeze to death in winter. Well-rotted horse manure as fertilizer was used (straw mixed with horse manure, 4 years old). It smelled terrible, but only for 2 days.

Since the City of Vienna may only invest more plant compost heap (the EU Directive prohibits animal compost heap on public property), this type of fertilization is no longer possible to the chagrin of gardeners, and roses.

In the people garden in addition is foliar fertilizer used (it is sprayed directly on the leaves and absorbed about this from the plant).

Finishes in the Augarten

Old rose varieties are no longer commercially available. Maybe because they are more sensitive, vulnerable. Thus, the bud of Dr. F. Debat already not open anymore, if it has rained twice.

 

Roses need to be replaced in the People's Garden, this is sometimes done through an exchange with the Augarten Palace or the nursery, where the finishes are made. Previously there were roses in Hirschstetten and the Danube Park, but the City of Vienna has abandoned its local rose population (not to say destroyed), no exchange with these institutions is possible anymore.

Was formerly in breeding the trend to large flowers, one tends to smell roses again today. Most varieties show their resplendent, lush flowers only once, early in the rose-year, but modern varieties are more often blooming.

200 shrub roses

Some shrub roses bloom in the rose garden next to the Grillparzer Monument

Most of the shrub or park roses can be found along the fence to Heroes' Square. These types are so old, and there are now so many variations that even a species of rose connoisseurs assignment is no longer possible in many cases.

The showy, white, instensiv fragrant wild rose with its large umbels near des Triton Fountain is called Snow White.

Shrub roses are actually "Old Garden Roses" or "old roses", what a time

classification of roses is that were on the market before 1867.

Shrub roses are also called park roses because they are often planted as a soloist in a park/garden.

They grow shrubby, reaching heights up to 2 meters and usually bloom only 1 x per year.

The Renner- Rose

The most famous bush rose sits at the exit to Ballhausplatz before the presidential office.

It is named after the former Austrian President Dr. Karl Renner

When you enter, coming from the Ballhausplatz, the Viennese folk garden of particular note is a large rose bush, which is in full bloom in June.

Before that, there is a panel that indicates that the rose is named after Karl Renner, founder of the First and Second Republic. The history of the rose is a bit of an adventure. President Dr. Karl Renner was born on 14 in December 1870 in the Czech village of Untertannowitz as the last of 18 children of a poor family.

Renner output rose at Ballhausplatz

He grew up there in a small house, in the garden, a rose bush was planted.

In summer 1999, the then Director of the Austrian Federal Gardens, Peter Fischer Colbrie was noted that Karl Renner's birthplace in Untertannowitz - Dolni Dunajovice today - and probably would be demolished and the old rosebush as well fall victim to the demolition.

High haste was needed, as has already been started with the removal of the house.

Misleading inscription " reconstruction"?

The Federal Gardens director immediately went to a Rose Experts on the way to Dolni Dunajovice and discovered "as only bright spot in this dismal property the at the back entrance of the house situated, large and healthy, then already more than 80 year old rose bush".

After consultation with the local authorities Peter Fischer Colbrie received approval, to let the magnificent rose bush dig-out and transport to Vienna.

Renner Rose is almost 100 years old

A place had been found in the Viennese People´s Garden, diagonal vis-à-vis the office where the president Renner one resided. On the same day, the 17th August 1999 the rosebush was there planted and in the following spring it sprouted already with flowers.

In June 2000, by the then Minister of Agriculture Molterer and by the then Mayor Zilk was a plaque unveiled that describes the origin of the rose in a few words. Meanwhile, the "Renner-Rose" is far more than a hundred years old and is enjoying good health.

Memorial Dr. Karl Renner : The Registrar in the bird cage

Georg Markus , Courier , 2012

Sponsorships

For around 300 euros, it is possible to assume a Rose sponsorship for 5 years. A tree-sponsorship costs 300 euros for 1 year. Currently, there are about 60 plates. Behind this beautiful and tragic memories.

If you are interested in sponsoring people garden, please contact:

Master gardener Michaela Rathbauer, Castle Garden, People's Garden

M: 0664/819 83 27 volksgarten@bundesgaerten.at

Varieties

Abraham Darby

1985

English Rose

Alec 's Red

1970

Hybrid Tea Rose

Anni Däneke

1974

Hybrid Tea Rose

aspirin

Florybunda

floribunda

Bella Rosa

1982

Florybunda

floribunda

Candlelight

Dagmar Kreizer

Danube

1913

Schlingrose

Donauprinzessin

Doris Thystermann

1975

Hybrid Tea Rose

Dr. Waldheim

1975

Hybrid Tea Rose

Duftwolke

1963

Eiffel Tower

1963

English Garden

Hybrid Tea Rose

Gloria Dei

1945

Hybrid Tea Rose

Goldelse

gold crown

1960

Hybrid Tea Rose

Goldstar

1966

deglutition

Greeting to Heidelberg

1959

Schlingrose

Hanseatic City of Rostock

Harlequin

1985

Schlingrose

Jean C.N. Forestier

1919

Hybrid Tea Rose

John F. Kennedy

1965

Hybrid Tea Rose

Landora

1970

Las Vegas

1956

Hybrid Tea Rose

Mainzer Fastnacht

1964

Hybrid Tea Rose

Maria Theresa

medial

Moulineux

1994

English Rose

national pride

1970

Hybrid Tea Rose

Nicole

1985

Florybunda

Olympia 84

1984

Hybrid Tea Rose

Pearl of the Vienna Woods

1913

Schlingrose

Piccadilly

1960

Hybrid Tea Rose

Rio Grande

1973

Hybrid Tea Rose

Rose Gaujard

1957

Hybrid Tea Rose

Rubens

1859

English Rose

Rumba

snowflake

1991

Florybunda

snow white

shrub Rose

Swan

1968

Schlingrose

Sharifa Asma

1989

English Rose

city ​​of Vienna

1963

Florybunda

Tenor

Schlingrose

The Queen Elizabeth Rose

1954

Florybunda

Tradescanth

1993

English Rose

Trumpeter

1980

Florybunda

floribunda

Virgo

1947

Hybrid Tea Rose

Winchester Cathedral

1988

English Rose

Source: Federal leadership Gardens 2012

Historic Gardens of Austria, Vienna, Volume 3 , Eva Berger, Bohlau Verlag, 2004 (Library Vienna)

Index Volksgartenstraße

www.viennatouristguide.at/Altstadt/Volksgarten/volksgarte...

Past recollections of a former railway are only, at best, as good as the time of the visit, or visits.

My early recollections date from the 1960s with trips to Sutton Oak Locomotive Shed, parts of the

railway to Widnes, St Helens Glassworks and the Ravenhead Colliery included. Any indication of

stationary engine worked incline on the railway between St Helens and Widnes were not then

apparent.

Subsequent research since that time has revealed a railway with a complex history that stretches

back to 1829 when proposals for a railway linking the Mersey at Runcorn Gap directly with the

coal mines at St Helens were made. These collieries were already served by the Sankey Navigation,

but the new proposal promised a shorter route and a new wet dock at Widnes.

By November 1829 Charles Blacker Vignoles was preparing plans for the railway and the

application to parliament.1 Vignoles was engineer for both the Wigan Branch Railway and the St

Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway (appointed at salary of £650 per annum for each railway in June

1830)2 and proceeded with both these schemes at the same time arranging construction after

their respective acts were granted in 1830.

Shares were set at £100 each of £120,0003 needed for the railway to be made and a subscription

was arranged. The bill passed through parliament and received royal assent on May 29th, 1830.

The wording was:

 

1 Manchester Mercury, November 10th

, 1829

 

2 Life of Charles Blacker Vignoles by Olynthus Vignoles p 142

3 Capital of £170,000 was reported in Edwards Baines Directory of Lancashire 1836

 

2

 

An act for making a colliery from Cowley Hill Colliery in the parish of Prescott and county

palatine of Lancaster to Runcorn Gap in same parish (with several branches) and for

constructing a wet dock at termination of said railway at Runcorm Gap.4

There were various clauses to note:

19 lands or works of Liverpool and Manchester railway not to be interfered with without

consent

122 ships of war and vessels etc employed in his majesty’s service in the conveyance of

officers, soldiers, or horses, arms, ammunition or baggage not to be interfered with, or of

and ordnance, barracks or commissariat stores not to be interfered with or vessels in the

service of ordnance, customs or excise, or postmaster general exempted from toll

176 saving the rights of the Duchy of Lancaster

177 saving the rights of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway co, Mersey and Irwell and

Sankey canal companies

178 saving the rights of Liverpool

Corporation and the Dock Trustees

Peter Greenall was appointed chairman of the company with John Witley, as clerk and solicitor,

and many advertisements for the company had the name of Harmood Banner, Treasurer,

Commerce Court, Lord Street, Liverpool. C B Vignoles, provided estimates at his Liverpool office.

An early advert was for rails and pedestals which appeared in several newspapers for June 1830.

 

Contract for railway iron

 

Persons desirous of contracting for wrought iron rails and cast iron pedestals which may be

required for the St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway, may obtain specifications on application

(if by letter post paid) to Mr C Vignoles, engineer at his office No 100 Bold Street, Liverpool,

Sealed tenders must be sent into the treasurer on or before July 6th next

HARMOOD BANNER, Treasurer

17th June 18305

The appointment of directors and determining a line for work to start was arranged and

mentioned at a general meeting of the Company held in July 1830. Work was set to start at Broad

Oak where the junction with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was planned to be made and

at the Widnes end of the line.6 The task of construction of building the railway was let in 3

contracts, at first. But, the precise progress of construction is one that remains unclear, at present.

This was a railway that began at Cowley Hill Colliery, which was placed at Windle, St Helens and

proceeded south east through to Sutton Oak and the branch railway that ran south west from

Broad Oak Colliery Parr, St Helens. Near Sutton Oak was the junction with the link to the Liverpool

& Manchester Railway, the railway then ascended an incline to a summit level, which was worked

by a stationary engine. The railway then proceeded due south towards the top of the Widnes

incline where there was another stationary engine and then the railway descended again towards

Widnes and crossed the Sankey Navigation by a swing bridge to terminate in a wet dock beside

the Mersey where flats and other vessels were loaded with coal, the principal cargo for the line.

4 11th Geo IV Cap LXI May 29th, 1830

5 Aris’s Gazette June 28th, 1830

6 Manchester Courier, July 30th

, 1830

 

3

 

Contract No 1 seems to be the work started north of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway

towards Cowley Hill and Broad Oak Collieries. Lot 2 was advertised in September 1830 for the

railway from the Liverpool & Manchester line to the brook below the Horns Public House at

Widnes.7 The third contract was from the Horns Public House to Widnes Docks.8

Widnes Dock construction began with the request for building stone to Vignoles specification,

which was followed by offers to tender to build the docks at ‘Widnes Worth’ and the supply of a

24 HP steam engine to pump water from a depth of 25 feet as specified by Vignoles.9

The firm of Lee, Watson & Co, St Helens supplied a stationary engine for working the two incline

planes on the railway. Robert Dalgleish Junior, who then worked for Lee, Watson & Co was

involved in this contract .10 These inclines were called Sutton and Widnes with the Sutton incline

being of an inclination of 1 in 70.11

Priestley’s account of Navigable Canals and Railway, 1831 provided a detailed description of the

railway:

SAINT HELEN'S AND RUNCORN GAP RAILWAY.

11 George IV. Cap. 61

Royal Assent 29th May, 1830

The main line of railway commences from Cowley Hill Colliery, about two miles north of

the town of St. Helen's, from whence its course is southwardly by Gerrard's Bridge Colliery,

crossing the Sankey Brook Navigation near St. Helen's; thence by Peaseley Cross, Barton

Bank Colliery to Toad Leach, where it crosses the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Its

course hence is by Tibbs Cross, Plumpton Mill, to the River Mersey at Widnes Wharf,

directly opposite the Old Quay Docks of the Mersey and Irwell Canal; crossing in its course

the line of the Sankey Brook Extension near its western termination. Adjoining and

communicating with the Mersey, a capacious wet dock, two hundred yards in length with

two openings with tide locks, is to be constructed, where ships and other vessels may

securely lie while waiting for cargoes. The length of this railway, embracing the amended

line from Runcott Lane towards Cowley Hill Colliery, is eight miles and seven furlongs ; and

there are thirteen branches which are together in length six miles, five furlongs and eight

chains, viz. the branch from near Tibbs Cross, in a northwest-wardly direction to the

Liverpool and Manchester Railway, at Elton Head Colliery, is one mile, five furlongs and

four chains in length ; another in a northwest-wardly direction, to join and communicate

with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway with greater facility, one furlong and five

chains in length ; and another branch from the same point, communicating with the above

railway to the east ward, two furlongs and five chains in length ; one from the north side of

the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, to communicate with it in a south west-wardly

direction, two furlongs and three chains in length , and another branch to the eastward,

with the same object, one furlong and five chains in length ; from near Barton Bank

Colliery, there is a branch to Broad Oak Colliery, in length seven furlongs and two chains ;

 

7 Liverpool Albion, September 13th 1830

8 Liverpool Albion, November 1st 1830

9 Liverpool Albion, November 15th, 1830

10 Life of Charles Blacker Vignoles, p144

11 Obituary Robert Dalgleish, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1883 Vol LXXIV p 531

 

4

 

and from the last-mentioned branch there proceeds two collateral branches, one

proceeding northwards to the Sankey Brook Colliery, one furlong and five chains in length,

and another from the same point, in an eastwardly direction, to Ashton's Green Colliery,

being in length two furlongs and six chains. The branch to Ravenhead Plate Glass Works

quits the main line a short distance north of Peaseley Cross, and proceeds in a straight line

 

westwards, across a branch of the Sankey Brook Navigation to the works above-

mentioned, and is in length one mile and six chains; from this last -mentioned branch there

 

proceeds three collateral branches, viz. one by Sutton and Burton Head Collieries to

Dobson's Wood, which is in length six furlongs; another to the St. Helen's Plate Glass

Works, in length one furlong; and another to Messrs. Clare and Haddock's Colliery, in

length one furlong and one chain. From near the termination of the main line near Cowley

Hill, a branch proceeds in a north -eastwardly direction to Rushy Park Colliery, in length

four furlongs and six chains. The main line, as we have already stated , is eight miles and

seven furlongs in length, viz. from the Wet Dock to the Elton Head Colliery Branch, three

miles, five furlongs and five chains; thence to the two branches, communicating north -

eastwardly and north west-wardly with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, one mile,

five furlongs and four chains; thence to where it crosses the Liverpool and Manchester

Railway, one furlong and four chains ; from the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to the

two branches which communicate with it south west-wardly and south eastwardly , one

furlong and one chain ; thence to the Ravenhead Plate Glass Works Branch , one mile and

six furlongs ; from the last-mentioned branch to where the Rushy Park Colliery Branch

leaves the main line, one mile, one furlong and three chains; thence to its termination at

Cowley Hill Colliery, two furlongs and three chains, making the total length eight miles and

seven furlongs. From the wet dock the railway is designed to rise gradually 142 feet in

nearly one equal plane of four miles in length; and the next four furlongs and a half,

terminating at the place called the Clock Face, is level; from this place there is a descent of

70 feet in one mile and five furlongs by a gradual inclination; and from thence to its

termination there is a rise of 18 feet. The Elton Head Branch rises 44 feet in one inclined

plane to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The branch to Dobson's Wood has three

different inclinations, but altogether the rise from the Ravenhead Branch is 34 feet, and

the last-mentioned branch rises 50 feet. The Broad Oak Colliery Branch is nearly level; and

the other remaining branches are of so little moment as scarcely to call for further

description. This work was designed by C. B. Vignoles, Esq. civil engineer, who estimated

the cost at £119,980, which includes the sum of £ 31,620 for the wet dock, and £ 10,900

for contingencies. The act authorizing the execution of the above works received the King's

assent on the 29th May, 1830, and is entitled, ' An Act for making a Railway from the

Cowley Hill Colliery, in the parish of Prescot, to Runcorn Gap, in the same parish, with

several Branches therefrom , all in the county palatine of Lancaster, and ' for constructing a

Wet Dock at the termination of the said Railway at Runcorn Gap aforesaid .' The

subscribers, at the time the bill was in parliament, consisted of forty -one persons, who

were incorporated as ‘The Saint Helen's and Runcorn Gap Railway Company’, with power

to raise amongst themselves, the sum of £ 120,000 , (of which, £ 100,200 was subscribed

before the act was obtained ) in twelve hundred shares of £ 100 each ; and the whole is

directed to be subscribed before the work is commenced . If the above be insufficient, they

may raise by mortgage of the undertaking the further sum of £ 30,000. The act further

directs that the inside edges of the rails shall be 4 feet 8 inches apart, and the outside

edges 5 feet 1 inch ; and that the railway shall not cross the Liverpool and Manchester Rail

way on the same level, but either by a tunnel or by a bridge to be constructed under the

 

5

 

superintendence of the engineer of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and that there

shall be not less than three passing places in every mile.

During 1832 work on building the railway was proceeding with expectation of completion during

1832. The despatch of the ‘Rushey Park’ coal and what was considered a valuable coal for sale.

Through using sailing vessels the traffic could clear the customs house at Runcorn and pass

directly to Ireland. The coal was intended to be loaded directly from railway waggons into boats

which arrived on the morning tide and left by the evening tide.12

Plans for locomotive power were laid out by Charles Vignoles. He requested specifications which

included that the wheels were to be 54 inches in diameter, axles 5 inch diameter, cylinders 13 in x

20 inch stroke, weight with boiler not to exceed 8 tons, the engine to work with coal and the four

wheels to be moved. Boiler to be guaranteed to generate a power of not less than 2500lbs and

velocity of 10 mph, drawing 150 tons including its own weight and that of a tender at a rate of 5

mph up an inclination of 1 in 400. The Horseley Iron Company of Tipton agreed to supply three

locomotives to these specifications at a cheap price of just under £500 each. Their previous history

in engineering had included steam powered boats. It was a new business for them and they

employed Matthew Loam to design them. These 0-4-0 Tender Engines were called Greenall, St

Helens and third may have been called Runcorn.13

This was also a railway where horses were employed for haulage. Bertram Baxter mentions the

several stone block tramways and railways that linked with the Sankey Navigation, but does not

record any details of the St Helens Railway. Wishaw also fails to mention any details of the railway,

but as Vignoles was engineer his particular design of fastening to sleepers was probably adopted

at first and the sleepers were originally stone blocks.

14

 

A major structure was the crossing of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway by a stone bridge with

iron railings, which constructed had after an agreement was made between Vignoles and George

Stephenson, engineer for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. This bridge was later replaced by

an iron girder bridge. An early sandstone stone bridge of 5 arches did remain which used to

convey the turnpike from Liverpool to Warrington over the St Helens railway.

 

12 Gores Liverpool General Advertiser April 12th, 1832

13 A History of Horseley, Tipton two centuries of engineering progress - J S Allen. Landmark Publication 1993

14 Life of Charles Blacker Vignoles, p 145

 

6

The Bridge over the Liverpool & Manchester Railway near Sutton Oak

Vignole’s Stone Bridge was apparently made to a high standard even if the rest of the railway was not.

 

Heartland Press Collection 523911

Opening of the railway was gradually accomplished and for the strict chronologist there must be a

question of when and how many times did occur, the published date of February 21st 1833 was

only one of them. The line between St Helens and St Helen Junction was completed by March

1832 and horse drawn passenger service is stated to have commenced from the First Station at St

Helens to St Helens Junction Railway on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in September 1832.

The first coal traffic to Widnes Dock was made before December 1832 following a wager:

 

St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway

 

On Wednesday last a train of coal waggons started from Broad Oak Collieries on the

Northern Extremities of St Helen’s and Runcorn Gap Railway and passed along the line to

the docks constructing at Runcorn Gap and were discharged into a vessel, which left the

docks on the following tide. Although the waggons travelled along the extreme length of

the line, it is not considered as a general opening, (which however will very shortly take

place), but resulted in a wager between a colliery proprietor and the engineer of the

Sankey Canal- the former gentleman persisting, that it would be possible to convey a vessel

load of coals to the Mersey by this railway before the 1st of December. It is needless to say

that this was accomplished. The train was accompanied by Peter Greenall, esq, the

chairman of the company, Thomas Kidd of Widnes and several other directors of the line

under the direction of George Thornton, the resident engineer of the railway and docks.

These gentlemen were accompanied by the highly respected contractors for the line messr

Nowell, Thornton & Seed together with an number of workmen and the inhabitants in the

neighbourhood of the railway.15

This useful notice names George Thornton as resident engineer for the railway and docks and also

gives the names of the contractors for the railway as Nowell, Thornton & Seed.

Another ‘opening’ was quoted in early January 1833 when a coal train passed onto the Liverpool &

Manchester Railway. Yet the docks remained uncompleted, and during the month of August 1833

 

15 Liverpool Albion December 3rd 1832

 

7

 

seems to be a date for the practical completion of the railway and docks. It was in August that the

railway was announced as completed along with the branch roads to the collieries. It was reported

that the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway has been silently pursuing its operations for the last

two or a little more years and may be said to be now completed and fairly open for business.

During the last month the transit of coals from the collieries in the neighbourhood of St Helens to

the dock at Widnes Marsh has increased and it is uncommon to send down the line and ship

between 400 to 600 tons per day and it is calculated to ship up to 1200 and 1500 tons per day and

the dock can admit vessels of up to 300 tons burden. The locomotives were powerful are capable

of hauling 150 to 200 tons of coal at a time at a speed of from 8 to 10 mph.

16

 

The original locomotive stock was confined to only certain parts of the line through the central

inclines enforcing rope haulage which limited their use. However Vignoles had a clear concern

over the working of the original three Horseley locomotives. He thought that they were complete

failures in the mechanical arrangement, but noted they were cheap engines. In the first week or

two of their working on the railway the railway company seldom had more than one out of the

three at work together, the others being laid up for continual repairs. He did not state this as a

reproach against the Horseley Company, but had concerns that cheap engines do no credit either

to makers or to companies!17

Matthew Loam had by that time left the Horseley Company to work for the Vulcan Foundry at

Newton Le Willows and was replaced at Horseley by Isaac Dodds. It was Dodds that superintended

the construction of another locomotive called either Monarch or Mersey. This locomotive was also

a four coupled tender locomotive but had inside cylinders. Dodds also then was responsible for

building the Star, a 2-2-0 tender locomotive for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, but that

engine did not enter service with them. A collision with another locomotive Caledonia had fatal

consequences for the Horseley Company engine man Ralph Thompson and return of the damaged

locomotive to the makers.

The St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway also chose to purchase three engines made by the London

firm of Braithwaite & Erickson. These were all of the vertical boiler type. The first was the

unsuccessful candidate for the Rainhill Trials, the Novelty, which had been rebuilt by Robert

Dagliesh senior before passing onto the St Helens Railway. The other two were the William IV and

Queen Adelaide who had been also built for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway but were not

taken into stock. The less onerous demands of the St Helens Railway probably ensured their

continued existence and purchase at a cheaper cost assisted the St Helens Railway finances.

Freight traffic continued to increase and remained principally coal, although there was some

return merchandise traffic such as copper ore. In addition to freight traffic also included passenger

coaches attached to freight trains. The passenger traffic was handicapped through the inclines,

however.

 

16 Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser August 16th, 1833

17 A History of Horseley, Tipton two centuries of engineering progress - J S Allen. Report of letter from Vignoles

November 26th 1833

 

8

 

Finance was a clear factor that led to St Helens Railway looking for additional sources of money. In

1834 an act was granted to enable the St Helens Railway to raise additional money (£40,000)

through mortgage.18

Several accidents occurred on both the Widnes and Sutton planes. In 1835 there was a fatal

accident caused through a rope breaking on the Widnes Plane.19

Passengers travelling along the railway, in 1835, was described by Sir George Head in a book

entitled ‘Home Tour Through the Manufacturing Districts of England’ His journey on the line began

with taking the horse drawn carriage from St Helens Junction to the original passenger station at

St Helens where he visited a copper works and a plate glass works:

Being on my way to St. Helens, I was discharged, together with seven or eight other

passengers, from within one of the carriages of the train from Liverpool to Manchester, at

the foot of the Sutton inclined plane, on the railroad, and as the train from Manchester

had not yet made its appearance, we waited here about half an hour. So soon as both

squads of passengers had arrived from either end of the line, we all got into one large

covered vehicle, and were dragged at a foot pace, by a single horse, along the branch

railroad, about a mile in length, that leads to the town. Nothing can afford a more striking

contrast, in point of celerity and convenience to passengers, than these newly - formed

branch railroads with those on a well-established line; neither is this difference a

disparagement to the undertaking but frequently inseparable from an early stage of

proceedings. At all events, the present mode of conveyance was as disagreeable and as

slow as can well be imagined. Large quantities of coal are sent from St. Helens to the banks

of the Mersey by the Sankey Canal, from whose basin, which is of considerable extent, the

vessels enter the river at Runcorn. By the new railroad also numerous coal waggons are

continually despatched in a parallel direction, the proprietors having extensive premises

and a commodious dock- basin adjoining the other, for the convenience of the Liverpool

small craft attending to receive cargoes. A great deal of this coal goes to Ireland.

 

Sir George Head then gave a graphic description of what it was like to travel as a passenger to

Runcorn on the railway:

BRANCH RAILROAD FROM ST. HELENS TO RUNCORN.

It behoves not those people to whom time is of value, to travel by the railroad from St.

Helens to Runcorn; for it by no means follows, that because arrangements have been made

to convey trains of coal-waggons from one end of a line to the other, accidental passengers

are to be equally favoured in their transit. In fact, the transport of passengers on these

branch railroads seems almost altogether a matter of accommodation, which people are

willing to receive, under any restrictions, rather than be left behind; at the same time, it is

worth considering why any undertaking, be it what it may, if not intended to be done well,

is attempted to be done at all. I started from St. Helens on my way to Runcorn by the

railroad, (fortunately one fine afternoon, as the time expended in travelling the eight miles

was very nearly three hours,) in the same vehicle, drawn by one horse, in which I had

18 4 & 5 William IV Cap iii, Act to enlarge the powers and provisions of the St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway

Company, March 26th 1834

19 Evening Chronicle February 15th, 1835

 

9

 

arrived. Having crossed the Liverpool and Manchester line, we had not proceeded more

than a mile and a half, when the driver suddenly pulled up and demanded six pence, the

expense of my conveyance for the part of the distance already performed; I therefore

ventured to ask by what means I was likely to accomplish the remainder. The man replied

that I must wait on the road, where we then were, while he went back to the Liverpool and

Manchester line to wait for the trains and bring more passengers; adding, in a consolatory

tone, he would not be absent more than an hour. I actually waited an hour, plus one

quarter, at the bottom of an inclined plane, which, being surmounted, the carriages

descend the declivity, on the other side, by their own gravity. At the top is a stationary

engine, which draws them up, by help of an endless rope. As the laden carriages are thus

raised, an iron skid is attached to the last, to prevent accident, in case the rope should

chance to break; and a low small carriage follows the laden ones, in which a man sits,

whose sole business is to attend this skid. Arrived at the top of the inclined plane, the man

removes the skid into his own vehicle, and taking charge, at the same time, of a set of

empty carriages, down they go altogether back again à la montagnes Russes. Therefore,

having nothing to do, I amused myself, while waiting for my conveyance, by accompanying

this man a few trips up and down, though a few experiments were quite sufficient, till I

perceived the carriage, on its return from its expedition, crawling slowly along towards the

bottom of the inclined plane, where it was taken in charge by the dragsman, and being

detached from the horse, was fixed behind a train of laden coal waggons, and drawn to the

top. Not a single passenger had arrived from the Liverpool and Manchester trains, so that

the delay (of some importance at least as far as regarded numerous coal waggons some

time since ready to proceed to Runcorn) was to no purpose. A heavy-looking old man now

took charge, and commenced business by demanding nine pence, the remainder of my

fare to Runcorn. Under this person's guardianship, it was necessary to descend the inclined

plane, which was not altogether agreeable, as some consequence is to be attached to the

management of the brake, the only countervailing power, on the occasion, to the impulse

of gravity; and somehow or other, I had an apprehension that this old man would run us

down too fast. However, as it happened in the result, though fault there was, it was on the

opposite side, for he went down too slow. The engine- man, instead of taking the vehicle,

as is usual, in tow to follow in the rear, proposed instead to place it in front, and so, as it

were , dragging after him a heavy train of laden coal waggons, push it, or rather kick it

along ; and matters being thus disposed, we began to descend the declivity. The carriage

was a sort of hermaphrodite vehicle, one part open and the other closed. I took my station

in the open part, which was behind, so that, as I sat with my back to the direction of our

motion, I had a full view of everything that followed on the line, particularly of our engine

and its train of coal waggons, which had halted at the top, in order to allow the old

gentleman in charge sufficient time to get down. In short, as we descended the declivity,

my face was in the same direction as that of an outside passenger who sits behind with his

back to the stage- coach. The engine-man having given the other what he imagined all

necessary law, and underrating the celerity of his own movement, in the meantime came

trundling along down the hill after us at a winning pace. I immediately saw that collision

was inevitable, and a tremendous thump we got from the huge body, weighing at least

forty tons, that followed in our wake, and impinged upon us with such force that, no

matter what became of the old man, I having miscalculated in a hurry the direction of the

impulse, though not in the least hurt, was thrown violently out of my seat. We were now

taken in tow, for a short distance, by a second engine, after which it became necessary to

walk a mile and a half from the railway station to the Mersey, and, finally, with

 

10

 

considerable delay, to cross that river at the established ferry, previously to our arrival at

the town of Runcorn.

At this time the St Helens & Runcorn Gap Railway concentrated on the freight traffic and those

who chose to use the limited passenger accommodation did so with considerable inconvenience.

For this company the next important step was to find a suitable manager for the railway, during

1837 they advertised for a person, or persons, to work the traffic.

To engineers, contractors and others

 

The directors of the St Helens and Runcorn gap railway are willing to contract for the

proper and efficient working of the road for one two or three years from January 1st 1838

The road is seven miles in extent with several branches to several collieries. It requires six

strong locomotives to be kept in good working condition

Tenders to be sent on or before Saturday October 14th

Harmood Banner, treasurer

Harrington Chambers, New John Street, Liverpool

27th September 1837

20

 

That position was taken by Robert Dagliesh Junior and John Smith who had this role through to

1848. They also had an engine factory and locomotive establishment at Sutton near the junction

with the branch to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The inherited stock of 6 locomotives, in

1838, were maintained and reconstructed by Dagliesh and probably even after 1848 at the original

Sutton Works. Nine locomotives were reported on the railway at the time of the Gauge

Commissioners reports of 1846.

 

Engine Manufactory at Sutton

The factory was placed between the main line and branch to St Helens Junction Station

 

Reproduced from the 6 in Ordnance survey map 108 surveyed in 1846 & 1847

Coal traffic continued to increase, but a strike by colliers did affect trade in 1844. There was also a

determination to improve passenger traffic. In 1844 the directors chose to purchase the Sankey

Brook Navigation. Following the act of 184521 that sanctioned the purchase and merger of

interests. Serious competition for traffic had affected both the prosperity of the railway and the

 

20 Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser September 29th 1837

21 8

th and 9 Vict, 21st May 1845

 

11

 

navigation and the purchase of the navigation proved to be one of mutual benefit and enabled the

railway to gather finance to progress.

The name of the company was changed to the St Helens Railway & Canal Company. Further

railway extensions were planned which were also authorised by parliament. At the same time

authority to reduce the inclines was given. Work began with the Sutton Incline and then the

Widnes Incline was reduced and those changes made through locomotive working between St

Helens and Widnes possible. Passenger traffic increased in consequence.

John Meadow Rendel, engineer, was consulted on improving Widnes docks and the inclines, and

the company then decided to purchase land at Garston to make new docks, build a sea wall and

reclaim part of the river bed.22

There also followed a considerable period of railway expansion. In 1846 preparations were made

for a railway from Runcorn Gap (Widnes) to Garston Docks, 73⁄4 miles long. The application of 1847

was for a railway to Blackrock and Warrington and included the reduction of the inclines led to an

act in July that year:

Act for the St Helens Railway and Canal Company to make branch railways to Warrington

and Blackbrook and to make certain alterations in the railway and also to take lease of

Rainford Branch from the London & North Western Railway.23

Sutton incline reduction was completed at a cost of £12,000.24 By the Annual Meeting of 1849,

Gilbert Greenall had replaced Peter Greenall as Chairman and with profits increasing the

accumulated fund had reached £9513 and an additional calls on shares was made. The contract

for the Blackbrook Branch was let and was expected to be completed by October 1849. The

contract had been let to reduce the Widnes Incline, make a branch railway to Royal Colliery and

for a short extension at St Helens.25

December 1849 marked the completion, and opening, of the ‘Short Extension’ at St Helens which

was in fact the completion of the railway from the original passenger station to a new passenger

terminus. The initial inspection by the Board of Trade found an incomplete railway.

ST HELENS EXTENSION

Railway Commissioners' Office, October 27, 1849

To Capt. Harness, R.E

Sir, I have the honour to report to you, for the information of the Commissioners, that on

Thursday, the 25th instant, I inspected the extension of the St. Helen's Railway into the

town of St. Helen's. The length of this extension is 214 chains. It has been constructed

without any authority from Parliament, on land belonging to the Company. The line crosses

no public road, but there is one private road and a colliery tramway, which it crosses by

 

22 A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, volume 10, the North West. Geoffrey Holt, David and

Charles 1978 p 62

23 Cap CCLXXI 1847

24 Liverpool Albion March 19th 1849

25 Sun, London ,August 3rd 1849

 

12

 

level-crossings, with the consent, as I am informed, of the parties concerned. The whole

extension is on an embankment, formed of ashes and cinders from neighbouring factorie;

the material appears to stand very well. The line crosses the Sutton Brook by a stone arch

of a semi-circular form, 14 feet in span. It also crosses the Sankey Canal, which belongs to

the Railway Company, by a swivel bridge. I believe both these bridges to be sufficiently

strong ; and I do not anticipate any difficulty in the working of the swivel- bridge, for both

railway and canal are under the same direction ; and the Company's regulations are, that

the bridge shall always be set for the trains, and only opened for boats at times when no

trains are expected, and after signals shall have been made to stop any unexpected train

that might arrive. The station arrangements at the new terminus are not yet complete;

neither platform nor signals being ready. At the swivel- bridge, also, the signal is not yet in

place. The permanent way is not properly adjusted. At the junction with the old line, the

plans sent to this department show a curve of 74 chains radius; but on going over the line

it appeared to me that a much sharper curve had in some places been used; and, on taking

measurements to ascertain the true radius, I found that at one place it was under 3 chains.

I attribute this, however, not to any intention of laying out such a sharp curve, but to haste,

or a want of proper attention to preserve the uniformity of the one intended. The rail used

weighs 65 lb. to the yard. This is a light rail, but the traffic will not be heavy, and the speed

will necessarily be slow. It is laid in 16 feet lengths, with cross-sleepers 4 feet apart - a wide

bearing for such a light rail. The fencing of the line is incomplete, one side being wholly

uncovered. The road level crossing only provided with gate one side only

I am of the opinion that before this extension can be opened for safety for public traffic it

will be necessary,

1. To re- adjust the permanent way.

2. To complete the station arrangements at the new terminus.

3. To place signals at the terminus, and at the swivel- bridge.

4. To complete the fencing

5. To put a second gate to the private level -crossing.

I would therefore recommend that the opening of this extension be postponed ; as, in my

opinion, it would at present be attended with danger to the public, by reason of the

incompleteness of the works, and of the permanent way. In conclusion, I beg to inform you

that, in going over the old portion of the St. Helen's Railway, from the junction with the

North Western Railway to the old terminus at St. Helen's, I remarked that the permanent

way was in very bad order, and that some of the junctions with the coal- lines were

effected in a very rough way, by means of shifting rails. I am of opinion that a line for

passenger traffic should not be allowed to remain in such a state, I have, &c,

R. M. LAFFAN , &c . & c. Capt. Royal Engineers.

 

Such a report led to general improvements and the opening on December 18th 1849, but is a

reflection of how much that was required to be done to the railway on a general basis.

The line to Garston was opened for traffic on July 1st 1852 as far as Garston passenger station and

from there coach transfer was made available to Liverpool. In August 1852 the Board of Trade

authorised the remaining section to be opened to Garston Docks, but the Docks were not finished

until June 1853, when freight traffic commenced. The railway was opened from Runcorn Gap to

 

13

 

Warrington (White Cross) 53⁄4 miles on February 1st 1853 and was completed to Warrington Arpley,

2 miles, in 1854. Rendell is stated to be the engineer26 and a Mr Court the resident engineer.

27

 

Such work was considered important to the Board of Trade as is explained in the following report:

To Captain Galton RE

Manchester, August 30, 1852.

I HAVE the honour to report to you, for the information of the Lords of the Committee of

Privy Council for Trade, that I this day inspected the Garston branch of the St. Helen's

Railway. This branch commences at its junction with the Warrington branch of the same

railway (which is now in the course of construction), a few chains to the eastward of the St.

Helen's and Runcorn Gap Railway; it then crosses the latter railway on the level, and also

forms a junction with it, and runs westward to a new dock the St. Helen's Company are

constructing at Garston, about four miles higher up the river than the Liverpool docks. The

length of the branch is 7 miles and 35 chains, of which 20 chains lie to the eastward of the

junction with the St. Helen's and Runcorn Gap line. Captain Wynne, in his report dated

28th June last, stated, that the portion of the branch included between the junction with

the St. Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway and a point eighteen chains eastward of the

Garston terminus was in a fit state to be opened with safety for the conveyance of

passengers , but that the portion to the eastward of the point of junction with the St.

Helen's and Runcorn Gap Railway, as also the other portion extending eighteen chains to

the eastward of the Garston terminus, could not, from the incompleteness of the

permanent way, be opened with safety to the public. I have the honour to inform you that

the portion extending eighteen chains to the eastward of the Garston terminus is now

complete in every respect affecting the safety of the public, and can therefore be opened

at once. With reference to that portion which lies to the eastward of the point of junction

with the St. Helen's and Runcorn Gap Railway, I have the honour to report to you that it

would be useless to the Company to open it till the Warrington branch, with which it forms

a connecting link, is completed; and I forward herewith a letter from the secretary of the

company withdrawing all notice as to the opening of that portion of the Garston branch.

The secretary informs me that it is the intention of the Company to send fresh notices in

the place of those now withdrawn, at the same time that notices are sent of the intention

to open the Warrington branch. The Garston branch and the Warrington branch of the St.

Helen's Railway are far more important lines of communication than might be supposed

from their designations. Another company, in close alliance with the St. Helen's, are about

to construct that portion of the Lancashire and Cheshire Junction line which lies between

Warrington and Altrincham, and which had been abandoned by the latter company ; and

then the Manchester and Altrincham Railway, the Altrincham and Warrington, and the

Warrington and Garston branches of the St. Helen's Railway will afford an excellent line of

communication between Manchester and the St. Helen's Company's new dock on the

Mersey . The dock covers at present six acres of ground, with a depth of water at the

entrance of from sixteen to twenty feet at high tides; and from the facilities the Company

will have it in their power to afford, in consequence of the unity of management between

26 A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, volume 10, the North West. Geoffrey Holt, David and

Charles 1978 p86

27 Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser August 3rd, 1852

 

14

 

the docks and the line, as also from the absence of dock dues, it is probable that this may

become a favourite line of communication between the manufacturing districts and the

shipping of the Mersey. In inspecting the Warrington branch it might be advisable to bear

this in mind, and consider it, not as a mere branch of a secondary line, but as a link in what

will most probably become an important line of communication.

I have, & c..

R. M. LAFFAN Capt. Royal Engineer

Permission to open the line to the joint station at Warrington was given in April 1854

SAINT HELEN'S CANAL AND RAILWAY

Railway Department, Board of Trade,

April 24, 1854.

SIR, I HAVE the honour to acquaint you, for the information of the Lords of the Committee

of Privy Council for Trade, that I have inspected a portion of the St. Helen's Railway

extending from a point near the temporary station at Warrington to the permanent station

at the same place, which is a joint station with the Warrington and Stockport Railway. The

length of the new portion is 45-75 chains. I am of opinion that the double line of rails

above described may be opened without danger to the public using the same.

I am , &c. GEORGE WYNNE, Railway Department, Board of Trade. Captain Royal Engineers.

This was perhaps most successful period of independent operation. Arthur Sinclair was secretary

and superintendent of the St Helens railway and from 1854 James Cross was appointed engineer

and had responsibility for maintaining both canal and railway. He is noted for his role in the

locomotive department. Cross chose to move engine making and repair to a new location at

Sutton with new works there constructed between 1857 and 1858.28 Cross was responsible for the

construction of some innovative and powerful locomotives built the work the railway.

The last extension was through to Rainford, which although powers had been obtained to make

the extension these were allowed to lapse. During 1853 the East Lancashire Railway was

considering making a line from their Ormskirk branch to Rainford and St Helens. The St Helens

Canal & Railway Company chose to apply for branch to Rainford to meet the East Lancashire

Railway. Such work was authorised and proceeded during 1857 with parts from Gerards Bridge to

the East Lancashire Railway ready to receive the permanent way and work on the line from

Gerards Bridge to St Helens proceeding.

29

 

An application for an act to make a railway from Garston to Liverpool had been planned for the

1858 session of parliament but that bill did not proceed to royal assent instead a gradual working

agreement between the LNWR and St Helens Canal & Railway was contemplated. The act

authorised for a railway between Edge Hill and Garston was for the LNWR to complete and in 1860

there followed the London and North-western and Saint Helen's Railway Companies

(Arrangements) Act, 1860. The Saint Helen's Company were required to grant to the London and

North Western Railway Company a Lease for 21 Years of that portion of their undertaking which

consisted of the Railway between Warrington and Garston, such Lease being renewable and

 

28 A Merseyside town in the industrial revolution; St Helens, Theodore Caldwell Barker and John Raymond Harris

1993

29 Herepath Journal August 29th, 1857

 

15

 

renewed on the same Terms and Conditions as between the Two Companies themselves

indefinitely, subject however to the Sanction of Parliament.

The independent existence of the St Helens Railway & Canal Company finally came to an end from

July 1st 186430 when the St Helens Railway and Canal Co was taken over by the London & North

Western Railway. No complete list of locomotives has been produced for the railway, but the

acquisition of engines second hand with rebuilding and reconstruction an important part of the

operation. Apart from engines made at either Sutton works other locomotives were made by

Fairbarn, and Sharp, Stewart & Co.

For the St Helens company it was a remarkable transformation from being an early public railway

principally used for coal traffic and shares of little value to a profitable and expanding concern that

served the industries around St Helens, Warrington and Widnes. Some historians even have

dismissed the role of the company in early railway development as the line was handicapped

through finance and poor track and locomotive standards, but their dogged determination to

improve and progress is an important fact in their favour. Their decision to purchase and work a

rival navigation was one that proved profitable for both canal and railway operations. It must also

rank as one of the earliest purchases of a canal by a railway company

From an engineering view point the line was made at a cost effective price by Charles Blacker

Vignoles, Robert Dalgliesh Junior had a role in railway and locomotive stock improvement and J M

Rendell apparently used his considerable engineering experience to improve the railway. Then

there was James Cross who also contributed to the railway in the final years of its independent

existence and then went onto to build innovative locomotive engines such as early Fairlie

locomotives at the Sutton Oak Works (1864-1869).

 

The text is copyright and courtesy of Ray Shill and the RC&HS dated 29 July 2022

From my first ever roll of film developed at home. Feels a bit too contrasty to me, just based on what the negatives look like, but I didn't do the scanning, so that could have something to do with it.

 

Canon Elan 7, 50mm f1.8 stm, Ilford HP5+ at iso400, 510-Pyro Semi-stand for 18:00

Indication: Proceed.