View allAll Photos Tagged practicality
6 - 6. (See 'tension lever' Flickr album for full details).
Vintage Pentax PK 50mm, 50mm +12mm tube and 135mm on a Pentax K-50.
Experimental archaeology
The upright photo comes from Wiki commons and is the predominant (read, practically exclusive) presentation for this and other paleolithic venus figurines. Notice how, when this venus is presented standing, the breasts rise as if in weightless orbit or held aloft by the essential idea of a bra. Things make much more sense when the breasts are understood as being heavy (with milk?) on a figure that is lying down. The figurine also works in a more sexual way when turned onto its front, with her breasts hanging down and even pushed forward by her folded arms. The 'landscape shadows' from this early venus are not of interest (see prior photo). The spaces for cord and twine seem to have been designed into the figure (central striations might show body paint and provide some sense of grip).
My model is in unbaked clay, and, rather than copy the original, as if an item in the 3D printer age, I tried to find the sense of movement from the lines and composition.
As you walk through a landscape, pockets and patchworks of clay appear. The purity of natural clay can be striking. The interiors of caves can be a source for refined clays. While modeling venus figurines, it was apparent to me that many of the flows and curves from the line and form corresponded with the natural curves that arise from sculpting with thumb and finger (no tools for the majority - just a fine 'tooth pick'). As clay dries, it can be worked and polished with the natural grease of the skin (potentially with additives like ash and some stone or bone powders). With time, the clay gains compact strength without sintering at 800°. A fur pouch or wrap might protect just such an amulet which is easy and fast to make and 'employ'. Despite care and attention, the structure of unbaked clay is weak to shock and does break. Asking that a valued 'form' be recreated in a material that has greater strength seems to be the probable gestation of the venus figurine, and, I suspect, for other examples of portable paleolithic art (Vogelherd and, obviously, Dolni Věstonice included). Today only the remaining elevated fired, antler, stone and bone examples remain. In this scenario, an image is made and refined over time in clay. The figure is appreciated by those outside of the artist and, with time, the small sculpture finds a place in the culture and lives of the local community. Either the original artist himself, or a specialist of resistant materials, agrees to turn the clay model into an ivory, limestone, soapstone or fired clay statuette. During the transfer into a sense of permanence, imperfections arise, and, for some examples, the grace of the original is lost in translation.
The dates for residual antler and bone tension levers (perforated batons) are quoted as being between 23,000 et 12,000 ybp. That wooden tension levers existed long before the time-consuming antler levers is highly possible, as is the possibility of attaching an amulet aside of, and apart from a tension lever. The use of a venus as a last ritual peg may have merged with time. Likewise, the venus figurine does not need to be the last symbolic peg. Simpler pegs may always have been employed - even for the last cord before the off. This eventuality does not stop the amulet's expressed posture from being horizontal rather than vertical with the origin of the figurine potentially linking up with the practicalities and art of transporting heavily pregnant woman (see other texts).
The 'original' was found to have been sculpted in mammoth tusk and was from the Aurignacien period - so, for representations - very early and pre Gravettien (the period oft associated with venus figurines). The Aurignacien is a heaving and plastic date of around 15,000 years from as early as 43,000 to 28,000 ybp. and was the great prehistoric age where modern man lived side by side with Neanderthals. The dates for the statue, 35-40,000 ybp blur with some of the currently proposed Chauvet dates. The great epochs of prehistory do have dates that can overlap, which is normal as the measures are often changes of tool-making technique and these can take a while to impose between distant regions. So the end of Aurignacien (28,000 ybp) blurs with some Gravettien dates, which can be understood as 31-22,000 ybp. It is also possible to see the statue mentioned as being from the Châtelperronien epoch, which is a bigger blur of 38,000 - 22,000 and there are other regional periods to be found within the history of prehistory.
(Also known as the Venus of Schelklingen)
AJM 06/03/17
Yes, believe it or not, the origin of the mighty Range Rover goes back to the communistic clumsiness of British Leyland, where, in one of their rare moments of genius, they realised the dream that a contemporary 4x4 could be married with the luxuries and styling of a regular saloon car!
The original concept of the Range Rover can be traced back to the groundbreaking original Land Rover of the 1940's, where upon its introduction in 1948 as an extended development of the American Willy's Jeep, the Land Rover had taken the world by storm and become the most desired 4x4 in the world. Light, practical, endlessly tunable and easy to maintain, the Land Rover was a hit across the globe, primarily in the colonies of the British Empire, taking people to remote regions that had once been only within the reach of a Horse or a Camel. Initially, a plan was made to create a saloon style version of the Land Rover in 1949 with the help of coachbuilder Tickford, dubbed the 'Land Rover Station-Wagon', but this was not exactly a success and sold only 700 examples before the car was withdrawn from production in 1951. The main features of the Station-Wagon were a wooden-framed body, seven seats, floor carpets, a heater, a one-piece windscreen and other car-like features, its hand-built nature kept prices high.
In 1954 Land Rover took another stab at the Station Wagon concept, only this time it was built in-house rather than outsourced to a different company. This version's primary market was for those who required an off-road vehicle with greater capacity, such as ambulances or even small buses in remote regions such as the Scottish Highlands. But even though this second incarnation of the Station Wagon was available with features such as an interior light, heater, door and floor trims and upgraded seats, the basic Land Rover roots of this car meant it was still tough and capable, but the firm suspension made its road performance somewhat mediocre.
In 1958, Land Rover took yet another stab with the Road Rover, a development of combining the Land Rover chassis and running gear with the internal furnishings and body of a regular saloon car. The intended audience of the Road Rover was again in the remote British Colonies of Africa and the Australian Outback, where the firm suspension would be useful on the long, uneven roads. By the 1960's however, developments across the pond in the United States were starting to rock Rover's boat, as the newly coined Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) began to make progress. International Harvester released the Scout, and Ford the Bronco, offering a different blend of off and on-road ability from existing utility 4x4s such as the Land Rover and the Jeep, proving capable of good on-road comfort and speed while retaining more than adequate off-road ability for most private users. The Jeep Wagoneer proved the concept further, being both spacious and practical, but still with the raunchy off-road abilities to conquer the harsh American terrain.
Being frontline observers to this, Rover dealers in the United States looked on in horror as the American motor industry cornered the market for the SUV, and through frustration the president of Rover's USA division sent head office a Land Rover Series II 88 fitted with a Buick V8, designed for contemporary American pickup trucks, which offered far greater on-road performance and refinement than any Land Rover then in production.
Things came full circle though thanks to a man named Charles Spencer King, a former apprentice at Rolls Royce and one of the most prominent figures in the ownership of Rover and its transition to British Leyland. Taking over the development, he began the development program with the 100-inch Station Wagon project, taking the original concepts of the previous Road Rover and fitting it with coil springs after coming to the conclusion that only long-travel coil springs could provide the required blend of luxury car comfort and Land Rover's established off-road ability. His realisation of this apparently came when he drove a Rover P6 across rough scrubland adjacent to Land Rover's Solihull Factory, but was also helped by the fact that Land Rover purchased the coil springs from a Ford Bronco and began developing from those. Permanent 4WD was also necessary so as to provide both adequate handling and to reliably absorb the power that would be required by the vehicle if it was to be competitive, which came through in the form of a new transmission known as the Land Rover 101 Forward Control. The final piece to the puzzle though was the use of the Buick derived Rover V8, a strong, reliable, lightweight and endlessly tunable engine. In addition to the regular V8, the car was fitted with both a starting handle for emergencies, and carburettors to help continue to supply fuel at extreme angles.
The final design, launched in 1970 with bodywork styled largely by the engineering team rather than David Bache's styling division, was marketed as 'A Car For All Reasons'. In its original guise, the Range Rover was more capable off-road than the Land Rover but was much more comfortable, offering a top speed in excess of 100mph, a towing capacity of 3.5 tons, spacious accommodation for five people and groundbreaking features such as a four-speed, dual-range, permanent four-wheel-drive gearbox and hydraulic disc brakes on all wheels. The body was constructed, in keeping with other Rover products, of lightweight aluminium, and in its first incarnation was only available as a two-door utilitarian runabout, rather than the five-door luxury car we know today. This was rectified in 1981 when a 4-door version was made available, but this doesn't mean that the Range Rover wasn't a success before this change.
Upon its launch in June 1970, the Range Rover was lauded with critical acclaim, and Rover was praised for succeeding in marrying the practicalities of a modern 4x4 with the luxury capabilities of a standard road car. With a top speed of 95mph and a 0-60 acceleration of less than 15 seconds, performance was stated as being better than many family saloon cars of its era, and off-road performance was good, owing to its long suspension travel and high ground clearance. The bulky but practical design was also praised, with many considering it a piece of artwork, with one example being put on display in the Louvre in Paris! Early celebrity ownership also helped the sales quota, but not in the same way you'd expect today. Instead of Musicians and Movie Stars buying up stashes of Range Rovers like they do nowadays, people of established wealth such as Princess Diana and Government bodies became proud custodians of these mighty machines.
Problems however were quick to occur, as let's not forget, this was a British Leyland product. Reliability was a major issue, with strike cars being especially poor as many would leave the factory with vital components missing or not installed properly. To save costs, many pieces of the cars were carried over from other Leyland products, with switches and dials being donated from Austin Allegros, and the door handles coming direct from Morris Marinas. Name any of the faults endemic to British Leyland products of the time, and the Range Rover suffered from the same curse, be they mechanical, electric, cosmetic, or, worst of all, the demon rust!
But the Range Rover survived to see the 1980's despite its faults, and after the introduction of an extra set of doors it started to gain a true identity as the luxury motor of choice for the new money. With the additional 5-door layout, new variants such as the long wheelbase Vogue and the SE (Special Equipment) versions took many of the luxury items of the Jaguar XJ series such as leather seats and hazelnut wooden trim and placed them into the Range Rover. In the 1980s as well, special utility versions began to be developed, including a 6x6 Fire Tender for airfields and small airports, Ambulances for military bases and remote regions, and one special variant for his holiness the Pope, affectionately dubbed the Popemobile!
However, towards the late 1980's the Range Rover in its original incarnation was starting to look very much its age. The angular design was looking tired, and internally its utilitarian roots were in evidence. The dashboard was not much like that of a regular saloon car, but more a bus or a truck, with a huge steering wheel like that from a tractor, and was not particularly well equipped. Land Rover however intended to narrow the Range Rover's portfolio to the truly luxury market rather than having the low end versions which didn't sell as well due to their expense. In 1989 Land Rover launched the Discovery, which was similar in size to the Range Rover but cheaper and given a more family layout with seats and furnishings being carried over from the Austin Montego. To bring the Range Rover back into the front line of luxury motors for the 1990's, Rover Group (the descendant of British Leyland) put together a plan to design a new car under the chassis codenumber P38A (or just P38 for short). Four years of development and £300 million later, the car was launched to a whirlwind of critical acclaim. With a beautifully equipped interior, a more car-like design of dashboard and with a wider variety of luxury trim levels, including the personalised Autobiography editions, the P38 was the first of the mighty Range Rovers to appeal to the bling-bling generation.
This, however, left the original Range Rover out in the cold, and even though it was still a much loved part of the British motoring scene, the time had come for the original, dubbed the Range Rover Classic after launch of the P38. The last of the original Range Rovers slunk silently of the production line at Solihull in 1996, with production now fully based on the new P38, as well as to future developments such as the Freelander of 1997 and ongoing Discovery and Defender. Today original Range Rovers are somewhat easy to come by depending on where you look. In London you'll find a fair few (after all, these were the original Chelsea Tractors), but even in the country you'll bump into these things, especially around my home of Devon where the Range Rover/Land Rover products were perfect for the rugged Moorland terrain. Early British Leyland ones you'd be hard pressed to find, most rusting away in the 1980's, but the Rover Group ones of the 80's and 90's are by no means rare.
But even so, 45 years after the first Range Rover left the factory in Solihull, Range Rovers continue to be produced today, now in it's 4th Generation and available in more variations than ever before! Although British Leyland has long since died together with their many woeful products such as the Morris Marina and the Austin Allegro, the Range Rover is very much their legacy, the last of their original products to survive the strikes and bankruptcy, fighting off the fuel crisis and privatisation by the Thatcher Government, and then being split in 2000 by BMW and juggled between owners Ford and TATA Steel, and still being the luxury motorised toy of the modern day rich! :)
With thanks to Mr David Ward who taught me pretty much all I need to know as to the practicalities of using a tilt shift lens - in about ten minutes. We covered the theory a couple of years ago...
BMW M series was brought to India in 2007 and the Models available now are: M5 Sedan, M3 Coupe, and M3 cabriolet. BMW M5 is a full-size sports sedan which is built on front engine, and rear wheel drive, and perfectly combines high performance with optimum practicality. The image was captured at Times Auto Show 204 in Bangalore.
The World Solar Challenge (WSC), or the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge since 2013, tied to the sponsorship of Bridgestone Corporation is the world's most well-known solar-powered car race event. A biennial road race covering 3,022 km (1,878 mi) through the Australian Outback, from Darwin, Northern Territory, to Adelaide, South Australia, created to foster the development of experimental, solar-powered vehicles.
The race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations, although some are fielded by high schools. The race has a 32-year history spanning fourteen races, with the inaugural event taking place in 1987. Initially held once every three years, the event became biennial from the turn of the century.
Since 2001 the World Solar Challenge was won seven times out of nine efforts by the Nuna team and cars of the Delft University of Technology from the Netherlands, with only the Tokai Challenger, built by the Tokai University of Japan able to take the crown in 2009 and 2011.
Starting in 2007, the WSC has been raced in multiple classes. After the German team of Bochum University of Applied Sciences competed with a four-wheeled, multi-seat car, the BoCruiser (in 2009), in 2013 a radically new "Cruiser Class" was introduced, racing and stimulating the technological development of practically usable, and ideally road-legal, multi-seater solar vehicles. Since its inception, Solar Team Eindhoven's four- and five-seat Stella solar cars from Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) won the Cruiser Class in all three races so far.
Remarkable technological progress has been achieved since the GM led, highly experimental, single-seat Sunraycer prototype first won the WSC with an average speed of 66.9 km/h (41.6 mph). Once competing cars became steadily more capable to match or exceed legal maximum speeds on the Australian highway, the race rules were consistently made more demanding and challenging — for instance after Honda's Dream car first won the race with an average speed exceeding 55 mph (88.5 km/h) in 1996. In 2005 the Dutch Nuna team were the first to beat an average speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).
The 2017 Cruiser class winner, the five-seat Stella Vie vehicle, was able to carry an average of 3.4 occupants at an average speed of 69 km/h (43 mph). Like its two predecessors, the 2017 Stella Vie vehicle was successfully road registered by the Dutch team, further emphasizing the great progress in real world compliance and practicality that has been achieved.
The World Solar Challenge held its 30th anniversary event on October 8–15, 2017.
The 2019 World Solar Challenge will take place from 13 to 20 October. 53 teams from 24 countries have entered the competition. The same 3 classes, Challenger (30 teams), Cruiser (23 teams) and Adventure will be featured.
Not all heroes wear high-vis. Some wear floral dresses, wield a broom like a wand, and quietly restore order to the streets—one sweep at a time. Somewhere between performance and practicality, this felt like a modern fairytale with grit under its nails.
THERE’S A SPECIAL place in the custom motorcycle scene for motorcycles that eschew practicality, in order to push boundaries. This BMW R nineT from Zillers Garage in Russia is hardly the ideal grocery getter or tourer, but the level of craftsmanship at play here is on another level. And that’s why we love it.
Zillers Garage is run by Dmitry Golubchikov—an AMD Championship winner who wowed us with his custom Vincent a few months ago. He mostly works alone, but occasionally calls in reinforcements on bigger projects. The commission for this R nineT came from BMW Motorrad Russia, but the inspiration came from the world of aviation.
Dmitry started out with a 2016-model R nineT, but all that’s really left now is the motor, final drive arm and part of the frame. Just about everything else was created in-house, with the bike taking a full ten months to complete.
The R nineT’s most striking feature is undoubtedly its retro-futuristic bodywork. With the exception of the boxer cylinder heads still poking out, the entire bike is wrapped in hand-formed aluminum sections. And the lines are inspired—from the robotic visage up front, right through to the classically styled tail section.
Yes, believe it or not, the origin of the mighty Range Rover goes back to the communistic clumsiness of British Leyland, where, in one of their rare moments of genius, they realised the dream that a contemporary 4x4 could be married with the luxuries and styling of a regular saloon car!
The original concept of the Range Rover can be traced back to the groundbreaking original Land Rover of the 1940's, where upon its introduction in 1948 as an extended development of the American Willy's Jeep, the Land Rover had taken the world by storm and become the most desired 4x4 in the world. Light, practical, endlessly tunable and easy to maintain, the Land Rover was a hit across the globe, primarily in the colonies of the British Empire, taking people to remote regions that had once been only within the reach of a Horse or a Camel. Initially, a plan was made to create a saloon style version of the Land Rover in 1949 with the help of coachbuilder Tickford, dubbed the 'Land Rover Station-Wagon', but this was not exactly a success and sold only 700 examples before the car was withdrawn from production in 1951. The main features of the Station-Wagon were a wooden-framed body, seven seats, floor carpets, a heater, a one-piece windscreen and other car-like features, its hand-built nature kept prices high.
In 1954 Land Rover took another stab at the Station Wagon concept, only this time it was built in-house rather than outsourced to a different company. This version's primary market was for those who required an off-road vehicle with greater capacity, such as ambulances or even small buses in remote regions such as the Scottish Highlands. But even though this second incarnation of the Station Wagon was available with features such as an interior light, heater, door and floor trims and upgraded seats, the basic Land Rover roots of this car meant it was still tough and capable, but the firm suspension made its road performance somewhat mediocre.
In 1958, Land Rover took yet another stab with the Road Rover, a development of combining the Land Rover chassis and running gear with the internal furnishings and body of a regular saloon car. The intended audience of the Road Rover was again in the remote British Colonies of Africa and the Australian Outback, where the firm suspension would be useful on the long, uneven roads. By the 1960's however, developments across the pond in the United States were starting to rock Rover's boat, as the newly coined Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) began to make progress. International Harvester released the Scout, and Ford the Bronco, offering a different blend of off and on-road ability from existing utility 4x4s such as the Land Rover and the Jeep, proving capable of good on-road comfort and speed while retaining more than adequate off-road ability for most private users. The Jeep Wagoneer proved the concept further, being both spacious and practical, but still with the raunchy off-road abilities to conquer the harsh American terrain.
Being frontline observers to this, Rover dealers in the United States looked on in horror as the American motor industry cornered the market for the SUV, and through frustration the president of Rover's USA division sent head office a Land Rover Series II 88 fitted with a Buick V8, designed for contemporary American pickup trucks, which offered far greater on-road performance and refinement than any Land Rover then in production.
Things came full circle though thanks to a man named Charles Spencer King, a former apprentice at Rolls Royce and one of the most prominent figures in the ownership of Rover and its transition to British Leyland. Taking over the development, he began the development program with the 100-inch Station Wagon project, taking the original concepts of the previous Road Rover and fitting it with coil springs after coming to the conclusion that only long-travel coil springs could provide the required blend of luxury car comfort and Land Rover's established off-road ability. His realisation of this apparently came when he drove a Rover P6 across rough scrubland adjacent to Land Rover's Solihull Factory, but was also helped by the fact that Land Rover purchased the coil springs from a Ford Bronco and began developing from those. Permanent 4WD was also necessary so as to provide both adequate handling and to reliably absorb the power that would be required by the vehicle if it was to be competitive, which came through in the form of a new transmission known as the Land Rover 101 Forward Control. The final piece to the puzzle though was the use of the Buick derived Rover V8, a strong, reliable, lightweight and endlessly tunable engine. In addition to the regular V8, the car was fitted with both a starting handle for emergencies, and carburettors to help continue to supply fuel at extreme angles.
The final design, launched in 1970 with bodywork styled largely by the engineering team rather than David Bache's styling division, was marketed as 'A Car For All Reasons'. In its original guise, the Range Rover was more capable off-road than the Land Rover but was much more comfortable, offering a top speed in excess of 100mph, a towing capacity of 3.5 tons, spacious accommodation for five people and groundbreaking features such as a four-speed, dual-range, permanent four-wheel-drive gearbox and hydraulic disc brakes on all wheels. The body was constructed, in keeping with other Rover products, of lightweight aluminium, and in its first incarnation was only available as a two-door utilitarian runabout, rather than the five-door luxury car we know today. This was rectified in 1981 when a 4-door version was made available, but this doesn't mean that the Range Rover wasn't a success before this change.
Upon its launch in June 1970, the Range Rover was lauded with critical acclaim, and Rover was praised for succeeding in marrying the practicalities of a modern 4x4 with the luxury capabilities of a standard road car. With a top speed of 95mph and a 0-60 acceleration of less than 15 seconds, performance was stated as being better than many family saloon cars of its era, and off-road performance was good, owing to its long suspension travel and high ground clearance. The bulky but practical design was also praised, with many considering it a piece of artwork, with one example being put on display in the Louvre in Paris! Early celebrity ownership also helped the sales quota, but not in the same way you'd expect today. Instead of Musicians and Movie Stars buying up stashes of Range Rovers like they do nowadays, people of established wealth such as Princess Diana and Government bodies became proud custodians of these mighty machines.
Problems however were quick to occur, as let's not forget, this was a British Leyland product. Reliability was a major issue, with strike cars being especially poor as many would leave the factory with vital components missing or not installed properly. To save costs, many pieces of the cars were carried over from other Leyland products, with switches and dials being donated from Austin Allegros, and the door handles coming direct from Morris Marinas. Name any of the faults endemic to British Leyland products of the time, and the Range Rover suffered from the same curse, be they mechanical, electric, cosmetic, or, worst of all, the demon rust!
But the Range Rover survived to see the 1980's despite its faults, and after the introduction of an extra set of doors it started to gain a true identity as the luxury motor of choice for the new money. With the additional 5-door layout, new variants such as the long wheelbase Vogue and the SE (Special Equipment) versions took many of the luxury items of the Jaguar XJ series such as leather seats and hazelnut wooden trim and placed them into the Range Rover. In the 1980s as well, special utility versions began to be developed, including a 6x6 Fire Tender for airfields and small airports, Ambulances for military bases and remote regions, and one special variant for his holiness the Pope, affectionately dubbed the Popemobile!
However, towards the late 1980's the Range Rover in its original incarnation was starting to look very much its age. The angular design was looking tired, and internally its utilitarian roots were in evidence. The dashboard was not much like that of a regular saloon car, but more a bus or a truck, with a huge steering wheel like that from a tractor, and was not particularly well equipped. Land Rover however intended to narrow the Range Rover's portfolio to the truly luxury market rather than having the low end versions which didn't sell as well due to their expense. In 1989 Land Rover launched the Discovery, which was similar in size to the Range Rover but cheaper and given a more family layout with seats and furnishings being carried over from the Austin Montego. To bring the Range Rover back into the front line of luxury motors for the 1990's, Rover Group (the descendant of British Leyland) put together a plan to design a new car under the chassis codenumber P38A (or just P38 for short). Four years of development and £300 million later, the car was launched to a whirlwind of critical acclaim. With a beautifully equipped interior, a more car-like design of dashboard and with a wider variety of luxury trim levels, including the personalised Autobiography editions, the P38 was the first of the mighty Range Rovers to appeal to the bling-bling generation.
This, however, left the original Range Rover out in the cold, and even though it was still a much loved part of the British motoring scene, the time had come for the original, dubbed the Range Rover Classic after launch of the P38. The last of the original Range Rovers slunk silently of the production line at Solihull in 1996, with production now fully based on the new P38, as well as to future developments such as the Freelander of 1997 and ongoing Discovery and Defender. Today original Range Rovers are somewhat easy to come by depending on where you look. In London you'll find a fair few (after all, these were the original Chelsea Tractors), but even in the country you'll bump into these things, especially around my home of Devon where the Range Rover/Land Rover products were perfect for the rugged Moorland terrain. Early British Leyland ones you'd be hard pressed to find, most rusting away in the 1980's, but the Rover Group ones of the 80's and 90's are by no means rare.
But even so, 45 years after the first Range Rover left the factory in Solihull, Range Rovers continue to be produced today, now in it's 4th Generation and available in more variations than ever before! Although British Leyland has long since died together with their many woeful products such as the Morris Marina and the Austin Allegro, the Range Rover is very much their legacy, the last of their original products to survive the strikes and bankruptcy, fighting off the fuel crisis and privatisation by the Thatcher Government, and then being split in 2000 by BMW and juggled between owners Ford and TATA Steel, and still being the luxury motorised toy of the modern day rich! :)
REMASTERED by Dan Beaumont.
JACK FARAGASSO artist (American b.1929)
Moon Orbit, original illustration
Acrylic on board.
This conceptual spacecraft was heavily influenced by the work of Dr. Werner von Braun. Designed for purely non-atmospheric flight, it eschewed the wings and other sleek aerodynamic features of the V-2-inspired rocketships of its era in favor of a purely functional "Tinker Toy"-like design that placed practicality over aesthetics. Conceived several years before photovoltaic solar cells were perfected, this Moon Ship nonetheless enjoyed the benefits of inexhaustible solar power thanks to a gimbaled reflector that heated a gas tube from which electricity could be generated. Info. from Fantastic-plastic.
The Lindberg line scale model INFO: www.scalemodelnews.com/2014/06/factual-futuristic-space-k...
AND
www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fantastic-plastic....
Produced from 1969 to 1975 and named to honour Maserati's victories at the Indianapolis 500 in 1939 and 1940. This sleek fastback with seating for 4 adults is built on a shortened Quattropore platform and was designed by Virginio Vairo at Carrozzeria Vignale. A sizable luggage compartment is accessible via a hatchback-style trunk lid. This combination of performance and practicality made the Indy a popular choice, with a total production of 1.104 units. In 1971, the Indy America was introduced, featuring updates such as a new dashboard design.
4.136 / 4.719 / 4.930 cc
V8
265 / 330 / 335 hp
Maserati 110 Years
19/12/2024 - 23/02/2025
Autoworld
Brussels - Belgium
July 2024
Nº 9.
Aston Martin V12 Vantage (2010).
Escala 1/60.
"Coches en miniatura II" - "El Periódico" (España).
Welly/Nex.
Año 2015.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aston Martin Vantage (2005)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Aston Martin Vantage is series of hand-built sports cars from the British manufacturer Aston Martin.
Aston Martin has previously used the "Vantage" name on high-performance variants of their existing GT models, notably on the Virage-based car of the 1990s.
The modern car, in contrast, is the leanest and most agile car in Aston's lineup. As such, it is intended as a more focused model to reach out to potential buyers of cars such as the Porsche 911 as well as the exotic sports and GT cars with which Aston Martins traditionally compete."
"Following the unveiling of the AMV8 Vantage concept car in 2003 at the North American International Auto Show, the production V8 Vantage was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in 2005 for the 2006 model year.
The two seat, two -door coupé had a bonded aluminium structure for strength and lightness. The 172.5 inch (4.38 m) long coupé featured a hatchback-style tailgate for practicality, with a large luggage shelf behind the seats. In addition to the coupé, a convertible, known as the V8 Vantage Roadster, is available."
(...)
Current Variants
"These are the current versions of the Aston Martin Vantage
V8 Vantage Coupe
V8 Vantage Roadster
V8 Vantage S Coupe
V8 Vantage S Roadster
V8 Vantage N430 Coupe (RoW only)
V8 Vantage N430 Roadster (RoW only)
V8 Vantage GT Coupe (USA Only)
V8 Vantage GT Roadster (USA only)
V12 Vantage Coupe (discontinued)
V12 Vantage S Coupe
V12 Vantage Roadster (RoW only)
V12 Vantage S Roadster
V12 Vantage GT3 Special Edition
Vantage GT12
Vantage GT8
RoW= Rest of World"
-----------------------------
V12 Vantage
"On 11 December 2007, as part of Aston Martin's opening of their own design studio, the company unveiled a concept based on the V8 Vantage.
The car, known as the V12 Vantage RS, featured the V12 engine from the DBS and produced 510 hp (380 kW). The power along with the weight of 3,704 pounds (1,680 kg) allows the car to reach 60 mph (97 km/h) in 4.1 seconds and achieve a top speed of 190 mph (310 km/h).
Other additions include a new rear diffuser, a rear-wing which can be raised or lowered, and carbon-ceramic brakes. The bootlid and vented bonnet are also made from carbon fibre to help decrease the car's weight.
In early 2008, Aston Martin's CEO confirmed production for V12 Vantage RS for mid-2009.
Development prototypes of the V12 Vantage RS appeared in April 2008 before Aston Martin unveiled the official V12 Vantage in 2009.
On the finale of the 13th series of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson drove the car simply saying that "It's wonderful, wonderful, wonderful".
The V12 Vantage has been confirmed for United States market. Dr. Urlich Bez has personally confirmed that USA homologation is underway. This is in response to the decision of expanding the production run beyond 1,000 units. According to the automaker, some subtle changes were necessary to the structure of the car in order for it to meet North and South American regulations.
In addition to these enhancements, Aston has also announced that it will be adding a new Carbon Black version of the V12 Vantage exclusively for the American market.
The V12 Vantage is a drivable vehicle on the video game's Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. It is available in both factory form and as a police version with full police livery. The Carbon Black edition is available in Test Drive Unlimited 2 as a special pre-order or DLC car along with the standard model. It also featured in Gran Turismo 5 via the Car Pack 3 DLC.
On 24 August 2011, Aston Martin announced that they are developing a GT3 version of the V12 Vantage, to replace the Aston Martin DBRS9. The race car is expected to be delivered by early 2012."
(...)
-------------------------------------
Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Aston Martin V12 Vantage
Manufacturer
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited
Production
2005–present
Assembly
Gaydon, Warwickshire, England
Designer
Henrik Fisker
Class
Grand tourer (S)
Body style
2-door coupé
2-door roadster
Layout
FR layout
Platform
VH Platform
Related
Aston Martin DB9
Aston Martin V12 Zagato
Aston Martin DB10
Engine
4.3 L AJ V8
4.7 L AJ V8
5.9 L AM28 V12
Transmission
6-speed Manual
6-speed Sportshift semi-automatic
7-speed automated manual
7-speed manual (2017 V12 Vantage S)
Dimensions
Wheelbase
2006–07 & 2010 – present: 102.4 in (2,601 mm)
2008–2010: 102.5 in (2,604 mm)
Length
172.5 in (4,382 mm)
2011 – present V12: 172.6 in (4,384 mm)
Width
73.5 in (1,867 mm)
2011 – present V12: 73.4 in (1,864 mm)
Height
2006–07: 49.4 in (1,255 mm)
Roadster: 2006–07: 50.0 in (1,270 mm)
2008–2010: 49.5 in (1,257 mm)
2011 – present V8: 49.6 in (1,260 mm)
2011 – present V8: 49.2 in (1,250 mm)
Kerb weight
1,548 kg (3,413 lb)
1,695 kg (3,737 lb) (V12 Vantage)
1,671 kg (3,684 lb) (V12 Vantage S)
Predecessor
Aston Martin Vantage
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aston_Martin_Vantage_(2005)
Coachwork by Bertone
430 ex.
Maserati's final major introduction while under Citroën's control, the Khamsin (named after a hot Sahara Desert wind) debuted at the 1972 Turin Show and entered production in 1974. Styled by Marcello Gandini and built at Bertone, the Khamsin's attractive, unitary construction, 2+2 hatchback body was of all-steel construction. The Khamsin featured state-of-the-art, all-independent, double-wishbone suspension similar to that of the mid-engined Bora and Merak which, combined with a 50/50 front/rear weight distribution, endowed it with near perfect balance. The Khamsin's front-engined layout made it easier to control close to the limit, while the speed-sensitive power steering enabled it to be driven as effortlessly in town as when crossing the Continent.
Citroën's hydraulic technology powered the brakes and steering - the latter, in particular, being rated as highly effective by testers - and also to raise the concealed headlamps. Designed by legendary engineering genius Giulio Alfieri, the power unit was a 4,9-litre version of Maserati's familiar quad-cam V8 developing 320 bhp and a lusty 354 lb/ft of torque. A five-speed ZF manual gearbox or three-speed Borg-Warner automatic transmission were options, and when equipped with the former the Khamsin was good for around 240 km/h. The Khamsin was Maserati's biggest-engined and most expensive offering at the time of its introduction, and thus could justifiably claim to be its top-of-the-range model. By virtue of its front-engined layout, the Khamsin offered greater practicality than the mid-engined Bora, providing a roomier and more comfortable interior, and superior luggage carrying capacity. In 1977 the Khamsin benefited from a minor facelift that included the addition of three small vents at the bonnet front to improve cooling. Only 430 Khamsins were produced, 140 of them with the three-speed Borg Warner automatic transmission.
Finished in Argento (silver) with red leather interior, this Khamsin left the Modena factory on 29th September 1978, bound for the USA. It has the desirable five-speed manual gearbox and is a matching numbers and matching colours example (see Maserati Classiche email on file). The Maserati has been back in Italy since 1999, and from 2007 to 2012 belonged to a well-known sports car dealer near Verona. Since 2012, the car has formed part of the current vendor's private collection. Importantly, this Khamsin has been returned to European specification with the rear light clusters fitted in the glass panel, a much more aesthetically pleasing solution than that of the awkward US-specification models, which had the light cluster below the glass panel.
Rome-based classic engine specialist, Paolo Centazzo, has recently completed a comprehensive rebuild of the engine. The work included fitting new pistons, new bearings throughout, new valve guides and valve seats, a new timing chain, and a new clutch. A photographic record of the engine rebuild available and comes with the car, together with confirmation from Paolo Centazzo. Since the work was finished in September 2016 the car has been driven only a minimal distance. Offered with Italian registration documents, it is a stunning example of this classic wedge-shaped Maserati in a most attractive colour combination, with the added benefit of a freshly rebuilt engine.
Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais
Bonhams
Sold for € 178.250
Estimated : € 180.000 - 220.000
Parijs - Paris
Frankrijk - France
February 2017
2,000 views on 30th December 2013
1,000 views - 29th November 2013
In case anyone should wonder WHY the Force was called NORTHERN Constabulary, here is PC 216 Harry Edwards demonstrating EXACTLY why. Where were these photographs taken? –well, you simply cannot drive a vehicle any FURTHER north in the United Kingdom. Harry was the beat bobby for Unst until he retired in 1997.
Unst is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is the northernmost of the inhabited British Isles and is the third largest island in Shetland after the Mainland and Yell. It has an area of 46 square miles. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unst
Just offshore at the northernmost tip of Unst is the islet of Muckle Flugga, and Robert Louis Stevenson's father and uncle were the main design engineers for Muckle Flugga lighthouse. Robert Louis Stevenson visited Unst, and the island is claimed to have become the basis for the map of the fictional Treasure Island.
The Lighthouse is visible in both photos.
The police vehicle is a Vauxhall Corsa, M377VAS newly supplied to Harry.
The car bears the Livery of PERIOD 2 (1980-1995) roundel era (CC: Henderson/MacMillan)
Small cars such as this were undoubtedly economical, but their practicality was suspect since bobbies tended not to be small of stature. I recall one instance where a Corsa was allocated to a one-man station near Inverness, despite the officer there being probably the tallest in the force – and he was proportionately built too. To witness him exit from the vehicle was akin to seeing a genie emerge from a bottle!
Harry clearly was taken with his last beat, as he stayed on, continuing to live on Unst after retirement.
The northern end of Unst is dominated by the hill of Saxa Vord, which housed the Saxa Vord Royal Air Force radar station which closed in 2006, with the loss of more than 100 jobs. RAF Saxa Vord was a vital part of Britain's air defence during the Cold War.
RAF Saxa Vord was further north than Leningrad, and on the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska. The station was named after Saxa Vord, which is the highest hill on Unst at 935 ft (285 m). It holds the unofficial British record for wind speed, which in 1962 was recorded at 177 mph (285 km/h) — just before the measuring equipment blew away.
Saxa Vord is as near to Bergen (Norway) as it is to Aberdeen, and as close to Dresden as it is to London!
Indeed the “adjoining” beats to Harry’s were :
- west-north-west - the Faroe Islands (Royal Danish Police);
- north west – Iceland; and
- east - Bergen (Norwegian Police).
To the north ………… well, there is nothing (except sea and then ice to the North Pole)!
There is no longer a permanent police presence on Unst, but in years gone by – in addition to the Northern Constabulary officer – the island also had a detachment of Royal Air Force Police, who were based at RAF Saxa Vord.
As the crow flies (or as the Viking longboat sailed) , it is some 250 miles from Unst to Bergen. If however Harry wanted to liase with his “adjoining beat” officer (in Bergen), driving from one to the other would entail travelling 2100 miles, involving 2 Shetland inter-island ferries and 3 major sea crossings (Lerwick-Aberdeen; English Channel and Skagerak) -and passing through 7 countries (Scotland, England, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Norway). That would have used up all his mileage for the year!!
Many thanks to 216 for supplying the photos and information. Harry, you are a legend!
Photos were taken by a Northern Constabulary officer.
The Audi A3 Sportback (Mk2) offers a well-rounded premium hatchback experience with a focus on practicality and comfort. It provides a spacious and high-quality interior, with good build quality and a range of engines. While not known for its outright thrilling driving experience, it offers a comfortable and refined ride, making it a good choice for everyday use.
In automotive terms, "Sportback" typically refers to a car model, particularly within the Audi brand, that combines elements of a coupe, saloon, and hatchback. It generally features a sloping roofline, a large rear liftgate for access to a roomy trunk, and a generally sporty or stylish look. Introduced in 2004, it expanded the A3 range from the initial three-door model by adding a longer wheelbase and larger boot space, making it a more family-friendly option. It shares its engineering with the Volkswagen Golf Mk5, known for its class-leading build quality and a wide range of engine options.
A3 Sportback recieved a facelift in 2008. Key features include a revised front and rear end styling, a wider single-frame grille, and daytime running lights. The facelift also saw the introduction of the S3 Sportback model and improvements to the engine range, including the common rail 2.0 TDI engines. Interior details were also updated with higher quality materials and a focus on efficiency.
It was replaced by the Mk3 (Typ 8V) in 2012, with the new A3 arriving in the UK in early 2013. The Mk2 A3 was not discontinued, but rather replaced by the Mk3, which also kept the Sportback body style.
Yoga Flow 1 hour creative yoga flow Vinyasa ~ 2014 youtu.be/YKVhB4TxuwU Yoga Flow 1 hour creative yoga flow Vinyasa is a fun and rigorous yoga flow practice and all over body workout that will leave you feeling energized, clear and refreshed. This one hour yoga practice practice promotes cardiovascular stamina, upper body, lower body and core strength, balance and flexibility by stretching and opening hips, hamstrings, quadriceps, shoulders and lower back. This yoga flow also includes breath work (pranayama) and integrates mindfulness practice and meditation. Veteran teacher Michelle Goldstein of Heart Alchemy Yoga in Venice, California brings a simple practicality to her instruction that provides a safe and easy to understand Yoga program. This yoga course is intended to help improve strength, flexibility, stamina, range of motion, breath capacity and relaxation. About Michelle Goldstein: Michelle has maintained a daily yoga practice for since 1998. A protégée of renowned Yoga teacher, Bryan Kest of Santa Monica Power Yoga, Michelle has been teaching yoga since 2004. A devoted student of Yoga, she has studied under a wide range of teachers including Max Strom, Bryan Kest, Guru Singh, Saul David Raye, Erich Schiffman and others. Check out all of our great Yoga flow videos below: Five Tibetan Rites with John Goltermanhttps://youtu.be/nnNJoRLJG9E Power Yoga for Weight Loss youtu.be/yUtK7v3dsr0 Strong Yoga For Beginners Workout youtu.be/xglmLhDppmo Meditative Bhakti Yoga Flow youtu.be/mQnAvEbDNPg Bhakti Yoga Workout youtu.be/AHMO0Ja0XC4 Cardio Yoga Workout youtu.be/hy-qss2Takg Yoga Workout 1 hour Yoga For Weight Loss youtu.be/yUtK7v3dsr0 Power Yoga Flow youtu.be/XpGnuK_u4gQ Bhakti Yoga Class youtu.be/K9scEzgir-8 Yoga for Beginners youtu.be/EaKZ3Xtxf5A Mindfulness Meditation youtu.be/2K-ZcAgka2g Gentle Yin Yoga Full Class youtu.be/Z3AlyD1CIJw Bhakti Yoga flow heart opening yoga workout with Kumi Yogini youtu.be/onS6uq94NHw Bhakti yoga class yoga flow with Kumi Yogini ॐ youtu.be/K9scEzgir-8 bhakti yoga class with Kumi Yogini youtu.be/ch4CEW-vEoc Advanced Yoga Workout - Inversions, Hand Stand, Core Work youtu.be/KbLVYpQ74Zo Bhakti Yoga Flow youtu.be/KvhIvZyemtI Inspired Yoga Workout with Breathwork youtu.be/_wG5hEBrMJQ Strong beginners Yoga Workout with JQ Williams youtu.be/vQdOhTKfEt8 Bhakti Yoga flow yoga workout youtu.be/VPmOF99bBHg Beginners Yoga Flow 2015 youtu.be/Dva-ThUN6Ww Bhakti Yoga Flow with Kumi Yogini 2015 youtu.be/onS6uq94NHw Yoga for Beginners Level 1 yoga workout youtu.be/f2sIjOHFZuU Yoga Flow youtu.be/YKVhB4TxuwU 40 Minute Yin Yoga Class youtu.be/O_Vg-j5lkuA Strong Power Yoga Flow youtu.be/UwJFpTRXI-g Yoga flow daily recharge total body workout youtu.be/LiTlpC0RU6Q Strong Power Yoga Flow youtu.be/Ua10v6kw27c 30 Minute Power Yoga Flow with Twists for detox youtu.be/Sy25cbDGqBM 30 Minute Daily Yoga Flow for weight loss youtu.be/Vc4u04a5A4o Yoga for Beginners youtu.be/3gWJBgAIXwg Sun Salutations (Surya A Surya B) youtu.be/GHGU18zg4rs Click below to subscribe to our channel: youtube.com/heartalchemyyoga Our Sites www.heartalchemyyoga.com plus.google.com/+HeartAlchemyYoga facebook.com/heartalchemyyoga instagram.com/travlinyogini twitter.com/travlinyogini www.pinterest.com/travlinyogini www.michellegoldsteinyoga.com
Looking rather brash in First's barbie 3 with fade out vinyls is ex SBG Volvo Ailsa HSF 81X. It was the only Volvo Ailsa so treated to this livery, which even when fresh rather stupidly looked like the painter had gone home early with before the job was done, and it looked even worse if a panel was replaced without the vinyl. A great example of First's corporate obsession taking over common sense and operational practicality.
It was seen here in 2003 at the Rosewell terminus of the X78.
Bonhams : The Autumn Sale 2020
Estimated : € 25.000 - 30.000
Sold for € 14.375
Autoworld
Brussels - Belgium
September 2020
Immensely popular during the 1950s and 1960s, the diminutive 'bubble car' or 'cabin scooter' is currently enjoying a revival of interest - not surprisingly given the congested state of today's urban roads. Nowadays though, the Bubble's attraction has just as much to do with fashion as practicality. One of the more successful designs of the cabin scooter's heyday was the BMW Isetta, a design the German firm manufactured under license from its Italian originator, Iso. (The name means 'little Iso'.) Faced with competition from the FIAT 500 and 600, both of which were seen as 'proper'; motor cars, albeit small, Renzo Rivolta's Iso was not selling well in its native Italy and it would be left to BMW to fully exploit the design's potential.
Although at first glance a three-wheeler, the Isetta built for the German market used a pair of closely spaced wheels at the rear and was powered by a BMW single-cylinder four-stroke motorcycle engine of 247cc, replacing the original's noisy two-stroke power unit. Isettas destined for overseas markets had a single rear wheel. The coachwork of early examples featured a single side-hinged door at the front, a roll-top sunroof and fixed side windows, while the steering wheel and dashboard were attached to the door to facilitate entry. The two-seater Isetta's most popular accessory, understandably so given the limited interior space, was a small luggage rack mounted at the rear. Later (1957-onwards) models incorporated sliding side windows for better ventilation. These improved models displaced 297cc, and the 'big' Isetta 300 was reckoned capable of 65mph (105km/h) and 55mpg (5.1 litres/100km). Approximately 162,000 Isettas had been made by the time production ceased in 1962.
Delivered new to Belgium, this BMW Isetta 300 still carries the plaque of the supplying dealer, 'J Dumont, Poperinge'. The car is most unusual in never having been restored and remains highly original, retaining matching numbers. Reported as in very good working order and said to drive very well, this charming little microcar is offered with its original Belgian registration document.
Caption reads: The ever-popular bed canopy has gone excitingly modern in this teen-ager's bedroom. The striking effect is created simply by installing tangy orange vinyl wallpaper on the wall and ceiling behind and above the bed. Trimly bordered in black, the paper is cut to exactly the same width as the bed.
A great idea for decorating a small room, the wall trim takes up no space, yet creates the effect of a dramatic headboard and canopy. Use one of the adhesive-backed papers and install it yourself to keep the cost minimal.
Although the colors used in decorating this room are lively, they have a no-nonsense practicality about them. It is well-organized, pleasant, and easy-to-maintain retreat. Brilliant hues used for the floor covering, bedspread, and wall canopy contrast with white walls and draperies. By the choice of well-styled furniture that can grow with a child--perhaps even move with her to her own first home--the often heavy initial cost of furnishing a youngster's room can be amortized over the long years it will be useful.
created by KHWD using some elements of AI and others straight forward close product photography and merging the 2 together into a video, most taken on my one plus open
A dazzling electric blue skirt with designer flair—perfect for girls aged 7–8 who love to stand out.
The Blue Party Skirt from Serendipity Girls Designer Dresses is a radiant celebration of color, texture, and timeless charm. Crafted from crushed polyester taffeta, this skirt boasts a lustrous sheen that catches the light with every twirl, making it a standout piece for birthdays, holidays, or any special occasion. Its electric blue hue is bold yet elegant, offering a playful twist on classic partywear.
Designed for girls aged 7 or 8, the skirt features a below-the-knee length for a graceful silhouette. Measuring 24 inches (61 cm) around the waist and 17.5 inches (44.5 cm) in length, it provides a comfortable fit while maintaining a polished look. The matching waistband and invisible back zip ensure a seamless finish, allowing the skirt to pair effortlessly with tucked-in blouses, sparkly tops, or cozy knits.
What sets this piece apart is its exclusive designer origin—you won’t find it in department stores. It’s a one-of-a-kind creation by KHWD, reflecting SerendipityGDDs’ commitment to unique, high-quality fashion for girls who love to express themselves. Whether styled with ballet flats or boots, this skirt adds a touch of storybook magic to any outfit.
Care is refreshingly simple: gentle handwash in cold soapy water, hang to air dry, and no ironing required. The fabric’s natural texture retains its charm without fuss, making it ideal for busy families who value both style and practicality.
From its shimmering fabric to its thoughtful tailoring, the Blue Party Skirt is more than just clothing—it’s a celebration of individuality. Perfect for twirling at parties or starring in family photos, it’s a piece that invites joy, confidence, and a little sparkle into every moment.
Explore the full spin and video views on the SerendipityGDDs site to see this stunning skirt in motion.
I first visited Dunnottar Castle summer 2017, this magnificent castle sits high on a hill, last time I visited I captured my shots from the cliffs overlooking the site, though today I made the journey up the hill and entered the castle walls , wow what a magnificent experience, just perfect with loads of great photo opportunities to capture real Scottish history,after two hours wandering around and capturing as many shots that caught my eye , I made my way home, a magnificent experience indeed.
Dunnottar Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope" is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Stonehaven.
The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. Dunnottar has played a prominent role in the history of Scotland through to the 18th-century Jacobite risings because of its strategic location and defensive strength. Dunnottar is best known as the place where the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, were hidden from Oliver Cromwell's invading army in the 17th century. The property of the Keiths from the 14th century, and the seat of the Earl Marischal, Dunnottar declined after the last Earl forfeited his titles by taking part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.
The castle was restored in the 20th century and is now open to the public.
The ruins of the castle are spread over 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres), surrounded by steep cliffs that drop to the North Sea, 50 metres (160 ft) below. A narrow strip of land joins the headland to the mainland, along which a steep path leads up to the gatehouse.
The various buildings within the castle include the 14th-century tower house as well as the 16th-century palace. Dunnottar Castle is a scheduled monument, and twelve structures on the site are listed buildings.
History
Early Middle Ages
A chapel at Dunnottar is said to have been founded by St Ninian in the 5th century, although it is not clear when the site was first fortified, but in any case the legend is late and highly implausible. Possibly the earliest written reference to the site is found in the Annals of Ulster which record two sieges of "Dún Foither" in 681 and 694.
The earlier event has been interpreted as an attack by Brude, the Pictish king of Fortriu, to extend his power over the north-east coast of Scotland. The Scottish Chronicle records that King Domnall II, the first ruler to be called rí Alban (King of Alba), was killed at Dunnottar during an attack by Vikings in 900. King Aethelstan of Wessex led a force into Scotland in 934, and raided as far north as Dunnottar according to the account of Symeon of Durham. W. D. Simpson speculated that a motte might lie under the present caste, but excavations in the 1980s failed to uncover substantive evidence of early medieval fortification.
The discovery of a group of Pictish stones at Dunnicaer, a nearby sea stack, has prompted speculation that "Dún Foither" was actually located on the adjacent headland of Bowduns, 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) to the north.
Later Middle Ages
During the reign of King William the Lion (ruled 1165–1214) Dunnottar was a center of local administration for The Mearns. The castle is named in the Roman de Fergus, an early 13th-century Arthurian romance, in which the hero Fergus must travel to Dunnottar to retrieve a magic shield.
In May 1276 a church on the site was consecrated by William Wishart, Bishop of St Andrews. The poet Blind Harry relates that William Wallace captured Dunnottar from the English in 1297, during the Wars of Scottish Independence. He is said to have imprisoned 4,000 defeated English soldiers in the church and burned them alive.
In 1336 Edward III of England ordered William Sinclair, 8th Baron of Roslin, to sail eight ships to the partially ruined Dunnottar for the purpose of rebuilding and fortifying the site as a forward resupply base for his northern campaign. Sinclair took with him 160 soldiers, horses, and a corps of masons and carpenters.
Edward himself visited in July, but the English efforts were undone before the end of the year when the Scottish Regent Sir Andrew Murray led a force that captured and again destroyed the defences of Dunnottar.
In the 14th century Dunnottar was granted to William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland (d.1370), and in 1346 a licence to crenellate was issued by David II. Around 1359 William Keith, Marischal of Scotland, married Margaret Fraser, niece of Robert the Bruce, and was granted the barony of Dunnottar at this time. Keith then gave the lands of Dunnottar to his daughter Christian and son-in-law William Lindsay of Byres, but in 1392 an excambion (exchange) was agreed whereby Keith regained Dunnottar and Lindsay took lands in Fife.
William Keith completed construction of the tower house at Dunnottar, but was excommunicated for building on the consecrated ground associated with the parish church. Keith had provided a new parish church closer to Stonehaven, but was forced to write to the Pope, Benedict XIII, who issued a bull in 1395 lifting the excommunication.William Keith's descendents were created Earls Marischal in the mid 15th century, and they held Dunottar until the 18th century.
16th century rebuilding
Through the 16th century the Keiths improved and expanded their principal seats: at Dunnottar and also at Keith Marischal in East Lothian. James IV visited Dunnottar in 1504, and in 1531 James V exempted the Earl's men from military service on the grounds that Dunnottar was one of the "principall strenthis of our realme".
Mary, Queen of Scots, visited in 1562 after the Battle of Corrichie, and returned in 1564.
James VI stayed for 10 days in 1580, as part of a progress through Fife and Angus, during which a meeting of the Privy Council was convened at Dunnottar.
During a rebellion of Catholic nobles in 1592, Dunnottar was captured by a Captain Carr on behalf of the Earl of Huntly, but was restored to Lord Marischal just a few weeks later.
In 1581 George Keith succeeded as 5th Earl Marischal, and began a large scale reconstruction that saw the medieval fortress converted into a more comfortable home. The founder of Marischal College in Aberdeen, the 5th Earl valued Dunnottar as much for its dramatic situation as for its security.
A "palace" comprising a series of ranges around a quadrangle was built on the north-eastern cliffs, creating luxurious living quarters with sea views. The 13th-century chapel was restored and incorporated into the quadrangle.
An impressive stone gatehouse was constructed, now known as Benholm's Lodging, featuring numerous gun ports facing the approach. Although impressive, these are likely to have been fashionable embellishments rather than genuine defensive features.
Civil wars
Further information: Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
In 1639 William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal, came out in support of the Covenanters, a Presbyterian movement who opposed the established Episcopal Church and the changes which Charles I was attempting to impose. With James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, he marched against the Catholic James Gordon, 2nd Viscount Aboyne, Earl of Huntly, and defeated an attempt by the Royalists to seize Stonehaven. However, when Montrose changed sides to the Royalists and marched north, Marischal remained in Dunnottar, even when given command of the area by Parliament, and even when Montrose burned Stonehaven.
Marischal then joined with the Engager faction, who had made a deal with the king, and led a troop of horse to the Battle of Preston (1648) in support of the royalists.
Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, the Engagers gave their allegiance to his son and heir: Charles II was proclaimed king, arriving in Scotland in June 1650. He visited Dunnottar in July 1650, but his presence in Scotland prompted Oliver Cromwell to lead a force into Scotland, defeating the Scots at Dunbar in September 1650.
The Honours of Scotland
Charles II was crowned at Scone Palace on 1 January 1651, at which the Honours of Scotland (the regalia of crown, sword and sceptre) were used. However, with Cromwell's troops in Lothian, the honours could not be returned to Edinburgh. The Earl Marischal, as Marischal of Scotland, had formal responsibility for the honours, and in June the Privy Council duly decided to place them at Dunnottar.
They were brought to the castle by Katherine Drummond, hidden in sacks of wool. Sir George Ogilvie (or Ogilvy) of Barras was appointed lieutenant-governor of the castle, and given responsibility for its defence.
In November 1651 Cromwell's troops called on Ogilvie to surrender, but he refused. During the subsequent blockade of the castle, the removal of the Honours of Scotland was planned by Elizabeth Douglas, wife of Sir George Ogilvie, and Christian Fletcher, wife of James Granger, minister of Kinneff Parish Church. The king's papers were first removed from the castle by Anne Lindsay, a kinswoman of Elizabeth Douglas, who walked through the besieging force with the papers sewn into her clothes.
Two stories exist regarding the removal of the honours themselves. Fletcher stated in 1664 that over the course of three visits to the castle in February and March 1652, she carried away the crown, sceptre, sword and sword-case hidden amongst sacks of goods. Another account, given in the 18th century by a tutor to the Earl Marischal, records that the honours were lowered from the castle onto the beach, where they were collected by Fletcher's servant and carried off in a creel (basket) of seaweed. Having smuggled the honours from the castle, Fletcher and her husband buried them under the floor of the Old Kirk at Kinneff.
Meanwhile, by May 1652 the commander of the blockade, Colonel Thomas Morgan, had taken delivery of the artillery necessary for the reduction of Dunnottar. Ogilvie surrendered on 24 May, on condition that the garrison could go free. Finding the honours gone, the Cromwellians imprisoned Ogilvie and his wife in the castle until the following year, when a false story was put about suggesting that the honours had been taken overseas.
Much of the castle property was removed, including twenty-one brass cannons,[28] and Marischal was required to sell further lands and possessions to pay fines imposed by Cromwell's government.
At the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the honours were removed from Kinneff Church and returned to the king. Ogilvie quarrelled with Marischal's mother over who would take credit for saving the honours, though he was eventually rewarded with a baronetcy. Fletcher was awarded 2,000 merks by Parliament but the sum was never paid.
Whigs and Jacobites
Religious and political conflicts continued to be played out at Dunnottar through the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1685, during the rebellion of the Earl of Argyll against the new king James VII, 167 Covenanters were seized and held in a cellar at Dunnottar. The prisoners included 122 men and 45 women associated with the Whigs, an anti-Royalist group within the Covenanter movement, and had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the new king.
The Whigs were imprisoned from 24 May until late July. A group of 25 escaped, although two of these were killed in a fall from the cliffs, and another 15 were recaptured. Five prisoners died in the vault, and 37 of the Whigs were released after taking the oath of allegiance.
The remaining prisoners were transported to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, as part of a colonisation scheme devised by George Scot of Pitlochie. Many, like Scot himself, died on the voyage.
The cellar, located beneath the "King's Bedroom" in the 16th-century castle buildings, has since become known as the "Whigs' Vault".
Both the Jacobites (supporters of the exiled Stuarts) and the Hanoverians (supporters of George I and his descendents) used Dunnottar Castle. In 1689 during Viscount Dundee's campaign in support of the deposed James VII, the castle was garrisoned for William and Mary with Lord Marischal appointed captain.
Seventeen suspected Jacobites from Aberdeen were seized and held in the fortress for around three weeks, including George Liddell, professor of mathematics at Marischal College.
In the Jacobite Rising of 1715 George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal, took an active role with the rebels, leading cavalry at the Battle of Sheriffmuir. After the subsequent abandonment of the rising Lord Marischal fled to the Continent, eventually becoming French ambassador for Frederick the Great of Prussia. Meanwhile, in 1716, his titles and estates including Dunnottar were declared forfeit to the crown.
Later history
The seized estates of the Earl Marischal were purchased in 1720 for £41,172, by the York Buildings Company who dismantled much of the castle.
In 1761 the Earl briefly returned to Scotland and bought back Dunnottar only to sell it five years later to Alexander Keith, an Edinburgh lawyer who served as Knight Marischal of Scotland.
Dunnottar was inherited in 1852 by Sir Patrick Keith-Murray of Ochtertyre, who in turn sold it in July 1873 to Major Alexander Innes of Cowie and Raemoir for about £80,000.
It was purchased by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, in 1925 after which his wife embarked on a programme of repairs.
Since that time the castle has remained in the family, and has been open to the public, attracting 52,500 visitors in 2009.
Dunnottar Castle, and the headland on which is stands, was designated as a scheduled monument in 1970.In 1972 twelve of the structures at Dunnottar were listed.
Three buildings are listed at category A as being of "national importance": the keep; the entrance gateway; and Benholm's Lodging.
The remaining listings are at category B as being of "regional importance".[39] The Hon. Charles Anthony Pearson, the younger son of the 3rd Viscount Cowdray, currently owns and runs Dunnottar Castle which is part of the 210-square-kilometre (52,000-acre) Dunecht Estates.
Portions of the 1990 film Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close, were shot there.
Description
Dunnottar's strategic location allowed its owners to control the coastal terrace between the North Sea cliffs and the hills of the Mounth, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) inland, which enabled access to and from the north-east of Scotland.
The site is accessed via a steep, 800-metre (2,600 ft) footpath (with modern staircases) from a car park on the coastal road, or via a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) cliff-top path from Stonehaven. Dunnottar's several buildings, put up between the 13th and 17th centuries, are arranged across a headland covering around 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres).
The dominant building, viewed from the land approach, is the 14th-century keep or tower house. The other principal buildings are the gatehouse; the chapel; and the 16th-century "palace" which incorporates the "Whigs' Vault".
Defences
The approach to the castle is overlooked by outworks on the "Fiddle Head", a promontory on the western side of the headland. The entrance is through the well-defended main gate, set in a curtain wall which entirely blocks a cleft in the rocky cliffs.
The gate has a portcullis and has been partly blocked up. Alongside the main gate is the 16th-century Benholm's Lodging, a five-storey building cut into the rock, which incorporated a prison with apartments above.
Three tiers of gun ports face outwards from the lower floors of Benholm's Lodging, while inside the main gate, a group of four gun ports face the entrance. The entrance passage then turns sharply to the left, running underground through two tunnels to emerge near the tower house.
Simpson contends that these defences are "without exception the strongest in Scotland", although later writers have doubted the effectiveness of the gun ports. Cruden notes that the alignment of the gun ports in Benholm's Lodging, facing across the approach rather than along, means that they are of limited efficiency.
The practicality of the gun ports facing the entrance has also been questioned, though an inventory of 1612 records that four brass cannons were placed here.
A second access to the castle leads up from a rocky cove, the aperture to a marine cave on the northern side of the Dunnottar cliffs into which a small boat could be brought. From here a steep path leads to the well-fortified postern gate on the cliff top, which in turn offers access to the castle via the Water Gate in the palace.
Artillery defences, taking the form of earthworks, surround the north-west corner of the castle, facing inland, and the south-east, facing seaward. A small sentry box or guard house stands by the eastern battery, overlooking the coast.
Tower house and surrounding buildings
The tower house of Dunnottar, viewed from the west
The late 14th-century tower house has a stone-vaulted basement, and originally had three further storeys and a garret above.
Measuring 12 by 11 metres (39 by 36 ft), the tower house stood 15 metres (49 ft) high to its gable. The principal rooms included a great hall and a private chamber for the lord, with bedrooms upstairs.
Beside the tower house is a storehouse, and a blacksmith's forge with a large chimney. A stable block is ranged along the southern edge of the headland. Nearby is Waterton's Lodging, also known as the Priest's House, built around 1574, possibly for the use of William Keith (died 1580), son of the 4th Earl Marischal.
This small self-contained house includes a hall and kitchen at ground level, with private chambers above, and has a projecting spiral stair on the north side. It is named for Thomas Forbes of Waterton, an attendant of the 7th Earl.
The palace
The palace, to the north-east of the headland, was built in the late 16th century and early to mid-17th century. It comprises three main wings set out around a quadrangle, and for the most part is probably the work of the 5th Earl Marischal who succeeded in 1581.
It provided extensive and comfortable accommodation to replace the rooms in the tower house. In its long, low design it has been compared to contemporary English buildings, in contrast to the Scottish tradition of taller towers still prevalent in the 16th century.
Seven identical lodgings are arranged along the west range, each opening onto the quadrangle and including windows and fireplace. Above the lodgings the west range comprised a 35-metre (115 ft) gallery. Now roofless, the gallery originally had an elaborate oak ceiling, and on display was a Roman tablet taken from the Antonine Wall.
At the north end of the gallery was a drawing room linked to the north range. The gallery could also be accessed from the Silver House to the south, which incorporated a broad stairway with a treasury above.
The basement of the north range incorporates kitchens and stores, with a dining room and great chamber above. At ground floor level is the Water Gate, between the north and west ranges, which gives access to the postern on the northern cliffs.
The east and north ranges are linked via a rectangular stair. The east range has a larder, brewhouse and bakery at ground level, with a suite of apartments for the Countess above. A north-east wing contains the Earl's apartments, and includes the "King's Bedroom" in which Charles II stayed. In this room is a carved stone inscribed with the arms of the 7th Earl and his wife, and the date 1654. Below these rooms is the Whigs' Vault, a cellar measuring 16 by 4.5 metres (52 by 15 ft). This cellar, in which the Covenanters were held in 1685, has a large eastern window, as well as a lower vault accessed via a trap-door in the floor.
Of the chambers in the palace, only the dining room and the Silver House remain roofed, having been restored in the 1920s. The central area contains a circular cistern or fish pond, 16 metres (52 ft) across and 7.6 metres (25 ft) deep, and a bowling green is located to the west.
At the south-east corner of the quadrangle is the chapel, consecrated in 1276 and largely rebuilt in the 16th century. Medieval walling and two 13th-century windows remain, and there is a graveyard to the south.
Saturday 7th July 2018, a revisit to my favourite place, Stonehaven a 25 minute drive from my home, I can never visit without taking in Dunnottar Castle views, today she looked magnificent.
The rock the Castle sits upon was forced to the surface 440 million years ago during the Silurian period. A red rock conglomerate with boulders up to 1m across known as Pudding Stone is incredibly durable.
The ancient Highland rock pebbles and cementing matter is so tough that faults or cracks pass through the pebbles themselves.
I first visited Dunnottar Castle summer 2017, this magnificent castle sits high on a hill, last time I visited I captured my shots from the cliffs overlooking the site, though today I made the journey up the hill and entered the castle walls , wow what a magnificent experience, just perfect with loads of great photo opportunities to capture real Scottish history,after two hours wandering around and capturing as many shots that caught my eye , I made my way home, a magnificent experience indeed.
Dunnottar Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope" is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Stonehaven.
The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. Dunnottar has played a prominent role in the history of Scotland through to the 18th-century Jacobite risings because of its strategic location and defensive strength. Dunnottar is best known as the place where the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, were hidden from Oliver Cromwell's invading army in the 17th century. The property of the Keiths from the 14th century, and the seat of the Earl Marischal, Dunnottar declined after the last Earl forfeited his titles by taking part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.
The castle was restored in the 20th century and is now open to the public.
The ruins of the castle are spread over 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres), surrounded by steep cliffs that drop to the North Sea, 50 metres (160 ft) below. A narrow strip of land joins the headland to the mainland, along which a steep path leads up to the gatehouse.
The various buildings within the castle include the 14th-century tower house as well as the 16th-century palace. Dunnottar Castle is a scheduled monument, and twelve structures on the site are listed buildings.
History
Early Middle Ages
A chapel at Dunnottar is said to have been founded by St Ninian in the 5th century, although it is not clear when the site was first fortified, but in any case the legend is late and highly implausible. Possibly the earliest written reference to the site is found in the Annals of Ulster which record two sieges of "Dún Foither" in 681 and 694.
The earlier event has been interpreted as an attack by Brude, the Pictish king of Fortriu, to extend his power over the north-east coast of Scotland. The Scottish Chronicle records that King Domnall II, the first ruler to be called rí Alban (King of Alba), was killed at Dunnottar during an attack by Vikings in 900. King Aethelstan of Wessex led a force into Scotland in 934, and raided as far north as Dunnottar according to the account of Symeon of Durham. W. D. Simpson speculated that a motte might lie under the present caste, but excavations in the 1980s failed to uncover substantive evidence of early medieval fortification.
The discovery of a group of Pictish stones at Dunnicaer, a nearby sea stack, has prompted speculation that "Dún Foither" was actually located on the adjacent headland of Bowduns, 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) to the north.
Later Middle Ages
During the reign of King William the Lion (ruled 1165–1214) Dunnottar was a center of local administration for The Mearns. The castle is named in the Roman de Fergus, an early 13th-century Arthurian romance, in which the hero Fergus must travel to Dunnottar to retrieve a magic shield.
In May 1276 a church on the site was consecrated by William Wishart, Bishop of St Andrews. The poet Blind Harry relates that William Wallace captured Dunnottar from the English in 1297, during the Wars of Scottish Independence. He is said to have imprisoned 4,000 defeated English soldiers in the church and burned them alive.
In 1336 Edward III of England ordered William Sinclair, 8th Baron of Roslin, to sail eight ships to the partially ruined Dunnottar for the purpose of rebuilding and fortifying the site as a forward resupply base for his northern campaign. Sinclair took with him 160 soldiers, horses, and a corps of masons and carpenters.
Edward himself visited in July, but the English efforts were undone before the end of the year when the Scottish Regent Sir Andrew Murray led a force that captured and again destroyed the defences of Dunnottar.
In the 14th century Dunnottar was granted to William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland (d.1370), and in 1346 a licence to crenellate was issued by David II. Around 1359 William Keith, Marischal of Scotland, married Margaret Fraser, niece of Robert the Bruce, and was granted the barony of Dunnottar at this time. Keith then gave the lands of Dunnottar to his daughter Christian and son-in-law William Lindsay of Byres, but in 1392 an excambion (exchange) was agreed whereby Keith regained Dunnottar and Lindsay took lands in Fife.
William Keith completed construction of the tower house at Dunnottar, but was excommunicated for building on the consecrated ground associated with the parish church. Keith had provided a new parish church closer to Stonehaven, but was forced to write to the Pope, Benedict XIII, who issued a bull in 1395 lifting the excommunication.William Keith's descendents were created Earls Marischal in the mid 15th century, and they held Dunottar until the 18th century.
16th century rebuilding
Through the 16th century the Keiths improved and expanded their principal seats: at Dunnottar and also at Keith Marischal in East Lothian. James IV visited Dunnottar in 1504, and in 1531 James V exempted the Earl's men from military service on the grounds that Dunnottar was one of the "principall strenthis of our realme".
Mary, Queen of Scots, visited in 1562 after the Battle of Corrichie, and returned in 1564.
James VI stayed for 10 days in 1580, as part of a progress through Fife and Angus, during which a meeting of the Privy Council was convened at Dunnottar.
During a rebellion of Catholic nobles in 1592, Dunnottar was captured by a Captain Carr on behalf of the Earl of Huntly, but was restored to Lord Marischal just a few weeks later.
In 1581 George Keith succeeded as 5th Earl Marischal, and began a large scale reconstruction that saw the medieval fortress converted into a more comfortable home. The founder of Marischal College in Aberdeen, the 5th Earl valued Dunnottar as much for its dramatic situation as for its security.
A "palace" comprising a series of ranges around a quadrangle was built on the north-eastern cliffs, creating luxurious living quarters with sea views. The 13th-century chapel was restored and incorporated into the quadrangle.
An impressive stone gatehouse was constructed, now known as Benholm's Lodging, featuring numerous gun ports facing the approach. Although impressive, these are likely to have been fashionable embellishments rather than genuine defensive features.
Civil wars
Further information: Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
In 1639 William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal, came out in support of the Covenanters, a Presbyterian movement who opposed the established Episcopal Church and the changes which Charles I was attempting to impose. With James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, he marched against the Catholic James Gordon, 2nd Viscount Aboyne, Earl of Huntly, and defeated an attempt by the Royalists to seize Stonehaven. However, when Montrose changed sides to the Royalists and marched north, Marischal remained in Dunnottar, even when given command of the area by Parliament, and even when Montrose burned Stonehaven.
Marischal then joined with the Engager faction, who had made a deal with the king, and led a troop of horse to the Battle of Preston (1648) in support of the royalists.
Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, the Engagers gave their allegiance to his son and heir: Charles II was proclaimed king, arriving in Scotland in June 1650. He visited Dunnottar in July 1650, but his presence in Scotland prompted Oliver Cromwell to lead a force into Scotland, defeating the Scots at Dunbar in September 1650.
The Honours of Scotland
Charles II was crowned at Scone Palace on 1 January 1651, at which the Honours of Scotland (the regalia of crown, sword and sceptre) were used. However, with Cromwell's troops in Lothian, the honours could not be returned to Edinburgh. The Earl Marischal, as Marischal of Scotland, had formal responsibility for the honours, and in June the Privy Council duly decided to place them at Dunnottar.
They were brought to the castle by Katherine Drummond, hidden in sacks of wool. Sir George Ogilvie (or Ogilvy) of Barras was appointed lieutenant-governor of the castle, and given responsibility for its defence.
In November 1651 Cromwell's troops called on Ogilvie to surrender, but he refused. During the subsequent blockade of the castle, the removal of the Honours of Scotland was planned by Elizabeth Douglas, wife of Sir George Ogilvie, and Christian Fletcher, wife of James Granger, minister of Kinneff Parish Church. The king's papers were first removed from the castle by Anne Lindsay, a kinswoman of Elizabeth Douglas, who walked through the besieging force with the papers sewn into her clothes.
Two stories exist regarding the removal of the honours themselves. Fletcher stated in 1664 that over the course of three visits to the castle in February and March 1652, she carried away the crown, sceptre, sword and sword-case hidden amongst sacks of goods. Another account, given in the 18th century by a tutor to the Earl Marischal, records that the honours were lowered from the castle onto the beach, where they were collected by Fletcher's servant and carried off in a creel (basket) of seaweed. Having smuggled the honours from the castle, Fletcher and her husband buried them under the floor of the Old Kirk at Kinneff.
Meanwhile, by May 1652 the commander of the blockade, Colonel Thomas Morgan, had taken delivery of the artillery necessary for the reduction of Dunnottar. Ogilvie surrendered on 24 May, on condition that the garrison could go free. Finding the honours gone, the Cromwellians imprisoned Ogilvie and his wife in the castle until the following year, when a false story was put about suggesting that the honours had been taken overseas.
Much of the castle property was removed, including twenty-one brass cannons,[28] and Marischal was required to sell further lands and possessions to pay fines imposed by Cromwell's government.
At the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the honours were removed from Kinneff Church and returned to the king. Ogilvie quarrelled with Marischal's mother over who would take credit for saving the honours, though he was eventually rewarded with a baronetcy. Fletcher was awarded 2,000 merks by Parliament but the sum was never paid.
Whigs and Jacobites
Religious and political conflicts continued to be played out at Dunnottar through the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1685, during the rebellion of the Earl of Argyll against the new king James VII, 167 Covenanters were seized and held in a cellar at Dunnottar. The prisoners included 122 men and 45 women associated with the Whigs, an anti-Royalist group within the Covenanter movement, and had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the new king.
The Whigs were imprisoned from 24 May until late July. A group of 25 escaped, although two of these were killed in a fall from the cliffs, and another 15 were recaptured. Five prisoners died in the vault, and 37 of the Whigs were released after taking the oath of allegiance.
The remaining prisoners were transported to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, as part of a colonisation scheme devised by George Scot of Pitlochie. Many, like Scot himself, died on the voyage.
The cellar, located beneath the "King's Bedroom" in the 16th-century castle buildings, has since become known as the "Whigs' Vault".
Both the Jacobites (supporters of the exiled Stuarts) and the Hanoverians (supporters of George I and his descendents) used Dunnottar Castle. In 1689 during Viscount Dundee's campaign in support of the deposed James VII, the castle was garrisoned for William and Mary with Lord Marischal appointed captain.
Seventeen suspected Jacobites from Aberdeen were seized and held in the fortress for around three weeks, including George Liddell, professor of mathematics at Marischal College.
In the Jacobite Rising of 1715 George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal, took an active role with the rebels, leading cavalry at the Battle of Sheriffmuir. After the subsequent abandonment of the rising Lord Marischal fled to the Continent, eventually becoming French ambassador for Frederick the Great of Prussia. Meanwhile, in 1716, his titles and estates including Dunnottar were declared forfeit to the crown.
Later history
The seized estates of the Earl Marischal were purchased in 1720 for £41,172, by the York Buildings Company who dismantled much of the castle.
In 1761 the Earl briefly returned to Scotland and bought back Dunnottar only to sell it five years later to Alexander Keith, an Edinburgh lawyer who served as Knight Marischal of Scotland.
Dunnottar was inherited in 1852 by Sir Patrick Keith-Murray of Ochtertyre, who in turn sold it in July 1873 to Major Alexander Innes of Cowie and Raemoir for about £80,000.
It was purchased by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, in 1925 after which his wife embarked on a programme of repairs.
Since that time the castle has remained in the family, and has been open to the public, attracting 52,500 visitors in 2009.
Dunnottar Castle, and the headland on which is stands, was designated as a scheduled monument in 1970.In 1972 twelve of the structures at Dunnottar were listed.
Three buildings are listed at category A as being of "national importance": the keep; the entrance gateway; and Benholm's Lodging.
The remaining listings are at category B as being of "regional importance".[39] The Hon. Charles Anthony Pearson, the younger son of the 3rd Viscount Cowdray, currently owns and runs Dunnottar Castle which is part of the 210-square-kilometre (52,000-acre) Dunecht Estates.
Portions of the 1990 film Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close, were shot there.
Description
Dunnottar's strategic location allowed its owners to control the coastal terrace between the North Sea cliffs and the hills of the Mounth, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) inland, which enabled access to and from the north-east of Scotland.
The site is accessed via a steep, 800-metre (2,600 ft) footpath (with modern staircases) from a car park on the coastal road, or via a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) cliff-top path from Stonehaven. Dunnottar's several buildings, put up between the 13th and 17th centuries, are arranged across a headland covering around 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres).
The dominant building, viewed from the land approach, is the 14th-century keep or tower house. The other principal buildings are the gatehouse; the chapel; and the 16th-century "palace" which incorporates the "Whigs' Vault".
Defences
The approach to the castle is overlooked by outworks on the "Fiddle Head", a promontory on the western side of the headland. The entrance is through the well-defended main gate, set in a curtain wall which entirely blocks a cleft in the rocky cliffs.
The gate has a portcullis and has been partly blocked up. Alongside the main gate is the 16th-century Benholm's Lodging, a five-storey building cut into the rock, which incorporated a prison with apartments above.
Three tiers of gun ports face outwards from the lower floors of Benholm's Lodging, while inside the main gate, a group of four gun ports face the entrance. The entrance passage then turns sharply to the left, running underground through two tunnels to emerge near the tower house.
Simpson contends that these defences are "without exception the strongest in Scotland", although later writers have doubted the effectiveness of the gun ports. Cruden notes that the alignment of the gun ports in Benholm's Lodging, facing across the approach rather than along, means that they are of limited efficiency.
The practicality of the gun ports facing the entrance has also been questioned, though an inventory of 1612 records that four brass cannons were placed here.
A second access to the castle leads up from a rocky cove, the aperture to a marine cave on the northern side of the Dunnottar cliffs into which a small boat could be brought. From here a steep path leads to the well-fortified postern gate on the cliff top, which in turn offers access to the castle via the Water Gate in the palace.
Artillery defences, taking the form of earthworks, surround the north-west corner of the castle, facing inland, and the south-east, facing seaward. A small sentry box or guard house stands by the eastern battery, overlooking the coast.
Tower house and surrounding buildings
The tower house of Dunnottar, viewed from the west
The late 14th-century tower house has a stone-vaulted basement, and originally had three further storeys and a garret above.
Measuring 12 by 11 metres (39 by 36 ft), the tower house stood 15 metres (49 ft) high to its gable. The principal rooms included a great hall and a private chamber for the lord, with bedrooms upstairs.
Beside the tower house is a storehouse, and a blacksmith's forge with a large chimney. A stable block is ranged along the southern edge of the headland. Nearby is Waterton's Lodging, also known as the Priest's House, built around 1574, possibly for the use of William Keith (died 1580), son of the 4th Earl Marischal.
This small self-contained house includes a hall and kitchen at ground level, with private chambers above, and has a projecting spiral stair on the north side. It is named for Thomas Forbes of Waterton, an attendant of the 7th Earl.
The palace
The palace, to the north-east of the headland, was built in the late 16th century and early to mid-17th century. It comprises three main wings set out around a quadrangle, and for the most part is probably the work of the 5th Earl Marischal who succeeded in 1581.
It provided extensive and comfortable accommodation to replace the rooms in the tower house. In its long, low design it has been compared to contemporary English buildings, in contrast to the Scottish tradition of taller towers still prevalent in the 16th century.
Seven identical lodgings are arranged along the west range, each opening onto the quadrangle and including windows and fireplace. Above the lodgings the west range comprised a 35-metre (115 ft) gallery. Now roofless, the gallery originally had an elaborate oak ceiling, and on display was a Roman tablet taken from the Antonine Wall.
At the north end of the gallery was a drawing room linked to the north range. The gallery could also be accessed from the Silver House to the south, which incorporated a broad stairway with a treasury above.
The basement of the north range incorporates kitchens and stores, with a dining room and great chamber above. At ground floor level is the Water Gate, between the north and west ranges, which gives access to the postern on the northern cliffs.
The east and north ranges are linked via a rectangular stair. The east range has a larder, brewhouse and bakery at ground level, with a suite of apartments for the Countess above. A north-east wing contains the Earl's apartments, and includes the "King's Bedroom" in which Charles II stayed. In this room is a carved stone inscribed with the arms of the 7th Earl and his wife, and the date 1654. Below these rooms is the Whigs' Vault, a cellar measuring 16 by 4.5 metres (52 by 15 ft). This cellar, in which the Covenanters were held in 1685, has a large eastern window, as well as a lower vault accessed via a trap-door in the floor.
Of the chambers in the palace, only the dining room and the Silver House remain roofed, having been restored in the 1920s. The central area contains a circular cistern or fish pond, 16 metres (52 ft) across and 7.6 metres (25 ft) deep, and a bowling green is located to the west.
At the south-east corner of the quadrangle is the chapel, consecrated in 1276 and largely rebuilt in the 16th century. Medieval walling and two 13th-century windows remain, and there is a graveyard to the south.
Feb 2016: “A compact, c 1,000 sq ft Victorian chapel by the entrance to the former Our Lady’s Hospital, Cork is coming to market with a guide price for €250,000, via agent John O’Mahony of O’Mahony Walsh, Ballincollig”
Our Lady’s was wound down in the 1980s, and although Our Lady’s Hospital showed some interest it was sold with 50 acres in 1995 by the then-Southern Health Board for £910,000 to Dublin-based Lance Investments.
Some elements of the Our Lady’s complex have since been sold off, such as a number of apartments, town houses, mews houses and stables conversions and the old gate lodge by the Lee Road is now in commercial use, occupied by agriculture advisors the Brady Group.
My understanding is that there are two distinct sections to the main complex.
Our Lady's which was the Lee Road in Ireland. Locals are inclined to refer to the entire structure as St. Anne's and they and do not differentiate between the grey section, Our Lady's and the red section, St. Kevin's which is totally derelict.
A a section of Our Lady’s Hospital has been renovated as Lee Road.
Our Lady’s Hospital, formerly Eglinton Asylum [named after the Earl of Eglinton, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland], Cork was built to house 500 patients. It was the largest of seven district lunatic asylums commissioned by the Board of Public Works in the late 1840s to supplement the nine establishments erected by Johnston and Murray in 1820-35. Like the earlier buildings, the new institutions were ‘corridor asylums’, but with the emphasis on wards rather than cells. There was a change in style from Classical to Gothic.
Designed by local architect William Atkins, the Cork Asylum was one of the longest buildings in Ireland (almost 1000 feet), originally split into three blocks punctuated with towers and gables. Atkins made good use of polychromy, contrasting Glanmire sandstone with limestone dressings. The elevated site overlooking the River Lee, appears to have been chosen for dramatic effect rather than practicality, great difficulty being encountered in providing exercise yards on the steep slope.
Everyone knows I’m all about sensibility, safety, and practicality. That is why when they posted this month’s LUGNuts challenge having to do with cars with place names, pretty much my only choice was the Chevy Monte Carlo SS. This is your average, every day mid-80’s family sedan with some very minor customizations you probably wouldn’t notice. They’re not even worth mentioning, really.
Sanno Park Tower, an iconic high-rise in Tokyo’s Chiyoda district, seamlessly combines sleek, modern architecture with functional design. Completed in 2000, this 44-story building is notable for its sophisticated structural lines and innovative architectural features that highlight Japan's commitment to combining aesthetics with practicality. Designed by renowned architectural firm Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei, the building is a masterpiece of Japanese urban design, showcasing minimalist yet impactful features that make it stand out in Tokyo's skyline.
One of the building’s unique architectural highlights is the circular glass structure at its entrance, which creates a visually striking focal point. This pavilion-like addition, with its radial design and metal framework, provides a sense of openness and flow that welcomes visitors while maintaining a distinctively modern feel. The glass and steel elements reflect light beautifully, especially on rainy days, adding an element of elegance to the entire structure. The area around Sanno Park Tower is immaculately landscaped, providing a balance between the building’s imposing presence and the surrounding greenery.
Sanno Park Tower serves as a business hub and is home to major companies and government offices, making it a vital part of Tokyo’s economic landscape. The tower's environmentally conscious design incorporates energy-saving technologies and sustainable materials, reflecting Japan's ongoing dedication to eco-friendly construction practices. With its blend of modern aesthetics and thoughtful design, Sanno Park Tower is not just a building; it’s a statement on the future of urban architecture in Tokyo. This landmark appeals to architecture enthusiasts and photographers alike, capturing the spirit of contemporary Japanese design.
E36/7
Bonhams
Les Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris
The Grand Palais Éphémère
Place Joffre
Parijs - Paris
Frankrijk - France
February 2023
Estimated : € 35.000 - 45.000
Sold for € 57.500
A brilliant exercise in 'retro' styling that recalled its fabulous '328' sports car of pre-war days, BMW's Z3 was introduced in 1996. The original four-cylinder 1.9-litre Z3 was more of a stylish boulevard cruiser than out-and-out sports car, a successful concept, and would prove equally appealing to both men and women drivers. The arrival of the 2.8-litre six-cylinder engine in 1997 transformed the Z3, endowing it with a level of performance that at last matched the promise of its looks. Six-cylinder cars enjoyed a lengthier equipment list than the 'fours', which included an electric hood (roadster), leather upholstery, and 16" alloy wheels.
The first M-Power Z3 appeared in January 1997. Built until February 2001 when the model was revised, the first-series Z3 M Coupé and Roadster were powered by the 3.2-litre S50 engine producing 316hp and 236lb/ft of torque - figures that translated into a tyre-smoking 0-100km/h time of 5.2 seconds and a top speed of 248km/h. The fastest-accelerating BMW ever at the time of its introduction, the Z3M boasted a generous specification that included electric windows, ABS, PAS, air conditioning, heated seats, driver/passenger air bags, six-speaker stereo system, alarm/immobiliser, heated exterior mirrors, 17" alloy wheels, and a limited-slip differential as standard. Combining outrageous looks and performance with impressive practicality, the Z3M was not replaced within BMW's line-up after its deletion in 2002 and is surely destined for 'highly collectible' status in the future.
This Z3 M Roadster was built in October 1996 (official production would not start until 1997) and is one of only 25 pre-production press or test cars. Only seven of this batch were finished in 'Evergreen'; most of them were 'Imolarot' or 'Estoril Blau' (nine were red, seven green, and nine blue). Boasting two-tone Walk Nappa/Evergreen leather interior, chassis number 'LD20069' is believed to be the first 'Evergreen' Z3 M Roadster built. As a special option in the list we find 'Sonderkontrolle Pressefahrzeuge', referring to the special inspection for press vehicles that was carried out at BMW. The BMW Archivist has confirmed in an email the production details of this 'pre-production' example, which include a 25% differential lock.
This car was registered new to BMW M GmbH on 6th November 1996 with the registration plate 'M-RC1584' and was reregistered only a month later to Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft (BMW AG) on the same registration plate. The car remained with BMW up to 2000, when it was sold to Sweden with 15,000 kilometres recorded.
A printout of the BMW service history shows that the car was regularly serviced, and that since it moved to Sweden covered between 10,000 and 15,000 kilometres per year. By 2015, when it moved to the current owner in Belgium, the BMW had covered 86,000 kilometres. Since then it has scarcely been driven but regular servicing has been maintained: 2016 (90,033km) up to 2021 (94,509km) by a BMW specialist. Clearly well looked after, the car is in lovely condition both inside and out.
BMW's proven S50 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine in an extremely light car makes for an exciting combination. Magnificent, strong, reliable, light and fun, this beautiful BMW Z3 M is certain to delight the fortunate next owner.
Much of what we know of St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne appears to be legendary, but every legend must start with a grain of truth. If the stories are any indicator, he must have been a devout man who inspired those around him deeply, despite (and possibly also because) of his love of solitude. Today, a modern statue of St. Cuthbert stands as a green-grey sentinel of the local priory ruins. His lips are pursed beneath his aquiline nose, his hands folded in contemplation, and his unseeing eyes watch over the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, which he once called home. It isn’t difficult to imagine why Cuthbert’s predecessors, Saint Aidan and his fellow monks, were apt to set up a monastery here. Beyond the practicalities of a fresh water source and green pasture, the isolation of the tides that make Lindisfarne an island twice a day and the sound of breaking waves, and spectacular sunsets all speak to the divinity of the Creator. And standing where Cuthbert stood, it isn’t so difficult to imagine him either – no longer just a figment of stone, but a living, breathing being separated from us only by time.
Shepherd, Soldier, Prior, Saint
Saint Cuthbert, the shepherd
Cuthbert, like many saints, is a man of legend, and the details of his birth are no exception. While historical record, or lack thereof, accounts for the discrepancy in dates (634 or 635), it is most likely legend which gives us the story of a royal heritage (Cuthbert is often rumoured to be the son of an Irish king). Just like the biblical King David, Cuthbert helped keep sheep when he was a boy. This task no doubt suited young Cuthbert well, for he was a compassionate soul, showing kindness to humans and animals alike. A foreshadowing of things to come, whenever Cuthbert would tear his gaze away from his sheep, the Melrose monastery was there on the horizon. Like King David, Cuthbert was set apart to accomplish great things. The sign came, not through an anointing of oil, but supposedly, through a dazzling vision in the night. The vision took place in August of 651. The significance of the date may be lost on us now, but it was a bustling time for the Scottish Borders and Northern England – pagan hostilities, the storming of a castle, the murder of a king, and the death of a beloved missionary monk. The monk’s name was Aidan. He was also the founder of the monastery in Lindisfarne and credited with restoring Christianity to Northumbria. His death was a reflection of his life: he passed away in the night leaning on the wall of the local church. It was news of this monk, even more than rumours of war, that would shake Cuthbert to his core. Back in Melrose, Cuthbert was keeping watch over his flock by night – the same night of Aidan’s death. Then suddenly, as recorded by the venerable Bede, a long stream of light illuminated the night, interrupting Cuthbert’s diligent prayers and startling the sheep. Cuthbert watched intently as a heavenly host appeared, descending to the earth to gather up another spirit into their midst. This spirit – whoever it was – was remarkably bright, and the angels escorted them to their heavenly home, leaving behind only the light of the winking stars. Needless to say, Cuthbert was flabbergasted. However, the matter became clear to him the next morning when he learned of Aidan’s death; he believed he had watched Aidan’s soul being taken to heaven. It was at that moment he knew the monastery was no longer to be a shadow on the horizon but his home.
Saint Cuthbert, the soldier
Unfortunately, the rumours of war became reality, sweeping Cuthbert away from his calling for a time as he served in the military. His precise actions in the Northumbrian army are unknown, but it is believed he took part in its battles against Mercia, Northumbria’s pagan enemy and bitter rival. Surviving even a single battle of the era was a feat in and of itself. The warfare was constant and fraught with bloodshed, frantic with swinging swords and frightening in its utter brutality. For the shepherd boy who preferred offering prayers up to God, it must have been a grim prospect to offer up pagan souls upon a sword’s edge instead. Perhaps even more disturbing to Cuthbert would have been the numerous reports of slaughtered monks, the people he so desperately wished to join. It is little wonder the Bede said of him that “he preferred the monastery to the world.”
Saint Cuthbert the monk
After the war, Cuthbert was finally able to join the monastic life he felt called to, and he journeyed several days to reach Melrose. It was winter, and one can imagine flakes of snow sticking to his cloak, snuggly wrapped about his shoulders. He was riding down a long stretch of road with no inhabitants; he and his horse were the only living things wandering the cold land that day. He had no more food with him, and there was no house where he could beg for shelter. Cuthbert looked to the distance and saw a dilapidated shepherd’s hut. As Cuthbert sheltered there for the night, one must wonder if he thought back to his own shepherding days, which must have seemed a lifetime ago, an impossible peace, after the experience of war. As Cuthbert settled in for some much-needed rest, he said his prayers, then took a handful of straw from the thatched roof to feed his horse, his own belly empty and grumbling. Legend states that out of the straw a cloth bundle fell to his feet containing freshly baked bread and meat. Cuthbert gave thanks to the Lord for His miraculous provision, then he is said to have split the loaf of bread with his horse, rather than feeding it stale straw. Bellies full and hearts warmed, Cuthbert and his horse braved the wintery weather once more and reached their destination: Melrose monastery. As Cuthbert rode up to the monastery, it is said a monk at the door cried, “Behold! A servant of the Lord!” He spoke truly, for Cuthbert went above and beyond the duties that were laid out before him – in prayer, study, and labour. You can almost hear Bede chuckle when he says of Cuthbert, “he fairly outdid them all!” For Cuthbert there was no contest though; he was not trying to outdo anyone, he was just being himself. He has been described as affable, pleasant, and incredibly meek when prompted into divulging his miraculous experiences.
Saint Cuthbert, the prior
In 662 Cuthbert was made prior at Melrose after a bout of plague had killed the previous prior. It must have been a bittersweet experience for Cuthbert; he would have been hurting with grief from the death of a friend, yet taking a flock under his wing and getting to call them his very own. During this time of hardship, Cuthbert, too, became sick. Just like surviving a battle, surviving plague could very well be counted a miracle, as 80 percent who contracted it would die within eight days. As soon as Cuthbert recovered, he went out into the countryside, helping other plague victims. The elevation in rank from monk to prior had increased not his pride but his servant’s spirit. Cuthbert continuously followed Christ’s command to go and preach to the world. For years he travelled from village to village, serving the people and preaching God’s Word; he even travelled into the destitute, mountain villages which could easily have been neglected. Not only did Cuthbert travel to such places, but he would live among the people for weeks, even a month at a time, demonstrating the love of Christ through his actions, just as much as he did through his words. That Cuthbert did not discriminate between rich or poor when giving aid or guidance further endeared him to those who knew him. While Cuthbert was at Melrose, however, there was strife in the larger church community. For as long as anyone could remember, Northumbria had followed the practices of the Celtic Church, but then the king married a woman of the Roman Church. The two churches appeared to be compatible, but ended up having some key differences. The Celtic Church favoured autonomy, had a different dating of Easter, and different liturgies; these things were seen as especially problematic by the Roman Church. A council was formed to sort the matter out, and ultimately the Roman Church won out. Cuthbert, previously a Celtic, must have agreed with the change, because he was asked to introduce the new practices at Lindisfarne. He was seen as a good fit for the task because of his strong leadership, lovingly showing the way by word and example. Cuthbert accepted the task, and became the prior at Lindisfarne monastery in 670. Interestingly, the soul Cuthbert had seen ascend into heaven was intertwined with this next step in his journey as well, because Aidan had been the first bishop of Lindisfarne, perhaps starting his tenure there around the very time Cuthbert was born. This fact could not have been lost on Cuthbert, and might have eased him in his decision to leave his beloved Melrose. Perhaps he felt it was a renewal of that dazzling sign he had received years previously when he was a mere shepherd boy. At Lindisfarne, Cuthbert was pitted against his most difficult challenge yet. He sought to teach the monks there the Roman customs, but was taunted in return. The ancient customs were not to given up that easily. However, Cuthbert was a patient man, and according to Bede, never lost his temper with his querulous monks. Through perseverance, he managed to convert them to the newly popular doctrines and practices. Like at Melrose, Cuthbert did not confine himself to the walls of Lindisfarne monastery, but went on evangelizing, continuing his sacred mission work. It was reported that Cuthbert also performed miracles like the Apostles of old, including healings, exorcisms, and averting disasters through prayer. He became known as the “Wonder Worker of Britain.” Cuthbert kept himself so busy he rarely slept, rest only coming in the form of irregular naps. Even this he loathed to do, and he encouraged his monks to wake him so he could then “do or think of something useful!”
Saint Cuthbert, the hermit
However, six years of nonstop work took their toll on Cuthbert (as they would on any man), and he began to desire a life of solitude and peaceful contemplation. Perhaps he found himself longing for those halcyon days where he prayed surrounded not by walls but by nature, with silent sheep rather than student-monks for company. He accomplished this dream by moving to Inner Farne, a remote and deserted island not too far from Lindisfarne. Although he planned on a life of solitude, the hospitable Cuthbert could not help but build both a home for himself, as well as a second, larger home for any guests that may venture out to his island. (And venture they did). The stones Cuthbert used for his structures were too large for any one man to lift, so it has been recorded as another miracle – he must have been helped by angels in the construction. Though some traversed the sea to commune with Cuthbert, and were never turned away by him, the waves kept many at bay. Thus, his main company, once again, was of the animal variety but also of miraculous nature. Bede records the repentance of a crow who stole straw from the thatched roof of Cuthbert’s guesthouse. Once Cuthbert had rebuked the black bird in the name of the Lord, the crow bowed its head, flew off, and returned with a piece of pig’s lard which Cuthbert and his guests could use to shine their shoes. One particularly sweet legend asserts that sea otters would come sit upon Cuthbert’s feet, keeping the man of God warm in freezing weather. Cuthbert not only received help from wildlife, but also offered protection to wildlife himself. He gathered a flock, not of sheep or of monks, but of eider ducks, giving them sanctuary on his little island and making him the first wildlife conservationist! It is a pleasant picture, to imagine Cuthbert surrounded by his animal friends during his prayers and praises to their Creator. Today the eider duck, with its yellow beak, black and white plumage, and expressive eyes is affectionately called “Cuddy’s duck” in recognition of its protector. (The population today is vast and far from the “endangered” spectrum!) Cuthbert must have felt at home and at peace on his island, engaged in prayer and in stewardship of God’s creation. However, after a decade of this retirement, he was called upon to be the bishop of Lindisfarne. Cuthbert was reluctant but after much persuasion agreed – though it is said he made the agreement whilst shedding tears. As he had done all of his life, Cuthbert undertook the new calling with fervour, preaching and travelling extensively. Though he was a bishop, he continued to live as a monk in dress and diet. Like his elevation from monk to prior, his elevation to bishop did nothing to damage his humble heart. He gave food to the hungry and poor, and cared for those who were oppressed, always preaching repentance and forgiveness. He remained bishop for only two years before being granted permission to return to his retirement, where he was likely the happiest he had ever been with nature and God. Sadly, within months of his return to Inner Farne, Cuthbert became ill and knew he was dying. A priest friend stayed with Cuthbert, and said he spent his last day “in the expectation of future happiness,” and later that evening went home to be with his Lord and Saviour.Saint Cuthbert's Body Discovered
Sainthood
After his death on 20 March 687, Cuthbert was buried at Lindisfarne monastery. His monks, who had before been so problematic, were now overjoyed to have his bones there, for it comforted them to think that, in a way, Cuthbert was still with them. His legacy of piety and miracles lived on, and he was eventually venerated as a saint. Today he is often considered to be the favourite saint of England. Inspired by Cuthbert, the famous Lindisfarne Gospels were copied. They are beautifully and intricately illuminated copies of the Four Gospels made by the bishop of Lindisfarne “for God and St. Cuthbert.” Cuthbert’s body, exhumed eleven years after his death, was discovered to be undecayed, encouraging many pilgrimages to be made to see the body, in the hope of receiving healing and forgiveness. During Viking raids, the body of Cuthbert was taken to Durham Cathedral for safekeeping, which is the place where his remains lie peacefully interred today, beneath a humble gravestone that would have been to Cuthbert’s liking. It reads only: Cuthbertus.
Lindisfarne, also called Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important centre of Celtic Christianity under Saints Aidan of Lindisfarne, Cuthbert, Eadfrith of Lindisfarne and Eadberht of Lindisfarne. After the Viking invasions and the Norman conquest of England, a priory was re-established. A small castle was built on the island in 1550.
The north-east of England was largely not settled by Roman civilians apart from the Tyne valley and Hadrian's Wall. The area had been little affected during the centuries of nominal Roman occupation. The countryside had been subject to raids from both Scots and Picts and was "not one to attract early Germanic settlement". The Anglian King Ida (reigned from 547) started the sea-borne settlement of the coast, establishing an urbis regia (meaning "royal settlement") at Bamburgh across the bay from Lindisfarne. The conquest was not straightforward, however. The Historia Brittonum recounts how, in the 6th century, Urien, prince of Rheged, with a coalition of North Brittonic kingdoms, besieged Angles led by Theodric of Bernicia on the island for three days and nights, until internal power struggles led to the Britons' defeat.
The monastery of Lindisfarne was founded around 634 by Irish monk Saint Aidan, who had been sent from Iona off the west coast of Scotland to Northumbria at the request of King Oswald. The priory was founded before the end of 634 and Aidan remained there until his death in 651. The priory remained the only seat of a bishopric in Northumbria for nearly thirty years. Finan (bishop 651–661) built a timber church "suitable for a bishop's seat". St Bede, however, was critical of the fact that the church was not built of stone but only of hewn oak thatched with reeds. A later bishop, Eadbert, removed the thatch and covered both walls and roof in lead. An abbot, who could be the bishop, was elected by the brethren and led the community. Bede comments on this:
And let no one be surprised that, though we have said above that in this island of Lindisfarne, small as it is, there is found the seat of a bishop, now we say also that it is the home of an abbot and monks; for it actually is so. For one and the same dwelling-place of the servants of God holds both; and indeed all are monks. Aidan, who was the first bishop of this place, was a monk and always lived according to monastic rule together with all his followers. Hence all the bishops of that place up to the present time exercise their episcopal functions in such a way that the abbot, who they themselves have chosen by the advice of the brethren, rules the monastery; and all the priests, deacons, singers and readers and other ecclesiastical grades, together with the bishop himself, keep the monastic rule in all things.
Lindisfarne became the base for Christian evangelism in the North of England, and also sent a successful mission to Mercia. Monks from the Irish community of Iona settled on the island. Northumbria's patron saint, Saint Cuthbert, was a monk and later abbot of the monastery, and his miracles and life are recorded by the Venerable Bede. Cuthbert later became Bishop of Lindisfarne. An anonymous life of Cuthbert written at Lindisfarne is the oldest extant piece of English historical writing. From its reference to "Aldfrith, who now reigns peacefully", it is considered to date to between 685 and 704. Cuthbert was buried here, his remains later translated to Durham Cathedral (along with the relics of Saint Eadfrith of Lindisfarne). Eadberht of Lindisfarne, the next bishop (and later saint), was buried in the place from which Cuthbert's body was exhumed earlier the same year.
Cuthbert's body was carried with the monks, eventually settling in Chester-le-Street before a final move to Durham. The saint's shrine was the major pilgrimage centre for much of the region until its despoliation by Henry VIII's commissioners in 1539 or 1540. The grave was preserved, however, and when opened in 1827 yielded a number of artefacts dating back to Lindisfarne. The innermost of three coffins was of incised wood, the only decorated wood to survive from the period. It shows Jesus surrounded by the Four Evangelists. Within the coffin was a pectoral cross measuring 6.4 centimetres (2.5 in) across, made of gold and mounted with garnets and intricate designs; a comb, made of elephant ivory, was also found, an item that would have been exceedingly rare and expensive in Northern England, as well as an embossed, silver-covered travelling altar, all of which were contemporary with the original burial on the island. The most impressive find within the coffins was a gospel (known as the St Cuthbert Gospel or Stonyhurst Gospel from its association with Stonyhurst College): the manuscript, a relatively early and likely original one, was bound with embossed leather. When the body was placed in the shrine in 1104, other items were removed: a paten, scissors and a chalice of gold and onyx.
Following Finian's death, Colman became Bishop of Lindisfarne. Up to this point the Northumbrian (and latterly Mercian) churches had looked to Lindisfarne as the mother church. There were significant liturgical and theological differences with the fledgling Roman party based at Canterbury. According to Stenton: "There is no trace of any intercourse between these bishops [the Mercians] and the see of Canterbury". The Synod of Whitby in 663 changed this, as allegiance switched southwards to Canterbury and then to Rome. Colman departed his see for Iona, and Lindisfarne no longer held its previous importance.
In 735, the northern ecclesiastical province of England was established, with the archbishopric at York. There were only three bishops under York: Hexham, Lindisfarne and Whithorn, whereas Canterbury had the 12 envisaged by St Augustine. The Diocese of York roughly encompassed the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire. Hexham covered County Durham and the southern part of Northumberland up to the River Coquet, and eastwards into the Pennines. Whithorn covered most of Dumfries and Galloway region west of Dumfries itself. The remainder, Cumbria, northern Northumbria, Lothian and much of the Kingdom of Strathclyde formed the diocese of Lindisfarne.
In 737, Saint Ceolwulf of Northumbria abdicated as King of Northumbria and entered the priory at Lindisfarne. He died in 764 and was buried alongside Cuthbert. In 830, his body was moved to Norham-upon-Tweed, and later his head was translated to Durham Cathedral.
Lindisfarne Gospels
Main article: Lindisfarne Gospels
At some point in the early 8th century the illuminated manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illustrated Latin copy of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, was made, probably at Lindisfarne. The artist was possibly Eadfrith, who later became Bishop of Lindisfarne. It is also speculated that a team of illuminators and calligraphers (monks of Lindisfarne Priory) worked on the text, but if so, their identities are unknown. Some time in the second half of the 10th century, a monk named Aldred added an Anglo-Saxon (Old English) gloss to the Latin text, producing the earliest surviving Old English copies of the Gospels. Aldred attributed the original to Eadfrith (bishop 698–721). The Gospels were written with a good hand, but it is the illustrations, done in an insular style containing a fusion of Celtic, Germanic and Roman elements, that are considered to be of the most value. According to Aldred, Eadfrith's successor Æthelwald was responsible for pressing and binding the book, before it was covered with a fine metal case made by a hermit known as Billfrith. The Lindisfarne Gospels now reside in the British Library in London, a location which has caused some controversy amongst some Northumbrians. In 1971, professor Suzanne Kaufman of Rockford, Illinois presented a facsimile copy of the Gospels to the clergy of the island.
In 793, a Viking raid on Lindisfarne caused much consternation throughout the Christian west, and is now often taken as the beginning of the Viking Age. There had been some other Viking raids, but according to English Heritage this one was particularly significant, because "it attacked the sacred heart of the Northumbrian kingdom, desecrating 'the very place where the Christian religion began in our nation'". The D and E versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle record:
Her wæron reðe forebecna cumene ofer Norðhymbra land, ⁊ þæt folc earmlic bregdon, þæt wæron ormete þodenas ⁊ ligrescas, ⁊ fyrenne dracan wæron gesewene on þam lifte fleogende. Þam tacnum sona fyligde mycel hunger, ⁊ litel æfter þam, þæs ilcan geares on .vi. Idus Ianuarii, earmlice hæþenra manna hergunc adilegode Godes cyrican in Lindisfarnaee þurh hreaflac ⁊ mansliht.
("In this year fierce, foreboding omens came over the land of the Northumbrians, and the wretched people shook; there were excessive whirlwinds, lightning, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the sky. These signs were followed by great famine, and a little after those, that same year on 6th ides of January, the ravaging of wretched heathen men destroyed God's church at Lindisfarne.")
The generally accepted date for the Viking raid on Lindisfarne is 8 June; Michael Swanton writes: "vi id Ianr, presumably [is] an error for vi id Iun (8 June) which is the date given by the Annals of Lindisfarne (p. 505), when better sailing weather would favour coastal raids."
Alcuin, a Northumbrian scholar in Charlemagne's court at the time, wrote: "Never before has such terror appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan race ... The heathens poured out the blood of saints around the altar, and trampled on the bodies of saints in the temple of God, like dung in the streets."
During the attack many of the monks were killed, or captured and enslaved. As the English population became more settled, they seemed to have turned their back on the sea. Many monasteries were established on islands, peninsulas, river mouths and cliffs, as isolated communities were less susceptible to interference and the politics of the heartland. These preliminary raids, despite their brutal nature, were not followed up. The main body of the raiders passed north around Scotland. The 9th century invasions came not from Norway, but from the Danes from around the entrance to the Baltic. The first Danish raids into England were in the Isle of Sheppey, Kent during 835 and from there their influence spread north. During this period religious art continued to flourish on Lindisfarne, and the Liber Vitae of Durham began in the priory. By 866, the Danes were in York, and in 873 the army was moving into Northumberland. With the collapse of the Northumbrian kingdom, the monks of Lindisfarne fled the island in 875 taking with them St Cuthbert's bones (which are now buried at the cathedral in Durham), who during his life had been prior and bishop of Lindisfarne; his body was buried on the island in the year 698.
Prior to the 9th century, Lindisfarne Priory had, in common with other such establishments, held large tracts of land which were managed directly or leased to farmers with a life interest only. Following the Danish occupation, land was increasingly owned by individuals, and could be bought, sold and inherited. Following the Battle of Corbridge in 914 Ragnald seized the land giving some to his followers Scula and Onlafbal.
William of St Calais, the first Norman Bishop of Durham, endowed his new Benedictine monastery at Durham with land and property in Northumberland, including Holy Island and much of the surrounding mainland. Durham Priory re-established a monastic house on the island in 1093, as a cell of Durham, administered from Norham. The standing remains date from this time (whereas the site of the original priory is now occupied by the parish church).
Monastic records from the 14th to the 16th century provide evidence of an already well-established fishing economy on the island. Both line fishing and net fishing were practised, inshore in shallow waters and in the deep water offshore, using a variety of vessels: contemporary accounts differentiate between small 'cobles' and larger 'boats', as well as singling out certain specialised vessels (such as a 'herynger', sold for £2 in 1404). As well as supplying food for the monastic community, the island's fisheries (together with those of nearby Farne) provided the mother house at Durham with fish, on a regular (sometimes weekly) basis. Fish caught included cod, haddock, herring, salmon, porpoise and mullet, among others. Shellfish of various types were also fished for, with lobster nets and oyster dredges being mentioned in the accounts. Fish surplus to the needs of the monastery was traded, but subject to a tithe. There is also evidence that the monks operated a lime kiln on the island.
In 1462, during the Wars of the Roses, Margaret of Anjou made an abortive attempt to seize the Northumbrian castles. Following a storm at sea 400 troops had to seek shelter on Holy Island, where they surrendered to the Yorkists.
The Benedictine monastery continued until its suppression in 1536 under Henry VIII, after which the buildings surrounding the church were used as a naval storehouse. In 1613 ownership of the island (and other land in the area formerly pertaining to Durham Priory) was transferred to the Crown.
An early scholarly description of the priory was compiled by Dr Henry George Charles Clarke (presumed son of Admiral Sir Erasmus Gower) in 1838 during his term as president of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club. Dr Clarke surmised that this Norman priory was unique in that the centre aisle had a vault of stone. Of the six arches, Dr Clarke stated "as if the architect had not previously calculated the space to be occupied by his arcade. The effect here has been to produce a horse-shoe instead of a semicircular arch, from its being of the same height, but lesser span, than the others. This arch is very rare, even in Norman buildings". The Lindisfarne Priory (ruin) is a grade I listed building, List Entry Number 1042304. Other parts of the priory are a Scheduled ancient monument, List Entry Number 1011650. The latter are described as "the site of the pre-Conquest monastery of Lindisfarne and the Benedictine cell of Durham Cathedral that succeeded it in the 11th century".
Recent work by archeologists was continuing in 2019, for the fourth year. Artifacts recovered included a rare board game piece, copper-alloy rings and Anglo-Saxon coins from both Northumbria and Wessex. The discovery of a cemetery led to finding commemorative markers "unique to the 8th and 9th centuries". The group also found evidence of an early medieval building, "which seems to have been constructed on top of an even earlier industrial oven" which was used to make copper or glass.
Northumberland is a ceremonial county in North East England, bordering Scotland. It is bordered by the Scottish Borders to the north, the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The town of Blyth is the largest settlement.
The county has an area of 5,013 km2 (1,936 sq mi) and a population of 320,274, making it the least-densely populated county in England. The south-east contains the largest towns: Blyth (37,339), Cramlington (27,683), Ashington (27,670), and Morpeth (14,304), which is the administrative centre. The remainder of the county is rural, and the largest towns are Berwick-upon-Tweed (12,043) in the far north and Hexham (13,097) in the west. For local government purposes the county is a unitary authority area. The county historically included the parts of Tyne and Wear north of the River Tyne.
The west of Northumberland contains part of the Cheviot Hills and North Pennines, while to the east the land becomes flatter before reaching the coast. The Cheviot (815 m (2,674 ft)), after which the range of hills is named, is the county's highest point. The county contains the source of the River North Tyne and much of the South Tyne; near Hexham they combine to form the Tyne, which exits into Tyne and Wear shortly downstream. The other major rivers in Northumberland are, from south to north, the Blyth, Coquet, Aln, Wansbeck and Tweed, the last of which forms part of the Scottish border. The county contains Northumberland National Park and two national landscapes: the Northumberland Coast and part of the North Pennines.
Much of the county's history has been defined by its position on a border. In the Roman era most of the county lay north of Hadrian's Wall, and the region was contested between England and Scotland into the Early Modern era, leading to the construction of many castles, peel towers and bastle houses, and the early modern fortifications at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Northumberland is also associated with Celtic Christianity, particularly the tidal island of Lindisfarne. During the Industrial Revolution the area had significant coal mining, shipbuilding, and armaments industries.
Northumberland, England's northernmost county, is a land where Roman occupiers once guarded a walled frontier, Anglian invaders fought with Celtic natives, and Norman lords built castles to suppress rebellion and defend a contested border with Scotland. The present-day county is a vestige of an independent kingdom that once stretched from Edinburgh to the Humber, hence its name, meaning literally 'north of the Humber'. Reflecting its tumultuous past, Northumberland has more castles than any other county in England, and the greatest number of recognised battle sites. Once an economically important region that supplied much of the coal that powered the industrial revolution, Northumberland is now a primarily rural county with a small and gradually shrinking population.
As attested by many instances of rock art, the Northumberland region has a rich prehistory. Archeologists have studied a Mesolithic structure at Howick, which dates to 7500 BC and was identified as Britain's oldest house until it lost this title in 2010 when the discovery of the even older Star Carr house in North Yorkshire was announced, which dates to 8770 BC. They have also found tools, ornaments, building structures and cairns dating to the bronze and iron ages, when the area was occupied by Brythonic Celtic peoples who had migrated from continental Europe, most likely the Votadini whose territory stretched from Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth to Northumberland. It is not clear where the boundary between the Votadini and the other large tribe, the Brigantes, was, although it probably frequently shifted as a result of wars and as smaller tribes and communities changed allegiances. Unlike neighbouring tribes, Votadini farms were surrounded by large walls, banks and ditches and the people made offerings of fine metal objects, but never wore massive armlets. There are also at least three very large hillforts in their territory (Yeavering Bell, Eildon Hill and Traprain Law, the latter two now in Scotland), each was located on the top of a prominent hill or mountain. The hillforts may have been used for over a thousand years by this time as places of refuge and as places for meetings for political and religious ceremonies. Duddo Five Stones in North Northumberland and the Goatstones near Hadrian's Wall are stone circles dating from the Bronze Age.
When Gnaeus Julius Agricola was appointed Roman governor of Britain in 78 AD, most of northern Britain was still controlled by native British tribes. During his governorship Agricola extended Roman control north of Eboracum (York) and into what is now Scotland. Roman settlements, garrisons and roads were established throughout the Northumberland region.
The northern frontier of the Roman occupation fluctuated between Pons Aelius (now Newcastle) and the Forth. Hadrian's Wall was completed by about 130 AD, to define and defend the northern boundary of Roman Britain. By 142, the Romans had completed the Antonine Wall, a more northerly defensive border lying between the Forth and Clyde. However, by 164 they abandoned the Antonine Wall to consolidate defences at Hadrian's Wall.
Two important Roman roads in the region were the Stanegate and Dere Street, the latter extending through the Cheviot Hills to locations well north of the Tweed. Located at the intersection of these two roads, Coria (Corbridge), a Roman supply-base, was the most northerly large town in the Roman Empire. The Roman forts of Vercovicium (Housesteads) on Hadrian's Wall, and Vindolanda (Chesterholm) built to guard the Stanegate, had extensive civil settlements surrounding them.
The Celtic peoples living in the region between the Tyne and the Forth were known to the Romans as the Votadini. When not under direct Roman rule, they functioned as a friendly client kingdom, a somewhat porous buffer against the more warlike Picts to the north.
The gradual Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century led to a poorly documented age of conflict and chaos as different peoples contested territories in northern Britain.
Nearly 2000-year-old Roman boxing gloves were uncovered at Vindolanda in 2017 by the Vidolanda Trust experts led by Dr Andrew Birley. According to the Guardian, being similar in style and function to the full-hand modern boxing gloves, these two gloves found at Vindolanda look like leather bands date back to 120 AD. It is suggested that based on their difference from gladiator gloves warriors using this type of gloves had no purpose to kill each other. These gloves were probably used in a sport for promoting fighting skills. The gloves are currently displayed at Vindolanda's museum.
Conquests by Anglian invaders led to the establishment of the kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia. The first Anglian settlement was effected in 547 by Ida, who, accompanied by his six sons, pushed through the narrow strip of territory between the Cheviots and the sea, and set up a fortress at Bamburgh, which became the royal seat of the Bernician kings. About the end of the 6th century Bernicia was first united with the rival kingdom of Deira under the rule of Æthelfrith of Northumbria, and the district between the Humber and the Forth became known as the kingdom of Northumbria.
After Æthelfrith was killed in battle around 616, Edwin of Deira became king of Northumbria. Æthelfrith's son Oswald fled northwest to the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata where he was converted to Christianity by the monks of Iona. Meanwhile, Paulinus, the first bishop of York, converted King Edwin to Roman Christianity and began an extensive program of conversion and baptism. By his time the kingdom must have reached the west coast, as Edwin is said to have conquered the islands of Anglesey and Man. Under Edwin the Northumbrian kingdom became the chief power in Britain. However, when Cadwallon ap Cadfan defeated Edwin at Hatfield Chase in 633, Northumbria was divided into the former kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira and Christianity suffered a temporary decline.
In 634, Oswald defeated Cadwallon ap Cadfan at the Battle of Heavenfield, resulting in the re-unification of Northumbria. Oswald re-established Christianity in the kingdom and assigned a bishopric at Hexham, where Wilfrid erected a famous early English church. Reunification was followed by a period of Northumbrian expansion into Pictish territory and growing dominance over the Celtic kingdoms of Dál Riata and Strathclyde to the west. Northumbrian encroachments were abruptly curtailed in 685, when Ecgfrith suffered complete defeat by a Pictish force at the Battle of Nechtansmere.
When Saint Aidan came at the request of Oswald to preach to the Northumbrians he chose the island of Lindisfarne as the site of his church and monastery, and made it the head of the diocese which he founded in 635. For some years the see continued in peace, numbering among its bishops Saint Cuthbert, but in 793 Vikings landed on the island and burnt the settlement, killing many of the monks. The survivors, however, rebuilt the church and continued to live there until 883, when, through fear of a second invasion of the Danes, they fled inland, taking with them the body of Cuthbert and other holy relics.
Against this background, the monasteries of Northumbria developed some remarkably influential cultural products. Cædmon, a monk at Whitby Abbey, authored one of the earliest surviving examples of Old English poetry some time before 680. The Lindisfarne Gospels, an early example of insular art, is attributed to Eadfrith, the bishop of Lindisfarne from 698 to 721. Stenton (1971, p. 191) describes the book as follows.
In mere script it is no more than an admirable example of a noble style, and the figure drawing of its illustrations, though probably based on classical models, has more than a touch of naïveté. Its unique importance is due to the beauty and astonishing intricacy of its decoration. The nature of its ornament connects it very closely with a group of Irish manuscripts of which the Book of Kells is the most famous.
Bede's writing, at the Northumbrian monasteries at Wearmouth and Jarrow, gained him a reputation as the most learned scholar of his age. His work is notable for both its breadth (encompassing history, theology, science and literature) and quality, exemplified by the rigorous use of citation. Bede's most famous work is Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which is regarded as a highly influential early model of historical scholarship.
The kingdom of Northumbria ceased to exist in 927, when it was incorporated into England as an earldom by Athelstan, the first king of a united England[citation needed].. In 937, Athelstan's victory over a combined Norse-Celtic force in the battle of Brunanburh secured England's control of its northern territory.
The Scottish king Indulf captured Edinburgh in 954, which thenceforth remained in possession of the Scots. His successors made repeated attempts to extend their territory southwards. Malcolm II was finally successful, when, in 1018, he annihilated the Northumbrian army at Carham on the Tweed, and Eadulf the earl of Northumbria ceded all his territory to the north of that river as the price of peace. Henceforth Lothian, consisting of the former region of Northumbria between the Forth and the Tweed, remained in possession of the Scottish kings.
The term Northumberland was first recorded in its contracted modern sense in 1065 in an entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relating to a rebellion against Tostig Godwinson.
The vigorous resistance of Northumbria to William the Conqueror was punished by ruthless harrying, mostly south of the River Tees. As recounted by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:
A.D. 1068. This year King William gave Earl Robert the earldom over Northumberland; but the landsmen attacked him in the town of Durham, and slew him, and nine hundred men with him. Soon afterwards Edgar Etheling came with all the Northumbrians to York; and the townsmen made a treaty with him: but King William came from the South unawares on them with a large army, and put them to flight, and slew on the spot those who could not escape; which were many hundred men; and plundered the town. St. Peter's minster he made a profanation, and all other places also he despoiled and trampled upon; and the ethelling went back again to Scotland.
The Normans rebuilt the Anglian monasteries of Lindisfarne, Hexham and Tynemouth, and founded Norman abbeys at Newminster (1139), Alnwick (1147), Brinkburn (1180), Hulne, and Blanchland. Castles were built at Newcastle (1080), Alnwick (1096), Bamburgh (1131), Harbottle (1157), Prudhoe (1172), Warkworth (1205), Chillingham, Ford (1287), Dunstanburgh (1313), Morpeth, Langley (1350), Wark on Tweed and Norham (1121), the latter an enclave of the palatine bishops of Durham.
Northumberland county is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey, but the account of the issues of the county, as rendered by Odard the sheriff, is entered in the Great Roll of the Exchequer for 1131.
In 1237, Scotland renounced claims to Northumberland county in the Treaty of York.
During the reign of Edward I (1272–1307), the county of Northumberland was the district between the Tees and the Tweed, and had within it several scattered liberties subject to other powers: Durham, Sadberge, Bedlingtonshire, and Norhamshire belonging to the bishop of Durham; Hexhamshire to the archbishop of York; Tynedale to the king of Scotland; Emildon to the earl of Lancaster; and Redesdale to Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus. These franchises were exempt from the ordinary jurisdiction of the shire. Over time, some were incorporated within the county: Tynedale in 1495; Hexhamshire in 1572; and Norhamshire, Islandshire and Bedlingtonshire by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844.
The county court for Northumberland was held at different times at Newcastle, Alnwick and Morpeth, until by statute of 1549 it was ordered that the court should thenceforth be held in the town and castle of Alnwick. Under the same statute the sheriffs of Northumberland, who had been in the habit of appropriating the issues of the county to their private use, were required thereafter to deliver in their accounts to the Exchequer in the same manner as the sheriffs of other counties.
From the Norman Conquest until the union of England and Scotland under James I and VI, Northumberland was the scene of perpetual inroads and devastations by the Scots. Norham, Alnwick and Wark were captured by David I of Scotland in the wars of Stephen's reign. In 1174, during his invasion of Northumbria, William I of Scotland, also known as William the Lion, was captured by a party of about four hundred mounted knights, led by Ranulf de Glanvill. This incident became known as the Battle of Alnwick. In 1295, Robert de Ros and the earls of Athol and Menteith ravaged Redesdale, Coquetdale and Tynedale. In 1314 the county was ravaged by king Robert Bruce. And so dire was the Scottish threat in 1382, that by special enactment the earl of Northumberland was ordered to remain on his estates to protect the border. In 1388, Henry Percy was taken prisoner and 1500 of his men slain at the battle of Otterburn, immortalised in the ballad of Chevy Chase.
Alnwick, Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh were garrisoned for the Lancastrian cause in 1462, but after the Yorkist victories of Hexham and Hedgley Moor in 1464, Alnwick and Dunstanburgh surrendered, and Bamburgh was taken by storm.
In September 1513, King James IV of Scotland was killed at the Battle of Flodden on Branxton Moor.
Roman Catholic support in Northumberland for Mary, Queen of Scots, led to the Rising of the North in 1569.
After uniting the English and Scottish thrones, James VI and I sharply curbed the lawlessness of the border reivers and brought relative peace to the region. There were Church of Scotland congregations in Northumberland in the 17th and 18th centuries.
During the Civil War of the 17th century, Newcastle was garrisoned for the king by the earl of Newcastle, but in 1644 it was captured by the Scots under the earl of Leven, and in 1646 Charles I was led there a captive under the charge of David Leslie.
Many of the chief Northumberland families were ruined in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.
The mineral resources of the area appear to have been exploited to some extent from remote times. It is certain that coal was used by the Romans in Northumberland, and some coal ornaments found at Angerton have been attributed to the 7th century. In a 13th-century grant to Newminster Abbey a road for the conveyance of sea coal from the shore about Blyth is mentioned, and the Blyth coal field was worked throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. The coal trade on the Tyne did not exist to any extent before the 13th century, but from that period it developed rapidly, and Newcastle acquired the monopoly of the river shipping and coal trade. Lead was exported from Newcastle in the 12th century, probably from Hexhamshire, the lead mines of which were very prosperous throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. In a charter from Richard I to Hugh de Puiset creating him earl of Northumberland, mines of silver and iron are mentioned. A salt pan is mentioned at Warkworth in the 12th century; in the 13th century the salt industry flourished at the mouth of the river Blyth, and in the 15th century formed the principal occupation of the inhabitants of North and South Shields. In the reign of Elizabeth I, glass factories were set up at Newcastle by foreign refugees, and the industry spread rapidly along the Tyne. Tanning, both of leather and of nets, was largely practised in the 13th century, and the salmon fisheries in the Tyne were famous in the reign of Henry I.
John Smeaton designed the Coldstream Bridge and a bridge at Hexham.
Stephenson's Rocket
Invention of the steam turbine by Charles Algernon Parsons
Northumberland is a ceremonial county in North East England, bordering Scotland. It is bordered by the Scottish Borders to the north, the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The town of Blyth is the largest settlement.
The county has an area of 5,013 km2 (1,936 sq mi) and a population of 320,274, making it the least-densely populated county in England. The south-east contains the largest towns: Blyth (37,339), Cramlington (27,683), Ashington (27,670), and Morpeth (14,304), which is the administrative centre. The remainder of the county is rural, and the largest towns are Berwick-upon-Tweed (12,043) in the far north and Hexham (13,097) in the west. For local government purposes the county is a unitary authority area. The county historically included the parts of Tyne and Wear north of the River Tyne.
The west of Northumberland contains part of the Cheviot Hills and North Pennines, while to the east the land becomes flatter before reaching the coast. The Cheviot (815 m (2,674 ft)), after which the range of hills is named, is the county's highest point. The county contains the source of the River North Tyne and much of the South Tyne; near Hexham they combine to form the Tyne, which exits into Tyne and Wear shortly downstream. The other major rivers in Northumberland are, from south to north, the Blyth, Coquet, Aln, Wansbeck and Tweed, the last of which forms part of the Scottish border. The county contains Northumberland National Park and two national landscapes: the Northumberland Coast and part of the North Pennines.
Much of the county's history has been defined by its position on a border. In the Roman era most of the county lay north of Hadrian's Wall, and the region was contested between England and Scotland into the Early Modern era, leading to the construction of many castles, peel towers and bastle houses, and the early modern fortifications at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Northumberland is also associated with Celtic Christianity, particularly the tidal island of Lindisfarne. During the Industrial Revolution the area had significant coal mining, shipbuilding, and armaments industries.
Northumberland, England's northernmost county, is a land where Roman occupiers once guarded a walled frontier, Anglian invaders fought with Celtic natives, and Norman lords built castles to suppress rebellion and defend a contested border with Scotland. The present-day county is a vestige of an independent kingdom that once stretched from Edinburgh to the Humber, hence its name, meaning literally 'north of the Humber'. Reflecting its tumultuous past, Northumberland has more castles than any other county in England, and the greatest number of recognised battle sites. Once an economically important region that supplied much of the coal that powered the industrial revolution, Northumberland is now a primarily rural county with a small and gradually shrinking population.
As attested by many instances of rock art, the Northumberland region has a rich prehistory. Archeologists have studied a Mesolithic structure at Howick, which dates to 7500 BC and was identified as Britain's oldest house until it lost this title in 2010 when the discovery of the even older Star Carr house in North Yorkshire was announced, which dates to 8770 BC. They have also found tools, ornaments, building structures and cairns dating to the bronze and iron ages, when the area was occupied by Brythonic Celtic peoples who had migrated from continental Europe, most likely the Votadini whose territory stretched from Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth to Northumberland. It is not clear where the boundary between the Votadini and the other large tribe, the Brigantes, was, although it probably frequently shifted as a result of wars and as smaller tribes and communities changed allegiances. Unlike neighbouring tribes, Votadini farms were surrounded by large walls, banks and ditches and the people made offerings of fine metal objects, but never wore massive armlets. There are also at least three very large hillforts in their territory (Yeavering Bell, Eildon Hill and Traprain Law, the latter two now in Scotland), each was located on the top of a prominent hill or mountain. The hillforts may have been used for over a thousand years by this time as places of refuge and as places for meetings for political and religious ceremonies. Duddo Five Stones in North Northumberland and the Goatstones near Hadrian's Wall are stone circles dating from the Bronze Age.
When Gnaeus Julius Agricola was appointed Roman governor of Britain in 78 AD, most of northern Britain was still controlled by native British tribes. During his governorship Agricola extended Roman control north of Eboracum (York) and into what is now Scotland. Roman settlements, garrisons and roads were established throughout the Northumberland region.
The northern frontier of the Roman occupation fluctuated between Pons Aelius (now Newcastle) and the Forth. Hadrian's Wall was completed by about 130 AD, to define and defend the northern boundary of Roman Britain. By 142, the Romans had completed the Antonine Wall, a more northerly defensive border lying between the Forth and Clyde. However, by 164 they abandoned the Antonine Wall to consolidate defences at Hadrian's Wall.
Two important Roman roads in the region were the Stanegate and Dere Street, the latter extending through the Cheviot Hills to locations well north of the Tweed. Located at the intersection of these two roads, Coria (Corbridge), a Roman supply-base, was the most northerly large town in the Roman Empire. The Roman forts of Vercovicium (Housesteads) on Hadrian's Wall, and Vindolanda (Chesterholm) built to guard the Stanegate, had extensive civil settlements surrounding them.
The Celtic peoples living in the region between the Tyne and the Forth were known to the Romans as the Votadini. When not under direct Roman rule, they functioned as a friendly client kingdom, a somewhat porous buffer against the more warlike Picts to the north.
The gradual Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century led to a poorly documented age of conflict and chaos as different peoples contested territories in northern Britain.
Nearly 2000-year-old Roman boxing gloves were uncovered at Vindolanda in 2017 by the Vidolanda Trust experts led by Dr Andrew Birley. According to the Guardian, being similar in style and function to the full-hand modern boxing gloves, these two gloves found at Vindolanda look like leather bands date back to 120 AD. It is suggested that based on their difference from gladiator gloves warriors using this type of gloves had no purpose to kill each other. These gloves were probably used in a sport for promoting fighting skills. The gloves are currently displayed at Vindolanda's museum.
Conquests by Anglian invaders led to the establishment of the kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia. The first Anglian settlement was effected in 547 by Ida, who, accompanied by his six sons, pushed through the narrow strip of territory between the Cheviots and the sea, and set up a fortress at Bamburgh, which became the royal seat of the Bernician kings. About the end of the 6th century Bernicia was first united with the rival kingdom of Deira under the rule of Æthelfrith of Northumbria, and the district between the Humber and the Forth became known as the kingdom of Northumbria.
After Æthelfrith was killed in battle around 616, Edwin of Deira became king of Northumbria. Æthelfrith's son Oswald fled northwest to the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata where he was converted to Christianity by the monks of Iona. Meanwhile, Paulinus, the first bishop of York, converted King Edwin to Roman Christianity and began an extensive program of conversion and baptism. By his time the kingdom must have reached the west coast, as Edwin is said to have conquered the islands of Anglesey and Man. Under Edwin the Northumbrian kingdom became the chief power in Britain. However, when Cadwallon ap Cadfan defeated Edwin at Hatfield Chase in 633, Northumbria was divided into the former kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira and Christianity suffered a temporary decline.
In 634, Oswald defeated Cadwallon ap Cadfan at the Battle of Heavenfield, resulting in the re-unification of Northumbria. Oswald re-established Christianity in the kingdom and assigned a bishopric at Hexham, where Wilfrid erected a famous early English church. Reunification was followed by a period of Northumbrian expansion into Pictish territory and growing dominance over the Celtic kingdoms of Dál Riata and Strathclyde to the west. Northumbrian encroachments were abruptly curtailed in 685, when Ecgfrith suffered complete defeat by a Pictish force at the Battle of Nechtansmere.
When Saint Aidan came at the request of Oswald to preach to the Northumbrians he chose the island of Lindisfarne as the site of his church and monastery, and made it the head of the diocese which he founded in 635. For some years the see continued in peace, numbering among its bishops Saint Cuthbert, but in 793 Vikings landed on the island and burnt the settlement, killing many of the monks. The survivors, however, rebuilt the church and continued to live there until 883, when, through fear of a second invasion of the Danes, they fled inland, taking with them the body of Cuthbert and other holy relics.
Against this background, the monasteries of Northumbria developed some remarkably influential cultural products. Cædmon, a monk at Whitby Abbey, authored one of the earliest surviving examples of Old English poetry some time before 680. The Lindisfarne Gospels, an early example of insular art, is attributed to Eadfrith, the bishop of Lindisfarne from 698 to 721. Stenton (1971, p. 191) describes the book as follows.
In mere script it is no more than an admirable example of a noble style, and the figure drawing of its illustrations, though probably based on classical models, has more than a touch of naïveté. Its unique importance is due to the beauty and astonishing intricacy of its decoration. The nature of its ornament connects it very closely with a group of Irish manuscripts of which the Book of Kells is the most famous.
Bede's writing, at the Northumbrian monasteries at Wearmouth and Jarrow, gained him a reputation as the most learned scholar of his age. His work is notable for both its breadth (encompassing history, theology, science and literature) and quality, exemplified by the rigorous use of citation. Bede's most famous work is Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which is regarded as a highly influential early model of historical scholarship.
The kingdom of Northumbria ceased to exist in 927, when it was incorporated into England as an earldom by Athelstan, the first king of a united England[citation needed].. In 937, Athelstan's victory over a combined Norse-Celtic force in the battle of Brunanburh secured England's control of its northern territory.
The Scottish king Indulf captured Edinburgh in 954, which thenceforth remained in possession of the Scots. His successors made repeated attempts to extend their territory southwards. Malcolm II was finally successful, when, in 1018, he annihilated the Northumbrian army at Carham on the Tweed, and Eadulf the earl of Northumbria ceded all his territory to the north of that river as the price of peace. Henceforth Lothian, consisting of the former region of Northumbria between the Forth and the Tweed, remained in possession of the Scottish kings.
The term Northumberland was first recorded in its contracted modern sense in 1065 in an entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relating to a rebellion against Tostig Godwinson.
The vigorous resistance of Northumbria to William the Conqueror was punished by ruthless harrying, mostly south of the River Tees. As recounted by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:
A.D. 1068. This year King William gave Earl Robert the earldom over Northumberland; but the landsmen attacked him in the town of Durham, and slew him, and nine hundred men with him. Soon afterwards Edgar Etheling came with all the Northumbrians to York; and the townsmen made a treaty with him: but King William came from the South unawares on them with a large army, and put them to flight, and slew on the spot those who could not escape; which were many hundred men; and plundered the town. St. Peter's minster he made a profanation, and all other places also he despoiled and trampled upon; and the ethelling went back again to Scotland.
The Normans rebuilt the Anglian monasteries of Lindisfarne, Hexham and Tynemouth, and founded Norman abbeys at Newminster (1139), Alnwick (1147), Brinkburn (1180), Hulne, and Blanchland. Castles were built at Newcastle (1080), Alnwick (1096), Bamburgh (1131), Harbottle (1157), Prudhoe (1172), Warkworth (1205), Chillingham, Ford (1287), Dunstanburgh (1313), Morpeth, Langley (1350), Wark on Tweed and Norham (1121), the latter an enclave of the palatine bishops of Durham.
Northumberland county is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey, but the account of the issues of the county, as rendered by Odard the sheriff, is entered in the Great Roll of the Exchequer for 1131.
In 1237, Scotland renounced claims to Northumberland county in the Treaty of York.
During the reign of Edward I (1272–1307), the county of Northumberland was the district between the Tees and the Tweed, and had within it several scattered liberties subject to other powers: Durham, Sadberge, Bedlingtonshire, and Norhamshire belonging to the bishop of Durham; Hexhamshire to the archbishop of York; Tynedale to the king of Scotland; Emildon to the earl of Lancaster; and Redesdale to Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus. These franchises were exempt from the ordinary jurisdiction of the shire. Over time, some were incorporated within the county: Tynedale in 1495; Hexhamshire in 1572; and Norhamshire, Islandshire and Bedlingtonshire by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844.
The county court for Northumberland was held at different times at Newcastle, Alnwick and Morpeth, until by statute of 1549 it was ordered that the court should thenceforth be held in the town and castle of Alnwick. Under the same statute the sheriffs of Northumberland, who had been in the habit of appropriating the issues of the county to their private use, were required thereafter to deliver in their accounts to the Exchequer in the same manner as the sheriffs of other counties.
From the Norman Conquest until the union of England and Scotland under James I and VI, Northumberland was the scene of perpetual inroads and devastations by the Scots. Norham, Alnwick and Wark were captured by David I of Scotland in the wars of Stephen's reign. In 1174, during his invasion of Northumbria, William I of Scotland, also known as William the Lion, was captured by a party of about four hundred mounted knights, led by Ranulf de Glanvill. This incident became known as the Battle of Alnwick. In 1295, Robert de Ros and the earls of Athol and Menteith ravaged Redesdale, Coquetdale and Tynedale. In 1314 the county was ravaged by king Robert Bruce. And so dire was the Scottish threat in 1382, that by special enactment the earl of Northumberland was ordered to remain on his estates to protect the border. In 1388, Henry Percy was taken prisoner and 1500 of his men slain at the battle of Otterburn, immortalised in the ballad of Chevy Chase.
Alnwick, Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh were garrisoned for the Lancastrian cause in 1462, but after the Yorkist victories of Hexham and Hedgley Moor in 1464, Alnwick and Dunstanburgh surrendered, and Bamburgh was taken by storm.
In September 1513, King James IV of Scotland was killed at the Battle of Flodden on Branxton Moor.
Roman Catholic support in Northumberland for Mary, Queen of Scots, led to the Rising of the North in 1569.
After uniting the English and Scottish thrones, James VI and I sharply curbed the lawlessness of the border reivers and brought relative peace to the region. There were Church of Scotland congregations in Northumberland in the 17th and 18th centuries.
During the Civil War of the 17th century, Newcastle was garrisoned for the king by the earl of Newcastle, but in 1644 it was captured by the Scots under the earl of Leven, and in 1646 Charles I was led there a captive under the charge of David Leslie.
Many of the chief Northumberland families were ruined in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.
The mineral resources of the area appear to have been exploited to some extent from remote times. It is certain that coal was used by the Romans in Northumberland, and some coal ornaments found at Angerton have been attributed to the 7th century. In a 13th-century grant to Newminster Abbey a road for the conveyance of sea coal from the shore about Blyth is mentioned, and the Blyth coal field was worked throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. The coal trade on the Tyne did not exist to any extent before the 13th century, but from that period it developed rapidly, and Newcastle acquired the monopoly of the river shipping and coal trade. Lead was exported from Newcastle in the 12th century, probably from Hexhamshire, the lead mines of which were very prosperous throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. In a charter from Richard I to Hugh de Puiset creating him earl of Northumberland, mines of silver and iron are mentioned. A salt pan is mentioned at Warkworth in the 12th century; in the 13th century the salt industry flourished at the mouth of the river Blyth, and in the 15th century formed the principal occupation of the inhabitants of North and South Shields. In the reign of Elizabeth I, glass factories were set up at Newcastle by foreign refugees, and the industry
This month’s LUGNuts challenge is calledSpace Is The Place...all about vehicles with space names. Nothing sounds spacier than the 1974 Mercury Comet and this vehicle holds a special place in my heart as it was my first car...except mine didn’t look nearly this cool. If I had the money and the know-how I would have turned my white rusted heap into something like this. Because who needs practicality, trunk space, and seating for five, when you can have...drag racing!
BOX DATE: 2003
MANUFACTURER: M.G.A.
DOLLS IN LINE: Cloe; Yasmin; Sasha; Jade; Dana; Cameron; Dylan; Eitan; Koby; Nevra
BODY TYPE: 2001; painted shimmer panties; bend & snap legs
HEAD MOLD: 2001; parted lips; pierced ears
PERSONAL FUN FACT: It's quite funny that MGA labeled these Formal Funk dolls as "limited edition" when they are anything but. I found THREE Dana dolls in 2011 alone, and I also acquired Sasha, Yasmin, Koby, and Cameron subsequently (not complete of course). You are probably wondering where the third Dana is. Sadly, she's no longer "alive." She was the first Formal Funk Dana in my collection. Despite the fact that she is no longer here, I figured she deserved a mention. I got her from "50 Cent Guy" at a large outdoor flea market that spring/summer in 2011. That's where some of my other Formal Funk dolls originated from. Since I acquired the two other Dana dolls, shown here, within a few months, I grappled with that feeling of "not needing" my first. I put so much needless pressure on myself during my early days of collecting dolls as an adult. I thought that having duplicates was "bad" unless you could find a reason to "justify" it. My other two Dana dolls came with their outfits and could model both looks on display (that's how they checked off the "need" boxes). Dana #1 did not have that same "practicality." I'm using a lot of quotations here because I'm trying to demonstrate how ridiculous this line of thinking is. If you genuinely like having duplicates, don't stress about keeping them! If you enjoy having a more curated/pruned collection, than go for it. Anyways, I customized Dana #1, it ended disastrously, so now all I have is her body in her memory. It does make me sad when I think back on her, but at least I know my other two Forma Funk Dana dolls have been given a great life. Now on to them...
The Dana on the left was from "Craigslist #1." As the name suggests, this large lot originated from Craigslist. It was the first of three Bratz groups we got in 2011/2012. There were around 73 dolls accompanied by oodles of extra clothes and shoes. Some dolls were shockingly complete, and NONE had haircuts or evil tampering. Obviously the child who owned this Dana before me was a serious Bratz collector at one point. In fact, the only reason the Bratz were getting the boot was because she had turned to Monster High collecting. In order to fund the Monster High collection, she sold the Bratz. Luckily for this lot, I decided to collect BOTH--nobody got kicked out! Anyways, this Dana was my second nearly complete used Formal Funk doll (my Yasmin was just as complete--I found her at an indoor flea market a few weeks earlier). I had always wanted Formal Funk dolls to go with my childhood runway and Dylan doll. Dana was a dream come true. Plus, I loved that I got Dana, rather than another one of the core four!
My doll in the green dress came from "Craigslist 2" which I got a few months after. I call her "Piña Dana" because her hairstyle looks a bit like a pineapple to me. The dolls from "Craigslist #2" had quite the different backstory. They weren't collected to any capacity. Rather, most were purchased secondhand by the previous owner. They were being sold by the girl's grandparents. The grandmother fondly told me of all the memories she had with the Bratz and playing with her granddaughter. All but the Bratz the Movie dolls were clearly loved and played with (those three were still boxed and were unwanted Christmas gifts). She was very glad that the Bratz that were so treasured by her granddaughter once upon a time were going to a home where they'd be cherished. Plus, the grandparents somehow knew my dad through a string of people...Dad ALWAYS had connections! Piña Dana is kind of our resident party girl. It all started as a joke, when we set up photo for Flickr back in 2012 (on my old, now deleted account). I believe it was supposed to be a red carpet scene or something for a tag. For whatever reason, I placed Dana's hands upright into the air. Paired with her pineapple hairdo, she looked drunk. Ever since, Colleen and I have always placed Dana on display with her hands reaching towards the sky, to pay homage to that joke!
Shawano is a city in Shawano County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 9,243 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Shawano County.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.67 square miles (17.28 km2), of which, 6.57 square miles (17.02 km2) is land and 0.10 square miles (0.26 km2) is water.
Shawano County originally Shawanaw County) is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,881.[1] Its county seat is Shawano.
Shawano County is included in the Shawano, WI Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Green Bay–Shawano, WI Combined Statistical Area.
Its name is from a modified Ojibwa term meaning "southern"; it was the southern boundary of the Ojibwa nation. A Menominee chief named Sawanoh led a band that lived in the area. Many citizens of Shawano believe the lake, county, and city (Town of Shawanaw founded 1853 and changed to Shawano in 1856), were named after Chief Sawanoh. A historical marker placed in 1958 near the lake along Highway 22 states the lake was named as the southern boundary of Chippewa (Ojibwe) territory.
Various historical recordings of the spelling of Shawano include Sawanoh, Shawanaw, Sharuno, Shabin, Savannah, and Savanah. This shows the influence of French, German, and English translation (v's, w's, and b's sounding very similar and thus being recorded incorrectly at times). Similar differences in spelling have been seen in the Mahican/Mahikan/Maikens tribe or Mohecan/Morhican/Mohican tribe, all referring to the same Algonquian-speaking people.
The federally recognized Stockbridge-Munsee Community (made up of Algonquian-speaking Mahican and Lenape), whose ancestors traditionally lived in the East along the Hudson River Valley, is located in Shawano County. Their reservation encompasses the towns of Bartelme and Red Springs.
It was created as a separate county in 1853 under the name Shawanaw County. The county, unlike the city, retained the old spelling until 1864.
From the mid-nineteenth century on, the county was settled by European Americans, including many German, and later, Polish immigrants. They developed the county for agriculture. Before that, French-Canadian and British fur traders traveled widely through the area, trading with the Chippewa and other Native American peoples of the region.
The first non-Indian credited with exploring the region where Shawano is now located is Samuel Farnsworth. He paddled up the Wolf River in 1843 with a few men to scout the area for logging the vast forests. A small Menominee village was located along the Shawano lake Channel when their party arrived, and the Indians were friendly and cooperative. Charles Wescott and the Farnsworth group then set up a sawmill where the Channel meets the Wolf River.
Captain William Powell, an officer of the Black Hawk War, established a trading post on the Wolf River about two miles from the village in 1844. He had been an interpreter for the government when the treaties were signed allowing white people to settle this area of Wisconsin.
E. F. Sawyer platted a village near Powell's trading post in 1854 but public favor clung to the region adjacent to the old mill property and it was decided by popular vote to locate the county seat at Shawanaw, which was the name of the newly formed county.
The county, which was organized in 1853, was formed from areas of Oconto and Outagamie Counties. Forty-seven votes were cast and Elias Murray, Charles D Wescott and Elisha Alexander were elected supervisors. At that time there were 254 registered inhabitants, but only the men were allowed to vote.
When the county was first organized the name was spelled Shawanaw, taken from the Indian Sha-wa-Nah-Pay-Sa which meant “lake to the south” in Menominee and Chippewa. The spelling was changed in 1864 to its present Shawano, with three townships: Richmond, Waukechon and Shawano. Later others were added, making 25 townships.
In 1860 the first school house was erected in the county and Orlin Andrews was employed as its teacher. In 1898 there were 108 public schools in the county with 124 teachers.
A courthouse was erected on Main Street in 1857 and was replaced in 1879–80 at a cost of $17,000.00. The County Board authorized a new courthouse and jail in June 1953.
The earliest settlers who came to Shawano County consisted mostly of people from the New England States, Canada, and a few from British Columbia. A large influx of Bohemians settled in the Leopolis area and near Powell's Trading Post in the area about two miles from the city on Highway K. Norwegians settled in the area around Wittenberg, Lessor, Lunds and Navarino. Germans have been very predominate in the entire county, with 4,524 of the 27,475 inhabitants in 1900 born in Germany.
Wisconsin is a state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by land area and the 20th-most populous.
The bulk of Wisconsin's population live in areas situated along the shores of Lake Michigan. The largest city, Milwaukee, anchors its largest metropolitan area, followed by Green Bay and Kenosha, the third- and fourth-most-populated Wisconsin cities, respectively. The state capital, Madison, is currently the second-most-populated and fastest-growing city in the state. Wisconsin is divided into 72 counties and as of the 2020 census had a population of nearly 5.9 million.
Wisconsin's geography is diverse, having been greatly impacted by glaciers during the Ice Age with the exception of the Driftless Area. The Northern Highland and Western Upland along with a part of the Central Plain occupy the western part of the state, with lowlands stretching to the shore of Lake Michigan. Wisconsin is third to Ontario and Michigan in the length of its Great Lakes coastline. The northern portion of the state is home to the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. At the time of European contact, the area was inhabited by Algonquian and Siouan nations, and today it is home to eleven federally recognized tribes. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many European settlers entered the state, most of whom emigrated from Germany and Scandinavia. Wisconsin remains a center of German American and Scandinavian American culture, particularly in respect to its cuisine, with foods such as bratwurst and kringle. Wisconsin is home to one UNESCO World Heritage Site, comprising two of the most significant buildings designed by Wisconsin-born architect Frank Lloyd Wright: his studio at Taliesin near Spring Green and his Jacobs I House in Madison.
The Republican Party was founded in Wisconsin in 1854. In more recent years, Wisconsin has been a battleground state in presidential elections, notably in 2016 and 2020.
Wisconsin is one of the nation's leading dairy producers and is known as "America's Dairyland"; it is particularly famous for its cheese. The state is also famous for its beer, particularly and historically in Milwaukee, most notably as the headquarters of the Miller Brewing Company. Wisconsin has some of the most permissive alcohol laws in the country and is well known for its drinking culture. Its economy is dominated by manufacturing, healthcare, information technology, and agriculture—specifically dairy, cranberries, and ginseng. Tourism is also a major contributor to the state's economy. The gross domestic product in 2020 was $348 billion.
The history of Wisconsin encompasses the story not only of the people who have lived in Wisconsin since it became a state of the U.S., but also that of the Native American tribes who made their homeland in Wisconsin, the French and British colonists who were the first Europeans to live there, and the American settlers who lived in Wisconsin when it was a territory.
Since its admission to the Union on May 29, 1848, as the 30th state, Wisconsin has been ethnically heterogeneous, with Yankees being among the first to arrive from New York and New England. They dominated the state's heavy industry, finance, politics and education. Large numbers of European immigrants followed them, including German Americans, mostly between 1850 and 1900, Scandinavians (the largest group being Norwegian Americans) and smaller groups of Belgian Americans, Dutch Americans, Swiss Americans, Finnish Americans, Irish Americans and others; in the 20th century, large numbers of Polish Americans and African Americans came, settling mainly in Milwaukee.
Politically the state was predominantly Republican until recent years, when it became more evenly balanced. The state took a national leadership role in the Progressive Movement, under the aegis of Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette and his family, who fought the old guard bitterly at the state and national levels. The "Wisconsin Idea" called for the use of the higher learning in modernizing government, and the state is notable for its strong network of state universities.
The first known inhabitants of what is now Wisconsin were Paleo-Indians, who first arrived in the region in about 10,000 BC at the end of the Ice Age. The retreating glaciers left behind a tundra in Wisconsin inhabited by large animals, such as mammoths, mastodons, bison, giant beaver, and muskox. The Boaz mastodon and the Clovis artifacts discovered in Boaz, Wisconsin show that the Paleo-Indians hunted these large animals. They also gathered plants as conifer forests grew in the glaciers' wake. With the decline and extinction of many large mammals in the Americas, the Paleo-Indian diet shifted toward smaller mammals like deer and bison.
During the Archaic Period, from 6000 to 1000 BC, mixed conifer-hardwood forests as well as mixed prairie-forests replaced Wisconsin's conifer forests. People continued to depend on hunting and gathering. Around 4000 BC they developed spear-throwers and copper tools such as axes, adzes, projectile points, knives, perforators, fishhooks and harpoons. Copper ornaments like beaded necklaces also appeared around 1500 BC. These people gathered copper ore at quarries on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan and on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. They may have crafted copper artifacts by hammering and folding the metal and also by heating it to increase its malleability. However it is not certain if these people reached the level of copper smelting. Regardless, the Copper Culture of the Great Lakes region reached a level of sophistication unprecedented in North America. The Late Archaic Period also saw the emergence of cemeteries and ritual burials, such as the one in Oconto.
The Early Woodland Period began in 1000 BC as plants became an increasingly important part of the people's diet. Small scale agriculture and pottery arrived in southern Wisconsin at this time. The primary crops were maize, beans and squash. Agriculture, however, could not sufficiently support these people, who also had to hunt and gather. Agriculture at this time was more akin to gardening than to farming. Villages emerged along rivers, streams and lakes, and the earliest earthen burial mounds were constructed. The Havana Hopewell culture arrived in Wisconsin in the Middle Woodland Period, settling along the Mississippi River. The Hopewell people connected Wisconsin to their trade practices, which stretched from Ohio to Yellowstone and from Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico. They constructed elaborate mounds, made elaborately decorated pottery and brought a wide range of traded minerals to the area. The Hopewell people may have influenced the other inhabitants of Wisconsin, rather than displacing them. The Late Woodland Period began in about 400 AD, following the disappearance of the Hopewell culture from the area. The people of Wisconsin first used the bow and arrow in the final centuries of the Woodland Period, and agriculture continued to be practiced in the southern part of the state. The effigy mound culture dominated Southern Wisconsin during this time, building earthen burial mounds in the shapes of animals. Examples of effigy mounds still exist at High Cliff State Park and at Lizard Mound County Park. In northern Wisconsin people continued to survive on hunting and gathering, and constructed conical mounds.
People of the Mississippian culture expanded into Wisconsin around 1050 AD and established a settlement at Aztalan along the Crawfish River. While begun by the Caddoan people, other cultures began to borrow & adapt the Mississippian cultural structure. This elaborately planned site may have been the northernmost outpost of Cahokia, although it is also now known that some Siouan peoples along the Mississippi River may have taken part in the culture as well. Regardless, the Mississippian site traded with and was clearly influenced in its civic and defensive planning, as well as culturally, by its much larger southern neighbor. A rectangular wood-and-clay stockade surrounded the twenty acre site, which contained two large earthen mounds and a central plaza. One mound may have been used for food storage, as a residence for high-ranking officials, or as a temple, and the other may have been used as a mortuary. The Mississippian culture cultivated maize intensively, and their fields probably stretched far beyond the stockade at Aztalan, although modern agriculture has erased any traces of Mississippian practices in the area. Some rumors also speculate that the people of Aztalan may have experimented slightly with stone architecture in the making of a man-made, stone-line pond, at the very least. While the first settler on the land of what is now the city supposedly reported this, he filled it in and it has yet to be rediscovered.
Both Woodland and Mississippian peoples inhabited Aztalan, which was connected to the extensive Mississippian trade network. Shells from the Gulf of Mexico, copper from Lake Superior and Mill Creek chert have been found at the site. Aztalan was abandoned around 1200 AD. The Oneota people later built agriculturally based villages, similar to those of the Mississippians but without the extensive trade networks, in the state.
By the time the first Europeans arrived in Wisconsin, the Oneota had disappeared. The historically documented inhabitants, as of the first European incursions, were the Siouan speaking Dakota Oyate to the northwest, the Chiwere speaking Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) and the Algonquian Menominee to the northeast, with their lands beginning approximately north of Green Bay. The Chiwere lands were south of Green Bay and followed rivers to the southwest. Over time, other tribes moved to Wisconsin, including the Ojibwe, the Illinois, the Fauk, the Sauk and the Mahican. The Mahican were one of the last groups to arrived, coming from New York after the U.S. congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
The first European known to have landed in Wisconsin was Jean Nicolet. In 1634, Samuel de Champlain, governor of New France, sent Nicolet to contact the Ho-Chunk people, make peace between them and the Huron and expand the fur trade, and possibly to also find a water route to Asia. Accompanied by seven Huron guides, Nicolet left New France and canoed through Lake Huron and Lake Superior, and then became the first European known to have entered Lake Michigan. Nicolet proceeded into Green Bay, which he named La Baie des Puants (literally "The Stinking Bay"), and probably came ashore near the Red Banks. He made contact with the Ho-Chunk and Menominee living in the area and established peaceful relations. Nicolet remained with the Ho-Chunk the winter before he returned to Quebec.
The Beaver Wars fought between the Iroquois and the French prevented French explorers from returning to Wisconsin until 1652–1654, when Pierre Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers arrived at La Baie des Puants to trade furs. They returned to Wisconsin in 1659–1660, this time at Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior. On their second voyage they found that the Ojibwe had expanded into northern Wisconsin, as they continued to prosper in the fur trade. They also were the first Europeans to contact the Santee Dakota. They built a trading post and wintered near Ashland, before returning to Montreal.
In 1665 Claude-Jean Allouez, a Jesuit missionary, built a mission on Lake Superior. Five years later he abandoned the mission, and journeyed to La Baie des Puants. Two years later he built St. Francis Xavier Mission near present-day De Pere. In his journeys through Wisconsin, he encountered groups of Native Americans who had been displaced by Iroquois in the Beaver Wars. He evangelized the Algonquin-speaking Potawatomi, who had settled on the Door Peninsula after fleeing Iroquois attacks in Michigan. He also encountered the Algonquin-speaking Sauk, who had been forced into Michigan by the Iroquois, and then had been forced into central Wisconsin by the Ojibwe and the Huron.
The next major expedition into Wisconsin was that of Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet in 1673. After hearing rumors from Indians telling of the existence of the Mississippi River, Marquette and Joliet set out from St. Ignace, in what is now Michigan, and entered the Fox River at Green Bay. They canoed up the Fox until they reached the river's westernmost point, and then portaged, or carried their boats, to the nearby Wisconsin River, where they resumed canoeing downstream to the Mississippi River. Marquette and Joliet reached the Mississippi near what is now Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in June, 1673.
Nicolas Perrot, French commander of the west, established Fort St. Nicholas at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in May, 1685, near the southwest end of the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway. Perrot also built a fort on the shores of Lake Pepin called Fort St. Antoine in 1686, and a second fort, called Fort Perrot, on an island on Lake Peppin shortly after. In 1727, Fort Beauharnois was constructed on what is now the Minnesota side of Lake Pepin to replace the two previous forts. A fort and a Jesuit mission were also built on the shores of Lake Superior at La Pointe, in present-day Wisconsin, in 1693 and operated until 1698. A second fort was built on the same site in 1718 and operated until 1759. These were not military posts, but rather small storehouses for furs.
During the French colonial period, the first black people came to Wisconsin. The first record of a black person comes from 1725, when a black slave was killed along with four Frenchmen in a Native American raid on Green Bay. Other French fur traders and military personnel brought slaves with them to Wisconsin later in 1700s.
None of the French posts had permanent settlers; fur traders and missionaries simply visited them from time to time to conduct business.
In the 1720s, the anti-French Fox tribe, led by war chief Kiala, raided French settlements on the Mississippi River and disrupted French trade on Lake Michigan. From 1728 to 1733, the Fox fought against the French-supported Potawatomi, Ojibwa, Huron and Ottawa tribes. In 1733, Kiala was captured and sold into slavery in the West Indies along with other captured Fox.
Before the war, the Fox tribe numbered 1500, but by 1733, only 500 Fox were left. As a result, the Fox joined the Sauk people.
The details are unclear, but this war appears to have been part of the conflict that expelled the Dakota & Illinois peoples out onto the Great Plains, causing further displacement of other Chiwere, Caddoan & Algonquian peoples there—including the ancestors of the Ioway, Osage, Pawnee, Arikara, A'ani, Arapaho, Hidatsa, Cheyenne & Blackfoot.
The British gradually took over Wisconsin during the French and Indian War, taking control of Green Bay in 1761, gaining control of all of Wisconsin in 1763, and annexing the area to the Province of Quebec in 1774. Like the French, the British were interested in little but the fur trade. One notable event in the fur trading industry in Wisconsin occurred in 1791, when two free African Americans set up a fur trading post among the Menominee at present day Marinette. The first permanent settlers, mostly French Canadians, some Anglo-New Englanders and a few African American freedmen, arrived in Wisconsin while it was under British control. Charles Michel de Langlade is generally recognized as the first settler, establishing a trading post at Green Bay in 1745, and moving there permanently in 1764. In 1766 the Royal Governor of the new territory, Robert Rogers, engaged Jonathan Carver to explore and map the newly acquired territories for the Crown, and to search for a possible Northwest Passage. Carver left Fort Michilimackinac that spring and spent the next three years exploring and mapping what is now Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota.
Settlement began at Prairie du Chien around 1781. The French residents at the trading post in what is now Green Bay, referred to the town as "La Bey", however British fur traders referred to it as "Green Bay", because the water and the shore assumed green tints in early spring. The old French title was gradually dropped, and the British name of "Green Bay" eventually stuck. The region coming under British rule had virtually no adverse effect on the French residents as the British needed the cooperation of the French fur traders and the French fur traders needed the goodwill of the British. During the French occupation of the region licenses for fur trading had been issued scarcely and only to select groups of traders, whereas the British, in an effort to make as much money as possible from the region, issued licenses for fur trading freely, both to British and French residents. The fur trade in what is now Wisconsin reached its height under British rule, and the first self-sustaining farms in the state were established at this time as well. From 1763 to 1780, Green Bay was a prosperous community which produced its own foodstuff, built graceful cottages and held dances and festivities.
The United States acquired Wisconsin in the Treaty of Paris (1783). Massachusetts claimed the territory east of the Mississippi River between the present-day Wisconsin-Illinois border and present-day La Crosse, Wisconsin. Virginia claimed the territory north of La Crosse to Lake Superior and all of present-day Minnesota east of the Mississippi River. Shortly afterward, in 1787, the Americans made Wisconsin part of the new Northwest Territory. Later, in 1800, Wisconsin became part of Indiana Territory. Despite the fact that Wisconsin belonged to the United States at this time, the British continued to control the local fur trade and maintain military alliances with Wisconsin Indians in an effort to stall American expansion westward by creating a pro-British Indian barrier state.
The United States did not firmly exercise control over Wisconsin until the War of 1812. In 1814, the Americans built Fort Shelby at Prairie du Chien. During the war, the Americans and British fought one battle in Wisconsin, the July, 1814 Siege of Prairie du Chien, which ended as a British victory. The British captured Fort Shelby and renamed it Fort McKay, after Major William McKay, the British commander who led the forces that won the Battle of Prairie du Chien. However, the 1815 Treaty of Ghent reaffirmed American jurisdiction over Wisconsin, which was by then a part of Illinois Territory. Following the treaty, British troops burned Fort McKay, rather than giving it back to the Americans, and departed Wisconsin. To protect Prairie du Chien from future attacks, the United States Army constructed Fort Crawford in 1816, on the same site as Fort Shelby. Fort Howard was also built in 1816 in Green Bay.
Significant American settlement in Wisconsin, a part of Michigan Territory beginning in 1818, was delayed by two Indian wars, the minor Winnebago War of 1827 and the larger Black Hawk War of 1832.
The Winnebago War started when, in 1826, two Winnebago men were detained at Fort Crawford on charges of murder and then transferred to Fort Snelling in present-day Minnesota. The Winnebago in the area believed that both men had been executed. On June 27, 1827, a Winnebago war band led by Chief Red Bird and the prophet White Cloud (Wabokieshiek) attacked a family of settlers outside of Prairie du Chien, killing two. They then went on to attack two keel-boats on the Mississippi River that were heading toward Fort Snelling, killing two settlers and injuring four more. Seven Winnebago warriors were killed in those attacks. The war band also attacked settlers on the lower Wisconsin River and the lead mines at Galena, Illinois. The war band surrendered at Portage, Wisconsin, rather than fighting the United States Army that was pursuing them.
In the Black Hawk War, Sac, Fox, and Kickapoo Native Americans, otherwise known as the British Band, led by Chief Black Hawk, who had been relocated from Illinois to Iowa, attempted to resettle in their Illinois homeland on April 5, 1832, in violation of Treaty. On May 10 Chief Black Hawk decided to go back to Iowa. On May 14, Black Hawk's forces met with a group of militiamen led by Isaiah Stillman. All three members of Black Hawk's parley were shot and one was killed. The Battle of Stillman's Run ensued, leaving twelve militiamen and three to five Sac and Fox warriors dead. Of the fifteen battles of the war, six took place in Wisconsin. The other nine as well as several smaller skirmishes took place in Illinois. The first confrontation to take place in Wisconsin was the first attack on Fort Blue Mounds on June 6, in which one member of the local militia was killed outside of the fort. There was also the Spafford Farm Massacre on June 14, the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on June 16, which was a United States victory, the second attack on Fort Blue Mounds on June 20, and the Sinsinawa Mound raid on June 29. The Native Americans were defeated at the Battle of Wisconsin Heights on July 21, with forty to seventy killed and only one killed on the United States side. The Ho Chunk Nation fought on the side of the United States. The Black Hawk War ended with the Battle of Bad Axe on August 1–2, with over 150 of the British Band dead and 75 captured and only five killed in the United States forces. Those crossing the Mississippi were killed by Lakota, American and Ho Chunk Forces. Many of the British Band survivors were handed over to the United States on August 20 by the Lakota Tribe, with the exception of Black Hawk, who had retreated into Vernon County, Wisconsin and White Cloud, who surrendered on August 27, 1832. Black Hawk was captured by Decorah south of Bangor, Wisconsin, south of the headwaters of the La Crosse River. He was then sold to the U.S. military at Prairie du Chien, accepted by future Confederate president, Stephen Davis, who was a soldier at the time. Black Hawk's tribe had killed his daughter. Black Hawk moved back to Iowa in 1833, after being held prisoner by the United States government.
The Francois Vertefeuille House in Prairie du Chien was built in the 1810s by fur traders. A rare example of the pièce-sur-pièce à coulisse technique once common in French-Canadian architecture, it is one of the oldest buildings in the state and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Cornish immigrants who worked in Wisconsin's lead mines build simple stone cabins from limestone. Six cabins are preserved at the Pendarvis Historic Site in Mineral Point.
The resolution of these Indian conflicts opened the way for Wisconsin's settlement. Many of the region's first settlers were drawn by the prospect of lead mining in southwest Wisconsin. This area had traditionally been mined by Native Americans. However, after a series of treaties removed the Indians, the lead mining region was opened to white miners. Thousands rushed in from across the country to dig for the "gray gold". By 1829, 4,253 miners and 52 licensed smelting works were in the region. Expert miners from Cornwall in Britain informed a large part of the wave of immigrants. Boom towns like Mineral Point, Platteville, Shullsburg, Belmont, and New Diggings sprang up around mines. The first two federal land offices in Wisconsin were opened in 1834 at Green Bay and at Mineral Point. By the 1840s, southwest Wisconsin mines were producing more than half of the nation's lead, which was no small amount, as the United States was producing annually some 31 million pounds of lead. Wisconsin was dubbed the "Badger State" because of the lead miners who first settled there in the 1820s and 1830s. Without shelter in the winter, they had to "live like badgers" in tunnels burrowed into hillsides.
Although the lead mining area drew the first major wave of settlers, its population would soon be eclipsed by growth in Milwaukee. Milwaukee, along with Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and Kewaunee, can be traced back to a series of trading posts established by the French trader Jacques Vieau in 1795. Vieau's post at the mouth of the Milwaukee River was purchased in 1820 by Solomon Juneau, who had visited the area as early as 1818. Juneau moved to what is now Milwaukee and took over the trading post's operation in 1825.
When the fur trade began to decline, Juneau focused on developing the land around his trading post. In the 1830s, he formed a partnership with Green Bay lawyer Morgan Martin, and the two men bought 160 acres (0.6 km2) of land between Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River. There they founded the settlement of Juneautown. Meanwhile, an Ohio businessman named Byron Kilbourn began to invest in the land west of the Milwaukee River, forming the settlement of Kilbourntown. South of these two settlements, George H. Walker founded the town of Walker's Point in 1835. Each of these three settlements engaged in a fierce competition to attract the most residents and become the largest of the three towns. In 1840, the Wisconsin State Legislature ordered the construction of a bridge over the Milwaukee River to replace the inadequate ferry system. In 1845, Byron Kilbourn, who had been trying to isolate Juneautown to make it more dependent on Kilbourntown, destroyed a portion of the bridge, which started the Milwaukee Bridge War. For several weeks, skirmishes broke out between the residents of both towns. No one was killed but several people were injured, some seriously. On January 31, 1846, the settlements of Juneautown, Kilbourntown, and Walker's Point merged into the incorporated city of Milwaukee. Solomon Juneau was elected mayor. The new city had a population of about 10,000 people, making it the largest city in the territory. Milwaukee remains the largest city in Wisconsin to this day.
Wisconsin Territory was created by an act of the United States Congress on April 20, 1836. By fall of that year, the best prairie groves of the counties surrounding Milwaukee were occupied by New England farmers. The new territory initially included all of the present day states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, as well as parts of North and South Dakota. At the time the Congress called it the "Wiskonsin Territory".
The first territorial governor of Wisconsin was Henry Dodge. He and other territorial lawmakers were initially busied by organizing the territory's government and selecting a capital city. The selection of a location to build a capitol caused a heated debate among the territorial politicians. At first, Governor Dodge selected Belmont, located in the heavily populated lead mining district, to be capital. Shortly after the new legislature convened there, however, it became obvious that Wisconsin's first capitol was inadequate. Numerous other suggestions for the location of the capital were given representing nearly every city that existed in the territory at the time, and Governor Dodge left the decision up to the other lawmakers. The legislature accepted a proposal by James Duane Doty to build a new city named Madison on an isthmus between lakes Mendota and Monona and put the territory's permanent capital there. In 1837, while Madison was being built, the capitol was temporarily moved to Burlington. This city was transferred to Iowa Territory in 1838, along with all the lands of Wisconsin Territory west of the Mississippi River.
Wyman calls Wisconsin a "palimpsest" of layer upon layer of peoples and forces, each imprinting permanent influences. He identified these layers as multiple "frontiers" over three centuries: Native American frontier, French frontier, English frontier, fur-trade frontier, mining frontier, and the logging frontier. Finally the coming of the railroad brought the end of the frontier.
The historian of the frontier, Frederick Jackson Turner, grew up in Wisconsin during its last frontier stage, and in his travels around the state he could see the layers of social and political development. One of Turner's last students, Merle Curti used in-depth analysis of local history in Trempealeau County to test Turner's thesis about democracy. Turner's view was that American democracy, "involved widespread participation in the making of decisions affecting the common life, the development of initiative and self-reliance, and equality of economic and cultural opportunity. It thus also involved Americanization of immigrant." Curti found that from 1840 to 1860 in Wisconsin the poorest groups gained rapidly in land ownership, and often rose to political leadership at the local level. He found that even landless young farm workers were soon able to obtain their own farms. Free land on the frontier therefore created opportunity and democracy, for both European immigrants as well as old stock Yankees.
By the mid-1840s, the population of Wisconsin Territory had exceeded 150,000, more than twice the number of people required for Wisconsin to become a state. In 1846, the territorial legislature voted to apply for statehood. That fall, 124 delegates debated the state constitution. The document produced by this convention was considered extremely progressive for its time. It banned commercial banking, granted married women the right to own property, and left the question of African-American suffrage to a popular vote. Most Wisconsinites considered the first constitution to be too radical, however, and voted it down in an April 1847 referendum.
In December 1847, a second constitutional convention was called. This convention resulted in a new, more moderate state constitution that Wisconsinites approved in a March 1848 referendum, enabling Wisconsin to become the 30th state on May 29, 1848. Wisconsin was the last state entirely east of the Mississippi River (and by extension the last state formed entirely from territory assigned to the U.S. in the 1783 Treaty of Paris) to be admitted to the Union.
With statehood, came the creation of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which is the state's oldest public university. The creation of this university was set aside in the state charter.
In 1847, the Mineral Point Tribune reported that the town's furnaces were producing 43,800 pounds (19,900 kg) of lead each day. Lead mining in southwest Wisconsin began to decline after 1848 and 1849 when the combination of less easily accessible lead ore and the California Gold Rush made miners leave the area. The lead mining industry in mining communities such as Mineral Point managed to survive into the 1860s, but the industry was never as prosperous as it was before the decline.
By 1850 Wisconsin's population was 305,000. Roughly a third (103,000) were Yankees from New England and western New York state. The second largest group were the Germans, numbering roughly 38,000, followed by 28,000 British immigrants from England, Scotland and Wales. There were roughly 63,000 Wisconsin-born residents of the state. The Yankee migrants would be the dominant political class in Wisconsin for many years.
A railroad frenzy swept Wisconsin shortly after it achieved statehood. The first railroad line in the state was opened between Milwaukee and Waukesha in 1851 by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The railroad pushed on, reaching Milton, Wisconsin in 1852, Stoughton, Wisconsin in 1853, and the capital city of Madison in 1854. The company reached its goal of completing a rail line across the state from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River when the line to Prairie du Chien was completed in 1857. Shortly after this, other railroad companies completed their own tracks, reaching La Crosse in the west and Superior in the north, spurring development in those cities. By the end of the 1850s, railroads crisscrossed the state, enabling the growth of other industries that could now easily ship products to markets across the country.
Nelson Dewey, the first governor of Wisconsin, was a Democrat. Born in Lebanon, Connecticut, Dewey's father's family had lived in New England since 1633, when their ancestor, Thomas Due, had come to America from Kent County, England. Dewey oversaw the transition from the territorial to the new state government. He encouraged the development of the state's infrastructure, particularly the construction of new roads, railroads, canals, and harbors, as well as the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. During his administration, the State Board of Public Works was organized. Dewey was an abolitionist and the first of many Wisconsin governors to advocate against the spread of slavery into new states and territories. The home Dewey built near Cassville is now a state park.
Between 1848 and 1862, Wisconsin had three Democratic governors, all of whom were in office prior to 1856, four Republican governors, all of whom were in office after 1856, and one Whig governor, Leonard J. Farwell, who served from 1852 to 1854. Under Farwell's governorship, Wisconsin became the second state to abolish capital punishment.
In the presidential elections of 1848 and 1852, the Democratic Party won Wisconsin. In the elections of 1856, 1860, and 1864, the Republican Party won the state.
Between the 1840s and 1860s, settlers from New England, New York and Germany arrived in Wisconsin. Some of them brought radical political ideas to the state. In the 1850s, stop-overs on the underground railroad were set up in the state and abolitionist groups were formed. Some abolitionist and free-soil activists left the Whig and Democratic parties, running and in some cases being elected as candidates of the Liberty Party and Free Soil Party. The most successful such group was the Republican Party. On March 20, 1854, the first county meeting of the Republican Party of the United States, consisting of about thirty people, was held in the Little White Schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. Ripon claims to be the birthplace of the Republican Party, as does Jackson, Michigan, where the first statewide convention was held. The new party absorbed most of the former Free Soil and Liberty Party members.
A notable instance of abolitionism in Wisconsin was the rescue of Joshua Glover, an escaped slave from St. Louis who sought refuge in Racine, Wisconsin in 1852. He was caught in 1854 by federal marshals and put in a jail at Cathedral Square in Milwaukee, where he waited to be returned to his owner. A mob of 5,000 people led by Milwaukee abolitionist Sherman Booth, himself a "Yankee" transplant from rural New York, sprung Glover from jail and helped him escape to Canada via the underground railroad.
In the 1850s, two-thirds of immigrants to Wisconsin came from the eastern United States, the other one-third being foreign-born. The majority of the foreign born were German immigrants. Many Irish and Norwegian immigrants also came to Wisconsin in the 1850s. Northern Europeans, many of whom were persecuted in their home countries because of their support for the failed bourgeois Revolutions of 1848, often chose Wisconsin because of the liberal constitution of human rights such as the state's unusual recognition of immigrants' right to vote and rights to citizenship.
Yankee settlers from New England started arriving in Wisconsin in the 1830s spread throughout the southern half of the territory. They dominated early politics. Most of them started as farmers, but the larger proportion moved to towns and cities as entrepreneurs, businessmen and professionals.
Historian John Bunker has examined the worldview of the Yankee settlers in the Wisconsin:
Because they arrived first and had a strong sense of community and mission, Yankees were able to transplant New England institutions, values, and mores, altered only by the conditions of frontier life. They established a public culture that emphasized the work ethic, the sanctity of private property, individual responsibility, faith in residential and social mobility, practicality, piety, public order and decorum, reverence for public education, activists, honest, and frugal government, town meeting democracy, and he believed that there was a public interest that transcends particular and stick ambitions. Regarding themselves as the elect and just in a world rife with sin, air, and corruption, they felt a strong moral obligation to define and enforce standards of community and personal behavior....This pietistic worldview was substantially shared by British, Scandinavian, Swiss, English-Canadian and Dutch Reformed immigrants, as well as by German Protestants and many of the "Forty-Niners."
The color guard of the Wisconsin 8th Infantry with Old Abe
Wisconsin enrolled 91,379 soldiers in the Union Army during the American Civil War. 272 of enlisted Wisconsin troops were African American, with the rest being white. Of these, 3,794 were killed in action or mortally wounded, 8,022 died of disease, and 400 were killed in accidents. The total mortality was 12,216 men, about 13.4 percent of total enlistments. Many soldiers trained at Camp Randall currently the site of the University of Wisconsin's athletic stadium.
The draft implemented by President Lincoln in 1862 was unpopular in some Wisconsin communities, particularly among German and Luxembourgish immigrants. In November 1862, draft riots broke out in Milwaukee, Port Washington, and West Bend, which were quelled by deploying U.S. troops in the cities.
Most Wisconsin troops served in the western theater, although several Wisconsin regiments fought in the east, such as the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and 7th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which formed part of the Iron Brigade. These three regiments fought in the Northern Virginia Campaign, the Maryland Campaign, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Gettysburg Campaign, the Battle of Mine Run, the Overland Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign.
The 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which fought in the western theater of war, is also worthy of mention, having fought at the Battle of Iuka, the Siege of Vicksburg, the Red River Campaign, and the Battle of Nashville. The 8th Wisconsin is also known for its mascot, Old Abe.
Agriculture was a major component of the Wisconsin economy during the 19th century. Wheat was a primary crop on early Wisconsin farms. In fact, during the mid 19th century, Wisconsin produced about one sixth of the wheat grown in the United States. However, wheat rapidly depleted nutrients in the soil, especially nitrogen, and was vulnerable to insects, bad weather, and wheat leaf rust. In the 1860s, chinch bugs arrived in Wisconsin and damaged wheat across the state. As the soil lost its quality and prices dropped, the practice of wheat farming moved west into Iowa and Minnesota. Some Wisconsin farmers responded by experimenting with crop rotation and other methods to restore the soil's fertility, but a larger number turned to alternatives to wheat.
In parts of northern Wisconsin, farmers cultivated cranberries and in a few counties in south central Wisconsin, farmers had success growing tobacco, but the most popular replacement for wheat was dairy farming. As wheat fell out of favor, many Wisconsin farmers started raising dairy cattle and growing feed crops, which were better suited to Wisconsin's climate and soil. One reason for the popularity of dairy farming was that many of Wisconsin's farmers had come to the state from New York, the leading producer of dairy products at the time. In addition, many immigrants from Europe brought an extensive knowledge of cheese making. Dairying was also promoted by the University of Wisconsin–Madison's school of agriculture, which offered education to dairy farmers and researched ways to produce better dairy products. The first test of butterfat content in milk was developed at the university, which allowed for consistency in the quality of butter and cheese. By 1899, over ninety percent of Wisconsin farms raised dairy cows and by 1915, Wisconsin had become the leading producer of dairy products in the United States, a position it held until the 1990s. The term America's Dairyland appeared in newspapers as early as 1913 when the state's butterfat production became first in the nation. In 1939 the state legislature enacted a bill to add the slogan to the state's automobile license plates. It continues to be the nation's largest producer of cheese, no longer focusing on the raw material (milk) but rather the value-added products. Because of this, Wisconsin continues to promote itself as "America's Dairyland", Wisconsinites are referred to as cheeseheads in some parts of the country, including Wisconsin, and foam cheesehead hats are associated with Wisconsin and its NFL team, the Green Bay Packers.
The first brewery in Wisconsin was opened in 1835 in Mineral Point by brewer John Phillips. A year later, he opened a second brewery in Elk Grove. In 1840, the first brewery in Milwaukee was opened by Richard G. Owens, William Pawlett, and John Davis, all Welsh immigrants. By 1860, nearly 200 breweries operated in Wisconsin, more than 40 of them in Milwaukee. The huge growth in the brewing industry can be accredited, in part, to the influx of German immigrants to Wisconsin in the 1840s and 1850s. Milwaukee breweries also grew in volume due to the destruction of Chicago's breweries during the great Chicago fire. In the second half of the 19th century, four of the largest breweries in the United States opened in Milwaukee: Miller Brewing Company, Pabst Brewing Company, Valentin Blatz Brewing Company, and Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. In the 20th century Pabst absorbed Blatz and Schlitz, and moved its brewery and corporate headquarters to California. Miller continues to operate in Milwaukee. The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company opened in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin in 1867 and continues to operate there to this day.
Agriculture was not viable in the densely forested northern and central parts of Wisconsin. Settlers came to this region for logging. The timber industry first set up along the Wisconsin River. Rivers were used to transport lumber from where the wood was being cut, to the sawmills. Sawmills in cities like Wausau and Stevens Point sawed the lumber into boards that were used for construction. The Wolf River also saw considerable logging by industrious Menominee. The Black and Chippewa Rivers formed a third major logging region. That area was dominated by one company owned by Frederick Weyerhaeuser. The construction of railroads allowed loggers to log year round, after rivers froze, and go deeper into the forests to cut down previously unshippable wood supplies. Wood products from Wisconsin's forests such as doors, furniture, beams, shipping boxes, and ships were made in industrial cities with connects to the Wisconsin lumber industry such as Chicago, Milwaukee, Sheboygan, and Manitowoc. Milwaukee and Manitowoc were centers for commercial ship building in Wisconsin. Many cargo ships built in these communities were used to transport lumber from logging ports to major industrial cities. Later a growing paper industry in the Fox River Valley made use of wood pulp from the state's lumber industry.
Logging was a dangerous trade, with high accident rates. On October 8, 1871, the Peshtigo Fire burned 1,875 square miles (4,850 km2) of forest land around the timber industry town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, killing between 1,200 and 2,500 people. It was the deadliest fire in United States history.
From the 1870s to the 1890s, much of the logging in Wisconsin was done by immigrants from Scandinavia.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, logging in Wisconsin had gone into decline. Many forests had been cleared and never replanted and large corporations in the Pacific Northwest took business away from the Wisconsin industry. The logging companies sold their land to immigrants and out of work lumberjacks who hoped to turn the acres of pine stumps into farms, but few met with success.
Wisconsin is known in the 18th century to have discovered gold deposits in western Wisconsin. Such discoveries occurred around the town of St. Croix Falls where a settler stumbled across a gold nugget valued to be worth lots at the time. It's no surprise Wisconsin's western region was once the site of volcanic eruptions so it makes sense that minerals that weren't commonly found in other parts of the state would be present here.
Wisconsin was a regional and national model for innovation and organization in the Progressive Era in the early 20th century. The direct primary law of 1904 made it possible to mobilize voters against the previously dominant political machines. The first factors involved the La Follette family going back and forth between trying control of the Republican Party and third-party activity. Secondly the Wisconsin idea, of intellectuals and planners based at the University of Wisconsin shaping government policy. LaFollette started as a traditional Republican in the 1890s, where he fought against populism and other radical movements. He broke decisively with the state Republican leadership, and took control of the party by 1900, all the time quarrelling endlessly with ex-allies.
Wisconsin at this time was a de facto one party state, as the Democratic Party was then a minor conservative group in the state. Serious opposition more often than not came from the Socialist Party, with a strong German and union constituency in Milwaukee. The socialists often collaborated with the progressive Republicans in statewide politics. Senator Robert M. La Follette tried to use his national reputation to challenge President Taft for the Republican nomination in 1912. However, as soon as Roosevelt declared his candidacy, most of La Follette's supporters switched to the former president. During the Wilson administration he supported many of Wilson's domestic programs in Congress, however he strongly opposed Wilson's foreign policy, and mobilized the large German and Scandinavian populations in Wisconsin to demand neutrality during World War I. During the final years of his career, he split with the Republican Party and ran an independent campaign for president in 1924. In his bid for the presidency he won 1/6 of the national popular vote, but was only able to win his home state.
Following his death, his two sons assumed control of the Wisconsin Republican Party after a brief period of intraparty factional disputes. Following in their father's footsteps they helped form the Wisconsin Progressive Party, in many ways a spiritual successor to the party La Follette had founded in 1924. The party surged to popularity during the mid-1930s off of the inaction of the moderately conservative Schmedeman administration, and were able to gain the support of then president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Much of the new party's support could be owed to the personalities leading it, and the support of Roosevelt and progressive Democrats. The party saw success across Wisconsin's elected offices in the state and congress. Despite its popularity the party eventually declined as Philip, engulfed in scandal and accusations of authoritarianism and fiscal responsibility, lost re-election for the final time in 1938. Following this defeat Philip left electoral politics and joined World War II in the Pacific Theater. Due to joining the war, the National Progressives of America, an organization the La Follettes had hoped would precede a national realignment, faltered. Both organizations began to tear themselves apart as La Follette's absence led to vicious intraparty fighting which ultimately led to a vote to dissolve itself, which Philip was told to stay away from.
The Wisconsin Idea was the commitment of the University of Wisconsin under President Charles R. Van Hise, with LaFollette support, to use the university's powerful intellectual resources to develop practical progressive reforms for the state and indeed for the nation.
Between 1901 and 1911, Progressive Republicans in Wisconsin created the nation's first comprehensive statewide primary election system, the first effective workplace injury compensation law, and the first state income tax, making taxation proportional to actual earnings. The key leaders were Robert M. La Follette and (in 1910) Governor Francis E. McGovern. However, in 1912 McGovern supported Roosevelt for president and LaFollette was outraged. He made sure the next legislature defeated the governor's programs, and that McGovern was defeated in his bid for the Senate in 1914. The Progressive movement split into hostile factions. Some was based on personalities—especially La Follette's style of violent personal attacks against other Progressives, and some was based on who should pay, with the division between farmers (who paid property taxes) and the urban element (which paid income taxes). This disarray enabled the conservatives (called "Stalwarts") to elect Emanuel Philipp as governor in 1914. The Stalwart counterattack said the Progressives were too haughty, too beholden to experts, too eager to regulate, and too expensive. Economy and budget cutting was their formula.
During World War I, due to the neutrality of Wisconsin and many Wisconsin Republicans, progressives, and German immigrants which made up 30 to 40 percent of the state population, Wisconsin would gain the nickname "Traitor State" which was used by many "hyper patriots".
As the war raged on in Europe, Robert M. La Follette, leader of the anti-war movement in Wisconsin, led a group of progressive senators in blocking a bill by president Woodrow Wilson which would have armed merchant ships with guns. Many Wisconsin politicians such as Governor Phillipp and senator Irvine Lernroot were accused of having divided loyalties. Even with outspoken opponents to the war, at the onset of the war many Wisconsinites would abandon neutrality. Businesses, labor and farms all enjoyed prosperity from the war. With over 118,000 going into military service, Wisconsin was the first state to report for four national drafts conducted by the U.S. military.
The progressive Wisconsin Idea promoted the use of the University of Wisconsin faculty as intellectual resources for state government, and as guides for local government. It promoted expansion of the university through the UW-Extension system to reach all the state's farming communities. University economics professors John R. Commons and Harold Groves enabled Wisconsin to create the first unemployment compensation program in the United States in 1932. Other Wisconsin Idea scholars at the university generated the plan that became the New Deal's Social Security Act of 1935, with Wisconsin expert Arthur J. Altmeyer playing the key role. The Stalwarts counterattacked by arguing if the university became embedded in the state, then its internal affairs became fair game, especially the faculty preference for advanced research over undergraduate teaching. The Stalwarts controlled the Regents, and their interference in academic freedom outraged the faculty. Historian Frederick Jackson Turner, the most famous professor, quit and went to Harvard.
Wisconsin took part in several political extremes in the mid to late 20th century, ranging from the anti-communist crusades of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s to the radical antiwar protests at UW-Madison that culminated in the Sterling Hall bombing in August 1970. The state became a leader in welfare reform under Republican Governor Tommy Thompson during the 1990s. The state's economy also underwent further transformations towards the close of the 20th century, as heavy industry and manufacturing declined in favor of a service economy based on medicine, education, agribusiness, and tourism.
In 2011, Wisconsin became the focus of some controversy when newly elected governor Scott Walker proposed and then successfully passed and enacted 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, which made large changes in the areas of collective bargaining, compensation, retirement, health insurance, and sick leave of public sector employees, among other changes. A series of major protests by union supporters took place that year in protest to the changes, and Walker survived a recall election held the next year, becoming the first governor in United States history to do so. Walker enacted other bills promoting conservative governance, such as a right-to-work law, abortion restrictions, and legislation removing certain gun controls. Walker's administration also made critical changes to Wisconsin's election process, enacting one of the most aggressive legislative gerrymanders in the country and replacing Wisconsin's nonpartisan state elections board with a commission of political appointees. When Walker lost re-election in 2018, he collaborated with the gerrymandered Republican legislature to strip powers from the incoming Governor and Attorney General. Since 2011, Wisconsin has seen increasing governmental dysfunction and paralysis, as the durable gerrymander insulated the legislature from electoral consequences.
Following the election of Tony Evers as governor in 2018, Wisconsin has seen a string of liberal victories at every level of government which have slowly chipped away at the conservative dominance within the state. This eventually led to the Wisconsin supreme court overturning the Walker-era legislative gerrymander in Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission.
Nº 4.
Renault Estafette "Freixenet" (1962).
Escala 1/43.
"Furgonetas de Antaño" - Altaya.
Ixo.
España.
Año 2004.
La matrícula B-288832 corresponde al año 1962.
More info: www.chema-campos.com/colecciones/FDA.htm
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Renault Estafette
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Renault Estafette is a small front-wheel drive van, first introduced in 1959, initially using the water-cooled Renault Ventoux engine, then later the Cléon-Fonte engine in a range of body styles."
(...)
"Launched in June 1959, the new van was to be called the Estafette from the Italian Staffetta, meaning Courier.
At launch, the engine, although mounted near the front of the Estafette, was of the same size and output as that fitted to the recently introduced Renault Dauphine.
The Estafette's emphasis was always on economy and practicality rather than on power or heavy-duty performance.
It was introduced in four body types:
4-door minibus
4-door panel van
2-door pickup
2-door chassis cab "
(...)
"In 1961 came the Alouette version which was a simpler version of the minibus with removable seats that could convert it into a camper van and was indeed popular with French conversion companies. Finally a chassis-cab version was introduced onto which innumerable bodies could be fitted.
In May 1962 the 800 kg (1,764 lb) rated Estafette was the first vehicle to receive Renault's newly developed "Sierra" series water-cooled four-cylinder 1,108 cc five-bearing engine, which was destined to appear in a passenger car a month later with the launch, in June 1962, of the Renault 8.
In 1968 a series of 70 vans were issued to the police at the winter Olympics held in Grenoble, and this led to a long term contract, but Renault's biggest customer for the Estafette was PTT, the French telephone company.
In 1968 it gained the 1,289 cc engine later seen in the Renault 12 to give a full 1000 kg capacity.
In 1973 the grille was updated, with a plainer modern look.
The Estafette continued in production until 1980 when it was replaced by the Trafic, having sold over 500,000 units.
In Romania, a version of the Estafette was produced for the Romanian Post between 1975 and 1978, by Automobile Dacia, in only 642 units (842 by other sources)."
Versions
R2130/31
in production: May 1959 – May 1962
engine: 845 cc, 32 PS (24 kW)
payload: 600 kg (1,323 lb)
R2132/33/34/35
in production: May 1962 – Nov 1968
engine: 1,108 cc, 45 PS (33 kW), type 688
payload: 800 kg (1,764 lb), 1,000 kg (2,205 lb) for "Estafette 1000"
R2136/37
(2137 being the "Plateau" and "Base Carrosable" open bed pickups)
in production: Sep 1968 – Jun 1980
engine: 1,289 cc, 54 PS (40 kW), type 810
payload: 800 kg (1,764 lb) for R2136, 1,000 kg (2,205 lb) for R2137
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Renault Estafette
Manufacturer
Renault
Also called
Renault Hi-Boy (USA, Canada)
Renault Petit-Panel (USA, Canada)
Dacia Estafette (Romania)
Production
1959–1980 (France)
1965–1969 (Algeria)
1975–1978 (Romania)
1964–1986 (Mexico)
Assembly
Algiers, Algeria (CARAL)
Mioveni, Romania (Dacia)
Sahagun City, Mexico (DINA)
?, France
Production
533 209 exemplaires
Successor
Renault Trafic
Sources:
Despite all their faults, when British Leyland got it right, they really got it right!
When it comes to Four-Wheel-Drives with the go-anywhere, do-anything abilities of a tank, and the luxury and comfort of a high end saloon, this truly is genesis. The Range Rover was really the first SUV to take cars like these out of the mud, and put them into SW1.
Development of the Range Rover dated back to the early 1950's, when the emergence of 4x4's that weren't simply glorified Willys Jeeps such as the original Land Rover's began to come into being, starting the subclass known as the Sports Utility Vehicle or SUV. The first cars to attempt the crossing of the practicality of a Jeep with the comforts of a conventional car were really the Jeep Wagoneer and the Ford Bronco.
But in 1970, years of development came to a head in British Leyland's release of the Range Rover. In its original guise, the Range Rover was more capable off-road than the Land Rover but was much more comfortable, offering a top speed in excess of 100mph, a towing capacity of 3.5 tons, spacious accommodation for five people and groundbreaking features such as a four-speed, dual-range, permanent four-wheel-drive gearbox and hydraulic disc brakes on all wheels.
Additionally, the car was powered by Rover's Buick-derived V8 engine which had been fitted previously into the Rover P5 and P6. This strong, reliable and endlessly tunable engine meant these cars could run forever, and with this British Leyland truly had a winner.
Since then hundreds of thousands of Range Rovers have been sold globally, both in this original 'Classic' version as well as the updated P38 and Sport designs of the 2000's. But it was this original Range Rover that perfected the formula, and since then pretty much every SUV has copied the formula to give the customer an all-terrain vehicle with that luxury edge.
Here we have it, one of the most iconic little cars in the whole of history. A machine that revolutionised the concept of the city car, and what has now become a pure symbol of Englishness!
This little machine is simply known as the Mini! :D
Construction of the Mini first began in 1959, with the car designed by the British Motor Corporation's (BMC) chief designer Sir Alec Issigonis, who envisaged a car that had as much space as was humanly possible devoted to the passenger so as to combine the practicality of a big car with the nippy nature of a Dune Buggy. The result was that 80% of the car's platform was available for use by both passengers and luggage. The car was also designed to be fuel efficient, built in response to the 1956 Suez Crisis which resulted in rising fuel prices and petrol rationing. During this period it became apparent that German 'Bubble Car' equivalents such as the Heinkel Kabine and various Messerschmitt designs were starting to corner the market, and thus the Mini project was launched under project name ADO15 (Amalgamated Drawing Office project number 15). Great care was taken to make sure that as much space was saved for the passenger, including the instalment of compact rubber springs instead of conventional metal and the small but powerful BMC A-Series four-cylinder engine tucked away at the front.
In April 1959 the car was launched to the press under the designation of both the Austin Seven and the Morris Mini-Minor (due to the amalgamation of the Austin and Morris brands under BMC). By the time the car was let loose thousands had already been sent abroad in an audacious promotional campaign. Things however started slow for the Mini, but this rising star soon became an icon during the 1960's, selling 1,190,000 by 1967.
But, behind all the shining sales figures, there were some major problems for BMC and their wonderchild. Baffled by the car, Ford bought one for the base price of £497 and took it apart, desperate to know how their rivals were doing it for the money. As it turns out they weren't, and were able to determine that BMC was losing at least £30 on every single car they sold. Novelty was the only way to get the car properly moving in this competitive new world, and the Mini was all about that. By 1970 the car had appeared in a variety of movies and TV shows, the most famous of which was their charge to glory in the 1969 film 'The Italian Job', where a trio of Minis were used to plunder gold from under the noses of the Mafia and the Italian Authorities. A Leyland Mini holds a place in the heart of British TV under the ownership of Mr. Bean and his various clumsy antics, usually involving an unfortunate Reliant Regal. At the same time it was a car of choice for TV and Music Stars who wanted to show off their quirks!
From then on the car continued to keep up its notorious status as a British symbol of motoring, with a huge variety of cars being made including a spacious van, a country camper, a pickup truck and the Moke dune buggy! There were also two almost identical saloon versions of the car known as the Wolseley Hornet and the Riley Elf that were built between 1961 and 1969 as more luxurious alternatives to the original.
In 1969 the first major facelift came in the form of the Clubman, designed under British Leyland to give the car a new lease of life, but ended up being something of a mongrel. Although functionally the same, the boys at British Leyland couldn't help but get things off to a bad start by relocating construction from the Cowley Plant to the Longbridge Plant, which meant that all kits and tools had to be moved too and thus initial sales were very slow. British Leyland's reliability reputation was soon to follow, with the unfortunate Mini becoming a victim of the shoddy workmanship that had mired so many of its other products.
Eventually the Clubman was killed off in 1980, although the original Mini design had been built alongside and was still selling strong. British Leyland however had plans to kill off the Mini in 1980 by introducing its new small economy car, the Austin Metro. Built very much to the same principals of the Mini, the Metro was a much more angular design but still a capable little family hatchback. But the angular lines and big bulky body did nothing for the Metro, and the car failed to sell in the numbers domestically than those of the Mini internationally!
Towards the end of the 1980's and 1990's, the car came in a variety of different 'Special Editions' as the car became less of a mass-market machine and more a fashion item. The iconic nature of the car had sealed its fate with new owners of the Rover Group, BMW, who intended to keep the car going for as long as possible. At the same time the car was a major seller in Japan, which gave a boost of sales in the early 1990's with 40,000 new cars being exported there.
Eventually however, the design was starting to look very tired and with Rover Group making heavy losses, the Mini and its spiritual cousin the Metro were killed off in 2000 and 1999, respectively. Rover was granted the ability to run-out the model to the very end before Rover itself was sold off in 2000. During the breakup, BMW designed a new version of the Mini which was launched in 2000 and is still being built today as quite a sleek and popular machine, a little bit more bulky than the original but certainly keeping the novelty and charm. The originals however ended on the 4th October 2000, with a red Mini Cooper S bringing an end to 5,387,862 cars.
However, although the original Mini is now very much dead, the novelty that surrounds these tiny little cars is enough to keep thousands and thousands of these machines preserved or in continual everyday usage. Older Mini-Minors are a bit hard to come by and the Clubmans rusted away before you could get them home from the showroom, but the later Mini's sold in the 1980's and 1990's are still alive and kicking on the roads of Britain, and can still draw the attention of passers by even 56 years after the first ones left the production line!
Coachwork by Carrozzeria Pinin Farina
Chassis n° B521004
n° 1 of 7
Bonhams
Les Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris
The Grand Palais Éphémère
Place Joffre
Parijs - Paris
Frankrijk - France
February 2023
Estimated : € 800.000 - 1.000.000
Sold for € 718.750
"The car body is characterised by its streamlined silhouette, tapered toward the tail, the smooth sides, the raised circular front air intake, which generates the central part of the hood, also circular in cross section. Evidently there is the influence of the aeronautics of the era." - Antoine Prunet, Pininfarina.
Offered here is the very first of Pinin Farina's PF200 show cars, built for promotional purposes to generate publicity and never intended for series production, although Pinin Farina (as it was then) went on to build a further six examples, some open, some closed. The seven PF200s were slightly different from one another, although all featured the signature circular front air intake reminiscent of the North American F-86 Sabre jet fighter. The concept made its debut in 1952 when this very car, chassis number '1004', was displayed on the Pinin Farina stand at the Turin Motor Show. Italian film star and lover of fine cars, Renato Rascel (real name Renato Ranucci) met Sergio 'Pinin' Farina at the 1952 Turin Show and purchased '1004'. The side air intakes and six exhaust pipes are delightful details, while instead of stowing the soft-top behind the seats, like many open cars of the period, Pinin Farina arranged for the PF200's hood to fold down out of sight within the body, thus preserving its streamlined appearance.
The PF200 used the chassis and running gear of the Lancia Aurelia B52, one of the most advanced sporting cars of the era. At this time Pinin Farina had yet to supplant Carrozzeria Vignale as Ferrari's coachbuilder of choice, and much of its best work from this period was on Lancia chassis. One of the most influential designs to emerge from Italy post-WW2, Lancia's classic Aurelia was the first car ever to employ a V6 engine. Designed in wartime by Francesco de Virgilio and launched at the 1950 Turin Motor Show, the Aurelia B10 was powered by a 1,754cc 60-degree V6 of all-aluminium construction that used overhead valves operated via short pushrods instead of Lancia's traditional overhead camshafts.
An advanced unitary-construction design, the Aurelia retained Lancia's 'sliding pillar' independent front suspension, first seen on the Lambda, but used a novel semi-trailing-arm layout at the rear, another world first. The transmission too, was unusual, comprising a two-piece prop-shaft and combined gearbox/rear transaxle on which were mounted the inboard brakes, though for once this was not an entirely new departure. The original B10 saloon was joined the following year by the landmark, Pininfarina-styled B20 Coupé, a fastback '2+2' on a shortened wheelbase which, with its combination of sports car performance and saloon car practicality, can be said to have introduced the Gran Turismo concept to the world. Models with longer wheelbases and larger engines in various states of tune followed. To cater for independent coachbuilders, Lancia offered the longer-wheelbase (291cm) B50 chassis, based on B10 mechanicals, and later the B52, which came with the 2.0-litre engine of the B20/B21. In total Lancia built only 98 B52 chassis, the last of which was delivered in 1953.
Bought new by famous Italian film star, Renato Ranucci, in 1952 at the Turin Motor Show, '1004' changed ownership in 1958 and a couple of times more between then and 1961. It then seems to have remained in the same family for some 13 years before being bought by the current owner in 1974.
A passionate collector of classic cars, with a passion for flying, the current owner is himself a pilot of light aircraft, and during military service also of jets. He found the Lancia in a very poor condition; the car was in pieces but what caught his eye was the circular front air-intake: it looked more like a jet than a car so you can imagine how his passion for cars and aircraft coalesced in the same object - it was love at first sight.
The car was restored in the 1980s by the current owner, who commissioned what were then the best specialists for the job. The painstaking professional restoration took almost 10 years, a period in which the owner and the restorer, Mr. Giancarlo Cappa, became very close friends after doing a lot of research about this Pf200 together. During the restoration and despite the time-consuming research, some details had to be altered as replacements for some of the unique parts were unobtainable. The restoration notes/receipts for 35,000,000 liras are on file, an astronomical amount for a restoration if you know that a monthly salary for a worker at that time was around 300.000/350.000 liras. The car is finished in the lovely colour scheme of dark grey with a tan interior.
Once the Lancia came finally 'home', the owner put the car in one of the living rooms of the main house, which had ramp access. It was here that the family spent most evenings, especially at weekends. The car stood in the middle of the room as the centrepiece. The owner's rationale was very clear: the PF200 is a masterpiece and a work of art, which fully justified having it in your main living room. If you are not driving the car, indoors is the best place to enjoy it the most!
In the 1990s the engine failed and was removed, and it was then decided to replace it with one of an identical type (no. B21*2700*). Unfortunately, the original block was not retained, the importance of 'matching numbers' not being appreciated at that time. Carefully looked after by its long-term custodian, the car is presented today in mainly preserved condition following its 1980s restoration, which is now showing signs of age, especially in the paint. Residing for almost 50 years with the same owner, the car has its own dedicated space in the garage with magnificent 'Lancia PF200' badging on the wall.
On old Italian plates, the car has featured on posters and in magazines, etc and comes with an Italian libretto and a quite exceptional history file. The latter contains important correspondence with Pininfarina dating from 1981, which confirms that the car belonged to Renato Rascel; that it is the example exhibited at the 1952 Turin Motor Show; and that it was the first of a 'series' of seven PF200s of the same type built by hand, each of them different from the others even if only by some small functional or ornamental details, very often requested by the customer. Unfortunately, a fire at the Pininfarina factory destroyed all records of the PF200s and there are no photographs of this car's interior. The fascinating history file also contains lots of other correspondence; various articles; period photographs (1970s onwards); restoration photos (1980s); and the all-important Automobile Club D'Italia document confirming build details and ownership history. With the recent announcement of the re-birth of the Lancia Aurelia model, this unique car will become all-the-more collectible and is a unique opportunity for any major collector.
One of my many photos taken between the period of Wednesday, 24 March-Sunday, 28 March 1999, during the 1999 Wellington trolleybus festival organised by the Omnibus Society to mark 50 years of continuous trolleybus operation in the Capital, Christchurch No. 210 of 1931 sits on the wharf on the Wellington waterfront after being shipped from Christchurch where it is preserved at the Ferrymead Historic Park by the Tramway Historic Society.
What turned out to be the star of the festival was later towed to Kilbirnie Depot and made ready for celebrations.
When last heard of, No. 210 was still to be certified for operating on the Ferrymead trolleybus museum system.
Sadly some 18 years and 8 months on, the festival has now also marked the demise of the Wellington system on 31 October 2017.
Decommissioning and dismantling of the [Wellington] trolleybus system continued in earnest through December with just a short breather over the Christmas holidays.
By the time you read this, Route 2 will have disappeared other than where it shared wires with other routes and the same goes for the Newtown Park branch from Newtown shops to the terminus beside the Zoo. If all goes to plan, commencement of the CBD wiring will start from Wednesday 3 January. This section was at first scheduled for dismantling from 27 December but it was decided to postpone the date to enable the two work gangs to take a well-earned break.
End of an Era boards have been placed on poles in Lambton Quay, Manners Street and Courtenay Place advising people of the upcoming work.
Once the overhead has been removed from city streets (and this is currently scheduled to be complete by the end of June) the only trace of trolleybus wires in the city will be found inside Kilbirnie depot. Initially the depot’s wiring was down for removal in March but it has been decided to leave it in situ. This is not because trolleybuses might one day return to the city streets (!) but more to do with the practicalities of the exercise.
As an example it would be interesting to see where about 55 trolleybuses could be placed while the work was being carried out. What a sight it would make if they had all been lined up in Onepu Road for a few days! Ironically, Kilbirnie depot will therefore be the only place where tram rails and trolleybus wires will be able to be seen side by side.
The Wrightspeed prototype, former trolleybus 362, continues to be an enigma. It was first touted for testing before Christmas 2016! The most recent expectation was for it to start trials in November 2017 but that deadline passed, as has December. And NZ Bus wanted to convert the trolleybus fleet and some of its diesels to this power application in readiness for the new contracts starting in 2018; it hasn’t quite worked out the way they expected. - Under The Wires, January 2018
The Christchurch trolleybus system opened in 1931 and reached its maximum extent by 1934. It was a small and distinctive operation, which served its city well for a quarter of a century, closing just as the expansion of the three NZ major systems was getting under way.
The system consisted of two routes running generally northeast from the CBD. The first opened in 1931. At its inner end it replaced a motor bus service. Beyond the intersections of Shirley and Marshland Roads, it replaced a loss-making electric tram service, the inner end of which remained as a tram route for anomer three years. The former tramway section of the route passed through the only predominantly rural area ever served by trolleybuses in New Zealand. The outermost section, between Norrh Beach and New Brighton Pier, closed after only 22 month's operation due to insufficient traffic.
In 1934, the surviving inner section of the former North Beach tram route, which had run via Richmond to a terminus at the intersections of Shirley and Marshland Roads, was also converted ro trolleybus operation. Trolleybuses continued to use the composite 1931 route via Shirley for through services to North Beach, while the newly converted length was operated separately. Occasional through-workings over the old tram route required trolleybus poles to be manually pulled across at the Marshland Road intersection. In May 1956 the newer and shorter route was closed. The older and longer North Beach route carried on for five more months.
Christchurch was the only New Zealand trolleybus system to depend exclusively on pull-offs for corners. There was only one set of facing points, situated at the intersection of Cashel Street and Fitzgerald Avenue, where the two routes parted. These were manually operated for many years. Turnback facilities were provided for short workings at Richmond, Shirley, Burwood and the racecourse (destination "Races"). However, all required the poles to be manually changed to turning wires. Movements to and from the depot also required manual pole changes.
The fleet totalled eleven vehicles, all of which had 3-axled chassis, a layout not seen again on New Zealand trolleybuses until 2007. Unlike Wellingron's new Designlines, both rear axles were driven and bogie-mounted, an arrangement thought at the time to provide a better ride on poor roads.
Another distinguishing feature was the use of trolley wheels, rather than the swivel heads with carbon inserts used on all other New Zealand trolleybuses, apart from Wellingron's original trackless tram.
Elsewhere in New Zealand, first generation trolleybuses were given a new number sequence starting at 1. However, in Christchurch me trolleybuses were added onto the tram sequence, resulting in higher fleet numbers than elsewhere, until 1981 when Wellington started a new sequence at 20 l.
The six buses supplied for the North Beach service in 1931 had English Electric chassis with bodies by local Christchurch tram builder Boon & Co. They originally had slatted doors, which allowed in dust from the unsurfaced roads on me outer parts of the system. This defect was soon remedied. Although the bodies were fitted with rear door, these were generally boarded up.
The seventh trolleybus, No. 213, was built by Ransomes Sims & Jefferies, and lent to the CTB as a demonstrator. Tested on the Ipswich system in the UK before shipment, it was the only pre-war trolleybus to be bodied overseas. No. 213 rode well and the bodywork was superior to that fitted to the English Electric trolleybuses. The trolley poles were mounted on a common pivot, and no retrievers were provided.
However, the rarcher-type EMB control gear was very unpopular with drivers and No. 213 was little used initially. The CTB eventually purchased the vehicle, and standardised the control gear and pole mountings with the rest of the fleet. Retrievers were also added.
Opened in 1934, the Richmond route required four further vehicles. Ransomes Sims & Jefferies supplied the chassis, which the CTB bodied in its own workshops. The entire fleet lasted in service until 1956.
After World War II, the CTB considered replacing most, or all, of its trams with trolleybuses. Nine of the existing vehicles received major overhauls in 1950 to fit them for extended service. In 1951, tenders were called for 64 new trolleybuses. However, local body elections produced a change of policy, and the system closed five years later.
CHRISTCHURCH ENGLISH ELECTRIC NO. 210
Date Built: 1930
Written Off: Withdrawn from service in 1956
Acquired by THS in 1965 from Transport North Canterbury Ltd.
Restored: c 1970
Make: English Electric, 3-axle
Bodywork: Boon and Company, Christchurch
Motor: English Electric 70 bhp DK 121
Controllers: 5-notch EMB non-automatic
Seating Capacity: 38 plus driver
Christchurch 209 and 210 are the only known English Electric trolleybuses to survive in the world.
Miss Tack pumps. I decided to go for practicality this time with the heel and shall get a lot of wear out of these.
“MOON BASE -- As a solar system satellite vehicle proceeds en route to another planet (top), a lunar transfer vehicle with wheeled base and reversible-thrust power plants prepares to land at a moon base. Personnel are housed in spherical chamber capped by parabolic antenna. Hydroponic farms are shown on moon base beneath transparent circular domes.”
Dated by Mr. Stanilla as having been completed August 1959. Interestingly, it’s missing the “STOIKO-CROSS” reference that commonly accompanied his signature. So, possibly, this was prior to/after(?) his affiliation with them?
And…although of course commensurate with the time period - so I guess, to be expected - I just love the look of his works. They’re so aesthetically appealing…and the detail…feasibility & practicality be damned. Enjoy.
The fold/crease line in the upper left white border is tenuously keeping the corner attached. Prior to me, it was probably folded for 65+ years, likely under some weight for extended periods of time.
I’ve never previously seen this work by him. Note the solar glare/radiance extending up from beyond the lunar horizon…nice dramatic touch. And “solar system satellite vehicle”…I love it.
x.com/marco_nerli/status/684992825113579520
Credit: Nerli Ballati Marco/X
Lone Wolf was the publication of the Washington, D.C. anarchist collective Lone Wolf that explained their views on the theory and practice of anarchism in a series of short tracts 1981-82.
In their own words:
“The Lone Wolf Collective strives to help in building a conscious revolutionary anarchist movement and do outreach, spreading general information about the practicality of anarchism.”
The issues of Lone Wolf covered the principles and goals of the collective, a brief history of anarchism, a critique of Marxism, and an explanation of anarchism.
For PDFs of their publication, The Lone Wolf Bulletin, see
No. 1 – July 1981 - washingtonareaspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/1981-0...
No. 2 – February 1982 - washingtonareaspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/1982-0...
No. 3 – March 1982 - washingtonareaspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/1982-0...
No. 5 – September 1982 - washingtonareaspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/1982-0...
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmGkArk4
Donated by Craig Simpson
The Japanese Nationality Room celebrates traditional Japanese carpentry and woodcraft, evoking the mid-18th century minka which were houses of the non-ruling classes of Japan. This room is representative of minka that might be the residence of an important village leader in a farm village on the outskirts of Kyoto and the design represents the core rooms of the house: a plank-floored ima or household sitting room and the adjacent doma, an area with a compacted earthen floor used as an entry-way, for cooking and as a work space. The doma was also a space for household life, where farm, business and craft activities could be carried out under a roof. In the past it also provided a place for drying grain during rainy weather. A central feature of the room is the massive, rough-hewn beam, the ushibari of Japanese pine, supported by posts at the boundary of the ima and doma elements of the room. The main beam in this room had been carefully preserved by the carpenters in Japan for many years until a project could be found to appropriately utilize its unique curvature. To accommodate the weight concentrated on the primary post, the daikokubashira, the layout of the room has been designed so that this main post sits directly above the building's existing superstructure. The major posts are made of zelkova, (keyaki), a hardwood with a distinctive grain pattern. The other beams are made of American pine. The posts and beams are connected without nails, using traditional joinery techniques. The ceiling is of bamboo with joined beams which would have allowed for the circulation of warm air from fireplaces below. The walls mimics the typical mud plaster walls through the use of textured wallpaper and wooden wainscoting for greater durability. The bay window is a structure not in keeping with traditional Japanese design and has been masked with panels that suggest shôji, sliding doors of lattice frames, covered with translucent paper. The ima is suggested with a plank wood floor covering the largest portion of the room. The floor toward the front of the room is made of a simulated earthen material to represent a portion of the doma where it meets the ima's wooden floor. Although the a traditional design would call for the wooden floor to be much higher than the dirt floor, this feature has been eliminated in the classroom for practicality. Located on the rear wall, is the tokonoma, a raised alcove for the display of treasured objects, flower arrangements, and seasonal decorations. The tokonoma has been built in shoin-style, with shôji along its exterior side. The corner post, tokobashira, is made of ebony and the floor of the tokonoma is tatami. The display cases at the rear of the room and along the interior wall contain artifacts in keeping with the period and include a chagama and furo, an iron kettle with metal charcoal hearth/brazier combination, used in the "tea ceremony." While typical minka would have no chairs at all, in keeping with its function as a classroom, the classroom has wooden chairs designed and crafted specifically for students and are consistent in design with the rest of the room. Sliding wooden panels cover the blackboard at the front of the room. The interior surface of the entry door has been modified with a wooden treatment that suggests the sliding door that was the typical entrance to a house of this period
Coimbra University, Portugal.
"One of the most visible and distinctive traditions is the use of the academic costume of the University of Coimbra, a black suit and cape worn on special occasions by the students (and more often by many), which was adopted by other Portuguese universities and is actually used by students of almost all higher education institutions in the city and across the country."
Influence on Harry Potter:
"Consider the cloak: that heavy, full-length piece of outerwear most often associated with epic fantasy franchises, and specifically, Harry Potter. It’s not something you’d wear to class, not if you value practicality—and yet somehow it remains the most iconic part of the wizarding school uniform.
But in the non-magical world, Portuguese university students have been wearing cloaks to class day in, day out, more or less since higher education was invented. They are the indisputable pioneers of the trend—so much so that many would swear, under Veritaserum if needed be, that J.K. Rowling was inspired by the Portuguese when picking out the outfits for her young wizards. Although Rowling has never been explicit about her inspiration for the cloaks, she wrote part of what would become Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone while living in Porto, Portugal, in the 1990s. Tour guides often point out the cloaked university students, whom Rowling must have seen walking to and from class, as the likely inspirations behind the Hogwarts dress code.
The look stems from the history of post-secondary education in Portugal, which has some of the oldest universities in the world. When the country's first university—the University of Coimbra—was created in 1290 in Lisbon, teaching was a religious vocation (as was learning), and so the medieval campus was teeming with clergymen. There wasn’t a student uniform, exactly, but the mish-mash of men from different religious orders did result in a student look: a dark, severe ensemble that civilian students began to approximate in the centuries that followed. As late as 1850, the all-male student body at the University of Coimbra was still wearing knee-length cassocks over shorts and knee socks. A long cloak topped off the whole outfit, lending a decidedly clerical look to the decidedly civilian students.
Things changed, dramatically, in the latter half of the 19th century. The progressive spirit of the era replaced the old-fashioned shorts with a practical three-piece suit, composed of black frock coat, waistcoat, and tailored pants—and so the standard male university uniform, or traje, was born. The cumbersome old cloak very nearly went out of commission then, but the boys had reportedly grown so attached to its drama that they kept wearing it over the new suits. School authorities allowed the cloak to remain, proudly anachronistic, to sweep the cobblestones of Coimbra another day. When the country’s second and third universities were founded in 1911, in the cities of Lisbon and Porto, students rushed to adopt the same weirdly popular suit-and-cloak combo.
Girls didn’t get a standard uniform until 1945, when the Orfeão Universitário do Porto, a student association at the then-young University of Porto, accepted the first female members into its roster. (Before then, women didn't have any particular school attire, although they were sometimes told to wear all black so as not to stand out.) Members of the Orfeão were expected to perform traditional Portuguese singing and dancing in full uniform, and the girls rose to the occasion by suiting up in their very own, alternate version of the traje. They found their inspiration in the stripped-down practicality of military women’s uniforms and settled on a knee-length trapeze skirt and boxy three-button jacket. The cloak, of course, was the final touch, which quickly caught on at other schools.
Today, there are over 300,000 university students in Portugal, a respectable number of whom routinely wear the traje to class. It is no longer mandatory, as it once was, but it doesn’t need to be. To wear this historic uniform is to embrace and broadcast one’s identity as a student—although it’s also to be frequently confused with a Harry Potter cosplayer. Foreign visitors to Portugal sometimes make that mistake, but they should know the opposite is likelier to be true: Local students have been wearing cloaks to class since long before Harry Potter was cool."
A little flashier than my typical edit, but I haven't had my coffee yet.
This is my first post from a new camera... a Nikon D70s from over a dozen years ago—a digital antique! Back in 2006, when I first moved from film to digital, I researched the camera market heavily and came to a conclusion: Canon deserved its place as #1 in point and shoots, but Nikon's DSLRs produced better results. I went with the Canon P&S. In 2009 I got my first DSLR, and unfortunately, out of simple convenience and practicality, it was a Canon. The experience was... not ideal. More than three years later, I made the switch to Nikon, as I'd planned all along, but by then they'd changed a little since I'd first set myself on them. The experience with the Nikon was much better, but I've always wondered what it'd be like to use one of those older models, from when I first investigated the digital camera market. When this D70s came along for $30, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up.
Edited in X-Chrome, applied to the jpeg: Polaroid Type-55 (pushed, jpeg version), HC-110+ (raw version), selenium 1.
(DSC_2077LR)
Advanced Yoga Workout for Level 2, 3 Yogis ✪ youtu.be/WkFFAhbu9WE This 30 minute advanced yoga workout video is a perfect daily yoga practice for yogis looking to recharge, build strength, balance and flexibility. This yoga class has an emphasis on upper back and shoulder opening, and includes plenty of cardio, standing poses, yoga flow, and peak poses camel (ustrasana), bow (danurasana) and wheel (urdvha danurasana). Veteran teacher Michelle Goldstein of Heart Alchemy Yoga in Los Angeles, California, brings a simple practicality to her instruction that provides a safe and easy to understand Yoga flow program. This yoga flow workout is intended to help improve strength, flexibility, stamina, range of motion, breath capacity and relaxation. About Michelle Goldstein: Michelle has maintained a daily yoga practice for 15 years. A protégée of renowned Yoga teacher, Bryan Kest of Santa Monica Power Yoga, Michelle has been teaching yoga flow and meditation for 8 years. Michelle leads workshops, immersions & retreats worldwide as well as teaching at Santa Monica Power Yoga, Yogaraj & Equinox Fitness Clubs. Known for her creative vinyasas (sequences of yoga asana) and pranayama, Michelle Goldsteins teaching integrates influences from various forms of movement and meditation set to powerfully inspiring backdrops of music. Approaching instruction with a deep spiritual reverence for the sacredness of yoga coupled with a joyous playful sense of humor, Michelles classes offer a safe, nurturing and challenging environment for students to come and explore their mental and physical boundaries. Prenatal Yoga 30 Minute Class www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTDocfhdA1Y&feature=youtu.be Bikram Yoga inpsired Class with Maggie Grove youtu.be/V5i5Qz2IGJE Power Yoga for Weight Loss youtu.be/yUtK7v3dsr0 Strong Yoga For Beginners Workout youtu.be/xglmLhDppmo Meditative Bhakti Yoga Flow youtu.be/mQnAvEbDNPg Cardio Yoga Workout youtu.be/hy-qss2Takg Yoga Workout 1 hour Yoga For Weight Loss youtu.be/yUtK7v3dsr0 Power Yoga Flow youtu.be/XpGnuK_u4gQ Bhakti Yoga Class youtu.be/K9scEzgir-8 Yoga for Beginners youtu.be/EaKZ3Xtxf5A Mindfulness Meditation youtu.be/2K-ZcAgka2g Gentle Yin Yoga Full Class youtu.be/Z3AlyD1CIJw Bhakti Yoga flow heart opening yoga workout with Kumi Yogini youtu.be/onS6uq94NHw Bhakti yoga class yoga flow with Kumi Yogini ॐ youtu.be/K9scEzgir-8 bhakti yoga class with Kumi Yogini youtu.be/ch4CEW-vEoc Advanced Yoga Workout - Inversions, Hand Stand, Core Work youtu.be/KbLVYpQ74Zo Bhakti Yoga Flow youtu.be/KvhIvZyemtI Inspired Yoga Workout with Breathwork youtu.be/_wG5hEBrMJQ Strong beginners Yoga Workout with JQ Williams youtu.be/vQdOhTKfEt8 Bhakti Yoga flow yoga workout youtu.be/VPmOF99bBHg Beginners Yoga Flow 2015 youtu.be/Dva-ThUN6Ww Bhakti Yoga Flow with Kumi Yogini 2015 youtu.be/onS6uq94NHw Yoga for Beginners Level 1 yoga workout youtu.be/f2sIjOHFZuU Yoga Flow youtu.be/YKVhB4TxuwU 40 Minute Yin Yoga Class youtu.be/O_Vg-j5lkuA Strong Power Yoga Flow youtu.be/UwJFpTRXI-g Yoga flow daily recharge total body workout youtu.be/LiTlpC0RU6Q Strong Power Yoga Flow youtu.be/Ua10v6kw27c 30 Minute Power Yoga Flow with Twists for detox youtu.be/Sy25cbDGqBM
IN ENGLISH BELOW THE LINE
La Butcher's Reflex Carbine fou una camera reflex de format 120 fabricada al Regne Unit als anys 20 i 30. De fet es tracta d'un intent de fabricar una camera reflex de format mitjà senzilla i relativament barata. Obviament tant les seves característiques com la seva practicitat s'en resentiren.
Només tenia una sola velocitat, apart del mode T, i una col·locació dels comandaments molt poc util: s'enfoca amb el botó de la part superior i es dispara amb els botons situats massa arran del objectiu. Vaig tenir aquesta càmera uns pocs dies: tot i que l'obturador "funcionava", en la majoria dels casos quedava encallat a mig, i la vaig retornar al venedor.
L'objectiu es un Aldis Uno Anastigmat.
====================
The Butcher's Reflex Carbine was a 120-format reflex camera manufactured in the United Kingdom in the 1920s and 30s. In fact, it's an attempt to make a simple, relatively cheap medium-format reflex camera. Obviously both its features and its practicality are resentful of this approach.
It only had a single speed, apart from the T mode, and the placement of the controls is awkward: it focuses with the lever at the top and releases the shutter with the buttons located too far near the lens. I had this camera for a few days: although the shutter "worked", in most cases it was stuck in mid-position, and I returned it to the seller.
www.collection-appareils.fr/x/html/camera-2808-Butcher_Re...
Coachwork by Bertone
430 ex.
Maserati's final major introduction while under Citroën's control, the Khamsin (named after a hot Sahara Desert wind) debuted at the 1972 Turin Show and entered production in 1974. Styled by Marcello Gandini and built at Bertone, the Khamsin's attractive, unitary construction, 2+2 hatchback body was of all-steel construction. The Khamsin featured state-of-the-art, all-independent, double-wishbone suspension similar to that of the mid-engined Bora and Merak which, combined with a 50/50 front/rear weight distribution, endowed it with near perfect balance. The Khamsin's front-engined layout made it easier to control close to the limit, while the speed-sensitive power steering enabled it to be driven as effortlessly in town as when crossing the Continent.
Citroën's hydraulic technology powered the brakes and steering - the latter, in particular, being rated as highly effective by testers - and also to raise the concealed headlamps. Designed by legendary engineering genius Giulio Alfieri, the power unit was a 4,9-litre version of Maserati's familiar quad-cam V8 developing 320 bhp and a lusty 354 lb/ft of torque. A five-speed ZF manual gearbox or three-speed Borg-Warner automatic transmission were options, and when equipped with the former the Khamsin was good for around 240 km/h. The Khamsin was Maserati's biggest-engined and most expensive offering at the time of its introduction, and thus could justifiably claim to be its top-of-the-range model. By virtue of its front-engined layout, the Khamsin offered greater practicality than the mid-engined Bora, providing a roomier and more comfortable interior, and superior luggage carrying capacity. In 1977 the Khamsin benefited from a minor facelift that included the addition of three small vents at the bonnet front to improve cooling. Only 430 Khamsins were produced, 140 of them with the three-speed Borg Warner automatic transmission.
Finished in Argento (silver) with red leather interior, this Khamsin left the Modena factory on 29th September 1978, bound for the USA. It has the desirable five-speed manual gearbox and is a matching numbers and matching colours example (see Maserati Classiche email on file). The Maserati has been back in Italy since 1999, and from 2007 to 2012 belonged to a well-known sports car dealer near Verona. Since 2012, the car has formed part of the current vendor's private collection. Importantly, this Khamsin has been returned to European specification with the rear light clusters fitted in the glass panel, a much more aesthetically pleasing solution than that of the awkward US-specification models, which had the light cluster below the glass panel.
Rome-based classic engine specialist, Paolo Centazzo, has recently completed a comprehensive rebuild of the engine. The work included fitting new pistons, new bearings throughout, new valve guides and valve seats, a new timing chain, and a new clutch. A photographic record of the engine rebuild available and comes with the car, together with confirmation from Paolo Centazzo. Since the work was finished in September 2016 the car has been driven only a minimal distance. Offered with Italian registration documents, it is a stunning example of this classic wedge-shaped Maserati in a most attractive colour combination, with the added benefit of a freshly rebuilt engine.
Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais
Bonhams
Sold for € 178.250
Estimated : € 180.000 - 220.000
Parijs - Paris
Frankrijk - France
February 2017
Fantastic car, one of my favourite Audis. Combines everyday practicality with outstanding performance. This generation of the RS6 has 5.0 V10 580 HP engine. It goes from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.6 seconds, with top speed of 250 km/h.
The chain link fence encircles a small dog park. I believe these hydrants have either been removed or are awaiting installation. I don’t exactly know why I’m attracted to clunky, oversized, plumbing. I find plumbing hardware like this so unattractive and lacking grace or appeal. I have studied industrial design a little and worked with engineering most of my career. What I see in heavy plumbing is concerns about economy, practicality and durability and almost nothing else. At the same time it is the rusty, crusty, clunkiness that I find so appealing.
Candid shot, Mid-Devon County show.
Farming can be a solitary "isolating" vocation. If you spend a lot of time alone things like fashion and "how you look" give way to practicalities like "does it work".
Coachwork by Carrozzeria Pinin Farina
Chassis n° B521004
n° 1 of 7
Bonhams
Les Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris
The Grand Palais Éphémère
Place Joffre
Parijs - Paris
Frankrijk - France
February 2023
Estimated : € 800.000 - 1.000.000
Sold for € 718.750
"The car body is characterised by its streamlined silhouette, tapered toward the tail, the smooth sides, the raised circular front air intake, which generates the central part of the hood, also circular in cross section. Evidently there is the influence of the aeronautics of the era." - Antoine Prunet, Pininfarina.
Offered here is the very first of Pinin Farina's PF200 show cars, built for promotional purposes to generate publicity and never intended for series production, although Pinin Farina (as it was then) went on to build a further six examples, some open, some closed. The seven PF200s were slightly different from one another, although all featured the signature circular front air intake reminiscent of the North American F-86 Sabre jet fighter. The concept made its debut in 1952 when this very car, chassis number '1004', was displayed on the Pinin Farina stand at the Turin Motor Show. Italian film star and lover of fine cars, Renato Rascel (real name Renato Ranucci) met Sergio 'Pinin' Farina at the 1952 Turin Show and purchased '1004'. The side air intakes and six exhaust pipes are delightful details, while instead of stowing the soft-top behind the seats, like many open cars of the period, Pinin Farina arranged for the PF200's hood to fold down out of sight within the body, thus preserving its streamlined appearance.
The PF200 used the chassis and running gear of the Lancia Aurelia B52, one of the most advanced sporting cars of the era. At this time Pinin Farina had yet to supplant Carrozzeria Vignale as Ferrari's coachbuilder of choice, and much of its best work from this period was on Lancia chassis. One of the most influential designs to emerge from Italy post-WW2, Lancia's classic Aurelia was the first car ever to employ a V6 engine. Designed in wartime by Francesco de Virgilio and launched at the 1950 Turin Motor Show, the Aurelia B10 was powered by a 1,754cc 60-degree V6 of all-aluminium construction that used overhead valves operated via short pushrods instead of Lancia's traditional overhead camshafts.
An advanced unitary-construction design, the Aurelia retained Lancia's 'sliding pillar' independent front suspension, first seen on the Lambda, but used a novel semi-trailing-arm layout at the rear, another world first. The transmission too, was unusual, comprising a two-piece prop-shaft and combined gearbox/rear transaxle on which were mounted the inboard brakes, though for once this was not an entirely new departure. The original B10 saloon was joined the following year by the landmark, Pininfarina-styled B20 Coupé, a fastback '2+2' on a shortened wheelbase which, with its combination of sports car performance and saloon car practicality, can be said to have introduced the Gran Turismo concept to the world. Models with longer wheelbases and larger engines in various states of tune followed. To cater for independent coachbuilders, Lancia offered the longer-wheelbase (291cm) B50 chassis, based on B10 mechanicals, and later the B52, which came with the 2.0-litre engine of the B20/B21. In total Lancia built only 98 B52 chassis, the last of which was delivered in 1953.
Bought new by famous Italian film star, Renato Ranucci, in 1952 at the Turin Motor Show, '1004' changed ownership in 1958 and a couple of times more between then and 1961. It then seems to have remained in the same family for some 13 years before being bought by the current owner in 1974.
A passionate collector of classic cars, with a passion for flying, the current owner is himself a pilot of light aircraft, and during military service also of jets. He found the Lancia in a very poor condition; the car was in pieces but what caught his eye was the circular front air-intake: it looked more like a jet than a car so you can imagine how his passion for cars and aircraft coalesced in the same object - it was love at first sight.
The car was restored in the 1980s by the current owner, who commissioned what were then the best specialists for the job. The painstaking professional restoration took almost 10 years, a period in which the owner and the restorer, Mr. Giancarlo Cappa, became very close friends after doing a lot of research about this Pf200 together. During the restoration and despite the time-consuming research, some details had to be altered as replacements for some of the unique parts were unobtainable. The restoration notes/receipts for 35,000,000 liras are on file, an astronomical amount for a restoration if you know that a monthly salary for a worker at that time was around 300.000/350.000 liras. The car is finished in the lovely colour scheme of dark grey with a tan interior.
Once the Lancia came finally 'home', the owner put the car in one of the living rooms of the main house, which had ramp access. It was here that the family spent most evenings, especially at weekends. The car stood in the middle of the room as the centrepiece. The owner's rationale was very clear: the PF200 is a masterpiece and a work of art, which fully justified having it in your main living room. If you are not driving the car, indoors is the best place to enjoy it the most!
In the 1990s the engine failed and was removed, and it was then decided to replace it with one of an identical type (no. B21*2700*). Unfortunately, the original block was not retained, the importance of 'matching numbers' not being appreciated at that time. Carefully looked after by its long-term custodian, the car is presented today in mainly preserved condition following its 1980s restoration, which is now showing signs of age, especially in the paint. Residing for almost 50 years with the same owner, the car has its own dedicated space in the garage with magnificent 'Lancia PF200' badging on the wall.
On old Italian plates, the car has featured on posters and in magazines, etc and comes with an Italian libretto and a quite exceptional history file. The latter contains important correspondence with Pininfarina dating from 1981, which confirms that the car belonged to Renato Rascel; that it is the example exhibited at the 1952 Turin Motor Show; and that it was the first of a 'series' of seven PF200s of the same type built by hand, each of them different from the others even if only by some small functional or ornamental details, very often requested by the customer. Unfortunately, a fire at the Pininfarina factory destroyed all records of the PF200s and there are no photographs of this car's interior. The fascinating history file also contains lots of other correspondence; various articles; period photographs (1970s onwards); restoration photos (1980s); and the all-important Automobile Club D'Italia document confirming build details and ownership history. With the recent announcement of the re-birth of the Lancia Aurelia model, this unique car will become all-the-more collectible and is a unique opportunity for any major collector.
"The British built Ginetta G20 is a minimalistic roadster built for driving pleasure. Comfort and practicality are sacrificed for handling and performance. As such, the G20 has no doors and a rather cramped interior space, although with no roof at all there is room for the taller people."
Approximately 200 G20s were built.
Taken at the 2022 Woodward Dream Cruise