From replacing the fleet of Leyland B20 DMSs in 1992 up until early 1997 the allocation of buses on route 157 running between Crystal Palace, Anerley, South Norwood, Selhurst, West Croydon, Waddon, Wallington, Carshalton, Rose Hill and Morden were a fleet of MCW Metrobuses provided by London General and operating out of Sutton (A) bus garage as seen in this afternoon view of London General's M 913 seen parked up on the eastern side of Crystal Palace Parade in February 1993. Crystal Palace Parade was notorious for various LT bus routes from across South and South East London terminating on the Parade itself (much to the chagrin of other road users) prior to the much-needed opening of Crystal Palace bus station at the bottom end of Crystal Palace Parade in 2000.

Train engine for replacing the ties

 

Get it at: www.repubrick.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&vie...

 

More models by Numerikart: www.repubrick.com/index.php?option=com_vmvendor&view=...

replaced my clutch liner

The "a" in the Pharmacy sign decided to go missing...I wonder if it'll be replaced or if Kmart #3407 will go with a missing letter for the rest of its time in business? We'll find out...:P

 

In the midst of blowing snow and frigid temperatures, my first visit of 2016 was made on Tuesday, January 12. It was my first time in a long time that I visited on a supposed school day, as my school had cancelled and opened up the whole afternoon as a result.

 

In my quest for a Bluelight Special, it turned out that I had come a little too early. One of my friends working there said that the store does them hourly between 1 and 4 p.m. every day, and it was only 12:30 when I heard this. I made sure to keep this new piece of information in mind as I enjoyed my first purchase of the year: a small popcorn bag from Little Caesars (which costs only $0.99 by the way, and the bag is as big as my forearm!)

 

Another visit went by without a flash from the "blue beacon of savings," but bit by bit I am closing in on what will be my first Bluelight Special! I am sooooooo close!

 

Hours after this visit, I found the news about the numerous March and April closings, of which this store and the others in the area are not a part of, I am very thankful to say. :)

Best wishes for my much-loved local Kmart (and the other four in the Miami Valley) as it fights to stay open amidst the waves of closures...

 

Kmart #3407 - 4480 Indian Ripple Rd - Beavercreek, Ohio

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 09-Aug-20, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 01-Sep-23.

 

Taken from the Templeton Bridge.

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWJL, this aircraft was delivered to Singapore Airlines as 9V-SJB in Apr-96. It was sold to Boeing Capital (in part-exchange for Boeing 777's) in Jul-01 and immediately leased to Cathay Pacific Airways as B-HXN.

 

The aircraft was withdrawn from service and stored at Victorville, CA, USA in Aug-09. It was ferried to Xamien, China in Apr-11 for major overhaul and repaint into Aerolineas Argentinas livery prior to return to Boeing.

 

It was stored at Hong Kong in Aug-11 and returned to Boeing Capital in Dec-11. The aircraft was leased to Aerolineas Argentinas as LV-CSE in Jan-12.

 

It was withdrawn from service and stored at Buenos Aries in Sep-16, returned to Boeing Capital and permanently retired at Victorville, CA, USA in Nov-17. The aircraft was broken up at Victorville in Mar-20.

Covington Exempted Village Schools 7 - 2003 Thomas Freightliner - Retired; Cardinal Bus Sales - Lima, Ohio. Replaced a 1983 Blue Bird International and replaced with a 2021 Blue Bird Vision.

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

 

Fly FTI (Frosch Touristik International - a German tour operator) was another offshoot of the UK tour operator Airtours International.

 

This was another lessor owned aircraft with a long history. First flown in Jun-93 with the Airbus test registration F-WWDM, this aircraft was stored at Toulouse, France in Jul-93 before delivery to the Orix Aircraft Corporation in Sep-93. It remained in storage until it was re-registered N437RX in Mar-94.

 

It was leased to Airworld, UK as G-BVJV in Apr-94 for the summer season. On it's return to Orix in Nov-94 it was stored at Stansted, UK and leased to Airworld again in Apr-95. It was sub-leased to Skyservice Airlines (Canada) as C-FWOQ in Nov-95 and returned to Airworld as G-BVJV in Apr-96.

 

It was leased to Transmeridian Airways, USA as N437RX in Nov-96 for the winter, returning to Airworld as G-BVJV in Apr-97. The aircraft returned to Orix in Nov-97 and was leased to Airtours International Airways as G-EPFR two weeks later.

 

It was sub-leased to Skyservice as C-FTDF in Dec-97 and returned to Airtours in Apr-98. In Nov-98 it was sub-leased to Airtours subsidiary SkyserviceUSA and returned to Airtours as G-EPFR in Apr-99.

 

In Feb-00 the aircraft was leased to Airtours German subsidiary FlyFTI (operating for German Tour Operator, Frosch Touristik International). It was re-registered D-AAMS in Mar-00. It returned to Airtours in Jan-01 and was sub-leased to Skyservice Airlines, Canada as C-FTDF in Feb-01.

 

The sub-lease to Skyservice continued with the aircraft being sub-leased back to Airtours International for the summer season from Apr/Nov-01.

 

Airtours was renamed MyTravel Airways in Apr-02 and the summer sub-leases from Skyservice, Canada continued between May/Nov-02, Apr/Nov-03, May/Nov-04, May/Nov-05 and Mar/Nov-06. The aircraft was returned to MyTravel Airways, this time as G-FTDF, in Apr-07.

 

MyTravel was merged into Thomas Cook Airlines UK in Mar-08. The aircraft continued in service until it was permanently retired and stored at Manchester, UK in Jan-11. It was ferried to Greenwood, MS, USA for further storage. The registration was cancelled in Aug-11 and it was later broken up.

Winter is coming - dark weather is replaced by frosty days and nights - frost bright days

I have been deleting and backing up ready to flatten my old computer . Before I replace it , a few old images of which this is one

Philadelphia's Kawasaki LRVs built 1981. They are the Light-Rail Vehicles that replaced the PCCs.

Replaced a Thomas Built International 3800 which is now Chapel Field Christian Schools #160

I replaced a similar image I had posted yesterday with this one. It has a bit more to offer the eye.

Never restored or altered, and in basically the same condition as when it was built in the 1840's. I would imagine the tin roof replaced an earlier cedar or cypress shake roof in the later 19th century.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beamish_Museum

 

Beamish Museum is the first regional open-air museum, in England, located at Beamish, near the town of Stanley, in County Durham, England. Beamish pioneered the concept of a living museum. By displaying duplicates or replaceable items, it was also an early example of the now commonplace practice of museums allowing visitors to touch objects.

 

The museum's guiding principle is to preserve an example of everyday life in urban and rural North East England at the climax of industrialisation in the early 20th century. Much of the restoration and interpretation is specific to the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, together with portions of countryside under the influence of industrial revolution from 1825. On its 350 acres (140 ha) estate it uses a mixture of translocated, original and replica buildings, a large collection of artefacts, working vehicles and equipment, as well as livestock and costumed interpreters.

 

The museum has received a number of awards since it opened to visitors in 1972 and has influenced other living museums. It is an educational resource, and also helps to preserve some traditional and rare north-country livestock breeds.

 

History

Genesis

In 1958, days after starting as director of the Bowes Museum, inspired by Scandinavian folk museums, and realising the North East's traditional industries and communities were disappearing, Frank Atkinson presented a report to Durham County Council urging that a collection of items of everyday history on a large scale should begin as soon as possible, so that eventually an open air museum could be established. As well as objects, Atkinson was also aiming to preserve the region's customs and dialect. He stated the new museum should "attempt to make the history of the region live" and illustrate the way of life of ordinary people. He hoped the museum would be run by, be about and exist for the local populace, desiring them to see the museum as theirs, featuring items collected from them.

 

Fearing it was now almost too late, Atkinson adopted a policy of "unselective collecting" — "you offer it to us and we will collect it." Donations ranged in size from small items to locomotives and shops, and Atkinson initially took advantage of a surplus of space available in the 19th-century French chateau-style building housing the Bowes Museum to store items donated for the open air museum. With this space soon filled, a former British Army tank depot at Brancepeth was taken over, although in just a short time its entire complement of 22 huts and hangars had been filled, too.

 

In 1966, a working party was established to set up a museum "for the purpose of studying, collecting, preserving and exhibiting buildings, machinery, objects and information illustrating the development of industry and the way of life of the north of England", and it selected Beamish Hall, having been vacated by the National Coal Board, as a suitable location.

 

Establishment and expansion

In August 1970, with Atkinson appointed as its first full-time director together with three staff members, the museum was first established by moving some of the collections into the hall. In 1971, an introductory exhibition, "Museum in the Making" opened at the hall.

 

The museum was opened to visitors on its current site for the first time in 1972, with the first translocated buildings (the railway station and colliery winding engine) being erected the following year. The first trams began operating on a short demonstration line in 1973. The Town station was formally opened in 1976, the same year the reconstruction of the colliery winding engine house was completed, and the miners' cottages were relocated. Opening of the drift mine as an exhibit followed in 1979.

 

In 1975 the museum was visited by the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and by Anne, Princess Royal, in 2002. In 2006, as the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, The Duke of Kent visited, to open the town masonic lodge.

 

With the Co-op having opened in 1984, the town area was officially opened in 1985. The pub had opened in the same year, with Ravensworth Terrace having been reconstructed from 1980 to 1985. The newspaper branch office had also been built in the mid-1980s. Elsewhere, the farm on the west side of the site (which became Home Farm) opened in 1983. The present arrangement of visitors entering from the south was introduced in 1986.

 

At the beginning of the 1990s, further developments in the Pit Village were opened, the chapel in 1990, and the board school in 1992. The whole tram circle was in operation by 1993.[8] Further additions to the Town came in 1994 with the opening of the sweet shop and motor garage, followed by the bank in 1999. The first Georgian component of the museum arrived when Pockerley Old Hall opened in 1995, followed by the Pockerley Waggonway in 2001.

 

In the early 2000s two large modern buildings were added, to augment the museum's operations and storage capacity - the Regional Resource Centre on the west side opened in 2001, followed by the Regional Museums Store next to the railway station in 2002. Due to its proximity, the latter has been cosmetically presented as Beamish Waggon and Iron Works. Additions to display areas came in the form of the Masonic lodge (2006) and the Lamp Cabin in the Colliery (2009). In 2010, the entrance building and tea rooms were refurbished.

 

Into the 2010s, further buildings were added - the fish and chip shop (opened 2011)[28] band hall (opened 2013) and pit pony stables (built 2013/14) in the Pit Village, plus a bakery (opened 2013) and chemist and photographers (opened 2016) being added to the town. St Helen's Church, in the Georgian landscape, opened in November 2015.

 

Remaking Beamish

A major development, named 'Remaking Beamish', was approved by Durham County Council in April 2016, with £10.7m having been raised from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £3.3m from other sources.

 

As of September 2022, new exhibits as part of this project have included a quilter's cottage, a welfare hall, 1950s terrace, recreation park, bus depot, and 1950s farm (all discussed in the relevant sections of this article). The coming years will see replicas of aged miners' homes from South Shields, a cinema from Ryhope, and social housing will feature a block of four relocated Airey houses, prefabricated concrete homes originally designed by Sir Edwin Airey, which previously stood in Kibblesworth. Then-recently vacated and due for demolition, they were instead offered to the museum by The Gateshead Housing Company and accepted in 2012.

 

Museum site

The approximately 350-acre (1.4 km2) current site, once belonging to the Eden and Shafto families, is a basin-shaped steep-sided valley with woodland areas, a river, some level ground and a south-facing aspect.

 

Visitors enter the site through an entrance arch formed by a steam hammer, across a former opencast mining site and through a converted stable block (from Greencroft, near Lanchester, County Durham).

 

Visitors can navigate the site via assorted marked footpaths, including adjacent (or near to) the entire tramway oval. According to the museum, it takes 20 minutes to walk at a relaxed pace from the entrance to the town. The tramway oval serves as both an exhibit and as a free means of transport around the site for visitors, with stops at the entrance (south), Home Farm (west), Pockerley (east) and the Town (north). Visitors can also use the museum's buses as a free form of transport between various parts of the museum. Although visitors can also ride on the Town railway and Pockerley Waggonway, these do not form part of the site's transport system (as they start and finish from the same platforms).

 

Governance

Beamish was the first English museum to be financed and administered by a consortium of county councils (Cleveland, Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear) The museum is now operated as a registered charity, but continues to receive support from local authorities - Durham County Council, Sunderland City Council, Gateshead Council, South Tyneside Council and North Tyneside Council. The supporting Friends of Beamish organisation was established in 1968. Frank Atkinson retired as director in 1987. The museum has been 96% self-funding for some years (mainly from admission charges).

 

Sections of the museum

1913

The town area, officially opened in 1985, depicts chiefly Victorian buildings in an evolved urban setting of 1913.

 

Tramway

The Beamish Tramway is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, with four passing loops. The line makes a circuit of the museum site forming an important element of the visitor transportation system.

 

The first trams began operating on a short demonstration line in 1973, with the whole circle in operation by 1993.[8] It represents the era of electric powered trams, which were being introduced to meet the needs of growing towns and cities across the North East from the late 1890s, replacing earlier horse drawn systems.

 

Bakery

Presented as Joseph Herron, Baker & Confectioner, the bakery was opened in 2013 and features working ovens which produce food for sale to visitors. A two-storey curved building, only the ground floor is used as the exhibit. A bakery has been included to represent the new businesses which sprang up to cater for the growing middle classes - the ovens being of the modern electric type which were growing in use. The building was sourced from Anfield Plain (which had a bakery trading as Joseph Herron), and was moved to Beamish in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The frontage features a stained glass from a baker's shop in South Shields. It also uses fittings from Stockton-on-Tees.

 

Motor garage

Presented as Beamish Motor & Cycle Works, the motor garage opened in 1994. Reflecting the custom nature of the early motor trade, where only one in 232 people owned a car in 1913, the shop features a showroom to the front (not accessible to visitors), with a garage area to the rear, accessed via the adjacent archway. The works is a replica of a typical garage of the era. Much of the museum's car, motorcycle and bicycle collection, both working and static, is stored in the garage. The frontage has two storeys, but the upper floor is only a small mezzanine and is not used as part of the display.

 

Department Store

Presented as the Annfield Plain Industrial Co-operative Society Ltd, (but more commonly referred to as the Anfield Plain Co-op Store) this department store opened in 1984, and was relocated to Beamish from Annfield Plain in County Durham. The Annfield Plain co-operative society was originally established in 1870, with the museum store stocking various products from the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS), established 1863. A two-storey building, the ground floor comprises the three departments - grocery, drapery and hardware; the upper floor is taken up by the tea rooms (accessed from Redman Park via a ramp to the rear). Most of the items are for display only, but a small amount of goods are sold to visitors. The store features an operational cash carrier system, of the Lamson Cash Ball design - common in many large stores of the era, but especially essential to Co-ops, where customer's dividends had to be logged.

 

Ravensworth Terrace

Ravensworth Terrace is a row of terraced houses, presented as the premises and living areas of various professionals. Representing the expanding housing stock of the era, it was relocated from its original site on Bensham Bank, having been built for professionals and tradesmen between 1830 and 1845. Original former residents included painter John Wilson Carmichael and Gateshead mayor Alexander Gillies. Originally featuring 25 homes, the terrace was to be demolished when the museum saved it in the 1970s, reconstructing six of them on the Town site between 1980 and 1985. They are two storey buildings, with most featuring display rooms on both floors - originally the houses would have also housed a servant in the attic. The front gardens are presented in a mix of the formal style, and the natural style that was becoming increasingly popular.

 

No. 2 is presented as the home of Miss Florence Smith, a music teacher, with old fashioned mid-Victorian furnishings as if inherited from her parents. No. 3 & 4 is presented as the practice and home respectively (with a knocked through door) of dentist J. Jones - the exterior nameplate having come from the surgery of Mr. J. Jones in Hartlepool. Representing the state of dental health at the time, it features both a check-up room and surgery for extraction, and a technicians room for creating dentures - a common practice at the time being the giving to daughters a set on their 21st birthday, to save any future husband the cost at a later date. His home is presented as more modern than No.2, furnished in the Edwardian style the modern day utilities of an enamelled bathroom with flushing toilet, a controllable heat kitchen range and gas cooker. No. 5 is presented as a solicitor's office, based on that of Robert Spence Watson, a Quaker from Newcastle. Reflecting the trade of the era, downstairs is laid out as the partner's or principal office, and the general or clerk's office in the rear. Included is a set of books sourced from ER Hanby Holmes, who practised in Barnard Castle.

 

Pub

Presented as The Sun Inn, the pub opened in the town in 1985. It had originally stood in Bondgate in Bishop Auckland, and was donated to the museum by its final owners, the Scottish and Newcastle Breweries. Originally a "one-up one down" cottage, the earliest ownership has been traced to James Thompson, on 21 January 1806. Known as The Tiger Inn until the 1850s, from 1857 to 1899 under the ownership of the Leng family, it flourished under the patronage of miners from Newton Cap and other collieries. Latterly run by Elsie Edes, it came under brewery ownership in the 20th Century when bought by S&N antecedent, James Deuchar Ltd. The pub is fully operational, and features both a front and back bar, the two stories above not being part of the exhibit. The interior decoration features the stuffed racing greyhound Jake's Bonny Mary, which won nine trophies before being put on display in The Gerry in White le Head near Tantobie.

 

Town stables

Reflecting the reliance on horses for a variety of transport needs in the era, the town features a centrally located stables, situated behind the sweet shop, with its courtyard being accessed from the archway next to the pub. It is presented as a typical jobmaster's yard, with stables and a tack room in the building on its north side. A small, brick built open air, carriage shed is sited on the back of the printworks building. On the east side of the courtyard is a much larger metal shed (utilising iron roof trusses from Fleetwood), arranged mainly as carriage storage, but with a blacksmith's shop in the corner. The building on the west side of the yard is not part of any display. The interior fittings for the harness room came from Callaly Caste. Many of the horses and horse-drawn vehicles used by the museum are housed in the stables and sheds.

 

Printer, stationer and newspaper branch office

Presented as the Beamish Branch Office of the Northern Daily Mail and the Sunderland Daily Echo, the two storey replica building was built in the mid-1980s and represents the trade practices of the era. Downstairs, on the right, is the branch office, where newspapers would be sold directly and distributed to local newsagents and street vendors, and where orders for advertising copy would be taken. Supplementing it is a stationer's shop on the left hand side, with both display items and a small number of gift items on public sale. Upstairs is a jobbing printers workshop, which would not produce the newspapers, but would instead print leaflets, posters and office stationery. Split into a composing area and a print shop, the shop itself has a number of presses - a Columbian built in 1837 by Clymer and Dixon, an Albion dating back to 1863, an Arab Platen of c. 1900, and a Wharfedale flat bed press, built by Dawson & Son in around 1870. Much of the machinery was sourced from the print works of Jack Ascough's of Barnard Castle. Many of the posters seen around the museum are printed in the works, with the operation of the machinery being part of the display.

 

Sweet shop

Presented as Jubilee Confectioners, the two storey sweet shop opened in 1994 and is meant to represent the typical family run shops of the era, with living quarters above the shop (the second storey not being part of the display). To the front of the ground floor is a shop, where traditional sweets and chocolate (which was still relatively expensive at the time) are sold to visitors, while in the rear of the ground floor is a manufacturing area where visitors can view the techniques of the time (accessed via the arched walkway on the side of the building). The sweet rollers were sourced from a variety of shops and factories.

 

Bank

Presented as a branch of Barclays Bank (Barclay & Company Ltd) using period currency, the bank opened in 1999. It represents the trend of the era when regional banks were being acquired and merged into national banks such as Barclays, formed in 1896. Built to a three-storey design typical of the era, and featuring bricks in the upper storeys sourced from Park House, Gateshead, the Swedish imperial red shade used on the ground floor frontage is intended to represent stability and security. On the ground floor are windows for bank tellers, plus the bank manager's office. Included in a basement level are two vaults. The upper two storeys are not part of the display. It features components sourced from Southport and Gateshead

 

Masonic Hall

The Masonic Hall opened in 2006, and features the frontage from a former masonic hall sited in Park Terrace, Sunderland. Reflecting the popularity of the masons in North East England, as well as the main hall, which takes up the full height of the structure, in a small two story arrangement to the front of the hall is also a Robing Room and the Tyler's Room on the ground floor, and a Museum Room upstairs, featuring display cabinets of masonic regalia donated from various lodges. Upstairs is also a class room, with large stained glass window.

 

Chemist and photographer

Presented as W Smith's Chemist and JR & D Edis Photographers, a two-storey building housing both a chemist and photographers shops under one roof opened on 7 May 2016 and represents the growing popularity of photography in the era, with shops often growing out of or alongside chemists, who had the necessary supplies for developing photographs. The chemist features a dispensary, and equipment from various shops including John Walker, inventor of the friction match. The photographers features a studio, where visitors can dress in period costume and have a photograph taken. The corner building is based on a real building on Elvet Bridge in Durham City, opposite the Durham Marriot Hotel (the Royal County), although the second storey is not part of the display. The chemist also sells aerated water (an early form of carbonated soft drinks) to visitors, sold in marble-stopper sealed Codd bottles (although made to a modern design to prevent the safety issue that saw the original bottles banned). Aerated waters grew in popularity in the era, due to the need for a safe alternative to water, and the temperance movement - being sold in chemists due to the perception they were healthy in the same way mineral waters were.

 

Costing around £600,000 and begun on 18 August 2014, the building's brickwork and timber was built by the museum's own staff and apprentices, using Georgian bricks salvaged from demolition works to widen the A1. Unlike previous buildings built on the site, the museum had to replicate rather than relocate this one due to the fact that fewer buildings are being demolished compared to the 1970s, and in any case it was deemed unlikely one could be found to fit the curved shape of the plot. The studio is named after a real business run by John Reed Edis and his daughter Daisy. Mr Edis, originally at 27 Sherburn Road, Durham, in 1895, then 52 Saddler Street from 1897. The museum collection features several photographs, signs and equipment from the Edis studio. The name for the chemist is a reference to the business run by William Smith, who relocated to Silver Street, near the original building, in 1902. According to records, the original Edis company had been supplied by chemicals from the original (and still extant) Smith business.

 

Redman Park

Redman Park is a small lawned space with flower borders, opposite Ravensworth Terrace. Its centrepiece is a Victorian bandstand sourced from Saltwell Park, where it stood on an island in the middle of a lake. It represents the recognised need of the time for areas where people could relax away from the growing industrial landscape.

 

Other

Included in the Town are drinking fountains and other period examples of street furniture. In between the bank and the sweet shop is a combined tram and bus waiting room and public convenience.

 

Unbuilt

When construction of the Town began, the projected town plan incorporated a market square and buildings including a gas works, fire station, ice cream parlour (originally the Central Cafe at Consett), a cast iron bus station from Durham City, school, public baths and a fish and chip shop.

 

Railway station

East of the Town is the Railway Station, depicting a typical small passenger and goods facility operated by the main railway company in the region at the time, the North Eastern Railway (NER). A short running line extends west in a cutting around the north side of the Town itself, with trains visible from the windows of the stables. It runs for a distance of 1⁄4 mile - the line used to connect to the colliery sidings until 1993 when it was lifted between the town and the colliery so that the tram line could be extended. During 2009 the running line was relaid so that passenger rides could recommence from the station during 2010.

 

Rowley station

Representing passenger services is Rowley Station, a station building on a single platform, opened in 1976, having been relocated to the museum from the village of Rowley near Consett, just a few miles from Beamish.

 

The original Rowley railway station was opened in 1845 (as Cold Rowley, renamed Rowley in 1868) by the NER antecedent, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, consisting of just a platform. Under NER ownership, as a result of increasing use, in 1873 the station building was added. As demand declined, passenger service was withdrawn in 1939, followed by the goods service in 1966. Trains continued to use the line for another three years before it closed, the track being lifted in 1970. Although in a state of disrepair, the museum acquired the building, dismantling it in 1972, being officially unveiled in its new location by railway campaigner and poet, Sir John Betjeman.

 

The station building is presented as an Edwardian station, lit by oil lamp, having never been connected to gas or electricity supplies in its lifetime. It features both an open waiting area and a visitor accessible waiting room (western half), and a booking and ticket office (eastern half), with the latter only visible from a small viewing entrance. Adorning the waiting room is a large tiled NER route map.

 

Signal box

The signal box dates from 1896, and was relocated from Carr House East near Consett. It features assorted signalling equipment, basic furnishings for the signaller, and a lever frame, controlling the stations numerous points, interlocks and semaphore signals. The frame is not an operational part of the railway, the points being hand operated using track side levers. Visitors can only view the interior from a small area inside the door.

 

Goods shed

The goods shed is originally from Alnwick. The goods area represents how general cargo would have been moved on the railway, and for onward transport. The goods shed features a covered platform where road vehicles (wagons and carriages) can be loaded with the items unloaded from railway vans. The shed sits on a triangular platform serving two sidings, with a platform mounted hand-crane, which would have been used for transhipment activity (transfer of goods from one wagon to another, only being stored for a short time on the platform, if at all).

 

Coal yard

The coal yard represents how coal would have been distributed from incoming trains to local merchants - it features a coal drop which unloads railway wagons into road going wagons below. At the road entrance to the yard is a weighbridge (with office) and coal merchant's office - both being appropriately furnished with display items, but only viewable from outside.

 

The coal drop was sourced from West Boldon, and would have been a common sight on smaller stations. The weighbridge came from Glanton, while the coal office is from Hexham.

 

Bridges and level crossing

The station is equipped with two footbridges, a wrought iron example to the east having come from Howden-le-Wear, and a cast iron example to the west sourced from Dunston. Next to the western bridge, a roadway from the coal yard is presented as crossing the tracks via a gated level crossing (although in reality the road goes nowhere on the north side).

 

Waggon and Iron Works

Dominating the station is the large building externally presented as Beamish Waggon and Iron Works, estd 1857. In reality this is the Regional Museums Store (see below), although attached to the north side of the store are two covered sidings (not accessible to visitors), used to service and store the locomotives and stock used on the railway.

 

Other

A corrugated iron hut adjacent to the 'iron works' is presented as belonging to the local council, and houses associated road vehicles, wagons and other items.

 

Fairground

Adjacent to the station is an events field and fairground with a set of Frederick Savage built steam powered Gallopers dating from 1893.

 

Colliery

Presented as Beamish Colliery (owned by James Joicey & Co., and managed by William Severs), the colliery represents the coal mining industry which dominated the North East for generations - the museum site is in the former Durham coalfield, where 165,246 men and boys worked in 304 mines in 1913. By the time period represented by Beamish's 1900s era, the industry was booming - production in the Great Northern Coalfield had peaked in 1913, and miners were relatively well paid (double that of agriculture, the next largest employer), but the work was dangerous. Children could be employed from age 12 (the school leaving age), but could not go underground until 14.

 

Deep mine

Reconstructed pitworks buildings showing winding gear

Dominating the colliery site are the above ground structures of a deep (i.e. vertical shaft) mine - the brick built Winding Engine House, and the red painted wooden Heapstead. These were relocated to the museum (which never had its own vertical shaft), the winding house coming from Beamish Chophill Colliery, and the Heapstead from Ravensworth Park Mine in Gateshead. The winding engine and its enclosing house are both listed.

 

The winding engine was the source of power for hauling miners, equipment and coal up and down the shaft in a cage, the top of the shaft being in the adjacent heapstead, which encloses the frame holding the wheel around which the hoist cable travels. Inside the Heapstead, tubs of coal from the shaft were weighed on a weighbridge, then tipped onto jigging screens, which sifted the solid lumps from small particles and dust - these were then sent along the picking belt, where pickers, often women, elderly or disabled people or young boys (i.e. workers incapable of mining), would separate out unwanted stone, wood and rubbish. Finally, the coal was tipped onto waiting railway wagons below, while the unwanted waste sent to the adjacent heap by an external conveyor.

 

Chophill Colliery was closed by the National Coal Board in 1962, but the winding engine and tower were left in place. When the site was later leased, Beamish founder Frank Atkinson intervened to have both spot listed to prevent their demolition. After a protracted and difficult process to gain the necessary permissions to move a listed structure, the tower and engine were eventually relocated to the museum, work being completed in 1976. The winding engine itself is the only surviving example of the type which was once common, and was still in use at Chophill upon its closure. It was built in 1855 by J&G Joicey of Newcastle, to an 1800 design by Phineas Crowther.

 

Inside the winding engine house, supplementing the winding engine is a smaller jack engine, housed in the rear. These were used to lift heavy equipment, and in deep mines, act as a relief winding engine.

 

Outdoors, next to the Heapstead, is a sinking engine, mounted on red bricks. Brought to the museum from Silksworth Colliery in 1971, it was built by Burlington's of Sunderland in 1868 and is the sole surviving example of its kind. Sinking engines were used for the construction of shafts, after which the winding engine would become the source of hoist power. It is believed the Silksworth engine was retained because it was powerful enough to serve as a backup winding engine, and could be used to lift heavy equipment (i.e. the same role as the jack engine inside the winding house).

 

Drift mine

The Mahogany Drift Mine is original to Beamish, having opened in 1855 and after closing, was brought back into use in 1921 to transport coal from Beamish Park Drift to Beamish Cophill Colliery. It opened as a museum display in 1979. Included in the display is the winding engine and a short section of trackway used to transport tubs of coal to the surface, and a mine office. Visitor access into the mine shaft is by guided tour.

 

Lamp cabin

The Lamp Cabin opened in 2009, and is a recreation of a typical design used in collieries to house safety lamps, a necessary piece of equipment for miners although were not required in the Mahogany Drift Mine, due to it being gas-free. The building is split into two main rooms; in one half, the lamp cabin interior is recreated, with a collection of lamps on shelves, and the system of safety tokens used to track which miners were underground. Included in the display is a 1927 Hailwood and Ackroyd lamp-cleaning machine sourced from Morrison Busty Colliery in Annfield Plain. In the second room is an educational display, i.e., not a period interior.

 

Colliery railways

The colliery features both a standard gauge railway, representing how coal was transported to its onward destination, and narrow-gauge typically used by Edwardian collieries for internal purposes. The standard gauge railway is laid out to serve the deep mine - wagons being loaded by dropping coal from the heapstead - and runs out of the yard to sidings laid out along the northern-edge of the Pit Village.

 

The standard gauge railway has two engine sheds in the colliery yard, the smaller brick, wood and metal structure being an operational building; the larger brick-built structure is presented as Beamish Engine Works, a reconstruction of an engine shed formerly at Beamish 2nd Pit. Used for locomotive and stock storage, it is a long, single track shed featuring a servicing pit for part of its length. Visitors can walk along the full length in a segregated corridor. A third engine shed in brick (lower half) and corrugated iron has been constructed at the southern end of the yard, on the other side of the heapstead to the other two sheds, and is used for both narrow and standard gauge vehicles (on one road), although it is not connected to either system - instead being fed by low-loaders and used for long-term storage only.

 

The narrow gauge railway is serviced by a corrugate iron engine shed, and is being expanded to eventually encompass several sidings.

 

There are a number of industrial steam locomotives (including rare examples by Stephen Lewin from Seaham and Black, Hawthorn & Co) and many chaldron wagons, the region's traditional type of colliery railway rolling stock, which became a symbol of Beamish Museum. The locomotive Coffee Pot No 1 is often in steam during the summer.

 

Other

On the south eastern corner of the colliery site is the Power House, brought to the museum from Houghton Colliery. These were used to store explosives.

 

Pit Village

Alongside the colliery is the pit village, representing life in the mining communities that grew alongside coal production sites in the North East, many having come into existence solely because of the industry, such as Seaham Harbour, West Hartlepool, Esh Winning and Bedlington.

 

Miner's Cottages

The row of six miner's cottages in Francis Street represent the tied-housing provided by colliery owners to mine workers. Relocated to the museum in 1976, they were originally built in the 1860s in Hetton-le-Hole by Hetton Coal Company. They feature the common layout of a single-storey with a kitchen to the rear, the main room of the house, and parlour to the front, rarely used (although it was common for both rooms to be used for sleeping, with disguised folding "dess" beds common), and with children sleeping in attic spaces upstairs. In front are long gardens, used for food production, with associated sheds. An outdoor toilet and coal bunker were in the rear yards, and beyond the cobbled back lane to their rear are assorted sheds used for cultivation, repairs and hobbies. Chalkboard slates attached to the rear wall were used by the occupier to tell the mine's "knocker up" when they wished to be woken for their next shift.

 

No.2 is presented as a Methodist family's home, featuring good quality "Pitman's mahogany" furniture; No.3 is presented as occupied by a second generation well off Irish Catholic immigrant family featuring many items of value (so they could be readily sold off in times of need) and an early 1890s range; No.3 is presented as more impoverished than the others with just a simple convector style Newcastle oven, being inhabited by a miner's widow allowed to remain as her son is also a miner, and supplementing her income doing laundry and making/mending for other families. All the cottages feature examples of the folk art objects typical of mining communities. Also included in the row is an office for the miner's paymaster.[11] In the rear alleyway of the cottages is a communal bread oven, which were commonplace until miner's cottages gradually obtained their own kitchen ranges. They were used to bake traditional breads such as the Stottie, as well as sweet items, such as tea cakes. With no extant examples, the museum's oven had to be created from photographs and oral history.

 

School

The school opened in 1992, and represents the typical board school in the educational system of the era (the stone built single storey structure being inscribed with the foundation date of 1891, Beamish School Board), by which time attendance at a state approved school was compulsory, but the leaving age was 12, and lessons featured learning by rote and corporal punishment. The building originally stood in East Stanley, having been set up by the local school board, and would have numbered around 150 pupils. Having been donated by Durham County Council, the museum now has a special relationship with the primary school that replaced it. With separate entrances and cloakrooms for boys and girls at either end, the main building is split into three class rooms (all accessible to visitors), connected by a corridor along the rear. To the rear is a red brick bike shed, and in the playground visitors can play traditional games of the era.

 

Chapel

Pit Hill Chapel opened in 1990, and represents the Wesleyan Methodist tradition which was growing in North East England, with the chapels used for both religious worship and as community venues, which continue in its role in the museum display. Opened in the 1850s, it originally stood not far from its present site, having been built in what would eventually become Beamish village, near the museum entrance. A stained glass window of The Light of The World by William Holman Hunt came from a chapel in Bedlington. A two handled Love Feast Mug dates from 1868, and came from a chapel in Shildon Colliery. On the eastern wall, above the elevated altar area, is an angled plain white surface used for magic lantern shows, generated using a replica of the double-lensed acetylene gas powered lanterns of the period, mounted in the aisle of the main seating area. Off the western end of the hall is the vestry, featuring a small library and communion sets from Trimdon Colliery and Catchgate.

 

Fish bar

Presented as Davey's Fried Fish & Chip Potato Restaurant, the fish and chip shop opened in 2011, and represents the typical style of shop found in the era as they were becoming rapidly popular in the region - the brick built Victorian style fryery would most often have previously been used for another trade, and the attached corrugated iron hut serves as a saloon with tables and benches, where customers would eat and socialise. Featuring coal fired ranges using beef-dripping, the shop is named in honour of the last coal fired shop in Tyneside, in Winlaton Mill, and which closed in 2007. Latterly run by brothers Brian and Ramsay Davy, it had been established by their grandfather in 1937. The serving counter and one of the shop's three fryers, a 1934 Nuttal, came from the original Davy shop. The other two fryers are a 1920s Mabbott used near Chester until the 1960s, and a GW Atkinson New Castle Range, donated from a shop in Prudhoe in 1973. The latter is one of only two known late Victorian examples to survive. The decorative wall tiles in the fryery came to the museum in 1979 from Cowes Fish and Game Shop in Berwick upon Tweed. The shop also features both an early electric and hand-powered potato rumblers (cleaners), and a gas powered chip chopper built around 1900. Built behind the chapel, the fryery is arranged so the counter faces the rear, stretching the full length of the building. Outside is a brick built row of outdoor toilets. Supplementing the fish bar is the restored Berriman's mobile chip van, used in Spennymoor until the early 1970s.

 

Band hall

The Hetton Silver Band Hall opened in 2013, and features displays reflecting the role colliery bands played in mining life. Built in 1912, it was relocated from its original location in South Market Street, Hetton-le-Hole, where it was used by the Hetton Silver Band, founded in 1887. They built the hall using prize money from a music competition, and the band decided to donate the hall to the museum after they merged with Broughtons Brass Band of South Hetton (to form the Durham Miners' Association Brass Band). It is believed to be the only purpose built band hall in the region. The structure consists of the main hall, plus a small kitchen to the rear; as part of the museum it is still used for performances.

 

Pit pony stables

The Pit Pony Stables were built in 2013/14, and house the museum's pit ponies. They replace a wooden stable a few metres away in the field opposite the school (the wooden structure remaining). It represents the sort of stables that were used in drift mines (ponies in deep mines living their whole lives underground), pit ponies having been in use in the north east as late as 1994, in Ellington Colliery. The structure is a recreation of an original building that stood at Rickless Drift Mine, between High Spen and Greenside; it was built using a yellow brick that was common across the Durham coalfield.

 

Other

Doubling as one of the museum's refreshment buildings, Sinker's Bait Cabin represents the temporary structures that would have served as living quarters, canteens and drying areas for sinkers, the itinerant workforce that would dig new vertical mine shafts.

 

Representing other traditional past-times, the village fields include a quoits pitch, with another refreshment hut alongside it, resembling a wooden clubhouse.

 

In one of the fields in the village stands the Cupola, a small round flat topped brick built tower; such structures were commonly placed on top of disused or ventilation shafts, also used as an emergency exit from the upper seams.

 

The Georgian North (1825)

A late Georgian landscape based around the original Pockerley farm represents the period of change in the region as transport links were improved and as agriculture changed as machinery and field management developed, and breeding stock was improved. It became part of the museum in 1990, having latterly been occupied by a tenant farmer, and was opened as an exhibit in 1995. The hill top position suggests the site was the location of an Iron Age fort - the first recorded mention of a dwelling is in the 1183 Buke of Boldon (the region's equivalent of the Domesday Book). The name Pockerley has Saxon origins - "Pock" or "Pokor" meaning "pimple of bag-like" hill, and "Ley" meaning woodland clearing.

 

The surrounding farmlands have been returned to a post-enclosure landscape with ridge and furrow topography, divided into smaller fields by traditional riven oak fencing. The land is worked and grazed by traditional methods and breeds.

 

Pockerley Old Hall

The estate of Pockerley Old Hall is presented as that of a well off tenant farmer, in a position to take advantage of the agricultural advances of the era. The hall itself consists of the Old House, which is adjoined (but not connected to) the New House, both south facing two storey sandstone built buildings, the Old House also having a small north–south aligned extension. Roof timbers in the sandstone built Old House have been dated to the 1440s, but the lower storey (the undercroft) may be from even earlier. The New House dates to the late 1700s, and replaced a medieval manor house to the east of the Old House as the main farm house - once replaced itself, the Old House is believed to have been let to the farm manager. Visitors can access all rooms in the New and Old House, except the north–south extension which is now a toilet block. Displays include traditional cooking, such as the drying of oatcakes over a wooden rack (flake) over the fireplace in the Old House.

 

Inside the New House the downstairs consists of a main kitchen and a secondary kitchen (scullery) with pantry. It also includes a living room, although as the main room of the house, most meals would have been eaten in the main kitchen, equipped with an early range, boiler and hot air oven. Upstairs is a main bedroom and a second bedroom for children; to the rear (i.e. the colder, north side), are bedrooms for a servant and the servant lad respectively. Above the kitchen (for transferred warmth) is a grain and fleece store, with attached bacon loft, a narrow space behind the wall where bacon or hams, usually salted first, would be hung to be smoked by the kitchen fire (entering through a small door in the chimney).

 

Presented as having sparse and more old fashioned furnishings, the Old House is presented as being occupied in the upper story only, consisting of a main room used as the kitchen, bedroom and for washing, with the only other rooms being an adjoining second bedroom and an overhanging toilet. The main bed is an oak box bed dating to 1712, obtained from Star House in Baldersdale in 1962. Originally a defensive house in its own right, the lower level of the Old House is an undercroft, or vaulted basement chamber, with 1.5 metre thick walls - in times of attack the original tenant family would have retreated here with their valuables, although in its later use as the farm managers house, it is now presented as a storage and work room, housing a large wooden cheese press.[68] More children would have slept in the attic of the Old House (not accessible as a display).

 

To the front of the hall is a terraced garden featuring an ornamental garden with herbs and flowers, a vegetable garden, and an orchard, all laid out and planted according to the designs of William Falla of Gateshead, who had the largest nursery in Britain from 1804 to 1830.

 

The buildings to the east of the hall, across a north–south track, are the original farmstead buildings dating from around 1800. These include stables and a cart shed arranged around a fold yard. The horses and carts on display are typical of North Eastern farms of the era, Fells or Dales ponies and Cleveland Bay horses, and two wheeled long carts for hilly terrain (as opposed to four wheel carts).

 

Pockerley Waggonway

The Pockerley Waggonway opened in 2001, and represents the year 1825, as the year the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened. Waggonways had appeared around 1600, and by the 1800s were common in mining areas - prior to 1800 they had been either horse or gravity powered, before the invention of steam engines (initially used as static winding engines), and later mobile steam locomotives.

 

Housing the locomotives and rolling stock is the Great Shed, which opened in 2001 and is based on Timothy Hackworth's erecting shop, Shildon railway works, and incorporating some material from Robert Stephenson and Company's Newcastle works. Visitors can walk around the locomotives in the shed, and when in steam, can take rides to the end of the track and back in the line's assorted rolling stock - situated next to the Great Shed is a single platform for passenger use. In the corner of the main shed is a corner office, presented as a locomotive designer's office (only visible to visitors through windows). Off the pedestrian entrance in the southern side is a room presented as the engine crew's break room. Atop the Great Shed is a weather vane depicting a waggonway train approaching a cow, a reference to a famous quote by George Stephenson when asked by parliament in 1825 what would happen in such an eventuality - "very awkward indeed - for the coo!".

 

At the far end of the waggonway is the (fictional) coal mine Pockerley Gin Pit, which the waggonway notionally exists to serve. The pit head features a horse powered wooden whim gin, which was the method used before steam engines for hauling men and material up and down mineshafts - coal was carried in corves (wicker baskets), while miners held onto the rope with their foot in an attached loop.

 

Wooden waggonway

Following creation of the Pockerley Waggonway, the museum went back a chapter in railway history to create a horse-worked wooden waggonway.

 

St Helen's Church

St Helen's Church represents a typical type of country church found in North Yorkshire, and was relocated from its original site in Eston, North Yorkshire. It is the oldest and most complex building moved to the museum. It opened in November 2015, but will not be consecrated as this would place restrictions on what could be done with the building under church law.

 

The church had existed on its original site since around 1100. As the congregation grew, it was replaced by two nearby churches, and latterly became a cemetery chapel. After closing in 1985, it fell into disrepair and by 1996 was burnt out and vandalised leading to the decision by the local authority in 1998 to demolish it. Working to a deadline of a threatened demolition within six months, the building was deconstructed and moved to Beamish, reconstruction being authorised in 2011, with the exterior build completed by 2012.

 

While the structure was found to contain some stones from the 1100 era, the building itself however dates from three distinct building phases - the chancel on the east end dates from around 1450, while the nave, which was built at the same time, was modernised in 1822 in the Churchwarden style, adding a vestry. The bell tower dates from the late 1600s - one of the two bells is a rare dated Tudor example. Gargoyles, originally hidden in the walls and believed to have been pranks by the original builders, have been made visible in the reconstruction.

 

Restored to its 1822 condition, the interior has been furnished with Georgian box pews sourced from a church in Somerset. Visitors can access all parts except the bell tower. The nave includes a small gallery level, at the tower end, while the chancel includes a church office.

 

Joe the Quilter's Cottage

The most recent addition to the area opened to the public in 2018 is a recreation of a heather-thatched cottage which features stones from the Georgian quilter Joseph Hedley's original home in Northumberland. It was uncovered during an archaeological dig by Beamish. His original cottage was demolished in 1872 and has been carefully recreated with the help of a drawing on a postcard. The exhibit tells the story of quilting and the growth of cottage industries in the early 1800s. Within there is often a volunteer or member of staff not only telling the story of how Joe was murdered in 1826, a crime that remains unsolved to this day, but also giving visitors the opportunity to learn more and even have a go at quilting.

 

Other

A pack pony track passes through the scene - pack horses having been the mode of transport for all manner of heavy goods where no waggonway exists, being also able to reach places where carriages and wagons could not access. Beside the waggonway is a gibbet.

 

Farm (1940s)

Presented as Home Farm, this represents the role of North East farms as part of the British Home Front during World War II, depicting life indoors, and outside on the land. Much of the farmstead is original, and opened as a museum display in 1983. The farm is laid out across a north–south public road; to the west is the farmhouse and most of the farm buildings, while on the east side are a pair of cottages, the British Kitchen, an outdoor toilet ("netty"), a bull field, duck pond and large shed.

 

The farm complex was rebuilt in the mid-19th century as a model farm incorporating a horse mill and a steam-powered threshing mill. It was not presented as a 1940s farm until early 2014.

 

The farmhouse is presented as having been modernised, following the installation of electric power and an Aga cooker in the scullery, although the main kitchen still has the typical coal-fired black range. Lino flooring allowed quicker cleaning times, while a radio set allowed the family to keep up to date with wartime news. An office next to the kitchen would have served both as the administration centre for the wartime farm, and as a local Home Guard office. Outside the farmhouse is an improvised Home Guard pillbox fashioned from half an egg-ended steam boiler, relocated from its original position near Durham.

 

The farm is equipped with three tractors which would have all seen service during the war: a Case, a Fordson N and a 1924 Fordson F. The farm also features horse-drawn traps, reflecting the effect wartime rationing of petrol would have had on car use. The farming equipment in the cart and machinery sheds reflects the transition of the time from horse-drawn to tractor-pulled implements, with some older equipment put back into use due to the war, as well as a large Foster thresher, vital for cereal crops, and built specifically for the war effort, sold at the Newcastle Show. Although the wartime focus was on crops, the farm also features breeds of sheep, cattle, pigs and poultry that would have been typical for the time. The farm also has a portable steam engine, not in use, but presented as having been left out for collection as part of a wartime scrap metal drive.

 

The cottages would have housed farm labourers, but are presented as having new uses for the war: Orchard Cottage housing a family of evacuees, and Garden Cottage serving as a billet for members of the Women's Land Army (Land Girls). Orchard Cottage is named for an orchard next to it, which also contains an Anderson shelter, reconstructed from partial pieces of ones recovered from around the region. Orchard Cottage, which has both front and back kitchens, is presented as having an up to date blue enameled kitchen range, with hot water supplied from a coke stove, as well as a modern accessible bathroom. Orchard Cottage is also used to stage recreations of wartime activities for schools, elderly groups and those living with dementia. Garden Cottage is sparsely furnished with a mix of items, reflecting the few possessions Land Girls were able to take with them, although unusually the cottage is depicted with a bathroom, and electricity (due to proximity to a colliery).

 

The British Kitchen is both a display and one of the museum's catering facilities; it represents an installation of one of the wartime British Restaurants, complete with propaganda posters and a suitably patriotic menu.

 

Town (1950s)

As part of the Remaking Beamish project, with significant funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the museum is creating a 1950s town. Opened in July 2019, the Welfare Hall is an exact replica of the Leasingthorne Colliery Welfare Hall and Community Centre which was built in 1957 near Bishop Auckland. Visitors can 'take part in activities including dancing, crafts, Meccano, beetle drive, keep fit and amateur dramatics' while also taking a look at the National Health Service exhibition on display, recreating the environment of an NHS clinic. A recreation and play park, named Coronation Park was opened in May 2022 to coincide with the celebrations around the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

 

The museum's first 1950s terrace opened in February 2022. This included a fish and chip shop from Middleton St George, a cafe, a replica of Norman Cornish's home, and a hairdressers. Future developments opposite the existing 1950s terrace will see a recreation of The Grand Cinema, from Ryhope, in Sunderland, and toy and electricians shops. Also underdevelopment are a 1950s bowling green and pavilion, police houses and aged miner's cottages. Also under construction are semi-detached houses; for this exhibit, a competition was held to recreate a particular home at Beamish, which was won by a family from Sunderland.

 

As well as the town, a 1950s Northern bus depot has been opened on the western side of the museum – the purpose of this is to provide additional capacity for bus, trolleybus and tram storage once the planned trolleybus extension and the new area are completed, providing extra capacity and meeting the need for modified routing.

 

Spain's Field Farm

In March 2022, the museum opened Spain's Field Farm. It had stood for centuries at Eastgate in Weardale, and was moved to Beamish stone-by-stone. It is exhibited as it would have been in the 1950s.

 

1820s Expansion

In the area surrounding the current Pockerley Old Hall and Steam Wagon Way more development is on the way. The first of these was planned to be a Georgian Coaching Inn that would be the museum's first venture into overnight accommodation. However following the COVID-19 pandemic this was abandoned, in favour of self-catering accommodation in existing cottages.

 

There are also plans for 1820s industries including a blacksmith's forge and a pottery.

 

Museum stores

There are two stores on the museum site, used to house donated objects. In contrast to the traditional rotation practice used in museums where items are exchanged regularly between store and display, it is Beamish policy that most of their exhibits are to be in use and on display - those items that must be stored are to be used in the museum's future developments.

 

Open Store

Housed in the Regional Resource Centre, the Open Store is accessible to visitors. Objects are housed on racks along one wall, while the bulk of items are in a rolling archive, with one set of shelves opened, with perspex across their fronts to permit viewing without touching.

 

Regional Museums Store

The real purposes of the building presented as Beamish Waggon and Iron Works next to Rowley Station is as the Regional Museums Store, completed in 2002, which Beamish shares with Tyne and Wear Museums. This houses, amongst other things, a large marine diesel engine by William Doxford & Sons of Pallion, Sunderland (1977); and several boats including the Tyne wherry (a traditional local type of lighter) Elswick No. 2 (1930). The store is only open at selected times, and for special tours which can be arranged through the museum; however, a number of viewing windows have been provided for use at other times.

 

Transport collection

Main article: Beamish Museum transport collection

The museum contains much of transport interest, and the size of its site makes good internal transportation for visitors and staff purposes a necessity.

 

The collection contains a variety of historical vehicles for road, rail and tramways. In addition there are some modern working replicas to enhance the various scenes in the museum.

 

Agriculture

The museum's two farms help to preserve traditional northcountry and in some cases rare livestock breeds such as Durham Shorthorn Cattle; Clydesdale and Cleveland Bay working horses; Dales ponies; Teeswater sheep; Saddleback pigs; and poultry.

 

Regional heritage

Other large exhibits collected by the museum include a tracked steam shovel, and a coal drop from Seaham Harbour.

 

In 2001 a new-build Regional Resource Centre (accessible to visitors by appointment) opened on the site to provide accommodation for the museum's core collections of smaller items. These include over 300,000 historic photographs, printed books and ephemera, and oral history recordings. The object collections cover the museum's specialities. These include quilts; "clippy mats" (rag rugs); Trade union banners; floor cloth; advertising (including archives from United Biscuits and Rowntree's); locally made pottery; folk art; and occupational costume. Much of the collection is viewable online and the arts of quilting, rug making and cookery in the local traditions are demonstrated at the museum.

 

Filming location

The site has been used as the backdrop for many film and television productions, particularly Catherine Cookson dramas, produced by Tyne Tees Television, and the final episode and the feature film version of Downton Abbey. Some of the children's television series Supergran was shot here.

 

Visitor numbers

On its opening day the museum set a record by attracting a two-hour queue. Visitor numbers rose rapidly to around 450,000 p.a. during the first decade of opening to the public, with the millionth visitor arriving in 1978.

 

Awards

Museum of the Year1986

European Museum of the Year Award1987

Living Museum of the Year2002

Large Visitor Attraction of the YearNorth East England Tourism awards2014 & 2015

Large Visitor Attraction of the Year (bronze)VisitEngland awards2016

It was designated by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council in 1997 as a museum with outstanding collections.

 

Critical responses

In responding to criticism that it trades on nostalgia the museum is unapologetic. A former director has written: "As individuals and communities we have a deep need and desire to understand ourselves in time."

 

According to the BBC writing in its 40th anniversary year, Beamish was a mould-breaking museum that became a great success due to its collection policy, and what sets it apart from other museums is the use of costumed people to impart knowledge to visitors, rather than labels or interpretive panels (although some such panels do exist on the site), which means it "engages the visitor with history in a unique way".

 

Legacy

Beamish was influential on the Black Country Living Museum, Blists Hill Victorian Town and, in the view of museologist Kenneth Hudson, more widely in the museum community and is a significant educational resource locally. It can also demonstrate its benefit to the contemporary local economy.

 

The unselective collecting policy has created a lasting bond between museum and community.

Phicen Lady Death body and head, hair piece replaced, make-up changed, eye decals added. More of a Raven Hex figure now.

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this wood at potholm is being clear felled of sitka spruce,for a replant with natural hardwood trees,one man and one machine is all that is needed,in my early days as a tree cutter 3-4 of us would have been there for a few weeks with chainsaws-now it can be done in a few days.langholm,dumfriesshire,scotland. view large

Originally built as Penn Central 7868, then transitioned to Conrail 7868, now we're seeing this Geep as Norfolk Southern 2923. Since retired form the NS active roster, the GP38-2 worked for three railroads, and never missed a step.

architecture from the street series. west los angeles, ca.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 03-Feb-17.

 

Fleet No: "934".

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWYC, this aircraft was delivered to Air Canada as C-GFUR in Jun-00. Current, updated Feb-21.

*replaced with revised edit*

 

Smoo Cave is a large combined sea cave and freshwater cave in Durness in Sutherland, Scottish Highlands.

The cave itself is impressive, though the set up had a bit too much of a touristy feel for my liking .

Replaced and left to rot

Kawasaki OH-1 32601 / JG-2601 TE (cn 1001) Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force, Hiko Jikkentai. pictured at Camp Akeno which is also its home base. The 32601 is the OH-1 prototype (photo 8345-3).

 

The Kawasaki OH-1, nickname ‘Ninja’, is a military scout/observation helicopter for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, intended to replace the OH-6D Loach. As of March 2014, 38 have entered service, complementing the existing fleet of OH-6D.

Developed and build by Kawasaki at Gifu, the OH-1 is slowly replacing the OH-6D in the observation role. First operational units to receive the OH-1 were the HQ flights of the Anti-Tank Helicopter squadrons, which was completed in 2011. Now the various HQ flights of the Army Aviation squadrons are replacing their OH-6Ds with this Kawasaki product.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_OH-1 and www.scramble.nl/orbats/japan/army

Replacing Your Home Air Filter and Why It’s Important. t.co/KxDsYhh9JM t.co/cKRH9O29RZ (via Twitter twitter.com/ProSaverApp/status/783423403420155904)

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 17-Aug-26.

 

With additional 'East Midlands, Stansted' titles

 

A very early Saab SF.340 (c/n 020), this aircraft was first flown with the Saab test registration SE-E20. It was delivered to Crossair, Switzerland as HB-AHE in Mar-85. It was leased to Tatra Air, Czechoslovakia as OK-RGS in Mar-91 and returned to Crossair as HB-AHE in Apr-92.

 

The aircraft was wet-leased to Business Air, Scotland, UK in Jul-92. The wet-lease became a dry lease when it was re-registered G-GNTC in Sep-92. it was wet-leased to British Midland Airways in Jun-96.

 

Crossair sold it back to Saab in Jul-99 while the lease to Business Air and the wet-lease to British Midland continued. It was transferred to British Midland Commuter in Mar-98 and was withdrawn from service, returned to Saab and stored in Jul-99.

 

In Oct-99 the aircraft was leased to Aurigny Air Services, It was returned to Saab in May-06 and immediately sold to Bridges Worldwide Leasing as a Cargo / Express aircraft with seats removed. It was leased to Adria Airways, Slovenia as S5-BAM in Jun-06. It was leased to Solinair, Slovenia in May-08 and operated on behalf of Bridges Aviation.

 

In Jul-11 it was transferred to Air Scorpio, Bulgaria as LZ-SAB who continued to operated it on behalf of Bridges Aviation. It was permanently retired at Sofia, Bulgaria at the end of Jun-12 and stored.

 

The aircraft was broken up at Sofia in 2016 and the parts were stored until it was put back together in 2018, preserved and displayed outside the offices of 'Rumyana Hinkova', a transportation and logistics company, Kilifarevo, Bulgaria. Updated 17-Aug-25.

When I saw that 740 had replaced 743 moments after I saw it heading into town I had to stay and get a photo of it, I've seen people say that it's a permanent transfer and not a loan but I'm gonna take that with a pinch of salt because of the people who are saying it however it would be nice if it is true.

 

Trent Barton Volvo B7RLE Wright Eclipse Urban 740 (FJ09BXE) is pictured on Meadows Way working a Skykink Express service to East Midlands Airport via Clifton and East Midlands Gateway.

Pilgrim Center Replica

 

This image is enshrined at the Basilica Pilgrim Center and is used every Walk with Jesus Penitential Procession on the the First Day of the Fiesta Señor Novenario. This image is also used every Traditional Sinulog.

 

Carved by Mr. Juanito Zafra

via Instagram kotaserang.net/1TQhA6p, When the sunset has come, no candle can replace it. #repost Photo by : @dilhamnandi . . #serang #kotaserang #pulautiga #sunset #island #karangantu #holiday #weekend #senja #Banten #indonesia. . kotaserang.net/1BFtNAa , May 29, 2016 at 07:46PM When the sunset has come, no candle can replace it. #repost Photo by : @dilhamnandi . . #serang #kotaserang #pulautiga #sunset #island #karangantu #holiday #weekend #senja #Banten #indonesia. . kotaserang.net/1BFtNAa #KotaSerangDotCom #KotaSerang Original Post: kotaserang.net/1TQhA6p Link Gambar: kotaserang.net/1qUjvLG By: www.kotaserang.net

Replacing skies is kind of one of my favorite challenges to (realistically) accomplish lately, and I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out! I'm also glad I took a second to think about the direction of the light and flip the replacement sky to match. These things need consideration.

  

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Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 18-Feb-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

First flown in Mar-89 with the Short Brothers test registration G-BPKX, this aircraft was transferred to Shorts Aircraft Delivery Inc as N754CN later that month.

 

It was sold to State Street Bank & Trust Co in Apr-89 and leased to Business Express (USA) in Aug-89 and re-registered N829BE in Oct-89. It was returned to the lessor in Mar-94 and stored at Opa Locka, FL, USA.

 

The aircraft remained stored for over two years until it was leased to Gulfstream International Airlines in Jun-96. It was re-registered N263GA in Nov-96. It was repossessed by the lessor in Aug-97 and stored at Melbourne, FL, USA in Dec-97.

 

It was leased to FedEx Federal Express in Feb-99 and converted to a small parcel freighter (window blanks only) before being transferred to Express Airlines Germany as D-CFXA in Jun-99 and operated on behalf of FedEx.

 

The aircraft was returned to the lessor as N263GA in Dec-02 and stored. It was sold to Falcon Leasing (USA) in Nov-04 and leased to Air Cargo Carriers. It was returned to the lessor in Aug-07, re-registered N972AA and leased to Alliance Air Carriers.

 

The aircraft was sold to AFAB Capital LLC (USA) and leased again to Air Cargo Carriers in Dec-20. Now 35 years old, it's still in service. Updated 18-Feb-24.

The extraordinarily grand gatehouse of Thornton Abbey, Lincolnshire. Once one of the most richly decorated of all english abbeys, almost nothing else remains beyond this impressive entrance.

The Volvo 200 Series replaced the 140 Series, which were introduced in 1966. The 200 series were based on its direct predecessor. Both series were designed by In-house car designer Jan Wilsgaard (N, 1930-2016).

Available as a 2 and 4-door saloon and as a 5-door estate car.

The Volvo 200 series cars were very reliable, with an emphasis on safety aspects.

For 1979 the 244 received a new front with rectangular head lamps for the GLE, and wrap around rear lamp units.

 

2127 cc L4 B21A Petrol engine runs on LPG.

1338 kg.

Production Volvo 245 in Europe: Autumn 1974-May 1993.

Production Volvo 245 this version: Autumn 1974-1978.

Original old Dutch reg. number: June 18, 1975 (still valid, Sept. 2024).

Sold at July 10, 2017.

At current owner since July 19, 2024.

 

Amsterdam-N., Banne Buiksloot, Schoenerstraat, Febr. 26, 2016.

 

© 2016 Sander Toonen Amsterdam | All Rights Reserved

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 18-Feb-24.

 

Another long history. This aircraft was delivered to Britannia Airways as G-OBYC in May-96. It was sold to a lessor on delivery and leased back to Britannia Airways.

 

It was sub-leased to Britannia Airways GmbH (Germany) as D-AGYC in Apr-98 and returned to Britannia Airways (UK) as G-OBYC in Apr-99. It was leased to Britannia Airways GmbH as D-AGYC again between Mar / Nov-00.

 

The aircraft was wet-leased to Garuda Indonesia Airlines in Jan-03 for a Haj Pilgrimage operation, returning to Britannia Airways in Mar-03. The wet-lease to Garuda was repeated between Dec-03 / Mar-04 and Dec-04 / Feb-05.

 

Britannia Airways was renamed Thomsonfly .com in May-05 and the Haj Pilgrimage wet-lease to Garuda was repeated between Dec-05 / Feb-06. In Jul-06 the aircraft was returned to the lessor and leased to Air Italy as I-AIGG in Aug-06.

 

Air Italy operated Haj Pilgrimage flights for Saudia - Saudi Arabian Airlines between Dec-09 / Jan-10, Oct / Dec-10, Sep / Nov-11 and Sep / Nov-12. In Apr-13 Air Italy merged with MeridianaFly to form the 'new' Meridiana. The Meridiana name was discontinued when it became Air Italy again in Mar-18.

 

The aircraft was withdrawn from service and stored at Milan - Malpensa in Jan-19. It was ferried to Tel Aviv, Israel in Mar-19 and returned to the lessor.

 

It was sold UPS United Parcel Service a few days later and converted to full freighter configuration with a main deck cargo door in Aug-19 when it was registered N392UP. The aircraft entered service in Sep-19. Current, updated 18-Feb-24.

(New) Hawarden Castle (Welsh: Castell Penarlâg (Newydd)) is a house in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales. It was the estate of the former British prime minister William Gladstone, having previously belonged to the family of his wife, Catherine Glynne. Built in the mid-18th century, it was later enlarged and externally remodelled in the Gothic taste.

 

The core of the present house is formed by a mansion built in 1752–57 for Sir John Glynne, 6th baronet, to the designs of Samuel Turner the elder of Whitchurch, Shropshire. It replaced the 16th century Broadlane Hall, the seat of the Ravenscroft family, which stood some way to the south. Glynne had acquired the estate through marriage. The new house was of brick with stone dressings. The main block was three storeys high, and seven bays wide, with a projecting three-bay central pediment. Two flanking side pavilions were planned but may not have been completed.

 

In the early 19th century, Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, 8th Baronet inherited the estate. In 1809 to 1810, he had the house enlarged, and the exterior completely remodelled in a crenellated Gothic Revival style, by the London architect Thomas Cundy the elder, although the Georgian interiors were preserved. He died prematurely and Sir Stephen Glynne, the 9th Baronet was left to make further improvements. He was the Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire, Member of Parliament for the Flint Boroughs from 1832 to 1837, and for the County of Flint from 1837 to 1847. In around 1830, he had the main entrance moved from the south side of the house to the north, and had a vaulted porch added. On the death of the 9th Baronet, the estate passed to his brother-in-law, the liberal politician William Gladstone. There were further alterations to the house during Gladstone's occupancy, including a wing housing a library, designed by George Shaw of Saddleworth, built in the mid-1860s, a muniment room for the storage of his papers (1887–88), and an enlarged porch (1889), these last two both by Douglas and Fordham.

 

In 1896 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward White Benson, died at the castle and his body was put on the train at nearby Sandycroft station to be returned to London.

 

Gladstone occupied the house until his death there in 1898, when it passed to his grandson William Glynne Charles Gladstone (son of W. E. Gladstone's eldest son, William Henry Gladstone, who had been High Sheriff of Flintshire for 1888 but had died in 1891). W. G. C. Gladstone was killed in the First World War. The estate was subsequently purchased by his uncle Henry Gladstone, 1st Baron Gladstone of Hawarden. The house and estate are still a private residence (although some of the grounds are open to the public) and are still owned by the Gladstone family.

 

In the grounds of the building lie the ruins of a medieval castle, Hawarden Castle. This was built on the site of an Iron Age fort by the Normans and had a round keep built on a motte. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd captured the stronghold in 1265, defeating Robert de Montalt and destroying the castle. De Montalt later reneged on a promise not to rebuild his stronghold and the present massive keep was built. This was besieged in 1281 by Llywelyn's brother, Dafydd. The fatal war of 1282 to 1283 followed, with the Welsh being defeated and Hawarden Castle was occupied by the English after that. During the English Civil War it changed hands several times and ended up in a ruinous state in Parliamentary hands.

 

The house is designated as a Grade I listed building by Cadw because of its architecture, especially the 18th-century interiors, and for its exceptional importance as the home of W. E. Gladstone. The castle's gardens and landscape park are designated Grade I on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

 

Hawarden is a village and community in Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and is home to Hawarden Castle. In the 2011 census the ward of the same name had a population of 1,887, whereas the community of the same name, which also includes Ewloe (which also has a castle) Mancot and Aston had a population of 13,920. The scenic wooded Hawarden Park abuts the clustered settlement in the south. Hawarden Bridge consists of distribution and industrial business premises beyond Shotton/Queensferry and the Dee. The west of the main street is called The Highway, its start marked by the crossroads with a fountain in the middle, near which are public houses, some with restaurants.

The village is 7 miles (11 km) from Chester. In 2014 it was named in The Sunday Times' annual Best Places To Live List.

 

The highest temperature in Wales was recorded in Hawarden on 18 July 2022 at 37.1°C. The previous highest temperature recorded in Wales, 35.2°C, was also recorded in Hawarden on 2 August 1990. Hawarden has held this record almost continuously, until it was replaced for a few hours by Gogerddan which recorded a temperature of 35.3°C on 18 July 2022, first breaking the Welsh record, after which Hawarden surpassed Gogerddan.

 

Both the English and Welsh names of the village allude to its elevated geographical position. English Hawarden /ˈhɑːrdən/ is from Old English hēah "high" + worðign 'enclosure' and has had its bisyllabic pronunciation since the sixteenth century, its trisyllabic, now solely written, form being due to the influence of Welsh, which stresses and therefore kept the penultimate syllable. The Welsh name Penarlâg [ˌpɛnarˈlaːɡ] is older than Hawarden and is a compound of pennardd "high ground" + alaog, which is most likely a form of alafog 'rich in cattle' although may be a personal name.

 

The 1848 Topographical Dictionary of Wales led by Samuel Lewis states that Hawarden is of remote antiquity and was called 'Pennard Halawg', or more properly 'Pen-y-Llwch', the headland above the lake. The hill forts such as the huge remains next to the medieval Hawarden Castle and Trueman's Hill motte were - it records locally - believed to date to the time of fortifications against incursions of the Cornavii tribe and the Romans.

 

The Normans recorded that the Saxons called the place Haordine where, east of today's village, was the principal manor of the Saxon Hundred of Atiscros. William the Conqueror granted the lands and manor to Hugh Lupus since it formed part of the County Palatine of Chester, whereupon Hawarden Castle was built and later proved key to Welsh history, at that time lived in by Roger Fitzvalerine, then the Montaults, or de Montaltos, barons of Mold, who held it as seneschal.

 

1157, Henry II., having assembled a formidable army at Chester, advanced into Flintshire with a view to conquering Wales and camped on Saltney marsh, in the parish. To repel this attack, Owain Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, marched his forces to Basingwerk near Holywell, where he took up his station within a few miles of the royal army. The boldness of Owain's movements inducing Henry to hope that the natives intended to risk a general engagement, in which he expected that the superior number and discipline of the English would ensure success, the king despatched a chosen body of troops, under the command of his principal barons, to bring the Welsh to action or to dislodge them from their position. This party, having to pass through the narrow defile of Coed-Eulo, in the parish of Hawarden, were suddenly attacked in that dangerous pass by Davydd and Cynan, sons of Owain, who, with a strong body of men, had set an ambush. Owing to the suddenness and impetuosity of the assault and the difficulties of the ground on which they had to contend, the English were routed with great slaughter and the few who escaped the carnage withdrew in the utmost disorder to the main body of the army. Exasperated by this unexpected discomfiture, Henry immediately collected the whole of his forces and marched along the coast into the heart of the enemy's country; and Owain, breaking up his camp, retired with his forces to St. Asaph.

 

Efforts to subdue north Welsh territory into a degree of fiefdom followed intermittently, with no great success. In the castle Llewellyn of Wales who was in possession negotiated peace in 1264 with Simon de Montford, who led a brief rebellion against Henry III of England and agreed to betroth his daughter to Llewellyn in exchange for restoring the de facto Welsh castle to Robert de Montault. The rebellion failed. Accordingly, by 1280 the castle became a crown asset, listed as a Castrum Regis. Later, following Edward's successful campaign imposing exacting terms on the Welsh, building Flint Castle and strengthening other castles, in 1282 Llewellyn's brother Dafydd took the castle back, killing the garrison and transferring Roger de Clifford to remote Snowdon. This second recapture of the castle triggered Edward's killing of Llewellyn and annexation of Wales. The castle became a prized possession: see Hawarden Castle.

 

The village of Saltney (next to Chester, but in Wales) was part of the parish.

 

The prime minister William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) spent his later life in Hawarden Castle, which had in the Glorious Revolution been acquired by his wife's family, the Glynne baronets. In 1847 water was brought into the place at an expense of upwards of £1000 to be recouped by the River Dee Company. In the nineteenth century the economy of the parish (about three times larger than the modern Community Council area) involved weekly markets, many seams of coal, the making of tiles, bricks and drainage pipes and chemicals such as Glauber salts and ivory black making.

 

In 1886 the curate of Hawarden, the Rev. Harry Drew, married Mary Gladstone, the second daughter of the Prime Minister, at St Margaret's Church, Westminster – a society wedding attended by the Prince of Wales.

 

Gladstone bequeathed his library to the town under the name of St Deiniol's Library in honour of the patron saint of the parish church next door. It is the only residential library in Britain and was renamed Gladstone's Library in 2010.

 

Hawarden Village Church School (previously Rector Drew Primary School) is the junior school of the village. Hawarden High School is a high school which dates back to 1606 and was attended by Michael Owen and Gary Speed, the former manager of the Wales national football team.

 

Queensferry consists predominantly of industrial, commercial and storage businesses by the River Dee and is situated to immediately northeast of the community - the village is residential. moneysupermarket.com has significant premises at St David's Park by the main A55 road in nearby Ewloe.

 

Hawarden Airport, sometimes called Hawarden (Chester) Airport, with adjoining Hawarden Industrial Park is in nearby Broughton.

 

Visitor attractions

St Deiniol's Church

Hawarden Castle

Old Hawarden Castle

Gladstone's Library

 

There are three pubs in Hawarden; The 'Old Grocery', The 'Fox and Grapes' and The 'Glynne Arms' with The 'Crown And Liver' a near fourth.

 

At the lowest level of local government, Hawarden Community Council elects or co-opts twenty-one community councillors from three wards namely Hawarden Aston, Hawarden Ewloe and Hawarden Mancot.

 

There are three identical electoral wards for Flintshire County Council, each of which elects two councillors.

 

The county archives, the Flintshire Record Office, are housed in the Old Rectory at Hawarden.

 

Close towns include Connah's Quay 3 miles (4.8 km), Mold 6 miles (9.7 km), Flint 7 miles (11 km) and the city of Wrexham 11 miles (18 km).

 

Hawarden railway station is on the Borderlands line with services direct to Birkenhead to the north and to Wrexham to the south.

 

There are three interchanges with local roads onto the major A55 road linking North Wales to Chester and the major A494 road linking Dolgellau via Mold to the Wirral where it divides into the roads towards Liverpool and Manchester (the M53 and M56 motorways) - the village has a choice of three routes towards Chester city centre.

 

Hawarden Airport lies some 2 miles (3.2 km) east of the village.

 

Notable residents

Sir John Glynne, 6th Baronet (1713–1777) politician and landowner, built Hawarden Castle.

Emma, Lady Hamilton (1765–1815), maid, model, dancer and actress; raised in Hawarden.

William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898), 12 years as Prime Minister; retired to Hawarden Castle.

Edmund J. Baillie (1851–1897) businessman, horticulturalist and vegetarianism activist.

Mary Gladstone (1847–1927), daughter of the UK Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone; lived in Hawarden Castle from 1886

Edith Austin (1867–1953) tennis player and Wimbledon singles finalist in 1894 and five time British Covered Court Champion was born in Hawarden.

Maysie Chalmers (1894–1982), actress, electrical engineer and designer, leading figure in the Electrical Association for Women.

Air Marshal Sir John Rowlands (1915–2006), recipient of the George Cross for bomb disposal in WWII; later worked on nuclear weapons programme.

Nicholas Hunt (1930–2013), navy Rear-Admiral, father of Jeremy Hunt MP.

Barry Jones, Baron Jones (born 1938), politician, went to Hawarden Grammar School

Tony Millington (1943–2015) footballer, with over 350 club caps and 21 for Wales

Sasha (DJ), (born 1969), DJ and producer, real name Alexander Paul Coe

Michael Owen (born 1979), footballer with 326 club caps and 89 for England; went to school in Hawarden.

 

Flintshire (Welsh: Sir y Fflint) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It has a maritime border with Merseyside along the Dee Estuary to the north, and land borders with Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. Connah's Quay is the largest town, while Flintshire County Council is based in Mold.

 

The county covers 169 square miles (440 km2), with a population of 155,000 in 2021. After Connah's Quay (16,771) the largest settlements are Flint (13,736), Buckley (16,127) and Mold (10,123). The east of the county is industrialised and contains the Deeside conurbation, which extends into Cheshire and has a population of 53,568. The adjacent coast is also home to industry, but further west has been developed for tourism, particularly at Talacre. Inland, the west of the county is sparsely populated and characterised by gentle hills, including part of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB.

 

The county is named after the historic county of the same name, which was established by the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 and has notably different borders. The county is considered part of the Welsh Marches and formed part of the historic Earldom of Chester and Flint.

 

Flintshire takes its name from the historic county of Flintshire, which also formed an administrative county between 1889 until 1974 when it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972. The re-establishment of a principal area in 1996 under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 does not share the same boundaries and covers a smaller area.

 

At the time of the Roman invasion, the area of present-day Flintshire was inhabited by the Deceangli, one of the Celtic tribes in ancient Britain, with the Cornovii to the east and the Ordovices to the west. Lead and silver mine workings are evident in the area, with several sows of lead found bearing the name 'DECEANGI' inscribed in Roman epigraphy. The Deceangli appear to have surrendered to Roman rule with little resistance. Following Roman Britain, and the emergence of various petty kingdoms, the region had been divided into the Hundred of Englefield (Welsh: Cantref Tegeingl), derived from the Latin Deceangli.

 

It became part of the Kingdom of Mercia by the 8th century AD, with much of the western boundary reinforced under Offa of Mercia after 752, but there is evidence that Offa's Dyke is probably a much earlier construction. By the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 it was under the control of Edwin of Tegeingl, from whose Lordship the Flintshire coat of arms is derived.

 

Edwin's mother is believed to have been Ethelfleda or Aldgyth, daughter of Eadwine of Mercia. At the time of the establishment of the Earldom of Chester, which succeeded the Earl of Mercia, the region formed two of the then twelve Hundreds of Cheshire of which it remained a part for several hundred years.

 

Flintshire today approximately resembles the boundaries of the Hundred of Atiscross as it existed at the time of the Domesday Book. Atiscross, along with the Hundred of Exestan, was transferred from the Earldom of Chester to the expanding Kingdom of Gwynedd from the west in the 13th century following numerous military campaigns. This region, as well as an exclave formed from part of the Hundred of Dudestan (known as Maelor Saesneg), later formed the main areas of Flintshire, established by the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 under Edward I. It was administered with the Palatinate of Chester and Flint by the Justiciar of Chester. The county was consolidated in 1536 by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 under the Tudor King Henry VIII, when it was incorporated into the Kingdom of England; it included the detached exclave of Welsh Maelor.

 

Flintshire as a separate local authority remained in existence until 1974 when it was merged with those of Denbighshire and Edeyrnion Rural District to form the administrative county of Clwyd. Clwyd was abolished 22 years later and Flintshire reorganised in its present form in 1996. However, some parts of the historic country are not included within the present administrative boundaries: significantly English Maelor was incorporated into Wrexham County Borough, and St Asaph, Prestatyn and Rhyl into Denbighshire.

 

The current administrative area of Flintshire (a unitary authority and Principal area) came into existence in 1996, when the former administrative counties in Wales were split into smaller areas. The principal area was formed by the merger of the Alyn and Deeside and Delyn districts. In terms of pre-1974 divisions, the area comprises:

the former borough of Flint

the urban districts of Buckley, Connah's Quay, Holywell, Mold

the rural district of Holywell Rural District

all of Hawarden Rural District except the parish of Marford and Hosley

The district of Rhuddlan, which was also formed entirely from the administrative county of Flintshire was included in the new Denbighshire instead. Other parts of the pre-1974 administrative Flintshire to be excluded from the principal area are the Maelor Rural District and the parish of Marford and Hoseley, which became part of the Wrexham Maelor district in 1974 and are now part of Wrexham County Borough.

 

Flintshire is a maritime county bounded to the north by the Dee estuary, to the east by Cheshire, to the west by Denbighshire and to the south by Wrexham County Borough. The coast along the Dee estuary is heavily developed by industry and the north coast much developed for tourism. The Clwydian Range occupies much of the west of the county. The highest point is Moel Famau (1,820 feet/554 metres). Notable towns include Buckley, Connah's Quay, Flint, Hawarden, Holywell, Mold, Queensferry, and Shotton. The main rivers are the Dee (the estuary of which forms much of the coast), and the River Alyn.

 

Located on the North Wales Coast Line (Holyhead to Chester) with services run by Avanti West Coast and Transport for Wales specifically calling at Flintshire stations such as Flint and Shotton with an interchange at Shotton with the Borderlands Line, which links it and other Flintshire stations with the Liverpool area and Wrexham.

 

Parts of Flintshire have major manufacturing industries. Amongst these are an advanced Toyota plant that manufactures engines, Eren Paper,[6] and Airbus UK, making the wings for the A320, A330 and A350 aircraft at Broughton.

 

There are daily flights of the Airbus BelugaXL transport aircraft of Airbus wings from Broughton.

 

Flintshire is also known for its internet companies, the largest and most well known being Moneysupermarket.com based in Ewloe.

 

Flintshire included much of the North Wales Coalfield, with the last colliery at Point of Ayr closing in 1996.

 

Flintshire is home to Shotwick Solar Park, currently the largest photovoltaic solar array in the UK. It was built in 2016 and covers 250 acres of the south western edge of the Wirral Peninsula near the village of Shotwick. It has a maximum generating capacity of 72.2 MW and is connected directly to the largest paper-mill in the UK, UPM Shotton Paper.

 

Flintshire was home to a thriving steel industry with many of the local communities and homes being built around this sector. Steelmaking came to an end in 1980 with the loss of 6500 on one day. The Shotton Steelworks site, now owned by Tata Steel, continues to produce coated steel products, mainly for the construction industry.

 

On 19 November 2004, Flintshire was granted Fairtrade County status.

 

Flintshire County Council is the Local Education Authority of Flintshire. It runs 72 primary schools, 2 special schools and 11 secondary schools. Six of the primary schools and one comprehensive are Welsh medium schools.

 

Four of the secondary schools have come together with Coleg Cambria to form the Deeside Consortium.

 

In December 2022, the Climate Change Committee met and Buckley Bistre West councillor Carolyn Preece recommended weekly vegan school meals in the local schools to combat climate change.

 

Flintshire's local newspapers include two daily titles, North Wales Daily Post and The Leader.

 

There are two radio stations broadcast in the area – Communicorp station Heart North and Mid Wales and Global Radio station Capital North West and Wales broadcast from the studios based in Wrexham. Whilst BBC Cymru Wales runs a studio and newsroom for their radio, television and online services located at Glyndŵr University but does not base their broadcasting there.

 

An online news website covering the Flintshire area, Deeside.com, operates from Deeside.

 

Flintshire has been traditionally a Labour Party stronghold, but in the 2019 general election, the Welsh Conservatives won the Delyn constituency.

 

The Alyn and Deeside constituency is a historically and still is a Welsh Labour Party constituency, which is represented by Mark Tami.

 

Notable people

Gareth Allen (born 1988 in Mynydd Isa, near Buckley), former professional snooker player.

Saint Asaph, 6th century Christian saint, the first Bishop of St Asaph

Claire Fox (born 1960), writer, journalist, lecturer and politician; grew up in Buckley

William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898), 12 years as Prime Minister; retired to Hawarden Castle.

Jade Jones (born 1993 Bodelwyddan), taekwondo athlete; 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medallist

Michael Owen (born 1979), footballer with 362 club caps and 89 for England went to school in Hawarden

Ian Rush (born 1961 in St Asaph), footballer with 602 club caps and 73 for Wales

Gary Speed (1969 in Mancot – 2011), footballer and manager with 677 club caps and 85 for Wales

Frances Williams (c. 1760–1801), first Welsh woman to settle in Australia

 

Flintshire has one formal twinning arrangement with:

Germany Menden, Germany

Replacing a digital photo with a better version 29-Dec-22.

 

'Real Norwegian Edvard Munch' tail livery.

 

This aircraft was delivered to a leasing company and leased to Air Caledonie International (Aircalin) as F-ODGX in Jun-89. It was returned to the lessor in May-04.

 

It was immediately sold to Airwork (New Zealand) Ltd as ZK-PLU and leased to Palau Micronesia Air in Jul-04. Unfortunately it didn't stay long and was returned to Airwork (NZ) Ltd at the end of Dec-04 and stored at Christchurch, New Zealand in Jan-05.

 

The aircraft was leased to Norwegian Air Shuttle as LN-KKS in Apr-05. It returned to the lessor in May-12 and was permanently retired at Stuttgart, AR, USA. The registration was cancelled the same month.

 

I also have a shot of this with Aircalin at ...

www.flickr.com/photos/kenfielding/6237485227

Ferrari's sequel up to the 458 Italia has followed in the tyre tracks of the California T by gaining a turbocharged V8.

 

Renamed the 488 GTB, Ferrari’s refreshed McLaren 650S rival now packs a 493kW/760Nm from an all-new twin-turbo 3.9-litre V8. The new engine still produces its maximum power at 8,000rpm but, crucially, delivers its peak torque figure at just 3000rpm.

 

Both figures are significantly more impressive than the current Speciale’s 4.5-litre atmo V8 it replaces that can ‘only’ muster 445KW at 9000rpm and 540Nm at stratospheric 6000rpm.

 

Importantly, this finally gives Ferrari the advantage over the current McLaren 650S - that can only manage 478kW/678Nm - although this could swing back in favour of the Brit when McLaren launches its response - the new 675LT supercar at the Geneva motor show.

 

Like the current 458 Italia, the 488 GTB channels its power through the existing seven-speed dual clutch automatic - although Ferrari’s super-fast gearbox had to be beefed up to cope with the extra torque. Different ratios were also added to help manage the new lowdown punch. Ferrari has also added something called ‘Variable Torque Management’ that’s said to smooth off the edges of that power delivery to avoid those unintentional 100m burnouts every time you pull away from the lights.

 

With great traction comes even greater performance and the figures for the 488 GTB are predictably off the scale. The 488 GTB can now crack 0-100km/h in just 3.0 sec and, more impressively, smash the 0-200km/h dash in just 8.4sec (0.1sec quicker than the McLaren 650S). Top speed is pegged at 330km/h.

 

For those worried all this turbocharging will mute the old car’s screaming V8 soundtrack, Ferrari insists its engineers have carefully tuned the 488 GTB for a ‘clear and totally distinctive’ (read loud) noise.

 

Ferrari has also made some efficiency gains too. The new twin turbo engine gains stop-start and now averages 11.4l/100km while emitting 260g/km of CO2 - that’s 47g/km less than the 458.

 

Other more exciting technology new to the 488 GTB includes the introduction of the second-generation Slide Slip Angle Control system (SSC2) that harnesses the active dampers, F1-Trac traction control and E-diff to control (and hold) lurid slides. Better still, Ferrari says all of its driver aids have been tailored to people like us to exploit the 488 GTB’s handling rather than pro-racers.

 

As well as all the new software tweaks, the new Ferrari has spent serious time in the wind tunnel and the result is it’s more slippery than before. This was achieved with a new double spoiler, re-profiled side intakes while, at the rear, there’s active spoilers that work with a ‘blown’ spoiler that has a neat trick of being able to generate downforce without drag.

 

Underneath, the thorough aero tweaks continue with a new underbody that includes something called vortex generators that continue the air bending to help the 488 GTB generate 50 per cent more downforce than the old 458 Italia.

 

Away from the aero geekery the 488 GTB’s look is supposed to conjure images of the old 308 GTB with its large air intake scallop. The wide front double profile spoiler is a product of function over form and has two jobs - the first to funnel air to the two nose-mounted radiators, the second to channel air to that underbody diffuser,

 

Inside, the 488 GTB the old 458 Italia has been overhauled. The dash and vents are now all angled to the driver but the stripped back racer feel carries over.

 

[text from Ninemsn Carpoint]

 

I was intending to build this soon after it was launched, but saw value in doing so 'quickly'. As well as build the most Lego cars, I probably also hold the record for building Lego versions of real cars the soonest after they are revealed. I think my record is about 8 hours later. Cars that I have released the same day or next day are: Ford U502 Explorer, Ford CD391 Fusion, Ferrari 458 Italia, Ferrari 458 Speciale Aperta.

 

The model shown here, Ferrari's new 488 GTB is the replacement for the 458 Italia. In many ways the car does not seem particularly exceptional for a Ferrari. People are moaning about the loss of 'instant throttle response' due to the turbocharging. However, here lies the clue as to what may make this car exceptional, and why it is worth including in this month's challenge:

 

The Ferrari 488 GTB has the highest torque output of any road-going Ferrari.

 

I initially thought about 'the highest output of any V8 Ferrari', and began my search to check it topped out a F40. (it does 493 kW vs 357 kW). Then I checked against the other super-Ferrari, thinking that there might be a few that sat above it: F50 - 382 kW, Enzo - 485 kW, LaFerrari - 588 kW, so it is beaten here, but only by the LaFerrari.

 

But torque, the thing that actually gets you going, it outshines every V8, and eclipses even the LaFerrari, which musters a still-impressive 700 Nm, and must rely on its electric torque driving unit to bring the grand total to 900 Nm. Even the limited edition track racing version, the LaFerrari FXX-K bumps this up to 750 Nm from the internal combustion engine. Still 10 Nm shy of the Ferrari 488 GTB: 760 Nm........

 

...@ 3000 rpm!

 

This Lego miniland-scale Ferrari 488 GTB has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 88th Build Challenge, - "Let's Break Some Records", - a challenge theme to build a vehicle with some outstanding, record-breaking aspect. In this case, the torquiest Ferrari internal combustion engine, at 760Nm.

Replacing an earlier scanned 6"x4" print with a better version 17-Feb-19.

 

Operating a Football Charter bringing fans of Galatasaray who were playing Manchester United. It was a 3-3 draw.

 

The only Istanbul Airlines B737-400 to have round 'dots' over the i's, all the rest had square 'dots'. Hows that for a piece of useless information!

 

A long history and a lifetime of mostly short leases... This aircraft was delivered to the GPA Group Ltd and leased to SAHSA Airlines (Servicio Aéreo de Honduras S.A.) as HR-SHL in Aug-90, it didn't stay long and was returned to the lessor in Feb-91.

 

It was leased to VASP Brasil as PP-SOH in Apr-91 and returned to the lessor in Mar-92. In Apr-92 the aircraft was leased to MAS Malaysian Airline System as 9M-MJR and returned to the lessor in Apr-93.

 

Two weeks later it was leased to Istanbul Airlines as TC-AYA. It was wet-leased to Carnival Airlines (USA) between Nov-95/Apr-95, and to Myanmar Airways International between Nov-96/Jun-97. It was returned to the lessor in Jul-00 as N683GE and stored (Istanbul Airlines ceased operations in Aug-00!).

 

The aircraft was leased to Garuda Indonesia Airlines as PK-GWW in Jan-01 and it returned to the lessor in Feb-06. It was re-registered N683GE again the Mar-06 and leased to Orenburg Airlines (Orenair) as VP-BGQ later that month. It returned to the lessor as N837TM in Apr-14 and was stored at Roswell, NM, USA.

 

It was sold to Jetran LLC in Dec-14 and moved to San Jose, Costa Rica is Jan-15 where its storage continued. In Apr-15 the aircraft was sold to the Texas Aviation Group LLC and remained stored at San Jose until it moved to Dothan, AL, USA in Sep-15 for freighter conversion.

 

It was converted to freighter configuration in early 2016 and was due to be leased to Modern Transportes Aereos (Brasil) as PP-YBB but the lease was cancelled.

 

Instead, it was sold to Airwork Flight Operations Ltd (New Zealand) as ZK-PAT in Jul-16 and operates on behalf of Parcel Air. Now 32 years old it continues in service. Updated 19-Oct-22.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 17-Oct-19.

 

Named: "A. Glazunov".

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWBD, this aircraft was delivered to GECAS as VP-BWI in Mar-04. It was returned to the lessor in Jan-14 and stored at Ostrava, Czech Republic. It was then leased to Rossiya Russian Airlines in Aug-14. Current, updated (Oct-19).

Replacing an earlier scanned 6"x4" print with a better version 20-Aug-21 (DeNoiseAI).

 

Typical Manchester weather!!! A grey day and a grey aircraft don't go well together.

 

This aircraft was first flown in Jul-86 as 82-0074, it was delivered to USA Foreign Military Sales in Feb-87 and was transferred to the RSAF Royal Saudi Air Force as 1814 on the same day. As far as I'm aware, the aircraft is still operational. Current (Apr-18).

Replacing an earlier photo from Jun-16 with a better version.

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWDB, this aircraft was delivered to Lufthansa as D-AIPU in Dec-90. It was transferred to Germanwings in Sep-14. Technically, the aircraft was 'wet leased' to Eurowings at midnight on 28-Oct-17 (co-incidentally the same evening Air Berlin ceased operations). The reality is that Germanwings was merged into Eurowings and all aircraft will eventually be repainted in Eurowings livery. Now over 27.5 years old it continues in service. Current (Jun-18).

Garden City

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 09-Aug-21 (DeNoiseAI). With some heat shimmer...

 

Fleet No: "808".

 

First flown with the Airbus test registration D-AVWM, this aircraft was delivered to America West Airlines as N808AW in Sep-99. It was sold to Polaris Leasing on delivery and leased back to America West. America West Airlines was merged into US Airways in Sep-05 and US Airways was merged into American Airlines in Dec-13. However they continued to operate separately until their AOC's were combined with the official merger date 08-Apr-15. Current, updated 25-Apr-21.

 

Note: The registration N808AW was used previously on an America West DHC Dash 8-102 in 1989.

A Bell AH-1Z Zulu helicopter, foreground, and a Bell UH-1Y Yankee helicopter fly over Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. The Yankee and Zulu replace the two-bladed AH-1W Super Cobra and UH-1N Twin Huey helicopters, and can carry more weight, travel faster and conduct combat operations from a safer distance. With a fully integrated cockpit and more fuel, blades and overall power, the helicopters also can remain airborne longer without having to refuel. (Photos courtesy of Bell Helicopter)

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 11-Oct-21.

 

I have this down as 'DB Air' but I was told it was 'Falcon Air Express'. However, after doing my research I think DB Air were operating it on behalf of Miami Air International in early Oct-03. I also seem to recall that it it was bringing in American wrestlers for some sort of exhibition in Manchester.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Sterling Airways (Denmark) as OY-SAT in Dec-73. It was sold to Boeing as N728BE in May-84 and stored.

 

The aircraft was sold to Federal Express Aviation Services as N223FE in Feb-86. They sold it back to Sterling Airways the same day as OY-SAT. It was withdrawn from service and stored at Copenhagen, Denmark in Sep-93. The aircraft was repossessed by Aero Lease in Nov-93.

 

In Feb-94 it was sold to Royal Aviation (Canada) as C-GRYP. They sold it to a lessor in Aug-97 and leased it back. It was returned to the lessor in May-98 and sold to Riverhorse Investments Inc as N211DB in Jun-98.

 

A period of short-term leases followed, first to Laker Airways (Bahamas) between Dec-98/Aug-99, then to Star Air Tours (USA) between Sep/Nov-99.

 

In Jan-00 it was leased to DB Air and operated for Sky Trek International Airlines between Jan/May-00 and Sun Country Airlines between Jul-00/Sep-01. It was wet-leased to Miami Air International in late summer 2003 and was wet-leased to Sunworld International Airlines in late Oct-03.

 

The aircraft was wet-leased to Falcon Air Express in Apr-04. It returned to DB Air in Jul-05 and was sold to Oneida Equipment Leasing in Jul-05 and then leased to Sky One Express Airlines (USA) between Aug/Dec-05 when it was stored.

 

It was sold to OK Consultants Inc in May-08 and broken up. The forward fuselage was sold to the China Lantien Trade Company in Apr-10. It was shipped to Beijing, China and installed in a children's play centre painted in Air China livery.

The Rochdale Canal in Todmorden, Calderdale, West Yorkshire.

 

The Rochdale is a broad canal because its locks are wide enough to allow vessels of 14 feet width. The canal runs for 32 miles (51 km) across the Pennines from the Bridgewater Canal at Castlefield Basin in Manchester to join the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire. As built, the canal had 92 locks. Whilst the traditional lock numbering has been retained on all restored locks, and on the relocated locks, the canal now has 91. Locks 3 and 4 have been replaced with a single deep lock, Tuel Lane Lock, which is numbered 3/4.

 

The Rochdale Canal was conceived in 1776, when a group of 48 men from Rochdale raised £237 and commissioned James Brindley to conduct a survey of possible routes between Sowerby Bridge and Manchester. Brindley proposed a route similar to the one built, and another more expensive route via Bury. Further progress was not made until 1791, when John Rennie was asked to make a new survey in June, and two months later to make surveys for branches to Rochdale, Oldham and to a limeworks near Todmorden. Rennie at the time had no experience of building canals.

 

The promoters, unsure as to whether to build a wide or a narrow canal, postponed the decision until an Act of Parliament had been obtained. The first attempt to obtain an act was made in 1792, but was opposed by mill owners, concerned about water supply. Rennie proposed using steam pumping engines, three in Yorkshire, eight in Lancashire, and one on the Burnley Branch, but the mill owners argued that 59 mills would be affected by the scheme, resulting in unemployment, and the bill was defeated. In September 1792, William Crosley and John Longbotham surveyed the area in an attempt to find locations for reservoirs which would not affect water supplies to the mills. A second bill was presented to Parliament, for a canal which would have a 3,000-yard (2,700 m) tunnel and 11 reservoirs. Again the bill was defeated, this time by one vote. The promoters, in an attempt to understand the mill owners' position, asked William Jessop to survey the parts of the proposed canal that were causing most concern. Jessop gave evidence to the Parliamentary committee, and on 4 April 1794 an act was obtained which created the Rochdale Canal Company and authorised construction.

 

Rennie's estimated cost in the second bill was £291,000, and the company was empowered to raise the money by issuing shares, with powers to raise a further £100,000 if required. The estimate was for a narrow canal, whereas the act authorised a broad canal, and so the capital was never going to be adequate. The summit tunnel was abandoned in favour of 14 additional locks saving £20,000. Jessop proposed constructing each lock with a drop of 10 feet (3.0 m), resulting in efficient use of water and the need to manufacture only one size of lock gate.

 

The canal opened in stages as sections were completed, with the Rochdale Branch the first in 1798 and further sections in 1799. The bottom nine locks opened in 1800 and boats using the Ashton Canal could reach Manchester. Officially, the canal opened in 1804, but construction work continued for more three years. A 1.5-mile (2.4 km) branch from Heywood to Castleton opened in 1834.

 

Apart from a short profitable section in Manchester linking the Bridgewater and Ashton Canals, most of the length was closed in 1952 when an act of parliament was obtained to ban public navigation. The last complete journey had taken place in 1937, and by the mid 1960s the remainder was almost unusable. Construction of the M62 motorway in the late 1960s took no account of the canal, cutting it in two.

 

When an Act of Parliament was sought in 1965, to authorise the abandonment of the canal, the Inland Waterways Association petitioned against it, and when it was finally passed, it contained a clause that ensured the owners would maintain it until the adjacent Ashton Canal was abandoned. Discussion of the relative merits of restoring the canal or the Huddersfield Narrow Canal in 1973 led the formation of societies to promote both schemes in 1974. The Rochdale Canal Society wanted to see the canal fully re-opened, as part of a proposed Pennine Park

 

The Rochdale Canal Society worked hard both to protect the line of the canal and to begin the process of refurbishing it. A new organisational structure was created in 1984, with the formation of the Rochdale Canal Trust Ltd, who leased the canal from the owning company. The MSC-funded restoration was approaching Sowerby Bridge, where planners were proposing a tunnel and deep lock to negotiate a difficult road junction at Tuel Lane, so that a connection could be made with the Calder and Hebble Navigation. The entire eastern section from Sowerby Bridge to the summit at Longlees was open by 1990, although it remained isolated from the canal network.

 

In 1997, the Rochdale Canal Trust was restructured, in response to announcements that there might be large grants available as part of the millennium celebrations. The canal was still at this point owned by a private company, and the Millennium Commission would not make grants to a scheme which was for private profit, rather than public benefit. The restructuring would allow the Trust to take over responsibility for the canal from the Rochdale Canal Company. However, the plan was rejected by the Commission, and in order to access the grant of £11.3 million, the Waterways Trust took over ownership of the canal. As restoration proceeded, boats could travel further and further west, and the restoration of the sections through Failsworth and Ancoats were a significant part of the re-development of the north Manchester districts. The restored sections joined up with the section in Manchester below the Ashton Canal junction, which had never been closed, and on 1 July 2002 the canal was open for navigation along its entire length.

 

This beautiful setting sun is about to be replaced with a gorgeous moon........Okay, that's probably stretching it for this challenge but I just had to get this sunset in! lol

Replacing my old P38 Range Rover

hanks to Cardinal Cisneros, this capitulary room was created with two chambers: the capitulary room itself and an anteroom. This replaced the old one situated in the Mozarabic Chapel.

 

The capitulary anteroom was built by Enrique Egas and Pedro Gumiel between 1504 and 1512, with a façade carved by Copin of Holland, with a Cisneros style, a combination of “Flamígero” Gothic and Mudéjar. It is rectangular in shape and the sides are covered with cabinets to file the capitulary documents. The ones on the left wall were carved between 1549 and 1551 by Gregorio Pardo at the orders of the Cardinal Silíceo. The cabinets in front are a copy from 1780 made by Gregorio López.

 

The mural paintings in the frieze with vegetable themed decoration, were made by Luis Medina, Diego López and Alonso Sánchez according to Juan de Borgoña´s design in 1511. The façade in the capitulary room entrance was made with Moorish or Mudéjar planter mouldings.

 

Once inside the Capitulary Room there is a prominent golden and polychrome coffered ceiling. The upper part of the walls are decorated with oil paintings over the plaster wall, that show scenes of the Virgin and the Passion of Christ painted by Juan de Borgoña, divided by fake pillars. Underneath them lie several portraits of the different Toledan Archbishops. The higher line, until Cisneros, was painted by Juan de Borgoña´s and the lower line was created by other distinguished painters. The archiepiscopal chair is a work of art created by Copin of Holland and was made in 1509.