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 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.

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.

This is a map of the north pole of the Moon that shows hydrogen signatures -- possible indications of water in the form of ice or hydrated minerals. Both poles are shown in this larger image:

www.nasa.gov/images/content/230730main_neutron_lunar_pole...

 

This is the original article:

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/searchforwater/index.html

 

Caption: "The dark blue and purple areas at the moons poles indicate neutron emissions that are consistent with hydrogen-rich deposits covered by dessicated regolith. These hydrogen signatures are possible indications of water in the form of ice or hydrated minerals. (Feldman et al., Science, 281, 1496, 1998.)

 

Just like on Earth, water will be a crucial resource on the moon. Transporting water and other goods from Earth to the moon’s surface is expensive. Finding natural resources, such as water ice, on the moon could help expedite lunar exploration. The LCROSS mission will search for water, using information learned from the Clementine and Lunar Prospector missions.

 

By going to the moon for extended periods of time, a new generation of explorers will learn how to work safely in a harsh environment. A lunar outpost is a stepping stone to future exploration of other bodies in our solar system. The moon also offers many clues about when the planets were formed."

 

Image credit: NASA

 

Learn more about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) :

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/main/index.html

 

Learn more about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS):

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/index.html

 

Follow the "New Moon Missions" blog from NASA:

blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/moon_missions/

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.

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.

Standard 1980s CTC signalling in NSW. Entry to the main line or loop at a crossing location, when the starting signal is at stop, is usually on a "low speed" indication with a stencil route display (normally "M" for main or "L" for loop). Low speed is a subsidiary indication which advises that the next signal is at stop, and that it should be approached with extra caution because the line immediately beyond may be obstructed (no overlap).

 

The up home at Robertson is cleared for the Cockatoo Run to proceed into the station. The route indicator is barely visible in the low sunlight.

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.

  

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.

The Twenty-ninth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from May 27 to May 31, 2013.

 

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

Milecastle 12 (Heddon) was a milecastle of the Roman Hadrian's Wall. Its remains lay under Town Farm, Heddon-on-the-Wall, (just opposite the farm house) with nothing visible on the surface.

 

Construction

Milecastle 12 is of unknown axis and gateway types.

 

Excavations and investigations

circa 1746 - During construction of the Military Road, two inscriptions were discovered (presumed to be from the Heddon-on-the-Wall area). These attest rebuilding work by the Legio VI Victrix. One reads "LEG·VI·V·P·F·REF·TER·ET·SAC·COS", referring to Tertullus and Sacerdos (Consuls for 158AD).

1752 – A large hoard of coins in wooden boxes is found here.

1820 – A small hoard of coins is found near here. These comprise coins from Emperor Maximian (286 – 305 AD) to Emperor Arcadius (383 – 408 AD).

1926 – The north gate is recorded as having been found.

1928–29 – A further search is made, without success.

1966 – English Heritage Field Investigation. It was noted that there were no surface indications from which the site could be established, and the area was largely covered by modern farm buildings.

1989 – English Heritage Field Investigation. It was noted that there was no surface trace of the milecastle, though its exact position is unknown.

Associated turrets

Each milecastle on Hadrian's Wall had two associated turret structures. These turrets were positioned approximately one-third and two-thirds of a Roman mile to the west of the Milecastle, and would probably have been manned by part of the milecastle's garrison. The turrets associated with Milecastle 12 are known as Turret 12A and Turret 12B.

 

Turret 12A

Turret 12A (Heddon West) is located beside (and mainly beneath) the B6318 Military Road a short distance West North West of Heddon-on-the-Wall. No surface traces are currently visible.

 

The turret was located in 1928 as 548 yards (501 m) west of Milecastle 12. This location was confirmed by a partial excavation in 1930. It was found that the walls were reduced to ground level beyond the edge of the roadway, but had the same plan as Turret 12B. However, the platform (which occupied the South side of the interior of Turrets 12B and 13A), was too badly robbed for any trace to remain. The mortared walls were recorded as 1.22 metres (4.0 ft) thick, with the doorway lying to the east.

Location on Ordnance Survey 1:25 000 map: 54.998174°N 1.797620°W

 

Turret 12B

Turret 12B (North Lodge) is located beside the Military Road (at a point where the B6318 is diverted away from it, but it still exists as a narrow metaled track). It was located in 1928, 543 yards from Turret 12a and 529 yards from Milecastle 13. It was excavated in 1930, and found to be almost identical in plan to Turret 12A. The platform was rectangular and occupied the south side of the interior.

Location on Ordnance Survey 1:25 000 map: 54.999264°N 1.805243°W

 

Monument records

MonumentMonument NumberEnglish Heritage Archive Number

Milecastle 1222775NZ 16 NW 3

Turret 12A22778NZ 16 NW 4

Turret 12B22781NZ 16 NW 5

  

Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of Britannia after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410.

 

Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC as part of his Gallic Wars. According to Caesar, the Britons had been overrun or culturally assimilated by the Belgae during the British Iron Age and had been aiding Caesar's enemies. The Belgae were the only Celtic tribe to cross the sea into Britain, for to all other Celtic tribes this land was unknown. He received tribute, installed the friendly king Mandubracius over the Trinovantes, and returned to Gaul. Planned invasions under Augustus were called off in 34, 27, and 25 BC. In 40 AD, Caligula assembled 200,000 men at the Channel on the continent, only to have them gather seashells (musculi) according to Suetonius, perhaps as a symbolic gesture to proclaim Caligula's victory over the sea. Three years later, Claudius directed four legions to invade Britain and restore the exiled king Verica over the Atrebates. The Romans defeated the Catuvellauni, and then organized their conquests as the province of Britain. By 47 AD, the Romans held the lands southeast of the Fosse Way. Control over Wales was delayed by reverses and the effects of Boudica's uprising, but the Romans expanded steadily northward.

 

The conquest of Britain continued under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola (77–84), who expanded the Roman Empire as far as Caledonia. In mid-84 AD, Agricola faced the armies of the Caledonians, led by Calgacus, at the Battle of Mons Graupius. Battle casualties were estimated by Tacitus to be upwards of 10,000 on the Caledonian side and about 360 on the Roman side. The bloodbath at Mons Graupius concluded the forty-year conquest of Britain, a period that possibly saw between 100,000 and 250,000 Britons killed. In the context of pre-industrial warfare and of a total population of Britain of c. 2 million, these are very high figures.

 

Under the 2nd-century emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, two walls were built to defend the Roman province from the Caledonians, whose realms in the Scottish Highlands were never controlled. Around 197 AD, the Severan Reforms divided Britain into two provinces: Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. During the Diocletian Reforms, at the end of the 3rd century, Britannia was divided into four provinces under the direction of a vicarius, who administered the Diocese of the Britains. A fifth province, Valentia, is attested in the later 4th century. For much of the later period of the Roman occupation, Britannia was subject to barbarian invasions and often came under the control of imperial usurpers and imperial pretenders. The final Roman withdrawal from Britain occurred around 410; the native kingdoms are considered to have formed Sub-Roman Britain after that.

 

Following the conquest of the Britons, a distinctive Romano-British culture emerged as the Romans introduced improved agriculture, urban planning, industrial production, and architecture. The Roman goddess Britannia became the female personification of Britain. After the initial invasions, Roman historians generally only mention Britain in passing. Thus, most present knowledge derives from archaeological investigations and occasional epigraphic evidence lauding the Britannic achievements of an emperor. Roman citizens settled in Britain from many parts of the Empire.

 

History

Britain was known to the Classical world. The Greeks, the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians traded for Cornish tin in the 4th century BC. The Greeks referred to the Cassiterides, or "tin islands", and placed them near the west coast of Europe. The Carthaginian sailor Himilco is said to have visited the island in the 6th or 5th century BC and the Greek explorer Pytheas in the 4th. It was regarded as a place of mystery, with some writers refusing to believe it existed.

 

The first direct Roman contact was when Julius Caesar undertook two expeditions in 55 and 54 BC, as part of his conquest of Gaul, believing the Britons were helping the Gallic resistance. The first expedition was more a reconnaissance than a full invasion and gained a foothold on the coast of Kent but was unable to advance further because of storm damage to the ships and a lack of cavalry. Despite the military failure, it was a political success, with the Roman Senate declaring a 20-day public holiday in Rome to honour the unprecedented achievement of obtaining hostages from Britain and defeating Belgic tribes on returning to the continent.

 

The second invasion involved a substantially larger force and Caesar coerced or invited many of the native Celtic tribes to pay tribute and give hostages in return for peace. A friendly local king, Mandubracius, was installed, and his rival, Cassivellaunus, was brought to terms. Hostages were taken, but historians disagree over whether any tribute was paid after Caesar returned to Gaul.

 

Caesar conquered no territory and left no troops behind, but he established clients and brought Britain into Rome's sphere of influence. Augustus planned invasions in 34, 27 and 25 BC, but circumstances were never favourable, and the relationship between Britain and Rome settled into one of diplomacy and trade. Strabo, writing late in Augustus's reign, claimed that taxes on trade brought in more annual revenue than any conquest could. Archaeology shows that there was an increase in imported luxury goods in southeastern Britain. Strabo also mentions British kings who sent embassies to Augustus, and Augustus's own Res Gestae refers to two British kings he received as refugees. When some of Tiberius's ships were carried to Britain in a storm during his campaigns in Germany in 16 AD, they came back with tales of monsters.

 

Rome appears to have encouraged a balance of power in southern Britain, supporting two powerful kingdoms: the Catuvellauni, ruled by the descendants of Tasciovanus, and the Atrebates, ruled by the descendants of Commius. This policy was followed until 39 or 40 AD, when Caligula received an exiled member of the Catuvellaunian dynasty and planned an invasion of Britain that collapsed in farcical circumstances before it left Gaul. When Claudius successfully invaded in 43 AD, it was in aid of another fugitive British ruler, Verica of the Atrebates.

 

Roman invasion

The invasion force in 43 AD was led by Aulus Plautius,[26] but it is unclear how many legions were sent. The Legio II Augusta, commanded by future emperor Vespasian, was the only one directly attested to have taken part. The Legio IX Hispana, the XIV Gemina (later styled Martia Victrix) and the XX (later styled Valeria Victrix) are known to have served during the Boudican Revolt of 60/61, and were probably there since the initial invasion. This is not certain because the Roman army was flexible, with units being moved around whenever necessary. The IX Hispana may have been permanently stationed, with records showing it at Eboracum (York) in 71 and on a building inscription there dated 108, before being destroyed in the east of the Empire, possibly during the Bar Kokhba revolt.

 

The invasion was delayed by a troop mutiny until an imperial freedman persuaded them to overcome their fear of crossing the Ocean and campaigning beyond the limits of the known world. They sailed in three divisions, and probably landed at Richborough in Kent; at least part of the force may have landed near Fishbourne, West Sussex.

 

The Catuvellauni and their allies were defeated in two battles: the first, assuming a Richborough landing, on the river Medway, the second on the river Thames. One of their leaders, Togodumnus, was killed, but his brother Caratacus survived to continue resistance elsewhere. Plautius halted at the Thames and sent for Claudius, who arrived with reinforcements, including artillery and elephants, for the final march to the Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum (Colchester). Vespasian subdued the southwest, Cogidubnus was set up as a friendly king of several territories, and treaties were made with tribes outside direct Roman control.

 

Establishment of Roman rule

After capturing the south of the island, the Romans turned their attention to what is now Wales. The Silures, Ordovices and Deceangli remained implacably opposed to the invaders and for the first few decades were the focus of Roman military attention, despite occasional minor revolts among Roman allies like the Brigantes and the Iceni. The Silures were led by Caratacus, and he carried out an effective guerrilla campaign against Governor Publius Ostorius Scapula. Finally, in 51, Ostorius lured Caratacus into a set-piece battle and defeated him. The British leader sought refuge among the Brigantes, but their queen, Cartimandua, proved her loyalty by surrendering him to the Romans. He was brought as a captive to Rome, where a dignified speech he made during Claudius's triumph persuaded the emperor to spare his life. The Silures were still not pacified, and Cartimandua's ex-husband Venutius replaced Caratacus as the most prominent leader of British resistance.

 

On Nero's accession, Roman Britain extended as far north as Lindum. Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, the conqueror of Mauretania (modern day Algeria and Morocco), then became governor of Britain, and in 60 and 61 he moved against Mona (Anglesey) to settle accounts with Druidism once and for all. Paulinus led his army across the Menai Strait and massacred the Druids and burnt their sacred groves.

 

While Paulinus was campaigning in Mona, the southeast of Britain rose in revolt under the leadership of Boudica. She was the widow of the recently deceased king of the Iceni, Prasutagus. The Roman historian Tacitus reports that Prasutagus had left a will leaving half his kingdom to Nero in the hope that the remainder would be left untouched. He was wrong. When his will was enforced, Rome[clarification needed] responded by violently seizing the tribe's lands in full. Boudica protested. In consequence, Rome[clarification needed] punished her and her daughters by flogging and rape. In response, the Iceni, joined by the Trinovantes, destroyed the Roman colony at Camulodunum (Colchester) and routed the part of the IXth Legion that was sent to relieve it. Paulinus rode to London (then called Londinium), the rebels' next target, but concluded it could not be defended. Abandoned, it was destroyed, as was Verulamium (St. Albans). Between seventy and eighty thousand people are said to have been killed in the three cities. But Paulinus regrouped with two of the three legions still available to him, chose a battlefield, and, despite being outnumbered by more than twenty to one, defeated the rebels in the Battle of Watling Street. Boudica died not long afterwards, by self-administered poison or by illness. During this time, the Emperor Nero considered withdrawing Roman forces from Britain altogether.

 

There was further turmoil in 69, the "Year of the Four Emperors". As civil war raged in Rome, weak governors were unable to control the legions in Britain, and Venutius of the Brigantes seized his chance. The Romans had previously defended Cartimandua against him, but this time were unable to do so. Cartimandua was evacuated, and Venutius was left in control of the north of the country. After Vespasian secured the empire, his first two appointments as governor, Quintus Petillius Cerialis and Sextus Julius Frontinus, took on the task of subduing the Brigantes and Silures respectively.[38] Frontinus extended Roman rule to all of South Wales, and initiated exploitation of the mineral resources, such as the gold mines at Dolaucothi.

 

In the following years, the Romans conquered more of the island, increasing the size of Roman Britain. Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola, father-in-law to the historian Tacitus, conquered the Ordovices in 78. With the XX Valeria Victrix legion, Agricola defeated the Caledonians in 84 at the Battle of Mons Graupius, in north-east Scotland. This was the high-water mark of Roman territory in Britain: shortly after his victory, Agricola was recalled from Britain back to Rome, and the Romans initially retired to a more defensible line along the Forth–Clyde isthmus, freeing soldiers badly needed along other frontiers.

 

For much of the history of Roman Britain, a large number of soldiers were garrisoned on the island. This required that the emperor station a trusted senior man as governor of the province. As a result, many future emperors served as governors or legates in this province, including Vespasian, Pertinax, and Gordian I.

 

Roman military organisation in the north

In 84 AD

In 84 AD

 

In 155 AD

In 155 AD

 

Hadrian's Wall, and Antonine Wall

There is no historical source describing the decades that followed Agricola's recall. Even the name of his replacement is unknown. Archaeology has shown that some Roman forts south of the Forth–Clyde isthmus were rebuilt and enlarged; others appear to have been abandoned. By 87 the frontier had been consolidated on the Stanegate. Roman coins and pottery have been found circulating at native settlement sites in the Scottish Lowlands in the years before 100, indicating growing Romanisation. Some of the most important sources for this era are the writing tablets from the fort at Vindolanda in Northumberland, mostly dating to 90–110. These tablets provide evidence for the operation of a Roman fort at the edge of the Roman Empire, where officers' wives maintained polite society while merchants, hauliers and military personnel kept the fort operational and supplied.

 

Around 105 there appears to have been a serious setback at the hands of the tribes of the Picts: several Roman forts were destroyed by fire, with human remains and damaged armour at Trimontium (at modern Newstead, in SE Scotland) indicating hostilities at least at that site.[citation needed] There is also circumstantial evidence that auxiliary reinforcements were sent from Germany, and an unnamed British war of the period is mentioned on the gravestone of a tribune of Cyrene. Trajan's Dacian Wars may have led to troop reductions in the area or even total withdrawal followed by slighting of the forts by the Picts rather than an unrecorded military defeat. The Romans were also in the habit of destroying their own forts during an orderly withdrawal, in order to deny resources to an enemy. In either case, the frontier probably moved south to the line of the Stanegate at the Solway–Tyne isthmus around this time.

 

A new crisis occurred at the beginning of Hadrian's reign): a rising in the north which was suppressed by Quintus Pompeius Falco. When Hadrian reached Britannia on his famous tour of the Roman provinces around 120, he directed an extensive defensive wall, known to posterity as Hadrian's Wall, to be built close to the line of the Stanegate frontier. Hadrian appointed Aulus Platorius Nepos as governor to undertake this work who brought the Legio VI Victrix legion with him from Germania Inferior. This replaced the famous Legio IX Hispana, whose disappearance has been much discussed. Archaeology indicates considerable political instability in Scotland during the first half of the 2nd century, and the shifting frontier at this time should be seen in this context.

 

In the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–161) the Hadrianic border was briefly extended north to the Forth–Clyde isthmus, where the Antonine Wall was built around 142 following the military reoccupation of the Scottish lowlands by a new governor, Quintus Lollius Urbicus.

 

The first Antonine occupation of Scotland ended as a result of a further crisis in 155–157, when the Brigantes revolted. With limited options to despatch reinforcements, the Romans moved their troops south, and this rising was suppressed by Governor Gnaeus Julius Verus. Within a year the Antonine Wall was recaptured, but by 163 or 164 it was abandoned. The second occupation was probably connected with Antoninus's undertakings to protect the Votadini or his pride in enlarging the empire, since the retreat to the Hadrianic frontier occurred not long after his death when a more objective strategic assessment of the benefits of the Antonine Wall could be made. The Romans did not entirely withdraw from Scotland at this time: the large fort at Newstead was maintained along with seven smaller outposts until at least 180.

 

During the twenty-year period following the reversion of the frontier to Hadrian's Wall in 163/4, Rome was concerned with continental issues, primarily problems in the Danubian provinces. Increasing numbers of hoards of buried coins in Britain at this time indicate that peace was not entirely achieved. Sufficient Roman silver has been found in Scotland to suggest more than ordinary trade, and it is likely that the Romans were reinforcing treaty agreements by paying tribute to their implacable enemies, the Picts.

 

In 175, a large force of Sarmatian cavalry, consisting of 5,500 men, arrived in Britannia, probably to reinforce troops fighting unrecorded uprisings. In 180, Hadrian's Wall was breached by the Picts and the commanding officer or governor was killed there in what Cassius Dio described as the most serious war of the reign of Commodus. Ulpius Marcellus was sent as replacement governor and by 184 he had won a new peace, only to be faced with a mutiny from his own troops. Unhappy with Marcellus's strictness, they tried to elect a legate named Priscus as usurper governor; he refused, but Marcellus was lucky to leave the province alive. The Roman army in Britannia continued its insubordination: they sent a delegation of 1,500 to Rome to demand the execution of Tigidius Perennis, a Praetorian prefect who they felt had earlier wronged them by posting lowly equites to legate ranks in Britannia. Commodus met the party outside Rome and agreed to have Perennis killed, but this only made them feel more secure in their mutiny.

 

The future emperor Pertinax (lived 126–193) was sent to Britannia to quell the mutiny and was initially successful in regaining control, but a riot broke out among the troops. Pertinax was attacked and left for dead, and asked to be recalled to Rome, where he briefly succeeded Commodus as emperor in 192.

 

3rd century

The death of Commodus put into motion a series of events which eventually led to civil war. Following the short reign of Pertinax, several rivals for the emperorship emerged, including Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus. The latter was the new governor of Britannia, and had seemingly won the natives over after their earlier rebellions; he also controlled three legions, making him a potentially significant claimant. His sometime rival Severus promised him the title of Caesar in return for Albinus's support against Pescennius Niger in the east. Once Niger was neutralised, Severus turned on his ally in Britannia; it is likely that Albinus saw he would be the next target and was already preparing for war.

 

Albinus crossed to Gaul in 195, where the provinces were also sympathetic to him, and set up at Lugdunum. Severus arrived in February 196, and the ensuing battle was decisive. Albinus came close to victory, but Severus's reinforcements won the day, and the British governor committed suicide. Severus soon purged Albinus's sympathisers and perhaps confiscated large tracts of land in Britain as punishment. Albinus had demonstrated the major problem posed by Roman Britain. In order to maintain security, the province required the presence of three legions, but command of these forces provided an ideal power base for ambitious rivals. Deploying those legions elsewhere would strip the island of its garrison, leaving the province defenceless against uprisings by the native Celtic tribes and against invasion by the Picts and Scots.

 

The traditional view is that northern Britain descended into anarchy during Albinus's absence. Cassius Dio records that the new Governor, Virius Lupus, was obliged to buy peace from a fractious northern tribe known as the Maeatae. The succession of militarily distinguished governors who were subsequently appointed suggests that enemies of Rome were posing a difficult challenge, and Lucius Alfenus Senecio's report to Rome in 207 describes barbarians "rebelling, over-running the land, taking loot and creating destruction". In order to rebel, of course, one must be a subject – the Maeatae clearly did not consider themselves such. Senecio requested either reinforcements or an Imperial expedition, and Severus chose the latter, despite being 62 years old. Archaeological evidence shows that Senecio had been rebuilding the defences of Hadrian's Wall and the forts beyond it, and Severus's arrival in Britain prompted the enemy tribes to sue for peace immediately. The emperor had not come all that way to leave without a victory, and it is likely that he wished to provide his teenage sons Caracalla and Geta with first-hand experience of controlling a hostile barbarian land.

 

Northern campaigns, 208–211

An invasion of Caledonia led by Severus and probably numbering around 20,000 troops moved north in 208 or 209, crossing the Wall and passing through eastern Scotland on a route similar to that used by Agricola. Harried by punishing guerrilla raids by the northern tribes and slowed by an unforgiving terrain, Severus was unable to meet the Caledonians on a battlefield. The emperor's forces pushed north as far as the River Tay, but little appears to have been achieved by the invasion, as peace treaties were signed with the Caledonians. By 210 Severus had returned to York, and the frontier had once again become Hadrian's Wall. He assumed the title Britannicus but the title meant little with regard to the unconquered north, which clearly remained outside the authority of the Empire. Almost immediately, another northern tribe, the Maeatae, went to war. Caracalla left with a punitive expedition, but by the following year his ailing father had died and he and his brother left the province to press their claim to the throne.

 

As one of his last acts, Severus tried to solve the problem of powerful and rebellious governors in Britain by dividing the province into Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. This kept the potential for rebellion in check for almost a century. Historical sources provide little information on the following decades, a period known as the Long Peace. Even so, the number of buried hoards found from this period rises, suggesting continuing unrest. A string of forts were built along the coast of southern Britain to control piracy; and over the following hundred years they increased in number, becoming the Saxon Shore Forts.

 

During the middle of the 3rd century, the Roman Empire was convulsed by barbarian invasions, rebellions and new imperial pretenders. Britannia apparently avoided these troubles, but increasing inflation had its economic effect. In 259 a so-called Gallic Empire was established when Postumus rebelled against Gallienus. Britannia was part of this until 274 when Aurelian reunited the empire.

 

Around the year 280, a half-British officer named Bonosus was in command of the Roman's Rhenish fleet when the Germans managed to burn it at anchor. To avoid punishment, he proclaimed himself emperor at Colonia Agrippina (Cologne) but was crushed by Marcus Aurelius Probus. Soon afterwards, an unnamed governor of one of the British provinces also attempted an uprising. Probus put it down by sending irregular troops of Vandals and Burgundians across the Channel.

 

The Carausian Revolt led to a short-lived Britannic Empire from 286 to 296. Carausius was a Menapian naval commander of the Britannic fleet; he revolted upon learning of a death sentence ordered by the emperor Maximian on charges of having abetted Frankish and Saxon pirates and having embezzled recovered treasure. He consolidated control over all the provinces of Britain and some of northern Gaul while Maximian dealt with other uprisings. An invasion in 288 failed to unseat him and an uneasy peace ensued, with Carausius issuing coins and inviting official recognition. In 293, the junior emperor Constantius Chlorus launched a second offensive, besieging the rebel port of Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer) by land and sea. After it fell, Constantius attacked Carausius's other Gallic holdings and Frankish allies and Carausius was usurped by his treasurer, Allectus. Julius Asclepiodotus landed an invasion fleet near Southampton and defeated Allectus in a land battle.

 

Diocletian's reforms

As part of Diocletian's reforms, the provinces of Roman Britain were organized as a diocese governed by a vicarius under a praetorian prefect who, from 318 to 331, was Junius Bassus who was based at Augusta Treverorum (Trier).

 

The vicarius was based at Londinium as the principal city of the diocese. Londinium and Eboracum continued as provincial capitals and the territory was divided up into smaller provinces for administrative efficiency.

 

Civilian and military authority of a province was no longer exercised by one official and the governor was stripped of military command which was handed over to the Dux Britanniarum by 314. The governor of a province assumed more financial duties (the procurators of the Treasury ministry were slowly phased out in the first three decades of the 4th century). The Dux was commander of the troops of the Northern Region, primarily along Hadrian's Wall and his responsibilities included protection of the frontier. He had significant autonomy due in part to the distance from his superiors.

 

The tasks of the vicarius were to control and coordinate the activities of governors; monitor but not interfere with the daily functioning of the Treasury and Crown Estates, which had their own administrative infrastructure; and act as the regional quartermaster-general of the armed forces. In short, as the sole civilian official with superior authority, he had general oversight of the administration, as well as direct control, while not absolute, over governors who were part of the prefecture; the other two fiscal departments were not.

 

The early-4th-century Verona List, the late-4th-century work of Sextus Rufus, and the early-5th-century List of Offices and work of Polemius Silvius all list four provinces by some variation of the names Britannia I, Britannia II, Maxima Caesariensis, and Flavia Caesariensis; all of these seem to have initially been directed by a governor (praeses) of equestrian rank. The 5th-century sources list a fifth province named Valentia and give its governor and Maxima's a consular rank. Ammianus mentions Valentia as well, describing its creation by Count Theodosius in 369 after the quelling of the Great Conspiracy. Ammianus considered it a re-creation of a formerly lost province, leading some to think there had been an earlier fifth province under another name (may be the enigmatic "Vespasiana"), and leading others to place Valentia beyond Hadrian's Wall, in the territory abandoned south of the Antonine Wall.

 

Reconstructions of the provinces and provincial capitals during this period partially rely on ecclesiastical records. On the assumption that the early bishoprics mimicked the imperial hierarchy, scholars use the list of bishops for the 314 Council of Arles. The list is patently corrupt: the British delegation is given as including a Bishop "Eborius" of Eboracum and two bishops "from Londinium" (one de civitate Londinensi and the other de civitate colonia Londinensium). The error is variously emended: Bishop Ussher proposed Colonia, Selden Col. or Colon. Camalodun., and Spelman Colonia Cameloduni (all various names of Colchester); Gale and Bingham offered colonia Lindi and Henry Colonia Lindum (both Lincoln); and Bishop Stillingfleet and Francis Thackeray read it as a scribal error of Civ. Col. Londin. for an original Civ. Col. Leg. II (Caerleon). On the basis of the Verona List, the priest and deacon who accompanied the bishops in some manuscripts are ascribed to the fourth province.

 

In the 12th century, Gerald of Wales described the supposedly metropolitan sees of the early British church established by the legendary SS Fagan and "Duvian". He placed Britannia Prima in Wales and western England with its capital at "Urbs Legionum" (Caerleon); Britannia Secunda in Kent and southern England with its capital at "Dorobernia" (Canterbury); Flavia in Mercia and central England with its capital at "Lundonia" (London); "Maximia" in northern England with its capital at Eboracum (York); and Valentia in "Albania which is now Scotland" with its capital at St Andrews. Modern scholars generally dispute the last: some place Valentia at or beyond Hadrian's Wall but St Andrews is beyond even the Antonine Wall and Gerald seems to have simply been supporting the antiquity of its church for political reasons.

 

A common modern reconstruction places the consular province of Maxima at Londinium, on the basis of its status as the seat of the diocesan vicarius; places Prima in the west according to Gerald's traditional account but moves its capital to Corinium of the Dobunni (Cirencester) on the basis of an artifact recovered there referring to Lucius Septimius, a provincial rector; places Flavia north of Maxima, with its capital placed at Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to match one emendation of the bishops list from Arles;[d] and places Secunda in the north with its capital at Eboracum (York). Valentia is placed variously in northern Wales around Deva (Chester); beside Hadrian's Wall around Luguvalium (Carlisle); and between the walls along Dere Street.

 

4th century

Emperor Constantius returned to Britain in 306, despite his poor health, with an army aiming to invade northern Britain, the provincial defences having been rebuilt in the preceding years. Little is known of his campaigns with scant archaeological evidence, but fragmentary historical sources suggest he reached the far north of Britain and won a major battle in early summer before returning south. His son Constantine (later Constantine the Great) spent a year in northern Britain at his father's side, campaigning against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall in the summer and autumn. Constantius died in York in July 306 with his son at his side. Constantine then successfully used Britain as the starting point of his march to the imperial throne, unlike the earlier usurper, Albinus.

 

In the middle of the century, the province was loyal for a few years to the usurper Magnentius, who succeeded Constans following the latter's death. After the defeat and death of Magnentius in the Battle of Mons Seleucus in 353, Constantius II dispatched his chief imperial notary Paulus Catena to Britain to hunt down Magnentius's supporters. The investigation deteriorated into a witch-hunt, which forced the vicarius Flavius Martinus to intervene. When Paulus retaliated by accusing Martinus of treason, the vicarius attacked Paulus with a sword, with the aim of assassinating him, but in the end he committed suicide.

 

As the 4th century progressed, there were increasing attacks from the Saxons in the east and the Scoti (Irish) in the west. A series of forts had been built, starting around 280, to defend the coasts, but these preparations were not enough when, in 367, a general assault of Saxons, Picts, Scoti and Attacotti, combined with apparent dissension in the garrison on Hadrian's Wall, left Roman Britain prostrate. The invaders overwhelmed the entire western and northern regions of Britannia and the cities were sacked. This crisis, sometimes called the Barbarian Conspiracy or the Great Conspiracy, was settled by Count Theodosius from 368 with a string of military and civil reforms. Theodosius crossed from Bononia (Boulogne-sur-Mer) and marched on Londinium where he began to deal with the invaders and made his base.[ An amnesty was promised to deserters which enabled Theodosius to regarrison abandoned forts. By the end of the year Hadrian's Wall was retaken and order returned. Considerable reorganization was undertaken in Britain, including the creation of a new province named Valentia, probably to better address the state of the far north. A new Dux Britanniarum was appointed, Dulcitius, with Civilis to head a new civilian administration.

 

Another imperial usurper, Magnus Maximus, raised the standard of revolt at Segontium (Caernarfon) in north Wales in 383, and crossed the English Channel. Maximus held much of the western empire, and fought a successful campaign against the Picts and Scots around 384. His continental exploits required troops from Britain, and it appears that forts at Chester and elsewhere were abandoned in this period, triggering raids and settlement in north Wales by the Irish. His rule was ended in 388, but not all the British troops may have returned: the Empire's military resources were stretched to the limit along the Rhine and Danube. Around 396 there were more barbarian incursions into Britain. Stilicho led a punitive expedition. It seems peace was restored by 399, and it is likely that no further garrisoning was ordered; by 401 more troops were withdrawn, to assist in the war against Alaric I.

 

End of Roman rule

The traditional view of historians, informed by the work of Michael Rostovtzeff, was of a widespread economic decline at the beginning of the 5th century. Consistent archaeological evidence has told another story, and the accepted view is undergoing re-evaluation. Some features are agreed: more opulent but fewer urban houses, an end to new public building and some abandonment of existing ones, with the exception of defensive structures, and the widespread formation of "dark earth" deposits indicating increased horticulture within urban precincts. Turning over the basilica at Silchester to industrial uses in the late 3rd century, doubtless officially condoned, marks an early stage in the de-urbanisation of Roman Britain.

 

The abandonment of some sites is now believed to be later than had been thought. Many buildings changed use but were not destroyed. There was a growing number of barbarian attacks, but these targeted vulnerable rural settlements rather than towns. Some villas such as Chedworth, Great Casterton in Rutland and Hucclecote in Gloucestershire had new mosaic floors laid around this time, suggesting that economic problems may have been limited and patchy. Many suffered some decay before being abandoned in the 5th century; the story of Saint Patrick indicates that villas were still occupied until at least 430. Exceptionally, new buildings were still going up in this period in Verulamium and Cirencester. Some urban centres, for example Canterbury, Cirencester, Wroxeter, Winchester and Gloucester, remained active during the 5th and 6th centuries, surrounded by large farming estates.

 

Urban life had generally grown less intense by the fourth quarter of the 4th century, and coins minted between 378 and 388 are very rare, indicating a likely combination of economic decline, diminishing numbers of troops, problems with the payment of soldiers and officials or with unstable conditions during the usurpation of Magnus Maximus 383–87. Coinage circulation increased during the 390s, but never attained the levels of earlier decades. Copper coins are very rare after 402, though minted silver and gold coins from hoards indicate they were still present in the province even if they were not being spent. By 407 there were very few new Roman coins going into circulation, and by 430 it is likely that coinage as a medium of exchange had been abandoned. Mass-produced wheel thrown pottery ended at approximately the same time; the rich continued to use metal and glass vessels, while the poor made do with humble "grey ware" or resorted to leather or wooden containers.

 

Sub-Roman Britain

Towards the end of the 4th century Roman rule in Britain came under increasing pressure from barbarian attacks. Apparently, there were not enough troops to mount an effective defence. After elevating two disappointing usurpers, the army chose a soldier, Constantine III, to become emperor in 407. He crossed to Gaul but was defeated by Honorius; it is unclear how many troops remained or ever returned, or whether a commander-in-chief in Britain was ever reappointed. A Saxon incursion in 408 was apparently repelled by the Britons, and in 409 Zosimus records that the natives expelled the Roman civilian administration. Zosimus may be referring to the Bacaudic rebellion of the Breton inhabitants of Armorica since he describes how, in the aftermath of the revolt, all of Armorica and the rest of Gaul followed the example of the Brettaniai. A letter from Emperor Honorius in 410 has traditionally been seen as rejecting a British appeal for help, but it may have been addressed to Bruttium or Bologna. With the imperial layers of the military and civil government gone, administration and justice fell to municipal authorities, and local warlords gradually emerged all over Britain, still utilizing Romano-British ideals and conventions. Historian Stuart Laycock has investigated this process and emphasised elements of continuity from the British tribes in the pre-Roman and Roman periods, through to the native post-Roman kingdoms.

 

In British tradition, pagan Saxons were invited by Vortigern to assist in fighting the Picts, Scoti, and Déisi. (Germanic migration into Roman Britannia may have begun much earlier. There is recorded evidence, for example, of Germanic auxiliaries supporting the legions in Britain in the 1st and 2nd centuries.) The new arrivals rebelled, plunging the country into a series of wars that eventually led to the Saxon occupation of Lowland Britain by 600. Around this time, many Britons fled to Brittany (hence its name), Galicia and probably Ireland. A significant date in sub-Roman Britain is the Groans of the Britons, an unanswered appeal to Aetius, leading general of the western Empire, for assistance against Saxon invasion in 446. Another is the Battle of Deorham in 577, after which the significant cities of Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester fell and the Saxons reached the western sea.

 

Historians generally reject the historicity of King Arthur, who is supposed to have resisted the Anglo-Saxon conquest according to later medieval legends.

 

Trade

During the Roman period Britain's continental trade was principally directed across the Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel, focusing on the narrow Strait of Dover, with more limited links via the Atlantic seaways. The most important British ports were London and Richborough, whilst the continental ports most heavily engaged in trade with Britain were Boulogne and the sites of Domburg and Colijnsplaat at the mouth of the river Scheldt. During the Late Roman period it is likely that the shore forts played some role in continental trade alongside their defensive functions.

 

Exports to Britain included: coin; pottery, particularly red-gloss terra sigillata (samian ware) from southern, central and eastern Gaul, as well as various other wares from Gaul and the Rhine provinces; olive oil from southern Spain in amphorae; wine from Gaul in amphorae and barrels; salted fish products from the western Mediterranean and Brittany in barrels and amphorae; preserved olives from southern Spain in amphorae; lava quern-stones from Mayen on the middle Rhine; glass; and some agricultural products. Britain's exports are harder to detect archaeologically, but will have included metals, such as silver and gold and some lead, iron and copper. Other exports probably included agricultural products, oysters and salt, whilst large quantities of coin would have been re-exported back to the continent as well.

 

These products moved as a result of private trade and also through payments and contracts established by the Roman state to support its military forces and officials on the island, as well as through state taxation and extraction of resources. Up until the mid-3rd century, the Roman state's payments appear to have been unbalanced, with far more products sent to Britain, to support its large military force (which had reached c. 53,000 by the mid-2nd century), than were extracted from the island.

 

It has been argued that Roman Britain's continental trade peaked in the late 1st century AD and thereafter declined as a result of an increasing reliance on local products by the population of Britain, caused by economic development on the island and by the Roman state's desire to save money by shifting away from expensive long-distance imports. Evidence has been outlined that suggests that the principal decline in Roman Britain's continental trade may have occurred in the late 2nd century AD, from c. 165 AD onwards. This has been linked to the economic impact of contemporary Empire-wide crises: the Antonine Plague and the Marcomannic Wars.

 

From the mid-3rd century onwards, Britain no longer received such a wide range and extensive quantity of foreign imports as it did during the earlier part of the Roman period; vast quantities of coin from continental mints reached the island, whilst there is historical evidence for the export of large amounts of British grain to the continent during the mid-4th century. During the latter part of the Roman period British agricultural products, paid for by both the Roman state and by private consumers, clearly played an important role in supporting the military garrisons and urban centres of the northwestern continental Empire. This came about as a result of the rapid decline in the size of the British garrison from the mid-3rd century onwards (thus freeing up more goods for export), and because of 'Germanic' incursions across the Rhine, which appear to have reduced rural settlement and agricultural output in northern Gaul.

 

Economy

Mineral extraction sites such as the Dolaucothi gold mine were probably first worked by the Roman army from c. 75, and at some later stage passed to civilian operators. The mine developed as a series of opencast workings, mainly by the use of hydraulic mining methods. They are described by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History in great detail. Essentially, water supplied by aqueducts was used to prospect for ore veins by stripping away soil to reveal the bedrock. If veins were present, they were attacked using fire-setting and the ore removed for comminution. The dust was washed in a small stream of water and the heavy gold dust and gold nuggets collected in riffles. The diagram at right shows how Dolaucothi developed from c. 75 through to the 1st century. When opencast work was no longer feasible, tunnels were driven to follow the veins. The evidence from the site shows advanced technology probably under the control of army engineers.

 

The Wealden ironworking zone, the lead and silver mines of the Mendip Hills and the tin mines of Cornwall seem to have been private enterprises leased from the government for a fee. Mining had long been practised in Britain (see Grimes Graves), but the Romans introduced new technical knowledge and large-scale industrial production to revolutionise the industry. It included hydraulic mining to prospect for ore by removing overburden as well as work alluvial deposits. The water needed for such large-scale operations was supplied by one or more aqueducts, those surviving at Dolaucothi being especially impressive. Many prospecting areas were in dangerous, upland country, and, although mineral exploitation was presumably one of the main reasons for the Roman invasion, it had to wait until these areas were subdued.

 

By the 3rd and 4th centuries, small towns could often be found near villas. In these towns, villa owners and small-scale farmers could obtain specialist tools. Lowland Britain in the 4th century was agriculturally prosperous enough to export grain to the continent. This prosperity lay behind the blossoming of villa building and decoration that occurred between AD 300 and 350.

 

Britain's cities also consumed Roman-style pottery and other goods, and were centres through which goods could be distributed elsewhere. At Wroxeter in Shropshire, stock smashed into a gutter during a 2nd-century fire reveals that Gaulish samian ware was being sold alongside mixing bowls from the Mancetter-Hartshill industry of the West Midlands. Roman designs were most popular, but rural craftsmen still produced items derived from the Iron Age La Tène artistic traditions. Britain was home to much gold, which attracted Roman invaders. By the 3rd century, Britain's economy was diverse and well established, with commerce extending into the non-Romanised north.

 

Government

Further information: Governors of Roman Britain, Roman client kingdoms in Britain, and Roman auxiliaries in Britain

Under the Roman Empire, administration of peaceful provinces was ultimately the remit of the Senate, but those, like Britain, that required permanent garrisons, were placed under the Emperor's control. In practice imperial provinces were run by resident governors who were members of the Senate and had held the consulship. These men were carefully selected, often having strong records of military success and administrative ability. In Britain, a governor's role was primarily military, but numerous other tasks were also his responsibility, such as maintaining diplomatic relations with local client kings, building roads, ensuring the public courier system functioned, supervising the civitates and acting as a judge in important legal cases. When not campaigning, he would travel the province hearing complaints and recruiting new troops.

 

To assist him in legal matters he had an adviser, the legatus juridicus, and those in Britain appear to have been distinguished lawyers perhaps because of the challenge of incorporating tribes into the imperial system and devising a workable method of taxing them. Financial administration was dealt with by a procurator with junior posts for each tax-raising power. Each legion in Britain had a commander who answered to the governor and, in time of war, probably directly ruled troublesome districts. Each of these commands carried a tour of duty of two to three years in different provinces. Below these posts was a network of administrative managers covering intelligence gathering, sending reports to Rome, organising military supplies and dealing with prisoners. A staff of seconded soldiers provided clerical services.

 

Colchester was probably the earliest capital of Roman Britain, but it was soon eclipsed by London with its strong mercantile connections. The different forms of municipal organisation in Britannia were known as civitas (which were subdivided, amongst other forms, into colonies such as York, Colchester, Gloucester and Lincoln and municipalities such as Verulamium), and were each governed by a senate of local landowners, whether Brythonic or Roman, who elected magistrates concerning judicial and civic affairs. The various civitates sent representatives to a yearly provincial council in order to profess loyalty to the Roman state, to send direct petitions to the Emperor in times of extraordinary need, and to worship the imperial cult.

 

Demographics

Roman Britain had an estimated population between 2.8 million and 3 million people at the end of the second century. At the end of the fourth century, it had an estimated population of 3.6 million people, of whom 125,000 consisted of the Roman army and their families and dependents.[80] The urban population of Roman Britain was about 240,000 people at the end of the fourth century. The capital city of Londinium is estimated to have had a population of about 60,000 people. Londinium was an ethnically diverse city with inhabitants from the Roman Empire, including natives of Britannia, continental Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. There was also cultural diversity in other Roman-British towns, which were sustained by considerable migration, from Britannia and other Roman territories, including continental Europe, Roman Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. In a study conducted in 2012, around 45 percent of sites investigated dating from the Roman period had at least one individual of North African origin.

 

Town and country

During their occupation of Britain the Romans founded a number of important settlements, many of which survive. The towns suffered attrition in the later 4th century, when public building ceased and some were abandoned to private uses. Place names survived the deurbanised Sub-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods, and historiography has been at pains to signal the expected survivals, but archaeology shows that a bare handful of Roman towns were continuously occupied. According to S.T. Loseby, the very idea of a town as a centre of power and administration was reintroduced to England by the Roman Christianising mission to Canterbury, and its urban revival was delayed to the 10th century.

 

Roman towns can be broadly grouped in two categories. Civitates, "public towns" were formally laid out on a grid plan, and their role in imperial administration occasioned the construction of public buildings. The much more numerous category of vici, "small towns" grew on informal plans, often round a camp or at a ford or crossroads; some were not small, others were scarcely urban, some not even defended by a wall, the characteristic feature of a place of any importance.

 

Cities and towns which have Roman origins, or were extensively developed by them are listed with their Latin names in brackets; civitates are marked C

 

Alcester (Alauna)

Alchester

Aldborough, North Yorkshire (Isurium Brigantum) C

Bath (Aquae Sulis) C

Brough (Petuaria) C

Buxton (Aquae Arnemetiae)

Caerleon (Isca Augusta) C

Caernarfon (Segontium) C

Caerwent (Venta Silurum) C

Caister-on-Sea C

Canterbury (Durovernum Cantiacorum) C

Carlisle (Luguvalium) C

Carmarthen (Moridunum) C

Chelmsford (Caesaromagus)

Chester (Deva Victrix) C

Chester-le-Street (Concangis)

Chichester (Noviomagus Reginorum) C

Cirencester (Corinium) C

Colchester (Camulodunum) C

Corbridge (Coria) C

Dorchester (Durnovaria) C

Dover (Portus Dubris)

Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum) C

Gloucester (Glevum) C

Great Chesterford (the name of this vicus is unknown)

Ilchester (Lindinis) C

Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum) C

Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) C

London (Londinium) C

Manchester (Mamucium) C

Newcastle upon Tyne (Pons Aelius)

Northwich (Condate)

St Albans (Verulamium) C

Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) C

Towcester (Lactodurum)

Whitchurch (Mediolanum) C

Winchester (Venta Belgarum) C

Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum) C

York (Eboracum) C

 

Religion

The druids, the Celtic priestly caste who were believed to originate in Britain, were outlawed by Claudius, and in 61 they vainly defended their sacred groves from destruction by the Romans on the island of Mona (Anglesey). Under Roman rule the Britons continued to worship native Celtic deities, such as Ancasta, but often conflated with their Roman equivalents, like Mars Rigonemetos at Nettleham.

 

The degree to which earlier native beliefs survived is difficult to gauge precisely. Certain European ritual traits such as the significance of the number 3, the importance of the head and of water sources such as springs remain in the archaeological record, but the differences in the votive offerings made at the baths at Bath, Somerset, before and after the Roman conquest suggest that continuity was only partial. Worship of the Roman emperor is widely recorded, especially at military sites. The founding of a Roman temple to Claudius at Camulodunum was one of the impositions that led to the revolt of Boudica. By the 3rd century, Pagans Hill Roman Temple in Somerset was able to exist peaceably and it did so into the 5th century.

 

Pagan religious practices were supported by priests, represented in Britain by votive deposits of priestly regalia such as chain crowns from West Stow and Willingham Fen.

 

Eastern cults such as Mithraism also grew in popularity towards the end of the occupation. The London Mithraeum is one example of the popularity of mystery religions among the soldiery. Temples to Mithras also exist in military contexts at Vindobala on Hadrian's Wall (the Rudchester Mithraeum) and at Segontium in Roman Wales (the Caernarfon Mithraeum).

 

Christianity

It is not clear when or how Christianity came to Britain. A 2nd-century "word square" has been discovered in Mamucium, the Roman settlement of Manchester. It consists of an anagram of PATER NOSTER carved on a piece of amphora. There has been discussion by academics whether the "word square" is a Christian artefact, but if it is, it is one of the earliest examples of early Christianity in Britain. The earliest confirmed written evidence for Christianity in Britain is a statement by Tertullian, c. 200 AD, in which he described "all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons, inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ". Archaeological evidence for Christian communities begins to appear in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Small timber churches are suggested at Lincoln and Silchester and baptismal fonts have been found at Icklingham and the Saxon Shore Fort at Richborough. The Icklingham font is made of lead, and visible in the British Museum. A Roman Christian graveyard exists at the same site in Icklingham. A possible Roman 4th-century church and associated burial ground was also discovered at Butt Road on the south-west outskirts of Colchester during the construction of the new police station there, overlying an earlier pagan cemetery. The Water Newton Treasure is a hoard of Christian silver church plate from the early 4th century and the Roman villas at Lullingstone and Hinton St Mary contained Christian wall paintings and mosaics respectively. A large 4th-century cemetery at Poundbury with its east–west oriented burials and lack of grave goods has been interpreted as an early Christian burial ground, although such burial rites were also becoming increasingly common in pagan contexts during the period.

 

The Church in Britain seems to have developed the customary diocesan system, as evidenced from the records of the Council of Arles in Gaul in 314: represented at the council were bishops from thirty-five sees from Europe and North Africa, including three bishops from Britain, Eborius of York, Restitutus of London, and Adelphius, possibly a bishop of Lincoln. No other early sees are documented, and the material remains of early church structures are far to seek. The existence of a church in the forum courtyard of Lincoln and the martyrium of Saint Alban on the outskirts of Roman Verulamium are exceptional. Alban, the first British Christian martyr and by far the most prominent, is believed to have died in the early 4th century (some date him in the middle 3rd century), followed by Saints Julius and Aaron of Isca Augusta. Christianity was legalised in the Roman Empire by Constantine I in 313. Theodosius I made Christianity the state religion of the empire in 391, and by the 5th century it was well established. One belief labelled a heresy by the church authorities — Pelagianism — was originated by a British monk teaching in Rome: Pelagius lived c. 354 to c. 420/440.

 

A letter found on a lead tablet in Bath, Somerset, datable to c. 363, had been widely publicised as documentary evidence regarding the state of Christianity in Britain during Roman times. According to its first translator, it was written in Wroxeter by a Christian man called Vinisius to a Christian woman called Nigra, and was claimed as the first epigraphic record of Christianity in Britain. This translation of the letter was apparently based on grave paleographical errors, and the text has nothing to do with Christianity, and in fact relates to pagan rituals.

 

Environmental changes

The Romans introduced a number of species to Britain, including possibly the now-rare Roman nettle (Urtica pilulifera), said to have been used by soldiers to warm their arms and legs, and the edible snail Helix pomatia. There is also some evidence they may have introduced rabbits, but of the smaller southern mediterranean type. The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) prevalent in modern Britain is assumed to have been introduced from the continent after the Norman invasion of 1066. Box (Buxus sempervirens) is rarely recorded before the Roman period, but becomes a common find in towns and villas

 

Legacy

During their occupation of Britain the Romans built an extensive network of roads which continued to be used in later centuries and many are still followed today. The Romans also built water supply, sanitation and wastewater systems. Many of Britain's major cities, such as London (Londinium), Manchester (Mamucium) and York (Eboracum), were founded by the Romans, but the original Roman settlements were abandoned not long after the Romans left.

 

Unlike many other areas of the Western Roman Empire, the current majority language is not a Romance language, or a language descended from the pre-Roman inhabitants. The British language at the time of the invasion was Common Brittonic, and remained so after the Romans withdrew. It later split into regional languages, notably Cumbric, Cornish, Breton and Welsh. Examination of these languages suggests some 800 Latin words were incorporated into Common Brittonic (see Brittonic languages). The current majority language, English, is based on the languages of the Germanic tribes who migrated to the island from continental Europe

Spanish cannons on the ramparts that protect the port and city. A very good indication of the importance of this city to the colonialist of Europe. Unfortunately this is another example of European exploitation of Africa.

 

Essaouira , formerly known as Mogador, is a city in the western Morocca on the Atlantic coast. The modern name means "the little rampart", a reference to the fortress walls that still enclose part of the city. Essaouria has been described as " everybody's favourite Moroccan seaside town and it does not disappoint. Essaourira is 750 kilometres down the coast from Tangier Med. The medina is home to many small arts and crafts businesses, notably cabinet making and 'thuya' wood-carving (using roots of the Tetraclinis tree), both of which have been practised in Essaouira for centuries. Some of the wooden cabinets are particularly well crafted and are worth a look at for their craftsmanship. The beach and promenade are really nice with some lovely coffee shops and bars.

The southern end of the beach has camel rides and wind surfing. Nestled in the bay is the Ile de Mogador, a former prison that is now a bird sanctuary, it provided a spectacular backdrop against the setting sun in January.

We stayed in the town's only campsite and that was a real disappointment, there is an aire des services parking very near the beach and that may have been a better bet, both are a pleasant walk or cycle of 2.5 kilometres to the medina.

The medina is a wonderful experience, without the hard hassle of Marrakech and is an outstanding example of a fortified town of the mid-eighteenth century, surrounded by a wall Essaouira has played a major role over the centuries as an international trading seaport, linking Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa with Europe and the rest of the world. The town is also an example of a multicultural centre as proven by the coexistence, since its foundation, of diverse ethnic groups, such as the Amazighs, Arabs, Africans, and Europeans.. Known for a long time as the Port of Timbuktu, Essaouira became one of the major Atlantic commercial centres between Africa and Europe at the end of the 18th century and during the 19th century.

Drawn by J. Thurston. Engraved by W. Finden.

LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGUE.

From an enamel Miniature by Zink in the possession of Charles Colville Esqr.

LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU.

200

[BORN 1690. DIED 1762.]

JEFFREY.

ADY Mary Pierrepoint, eldest daughter of the Duke of Kingston, was born in 1690, and gave, in her early youth, such indications of a studious disposition, that she was initiated into the rudiments of the learned languages along with her brother. Her first years appear to have been spent in retirement, and yet her first letters indicate a great relish for that talent and power of observation, by which she afterwards became so famous and so formidable. These letters were addressed to Mrs Wortley, the mother of her future husband, and, along with a good deal of girlish flattery and affectation, display such a degree of easy humour and sound penetration, as is not often to be met with in a damsel of nineteen, even in this age of precocity. "My knight-errantry," she says, "is at an end, and I believe I shall henceforth think freeing of galley-slaves and knocking down windmills more laudable undertakings than the defence of any woman's reputation whatever. To say truth, I have never had any great esteem for the generality of the fair sex, and my only consolation for being of that gender has been the assurance it gave me of never being married to any one among them." But, in the course of this correspondence with the mother, she appears to have conceived a very favourable opinion of the son. Her ladyship, though endowed with a very lively imagination, seems not to have been very susceptible of violent or tender emotions, and to have imbibed a very decided contempt for sentimental and romantic nonsense, at an age which is commonly more indulgent.

201Married to Mr Wortley in 1712, she entered upon a gay life; but she does not appear to have been happy. We have no desire to revive forgotten scandals, but it is a fact which cannot be omitted, that her ladyship went abroad without her husband, on account of bad health, in 1739, and did not return to England till she heard of his death in 1761. Whatever was the cause of their separation, there was no open rupture, and she seems to have corresponded with him very regularly for the first ten years of her absence; but her letters were cold without being formal, and were gloomy and constrained when compared with those that were spontaneously written to show her wit or her affection to her correspondents.

A little spoiled by flattery, and not altogether "undebauched by the world," Lady Mary seems to have possessed a masculine solidity of understanding, great liveliness of fancy, and such powers of observation and discrimination of character, as to give her opinions great authority on all the ordinary subjects of practical manners and conduct. After her marriage, she seems to have abandoned all idea of laborious or regular study, and to have been raised to the station of a literary character merely by her vivacity and love of amusement and anecdote. The great charm of her letters is certainly the extreme ease and facility with which everything is expressed, the brevity and rapidity of her representations, and the elegant simplicity of her diction. While they 202unite almost all the qualities of a good style, there is nothing of the professed author in them; nothing that seems to have been composed, or to have engaged the admiration of the writer. She appears to be quite unconscious either of merit or of exertion in what she is doing, and never stops to bring out a thought, or to turn an expression, with the cunning of a practised rhetorician. Her letters from Turkey will probably continue to be more universally read than any of the others, because the subject commands a wider and more permanent interest than the personalities and unconnected remarks with which the rest of her correspondence is filled. At the same time, the love of scandal and private history is so great, that these letters will be highly relished as long as the names they contain are remembered, and then they will become curious and interesting, as exhibiting a truer picture of the manners and fashions of the time, than is to be found in most other publications.

Poetry, at least the polite and witty sort which Lady Mary has attempted, is much more of an art than prose writing. We are trained to the latter by the conversation of good society, but the former seems always to require a good deal of patient labour and application. This her ladyship appears to have disdained; and, accordingly, her poetry, though abounding in lively conceptions, is already consigned to that oblivion in which mediocrity is destined by an irrevocable sentence to slumber till the end of the world. Her essays are extremely insignificant, and have no other merit that we can discover, but that they are very few and very short.

Of Lady Mary's friendship and subsequent rupture with Pope, we have not thought it necessary to say anything, both because we are of opinion that no new light has been latterly thrown upon it, and because we have 203no desire to awaken forgotten scandals by so idle a controversy. Pope was undoubtedly a flatterer, and was undoubtedly sufficiently irritable and vindictive; but whether his rancour was stimulated upon this occasion by anything but caprice or jealousy, and whether he was the inventor or the echo of the imputations to which he has given notoriety, we do not pretend to determine. Lady Mary's character was certainly deficient in that cautious delicacy which is the best guardian of female reputation; and there seems to have been in her conduct something of that intrepidity which naturally gives rise to misconstruction, by setting at defiance the maxims of ordinary discretion.

 

From WOMEN OF HISTORY:

SELECTED FROM THE WRITINGS OF STANDARD AUTHORS.

BY THE EDITOR OF "MEN OF HISTORY."

“Biography is the most universally pleasant and universally profitable of all reading."

EDINBURGH: W. P. NIMMO, HAY, & MITCHELL. 1890.

MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.

 

i210

Indication de lumiere pas bien respectée ...

Under Mary I, Sir Gawen Carew (c.1503-85) was one of the west country gentlemen who disliked government policy and resented Spanish influence, though there is no indication that his name was removed from the lists of gentlemen pensioners, even when, following Sir Peter Carew’s implication in Wyatt’s rebellion of 1554, he was put in the Tower on a charge of treason. After an absence from Parliament during Mary’s reign, he came in for Plympton Erle in Elizabeth’s first House of Commons, probably through the intervention of the end Earl of Bedford. In the following Parliament Carew was elected for the county. His only recorded parliamentary activity in his two Elizabethan Parliaments is his membership of the succession committee, 31 Oct. 1566.

With the Earl of Bedford and Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, Carew was active at the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign in helping to strengthen the new Queen’s position on the throne, he and his third wife receiving as reward in 1565 an annuity of 100 marks in survivorship. Though his name still appears on a Household list in 1559, he resided in the west country, where he was one of the radical protestants associated with the Earl of Bedford. On one occasion he and his nephew Sir Peter were together responsible at Exeter for escorting the bishop of Exeter, the ‘earnest preacher’ William Alley, to the pulpit and guarding him against the citizens, who disliked his ‘much inveighing against false doctrines’. Alley appointed both Carews overseers of his will.

Carew’s connexions with Exeter were close. In 1562 he wrote to the mayor recommending ‘my man’ for the post of keeper of the cloth hall; the following year he bought the wardship of an Exeter heir; in 1574 he was granted an annual fee of £2 by the city; and a year or so later he was authorized by the Exchequer to search into the import of wines at Exeter. When he superintended the execution of an order relating to the harbour controversy there, he was given a hogshead of wine by the city. His brother George became dean of Exeter.

In his will, made 11 Oct. 1582, Carew named Bedford as ‘ruler and overseer’, bequeathing him a cup of silver gilt ‘in token of the great love and good will that I have borne and do bear unto his lordship’. Carew left his lands, after the death of the widow, the executrix, to a relative, George Carew of Laughline, Ireland. The will was proved 30 June 1585.

 

Sir Peter Carew was an English soldier who was slain at the Battle of Glenmalure in Ireland. He was a member of a prominent Devonshire gentry family. He is sometimes referred to as Sir Peter Carew the younger, to distinguish him from his first cousin Sir Peter Carew of Mohuns Ottery, Luppitt, Devon. Wikipedia

 

Carew is associated with An extravagant two-tiered tomb monument in the Chapel of St John the Evangelist in Exeter Cathedral, of which the primary commemorative subjects are his uncle, Sir Gawen Carew (c.1508–1584), and Sir Gawen's third wife, Elizabeth née Norwich (d. 1594), a Lady of the Bedchamber to Elizabeth I. (Sir Gawen’s second wife Mary is wrongly identified on the plaque accompanying the tomb.) The monument was erected in 1589, and heavily restored in 1857. In addition to effigies of Sir Gawen and Elizabeth, it displays much strapwork decoration and heraldry, including 27 shields containing 52 distinct coats of arms marshalled in a total of 359 impalements and quarterings. The whole forms "an elaborate shrine to Carew ancestry and kinship".

A prominent Latin inscription formerly on the monument's pediment explicitly commemorated Sir Peter, but is now lost. It began "Hic scitus est praeter nobilis vir Petrus Carew eques Auratus ..." ("Here too lies the illustrious man Peter Carew, knight ..."), raising the possibility that his body, or some token part of it, was recovered from the battlefield at Glenmalure and returned to Exeter for burial.

A third effigy, occupying a recess at the base of the monument, is dressed in armour and posed in a cross-legged attitude suggestive of the 14th century; and it has long been believed that this represents Sir Peter in the guise of a fallen warrior. The identification is supported by another painted inscription, which survives in restored form running around three sides of the cornice, and which alludes to "... Sir Peter Carew Knyght, under figured ...". However, the inscription is not original to the monument (it can date from no earlier than 1605), and it now appears considerably more likely that the cross-legged figure was intended to represent Adam Montgomery de Carew, the semi-legendary progenitor of the Carew family.

We had a trip to Prague in January – for Jayne’s birthday - we don’t buy Christmas or birthday presents, we travel instead. We left snowy England for a very, very dull and grey Czech Republic. Yet again I was on a photographic downer looking at the weather forecast, grey is the colour that haunts me. Fortunately it was dull grey and not burnt highlight inducing bright grey.With the grey sky acting like a big diffuser I was going to have deep shadow and contrast to deal with. We had three very short spells of broken cloud which gave us a bit of sun and colour, which I managed to more or less anticipate so we managed to be in decent locations every time – generally somewhere high.

 

We had been upgraded to a five star hotel, apparently our original choice was flooded. We got compensation and five star hotel upgrade– a first for me. The Art Nouveau Palace has a beautiful interior, with beautiful rooms, the breakfast room was fantastic, as was the breakfast it has to be said. We were able to have an early breakfast so were out on foot just after eight. It was very cold – and dull! We spent the whole week well wrapped up. It drizzled for a day, but never really wet us, it snowed for a day, again we didn’t get wet and the snow didn’t settle. We walked 65 mile, spending plenty of time checking buildings and their interiors out – and coffee shop and bar interiors it has to be said. Although it was dull and sometimes wet I decided that the Camera was staying in my hands for the whole trip. Whenever I put it in my backpack for one reason or another I regret it.

 

Again, I didn’t look at any photographs of Prague before we got there, I like to just walk and discover, with the DK guidebook in my pocket (which is full of photos it has to be said). We like to get off the beaten track and see the grittier side of the places we visit – within reason! Prague has an incredible tram network, over 1000 trams – with many of them Tatra Eastern Bloc machines. The system seems chaotic but in reality it is incredible with one of the largest networks and highest usages in the world. The trams and cars frequently share the same road space with very little in the way of drama, none of the inexplicable and pathetic constant horn blowing one finds in many countries. Once it became apparent that buildings with a grey blanket as a background were going to be a bit un-inspirational I decided that the trams would be a good focal point instead. Where I have photographed one of the older trams against a background without clues it is easy to imagine that the photos were taken fifty years ago.

 

The train network also provided photo opportunities. The rolling stock ranges from old Eastern Bloc to very modern double decker’s and pendolinos. There are three stations although we visited the main station and Smichov. The main station interior is art deco and has been renovated by a private company. The exterior and the platforms are very rundown with a grim eastern bloc 1950’s feel –but it works! We discovered to our amusement that we could just walk across multiple lines, no health and safety, just keep your eyes open and don’t walk under a train – you’ll make a mess. Smichov station was grim, it didn’t help that it snowed all day and was grey and bitter. We felt like we were in a 50’s film set in Russia, broken concrete platforms and dereliction. With both stations there was another world underneath them. The underground Metro is running seamlessly and efficiently away beneath your feet. I didn’t have any problems taking photos anywhere but I was very open and obviously a tourist, I didn’t act covertly or suspiciously. There was only one occasion I was stopped and that was in a shopping centre – full of CCTV cameras filming everyone else!

 

We discovered old and beautiful- and very large- shopping centres hidden away in quite a few places. Brass framed windows and doors, shops thriving, there was a massive camera shop with thousands of second hand cameras, too much to look at. Many of the landmark buildings prevent photography, some make a small charge, some encourage it, the DK guide book gives a good indication regarding camera use. Nothing stops many people though, they just shoot away regardless, usually wanting a picture that includes their self. Prague is surrounded by low hills and has a fair few towers that you can pay a few pounds to go up, so viewpoints are plentiful. I think we visited most of them. I read about the Zizkov Tower, which looks like a Soviet rocket on the horizon and we headed straight for it - after crossing the rail lines! Set in a quiet residential area, there wasn’t a soul about. Two beautiful girls on reception and we parted with a few pounds, into the lift and were on the observation deck with no one else up there. There are fantastic views over the city, but! It is through two layers of not very clean glass so you go for the view rather than sharp panoramas. Still a fascinating place, with a nice café bar and very clean toilets – there are toilets everywhere, usually manned with a fee. Places are well staffed compared with home were three students are supposed to run a 20 screen multiplex cinema.

 

Graffiti was prominent, no matter how grand the monument, some moron would have daubed it. How do they get away with it in a 24 hour city centre with a strong police presence? The place is very clean, constantly being swept. What did surprise me, was that many buildings, that looked grand and built of stone, from a distance, were actually rendered with very low quality brickwork concealed. When restored the building look very impressive, others are missing the outer render from ground level to a fair height.

 

I need to cut this short really, I like to put a background story to the photos and although it would be better to individualise it to a specific photo or group of photos I don’t have the time to do that. I do try to give specific detail in the title bar after I have uploaded, this is time consuming enough although I’m pretty proficient at it by now. There are many things I would like to write that should be of interest to anyone thinking of going to Prague but I’ll have to let the pictures do the talking. As usual I am unlikely to be selective enough with my uploads, I’m not very good at leaving photos out so I just upload and be damned.

 

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.

Photo of the “Harvesting Hope: Empowering Earthquake Affected Provinces through Geographical Indications” exhibition, co-organized by WIPO and the Government of Türkiye.

 

Held on the sidelines of the Assemblies of WIPO Member States, the exhibition featured origin-based products from Türkiye that benefit from geographical indication protection (GIs) – which helps them reach global markets, providing opportunities and jobs to communities, including in difficult times.

 

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.

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.

No indication of what had been here on the 1908 building at 2217 W. Lawrence Ave.

Schweiz / Berner Oberland - Eiger, Mönch und Jungfrau

 

seen on the way from Allmendhubel to Grütschalp

 

gesehen auf dem Weg vom Allmendhubel zur Grütschalp

 

The Eiger (German pronunciation: [ˈaɪ̯ɡɐ]) is a 3,967-metre (13,015 ft) mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m (13,642 ft), constituting one of the most emblematic sights of the Swiss Alps. While the northern side of the mountain rises more than 3,000 m (10,000 ft) above the two valleys of Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, the southern side faces the large glaciers of the Jungfrau-Aletsch area, the most glaciated region in the Alps. The most notable feature of the Eiger is its nearly 1,800-metre-high (5,900 ft) north face of rock and ice, named Eiger-Nordwand, Eigerwand or just Nordwand, which is the biggest north face in the Alps.] This huge face towers over the resort of Kleine Scheidegg at its base, on the eponymous pass connecting the two valleys.

 

The first ascent of the Eiger was made by Swiss guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren and Irishman Charles Barrington, who climbed the west flank on August 11, 1858. The north face, the "last problem" of the Alps, considered amongst the most challenging and dangerous ascents, was first climbed in 1938 by an Austrian-German expedition.The Eiger has been highly publicized for the many tragedies involving climbing expeditions. Since 1935, at least 64 climbers have died attempting the north face, earning it the German nickname Mordwand, literally "murder(ous) wall"—a pun on its correct title of Nordwand (North Wall).

 

Although the summit of the Eiger can be reached by experienced climbers only, a railway tunnel runs inside the mountain, and two internal stations provide easy access to viewing-windows carved into the rock face. They are both part of the Jungfrau Railway line, running from Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfraujoch, between the Mönch and the Jungfrau, at the highest railway station in Europe. The two stations within the Eiger are Eigerwand (behind the north face) and Eismeer (behind the south face), at around 3,000 metres. The Eigerwand station has not been regularly served since 2016.

 

Etymology

 

The first mention of Eiger, appearing as "mons Egere", was found in a property sale document of 1252, but there is no clear indication of how exactly the peak gained its name. The three mountains of the ridge are commonly referred to as the Virgin (German: Jungfrau – translates to "virgin" or "maiden"), the Monk (Mönch), and the Ogre (Eiger; the standard German word for ogre is Oger). The name has been linked to the Latin term acer, meaning "sharp" or "pointed".

 

Geographic setting and description

 

The Eiger is located above the Lauterbrunnen Valley to the west and Grindelwald to the north in the Bernese Oberland region of the canton of Bern. It forms a renowned mountain range of the Bernese Alps together with its two companions: the Jungfrau (4,158 m (13,642 ft)) about 5.6 kilometres (3.5 mi) southwest of it and the Mönch (4,107 m (13,474 ft)) about in the middle of them. The nearest settlements are Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen (795 m (2,608 ft)) and Wengen (1,274 m (4,180 ft)). The Eiger has three faces: north (or more precisely NNW), east (or more precisely ESE), and west (or more precisely WSW). The northeastern ridge from the summit to the Ostegg (lit.: eastern corner, 2,709 m (8,888 ft)), called Mittellegi, is the longest on the Eiger. The north face overlooks the gently rising Alpine meadow between Grindelwald (943 m (3,094 ft)) and Kleine Scheidegg (2,061 m (6,762 ft)), a mountain railways junction and a pass, which can be reached from both sides, Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen/Wengen – by foot or train.

 

Politically, the Eiger (and its summit) belongs to the Bernese municipalities of Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen. The Kleine Scheidegg (literally, the small parting corner) connects the Männlichen-Tschuggen range with the western ridge of the Eiger. The Eiger does not properly form part of the main chain of the Bernese Alps, which borders the canton of Valais and forms the watershed between the Rhine and the Rhône, but constitutes a huge limestone buttress, projecting from the crystalline basement of the Mönch across the Eigerjoch. Consequently, all sides of the Eiger feed finally the same river, namely the Lütschine.

 

Eiger's water is connected through the Weisse Lütschine (the white one) in the Lauterbrunnen Valley on the west side (southwestern face of the Eiger), and through the Schwarze Lütschine (the black one) running through Grindelwald (northwestern face), which meet each other in Zweilütschinen (lit.: the two Lütschinen) where they form the proper Lütschine. The east face is covered by the glacier called Ischmeer, (Bernese German for Ice Sea), which forms one upper part of the fast-retreating Lower Grindelwald Glacier. These glaciers' water forms a short creek, which is also confusingly called the Weisse Lütschine, but enters the black one already in Grindelwald together with the water from the Upper Grindelwald Glacier. Therefore, all the water running down the Eiger converges at the northern foot of the Männlichen (2,342 m (7,684 ft)) in Zweilütschinen (654 m (2,146 ft)), about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northwest of the summit, where the Lütschine begins its northern course to Lake Brienz and the Aare (564 m (1,850 ft)).

 

Although the north face of the Eiger is almost free of ice, significant glaciers lie at the other sides of the mountain. The Eiger Glacier flows on the southwestern side of the Eiger, from the crest connecting it to the Mönch down to 2,400 m (7,900 ft), south of Eigergletscher railway station, and feeds the Weisse Lütschine through the Trümmelbach. On the east side, the Ischmeer–well visible from the windows of Eismeer railway station–flows eastwards from the same crest then turns to the north below the impressive wide Fiescherwand, the north face of the Fiescherhörner triple summit (4,049 m (13,284 ft)) down to about 1,600 m (5,200 ft) of the Lower Grindelwald Glacier system.

 

The massive composition of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau constitutes an emblematic sight of the Swiss Alps and is visible from many places on the Swiss Plateau and the Jura Mountains in the northwest. The higher Finsteraarhorn (4,270 m (14,010 ft)) and Aletschhorn (4,190 m (13,750 ft)), which are located about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the south, are generally less visible and situated in the middle of glaciers in less accessible areas. As opposed to the north side, the south and east sides of the range consist of large valley glaciers extending for up to 22 kilometres (14 mi), the largest (beyond the Eiger drainage basin) being those of Grand Aletsch, Fiesch, and Aar Glaciers, and is thus uninhabited. The whole area, the Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area, comprising the highest summits and largest glaciers of the Bernese Alps, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

 

In July 2006, a piece of the Eiger, amounting to approximately 700,000 cubic metres of rock, fell from the east face. As it had been noticeably cleaving for several weeks and fell into an uninhabited area, there were no injuries and no buildings were hit.

 

Climbing history

 

While the summit was reached without much difficulty in 1858 by a complex route on the west flank, the battle to climb the north face has captivated the interest of climbers and non-climbers alike. Before it was successfully climbed, most of the attempts on the face ended tragically and the Bernese authorities even banned climbing it and threatened to fine any party that should attempt it again. But the enthusiasm which animated the young talented climbers from Austria and Germany finally vanquished its reputation of unclimbability when a party of four climbers successfully reached the summit in 1938 by what is known as the "1938" or "Heckmair" route.

 

The climbers that attempted the north face could be easily watched through the telescopes from the Kleine Scheidegg, a pass between Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, connected by rail. The contrast between the comfort and civilization of the railway station and the agonies of the young men slowly dying a short yet uncrossable distance away led to intensive coverage by the international media.

 

After World War II, the north face was climbed twice in 1947, first by a party of two French guides, Louis Lachenal and Lionel Terray, then by a Swiss party consisting of H. Germann, with Hans and Karl Schlunegger.

 

First ascent

 

In 1857, a first recorded attempt was made by Christian Almer, Christian Kaufmann, Ulrich Kaufmann guiding the Austrian alpinist Sigismund Porges. They did manage the first ascent of neighboring Mönch instead. Porges, however, successfully made the second ascent of the Eiger in July 1861 with the guides Christian Michel, Hans and Peter Baumann.

 

The first ascent was made by the western flank on August 11, 1858 by Charles Barrington with guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren. On the previous afternoon, the party walked up to the Wengernalp hotel. From there they started the ascent of the Eiger at 3:30 a.m. Barrington describes the route much as it is followed today, staying close to the edge of the north face much of the way. They reached the summit at about noon, planted a flag, stayed for some 10 minutes and descended in about four hours. Barrington describes the reaching of the top, saying, "the two guides kindly gave me the place of first man up." After the descent, the party was escorted to the Kleine Scheidegg hotel, where their ascent was confirmed by observation of the flag left on the summit. The owner of the hotel then fired a cannon to celebrate the first ascent. According to Harrer's The White Spider, Barrington was originally planning to make the first ascent of the Matterhorn, but his finances did not allow him to travel there as he was already staying in the Eiger region.

 

Mittellegi ridge

 

Although the Mittellegi ridge had already been descended by climbers (since 1885) with the use of ropes in the difficult sections, it remained unclimbed until 1921. On the 10th of September of that year, Japanese climber Yuko Maki, along with Swiss guides Fritz Amatter, Samuel Brawand and Fritz Steuri made the first successful ascent of the ridge. The previous day, the party approached the ridge from the Eismeer railway station of the Jungfrau Railway and bivouacked for the night. They started the climb at about 6:00 a.m. and reached the summit of the Eiger at about 7:15 p.m., after an over 13 hours gruelling ascent. Shortly after, they descended the west flank. They finally reached Eigergletscher railway station at about 3:00 a.m. the next day.

 

Attempts on the north face

 

1935

 

In 1935, two young German climbers from Bavaria, Karl Mehringer and Max Sedlmeyer, arrived at Grindelwald to attempt the ascent of the north face. After waiting some time for the weather to improve, they set off, reaching the height of the Eigerwand station before stopping for their first bivouac. The following day, facing greater difficulties, they gained little height. On the third day, they made hardly any vertical gain. That night, the weather deteriorated, bringing snow and low cloud that shrouded the mountain from the observers below. Avalanches began to sweep the face. Two days later, the weather briefly cleared, and the two men were glimpsed a little higher and about to bivouac for the fifth night, before clouds descended again. A few days later, the weather finally cleared, revealing a completely white north face.: 225  Weeks later, the German World War I ace Ernst Udet went searching for the missing men with his aircraft, eventually spotting one of them frozen to death in what became known as the "Death Bivouac". Sedlmeyer's body was found at the foot of the face the following year by his brothers Heinrich and Martin Meier, who were part of a group looking for the victims of the 1936 climbing disaster. Mehringer's remains were found in 1962 by Swiss climbers below the "Flat Iron" (Bügeleisen) at the lefthand end of the second ice field. 

 

1936

 

The next year ten young climbers from Austria and Germany came to Grindelwald and camped at the foot of the mountain. Before their attempts started one of them was killed during a training climb, and the weather was so bad during that summer that, after waiting for a change and seeing none on the way, several members of the party gave up. Of the four that remained, two were Bavarians, Andreas Hinterstoisser and Toni Kurz, and two were Austrians, Willy Angerer and Edi Rainer. When the weather improved they made a preliminary exploration of the lowest part of the face. Hinterstoisser fell 37 metres (121 ft) but was not injured. A few days later the four men finally began the ascent of the face. They climbed quickly, but on the next day, after their first bivouac, the weather changed; clouds came down and hid the group to the observers. They did not resume the climb until the following day, when, during a break, the party was seen descending, but the climbers could be seen only intermittently from the ground. The group had no choice but to retreat, since Angerer had suffered serious injuries from falling rock. The party became stuck on the face when they could not recross the difficult Hinterstoisser Traverse, from which they had taken the rope they had first used to climb it. The weather then deteriorated for two days. They were ultimately swept away by an avalanche, which only Kurz survived, hanging on a rope. Three guides started on an extremely perilous rescue attempt. They failed to reach him but came within shouting distance and learned what had happened. Kurz explained the fate of his companions: one had fallen down the face, another was frozen above him, and the third had fractured his skull in falling and was hanging dead on the rope.

 

In the morning the three guides came back, traversing the face from a hole near the Eigerwand station and risking their lives under incessant avalanches. Toni Kurz was still alive but almost helpless, with one hand and one arm completely frozen. Kurz hauled himself off the cliff after cutting loose the rope that bound him to his dead teammate below and climbed back onto the face. The guides were not able to pass an unclimbable overhang that separated them from Kurz. They managed to give him a rope long enough to reach them by tying two ropes together. While descending, Kurz could not get the knot to pass through his carabiner. He tried for hours to reach his rescuers who were only a few metres below him. Then he began to lose consciousness. One of the guides, climbing on another's shoulders, was able to touch the tip of Kurz's crampons with his ice-axe but could not reach higher. Kurz was unable to descend further and, completely exhausted, died slowly.

 

1937

 

An attempt was made in 1937 by Mathias Rebitsch and Ludwig Vörg. Although the attempt was unsuccessful, they were nonetheless the first climbers who returned alive from a serious attempt on the face. They started the climb on 11 August and reached a high point of a few rope lengths above Death Bivouac. A storm then broke and after three days on the wall they had to retreat. This was the first successful withdrawal from a significant height on the wall.

 

First ascent of the north face

 

The north face was first climbed on July 24, 1938 by Anderl Heckmair, Ludwig Vörg, Heinrich Harrer and Fritz Kasparek in a German–Austrian party. The party had originally consisted of two independent teams: Harrer (who did not have a pair of crampons on the climb) and Kasparek were joined on the face by Heckmair and Vörg, who had started their ascent a day later and had been helped by the fixed rope that the lead team had left across the Hinterstoisser Traverse. The two groups, led by the experienced Heckmair, decided to join their forces and roped together as a single group of four. Heckmair later wrote: "We, the sons of the older Reich, united with our companions from the Eastern Border to march together to victory."

 

The expedition was constantly threatened by snow avalanches and climbed as quickly as possible between the falls. On the third day a storm broke and the cold was intense. The four men were caught in an avalanche as they climbed "the Spider," the snow-filled cracks radiating from an ice-field on the upper face, but all possessed sufficient strength to resist being swept off the face. The members successfully reached the summit at four o'clock in the afternoon. They were so exhausted that they only just had the strength to descend by the normal route through a raging blizzard.

 

Other notable events

 

1864 (Jul 27): Fourth ascent, and first ascent by a woman, Lucy Walker, who was part of a group of six guides (including Christian Almer and Melchior Anderegg) and five clients, including her brother Horace Walker[

1871: First ascent by the southwest ridge, 14 July (Christian Almer, Christian Bohren, and Ulrich Almer guiding W. A. B. Coolidge and Meta Brevoort).

1890: First ascent in winter, Ulrich Kaufmann and Christian Jossi guiding C. W. Mead and G. F. Woodroffe.

1924: First ski ascent and descent via the Eiger glacier by Englishman Arnold Lunn and the Swiss Fritz Amacher, Walter Amstutz and Willy Richardet.

1932: First ascent of the northeast face ("Lauper route") by Hans Lauper, Alfred Zürcher, Alexander Graven and Josef Knubel

1970: First ski descent over the west flank, by Sylvain Saudan.

1986: Welshman Eric Jones becomes the first person to BASE jump from the Eiger.

1988: Original Route (ED2), north face, Eiger (3970m), Alps, Switzerland, first American solo (nine and a half hours) by Mark Wilford.

1991: First ascent, Metanoia Route, North Face, solo, winter, without bolts, Jeff Lowe.

1992 (18 July): Three BMG/UIAGM/IFMGA clients died in a fall down the West Flank: Willie Dunnachie; Douglas Gaines; and Phillip Davies. They had ascended the mountain via the Mittellegi Ridge.

2006 (14 June): François Bon and Antoine Montant make the first speedflying descent of the Eiger.

2006 (15 July): Approximately 700,000 cubic metres (20 million cubic feet) of rock from the east side collapses. No injuries or damage were reported.

2015 (23 July): A team of British Para-Climbers reached the summit via the West Flank Route. The team included John Churcher, the world's first blind climber to summit the Eiger, sight guided by the team leader Mark McGowan. Colin Gourlay enabled the ascent of other team members, including Al Taylor who has multiple sclerosis, and the young autistic climber Jamie Owen from North Wales. The ascent was filmed by the adventure filmmakers Euan Ryan & Willis Morris of Finalcrux Films.

 

Books and films

 

The 1959 book The White Spider by Heinrich Harrer describes the first successful ascent of the Eiger north face.

The Climb Up To Hell, 1962, by Jack Olson, an account of the ill-fated 1957 attempted climb of the north face by an Italian four-man team and the dramatic rescue of the sole survivor mounted by an international all-volunteer group of rescuers.

Eiger Direct, 1966, by Dougal Haston and Peter Gillman, London: Collins, also known as Direttissima; the Eiger Assault

The 1971 novel The Ice Mirror by Charles MacHardy describes the second attempted ascent of the Eiger north face by the main character.

The 1972 novel The Eiger Sanction is an action/thriller novel by Rodney William Whitaker (writing under the pseudonym Trevanian), based around the climbing of the Eiger. This was then made into the 1975 film The Eiger Sanction starring Clint Eastwood and George Kennedy. The Eiger Sanction film crew included very experienced mountaineers (e.g., Mike Hoover, Dougal Haston, and Hamish MacInnes, see Summit, 52, Spring 2010) as consultants, to ensure accuracy in the climbing footage, equipment and techniques.

The Eiger, 1974, by Dougal Haston, London: Cassell

The 1982 book Eiger, Wall of Death by Arthur Roth is an historical account of first ascents of the north face.

The 1982 book Traverse of The Gods by Bob Langley is a World War II spy thriller where a group escaping from Nazi Germany is trapped and the only possible exit route is via the Nordwand.

Eiger, 1983, a documentary film by Leo Dickinson of Eric Jones' 1981 solo ascent of the north face.

Eiger Dreams, 1990, a collection of essays by Jon Krakauer, begins with an account of Krakauer's own attempt to climb the north face.

Eiger: The Vertical Arena (German edition, 1998; English edition, 2000), edited by Daniel Anker, a comprehensive climbing history of the north face authored by 17 climbers, with numerous photographs and illustrations.

The IMAX film The Alps features John Harlin III's climb up the north face in September 2005. Harlin's father, John Harlin II, set out 40 years earlier to attempt a direct route (the direttissima) up the 6,000-foot (1,800 m) face, the so-called "John Harlin route". At 1300 m, his rope broke, and he fell to his death. Composer James Swearingen created a piece named Eiger: Journey to the Summit in his memory.

The 2007 docu/drama film The Beckoning Silence featuring mountaineer Joe Simpson, recounting—with filmed reconstructions—the ill-fated 1936 expedition up the north face of the Eiger and how Heinrich Harrer's book The White Spider inspired him to take up climbing. The film followed Simpson's eponymous 2003 book. Those playing the parts of the original climbing team were Swiss mountain guides Roger Schäli (Toni Kurz), Simon Anthamatten (Andreas Hinterstoisser), Dres Abegglen (Willy Angerer) and Cyrille Berthod (Edi Rainer). The documentary won an Emmy Award the subsequent year.

The 2008 German historical fiction film Nordwand is based on the 1936 attempt to climb the Eiger north face. The film is about the two German climbers, Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser, involved in a competition with an Austrian duo to be the first to scale the north face of Eiger.

The 2010 documentary Eiger: Wall of Death by Steve Robinson.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

The Mönch (German pronunciation: [ˈmœnç] German: "monk") at 4,110 metres (13,480 ft) is a mountain in the Bernese Alps, in Switzerland. Together with the Eiger and the Jungfrau, it forms a highly recognisable group of mountains, visible from far away.

 

The Mönch lies on the border between the cantons of Valais and Bern, and forms part of a mountain ridge between the Jungfrau and Jungfraujoch to the west, and the Eiger to the east. It is west of Mönchsjoch, a pass at 3,650 metres (11,980 ft), Mönchsjoch Hut, and north of the Jungfraufirn and Ewigschneefäld, two affluents of the Great Aletsch Glacier. The north side of the Mönch forms a step wall above the Lauterbrunnen valley.

 

The Jungfrau railway tunnel runs right under the summit, at an elevation of approximately 3,300 metres (10,830 ft).

 

The summit was first climbed on record on 15 August 1857 by Christian Almer, Christian Kaufmann (1831-1861), Ulrich Kaufmann and Sigismund Porges.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

The Jungfrau (YOONG-frow, German pronunciation: [ˈjʊŋˌfʁaʊ̯], transl. "maiden, virgin"), at 4,158 meters (13,642 ft) is one of the main summits of the Bernese Alps, located between the northern canton of Bern and the southern canton of Valais, halfway between Interlaken and Fiesch. Together with the Eiger and Mönch, the Jungfrau forms a massive wall of mountains overlooking the Bernese Oberland and the Swiss Plateau, one of the most distinctive sights of the Swiss Alps.

 

The summit was first reached on August 3, 1811, by the Meyer brothers of Aarau and two chamois hunters from Valais. The ascent followed a long expedition over the glaciers and high passes of the Bernese Alps. It was not until 1865 that a more direct route on the northern side was opened.

 

The construction of the Jungfrau Railway in the early 20th century, which connects Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfraujoch, the saddle between the Mönch and the Jungfrau, made the area one of the most-visited places in the Alps. Along with the Aletsch Glacier to the south, the Jungfrau is part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch area, which was declared a World Heritage Site in 2001.

 

Etymology

 

The name Jungfrau ("maiden, virgin"), which refers to the highest of the three prominent mountains overlooking the Interlaken region, along with the Mönch ("monk") and the Eiger ("ogre"), is most likely derived from the name Jungfrauenberg given to Wengernalp, the alpine meadow directly facing the huge northern side of the Jungfrau, across the Trummelbach gorge. Wengernalp was so named for the nuns of Interlaken Monastery, its historical owner. Contrary to popular belief, the name did not originate from the appearance of the snow-covered mountain, the latter looking like a veiled woman.

 

The "virgin" peak was heavily romanticized as "goddess" or "priestess" in late 18th to 19th century Romanticism. Its summit, considered inaccessible, remained untouched until the 19th century. After the first ascent in 1811 by Swiss alpinist Johann Rudolf Meyer, the peak was jokingly referred to as "Mme Meyer" (Mrs. Meyer).

 

Geographic setting

 

Politically, the Jungfrau (and its massif) is split between the municipalities of Lauterbrunnen (Bern) and Fieschertal (Valais). It is the third-highest mountain of the Bernese Alps after the nearby Finsteraarhorn and Aletschhorn, respectively 12 and 8 km (7.5 and 5 mi) away. But from Lake Thun, and the greater part of the canton of Bern, it is the most conspicuous and the nearest of the Bernese Oberland peaks; with a height difference of 3,600 m (11,800 ft) between the summit and the town of Interlaken. This, and the extreme steepness of the north face, secured for it an early reputation for inaccessibility.

 

The Jungfrau is the westernmost and highest point of a gigantic 10 km (6.2 mi) wall dominating the valleys of Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. The wall is formed by the alignment of some of the biggest north faces in the Alps, with the Mönch (4,107 m or 13,474 ft) and Eiger (3,967 m or 13,015 ft) to the east of the Jungfrau, and overlooks the valleys to its north by a height of up to 3 km (1.9 mi). The Jungfrau is approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) from the Eiger; with the summit of the Mönch between the two mountains, 3.5 km (2.2 mi) from the Jungfrau. The Jungfraujoch is the saddle between the Jungfrau and the Mönch and the Eigerjoch is the saddle between the Mönch and the Eiger. The wall is extended to the east by the Fiescherwand and to the west by the Lauterbrunnen Wall, although it follows different directions from the Jungfrau and the Eiger.

 

The difference of altitude between the deep valley of Lauterbrunnen (800 m or 2,600 ft) and the summit is particularly visible from the area of Mürren. From the valley floor, west of the massif, the altitude gain is more than 3 km (1.9 mi) for a horizontal distance of 4 km (2.5 mi).

 

The landscapes around the Jungfrau are extremely contrasted. In contrast to the vertiginous precipices of its northwest, the mountain's southeastern side emerges from the upper snows of the Jungfraufirn, one of the main feeders of the Aletsch Glacier, at around 3,500 meters (11,500 ft). The 20-kilometer-long (12 mi) valley of Aletsch on the southeast is completely uninhabited, and is surrounded by neighboring valleys with similar landscapes. The area as a whole constitutes the largest glaciated area not just in the Alps, but in Europe as well.

 

Climbing history

 

In 1811, the brothers Johann Rudolf (1768–1825) and Hieronymus Meyer, sons of Johann Rudolf Meyer (1739–1813), the head of a rich merchant family of Aarau, along with several servants and a porter picked up at Guttannen, first reached the Valais by way of the Grimsel, and crossed the Beich Pass, a glacier pass over the Oberaletsch Glacier, to the head of the Lötschen valley. There, they added two local chamois hunters, Alois Volken and Joseph Bortis, to their party and traversed the Lötschenlücke before reaching the Aletschfirn (the west branch of the Aletsch Glacier), where they established the base camp, north of the Aletschhorn. After the Guttannen porter was sent back alone over the Lötschenlücke, the party finally reached the summit of the Jungfrau by the Rottalsattel on August 3. They then recrossed the two passes named to their point of departure in Valais, and went home again over the Grimsel.

 

The journey was a most extraordinary one for the time, and some persons threw doubts at its complete success. To settle these, another expedition was undertaken in 1812. In this the two sons, Rudolf (1791–1833) and Gottlieb (1793–1829), of Johann Rudolf Meyer, played the chief parts. After an unsuccessful attempt, defeated by bad weather, in the course of which the Oberaarjoch was crossed twice (this route being much more direct than the long detour through the Lötschental), Rudolf, with the two Valais hunters (Alois Volker and Joseph Bortis), a Guttannen porter named Arnold Abbühl, and a Hasle man, bivouacked on a depression on the southeast ridge of the Finsteraarhorn. Next day (August 16) the whole party attempted the ascent of the Finsteraarhorn from the Studer névé on the east by way of the southeast ridge, but Meyer, exhausted, remained behind. The following day the party crossed the Grünhornlücke to the Aletsch Glacier, but bad weather then put an end to further projects. At a bivouac, probably just opposite the present Konkordia Hut, the rest of the party, having come over the Oberaarjoch and the Grünhornlücke, joined the Finsteraarhorn party. Gottlieb, Rudolf's younger brother, had more patience than the rest and remained longer at the huts near the Märjelensee, where the adventurers had taken refuge. He could make the second ascent (September 3) of the Jungfrau, the Rottalsattel being reached from the east side as is now usual, and his companions being the two Valais hunters.

 

The third ascent dates from 1828, when several men from Grindelwald, headed by Peter Baumann, planted their flag upon the summit. Next came the ascent by Louis Agassiz, James David Forbes, Heath, Desor, and Duchatelier in 1841, recounted by Desor in his Excursions et Séjours dans les Glaciers. Gottlieb Samuel Studer published an account of the next ascent made by himself and Bürki in 1842.

 

In 1863, a party consisting of three young Oxford University graduates and three Swiss guides successfully reached the summit and returned to the base camp of the Faulberg (located near the present position of the Konkordia Hut) in less than 11 hours (see the section below, The 1863 Ascent). In the same year Mrs Stephen Winkworth became the first woman to climb the Jungfrau. She also slept overnight in the Faulberg cave prior to the ascent as there was no hut at that time.

 

Before the construction of the Jungfraujoch railway tunnel, the approach from the glaciers on the south side was very long. The first direct route from the valley of Lauterbrunnen was opened in 1865 by Geoffrey Winthrop Young, H. Brooke George with the guide Christian Almer. They had to carry ladders with them in order to cross the many crevasses on the north flank. Having spent the night on the rocks of the Schneehorn (3,402 m or 11,161 ft) they gained next morning the Silberlücke, the depression between the Jungfrau and Silberhorn, and thence in little more than three hours reached the summit. Descending to the Aletsch Glacier they crossed the Mönchsjoch, and passed a second night on the rocks, reaching Grindelwald next day. This route became a usual until the opening of the Jungfraujoch.

 

The first winter ascent was made on 23 January 1874, by Meta Brevoort and W. A. B. Coolidge with guides Christian and Ulrich Almer. They used a sled to reach the upper Aletsch Glacier, and were accompanied by Miss Brevoort's favorite dog, Tschingel.

 

The Jungfrau was climbed via the west side for the first time in 1885 by Fritz and Heinrich von Allmen, Ulrich Brunner, Fritz Graf, Karl Schlunegger and Johann Stäger—all from Wengen. They ascended the Rottal ridge (Innere Rottalgrat) and reached the summit on 21 September. The more difficult and dangerous northeast ridge that connects the summit from the Jungfraujoch was first climbed on 30 July 1911 by Albert Weber and Hans Schlunegger.

 

In July 2007, six Swiss Army recruits, part of the Mountain Specialists Division 1, died in an accident on the normal route. Although the causes of the deaths was not immediately clear, a report by the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research concluded that the avalanche risk was unusually high due to recent snowfall, and that there was "no other reasonable explanation" other than an avalanche for the incident.

 

The 1863 Ascent

 

The Führerbuch of the Alpine guide Peter Baumann records an ascent of the Jungfrau made by himself with three men from England in July 1863. The foreign climbers were long thought to have been John Tyndall, J.J. Hornby and T.H. Philpott, until in 1958 the records were checked by the Alpine Club and the following conclusion was reached:

 

On July 23, 1963, Phillpotts, with James Robertson and H.J. Chaytor, climbed the Jungfrau (the entry shown in A.J. 32. 227 was wrongly transcribed by Montagnier, who says ‘T.H. Philpott’ for J.S. Phillpotts). The entry in Peter Baumann’s Führerbuch (facsimile in A.C. archives) says that the trio crossed the Strahlegg Pass and the Oberaarjoch, and then climbed the Jungfrau from the Eggishorn.

 

Tyndall, Hornby and Philpott were well-known Alpinists, but there is no record of their having attempted the Jungfrau in 1863. Robertson, Chaytor and Phillpotts were novices; they had recently graduated from Oxford University where they had all been keen members of the Oxford University Boat Club.

 

William Robertson (1839–1892), the leader of the expedition (wrongly called ‘James’ in the Note quoted above), was an Australian by birth, and the first non-British national to take part in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. He later became a barrister and member of parliament in Australia. He and H.J. Chaytor (possibly the father of the medievalist Henry John Chaytor) were both members of the victorious Oxford team in the 1861 Boat Race. James Surtees Phillpotts (1839–1930) was the third member of the team; he would later become headmaster of Bedford School. The trio had three Swiss guides, Peter Baumann, Peter Kaufmann ("Grabipeter", father of Peter Kaufmann the younger) and Rubi.

 

A description of the ascent of the Jungfrau is contained in a letter dated Sunday 26 July which Phillpotts wrote to his friend Alexander Potts (later to become the first headmaster of Fettes College). The letter is now in the possession of the Alpine Club. The following extracts are from that letter.

 

The Virgin certainly did not smile on the poor "fools who rushed in" on her sacred heights, i.e. in plain British, we had the treadmill slog, the biting wind, the half frost-bitten feet and the flayed faces that generally attend an Alpine ascent.

 

We got to the Faulberg hole about dark, and enjoyed the coffee the longman (Kauffmann) made, as one would in a hole in a rock in a cold evening. The "Faulberg Nachtlager" consists of two holes and a vestibule to the upper hole. The Upper Hole in which we lodged just contained Chay[tor], the Guv [Robertson] and myself, stretched at full length on a little hay over a hard rock mattress, convex instead of concave at the point where one likes to rest one's weight. Chaytor was in the middle, and as we were very close was warm and slept. The Guv and I courted Nature's soft nurse in vain. At two we got up and methodically put our feet into the stocks, i.e. our boots, breakfasted and shivered, then started (unwashed of course, as the cold gave us malignant hydrophobia) a little after 3:30.

 

The hole was about 150 feet [46 m] up one of the loose stone cliffs one now knows so well. So we groped our way down it and over the moraine – the stars still lingering, as day was just dawning. We could not start at 1:30, the proper time, as there was no moon and we wanted light as we had to tramp the glacier at once. Rubi led, and off we went, roped and in Indian file, in the old treadmill way over the slippery plowed-field-like snow that lay on the upper glacier, for a pull without a check of one or two hours.

 

At last we came to the region of bergschrunds and crevasses. They seemed to form at first an impassable labyrinth, but gradually the guides wound in and out between the large rifts, which were exquisitely lovely with their overhanging banks of snow and glittering icicles, and then trod as on pins and needles over a snowbridge here and there, or had to take a jump over the more feasible ones – and we found ourselves at the foot of the mountain; trudged up on the snow which ought to have been crisp but was even then more or less fresh fallen and sloppy; had to creep over about three crevasses, and after a tiresome pull, dragging one leg after another out of ankle or knee deep snow, we got on a crest of snow at right angles to the slope we had just come up. That slope with its crevasses on one side, and on the other a shorter and much steeper one which led in a few steps to a precipice.

 

All along this crest went a snakelike long crevasse, for which we had continually to sound, and go first one side and then the other; then we got to the foot of the saddle. Some twenty or thirty steps, some cut, some uncut, soon took us up a kind of hollow, and we got on a little sloping plateau of some six feet [1.8 m] large, where we left the grub and the knapsack, keeping my small flask of cognac only. Then up a steep ice slope, very steep I should say, down which the bits of ice cut out of the steps hopped and jumped at full gallop and then bounded over to some bottomless place which we could not see down. Their pace gave one an unpleasant idea of the possible consequence of a slip.

 

Here we encountered a biting bitter wind. Peter Baumann cut magnificent steps, at least he and Rubi did between them, the one improving on the other's first rough blows. After Rubi came Chaytor with Kauffmann behind him, then the Guv, and then myself, the tail of the string. Each step was a long lift from the last one, and as the snow was shallow they had to be cut in the ice which was like rock on this last slope.

 

Suddenly there burst upon us, on lifting our heads over the ridge, the green and cheerful valleys of Lauterbrunnen and Interlaken, of Grindelwald and a distant view of others equally beautiful stretching on for ever in one vast panorama. On the other side in grim contrast there was a wild and even awful scene. One gazed about one and tried in vain to see to the bottom of dark yawning abysses and sheer cliffs of ice or rock.

 

Tourism

 

Named after the Jungfrau, the Jungfrau Region of the Bernese Oberland is a major tourist destination in the Alps and includes a large number of railways and other facilities. While the mountain peak was once difficult to access, the Jungfrau Railway, a rack railway, now goes to the Jungfraujoch railway station at 3,454 m (11,332 ft), therefore providing an easy access to the upper Aletsch Glacier and a relatively short access to the Jungfrau itself, the height difference between the station and the summit being only 704 metres and the horizontal distance being slightly less than 2 kilometres. As a result, in the popular mind, the Jungfrau has become a mountain associated with the Bernese Oberland and Interlaken, rather than with Upper Valais and Fiesch.

 

In 1893, Adolf Guyer-Zeller conceived of the idea of a railway tunnel to the Jungfraujoch to make the glaciated areas on its south side more accessible. The building of the tunnel took 16 years and the summit station was not opened before 1912. The goal was in fact to reach the summit of the Jungfrau with an elevator from the highest railway station, located inside the mountain. The complete project was not realized because of the outbreak of the World War I. Nevertheless, it was at the time one of the highest railways in the world and remains today the highest in Europe and the only (non-cable) railway on Earth going well past the perennial snow-line.

 

The Jungfrau Railway leaves from Kleine Scheidegg, which can be reached from both sides by trains from Grindelwald, and Lauterbrunnen via Wengen. The train enters the Jungfrau Tunnel running eastward through the Eiger just above Eigergletscher, which is, since 2020, also accessible by aerial tramway from Grindelwald. Before arriving at the Jungfraujoch, it stops for a few minutes at two other stations, Eigerwand (on the north face of the Eiger) and Eismeer (on the south side), where passengers can see through the holes excavated from the mountain. The journey from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch takes approximately 50 minutes including the stops; the downhill return journey taking only 35 minutes.

 

A large complex of tunnels and buildings has been constructed at the Jungfraujoch, referred to as the "Top of Europe". There are several restaurants and bars, shops, multimedia exhibitions, a post office, and a research station with dedicated accommodation facilities. An elevator enables access to the top of the Sphinx and its observatory, at 3,571 m (11,716 ft), the highest viewing platform of the area. Outside, at the level of the Jungfraujoch, there is a ski school, and the "Ice Palace", a collection of elaborate ice sculptures displayed inside the Aletsch Glacier. Another tunnel leads to the east side of the Sphinx, where one can walk on the glacier up to the Mönchsjoch Hut, the only hotel infrastructure in the area.

 

Apart from the Jungfraujoch, many facilities have been built in the Jungfrau Region, including numerous mountain railways. In 1908, the first public cable car in the world, the Wetterhorn Elevator, opened at the foot of the Wetterhorn, but was closed seven years later. The Schilthorn above Mürren, the Männlichen above Wengen, and the Schynige Platte above Wilderswil, offer good views of the Jungfrau and the Lauterbrunnen valley. On the south side, the Eggishorn above Fiesch also offers views of the Jungfrau, across the Aletsch Glacier.

 

Climbing routes

 

The normal route follows the traces of the first climbers, but the long approach on the Aletsch Glacier is no longer necessary. From the area of the Jungfraujoch the route to the summit takes only a few hours. Most climbers start from the Mönchsjoch Hut. After a traverse of the Jungfraufirn the route heads to the Rottalsattel (3,885 m or 12,746 ft), from where the southern ridge leads to the Jungfrau. It is not considered a very difficult climb but it can be dangerous on the upper section above the Rottalsattel, where most accidents happen. The use of the Jungfrau Railway instead of the much more gradual approach from Fiesch (or Fieschertal), via the Konkordia Hut, can cause some acclimatization troubles as the difference of altitude between the railway stations of Interlaken and Jungfraujoch is almost 3 km (1.9 mi).

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Eiger ist ein Berg in den Berner Alpen mit einer Höhe von 3967 m ü. M. Er ist dem Hauptkamm der Berner Alpen etwas nördlich vorgelagert und steht vollständig auf dem Territorium des Schweizer Kantons Bern. Zusammen mit Mönch und Jungfrau, deren Gipfel auf der Grenze zum Kanton Wallis liegen, dominiert der Eiger die Landschaft des zentralen Berner Oberlandes. Die etwa 3000 Meter über dem Tal aufragenden Nordflanken dieser Berge stellen die Schauseite einer der bekanntesten je als ein «Dreigestirn» bezeichneten Gipfel-Dreiergruppen in den Alpen dar.

 

Insbesondere die Nordwand des Eigers fasziniert sowohl Bergsteiger als auch Alpin-Laien. Durch dramatische Begehungsversuche und gelungene Begehungen dieser Wand wurde der Eiger weltweit bekannt und immer wieder ins Blickfeld der Öffentlichkeit gerückt – nicht zuletzt, da die gesamte Wand von Grindelwald und der Bahnstation Kleine Scheidegg aus einsehbar ist. Die Jungfraubahn mit ihrem Tunnel durch den Eigerfels ist seit ihrer Eröffnung im Jahr 1912 ein Touristenmagnet.

 

Namensherkunft

 

Die erste urkundliche Erwähnung des Eigers stammt aus dem Jahre 1252 – dies ist die zweitfrüheste urkundliche Erwähnung eines Schweizer Bergs nach dem Bietschhorn (1233). Am 24. Juli 1252 wurde in einer Verkaufsurkunde zwischen Ita von Wädiswyl und der Propstei Interlaken ein Grundstück mit den Worten «ad montem qui nominatur Egere» (dt.: Bis zum Berg, der Eiger genannt wird) abgegrenzt. Ein halbes Jahrhundert später wird der Eiger in einem Belehnungsbrief erstmals in deutscher Sprache erwähnt: «under Eigere».

 

Für die Herkunft des Namens gibt es drei gängige Erklärungen. Eine erste ist der althochdeutsche Name Agiger oder Aiger, wie der erste Siedler unterhalb des Eigers geheissen haben soll. Der Berg über dessen Weiden wurde deshalb Aigers Geissberg oder auch nur Geissberg genannt. Hieraus entwickelten sich dann im Laufe der Zeit die direkten Vorgänger der heutigen Bezeichnung. Die Herkunft des Namens könnte auch von dem lateinischen Wort acer kommen, woraus sich im Französischen aigu entwickelte. Beide Worte haben die Bedeutung scharf beziehungsweise spitz – in Anlehnung an die Form des Eigers. Die dritte Erklärung stammt von der früher gebräuchlichen Schreibweise Heiger, was sich aus dem Dialektausdruck «dr hej Ger» entwickelt haben könnte (hej bedeutet hoch, Ger war ein germanischer Wurfspiess). Wiederum wäre hier die Form des Eigers ausschlaggebend für seine Bezeichnung.

 

Im Zusammenhang mit dem Eiger wird auch des Öfteren die Namensähnlichkeit mit dem Oger, einem menschenähnlichen Unhold, genannt. In Anlehnung an das Dreigestirn «Eiger–Mönch–Jungfrau» gibt es die Erzählung, der Unhold Eiger wolle seine lüsternen Pranken auf die Jungfrau legen, woran er aber vom fröhlichen Mönch gehindert werde. Zu dieser Geschichte sind in Grindelwald alte Karikaturen und neuere Postkarten zu kaufen.

 

Lage und Umgebung

 

Der Eiger erhebt sich direkt südwestlich von Grindelwald (Amtsbezirk Interlaken). Die bekannte Nordwand ist genaugenommen eine Nordwestwand. Neben dieser existiert in der berühmten «Eiger-Nordansicht» auch noch die Nordostwand. Sie bildet die Basis für den scharfen Mittellegigrat, der vom Unteren Grindelwaldgletscher zum Gipfel zieht. Auf der gegenüberliegenden Seite begrenzt der Westgrat die Nordwand. Ihm folgt die Westflanke, in welcher sich der Eigergletscher und der Klein Eiger befinden. An diesen schliessen sich der Südwestgrat und noch ein Stück östlicher der Südgrat an, der wiederum die Südostwand begrenzt, welche bis zum Mittellegigrat reicht. Südöstlich des Eigers liegt der Grindelwald-Fieschergletscher.

 

In der Umgebung des Eigers befinden sich einige Viertausender des Aarmassivs. Im Osten ist er umgeben von Schreckhorn (4078 m ü. M.) und Lauteraarhorn (4042 m ü. M.), im Südosten vom Grossen Fiescherhorn (4049 m ü. M.), und im Südwesten ist der Mönch (4107 m ü. M.) durch das Nördliche und Südliche Eigerjoch vom Eiger getrennt. Zusammen mit dem Mönch und der Jungfrau (4158 m ü. M.) bildet der Eiger das «Dreigestirn», bei dem der Eiger den nordöstlichen und die Jungfrau den südwestlichen Endpunkt bildet. Entgegen der steil abfallenden Nordseite des Berges befindet sich im Süden des Eigers die Hochfläche und Gletscherwelt der Berner Alpen. Seit Ende 2001 gehört der Eiger zum Gebiet des UNESCO-Weltnaturerbes Schweizer Alpen Jungfrau-Aletsch.

 

Geologie

 

Der Eiger ist ein Teil des helvetischen Systems, das im Grossraum um den Thunersee die Decken des Alpennordrandes bildet. In einer späten Phase der alpidischen Gebirgsfaltung wurden die helvetischen Kalk-Sedimente von ihrer kristallinen Basis abgeschürft und in Form einer Abscherungsdecke nach Nordwesten verschoben. Während des Faltungsprozesses in der Alpenentstehung brachen die Kalkbänke auf und Kluft- sowie Faltensysteme entstanden, die später mit ausgefälltem Calcit geschlossen wurden. Wichtigste Bestandteile der Sedimente sind der Schrattenkalk der Kreidezeit und der Malmkalk. Als Füll- und Schmiermaterial dienten Mergel und Tonschiefer.

 

Die klar erkennbare Faltung des Helvetikums mit seinen gebänderten, plattigen Kalkschichten zeigt sich auch am Eiger. Das Massiv des Eigers besteht komplett aus Kalk der helvetischen Zone und schliesst die Flyschschichten und die Molasse des Grindelwaldbeckens steil nach Süden hin ab. Weil der Talkessel von Grindelwald so reich gegliedert ist, finden hier die verschiedensten Tiere einen Lebensraum.[6] Südlich des Eigers schliesst sich das Aarmassiv mit seinem Innertkirchner-Lauterbrunner-Kristallin an. Teilweise hat sich dieses über die Sedimente des Eiger geschoben. Im Bereich des Mönchs treffen die Sedimente auf Altkristallin. Die typischen Gesteine des helvetischen Systems im Bereich des Eigers entstanden während des Jura, dem mittleren Zeitabschnitts des Mesozoikums. Der vorherrschende Kalk ist dabei mit verschiedenen Gesteinen durchmischt. Es zeigen sich Mergel-Kalke und -Schiefer, Ton-Schiefer, Eisenoolith sowie kalkige Sandsteine.

 

Die Kalkschichten des Eigers lagern auf Gneis und sind um 60–70° nach Norden geneigt. Geprägt wurde die heutige Form des Eigers durch die Eiszeiten. Während der Riss-Kaltzeit reichte die Vergletscherung bis an den Fuss der Nordwand. In der Würm-Kaltzeit war die Mächtigkeit des Eises um 200 Meter geringer. Durch die Bewegung der Gletscher wurde die Erdoberfläche umgestaltet. Vom Eis überlagerte Landschaften wurden abgeschliffen, wohingegen unbedeckte Bereiche durch Verwitterung und andere Formen der Erosion verändert wurden. Mit dem Rückzug des Eises änderten sich auch die Druckverhältnisse im Gestein, was sich durch Entlastungsbewegungen formgebend auswirkte. Prägend für den Eiger und seine Form war die allseitige Umlagerung von Eismassen, welche für einen recht gleichmässigen und markanten Abrieb aller Wände sorgte. Darüber hinaus war die Nordwand durch ihre Exposition den Abtragungsprozessen wie Frostverwitterung mehr ausgesetzt.

 

Felssturz

 

2006 ereignete sich am Eiger ein grosser Bergsturz, der öffentliches Interesse auf sich zog. An der Ostseite des Berges, unterhalb des Mittellegigrates, war durch Felsbewegungen ein rund 250 Meter langer Spalt entstanden, der eine Breite von etwa 7 Metern erreichte.Danach senkten sich die äusseren Teile mehrere Zentimeter pro Tag ab. Eine Ursache dieser Felsabspaltung könnte sowohl das massive Eindringen von Schmelzwasser in den Felsen gewesen sein, als auch eine Instabilität des Gesteins durch den Rückgang des Gletschers unterhalb des Felsabbruchs infolge der globalen Erwärmung. Am 13. Juli 2006 um 19:24 Uhr stürzten rund 500'000 Kubikmeter Felsbrocken auf den Unteren Grindelwaldgletscher. Über der Gemeinde Grindelwald schwebte stundenlang eine Staubwolke. Bereits am Nachmittag desselben Tages war die sogenannte «Madonna vom Eiger» zu Tal gestürzt. Hierbei handelte es sich um einen ungefähr 30 Meter hohen schlanken Felsturm mit rund 600 Kubikmeter Volumen.

 

Seit diesen Ereignissen wird die Felsnase (Gesamtvolumen: ungefähr eine Million Kubikmeter Gestein), aus der die Gesteinsmasse abbrach, von der Universität Lausanne beobachtet. Die Beobachtungen ergaben, dass sich die Nase von Juli 2007 bis August 2008 auf einer nach Osten geneigten Gleitfläche um 15 Meter talwärts bewegte. Zusätzlich kippte die Gesteinsmasse um zwei Grad nach Nordosten. Die Kluft zwischen Berg und Felsbrocken betrug im August 2008 50 Meter. Immer wieder brechen Gesteinsteile ab und stürzen zu Tal. Gebremst und stabilisiert wird die Masse vom Gletschereis, in das die Felsnase gleitet. Dies verhindert, dass die Nase als kompakte Masse zu Tal stürzt. So gilt es als wahrscheinlicher, dass der Gesteinsblock in sich selbst zusammenfallen wird.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Mönch ist ein 4107 m ü. M. hoher Berg der Berner Alpen in der Schweiz. Zusammen mit dem Eiger und der Jungfrau bildet er eine markante, von weit her sichtbare Dreiergruppe, ein sogenanntes „Dreigestirn“.

 

Seine Erstbesteigung fand am 15. August 1857 durch Christian Almer, Christian Kaufmann, Ulrich Kaufmann und Sigismund Porges statt.

 

Südöstlich des Mönch liegt die Mönchsjochhütte, eine 3657 m ü. M. hoch gelegene Berghütte wenig oberhalb des oberen Mönchsjochs, das den Mönch vom Trugberg trennt.

 

Höhenbestimmung

 

1935 wurde die Höhe des Mönchs mit 4099 m ü. M. bestimmt. Diese Zahl ist noch heute häufig in der Literatur zu finden. 1993 ergaben jedoch Messungen per Luftfotogrammetrie eine Höhe von 4107 m ü. M.. Daraufhin wurde der Wert auf der Landeskarte der Schweiz korrigiert. Mit einer Messung per GPS ermittelte man 1997 eine Höhe von 4109,4 m ü. M.; und bei einer erneuten luftfotogrammetrischen Messung von 1999 resultierte sogar eine Höhe von 4110 m ü. M.. Diese neuen Messwerte wurden jedoch nicht auf den amtlichen Karten berücksichtigt. Für diese abweichenden Werte sind nicht nur Messfehler verantwortlich, sondern auch die Tatsache, dass der Mönch eine Kuppe aus Firn besitzt, welche in den letzten Jahren gewachsen ist.

 

Name

 

Am Fusse des Mönchs befinden sich Alpweiden, auf welchen früher Wallache, sogenannte „Münche“, gesömmert wurden. So hat man den über den Münchenalpen gelegenen Berg Münchenberg genannt und schliesslich nur noch Münch oder Mönch.

 

Routen

 

Südarm des Ostgrates (Normalroute)

 

Schwierigkeit: ZS-, mit II. UIAA-Grad Felskletterei

Zeitaufwand: 2½–3½ Std. von der Mönchsjochhütte, 3–4 Std. vom Jungfraujoch

Ausgangspunkt: Mönchsjochhütte (3657 m ü. M.)

Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m ü. M.)

 

Südwestgrat

 

Schwierigkeit: ZS-, mit III-. UIAA-Grad Felskletterei

Zeitaufwand: 3–4 Stunden

Ausgangspunkt: Jungfraujoch (3454 m ü. M.)

Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m ü. M.)

 

Nordostarm des Ostgrates

 

Schwierigkeit: ZS, mit III+. UIAA-Grad Felskletterei

Zeitaufwand: 4–5 Stunden

Ausgangspunkt: Mönchsjochhütte (3657 m ü. M.)

Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m ü. M.)

 

Nordostgrat

 

Schwierigkeit: ZS

Zeitaufwand: 4–5 Stunden

Ausgangspunkt: Mönchsjochhütte (3657 m ü. M.)

Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m ü. M.)

 

Nordwestbollwerk (Nollen)

 

Schwierigkeit: S

Zeitaufwand: 6–10 Stunden

Ausgangspunkt: Guggihütte (2791 m ü. M.)

Talort: Kleine Scheidegg (2061 m ü. M.)

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Die Jungfrau ist ein Berg in der Schweiz. Sie ist mit 4158 m ü. M. der dritthöchste Berg der Berner Alpen und bildet zusammen mit Eiger und Mönch eine markante Dreiergruppe, ein sogenanntes «Dreigestirn».

 

Am 13. Dezember 2001 wurde die Jungfrau zusammen mit südlich angrenzenden Gebieten als Schweizer Alpen Jungfrau-Aletsch in die Liste als UNESCO-Weltnaturerbe aufgenommen.

 

Lage und Umgebung

 

Über den Jungfrau-Gipfel verläuft die Grenze zwischen den Kantonen Bern und Wallis. Der Berg ist ausserordentlich vielgestaltig. Im Norden und Nordwesten, auf ihrer „weiblichen“ Schauseite (vgl. Foto) sind ihr Wengen-Jungfrau, Schneehorn, das Silberhorn, das Chly Silberhoren und der „Schwarzmönch“ vorgelagert sowie die zerrissenen Kühlauenen- und Giessengletscher. Im Westen erhebt sie sich fast eisfrei volle 3250 Meter über dem hinteren Lauterbrunnental. Es ist dies (nach dem Mont Blanc) der zweithöchste direkte Abhang in den Alpen. Ihre Südwand erhebt sich über dem versteckten Rottalgletscher und ihre Ostwand über den Firnen am Jungfraujoch.

 

Die Pläne, auf die Jungfrau eine Bergbahn zu bauen, wurden aufgrund finanzieller Schwierigkeiten nicht realisiert. Die ursprünglich bis unter den Gipfel geplante Jungfraubahn wurde bis 1912 mit Endstation Jungfraujoch fertiggestellt.

 

Auf dem untersten Absatz des Nordostgrats haben die PTT einen Funk-Umsetzer auf 3777 m ü. M. installiert.

 

Geologie

 

Die Jungfrau liegt im nördlichen Randbereich des Aarmassivs, eines der sogenannten Zentralmassive der Schweizer Alpen. Ihre höheren Lagen (Silberhorn, Wengen-Jungfrau und Hauptgipfel) sowie ihre Westflanke bis hinunter zum oberen Ende des Lauterbrunnentals sind weit überwiegend aus kristallinem Grundgebirge (prä-triassische Gneise, Glimmerschiefer u. ä.) der Helvetischen Zone aufgebaut. Die Nordwestflanke hingegen, der ganze «Vorbau» (Schwarzmönch, Rotbrett und Schneehorn) besteht aus sedimentärem, überwiegend jurassischem und kretazischem Deckgebirge des Helvetikums. Eine Besonderheit der Jungfrau ist, dass dort zwischen dem prinzipiell autochthonen Gipfel-Kristallin und dessen Deckschichten ein Überschiebungs-kontakt besteht; somit ist das Grundgebirge geringfügig auf sein Deckgebirge überschoben worden.

 

Name

 

Der Name Jungfrau dürfte sich von der Wengernalp am Fusse des Berges ableiten, die – nach den Besitzerinnen, den Nonnen vom Kloster Interlaken – früher Jungfrauenberg genannt wurde. Einer anderen Quelle zufolge leitet sich der Name vom Aussehen des Nordhanges des Berges ab, der aus der Ferne dem Schleier eines Mädchens ähneln soll.

 

Nach dem Berg ist die Jungfrau-Region benannt, die Tourismusorganisation der Orte Grindelwald, Wengen, Mürren und Lauterbrunnen, ausserdem die Jungfraubahn Holding AG, die neben der Jungfraubahn selbst auch die anderen Bergbahnen in der Region betreibt.

 

Besteigungsgeschichte

 

Bergsteiger auf dem Gipfel im Jahr 1878

Erstbesteiger waren Johann Rudolf Meyer und sein Bruder Hieronymus mit den Führern Joseph Bortis und Alois Volken, die am 3. August 1811 vom Lötschental her den Berg von Süden erklommen hatten. Sie folgten ungefähr der heutigen Normalroute. Der Volksmund taufte daraufhin die bis dahin unberührte Jungfrau «Madame Meyer».

 

1874 erfolgte die Winter-Erstbesteigung durch die Alpinistin Margaret Claudia Brevoort.

 

Die Jungfrau gilt, obwohl leicht erreichbar, als unfallträchtiger Berg. Bei einem der schwersten Unglücke stürzten am 12. Juli 2007 sechs Rekruten der Gebirgsspezialisten-Rekrutenschule Andermatt vom Rottalsattel 1000 Meter auf den darunterliegenden Rottalgletscher in den Tod, nachdem sie eine Lawine ausgelöst hatten. Das urteilende Militärgericht ging von einem falsch eingeschätzten, heimtückischen Lawinenrisiko aus und sprach in der Folge die verantwortlichen Bergführer frei.

 

Routen

 

Rottalsattel und Südostgrat (Normalroute)

 

Schwierigkeit: ZS-

Zeitaufwand: 4–5 Std. von der Mönchsjochhütte, 3½–4½ Std. vom Jungfraujoch

Ausgangspunkt: Mönchsjochhütte (3657 m)

Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m)

 

Innere Rottalgrat

 

Schwierigkeit: ZS

Zeitaufwand: 6–7 Stunden

Ausgangspunkt: Rottalhütte (2755 m)

Talort: Stechelberg (919 m)

 

Nordwestgrat oder „Rotbrettgrat“

 

Schwierigkeit: S

Zeitaufwand: 8–12 Stunden

Ausgangspunkt: Silberhornhütte (2663 m)

Talort: Stechelberg (919 m)

 

Nordostgrat

 

Schwierigkeit: S+, mit IV. UIAA-Grad Felskletterei

Zeitaufwand: 8–10 Stunden

Ausgangspunkt: Jungfraujoch (3454 m)

Talort: Grindelwald (1034 m)

 

Kunst

 

Erwähnt ist die Jungfrau unter anderem bei Friedrich Schiller, Wilhelm Tell, Vers 628 (1804). Lord Byrons Drama Manfred (1817) spielt am Fuss und auf dem Gipfel des Massivs. Ferdinand Hodler hat die Jungfrau mehrfach gemalt, darunter die perspektivisch verfremdete «Jungfrau über dem Nebelmeer». Alex Diggelmann gab 1958 eine Lithographienmappe unter dem Titel Die Jungfrau, mein Berg heraus. Stephan Bundi gestaltete 2005 eine Schweizer Gedenkmünze mit dem Bergmotiv.

 

Im Januar 2012 wurde zum 100-jährigen bestehen der Jungfraubahn eine übergrosse Schweizer Flagge vom Lichtkünstler Gerry Hofstetter an den Gipfel projiziert. Zeitweise waren neben dem Schweizer Kreuz auch ein Porträt des Zürcher Unternehmers Adolf Guyer-Zeller sowie ein Bild von einem der Züge zu sehen.

 

(Wikipedia)

Under Mary I, Sir Gawen Carew (c.1503-85) was one of the west country gentlemen who disliked government policy and resented Spanish influence, though there is no indication that his name was removed from the lists of gentlemen pensioners, even when, following Sir Peter Carew’s implication in Wyatt’s rebellion of 1554, he was put in the Tower on a charge of treason. After an absence from Parliament during Mary’s reign, he came in for Plympton Erle in Elizabeth’s first House of Commons, probably through the intervention of the end Earl of Bedford. In the following Parliament Carew was elected for the county. His only recorded parliamentary activity in his two Elizabethan Parliaments is his membership of the succession committee, 31 Oct. 1566.

With the Earl of Bedford and Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, Carew was active at the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign in helping to strengthen the new Queen’s position on the throne, he and his third wife receiving as reward in 1565 an annuity of 100 marks in survivorship. Though his name still appears on a Household list in 1559, he resided in the west country, where he was one of the radical protestants associated with the Earl of Bedford. On one occasion he and his nephew Sir Peter were together responsible at Exeter for escorting the bishop of Exeter, the ‘earnest preacher’ William Alley, to the pulpit and guarding him against the citizens, who disliked his ‘much inveighing against false doctrines’. Alley appointed both Carews overseers of his will.

Carew’s connexions with Exeter were close. In 1562 he wrote to the mayor recommending ‘my man’ for the post of keeper of the cloth hall; the following year he bought the wardship of an Exeter heir; in 1574 he was granted an annual fee of £2 by the city; and a year or so later he was authorized by the Exchequer to search into the import of wines at Exeter. When he superintended the execution of an order relating to the harbour controversy there, he was given a hogshead of wine by the city. His brother George became dean of Exeter.

In his will, made 11 Oct. 1582, Carew named Bedford as ‘ruler and overseer’, bequeathing him a cup of silver gilt ‘in token of the great love and good will that I have borne and do bear unto his lordship’. Carew left his lands, after the death of the widow, the executrix, to a relative, George Carew of Laughline, Ireland. The will was proved 30 June 1585.

 

Sir Peter Carew was an English soldier who was slain at the Battle of Glenmalure in Ireland. He was a member of a prominent Devonshire gentry family. He is sometimes referred to as Sir Peter Carew the younger, to distinguish him from his first cousin Sir Peter Carew of Mohuns Ottery, Luppitt, Devon. Wikipedia

 

Carew is associated with An extravagant two-tiered tomb monument in the Chapel of St John the Evangelist in Exeter Cathedral, of which the primary commemorative subjects are his uncle, Sir Gawen Carew (c.1508–1584), and Sir Gawen's third wife, Elizabeth née Norwich (d. 1594), a Lady of the Bedchamber to Elizabeth I. (Sir Gawen’s second wife Mary is wrongly identified on the plaque accompanying the tomb.) The monument was erected in 1589, and heavily restored in 1857. In addition to effigies of Sir Gawen and Elizabeth, it displays much strapwork decoration and heraldry, including 27 shields containing 52 distinct coats of arms marshalled in a total of 359 impalements and quarterings. The whole forms "an elaborate shrine to Carew ancestry and kinship".

A prominent Latin inscription formerly on the monument's pediment explicitly commemorated Sir Peter, but is now lost. It began "Hic scitus est praeter nobilis vir Petrus Carew eques Auratus ..." ("Here too lies the illustrious man Peter Carew, knight ..."), raising the possibility that his body, or some token part of it, was recovered from the battlefield at Glenmalure and returned to Exeter for burial.

A third effigy, occupying a recess at the base of the monument, is dressed in armour and posed in a cross-legged attitude suggestive of the 14th century; and it has long been believed that this represents Sir Peter in the guise of a fallen warrior. The identification is supported by another painted inscription, which survives in restored form running around three sides of the cornice, and which alludes to "... Sir Peter Carew Knyght, under figured ...". However, the inscription is not original to the monument (it can date from no earlier than 1605), and it now appears considerably more likely that the cross-legged figure was intended to represent Adam Montgomery de Carew, the semi-legendary progenitor of the Carew family.

The year indication in delicate figures with graceful curves. It is carved in a cement layer and surrounded by a neo-Baroque style sandstone frame.

I can't remember on which building or house I discovered these numbers. It was probably a private apartment building.

Note the dot after the '4'. I've never seen this habbit before.

 

About the history of the use of year stones in architecture:

English: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_plate

Dutch: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muuranker

And: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaartallen_op_gebouwen

 

Döbeln (former DDR), old city center, Aug. 10, 2014.

 

© 2014 Sander Toonen Amsterdam/Halfweg | All Rights Reserved

The Thirtieth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from November 4 to November 8, 2013.

 

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

(further information you can get by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

Leonhard Hoffmann

Surrounding area

The Heiligenkreuzerhof is located in Vienna in the first district, the address Grashofgasse 3 or Schönlaterngasse 5 points to the it bounding streets. It can be reached on foot, if one follows the Rotenturmstraße townwards the city, at the meat market turns left, at the junction with Köllnerhofgasse turns right and finally a few meters further on the left goes into the Grashofgasse.

The Court itself is now used most of the time as leased parking space for cars or as an exhibition venue for an arts and crafts market and extends longitudinally parallel to the meat market and the Sonnenfelsgasse. Within the building complex two traditional master violin makers, the Bernhard chapel and the Academy of Fine Arts are to be found.

The Schönlaterngasse due to its position until the 17th Century was called "Heiligenkreuzergasse", "At Heiligenkreuzer Court" or "The Gaessel from holy Kreuzerhof". The house to the beautiful lantern, which is characterized by a "beautiful" lamp stemming from the 18th century and can be described as a landmark of this alley and the house "to the basilisk", which is supposed to be the origin of this famous Viennese Sage, are located in this alley.

The Köllnerhofgasse got its present structure by the there located Köllnerhof, a building complex, which, however, only up to 1793 existing, was demolished and rebuilt in the following year in four new buildings. The Court, which yet in the 13th Century was in private hands of several Cologne merchants and both today's baker street as well as the Sonnenfelsgasse including, received its name from those merchants, which after the modifications was transferred to the newly created lane.

The just mentioned Sonnenfelsgasse (formerly "lower Baker Street") formed ​​prior to its inclusion in the Köllnerhof the northern boundary to the market place of the trade suburb before the Ungartor (Hungarian gate) and shows the Hildebrandt House and the former University pendulum house (Universitätspendelhaus).

Parallel to this alley runs the baker street (formerly "upper baker street"), which represented the southern boundary of the aforementioned market place and already by oldest journal entries shows signs for the here domiciled baking craft. The baker street only in the 18th Century by structural changes could achieve direct access to Dominikanerbastei and thus to the nearest city gate, and therefore never reach the significance of the to the south parallel running wool line (Wollzeile).

The Heiligenkreuzerhof to the north limiting meat market (Fleischmarkt) is one of the oldest trading centers and traffic routes in Vienna, what shows an early first mention as "carnifices" in 1220.

Foundation and construction phases

Documentarily the Heiligenkreuzerhof appears for the first time in the year 1242 as the property of a monastery, Felix Czeike the cellars even suspecting to go back to the 12th Century.

The source of the name of the Court derives of its owner, the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz, which was founded in 1133 and is situated in the Wienerwald (Vienna Woods) at Sattelbach. By the donation in 1286 of Duke Albrecht I the monastery got some Freihöfe (Tribunal-independent Courts) in Wiener-Neustadt, Bruch Marchegg (both Lower Austria) and also in Vienna for administration.

The Cistercian monastery in Vienna transmitted area was not limited to the today well-known part of the Heiligenkreuzerhof, but extended further to the south over the Sonnenfelsgasse up to baker street.

The today self-contained Court consisted in its origination of several free individual buildings and was only by its actual creator, the Cistercian abbot Clemens Schäffer, in the years 1659 to 1676 brought in its present unified floor plan.

Another construction phase about a century later (1769/79) was carried out, converting the old Stiftshof through a major addition of another storeys in an apartment building and letting the court preserve its current appearance, yet annotating large-scale renovation works of the houses in 1953, which on a mural at the west flank of the Court are dated.

Art historically the Heiligenkreuzerhof also offers a specialty, since the first engraving academy in Vienna already in the year 1768 in the building was founded in which today the Academy of Applied Arts is located.

In the southeast corner of Heiligenkreuzerhof there is a chapel which is dedicated to Saint Bernard and in the course of the remodelling in the 17th Century also was built by abbot Clemens Schäffer in place of an old chapel and was consecrated by Bishop Count Breuner. By abbot Robert Leeb the chapel in 1730 was brought in its present form and now it serves mainly betuchteren (more well-heeled) families for private religious ceremonies, such as baptisms and weddings.

The altarpiece of this chapel stems from Martino Altomonte, who in the course of the by Robert Leeb started renovations his work finished.

The decorations of this chapel, as the high altar, the figures of saints Leopold and Florian, the tabernacle as well as the left and right side altar are the work of the Venetian artist Giovanni Giuliani.

Parts of buildings and sculptures

If one makes a round tour from west to east, thus, from the entrance of Grashofgasse until the entrance of Schönlaterngasse, through the Heiligenkreuzerhof, it is possible to discover several works of art and architectural features of past centuries.

On the front of the building before the entrance of Grashofgasse a presentation with a number of smaller inscriptions of the Holy Cross Abbey can be seen, which must date from the period around 1953, when the Court after the World War had been extensively renovated.

Passing through the overbuilt gate one now the northern front of the Court can see, which as illustrative material on development of an apartment building starting with the 18th Century to this day well can be used.

If then this front of houses is investigated in some detail, in the uppermost floors one can find storage sites, whose functionality during earlier centuries for the life of many was essential.

Further on can be found a sculpture at ground level on this side of the Court which abbot Clement Schäffer had put up and on which he had immortalized himself.

If one pans the view on the opposite long side, on the one hand, a magnificent garden wall is to see which is decorated with sandstone figures by Giovanni Giuliani, and on the other hand, the Saint Bernard of Clairvaux consecrated Bernhard chapel, which above its portal is provided with three sculptures. The of sandstone manufactured Putti rest, similar to the putti of the garden wall , on the for the Baroque typical curved volutes. Two represent naked boys, the sculpture lying in the center is a representation of Bernard of Clairvaux.

If one goes through the gate, separating the garden wall one reaches today's entrance to the Academy of Applied Arts, above whose entrance the monastery coat of arms can be found, which can be found altogether four times in the yard and in the buildings .

Before one then leaves the Heiligenkreuzerhof through the gate to Schönlaterngasse one is absolutely obliged to take a look upwards beyound the roof of the Bernhard chapel, where the associated steeple extends, which an archiepiscopal cross adorns, this one characterized by a double crossbar, an indication to the strong unity of this court with the Abbey of Heiligenkreuz.

www.univie.ac.at/hypertextcreator/ferstel/site/browse.php...

Some indication of normalcy

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.

Cracks in the highway pier seem to be rigorously examined... and doves rest their wings.

 

Location: Chūō-ku, Osaka

The Thirtieth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from November 4 to November 8, 2013.

 

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

Durand Jones & The Indications performing at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas on November 5, 2022.

May 12, 2019 - Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio located at 951 Chicago Ave., Oak Park, IL.

"In 1889 Wright completed the construction of a small two-story residence in Oak Park on the Western edges of Chicago. The building was the first over which Wright exerted complete artistic control. Designed as a home for his family, the Oak Park residence was a site of experimentation for the young architect during the twenty-year period he lived there. Wright revised the design of the building multiple times, continually refining ideas that would shape his work for decades to come.

 

The semi-rural village of Oak Park, where Wright built his home, offered a retreat from the hurried pace of city life. Named “Saint’s Rest” for its abundance of churches, Oak Park was originally settled in the 1830s by pioneering East Coast families. In its early years farming was the principal business of the village, however its proximity to Chicago soon attracted professional men and their families. Along its unpaved dirt streets sheltered by mature oaks and elms, prosperous families erected elaborate homes. Beyond the borders of the village farmland and open prairie stretched as far as the eye could see.

 

The Oak Park Home was the product of the nineteenth century culture from which Wright emerged. For its design, Wright drew upon many inspirational sources prevalent in the waning years of the nineteenth century. From his family background in Unitarianism Wright absorbed the ideas of the Transcendentalists, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, who encouraged an honest life inspired by nature. The English Arts and Crafts movement, which promoted craftsmanship, simplicity and integrity in art, architecture and design, provided a powerful impetus to Wright’s principles. The household art movement, a distinct movement in middle-class home decoration, informed Wright’s earliest interiors. It aimed, as the name implies, to bring art into the home, and was primarily disseminated through books and articles written by tastemakers who believed that the home interior could exert moral influences upon its inhabitants. These various sources were tempered by the lessons and practices Wright learned under his mentors, Joseph Lyman Silsbee and Louis Sullivan.

 

For the exterior of his home, Wright adapted the picturesque Shingle style, fashionable for the vacation homes of wealthy East Coast families and favored by his previous employer, Silsbee. The stamp of Sullivan’s influence is apparent in the simplification and abstraction of the building and its plan. In contrast to what Wright described as “candle-snuffer roofs, turnip domes [and] corkscrew spires” of the surrounding houses, his home’s façade is defined by bold geometric shapes—a substantial triangular gable set upon a rectangular base, polygonal window bays, and the circular wall of the wide veranda.

Despite its modest scale, the interior of the home is an early indication of Wright’s desire to liberate space. On the ground floor Wright created a suite of rooms arranged around a central hearth and inglenook, a common feature of the Shingle style. The rooms flow together, connected by wide, open doorways hung with portieres that can be drawn for privacy. To compensate for the modest scale of the house, and to create an inspiring environment for his family, Wright incorporated artwork and objects that brought warmth and richness to the interiors. Unique furniture, Oriental rugs, potted palms, statues, paintings and Japanese prints filled the rooms, infusing them with a sense of the foreign, the exotic and the antique.

 

In 1895, to accommodate his growing family, Wright undertook his first major renovation of the Home. A new dining room and children’s playroom doubled the floor space. The design innovations pioneered by Wright at this time marked a significant development in the evolution of his style, bringing him closer to his ideal for the new American home.

 

The original dining room was converted into a study, and a new dining room replaced the former kitchen. The dining room is unified around a central oak table lit through a decorative panel above and with an alcove of leaded glass windows in patterns of conventionalized lotus flowers. The walls and ceiling are covered with honey-toned burlap; the floor and fireplace are lined with red terracotta tile.

 

The new dining room is a warm and intimate space to gather with family and friends. The Wrights entertained frequently, and were joined at their table by clients, artists, authors and international visitors. Such festive occasions, according to Wright’s son, John, gave the house the air of a “jolly carnival.”

The 1895 playroom on the second floor of the Home is one of the great spaces of Wright’s early career. Designed to inspire and nurture his six children, the room is a physical expression of Wright’s belief that, “For the same reason that we teach our children to speak the truth, or better still live the truth, their environment ought to be as truly beautiful as we are capable of making it.” Architectural details pioneered by Wright in this room would be developed and enhanced in numerous commissions throughout his career.

 

The high, barrel-vaulted ceiling rests on walls of Roman brick. At the center of the vault’s arc a skylight, shielded by wood grilles displaying stylized blossoms and seedpods, provides illumination. Striking cantilevered light fixtures of oak and glass, added after Wright’s 1905 trip to Japan, bathe the room in a warm ambient glow. On either side of the room, window bays of leaded glass with built-in window seats are at the height of the mature trees that surround the lot, placing Wright’s children in the leafy canopy of the trees outside.

 

Above the fireplace of Roman brick, a mural depicting the story of the Fisherman and the Genie from The Arabian Nights is painted on the plastered wall. An integral architectural feature within the room, the mural was designed by Wright and executed by his colleague, the artist Charles Corwin. It is a fascinating blend of decorative motifs; forms from exotic cultures—such as Egyptian winged scarabs—are combined with flat, geometric designs that echo the work of Wright’s international contemporaries, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Vienna Secessionists.

 

In 1898 Wright built a new Studio wing with funds secured through a commission with the Luxfer Prism Company. The Studio faced Chicago Avenue and was connected to his residence by a corridor. Clad in wood shingles and brick, the Studio exterior is consistent with the earlier home. However, the long, horizontal profile, a key feature of Wright’s mature Prairie buildings, sets it apart. Adjacent to the entrance, a stone plaque announces to the world, “Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect.” Decorative embellishments and figural sculptures set off the building’s artistic character and impressed arriving clients.

 

The reception hall serves as the entrance to the Studio. A waiting room for clients and a place for Wright to review architectural plans with contractors, this low-ceilinged space connects the main areas of the Studio—a library, a small office, and the dramatic two-story drafting room, the creative heart of the building.

 

The studio staff worked on drafting tables and stools designed by Wright in rooms decorated with eclectic displays of artwork and objects. Japanese prints, casts of classical sculptures, as well as models and drawings executed in the drafting room, filled the interiors of the Studio. In Wright’s home the integration of art and architecture served to nurture and intellectually sustain his family. In the Studio, these same elements served a further purpose, the marketing of Wright’s artistic identity to his clients and the public at large.

 

In September of 1909, Wright left America for Europe to work on the publication of a substantial monograph of his buildings and projects, the majority of which had been designed in his Oak Park Studio. The result was the Wasmuth Portfolio (Berlin, 1910), which introduced Wright's work to Europe and influenced a generation of international architects. Wright remained abroad for a year, returning to Oak Park in the fall of 1910. He immediately began plans for a new home and studio, Taliesin, which he would build in the verdant hills of Spring Green, Wisconsin. Wright’s Oak Park Studio closed in 1910, though Wright himself returned occasionally to meet with his wife Catherine who remained with the couple's youngest children at the Oak Park Home and Studio until 1918. The Home and Studio was the birthplace of Wright's vision for a new American architecture. Wright designed over 150 projects in his Oak Park Studio, establishing his legacy as a great and visionary architect.

 

Previous text from the following website: flwright.org/researchexplore/homeandstudio

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 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.

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

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-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.

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.

 

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The Thirtieth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from November 4 to November 8, 2013.

 

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

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.

Under Mary I, Sir Gawen Carew (c.1503-85) was one of the west country gentlemen who disliked government policy and resented Spanish influence, though there is no indication that his name was removed from the lists of gentlemen pensioners, even when, following Sir Peter Carew’s implication in Wyatt’s rebellion of 1554, he was put in the Tower on a charge of treason. After an absence from Parliament during Mary’s reign, he came in for Plympton Erle in Elizabeth’s first House of Commons, probably through the intervention of the end Earl of Bedford. In the following Parliament Carew was elected for the county. His only recorded parliamentary activity in his two Elizabethan Parliaments is his membership of the succession committee, 31 Oct. 1566.

With the Earl of Bedford and Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, Carew was active at the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign in helping to strengthen the new Queen’s position on the throne, he and his third wife receiving as reward in 1565 an annuity of 100 marks in survivorship. Though his name still appears on a Household list in 1559, he resided in the west country, where he was one of the radical protestants associated with the Earl of Bedford. On one occasion he and his nephew Sir Peter were together responsible at Exeter for escorting the bishop of Exeter, the ‘earnest preacher’ William Alley, to the pulpit and guarding him against the citizens, who disliked his ‘much inveighing against false doctrines’. Alley appointed both Carews overseers of his will.

Carew’s connexions with Exeter were close. In 1562 he wrote to the mayor recommending ‘my man’ for the post of keeper of the cloth hall; the following year he bought the wardship of an Exeter heir; in 1574 he was granted an annual fee of £2 by the city; and a year or so later he was authorized by the Exchequer to search into the import of wines at Exeter. When he superintended the execution of an order relating to the harbour controversy there, he was given a hogshead of wine by the city. His brother George became dean of Exeter.

In his will, made 11 Oct. 1582, Carew named Bedford as ‘ruler and overseer’, bequeathing him a cup of silver gilt ‘in token of the great love and good will that I have borne and do bear unto his lordship’. Carew left his lands, after the death of the widow, the executrix, to a relative, George Carew of Laughline, Ireland. The will was proved 30 June 1585.

 

Sir Peter Carew was an English soldier who was slain at the Battle of Glenmalure in Ireland. He was a member of a prominent Devonshire gentry family. He is sometimes referred to as Sir Peter Carew the younger, to distinguish him from his first cousin Sir Peter Carew of Mohuns Ottery, Luppitt, Devon. Wikipedia

 

Carew is associated with An extravagant two-tiered tomb monument in the Chapel of St John the Evangelist in Exeter Cathedral, of which the primary commemorative subjects are his uncle, Sir Gawen Carew (c.1508–1584), and Sir Gawen's third wife, Elizabeth née Norwich (d. 1594), a Lady of the Bedchamber to Elizabeth I. (Sir Gawen’s second wife Mary is wrongly identified on the plaque accompanying the tomb.) The monument was erected in 1589, and heavily restored in 1857. In addition to effigies of Sir Gawen and Elizabeth, it displays much strapwork decoration and heraldry, including 27 shields containing 52 distinct coats of arms marshalled in a total of 359 impalements and quarterings. The whole forms "an elaborate shrine to Carew ancestry and kinship".

A prominent Latin inscription formerly on the monument's pediment explicitly commemorated Sir Peter, but is now lost. It began "Hic scitus est praeter nobilis vir Petrus Carew eques Auratus ..." ("Here too lies the illustrious man Peter Carew, knight ..."), raising the possibility that his body, or some token part of it, was recovered from the battlefield at Glenmalure and returned to Exeter for burial.

A third effigy, occupying a recess at the base of the monument, is dressed in armour and posed in a cross-legged attitude suggestive of the 14th century; and it has long been believed that this represents Sir Peter in the guise of a fallen warrior. The identification is supported by another painted inscription, which survives in restored form running around three sides of the cornice, and which alludes to "... Sir Peter Carew Knyght, under figured ...". However, the inscription is not original to the monument (it can date from no earlier than 1605), and it now appears considerably more likely that the cross-legged figure was intended to represent Adam Montgomery de Carew, the semi-legendary progenitor of the Carew family.

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Title: Les cures de Vichy : indications : reÃÂgimes : bains : douches : buvette : exercice : Vichy et ses environs

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What of this lower light? The student should remember that for the present purposes

he has threebodies of light to consider:

There is the

radiant body of the soul itself

, found on its own plane, and called, frequently,the Karana Sarira or the causal body.There is the

vital or etheric body, the vehicle of prana

which is the body of golden light,or rather the flame coloured vehicle.There is the

body of "dark light

", which is the occult way of referring to the hidden light of the physical body, and to the

light latent in the atom itself.

These

three types of energy are referred to

in the Old Commentary under the followingsymbolic terms:"When the

radiant light of the Solar Angel is fused with the golden light

of thecosmic intermediary, it awakens from darkness the rush light of anu, the speck."The "

cosmic intermediary" is the term given to the etheric body

, which is part and parcel of the universal ether. It is through the etheric body that all the energies flow, whether emanating from the soul, or from the sun, or from a planet. Along those living lines of fiery essence pass all the contacts that do not emanate specifically from the tangible world.The

dark light of the tiny atoms of which the physical vehicle

is constructed isresponsive to the stimulation passing down from the soul into its vehicle, and, when the man is under control of the soul, there eventuates the

shining forth of the light throughout the body

.This [Page 106] shows as the radiance emanating from the bodies of adepts and saints, giving theeffect of bright and shining light.When the

radiant light of the soul is blended with the magnetic light of thevital body

, it stimulates the atoms of the physical body to such an extent that

each atombecomes in turn a tiny radiant centre.

This only becomes possible when the

head,heart, the solar plexus and the centre at the base of the spine are connectedin a peculiar fashion,

which is one of the

secrets of the first initiation

. When thesefour are in close cooperation the "floor of the triangle" as it is symbolically called, is prepared for themagical work. In other words—these can be enumerated as follows:a. The physical material form with its centre at the base of the spine. b. The vital body working through the heart centre where the life principle has its seat. The activitiesof the body which are due to this stimulation are carried through the circulation of the blood.c. The emotional body, working through the solar plexus centre.d. The head centre, the direct agent of the soul and its interpreter, the mind. These four are incomplete accord and alignment.When this is the case, the work of initiation and its interludes of active discipleship become possible.Before this time the work cannot proceed. This is foreshadowed in the aspirant when there is enacteda

symbolic happening in the light in the head

which is the forerunner of the later stageof initiation.

In this

stage, the soul light penetrates into the region of the pineal gland

; there it produces an irradiation of the ethers of the head, of the vital airs; this produces a stimulation of theatoms of the brain so that

their light [Page 107] is fused and blended with the othertwo, the etheric light and the soul light,

and there is then produced that

inner radiantsun

of which the aspirant becomes conscious in his physical brain experience. Frequently studentsspeak of a

diffused light or glow, this is the light of the physical plane atoms

of which the brain is composed; later they may speak of seeing what

appears to be like a sun inthe head. This is the contacting of the etheric light, plus the physical atomiclight.

Later they become aware of an

intensely bright electric light; this is the soullight, plus the etheric and the atomic.

When that is seen, they frequently become awareof a

dark centre within the radiant sun

. This is the entrance to the Path disclosed by the"shining of the light upon the door."Students must remember that it is possible to have reached a high stage of spiritual consciousnesswithout seeing any of this brain radiance. This is altogether in the nature of phenomena, and is largelydetermined by the calibre of the physical body, by past karma and achievement, and by the ability of the aspirant to bring down "power from on high", and to hold that energy steady in the brain centrewhilst he himself in meditation is detached from the form aspect, and can look serenely at it.When this has been accomplished (and it is not an objective to be worked for, but is simply an

indication to be registered in the consciousness and then dismissed

) theconsequent stimulation produces a reaction of the physical body. The magnetic power of the light inthe head, and the radiant force of the soul produce stimulation. The centres begin to vibrate, and their vibration awakens the atoms of the material body until eventually the powers of the vibrating etheric body have swung even the lowest centre into line with the highest. Thus the fires of the body (the sumtotal of the energy of the atoms) are swept into increased activity until such time [Page 108] as there isa

rising up the spine of that fiery energy

. This is brought about by the magnetic controlof the soul, seated "on the throne between the eyebrows".Here enters in the work of one of the means of yoga, abstraction or withdrawal. Where the

threelights are blended, where the centres are aroused and the atoms are alsovibrating, it becomes possible for the man to centre all three in the head atwill.

Then, by the act of the will and the knowledge of

certain words of Power he canenter into samadhi and be withdrawn from his body

, carrying the light with him. Inthis way the greater light (the three fused and blended) illuminates the three worlds of man'sendeavours and "the light is thrown upward" and illuminates all the spheres of man's conscious andunconscious experience. This is spoken of in the occult writings of the Masters in these words:"Then the Bull of God carries the light in his forehead, and his eye transmits the radiance; His head,with magnetic force, resembles the blazing sun, and from the lotus of the head, the path of light issues.It enters into the Greater Being, producing a living fire. The Bull of God sees the Solar Angel, andknows that Angel to be the light wherein he walks."Then the

work of the four proceeds. The four are at-one

. The Solar Angel isidentified with his instrument; the life of the sheaths is subordinated to the life of the inner divinity;the light of the sheaths is fused with the light of the soul. The

head, the heart, and the baseof the spine are geometrically aligned

and certain developments then become possible

WM 183) When a Master seeks to find those fitted to be instructed and taught by Him,

He looksfor three things first of all

. Unless these are present, no amount of devotion or aspiration, andno purity of life and mode of living suffices. It is essential that all aspirants should grasp these threefactors and so save themselves much distress of mind and wasted motion.1. The Master

looks for the light in the head.

2. He

investigates the karma of the aspirant.

3. He

notes his service in the world.

Unless there is indication that the man is what is termed

esoterically "a lighted lamp" it isuseless for the Master to waste His time.

The light in the head, when present, isindicative of:a. The functioning to a greater or less extent of the pineal gland, which is (as is well known) the seat of the soul and the organ of spiritual perception. It is in this gland that the first physiological changestake place incident upon soul contact and this contact is brought about through definite work alongmeditation lines, mind control, and the inflow of spiritual force. b. The

aligning of the man on the physical plane with his ego

, soul or higher self, onthe mental plane and the subordination of the physical plane life and nature to the impress and controlof the soul. This is covered sufficiently in the first two or three chapters of Letters on OccultMeditation and these should be studied by aspirants.c. The

downflow of force via the sutratma, magnetic cord, or thread from thesoul to the brain via the mind body.

The whole secret of spiritual vision, correct perception and right contact lies in the proper appreciation of the above statement, and therefore theYoga Sutras of Patanjali are ever the text-book of disciples, initiates and adepts, for therein are foundthose rules and methods which bring the mind under control, stabilize the astral body and so developand strengthen the thread soul that it can and does become a veritable channel of communication between the man and his ego. The light of illumination streams down into the brain cavity and throwsinto objectivity three fields of knowledge. This is often forgotten and hence the undue distress and premature interpretations of the partially illuminated disciple or probationer.The light first throws into relief and brings into the foreground of consciousness those thought-formsand entities which depict the lower life, and which (in their aggregate) form the Dweller on theThreshold.Thus the first thing of which the aspirant becomes aware is that which he knows to be undesirable andthe revelation of his own unworthiness and limitations, and the undesirable constituents of his ownaura burst on his vision. The darkness which is in him is intensified by the light which glimmersfaintly from the centre of his being and frequently he despairs of himself and descends into the depthsof depression. All mystics bear witness to this and it is a period which must be [Page 185] livedthrough until the pure light of day drives all shadows and darkness away and little by little the life is brightened and lightened until the

sun in the head is shining in all its glory.

d.

Finally, the light in the head is indicative of the finding of the Path

and thereremains then for the man to study and

understand the techniques whereby the light iscentralized, intensified, entered and eventually becomes that magnetic line

(like unto a spider's thread) which can be followed back until the source of the lower manifestation isreached and the soul consciousness is entered. The above language is symbolic and yet vitally

accurate but is expressed thus in order to convey information to those who know, and protect thosewho as yet know not.(WM 213) The centre between the eyebrows, commonly called the third eye has a unique and peculiar function. As I have pointed out elsewhere, students must

not confound the pineal glandwith the third eye

. They are related, but not the same. In The Secret Doctrine they areapparently [Page 213] regarded as the same, and the casual reader can easily confound them but theyare by no means identical. This H. P. B. knew, but the apparent confusion was permitted until more of the etheric nature of forms was known. The

third eye manifests

as a result of the vibratoryinteraction

between the forces of the soul

, working through the pineal gland, and the forcesof the personality,

working through the pituitary body

. These negative and positiveforces interact, and when

potent enough produce the light in the head

. Just as the physical eye came into being in response to the light of the sun so the

spiritual eye equallycomes into being in response to the light of the spiritual sun.

As the aspirantdevelops he

becomes aware of the light

. I refer to the light in all forms, veiled by allsheaths and expressions of the divine life, and not just to the light within the aspirant himself. As hisawareness of this light increases so does the apparatus of vision develop, and the mechanism wherebyhe can see things in the spiritual light comes into being in the etheric body.(WM 215)

These three activities of the soul,

through the medium of the third eye, are thecorrespondences to the three aspects, and students would find it of interest to work these out.The

seeing of the light within all forms through the agency of the third eye

(brought into being through the realization of the light in the head, the spiritual light) is [Page 215] butthe correspondence to the physical eye, revealing forms in the

light of the physical sun

. This

corresponds to the personality

.(WM 236) 1. The soul has communicated with his instrument in the three worlds.2. The man on the physical plane recognises the contact, and the

light in the head shinesforth, sometimes recognised and sometimes unrecognised

 

by the aspirant.(WM 247) As every student knows, there are two centres in the head. One centre is between theeyebrows and has the pituitary body as its objective manifestation. The other is in the region at the topof the head and has the pineal gland as its concrete aspect. The pure mystic has his consciousnesscentred in the top of the head, almost entirely in the etheric body. The advanced worldly man iscentred in the pituitary region. When, through occult unfoldment and esoteric knowledge, the

relation between the personality and the soul

is established there is a

midway spotin the centre of the head in the magnetic field which is called the "light inthe head",

and it is here that the aspirant takes his stand. This is the spot of vital import. It isneither land or physical, nor water or emotional. It might be regarded as the vital or etheric bodywhich has become the field of conscious service, of directed control, and of force utilisation towardsspecific ends.(WM 423) It is therefore largely a matter of perfecting the mechanism of the brain so that it canrightly register and correctly transmit the soul impressions and the group purposes and recognitions.This involves:1. The awakening into conscious activity of the centre between the eyebrows, called by the orientalstudent, the ajna centre.