The 1860’s were a boom time of naval construction. The first ironclad battleships had amply demonstrated that the reign of the old wooden ship of the line was at an end. Such ships were extremely vulnerable to the new technology of high explosive shells, giving ships that were actually armoured to withstand such weapons a huge advantage. As a result, the world’s naval powers were keen to dispose of their now useless fleets, replacing them with ironclads as fast as they could.

 

Nowhere was this boom of shipbuilding greater than the Old Perceptan Empire. Ever since the Avalonian Continental and Western Holy Wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, where the navies of its rivals had been practically annihilated, Perceptum had maintained a massive margin of global naval supremacy for half a century by the virtue of being able to supplement its massive number of warships faster than its rivals could build new navies. But with the advent of the ironclad, this vast Armada of wooden sailing ships had been rendered obsolete at a stroke. A similar thing was happening in the navies of its geopolitical enemies, who were capitalizing on the opportunity to finally catch up. Having built its hegemony through the use of its navy, and none to eager to lose the control of the sea which its economy depended upon, the Imperial Government authorized one of the biggest construction programmes in history to replace its fleet with modern ironclad warships. Scores of the grand old wooden ships were sold and scrapped, with only the most modern preserved for conversion that turned them into comparatively ugly hunks of steel. Moreover, Imperial shipyards worked overtime to build entirely new ships with iron framed hulls; ships like the mighty Forza. The great majority of these ships were armed in the traditional broadside manner, before this type was ultimately superseded by ships with central battery and turret armaments.

 

When laid down in 1866, the Lorica and her class were intended to be the last, and grandest, of the Imperial Navy’s broadside battleships. In practice, conversion works on older ships and the construction of other broadsiders continued alongside their building until 1870, so it’s unclear which ship was THE last of the old way of fighting, but the Loricas were the last class of them to be ordered. For the Marina Imperiale, she was the embodiment of the sendoff, with some of the older men in the officer corps shedding tears over the passing of an age. They were the only class of broadside ironclad to possess more than a single gundeck, and although only the lower of the two benefitted from the thickest armour (8in of wrought iron backed by 20in of teak) their height allowed them to ship no less than fifty-six guns. As grand as this may seem, the arrangement caused several problems. The shear weight of all those guns threatened stability, and with so many weapons on two decks, it would be impossible to equip each gun with its own armoured ammunition hoist. This forced the guncrews to share hoists and get creative with how they handled the shot and powder... which would obviously prove hazardous in battle. The magazines were correspondingly huge, and although protected by relatively thick armour for a ship of the type, it was insufficient against the increasingly large guns mounted by central battery and turret ironclads. The only real strength they had was the mobility that resulted from their length to width ratio, but maneuvering such top-heavy iron sailing ships proved notoriously hazardous.

 

As can be expected, the Eight Years War was not kind to them. The ships performed admirably despite their age, their massive batteries of updated guns proving useful in calm seas and coastal battles where they proved their worth in guarding the Empire’s ports from attack. And unlike most other broadsiders, their entire hull was armoured with wrought iron ranging between four and eight inches, which allowed them to tank hits from smaller guns. Their relative agility even allowed them to dodge torpedoes while other, less nimble ships foundered. But whenever they were dragged too far out to sea, predictable problems arose. Their instability, worsened by the even heavier new rifled gun battery, caused more than one of them to sink in bad weather, in particularly fast turns or due to uncontrolled flooding in battle. With such a tendency to roll so heavily, the lower gun deck (which housed all the 8in guns, as opposed to the 4 and 6in rifles on the upper deck) would be subject to flooding should the hatches be opened in rough seas. Worse yet was the damage inflicted by the more modern ships the Empire was facing; the big-gun ships favoured by the Order of Achatius and her Allies found no problem with overmatching the Lorica’s armour, even from range. Once penetrated, the ships citadel and vulnerable ammunition stores were wide open to destruction.

 

Several of them did, however, survive the War. Wartime construction eventually caught up, allowing the the Loricas to be replaced on the front line by newer, tougher ships that moved the old broadsiders to relatively safe port defense and reserve posts. After the war, the Perceptan navy diligently reorganized itself and, strapped for cash, decided to sell many of its obsolescent ships off to the highest foreign bidders. At least one Lorica found its way into the Royal Pyu Navy, while another became flagship to a short-lived but famous pirate of the Chornslad Alliance. After superseding their value as combatants, they would serve for the rest of their days as depot ships, coal hulks and training vessels... an ignominious end to the era of the sailing battleship.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 19-Dec-21 (DeNoise AI).

 

A dark December day in Manchester.

 

Fleet No: "076".

 

Originally ordered by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines as PH-DTM the order was cancelled before completion. It was sold on delivery to PAL Philippine Airlines, originally as RP-C2000. However that registration wasn't taken up and it was delivered as RP-C2003 in Oct-76.

 

It was sold to a lessor in Oct-88 and leased back to PAL until it was returned to the lessor in May-94. The aircraft was re-registered EI-DLA in Jun-94 and it was leased to Leisure Air (USA) the following month. It didn't stay long and was returned to the lessor in Nov-94 (Leisure Air ceased operations in Jan-95) and stored at Greensboro, NC, USA.

 

It wasn't until Jul-96 that it was leased to Continental Airlines, still as EI-DLA (Fleet No:076). The aircraft was withdrawn from use and stored at Mojave, CA, USA in Feb-00. It made it's last flight in Aug-03 when it was ferried to Greenwood, MS, USA and permanently retired. It was broken up there in Jul/Aug-04.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 25-May-24.

 

Fleet No: "1AA".

 

This aircraft was the 4th MD-11 Prototype, first flown on 05-Jun-90 with the McDonnell Douglas test registration N411MD. After flight testing was complete it was originally for delivery to British Caledonian Airways (B.Cal). The order was transferred to British Airways after they had taken over B.Cal in late 1987. However, it was eventually cancelled.

 

It was delivered to American Airlines as N1750B in May-91. The type didn't really fit in with American's fleet plans, they sold it (and the rest of their MD-11 fleet) six years later to FedEx Federal Express as N581FE in Feb-97. It was converted to freighter configuration with a main deck cargo door in May-97.

 

The aircraft was written off on 17-Oct-99 when it overran the runway on landing at Subic Bay (now Clark Airport), Philippines. Due to an un-noticed air speed indicator error. the aircraft landed too fast and overran the runway, hitting a concrete post and slamming into a wire fence before plunging into the bay. All of the aircraft was submerged, 10 m offshore, except for the flight deck. The two flight crew survived.

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 13-Dec-15.

 

Named: "City of Perth".

 

The registration VH-EBD was previously used on a QANTAS B707-138B and later used on a QANTAS A330-202 which was also leased to JetStar between 2006/14.

 

This aircraft was delivered to QANTAS Airways in Dec-71 as VH-EBD. In Mar-80 it was due to be sold to Eastern Air Lines as N371EA and was repainted in full Eastern livery at Sydney. However the sale fell through and it was repainted in full QANTAS livery again at the end of Apr-80 and returned to service. It was returned to Boeing in Mar-85 as N747BN and remained stored at Sydney. In Sep-85 it was leased to Peoplexpress as N608PE. Boeing sold it to a leasing company 3 months later while the lease to Peoplexpress continued. In Feb-87 Peoplexpress was taken over by Continental Airlines. The registration N10023 was assigned by Continental but not used and the aircraft continued in service until it was returned to the lessor in Sep-91. It was stored at Mojave, CA, USA until May-92 when it was leased to Garuda Indonesian Airlines. It returned to the lessor and to storage at Norton AFB, CA, USA (later to be renamed Victorville) in Sep-92. It never flew again. It was sold to the AGES Group in Mar-94 and was broken up at Norton AFB in Sep-94.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 03-Aug-24.

 

Named: "City of Hazrat Shah Jalal (R.A)".

 

This aircraft was delivered to Singapore Airlines as 9V-SDF in Nov-79. It was leased to VARIG Brasil as PP-VMR in Dec-79 and returned to Singapore Airlines as 9V-SDF in Nov-80.

 

It was sold to Biman Bangladesh Airlines as S2-ACQ in Nov-83 and was permanently retired at Dhaka, Bangladesh in Sep-11 after 32 years in service. Used as a spares source, it was eventually broken up at Dhaka in Feb-17.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 05-Jan-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

UK Football Association 'Emirates FA Cup' logojet (right side).

 

First flown in Jul-13 with the Airbus test registration F-WWAD, this aircraft was ferried to the Airbus Factory airfield at Hamburg-Finkenwerder for cabin fitout and painting. it was delivered to Emirates Airline as A6-EES in Dec-13.

 

The aircraft was withdrawn from service in Mar-20 and stored at Dubai-World Central due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. It was moved back to Dubai-International in Oct-21 and returned to service in late Nov-21 after repainting in the 'DUBAI EXPO' special livery. Current, updated 05-Jan-22.

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 10-Feb-15, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 17-Jun-23. A bit blurred!

 

With additional 'On Charter to C.A.A.C' (Central African Airlines Corporation) stickers.

 

This was parked outside the British Eagle hangars at London-Heathrow being serviced with British Eagle equipment. As the rest of the BOAC DC-7C fleet had been disposed of by spring 1964, I think Eagle had a maintenance contract for the remaining 2 freighters which were in service until spring 1965. As the stickers say, it was being 'Operated for C.A.A.C.' (Central African Airways Corporation).

 

This aircraft was delivered new to BOAC in Apr-57 and was in passenger service for just three and a half years before it was converted into a freighter with 2 main-deck cargo doors by the Douglas Aircraft Company at their Santa Monica, CA, plant in Dec-60.

 

It continued in service with BOAC Cargo until it was sold to Universal Trading Corp (USA) in May-65. It was transferred to FB Ayer & Associates the same month as N16465. It was leased to Airlift International in Jan-66, returning to FB Ayer in Sep-66.

 

The following month it was leased to International Aerodyne and sub-leased back to Airlift International. It was returned to FB Ayer in Sep-67. In Feb-68 it was leased to Air Caribbean Transport as 6Y-JFK and returned to FB Ayer in Apr-70, again as N16465 and was stored at Tucson, AZ, USA.

 

It was sold to Onyx Aviation in Mar-78 and sold again in Nov-78 to ComTran Inc and sold again to La mancha Aire Inc in Dec-81. Finally, it was sold to Paterson Aircraft Corp in Sep-83. It was later stored again at Miami and broken up there in Dec-92.

Replaced with Full sized image

replaced with a cropped version. i kept looking at the thumbnail of the original like, "wait...i think this actually looks better."

{replaced another photo}

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 02-Feb-20, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 08-Jun-23. Trying to get rid of the yellow and it's turned a bit purple!

 

Previously in Air Hong Kong livery. Repainted into basic Cathay Pacific livery with additional Cathay Pacific stickers. I have a similar photo of it taken 7 weeks earlier with Air Hong Kong stickers!

 

This aircraft was ordered by Libyan Arab Airlines as a 'Combi' passenger/freighter with a side cargo door (SCD). It was due to be registered 5A-DIK but the order was cancelled prior to delivery.

 

The aircraft first flew in Mar-80 and was stored at Seattle-Everett, WA, USA until it was delivered to VARIG Brasil as PP-VNB in Feb-81. In Dec-82 VARIG sold it to Orient Leasing and leased it back.

 

It was returned to Orient Leasing in Dec-94 and was stored at Rio de Janeiro-Galeao, Brazil. In Feb-96 it was sold to Cathay Pacific Airways as VR-HME.

 

The aircraft was converted to a full freighter configuration by Apr-96 and leased to Cathay's subsidiary, Air Hong Kong. In Oct-97 it was re-registered B-HME when Hong Kong became an autonomous region of China.

 

The aircraft was returned to Cathay Pacific Airways Cargo in Jul-02 and continued in operation until it was retired in Sep-08 and stored at Victorville, CA, USA. It was last noted still at Victorville in May-15.

Replaced by a new mural some years ago

Queens Hall

Replacing an earlier scanned 6"x4" print with a better version 03-Jun-19 (DeNoise AI 12-Sep-22).

 

Named: "Alf Viking".

 

First flown with the Fokker test registration PH-EXL, this aircraft was delivered to Linjeflyg, Sweden as SE-DGA in May-73. It was wet-leased to Andrea Airlines (a short-lived Peruvian domestic airline) in Jul-91 and returned to Linjeflyg in Dec-91.

 

Linjeflyg was merged into SAS Scandinavian Airlines in Jan-93. The aircraft was retired and stored at Stockholm-Arlanda in Jan-97, it was broken up there in Aug-97.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 16-Apr-17, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 06-Jan-24.

 

Japan Airlines had some of their late-build B747-100's built with the -300 series stretched upper deck for use on high density domestic services. KLM were the only other airline to have some of their B747-200's modified to 'SUD' standard.

 

First flown with the Boeing test registration N6009F, this aircraft was delivered to JAL Japan Airlines as JA8170 in Mar-86. When JAL split the company into Domestic and International divisions in Jan-04 it was transferred to the International division.

 

The aircraft was sold to Orient Thai Airways as HS-UTQ in Dec-06 and it was transferred to their subsidiary company 'One-Two-Go by Orient Thai' in early 2007.

 

The company ceased trading in Jul-08 and the aircraft was permanently retired and stored at Bangkok (DMK), Thailand. It was broken up there in Jul/Aug-10.

 

The forward fuselage, including the upper deck, was transported by road to the Bangkapi District of Bangkok where it joined the fuselages of two of One-Two-Go's MD-83's. It was noted still there in mid 2016.

For the fortress of Castel Sant'Angelo sculptor Raffaello da Montelupo created a marble statue of Saint Michael originally to go on top the Castel. The statue was later replaced and moved this open court in the interior of the fortress.

(July 2009: original low res print scan replaced with scanned uncropped negative) Best Viewed Large On Black see rest of this horiffic event in the Racist Attack set.

 

See www.cfye.com for the full story and more detail

  

I was walking down Moore Street Dublin on a Sunday 27/07/08 when I was passed by a family of Romany Gypsies and then I heard behind me a bunch of Irish teenage girls shouting abuse at them and thinking they were very funny.

They then picked up old fruit from the stalls and were throwing this at the Romany Gypsies, this escalated as the Gypsies responded verbally. Then further as one teenage girl found old stallholders plastic chair and ran after the Gypsies hitting the woman pictured from behind. The woman tries to protect her baby wrapped in her arm in blankets. Luckily the situation soon diffused after this point.

Taken with Nikon F75: 50mm f/1.4D lens: Y44 Filter. Fomapan 200 film: Developed in Xtol Stock @21C for 6'30'' at 5'' Agitation/30''

 

Scan from 8''X10’’ Print on Ilford MGIV Pearl

 

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 20-Apr-16.

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration D-AVYD, this aircraft was delivered to Tunis Air in Sep-98. Now almost 18 years old (as of Apr-16), it continues in service.

Broad-bodied chaser, male

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 03-Mar-18, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 15-Apr-23.

 

'Wanula Dreaming', Australia World Tail livery, left side.

 

This aircraft was delivered to British Airways as G-BNLS in Mar-91. It was in service with British Airways for 23 years until it was permanently retired and stored at Victorville, CA, USA in May-14. It was last noted still stored at Victorville in May-15.

Konica Waiwai + Agfa Vista 200

 

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Feel free to follow my instagram for more film photos update !!

My ig : swyh_44

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 10-May-22 (DeNoise AI)

 

Leased to Ansett Air Freight and operated by Kitty Hawk Air Cargo.

 

This aircraft was delivered to American Airlines as N6833 in May-69. It was in service with American for 25 years until it was sold to a leasing company in May-94. It was converted to freight configuration with a main deck cargo door in Jun-94 and was leased to Kitty Hawk Air Cargo in Aug-94.

 

The aircraft was sub-leased to Pan Air in Oct-96 and returned to Kitty Hawk in Dec-96. It was sub-leased to Ansett Air Freight in Jan-98, returning to Kitty Hawk in Mar-99.

 

The company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection in May-00 and the aircraft was sold to the Kitty Hawk Collateral Liquidating Trust and leased back to Kitty Hawk Aircargo in Oct-01.

 

The aircraft was finally retired at Roswell, NM, USA at the end of Jul-05 and never flew again. It was last noted still stored at Roswell in Mar-11 in derelict condition.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise 07-Sep-25.

 

First flown in Nov-94 with the Airbus test registration F-WWAA, this aircraft was stored at Toulouse until it was delivered to China Eastern Airlines as B-2325 in Mar-95.

 

It was retired and stored at Shanghai-Hongqiao in Mar-14. The aircraft was sold to AVIC Leasing in Dec-14 and converted to freighter configuration at Dresden, Germany in Mar-16 and leased to Uni-Top Airlines, China in later the same month.

 

The aircraft was permanently retired at Shanghai-Hongqiao in Jun-19.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 09-Apr-14.

 

Operated as a freighter by Baltic Airlines, it's seen here still in the basic livery of Manx Airlines, it's previous operator.

 

This was quite a late build Viscount which first flew in Aug-59. Originally ordered by Trans Australia Airlines as a Viscount 816, it should have become VH-TVR but the order was cancelled before delivery.

 

It was initially stored and then converted to a type V.836 in Apr-60 and sold to the Union Carbide Corporation for executive operation as N40N in May-60. It was sold to the Royal Australian Air Force in Aug-64 as A6-435 and operated for five years until it was sold in the USA in Nov-69 as N40NA to the Alda Corporation.

 

It returned to Australia the following month as VH-EQP with Jet Air Australia and was sold to the Brins Finance Corporation in Sep-70 and sold on the same day to Gates Aviation Turbine Propeller Sales.

 

In Jun-71, continuing it’s ‘executive’ role, it was sold to The Sultan of Oman’s Air Force serialled ‘501’. In Sep-78 it was sold to Royal Swazi National Airways as 3D-ACM but the sale was never completed and the aircraft stayed in Oman until Mar-79 when it was sold to British Midland Airways in the UK as G-BFZL.

 

The aircraft was briefly leased to BMA subsidiary Manx Airlines in Oct/Nov-83 and then leased to them again in Nov-85. In May-86 it was sold to British Aerospace (BAe), leased back to BMA and sub-leased to Manx Airlines, all on the same day.

 

It continued in service with Manx until it was returned to BAe in Nov-88 and immediately leased to Baltic Airlines. It was briefly sub-leased to Manx Airlines again in Apr/May-90 (when this photo was taken).

 

In May-90 Baltic Airlines was merged into British Air Ferries who changed their name to British World Airlines in Apr-93. In Apr-97 it was sold to Heli-Lift Ltd and leased to their subsidiary Heli Jet Aviation.

 

In Mar-98 it was transferred to their South African division as ZS-NNI and was later stored at Lanseria, South Africa, until it was sold to Trans Inter Congo in Nov-02 as 9Q-CGL. In Apr-03, now 44 years old, it was written off in a take-off accident in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Now, who didn't replace their divot? Could it be SATAN?!!! Even as a Christian, I couldn't help but love Dana Carvey's "Church Lady" character from SNL... I think I actually knew that lady, once upon a time.

 

This gives a perspective from the salt pan, known as Badwater, at the bottom of the previous image. What is now Death Valley National Park began as a National Monument in 1933. A year later, a National Park Service guidebook stated that "Only the devil could play golf" here, due to a rough texture from the large halite salt crystal formations... the name stuck, though I believe the devil would have more fun watching others tee off here rather than himself... Golfer's Hell might have been more appropriate. Good luck finding the ball if you did manage to get it off the ground!

 

The Pacific Coast Borax Company drilled holes here prior to its becoming Death Valley National Monument, to a depth of 1,000 feet (300 meters). They found little difference between there and the top. Later research puts estimates of depths to 9,000 feet (2,700 meters), so there's no doubt this place is well seasoned. You've heard of "salt of the earth"? Here earth is salt.

 

It is desolate here, with nothing able to grow in the salt, yet it is still strangely beautiful.

Replacing a photo from Apr-15 with a better version.

 

Named: "Princess Salma Bint Abdullah".

 

This aircraft was delivered to the CIT Leasing Corporation and leased to Royal Jordanian Airlines as JY-BAC in Oct-15. Current (Sep-18).

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 21-May-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

This aircraft was delivered to Air France as F-GJNE in Jan-92. It was sold to the General Electric Capital Corporation (later to become part of GECAS) in Apr-01 and leased back.

 

It was returned to the lessor in Jan-07 and stored at Toulouse, France. The aircraft was leased to Yamal Airlines (Russia) as VP-BRQ in Apr-07. It was returned to GECAS in Nov-14 and permanently retired at Kemble, UK.

 

The aircraft was broken up at Kemble in late 2015 and the fuselage was transported by road and sea to Hoofddorp, Netherlands in Jan/Feb-16 where it was to be used as a Cabin Service Trainer. The wings were due to be attached at a later date (I have no information on whether they were or not!). Updated 19-May-22.

After modern counterparts replaced the original fog bell and Fresnel lens at Trinidad Head Lighthouse in 1947, the Coast Guard donated the historic artifacts to the Trinidad Civic Club for display in a planned memorial park overlooking Trinidad Bay. Mrs. Earl Hallmark donated land for the park, and in 1949 the club built a concrete Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse, an accurate replica that many visitors believe to be the actual Trinidad Head Lighthouse. The historic Fresnel lens was installed in the lighthouse's lantern room, and the fog bell was suspended from a wooden frame built adjacent to the lighthouse. For its work on the memorial, the Trinidad Civic Club received the 1949 California Grand Sweepstakes Prize in the Build a Better Community Contest sponsored by the National Federation of Women's Clubs and the Kroeger Company.

 

In the early 1970s, the Trinidad Civic Club decided to establish a memorial at the lighthouse for those lost at sea. The memorial started as a marble slab engraved with sea gulls and the words "Lost At Sea," but has steadily grown through the years. In 1975, the club created a four-sided, pyramidal, rock-cement monument, located near the fog bell, that supports plaques inscribed with names of those lost at sea. Inscriptions were later added for those who were buried at sea, and the list of names soon outgrew the plaques on the small monument, so additional plaques were placed along the adjacent cement retaining wall.

 

Each year on Memorial Day, friends and families gather to remember those whose names are recorded on the plaques. Originally, the fog bell was only rung at the Memorial Day gatherings, but through the generosity of Dave Zebo, a long-time resident and a former mayor of Trinidad, the bell has been automated to toll each day at noon in memory of those buried and lost at sea. Click here to hear the bell toll a couple of times (the flag at the memorial was at half-staff due to the then recent passing of President Ford).

 

In August 1998, new windows and a new stainless steel dome were installed atop the tower thanks to the efforts of community volunteers and Tom Odom, a former mayor of Trinidad.

 

www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=870

 

Photo of the Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse, with a hint of Trinidad Head in the background, captured via Minolta MD Zoom Rokkor-X 24-50mm F/4 lens and the bracketing method of photography in the city of Trinidad. Coast Range. North Coast. Humboldt County, Northern California. Late July 2017.

 

Exposure Time: 1/250 sec. * ISO Speed: ISO-400 * Aperture: F/11 * Bracketing: +1 / -1 * Color Temperature: 7000 K After modern counterparts replaced the original fog bell and Fresnel lens at Trinidad Head Lighthouse in 1947, the Coast Guard donated the historic artifacts to the Trinidad Civic Club for display in a planned memorial park overlooking Trinidad Bay. Mrs. Earl Hallmark donated land for the park, and in 1949 the club built a concrete Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse, an accurate replica that many visitors believe to be the actual Trinidad Head Lighthouse. The historic Fresnel lens was installed in the lighthouse's lantern room, and the fog bell was suspended from a wooden frame built adjacent to the lighthouse. For its work on the memorial, the Trinidad Civic Club received the 1949 California Grand Sweepstakes Prize in the Build a Better Community Contest sponsored by the National Federation of Women's Clubs and the Kroeger Company.

 

In the early 1970s, the Trinidad Civic Club decided to establish a memorial at the lighthouse for those lost at sea. The memorial started as a marble slab engraved with sea gulls and the words "Lost At Sea," but has steadily grown through the years. In 1975, the club created a four-sided, pyramidal, rock-cement monument, located near the fog bell, that supports plaques inscribed with names of those lost at sea. Inscriptions were later added for those who were buried at sea, and the list of names soon outgrew the plaques on the small monument, so additional plaques were placed along the adjacent cement retaining wall.

 

Each year on Memorial Day, friends and families gather to remember those whose names are recorded on the plaques. Originally, the fog bell was only rung at the Memorial Day gatherings, but through the generosity of Dave Zebo, a long-time resident and a former mayor of Trinidad, the bell has been automated to toll each day at noon in memory of those buried and lost at sea. Click here to hear the bell toll a couple of times (the flag at the memorial was at half-staff due to the then recent passing of President Ford).

 

In August 1998, new windows and a new stainless steel dome were installed atop the tower thanks to the efforts of community volunteers and Tom Odom, a former mayor of Trinidad.

 

www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=870

 

Photo of the Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse, with a hint of Trinidad Head in the background, captured via Minolta MD Zoom Rokkor-X 24-50mm F/4 lens and the bracketing method of photography in the city of Trinidad. Coast Range. North Coast. Humboldt County, Northern California. Late July 2017.

 

Exposure Time: 1/250 sec. * ISO Speed: ISO-100 * Aperture: F/11 * Bracketing: +1 / -1 * Color Temperature: 7000 K

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 31-Jan-15, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 21-Aug-23.

 

Parked on the Aviation Overhauls Ramp. Not the best of shots but I remember it was a typical dark January day. I-TAVO had supposedly been bought by Bardock Aviation (UK) but was never delivered. Another UK airline start-up of the early 1960's that didn't last long!

 

History dates are approximate. This aircraft was delivered to the USAAF United States Army Air Forces serialled 44-07760 in early 1945. It was transferred to the UK Royal Air Force as KN682 in May-45.

 

In Nov-51 it was sold to Hunting Aviation Services as G-AMNL and in Dec-51 it was used in the British film/movie 'Top Secret' as an Aeroflot aircraft with the fictitious Soviet registration CCCP-L1783, with Northolt, UK doubling as Moscow.

 

The aircraft was leased to Hunting Clan in 1952 and in the early 1950's used the RAF serial XF767 for UK Ministry of Defence trooping flights. In mid 1960 Hunting Clan, along with other UK independent airlines, was merged to form British United Airways.

 

In Nov-61 the aircraft was leased to Aerolinee Itavia (Italy) as I-TAVO. In late 1963 the aircraft arrived in Liverpool UK for maintenance and storage with Aviation Overhauls.

 

It was due to be leased to Bardock Aviation Services as G-AMNL again and, still in basic Itavia livery, the titles Bardock Aviation Services were added in Mar-64. However, the 'transaction was cancelled' and it remained stored at Liverpool.

 

In Jun-64 it was sold to PLUNA Primeras Lineas Uruguayas de Navegacion Aerea as CX-BDB. The aircraft was later retired at Montevideo, Uruguay (date unknown). It was later presented to the Museo Aeronáutico de Montevideo, Uruguay and displayed in a derelict state. Updated from various sources 17-Jun-23.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 26-Aug-21 (DeNoiseAI).

 

Taken from the Templeton Bridge,

 

Fleet No: "722".

 

First flown with the Boeing test registration N1786B, this aircraft was originally to have been registered N17730. This wasn't taken up and the aircraft was delivered to Continental Airlines as N27722 in Apr-99. It was fitted with blended winglets in May-05. Continental Airlines was merged into United Airlines in Oct-10 and the blended winglets were changed to split scimitar winglets in Sep-15. Current, updated (Aug-20)

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 14-Aug-25.

 

'Colum', Ireland World Tail livery.

 

This aircraft was leased to Cityflyer Express as G-BZAU in Jun-98 and operated on behalf of British Airways. It was renamed British Airways Citiexpress in Nov-02 while the operation for British Airways continued.

 

In Feb-06 the company was renamed BA Connect although not many aircraft carried those titles. It became BA Cityflyer again in Mar-07 while the operation for British Airways continued.

 

The aircraft was withdrawn from service in May-10 and returned to BAE Systems Asset Management. It was stored at Southend, UK.

 

In Aug-10 it was leased to National Jet Express (Australia) as VH-NJQ and operated on behalf of Cobham Aviation. It was permanently retired at Adelaide, South Australia in Jun-21. It was broken up there in Sep-22.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 10-Aug-21.

 

-Delft Blue Daybreak- Netherlands World Tail livery.

 

This aircraft was delivered to British Airways as G-BGDF in Mar-80. It was sold to a lessor in Mar-90 and leased back to British Airways. It was returned to the lessor in Oct-00 and stored the following month.

 

The aircraft was re-registered N902PG in Mar-01 and re-registered again as N954PG in Jun-01. It was leased to Aerolineas Argentinas as LV-ZYG in Nov-01. The aircraft was permanently retired at Buenos Aries-Ezieza International, Argentina in Mar-09.

 

Note: The aircraft was disassembled in 2012 and moved by road Jul-13 to Villa Martelli in Buenos Aries where it was reassembled and displayed at the Tecnopolis Fair in new blue & white Aerolineas Argentinas livery. It was disassembled again and moved by road 09-Apr-14 to Moron where it was reassembled and repainted in fictitious 'Sudamerican Airlines' livery to appear in an episode of the Argentine TV Show 'Showmatch'. In Jul-14 it was moved back to the Villa Martelli

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 19-Nov-23.

 

Boeing 707-300C's were all built with a main deck cargo door and could be used for either passengers or freight. This aircraft was delivered to Northwest Orient Airlines as N376US in Nov-67.

 

It was sold to BWIA International (Trinidad & Tobago) as 9Y-TEK in May-75. In Mar-82 it was sold to Caribbean Air Cargo (Barbados) as 8P-CAD and converted to a full freighter configuration with the cabin windows replaced with blanks.

 

The aircraft was sold to Dynair Tech of Florida Inc in Oct-89 and stored. It was sold to Skyways International in Dec-90 and in May-91 it was sold to First City Texas Houston as N707KV. It was transferred to New First City Texas Houston in Nov-92 and stored at Athens, Greece.

 

In Feb-94 it was sold to Nordstrom Holdings and leased to TAAT Trans Arabian Air Transport as ST-ANP. The aircraft was sold to TAAT Uganda as 5X-ARJ and leased back to Trans Arabian (Sudan) in Dec-96 (when Sudan registered aircraft were banned from Europe).

 

It was re-registered ST-ANP again in Apr-99 when Trans Arabian Air Transport (Sudan) bought it. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair just 4 months later, in Aug-99, when it landed with a strong tailwind at Juba, South Sudan and overran the end of the runway.

My new English Ivy indoor plant.

 

Built in 1914 at no. 911 Wellington Street East.

 

"This is a Prairie-style single-story residence, noticeably located at the south-west corner of Wellington and Woodward in the city’s east-central area. It encompasses part of Lot 15, Plan 568 and Lot 29, Plan 930. GIS coordinates: 705,711.336 5,154,111.585 Meters

 

This handsome, distinctive, well maintained home is the best example of a Prairie-style residence to be found in Sault Ste. Marie. It is an elegant Craftsman style bungalow with a variety of gently pitched roof slopes and a small hipped dormer. The eaves are deep and bracketed. The columns are plain with square abacuses and no base. The inclusion of classical modillions in a residence is rare in Sault Ste. Marie and to Prairie-style homes. A variety of rustic building materials have been utilized: stucco, wood, brick and stone. The window groupings consist of both casement and sash with inner muntin bars. Those windows on the front have been replaced with modern aluminum windows but the windows around the sunroom on the east side and those on the partial second floor are original. Many of the original storm windows are stored in the garage. Craftsmanship in the building is excellent yet simple and functional. Even the interior fireplace sports hand-carved brackets of similar design to those supporting the overhanging exterior eaves. With the exception of the kitchen and bathroom, the main floor rooms are still finished with the original oak trim and floors. An old photo of the house indicates that cedar shingles once adorned the roof.

 

This residence was constructed, in its present form, in 1914 for Richard H. Carney who was District manager for Canada Life Assurance Co. It was the Carney family who was responsible for construction of the Carney Block on Queen St. It thus reflects the affluence of an upper middle class business family which was profiting from the Clergue industrial expansion of the day. A 1914 date and initials of the stone mason builder may be found in the basement wall mortar between the sandstone pieces. It is likely this sandstone was quarried from the locks as was typical for the day. This house was purchased in 1939 by the MacIntosh family who owned it until 2004.

 

The key exterior features that embody the heritage value of 911 Wellington St. E. include:

- Variety of gently pitched roof slopes provide horizontal emphasis reflecting the Prairiestyle bungalow

- Clerestory lighting that provides light to a half story loft

- A hipped dormer and deep bracketed eaves

- Columns with abacuses and no base but adorned with modillions

- Rustic building materials including stucco, wood, brick and stone

- Original casement windows with sash and inner muntin bars on the sunroom (east side)

and on the half story loft

- Home and property have been well maintained in traditional style with little change to

the exterior

- An interior with oak trim, baseboards and flooring unchanged save for the kitchen and

bathroom

- A beautiful fireplace with brackets supporting the mantle matching those under the

eaves on the exterior

- The best example of a classical Prairie-style residence in Sault Ste. Marie distinctively

located in a prominent east-central location

- A residence which reflects the affluence of a prominent Sault business family built

during the heyday of the Clergue industrial empire" - info from the Sault Ste. Marie Municipal Heritage Committee.

 

"Sault Ste. Marie (/ˈsuː seɪnt məˈriː/ SOO-seint-ma-REE) is a city on the St. Marys River in Ontario, Canada, close to the Canada–US border. It is the seat of the Algoma District and the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

 

The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants of the area, call this area Baawitigong, meaning "place of the rapids." They used this as a regional meeting place during whitefish season in the St. Mary's Rapids. (The anglicized form of this name, Bawating, is used in institutional and geographic names in the area.)

 

To the south, across the river, is the United States and the Michigan city of the same name. These two communities were one city until a new treaty after the War of 1812 established the border between Canada and the United States in this area at the St. Mary's River. In the 21st century, the two cities are joined by the International Bridge, which connects Interstate 75 on the Michigan side, and Huron Street (and former Ontario Secondary Highway 550B) on the Ontario side. Shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system bypasses the Saint Mary's Rapids via the American Soo Locks, the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it, while smaller recreational and tour boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.

 

French colonists referred to the rapids on the river as Les Saults de Ste. Marie and the village name was derived from that. The rapids and cascades of the St. Mary's River descend more than 6 m (20 ft) from the level of Lake Superior to the level of the lower lakes. Hundreds of years ago, this slowed shipping traffic, requiring an overland portage of boats and cargo from one lake to the other. The entire name translates to "Saint Mary's Rapids" or "Saint Mary's Falls". The word sault is pronounced [so] in French, and /suː/ in the English pronunciation of the city name. Residents of the city are called Saultites.

 

Sault Ste. Marie is bordered to the east by the Rankin and Garden River First Nation reserves, and to the west by Prince Township. To the north, the city is bordered by an unincorporated portion of Algoma District, which includes the local services boards of Aweres, Batchawana Bay, Goulais and District, Peace Tree and Searchmont. The city's census agglomeration, including the townships of Laird, Prince and Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional and the First Nations reserves of Garden River and Rankin, had a total population of 79,800 in 2011.

 

Native American settlements, mostly of Ojibwe-speaking peoples, existed here for more than 500 years. In the late 17th century, French Jesuit missionaries established a mission at the First Nations village. This was followed by development of a fur trading post and larger settlement, as traders, trappers and Native Americans were attracted to the community. It was considered one community and part of Canada until after the War of 1812 and settlement of the border between Canada and the US at the Ste. Mary's River. At that time, the US prohibited British traders from any longer operating in its territory, and the areas separated by the river began to develop as two communities, both named Sault Ste. Marie." - info from Wikipedia.

 

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Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 29-Mar-21.

 

Fleet No: "703". 'Fisherman' tail livery.

 

First flown with the Short Brothers and Harland test registration G-14-3622 (3622 is also the c/n), this aircraft was delivered to Fischer Brothers Aviation (USA) as N622FB in Oct-83.

 

It was sold to Shorts Air Lease Inc in Nov-85 and leased back to Fischer Brothers. It was returned to the lessor in Nov-86. The aircraft was stored until it was leased to Westair Commuter Airlines in Sep-87.

 

The aircraft returned to the lessor in Feb-91 and was leased to Allegheny Commuter Airlines in May-91. It was returned to the lessor in Jul-94 and stored at Opa Locka, FL, USA.

 

It was sold to Pacific Coastal Airlines as C-GPCW in Jun-97. The aircraft was sub-leased to Ocean Air (Maldives) as 8Q-OCA in Jan-02 and returned to Pacific Coastal as C-GPCW in Apr-02.

 

The aircraft was retired from service in 2012 and stored at Vancouver, BC, Canada. It was sold to Air Cargo Carriers (USA) as N567AC in Aug-15. Now 27.5 years old the aircraft continues in service. Current, updated Mar-21.

 

Note: The registration C-GPCW was used later on a Pacific Coastal Beech 1900C between Apr-16/Jun-19.

Wells Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England, dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, whose cathedra it holds as mother church of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Built as a Roman Catholic cathedral from around 1175 to replace an earlier church on the site since 705, it became an Anglican cathedral when King Henry VIII split from Rome. It is moderately sized for an English cathedral. Its broad west front and large central tower are dominant features. It has been called "unquestionably one of the most beautiful" and "most poetic" of English cathedrals.

 

Its Gothic architecture is mostly inspired from Early English style of the late 12th to early 13th centuries, lacking the Romanesque work that survives in many other cathedrals. Building began about 1175 at the east end with the choir. Historian John Harvey sees it as Europe's first truly Gothic structure, breaking the last constraints of Romanesque. The stonework of its pointed arcades and fluted piers bears pronounced mouldings and carved capitals in a foliate, "stiff-leaf" style. Its Early English front with 300 sculpted figures is seen as a "supreme triumph of the combined plastic arts in England". The east end retains much ancient stained glass. Unlike many cathedrals of monastic foundation, Wells has many surviving secular buildings linked to its chapter of secular canons, including the Bishop's Palace and the 15th-century residential Vicars' Close It is a Grade I listed building.

 

The earliest remains of a building on the site are of a late-Roman mausoleum, identified during excavations in 1980. An abbey church was built in Wells in 705 by Aldhelm, first bishop of the newly established Diocese of Sherborne during the reign of King Ine of Wessex. It was dedicated to St Andrew and stood at the site of the cathedral's cloisters, where some excavated remains can be seen. The font in the cathedral's south transept is from this church and is the oldest part of the present building. In 766 Cynewulf, King of Wessex, signed a charter endowing the church with eleven hides of land. In 909 the seat of the diocese was moved from Sherborne to Wells.

 

The first bishop of Wells was Athelm (909), who crowned King Æthelstan. Athelm and his nephew Dunstan both became Archbishops of Canterbury. During this period a choir of boys was established to sing the liturgy. Wells Cathedral School, which was established to educate these choirboys, dates its foundation to this point. There is, however, some controversy over this. Following the Norman Conquest, John de Villula moved the seat of the bishop from Wells to Bath in 1090. The church at Wells, no longer a cathedral, had a college of secular clergy.

 

The cathedral is thought to have been conceived and commenced in about 1175 by Reginald Fitz Jocelin, who died in 1191. Although it is clear from its size that from the outset, the church was planned to be the cathedral of the diocese, the seat of the bishop moved between Wells and the abbeys of Glastonbury and Bath, before settling at Wells. In 1197 Reginald's successor, Savaric FitzGeldewin, with the approval of Pope Celestine III, officially moved his seat to Glastonbury Abbey. The title of Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury was used until the Glastonbury claim was abandoned in 1219.

 

Savaric's successor, Jocelin of Wells, again moved the bishop's seat to Bath Abbey, with the title Bishop of Bath. Jocelin was a brother of Hugh (II) of Lincoln and was present at the signing of the Magna Carta. Jocelin continued the building campaign begun by Reginald and was responsible for the Bishop's Palace, the choristers' school, a grammar school, a hospital for travellers and a chapel. He also had a manor house built at Wookey, near Wells. Jocelin saw the church dedicated in 1239 but, despite much lobbying of the Pope by Jocelin's representatives in Rome, did not live to see cathedral status granted. The delay may have been a result of inaction by Pandulf Verraccio, a Roman ecclesiastical politician, papal legate to England and Bishop of Norwich, who was asked by the Pope to investigate the situation but did not respond. Jocelin died at Wells on 19 November 1242 and was buried in the choir of the cathedral; the memorial brass on his tomb is one of the earliest brasses in England. Following his death the monks of Bath unsuccessfully attempted to regain authority over Wells.

 

In 1245 the ongoing dispute over the title of the bishop was resolved by a ruling of Pope Innocent IV, who established the title as the "Bishop of Bath and Wells", which it has remained until this day, with Wells as the principal seat of the bishop. Since the 11th century the church has had a chapter of secular clergy, like the cathedrals of Chichester, Hereford, Lincoln and York. The chapter was endowed with 22 prebends (lands from which finance was drawn) and a provost to manage them. On acquiring cathedral status, in common with other such cathedrals, it had four chief clergy, the dean, precentor, chancellor and sacristan, who were responsible for the spiritual and material care of the cathedral.

 

The building programme, begun by Reginald Fitz Jocelin, Bishop in the 12th century, continued under Jocelin of Wells, who was a canon from 1200, then bishop from 1206. Adam Locke was master mason from about 1192 until 1230. It was designed in the new style with pointed arches, later known as Gothic, which was introduced at about the same time at Canterbury Cathedral. Work was halted between 1209 and 1213 when King John was excommunicated and Jocelin was in exile, but the main parts of the church were complete by the time of the dedication by Jocelin in 1239.

 

By the time the cathedral, including the chapter house, was finished in 1306, it was already too small for the developing liturgy, and unable to accommodate increasingly grand processions of clergy. John Droxford initiated another phase of building under master mason Thomas of Whitney, during which the central tower was heightened and an eight-sided Lady chapel was added at the east end by 1326. Ralph of Shrewsbury followed, continuing the eastward extension of the choir and retrochoir beyond. He oversaw the building of Vicars' Close and the Vicars' Hall, to give the men who were employed to sing in the choir a secure place to live and dine, away from the town and its temptations. He had an uneasy relationship with the citizens of Wells, partly because of his imposition of taxes, and he surrounded his palace with crenellated walls, a moat and a drawbridge.

 

John Harewell raised money for the completion of the west front by William Wynford, who was appointed as master mason in 1365. One of the foremost master masons of his time, Wynford worked for the king at Windsor, Winchester Cathedral and New College, Oxford. At Wells, he designed the western towers of which north-west was not built until the following century. In the 14th century, the central piers of the crossing were found to be sinking under the weight of the crossing tower which had been damaged by an earthquake in the previous century. Strainer arches, sometimes described as scissor arches, were inserted by master mason William Joy to brace and stabilise the piers as a unit.

 

By the reign of Henry VII the cathedral was complete, appearing much as it does today (though the fittings have changed). From 1508 to 1546, the eminent Italian humanist scholar Polydore Vergil was active as the chapter's representative in London. He donated a set of hangings for the choir of the cathedral. While Wells survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries better than the cathedrals of monastic foundation, the abolition of chantries in 1547 resulted in a reduction in its income. Medieval brasses were sold, and a pulpit was placed in the nave for the first time. Between 1551 and 1568, in two periods as dean, William Turner established a herb garden, which was recreated between 2003 and 2010.

 

Elizabeth I gave the chapter and the Vicars Choral a new charter in 1591, creating a new governing body, consisting of a dean and eight residentiary canons with control over the church estates and authority over its affairs, but no longer entitled to elect the dean (that entitlement thenceforward belonged ultimately to the Crown). The stability brought by the new charter ended with the onset of the Civil War and the execution of Charles I. Local fighting damaged the cathedral's stonework, furniture and windows. The dean, Walter Raleigh, a nephew of the explorer Walter Raleigh, was placed under house arrest after the fall of Bridgwater to the Parliamentarians in 1645, first in the rectory at Chedzoy and then in the deanery at Wells. His jailor, the shoe maker and city constable, David Barrett, caught him writing a letter to his wife. When he refused to surrender it, Barrett ran him through with a sword and he died six weeks later, on 10 October 1646. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the choir before the dean's stall. During the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell no dean was appointed and the cathedral fell into disrepair. The bishop went into retirement and some of the clerics were reduced to performing menial tasks.

 

In 1661, after Charles II was restored to the throne, Robert Creighton, the king's chaplain in exile, was appointed dean and was bishop for two years before his death in 1672. His brass lectern, given in thanksgiving, can be seen in the cathedral. He donated the nave's great west window at a cost of £140. Following Creighton's appointment as bishop, the post of dean went to Ralph Bathurst, who had been chaplain to the king, president of Trinity College, Oxford and fellow of the Royal Society. During Bathurst's long tenure the cathedral was restored, but in the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, Puritan soldiers damaged the west front, tore lead from the roof to make bullets, broke the windows, smashed the organ and furnishings, and for a time stabled their horses in the nave.

 

Restoration began again under Thomas Ken who was appointed by the Crown in 1685 and served until 1691. He was one of seven bishops imprisoned for refusing to sign King James II's "Declaration of Indulgence", which would have enabled Catholics to resume positions of political power, but popular support led to their acquittal. Ken refused to take the oath of allegiance to William III and Mary II because James II had not abdicated and with others, known as the Nonjurors, was put out of office. His successor, Richard Kidder, was killed in the Great Storm of 1703 when two chimney stacks on the palace fell on him and his wife, while they were asleep in bed.

 

By the middle of the 19th century, a major restoration programme was needed. Under Dean Goodenough, the monuments were moved to the cloisters and the remaining medieval paint and whitewash removed in an operation known as "the great scrape". Anthony Salvin took charge of the extensive restoration of the choir. Wooden galleries installed in the 16th century were removed and the stalls were given stone canopies and placed further back within the line of the arcade. The medieval stone pulpitum screen was extended in the centre to support a new organ.

 

In 1933 the Friends of Wells Cathedral were formed to support the cathedral's chapter in the maintenance of the fabric, life and work of the cathedral. The late 20th century saw an extensive restoration programme, particularly of the west front. The stained glass is currently under restoration, with a programme underway to conserve the large 14th-century Jesse Tree window at the eastern terminal of the choir.

 

In January 2014, as part of the Bath film festival, the cathedral hosted a special screening of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. This provoked some controversy, but the church defended its decision to allow the screening.

 

In 2021, a contemporary sculpture by Anthony Gormley was unveiled on a temporary plinth outside the cathedral.

 

Since the 13th century, Wells Cathedral has been the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Its governing body, the chapter, is made up of five clerical canons (the dean, the precentor, the canon chancellor, the canon treasurer, and the archdeacon of Wells) and four lay members: the administrator (chief executive), Keeper of the Fabric, Overseer of the Estate and the chairman of the cathedral shop and catering boards. The current bishop of Bath and Wells is Peter Hancock, who was installed in a service in the cathedral on 7 June 2014. John Davies has been Dean of Wells since 2016.

 

Employed staff include the organist and master of choristers, head Verger archivist, librarian and the staff of the shop, café and restaurant. The chapter is advised by specialists such as architects, archaeologists and financial analysts.

 

More than a thousand services are held every year. There are daily services of Matins, Holy Communion and Choral Evensong, as well as major celebrations of Christian festivals such as Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and saints' days. The cathedral is also used for the baptisms, weddings and funerals of those with close connections to it. In July 2009 the cathedral undertook the funeral of Harry Patch, the last British Army veteran of World War I, who died at the age of 111.

 

Three Sunday services are led by the resident choir in school terms and choral services are sung on weekdays. The cathedral hosts visiting choirs and does outreach work with local schools as part of its Chorister Outreach Project. It is also a venue for musical events such as an annual concert by the Somerset Chamber Choir.

 

Each year about 150,000 people attend services and another 300,000 visit as tourists. Entry is free, but visitors are encouraged to make a donation towards the annual running costs of around £1.5 million in 2015.

 

Construction of the cathedral began in about 1175, to the design of an unknown master-mason. Wells is the first cathedral in England to be built, from its foundation, in Gothic style. According to art historian John Harvey, it is the first truly Gothic cathedral in the world, its architects having entirely dispensed with all features that bound the contemporary east end of Canterbury Cathedral and the earlier buildings of France, such as the east end of the Abbey of Saint Denis, to the Romanesque. Unlike these churches, Wells has clustered piers rather than columns and has a gallery of identical pointed arches rather than the typically Romanesque form of paired openings. The style, with its simple lancet arches without tracery and convoluted mouldings, is known as Early English Gothic.

 

From about 1192 to 1230, Adam Lock, the earliest master-mason at Wells for whom a name is known, continued the transept and nave in the same manner as his predecessor. Lock was also the builder of the north porch, to his own design.

 

The Early English west front was commenced around 1230 by Thomas Norreys, with building and sculpture continuing for thirty years. Its south-west tower was begun 100 years later and constructed between 1365 and 1395, and the north-west tower between 1425 and 1435, both in the Perpendicular Gothic style to the design of William Wynford, who also filled many of the cathedral's early English lancet windows with delicate tracery.

 

The undercroft and chapter house were built by unknown architects between 1275 and 1310, the undercroft in the Early English and the chapter house in the Geometric style of Decorated Gothic architecture. In about 1310 work commenced on the Lady Chapel, to the design of Thomas Witney, who also built the central tower from 1315 to 1322 in the Decorated Gothic style. The tower was later braced internally with arches by William Joy. Concurrent with this work, in 1329–45 Joy made alterations and extensions to the choir, joining it to the Lady Chapel with the retrochoir, the latter in the Flowing Decorated style.

 

Later changes include the Perpendicular vault of the tower and construction of Sugar's Chapel, 1475–1490 by William Smyth. Also, Gothic Revival renovations were made to the choir and pulpitum by Benjamin Ferrey and Anthony Salvin, 1842–1857.

 

Wells has a total length of 415 feet (126 m). Like Canterbury, Lincoln and Salisbury cathedrals, it has the distinctly English arrangement of two transepts, with the body of the church divided into distinct parts: nave, choir, and retro-choir, beyond which extends the Lady Chapel. The façade is wide, with its towers extending beyond the transepts on either side. There is a large projecting porch on the north side of the nave forming an entry into the cathedral. To the north-east is the large octagonal chapter house, entered from the north choir aisle by a passage and staircase. To the south of the nave is a large cloister, unusual in that the northern range, that adjacent the cathedral, was never built.

 

In section, the cathedral has the usual arrangement of a large church: a central nave with an aisle on each side, separated by two arcades. The elevation is in three stages, arcade, triforium gallery and clerestory. The nave is 67 feet (20 m) in height, very low compared to the Gothic cathedrals of France. It has a markedly horizontal emphasis, caused by the triforium having a unique form, a series of identical narrow openings, lacking the usual definition of the bays. The triforium is separated from the arcade by a single horizontal string course that runs unbroken the length of the nave. There are no vertical lines linking the three stages, as the shafts supporting the vault rise above the triforium.

 

The exterior of Wells Cathedral presents a relatively tidy and harmonious appearance since the greater part of the building was executed in a single style, Early English Gothic. This is uncommon among English cathedrals where the exterior usually exhibits a plethora of styles. At Wells, later changes in the Perpendicular style were universally applied, such as filling the Early English lancet windows with simple tracery, the construction of a parapet that encircles the roof, and the addition of pinnacles framing each gable, similar to those around the chapter house and on the west front. At the eastern end there is a proliferation of tracery with repeated motifs in the Reticulated style, a stage between Geometric and Flowing Decorated tracery.

 

The west front is 100 feet (30 m) high and 147 feet (45 m) wide, and built of Inferior Oolite of the Middle Jurassic period, which came from the Doulting Stone Quarry, about 8 miles (13 km) to the east. According to the architectural historian Alec Clifton-Taylor, it is "one of the great sights of England".

 

West fronts in general take three distinct forms: those that follow the elevation of the nave and aisles, those that have paired towers at the end of each aisle, framing the nave, and those that screen the form of the building. The west front at Wells has the paired-tower form, unusual in that the towers do not indicate the location of the aisles, but extend well beyond them, screening the dimensions and profile of the building.

 

The west front rises in three distinct stages, each clearly defined by a horizontal course. This horizontal emphasis is counteracted by six strongly projecting buttresses defining the cross-sectional divisions of nave, aisles and towers, and are highly decorated, each having canopied niches containing the largest statues on the façade.

 

At the lowest level of the façade is a plain base, contrasting with and stabilising the ornate arcades that rise above it. The base is penetrated by three doors, which are in stark contrast to the often imposing portals of French Gothic cathedrals. The outer two are of domestic proportion and the central door is ornamented only by a central post, quatrefoil and the fine mouldings of the arch.

 

Above the basement rise two storeys, ornamented with quatrefoils and niches originally holding about four hundred statues, with three hundred surviving until the mid-20th century. Since then, some have been restored or replaced, including the ruined figure of Christ in the gable.

 

The third stages of the flanking towers were both built in the Perpendicular style of the late 14th century, to the design of William Wynford; that on the north-west was not begun until about 1425. The design maintains the general proportions, and continues the strong projection of the buttresses.

 

The finished product has been criticised for its lack of pinnacles, and it is probable that the towers were intended to carry spires which were never built. Despite its lack of spires or pinnacles, the architectural historian Banister Fletcher describes it as "the highest development in English Gothic of this type of façade."

 

The sculptures on the west front at Wells include standing figures, seated figures, half-length angels and narratives in high relief. Many of the figures are life-sized or larger. Together they constitute the finest display of medieval carving in England. The figures and many of the architectural details were painted in bright colours, and the colouring scheme has been deduced from flakes of paint still adhering to some surfaces. The sculptures occupy nine architectural zones stretching horizontally across the entire west front and around the sides and the eastern returns of the towers which extend beyond the aisles. The strongly projecting buttresses have tiers of niches which contain many of the largest figures. Other large figures, including that of Christ, occupy the gable. A single figure stands in one of two later niches high on the northern tower.

 

In 1851 the archaeologist Charles Robert Cockerell published his analysis of the iconography, numbering the nine sculptural divisions from the lowest to the highest. He defined the theme as "a calendar for unlearned men" illustrating the doctrines and history of the Christian faith, its introduction to Britain and its protection by princes and bishops. He likens the arrangement and iconography to the Te Deum.

 

According to Cockerell, the side of the façade that is to the south of the central door is the more sacred and the scheme is divided accordingly. The lowest range of niches each contained a standing figure, of which all but four figures on the west front, two on each side, have been destroyed. More have survived on the northern and eastern sides of the north tower. Cockerell speculates that those to the south of the portal represented prophets and patriarchs of the Old Testament while those to the north represented early missionaries to Britain, of which Augustine of Canterbury, St Birinus, and Benedict Biscop are identifiable by their attributes. In the second zone, above each pair of standing figures, is a quatrefoil containing a half-length angel in relief, some of which have survived. Between the gables of the niches are quatrefoils that contain a series of narratives from the Bible, with the Old Testament stories to the south, above the prophets and patriarchs, and those from the New Testament to the north. A horizontal course runs around the west front dividing the architectural storeys at this point.

 

Above the course, zones four and five, as identified by Cockerell, contain figures which represent the Christian Church in Britain, with the spiritual lords such as bishops, abbots, abbesses and saintly founders of monasteries on the south, while kings, queens and princes occupy the north. Many of the figures survive and many have been identified in the light of their various attributes. There is a hierarchy of size, with the more significant figures larger and enthroned in their niches rather than standing. Immediately beneath the upper course are a series of small niches containing dynamic sculptures of the dead coming forth from their tombs on the Day of Judgement. Although naked, some of the dead are defined as royalty by their crowns and others as bishops by their mitres. Some emerge from their graves with joy and hope, and others with despair.

 

The niches in the lowest zone of the gable contain nine angels, of which Cockerell identifies Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel. In the next zone are the taller figures of the twelve apostles, some, such as John, Andrew and Bartholomew, clearly identifiable by the attributes that they carry. The uppermost niches of the gable contained the figure of Christ the Judge at the centre, with the Virgin Mary on his right and John the Baptist on his left. The figures all suffered from iconoclasm. A new statue of Jesus was carved for the central niche, but the two side niches now contain cherubim. Christ and the Virgin Mary are also represented by now headless figures in a Coronation of the Virgin in a niche above the central portal. A damaged figure of the Virgin and Christ Child occupies a quatrefoil in the spandrel of the door.

 

The central tower appears to date from the early 13th century. It was substantially reconstructed in the early 14th century during the remodelling of the east end, necessitating the internal bracing of the piers a decade or so later. In the 14th century the tower was given a timber and lead spire which burnt down in 1439. The exterior was then reworked in the Perpendicular style and given the present parapet and pinnacles. Alec Clifton-Taylor describes it as "outstanding even in Somerset, a county famed for the splendour of its church towers".

 

The north porch is described by art historian Nikolaus Pevsner as "sumptuously decorated", and intended as the main entrance. Externally it is simple and rectangular with plain side walls. The entrance is a steeply arched portal framed by rich mouldings of eight shafts with stiff-leaf capitals each encircled by an annular moulding at middle height. Those on the left are figurative, containing images representing the martyrdom of St Edmund the Martyr. The walls are lined with deep niches framed by narrow shafts with capitals and annulets like those of the portal. The path to the north porch is lined by four sculptures in Purbeck stone, each by Mary Spencer Watson, representing the symbols of the Evangelists.

 

The cloisters were built in the late 13th century and largely rebuilt from 1430 to 1508 and have wide openings divided by mullions and transoms, and tracery in the Perpendicular Gothic style. The vault has lierne ribs that form octagons at the centre of each compartment, the joints of each rib having decorative bosses. The eastern range is of two storeys, of which the upper is the library built in the 15th century.

 

Because Wells Cathedral was secular rather than monastic, cloisters were not a practical necessity. They were omitted from several other secular cathedrals but were built here and at Chichester. Explanations for their construction at these two secular cathedrals range from the processional to the aesthetic. As at Chichester, there is no northern range to the cloisters. In monastic cloisters it was the north range, benefiting most from winter sunlight, that was often used as a scriptorium.

 

In 1969, when a large chunk of stone fell from a statue near the main door, it became apparent that there was an urgent need for restoration of the west front. Detailed studies of the stonework and of conservation practices were undertaken under the cathedral architect, Alban D. R. Caroe and a restoration committee formed. The methods selected were those devised by Eve and Robert Baker. W. A. (Bert) Wheeler, clerk of works to the cathedral 1935–1978, had previously experimented with washing and surface treatment of architectural carvings on the building and his techniques were among those tried on the statues.

 

The conservation was carried out between 1974 and 1986, wherever possible using non-invasive procedures such as washing with water and a solution of lime, filling gaps and damaged surfaces with soft mortar to prevent the ingress of water and stabilising statues that were fracturing through corrosion of metal dowels. The surfaces were finished by painting with a thin coat of mortar and silane to resist further erosion and attack by pollutants. The restoration of the façade revealed much paint adhering to the statues and their niches, indicating that it had once been brightly coloured.

 

The particular character of this Early English interior is dependent on the proportions of the simple lancet arches. It is also dependent on the refinement of the architectural details, in particular the mouldings.

 

The arcade, which takes the same form in the nave, choir and transepts, is distinguished by the richness of both mouldings and carvings. Each pier of the arcade has a surface enrichment of 24 slender shafts in eight groups of three, rising beyond the capitals to form the deeply undulating mouldings of the arches. The capitals themselves are remarkable for the vitality of the stylised foliage, in a style known as "stiff-leaf". The liveliness contrasts with the formality of the moulded shafts and the smooth unbroken areas of ashlar masonry in the spandrels. Each capital is different, and some contain small figures illustrating narratives.

 

The vault of the nave rises steeply in a simple quadripartite form, in harmony with the nave arcade. The eastern end of the choir was extended and the whole upper part elaborated in the second quarter of the 14th century by William Joy. The vault has a multiplicity of ribs in a net-like form, which is very different from that of the nave, and is perhaps a recreation in stone of a local type of compartmented wooden roof of which examples remain from the 15th century, including those at St Cuthbert's Church, Wells. The vaults of the aisles of the choir also have a unique pattern.

 

Until the early 14th century, the interior of the cathedral was in a unified style, but it was to undergo two significant changes, to the tower and to the eastern end. Between 1315 and 1322 the central tower was heightened and topped by a spire, which caused the piers that supported it to show signs of stress. In 1338 the mason William Joy employed an unorthodox solution by inserting low arches topped by inverted arches of similar dimensions, forming scissors-like structures. These arches brace the piers of the crossing on three sides, while the easternmost side is braced by a choir screen. The bracing arches are known as "St Andrew's Cross arches", in a reference to the patron saint of the cathedral. They have been described by Wim Swaan – rightly or wrongly – as "brutally massive" and intrusive in an otherwise restrained interior.

 

Wells Cathedral has a square east end to the choir, as is usual, and like several other cathedrals including Salisbury and Lichfield, has a lower Lady Chapel projecting at the eastern end, begun by Thomas Witney in about 1310, possibly before the chapter house was completed. The Lady Chapel seems to have begun as a free-standing structure in the form of an elongated octagon, but the plan changed and it was linked to the eastern end by extension of the choir and construction of a second transept or retrochoir east of the choir, probably by William Joy.

 

The Lady Chapel has a vault of complex and somewhat irregular pattern, as the chapel is not symmetrical about both axes. The main ribs are intersected by additional non-supporting, lierne ribs, which in this case form a star-shaped pattern at the apex of the vault. It is one of the earliest lierne vaults in England. There are five large windows, of which four are filled with fragments of medieval glass. The tracery of the windows is in the style known as Reticulated Gothic, having a pattern of a single repeated shape, in this case a trefoil, giving a "reticulate" or net-like appearance.

 

The retrochoir extends across the east end of the choir and into the east transepts. At its centre the vault is supported by a remarkable structure of angled piers. Two of these are placed as to complete the octagonal shape of the Lady Chapel, a solution described by Francis Bond as "an intuition of Genius". The piers have attached shafts of marble, and, with the vaults that they support, create a vista of great complexity from every angle. The windows of the retrochoir are in the Reticulated style like those of the Lady Chapel, but are fully Flowing Decorated in that the tracery mouldings form ogival curves.

 

The chapter house was begun in the late 13th century and built in two stages, completed about 1310. It is a two-storeyed structure with the main chamber raised on an undercroft. It is entered from a staircase which divides and turns, one branch leading through the upper storey of Chain Gate to Vicars' Close. The Decorated interior is described by Alec Clifton-Taylor as "architecturally the most beautiful in England". It is octagonal, with its ribbed vault supported on a central column. The column is surrounded by shafts of Purbeck Marble, rising to a single continuous rippling foliate capital of stylised oak leaves and acorns, quite different in character from the Early English stiff-leaf foliage. Above the moulding spring 32 ribs of strong profile, giving an effect generally likened to "a great palm tree". The windows are large with Geometric Decorated tracery that is beginning to show an elongation of form, and ogees in the lesser lights that are characteristic of Flowing Decorated tracery. The tracery lights still contain ancient glass. Beneath the windows are 51 stalls, the canopies of which are enlivened by carvings including many heads carved in a light-hearted manner.

 

Wells Cathedral contains one of the most substantial collections of medieval stained glass in England, despite damage by Parliamentary troops in 1642 and 1643. The oldest surviving glass dates from the late 13th century and is in two windows on the west side of the chapter-house staircase. Two windows in the south choir aisle are from 1310 to 1320.

 

The Lady Chapel has five windows, of which four date from 1325 to 1330 and include images of a local saint, Dunstan. The east window was restored to a semblance of its original appearance by Thomas Willement in 1845. The other windows have complete canopies, but the pictorial sections are fragmented.

 

The east window of the choir is a broad, seven-light window dating from 1340 to 1345. It depicts the Tree of Jesse (the genealogy of Christ) and demonstrates the use of silver staining, a new technique that allowed the artist to paint details on the glass in yellow, as well as black. The combination of yellow and green glass and the application of the bright yellow stain gives the window its popular name, the "Golden Window". It is flanked by two windows each side in the clerestory, with large figures of saints, also dated to 1340–45. In 2010 a major conservation programme was undertaken on the Jesse Tree window.

 

The panels in the chapel of St Katherine are attributed to Arnold of Nijmegen and date from about 1520. They were acquired from the destroyed church of Saint-Jean, Rouen, with the last panel having been purchased in 1953.

 

The large triple lancet to the nave west end was glazed at the expense of Dean Creighton at a cost of £140 in 1664. It was repaired in 1813, and the central light was largely replaced to a design by Archibald Keightley Nicholson between 1925 and 1931. The main north and south transept end windows by James Powell and Sons were erected in the early 20th century.

 

The greater part of the stone carving of Wells Cathedral comprises foliate capitals in the stiff-leaf style. They are found ornamenting the piers of the nave, choir and transepts. Stiff-leaf foliage is highly abstract. Though possibly influenced by carvings of acanthus leaves or vine leaves, it cannot be easily identified with any particular plant. Here the carving of the foliage is varied and vigorous, the springing leaves and deep undercuts casting shadows that contrast with the surface of the piers. In the transepts and towards the crossing in the nave the capitals have many small figurative carvings among the leaves. These include a man with toothache and a series of four scenes depicting the "Wages of Sin" in a narrative of fruit stealers who creep into an orchard and are then beaten by the farmer. Another well-known carving is in the north transept aisle: a foliate corbel, on which climbs a lizard, sometimes identified as a salamander, a symbol of eternal life.

 

Carvings in the Decorated Gothic style may be found in the eastern end of the buildings, where there are many carved bosses. In the chapter house, the carvings of the 51 stalls include numerous small heads of great variety, many of them smiling or laughing. A well-known figure is the corbel of the dragon-slaying monk in the chapter house stair. The large continuous capital that encircles the central pillar of the chapter house is markedly different in style to the stiff-leaf of the Early English period. In contrast to the bold projections and undercutting of the earlier work, it has a rippling form and is clearly identifiable as grapevine.

 

The 15th-century cloisters have many small bosses ornamenting the vault. Two in the west cloister, near the gift shop and café, have been called sheela na gigs, i. e. female figures displaying their genitals and variously judged to depict the sin of lust or stem from ancient fertility cults.

 

Wells Cathedral has one of the finest sets of misericords in Britain. Its clergy has a long tradition of singing or reciting from the Book of Psalms each day, along with the customary daily reading of the Holy Office. In medieval times the clergy assembled in the church eight times daily for the canonical hours. As the greater part of the services was recited while standing, many monastic or collegiate churches fitted stalls whose seats tipped up to provide a ledge for the monk or cleric to lean against. These were "misericords" because their installation was an act of mercy. Misericords typically have a carved figurative bracket beneath the ledge framed by two floral motifs known, in heraldic manner, as "supporters".

 

The misericords date from 1330 to 1340. They may have been carved under the direction of Master Carpenter John Strode, although his name is not recorded before 1341. He was assisted by Bartholomew Quarter, who is documented from 1343. They originally numbered 90, of which 65 have survived. Sixty-one are installed in the choir, three are displayed in the cathedral, and one is held by the Victoria and Albert Museum. New stalls were ordered when the eastern end of the choir was extended in the early 14th century. The canons complained that they had borne the cost of the rebuilding and ordered the prebendary clerics to pay for their own stalls. When the newly refurbished choir opened in 1339 many misericords were left unfinished, including one-fifth of the surviving 65. Many of the clerics had not paid, having been called to contribute a total sum of £200. The misericords survived better than the other sections of the stalls, which during the Protestant Reformation had their canopies chopped off and galleries inserted above them. One misericord, showing a boy pulling a thorn from his foot, dates from the 17th century. In 1848 came a complete rearrangement of the choir furniture, and 61 of the misericords were reused in the restructured stalls.

 

The subject matter of the carvings of the central brackets as misericords varies, but many themes recur in different churches. Typically the themes are less unified or directly related to the Bible and Christian theology than small sculptures seen elsewhere within churches, such as bosses. This applies at Wells, where none of the misericord carvings is directly based on a Bible story. The subjects, chosen either by the woodcarver, or perhaps by the one paying for the stall, have no overriding theme. The sole unifying elements are the roundels on each side of the pictorial subject, which all show elaborately carved foliage, in most cases formal and stylised in the later Decorated manner, but with several examples of naturalistic foliage, including roses and bindweed. Many of the subjects carry traditional interpretations. The image of the "Pelican in her Piety" (believed to feed her young on her own blood) is a recognised symbol for Christ's love for the Church. A cat playing with a mouse may represent the Devil snaring a human soul. Other subjects illustrate popular fables or sayings such as "When the fox preaches, look to your geese". Many depict animals, some of which may symbolise a human vice or virtue, or an aspect of faith.

 

Twenty-seven of the carvings depict animals: rabbits, dogs, a puppy biting a cat, a ewe feeding a lamb, monkeys, lions, bats, and the Early Christian motif of two doves drinking from a ewer. Eighteen have mythological subjects, including mermaids, dragons and wyverns. Five are clearly narrative, such as the Fox and the Geese, and the story of Alexander the Great being raised to Heaven by griffins. There are three heads: a bishop in a mitre, an angel, and a woman wearing a veil over hair arranged in coils over each ear. Eleven carvings show human figures, among which are several of remarkable design, conceived by the artist specifically for their purpose of supporting a shelf. One figure lies beneath the seat, supporting the shelf with a cheek, a hand and a foot. Another sits in a contorted manner supporting the weight on his elbow, while a further figure squats with his knees wide apart and a strained look on his face.

 

Some of the cathedral's fittings and monuments are hundreds of years old. The brass lectern in the Lady Chapel dates from 1661 and has a moulded stand and foliate crest. In the north transept chapel is a 17th-century oak screen with columns, formerly used in cow stalls, with artisan Ionic capitals and cornice, set forward over the chest tomb of John Godelee. There is a bound oak chest from the 14th century, which was used to store the chapter seal and key documents. The bishop's throne dates from 1340, and has a panelled, canted front and stone doorway, and a deep nodding cusped ogee canopy above it, with three-stepped statue niches and pinnacles. The throne was restored by Anthony Salvin around 1850. Opposite the throne is a 19th-century octagonal pulpit on a coved base with panelled sides, and steps up from the north aisle. The round font in the south transept is from the former Saxon cathedral and has an arcade of round-headed arches, on a round plinth. The font cover was made in 1635 and is decorated with the heads of putti. The Chapel of St Martin is a memorial to every Somerset man who fell in World War I.

 

The monuments and tombs include Gisa, bishop; † 1088; William of Bitton, bishop; † 1274; William of March, bishop; † 1302; John Droxford; † 1329; John Godelee; † 1333; John Middleton, died †1350; Ralph of Shrewsbury, died †; John Harewell, bishop; † 1386; William Bykonyll; † c. 1448; John Bernard; † 1459; Thomas Beckington; † died 1464; John Gunthorpe; † 1498; John Still; † 1607; Robert Creighton; † 1672; Richard Kidder, bishop; † 1703; George Hooper, bishop; † 1727 and Arthur Harvey, bishop; † 1894.

 

In the north transept is Wells Cathedral clock, an astronomical clock from about 1325 believed to be by Peter Lightfoot, a monk of Glastonbury. Its mechanism, dated between 1386 and 1392, was replaced in the 19th century and the original moved to the Science Museum in London, where it still operates. It is the second oldest surviving clock in England after the Salisbury Cathedral clock.

 

The clock has its original medieval face. Apart from the time on a 24-hour dial, it shows the motion of the Sun and Moon, the phases of the Moon, and the time since the last new Moon. The astronomical dial presents a geocentric or pre-Copernican view, with the Sun and Moon revolving round a central fixed Earth, like that of the clock at Ottery St Mary. The quarters are chimed by a quarter jack: a small automaton known as Jack Blandifers, who hits two bells with hammers and two with his heels. At the striking of the clock, jousting knights appear above the clock face.

 

On the outer wall of the transept, opposite Vicars' Hall, is a second clock face of the same clock, placed there just over seventy years after the interior clock and driven by the same mechanism. The second clock face has two quarter jacks (which strike on the quarter-hour) in the form of knights in armour.

 

In 2010 the official clock-winder retired and was replaced by an electric mechanism.

 

The first record of an organ at this church dates from 1310. A smaller organ, probably for the Lady Chapel, was installed in 1415. In 1620 an organ built by Thomas Dallam was installed at a cost of £398 1s 5d.

 

The 1620 organ was destroyed by parliamentary soldiers in 1643. An organ built in 1662 was enlarged in 1786 and again in 1855. In 1909–1910 an organ was built by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, with the best parts of the old organ retained. It has been serviced by the same company ever since.

 

Since November 1996 the cathedral has also had a portable chamber organ, by the Scottish makers, Lammermuir. It is used regularly to accompany performances of Tudor and baroque music.

 

The first recorded organist of Wells was Walter Bagele (or Vageler) in 1416. The post of organist or assistant organist has been held by more than 60 people since. Peter Stanley Lyons was Master of Choristers at Wells Cathedral, and Director of Music at Wells Cathedral School in 1954–1960. The choral conductor James William Webb-Jones, father of Lyons's wife Bridget (whom he married in the cathedral), was Headmaster of Wells Cathedral School in 1955–1960. Malcolm Archer was the appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers from 1996 to 2004. Matthew Owens was the appointed organist from 2005 to 2019.

 

There has been a choir of boy choristers at Wells since 909. Currently there are 18 boy choristers and a similar number of girl choristers, aged from eight to fourteen. The Vicars Choral was formed in the 12th century and the sung liturgy provided by a traditional cathedral choir of men and boys until the formation of an additional choir of girls in 1994. The boys and girls sing alternately with the Vicars Choral and are educated at Wells Cathedral School.

 

The Vicars Choral currently number twelve men, of whom three are choral scholars. Since 1348 the College of Vicars had its own accommodation in a quadrangle converted in the early 15th century to form Vicar's Close. The Vicars Choral generally perform with the choristers, except on Wednesdays, when they sing alone, allowing them to present a different repertoire, in particular plainsong.

 

In December 2010 Wells Cathedral Choir was rated by Gramophone magazine as "the highest ranking choir with children in the world". It continues to provide music for the liturgy at Sunday and weekday services. The choir has made many recordings and toured frequently, including performances in Beijing and Hong Kong in 2012. Its repertoire ranges from the choral music of the Renaissance to recently commissioned works.

 

The Wells Cathedral Chamber Choir is a mixed adult choir of 25 members, formed in 1986 to sing at the midnight service on Christmas Eve, and invited to sing at several other special services. It now sings for about 30 services a year, when the Cathedral Choir is in recess or on tour, and spends one week a year singing as the "choir in residence" at another cathedral. Although primarily liturgical, the choir's repertoire includes other forms of music, as well as performances at engagements such as weddings and funerals.

 

The cathedral is home to Wells Cathedral Oratorio Society (WCOS), founded in 1896. With around 160 voices, the society gives three concerts a year under the direction of Matthew Owens, Organist and Master of the Choristers at the cathedral. Concerts are normally in early November, December (an annual performance of Handel's Messiah) and late March. It performs with a number of specialist orchestras including: Music for Awhile, Chameleon Arts and La Folia.

 

The bells at Wells Cathedral are the heaviest ring of ten bells in the world, the tenor bell (the 10th and largest), known as Harewell, weighing 56.25 long hundredweight (2,858 kg). They are hung for full-circle ringing in the English style of change ringing. These bells are now hung in the south-west tower, although some were originally hung in the central tower.

 

The library above the eastern cloister was built between 1430 and 1508. Its collection is in three parts: early documents housed in the Muniment Room; the collection predating 1800 housed in the Chained Library; and the post-1800 collection housed in the Reading Room. The chapter's earlier collection was destroyed during the Reformation, so that the present library consists chiefly of early printed books, rather than medieval manuscripts. The earlier books in the Chained Library number 2,800 volumes and give an indication of the variety of interests of the members of the cathedral chapter from the Reformation until 1800. The focus of the collection is predominantly theology, but there are volumes on science, medicine, exploration, and languages. Books of particular interest include Pliny's Natural History printed in 1472, an Atlas of the World by Abraham Ortelius, printed in 1606, and a set of the works by Aristotle that once belonged to Erasmus. The library is open to the public at appointed times in the summer and presents a small exhibition of documents and books.

 

Three early registers of the Dean and Chapter edited by W. H. B. Bird for the Historical Manuscripts Commissioners – Liber Albus I (White Book; R I), Liber Albus II (R III) and Liber Ruber (Red Book; R II, section i) – were published in 1907. They contain with some repetition, a cartulary of possessions of the cathedral, with grants of land back to the 8th century, well before hereditary surnames developed in England, and acts of the Dean and Chapter and surveys of their estates, mostly in Somerset.

 

Adjacent to the cathedral is a large lawned area, Cathedral Green, with three ancient gateways: Brown's Gatehouse, Penniless Porch and Chain Gate. On the green is the 12th-century Old Deanery, largely rebuilt in the late 15th century by Dean Gunthorpe and remodelled by Dean Bathurst in the late 17th century. No longer the dean's residence, it is used as diocesan offices.

 

To the south of the cathedral is the moated Bishop's Palace, begun about 1210 by Jocelin of Wells but dating mostly from the 1230s. In the 15th century Thomas Beckington added a north wing, now the bishop's residence. It was restored and extended by Benjamin Ferrey between 1846 and 1854.

 

To the north of the cathedral and connected to it by the Chain Gate is Vicars' Close, a street planned in the 14th century and claimed to be the oldest purely residential street in Europe, with all but one of its original buildings intact. Buildings in the close include the Vicars Hall and gateway at the south end, and the Vicars Chapel and Library at the north end.

 

The Liberty of St Andrew was the historic liberty and parish that encompassed the cathedral and surrounding lands closely associated with it.

 

The English painter J. M. W. Turner visited Wells in 1795, making sketches of the precinct and a water colour of the west front, now in the Tate gallery. Other artists whose paintings of the cathedral are in national collections are Albert Goodwin, John Syer and Ken Howard.

 

The cathedral served to inspire Ken Follett's 1989 novel The Pillars of the Earth and with a modified central tower, featured as the fictional Kingsbridge Cathedral at the end of the 2010 television adaptation of that novel. The interior of the cathedral was used for a 2007 Doctor Who episode, "The Lazarus Experiment", while the exterior shots were filmed at Southwark Cathedral.

 

An account of the damage to the cathedral during the Monmouth Rebellion is included in Arthur Conan Doyle's 1889 historical novel Micah Clarke.

 

The cathedral provided scenes for the 2019–2020 television series The Spanish Princess.

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Built in 1929, this 17-story Art Deco-style former passenger railroad station was designed by Fellheimer & Wagner to replace the multiple previous train stations and termini in Buffalo, which were scattered throughout the city and belonged to different railroads. The structure stands on the site of the old Union Depot built in 1874, which closed in the early 1920s. The station began construction in 1925 when the New York Central Railroad settled on building their new union terminal in Buffalo at the site, with the station being built to accommodate the expected growth of Buffalo from a city of about 550,000 people to one with 1.5 million people, and to accommodate continued growth in passenger numbers. However, both of these projections never materialized, with the city’s population growth and the railroad’s passenger numbers growth, already slowing in the 1920s, slowing further due to the Great Depression during the 1930s, and then beginning a long, steady decline, only being briefly buoyed by World War II before falling out of favor as automobile travel proved more flexible and air travel more swift than train travel. Due to these circumstances, the terminal was overbuilt and never reached its full capacity during its operations, only coming close during World War II due to resource shortages and mass mobilization of the United States during wartime. The terminal was offered for sale by the New York Central Railroad for one million dollars in 1956, but found no buyers, with continuing declines in passenger numbers, coupled with the decline in the population of Buffalo itself, leading to several services being ended during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1966, the railroad, in an effort to save costs and downsize their facilities, demolished several outbuildings in the complex, and in 1968, the once powerful New York Central Railroad, a husk of its former self, merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad in an attempt to consolidate their expenses and save both companies, but this merger proved unsuccessful, leading to their bankruptcy in 1976, with both railroads absorbed into the public-private partnership known as Conrail.

 

In the meantime, Amtrak was formed in 1971 to provide passenger rail service in the United States, operating out of the terminal until 1979, with the agency facing budgetary limitations that did not allow them to renovate the aging structure, which, when coupled with the massive expenses of keeping the building comfortable, dry, and well-lit, led to the agency building two smaller stations in Buffalo during the 1970s to replace it. The terminal was subsequently purchased by Anthony T. Fedele, whom managed to maintain the building in decent condition, but was unable to find any interested developers to reuse the building, and eventually fell behind on taxes, leading to the building being seized at foreclosure so the taxes could be recouped by the government. During the time it was owned by Fedele, the building was vacated by Conrail’s offices between 1980 and 1984, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, with the final operations at the terminal, the interlocking towers that once signaled trains arriving at the station, being shut down in 1985. In 1986, the building was purchased at auction by Thomas Telesco, whom did not maintain the building, selling off many artifacts and fixtures from its interior, and proposing grandiose and unrealistic schemes of what he would do with the building, including being a stop on a high-speed rail line between New York and Toronto. The building was then sold to Bernie Tuchman and Samuel Tuchman, with the building seeing further elements removed and sold, and the building continuing to decay.

 

In 1997, the terminal, then in poor condition, was purchased by Scott Field of the Preservation Coalition of Erie County, whom paid for the building’s back taxes, and shortly thereafter, formed the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation, transferring ownership of the building to the organization. The building was stabilized and secured under the stewardship of the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation, which opened the building for public tours in 2003, and holds many fundraising events at the station every year. The building has been preserved, but a restoration or adaptive reuse of the structure has so far remained elusive.

 

The building features a brown brick exterior with an octagonal corner tower, with a large barrel-roofed main concourse structure wrapping around the tower to the south and east. The facade of the tower features multiple setbacks, chamfered corners, corner clock faces at the roofline above the twelfth floor, a rotunda with large archways and buttresses atop the tower with a decorative trim crown at the parapet, vertical window bays that stretch from the building’s base to the roofline, large entrances with metal canopies, large transoms, and stone surrounds, pilasters, and stone trim and caps atop the parapets. The main concourse portion of the building features large arched curtain walls at the ends of its barrel vaulted roof, a cavernous barrel vaulted interior, large metal canopies over the entrances, and a tunnel underneath that once allowed traffic on Curtiss Street to run beneath the building, though this has been closed since the 1980s due to the building’s decay, with a light court between the waiting room and a low-rise office block in the front, which sits just east of the tower and presents a similar facade treatment to that of the tower, with vertically accentuated window bays and pilasters. The rear of the building is more spartan in appearance, with a scar from the former location of the entrance to the train concourse to the rear, with the connecting structure having been removed following the discontinuation of railroad services at the building in 1979. The train concourse features multiple platforms with Art Deco-style aluminum canopies with sleek columns, thin-profile roofs, and rounded ends, with the train concourse featuring arched clerestory windows and a gabled roof, and being in a rather advanced state of deterioration with vegetation having grown throughout the structure and the surrounding abandoned tracks between the platforms. Attached to the southwest corner of the main building is the baggage building, a simpler six-story Art Deco-style structure with a buff brick exterior, a penthouse above the main entrance to the building, pilasters, vertically accentuated window bays, steel windows, stone spandrel panels, stone trim, and stone parapet caps, with long canopies along the base of the front and rear of the building that protected incoming and outgoing mail and baggage from inclement weather. To the west of the baggage building is the one-story mail processing building, which features a similar facade treatment, with the main difference besides height being the rooftop monitor windows in the middle of the building’s roof. Southwest of the baggage and mail processing building, sitting close to Memorial Drive, is a structure that formerly housed the Railway Express Agency, which is more utilitarian than the rest of the surviving complex, and is in an advanced state of decay, with the demolition of the structure being planned to take place sometime this decade. The structure features large window bays with steel windows, stucco cladding on the brick structure, and the remnants of canopies on the north and south facades of the first floor, with a long and low one-story wing to the rear.

 

The complex is one of the largest designed by Fellheimer & Wagner, and has maintained a remarkable state of preservation in its original form with few changes since its construction, besides some damage from the years of decay and neglect in the 1980s and 1990s. Another notable structure by the firm, and one of the most well-known railroad stations in the world, is Grand Central Terminal in New York City, which was also built for the New York Central Railroad. In addition to Grand Central Terminal, the firm also designed terminals that are more similar in appearance to the Buffalo Central Terminal, including Union Station in South Bend, Indiana, and Cincinnati Union Terminal, with Grand Central Terminal, Buffalo Central Terminal, and Cincinnati Union Terminal being among the largest, most impressive, and most significant railroad stations ever built in the United States. The station, though unrestored, is still impressive, and hopefully will be eventually adaptively reused for an economically sustainable function.

replaced blackberry photo

Replacing an earlier scanned print with a better version 20-Feb-14..

 

Seen at Manchester in Sep-87, still in basic Lufthansa livery with Orion titles.

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WZEJ, this aircraft was delivered to Lufthansa as D-AIBF in Apr-79. It was leased to Condor Flugdienst on delivery and returned to Lufthansa in Jan-80. After only eight years the aircraft was sold to Orion Airways (UK) as G-BMZL in May-87. Orion Airways was merged into Britannia Airways in Jan-89. As Britannia was an all Boeing operator, the two ex Orion A300's were sold to Iberia (Spain) in Apr-89, this aircraft initially being assigned the temporary Spanish registration EC-274. It was converted to A300B4-203 standard in May-89 and re-registered EC-EOO in Aug-89. The aircraft was permanently retired at Madrid, Spain in early 1999 and broken up there in Dec-99.

 

The registration D-AIBF is currently in use on a Lufthansa A319-112. Updated (Jun-19).

Replaced my cellphone today, and it seemed the appropriate first photo should be of the cat. So, here he is, not granulated by a terrible camera like my old phone had. Woo hoo!

Replaced 14/07/2024

 

IMG_0762-02-B

Replaced to add back the EXIF data that Picasa dropped.

Replaced the cartridge with a Denon DL103r moving coil cartridge

replaced the M9 with an M-P (240) :D

 

Having sold off a lot of old gear including most of my old Nikon kit, I also got hold of a 35mm 1.4 Summilux FLE

4th August 2018 - CM Coaches Volvo B7 and Target Travel Volvo B10M SUI8207 load outside Exeter St David's Station whilst operating rail replacement services between Exeter and Salisbury due to a strike by South Western Railway staff.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 03-Nov-14, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 28-Mar-25.

 

Named: "Nordlingen".

 

First flown in Mar-87 with the Airbus test registration F-WWAR, this aircraft was delivered to Lufthansa in Jun-87 as D-AIAN. It operated for Lufthansa for almost 22 years until it was withdrawn from service and stored at Dresden, Germany in Oct-08.

 

It was sold in Apr-09, through an intermediary, to Kyrgyz Trans Avia as EX-35009. This appears to have been a way of getting round western sanctions on exports to Iran, like some of its sister-ships.

 

It was initially wet leased to Mahan Air in Jul-09. Not wet leased for long though! In Aug-09 it was re-registered in Iran as EP-MNR. I'm unable to verify that it's still in service after Nov-19 and it's given as 'stored' in most databases.

 

However, we don't know with aircraft in Iran whether it's just 'stored' or permanently retired, although it's now 38 years old! Updated 28-Mar-25.