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Fiat Chrysler Replaces Its Iconic Moneymaker, The Jeep Wrangler
Dec.18.17 | About: Fiat Chrysler (FCAU)
Anton Wahlman
Anton Wahlman
Long/short equity
MARKETPLACEAuto Insight For Wall St.
(2,852 followers)
Summary
FCA brings to market the all-new Jeep Wrangler in January 2018. I drove a pre-production unit, and it’s a quantum leap over its predecessor.
The Jeep Wrangler is a 250,000-a-year franchise globally and widely believed to be FCA’s most profitable product line.
In addition to the “regular” Wrangler, the pickup truck version arrives one year later, and could add another 200,000 - 250,000 per year in most profitable unit sales.
This Jeep pickup launches FCA into the midsize pickup truck segment, which Ford also is expected to enter in 2019 with the Ranger.
Both versions of the all-new Jeep Wrangler should immensely help FCA’s gross margin dollars, gross margin percentage, and net profits.
Of all the car designs in the world today, the Jeep (Fiat Chrysler)(FCAU) Wrangler may be the most iconic. It launched the Jeep brand as a military vehicle in 1941. It got doors (!) in 1983, and is made in Toledo, Ohio, from where it is exported to 150 countries.
An all-new Jeep Wrangler doesn’t come often. They’ve been spaced about a decade apart. So when the all-new Wrangler hits U.S. dealerships in January 2018, it’s a very big deal. I got the chance to drive an early production version for a day in early December.
Actually, I got to drive a few different versions of this all-new Jeep Wrangler, but more on that in a moment. When approaching this all-new iteration of the iconic American product for the first time, I put my hand on my heart, said The Pledge of Allegiance and sang America The Beautiful. I looked up into the sky and saw the clouds form in the images of General Patton and General Macarthur. I felt as if I was going to land on a foreign beach in the middle of World War 2.
The first impression of the all-new Jeep Wrangler is that it looks almost exactly like the old one. That’s a feature, not a bug. It would be no more appropriate to make changes to the American flag, than to the Jeep Wrangler’s basic looks.
However, this first impression is deceiving. The all-new Jeep Wrangler is indeed all-new, from the ground up. It’s just meant to look like the old one, at first glance.
Actually, the angle from which you can best see that this is an all-new Jeep, is from the rear. I drove behind someone in the new Wrangler for a few minutes, and it’s clear that it’s all-new. It’s a lot more square, including the rear lights, and the rear glass is much larger. It looks like it has shed weight, which it has: A couple of hundred pounds, to be approximate.
The interior is not to be confused with the old Wrangler. From the inside of the doors, to the instrument panel, to what’s between the seats, the Jeep Wrangler is now fully modern. It’s got all the features and creature comforts that you expect from the most modern cars.
Unlike, say, Tesla (TSLA), the all-new Jeep Wrangler has Android (GOOGL) Auto and Apple (AAPL) CarPlay. It’s also got one of the cleverest things I have seen in any car interior - two entirely new ways to store your smartphones. One is in a very clever gap to the side of the hand brake. The other one is in a slot between the center cup holders, where you can also opt to place your key.
Each of these two additional smartphone slots are rubber lined, so that the phones won’t slide around or rattle. In total, this now means you can put in four smartphones, also utilizing the two cup holders. This is genius, and I hope every car copies it. Or does FCA have a patent on it?
One more thing in the realm of FCA’s technology leadership: The new Wrangler also may be the very first vehicle to have not just USB ports, but also USB-C, which is the way you charge most higher-end Android smartphones as well as Chromebooks.
On the whole, the new Wrangler’s interior is just about flawless. The seating position was very good, and it’s now also easier to step in and out of the vehicle. It simply shouldn’t be compared to the old Wrangler at all. It’s like night and day - 100% of it for the better. Much better.
How does the new Wrangler drive?
I have a confession to make. I did not like driving the old Wrangler, other than in extreme off-road situations. The car was just too old and didn’t handle well on-road. I wouldn’t want to use it as a daily driver.
The all-new Jeep Wrangler? It’s the complete opposite! The only minor complaint I had was that the steering is very, very light, and too imprecise for my taste. However, not devastatingly so.
Think about what this does to the addressable market for the Jeep Wrangler. Until now, the Wrangler was a severe penalty box compared to most other SUVs on the market. It was not a competitive daily driver.
Now, in contrast, the Jeep Wrangler can compete for a far larger share of the SUV market because it is very pleasant to drive on-road, not just for its off-road prowess. No longer does it feel like much of a compromise.
The engine? The base engine will be FCA’s 3.6 liter gasoline V6 that sits in a long list of FCA products from Jeep to Dodge to Chrysler to RAM. It’s got a good character, and works well with the new eight-speed automatic transmission (I did not drive the manual one).
However, the major surprise was the four-cylinder engine, which will be available closer to June 2018 for a $1,000 upcharge. This engine is built in Italy and has its origins with FCA’s heritage as the owner of Alfa Romeo and Maserati. You also may recall that FCA was the owner of Ferrari (RACE) until a couple of years ago.
FCA would protest loudly and claim it’s technically inaccurate, but I’ll say it anyway: One might argue that this Italian four-cylinder engine has a heritage that traces first to Alfa Romeo, and then more distantly to Maserati, finally culminating at Ferrari as its family patriarch. No, this isn’t a Ferrari engine - but you cannot be blamed for imagining traces of a family lineage.
As good as the V6 was to drive - and I had no complaints - the Italian four-cylinder engine is simply better. You should spend the extra $1,000 for it. It spooled up quickly and simply behaved extremely well.
There will be two additional powertrains as well: Diesel in 2019 and plug-in hybrid in 2020. I imagine the plug-in hybrid won’t be paired with the V6 or the diesel, but rather with a four-cylinder gasoline engine. I also imagine a 11-14 kWh battery located immediately behind the rear seats, on top of the rear axle.
The new engines and transmissions, combined with the lighter body and improved aerodynamics, mean that fuel economy is greatly improved over the outgoing Wrangler. Jeep has yet to release final EPA-certified numbers, but it estimates that the V6 versions should see a 3 MPG improvement over the 2017 Wrangler. That Italian four-cylinder? Probably even better.
The Wrangler has been famous for offering ways to fold the front windshield, removing the doors, and various open-top abilities. The problem was always that it could take literally hours to do all of those things.
In the new Wrangler, all of those voluntary tasks have been made dramatically faster. I don’t mean cutting the time by half. I mean cutting the time in some cases 90% or 99%.
The extreme off-road versions of the Wrangler will continue to be called the Rubicon, and it is now even more off-road capable than before. You can fit larger wheels with greater ease, and the various drivetrain components are more off-road worthy.
This is the new Wrangler price list, exclusive of $1,195 delivery charge:
2-door base: $26,995
2-door Rubicon: $36,995
4-door base: $30,495
4-door Sahara: $37,345
4-door Rubicon: $40,495
There will of course be numerous ways to add to these prices with a long list of optional equipment. If you want to pay more than $50,000 for your next-generation tricked-out Jeep Wrangler starting in January 2018, you should have no problem doing so. But I would recommend waiting a few months until 2Q 2018 when the Italian-built engine becomes available.
What does this mean for the FCA shareholder?
FCA has been making approximately 250,000 Jeep Wranglers per year in its Toledo, Ohio, factory. Actually, the Toledo factory is divided into two separate factories. One of these factories will continue to make the old Wrangler for another few months, probably until April 2018. The reason for this is to avoid a gap in supply.
The new Wrangler is made in the other Toledo factory, which was making the Jeep Cherokee until April 2017. The Cherokee production was moved to a factory in Michigan instead.
So what will happen to the other Wrangler factory, where the old one continues to be made until April 2018? It will be re-tooled thereafter, to start making the pickup truck version of the Jeep Wrangler, starting perhaps as early as the fourth quarter of 2018, with U.S. retail sales beginning perhaps around January 2019.
This is a big deal for the FCA shareholder. Unlike General Motors (GM), Toyota (TM) and Nissan (OTCPK:NSANY), FCA does not currently sell a midsize pickup truck. The U.S. midsize pickup truck market grew a whopping 25% in 2016, although the growth rate slowed to a mere 1% for the first eleven months of 2017.
It is the midsize pickup truck business that makes GM larger than Ford, for the first 11 months of 2017, in terms of U.S. pickup truck unit sales. Without it, Ford’s F-series now handily outsells the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra combined.
What could the Jeep pickup truck mean in terms of sales for FCA? The RAM full-size pickup truck now is on a path to end 2017 with 500,000 sales in the U.S. alone. Canada is on track to just exceed 100,000 RAM pickup truck unit sales in 2017. So that’s over 600,000 for these two countries alone.
The part of the Toledo factory making the Jeep pickup truck should have an annual output that could potentially reach 250,000 units. If you add 250,000 to RAM’s full-size truck sales, FCA’s pickup truck business starts to approach the total size of the GM and Ford equivalent businesses.
If FCA can pull this off, that would be huge.
Then again, every step along the way from zero to 250,000 of these additional trucks will bring incremental profits for FCA. Why such leverage from even a small volume? That’s because the incremental development cost from the “regular” Wrangler to the pickup truck version should be relatively minimal, for as far as these things go. Obviously you are still down a billion dollars or whatever for the factory retooling and the incremental development, but for the potential of selling up to 250,000 of the highest-margin product, that is a very good deal.
Let’s take a look at the current Jeep Wrangler and RAM pickup sales in the U.S. and Canada, and assume that FCA can achieve a “steady-state” sales of the Wrangler pickup truck that would be only 20% smaller than the non-pickup Wrangler:
FCA Jan-Nov
USA
Canada
total
RAM pickup
455816
93192
549008
Jeep Wrangler
176822
16249
193071
Jeep "pickup"
141458
12999
154457
TOTAL
774096
122440
896536
As you can see in the table above, for 11 months alone, this “pro-formas” to almost exactly 900,000 sales in only two countries. Considering that December is usually a large month, it could basically be a million for the full year. Some of these products also will be sold in almost 150 countries worldwide, not just North America. Fellow real and would-be investors, this could be a huge business starting in 2019 and certainly in 2020! And these are FCA’s highest-margin products to boot.
Conclusion: FCA shareholders, rejoice!
What have we learned in this article? Four main things:
FCA’s most iconic product, the Jeep Wrangler, arrives in all-new format in January 2018 and it is nothing short of spectacular. It’s a quantum leap better than the old one, which already was a sales and margin success. Given that it’s now a great product not only off-road, but also on-road (for the first time in its history), it also greatly expands its addressable market.
The pickup truck version of the all-new Jeep Wrangler could arrive one year after the “regular” one, and it could have a capacity of 250,000 units per year, just like the regular Wrangler. So that's half a million units in total for the Wrangler family.
The pickup truck version of the Jeep Wrangler effectively throws FCA into the U.S. midsize truck segment with a highly differentiated product. When combined with the regular Wrangler and the RAM pickup truck, it is realistically a 1 million unit per year business in the U.S. plus Canada combined, not even counting all the other countries around the world.
This will do wonders for FCA’s gross margin dollars, gross margin percentage, and net profit. Small wonder FCAU stock now trades right near its highs, over $18 per share.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The G.91Y was an increased-performance version of the Fiat G.91 funded by the Italian government. Based on the G.91T two-seat trainer variant, the single Bristol Orpheus turbojet engine of this aircraft was replaced by two afterburning General Electric J85 turbojets which increased thrust by 60% over the single-engine variant. Structural modifications to reduce airframe weight increased performance further and an additional fuel tank occupying the space of the G.91T's rear seat provided extra range. Combat manoeuvrability was improved with the addition of automatic leading edge slats. The avionics equipment of the G.91Y was considerably upgraded with many of the American, British and Canadian systems being license-manufactured in Italy.
Flight testing of three pre-production aircraft was successful, with one aircraft reaching a maximum speed of Mach 0.98. Airframe buffeting was noted and was rectified in production aircraft by raising the position of the tailplane slightly.
An initial order of 55 aircraft for the Italian Air Force was completed by Fiat in March 1971, by which time the company had changed its name to Aeritalia (from 1969, when Fiat aviazione joined the Aerfer). The order was increased to 75 aircraft with 67 eventually being delivered. In fact, the development of the new G.91Y was quite long, and the first order was for about 20 pre-series examples that followed the two prototypes. The first pre-series 'Yankee' (the nickname of the new aircraft) flew in July 1968.
AMI (Italian Air Force) placed orders for two batches, 35 fighters followed by another 20, later cut to ten. The last one was delivered around mid 1976, so the total was two prototypes, 20 pre-series and 45 series aircraft. No immediate export success followed, though, and the Italian G.91Ys’ service lasted until the early '90s as attack/recce machines, both over ground and sea, until the AMX replaced them until 1994.
However, upon retirement some G.91Ys were still in good condition and the airframes had still some considerable flight hours left, so that about thirty revamped aircraft were put up for sale from 1992 onwards. At the same time, Poland was undergoing a dramatic political change. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union the Eastern European country immediately turned its political attention westward, including the prospects of joining NATO. The withdrawal of Russian forces based in Poland and partly obsolete military equipment of the Polish forces themselves led to a procurement process from 1991 onwards, which, among others, included a replacement for the Polish MiG-17 (domestic Lim-5, Lim-6 and Lim-6bis types), which had been operated by both Polish air force and navy since the late Sixties, primarily as fighter bombers in their late career, but also for reconnaissance tasks.
The G.91Y appeared, even though a vintage design, to be a suitable replacement option, since its performance envelope and the equipment outfit with three cameras in the nose made it a perfect package – and the price tag was not big, either. Especially the Polish Navy showed much interest, and after 10 months of negotiations Poland eventually bought 22 G.91Y from Italy, plus five G.91T two-seaters for conversion training, which were delivered between June 1993 and April 1994.
For the new operator the machines only underwent minor modifications. The biggest change was the addition of wirings and avionics for typical Polish Air Force ordnance, like indigenous MARS-2 pods for 16 unguided 57mm S-5 missiles, iron bombs of Russian origin of up to 500 kg (1.100 lb) caliber, SUU-23-2 gun pods as well as R-3 and R-60 missiles (which were very similar to the Western AIM-9 Sidewinder and actually date back to re-engineered specimen obtained by the USSR during the Korea war!). All machines were concentrated at Gdynia-Babie Doły in a newly founded, dedicated fighter bomber of the 1 Naval Aviation Squadron, which also operated MiG-21 fighters and PZL Iskra trainers. The Polish G.91Ys, nicknamed “Polski Fiat” by their crews (due to their compact size and overall simplicity, in reminiscence of the very popular, locally license-built Fiat 126), not only replaced the vintage MiG-17 types and some Polish Navy MiG-21 fighters, but also the handful of MiG-15UTI trainer veterans which were still used by the Polish Navy for observation duties over the Baltic Sea.
When Poland joined NATO on 12 March 1999, the G.91Ys (18 were still in service, plus all five trainers) received another major overhaul, a new low-visibility paint scheme, and they were updated with avionics that ensured inter-operability with other NATO forces, e .g. a GPS positioning sensor in a small, dorsal hump fairing. In 2006, when deliveries of 48 F-16C/D fighters to Poland started, the G.91Ys were to be retired within 12 months. But problems with the F-16s’ operability kept the G.91Y fleet active until 2011, when all aircraft were grounded and quickly scrapped.
General characteristics:
Crew: one
Length: 11.67 m (38 ft 3.5 in)
Wingspan: 9.01 m (29 ft 6.5 in)
Height: 4.43 m (14 ft 6.3 in)
Wing area: 18.13 m² (195.149 ft²)
Empty weight: 3,900 kg (8,598 lb)
Loaded weight: 7,800 kg (17,196 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 8,700 kg (19,180 lb)
Powerplant:
2× General Electric J85-GE-13A turbojets, 18.15 kN (4,080 lbf) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 1,110 km/h (600 kn, 690 mph, Mach 0.95) at 10,000 m (33,000 ft)
Range: 1,150 km (621 nmi, 715 mi)
Max. ferry range with drop tanks: 3,400 km (2,110 mls)
Service ceiling: 12,500 m (41,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 86.36 m/s (17,000 ft/min)
Wing loading: 480 kg/m² (98.3 lb/ft² (maximum)
Thrust/weight: 0.47 at maximum loading
Armament:
2× 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA cannons with 120 RPG
4× under-wing pylon stations with a capacity of 1,814 kg (4,000 lb)
The kit and its assembly:
This whiffy Yankee Gina was inspired by a profile that had popped up during WWW picture search a while ago. Tracking it back, I found it to be artwork created and posted at DeviantArt by user “Jeremak-J”, depicting a G.91Y in polish markings and sporting a two-tone grey camouflage with light blue undersides and a medium waterline. I found the idea bizarre, but attractive, and, after some research, I found a small historic slot that might have made this “combo” possible.
When I recently delved through my (growing…) kit pile I came across a Matchbox G.91Y in a squashed box and with a cracked canopy – and decided to use that kit for a personal Polish variant.
The Matchbox G.91Y bears light and shadow galore. While it is IIRC the only IP kit of this aircraft, it comes with some problem areas. The fit of any major kit component is mediocre and the cockpit tub with an integral seat-thing is …unique. But the overall shape is IMHO quite good – a typical, simple Matchbox kit with a mix of (very fine) raised and engraved panel lines.
The OOB canopy could not be saved, but I was lucky to find a replacement part in the spares box – probably left over from the first G.91Y I built in the early Eighties. While the donor part had to be stripped from paint and was quite yellowed from age, it saved the kit.
It was built almost OOB, since major changes would not make sense in the context of my background story of a cheap 2nd hand purchase for an air force on a lean budget. I just added some details to the cockpit and changed the ordnance, using missile pods and iron bombs of Soviet origin (from a Kangnam/Revell Yak-38).
The exhausts were drilled open, because OOB these are just blank covers, only 0.5 mm deep! Inside, some afterburners were simulated (actually main wheels from an Arii 1:100 VF-1).
The flaps were lowered and extended, which is easy to realize on this kit.
The clumsy, molded guns were cut away, to be later replaced with free-standing, hollow steel needles.
In order to add some more exterior detail I also scratched the thin protector frames around the nozzles with thin wire.
Since the replacement canopy looked quite old and brittle, I did not dare cutting the clear part in two, so that the cockpit remained closed, despite the effort put into the interior.
A personal extra is the pair of chaff/flare dispensers on the rear fuselage, reminiscent of Su-22 installations.
Painting and markings:
The inspiring profile was nice, but I found it to be a bit fishy. The depicted tactical code format would IMHO not be plausible for the aircraft’s intended era, and roundels on the fuselage flanks would also long have gone in the Nineties. Therefore, I rather looked at real world benchmarks from the appropriate time frame for my Polish Gina’s livery, even though I wanted to stay true to the artist’s original concept, too.
One direction to add more plausibility was the scheme that Polish Su-22 fighter bombers received during their MLU, changing the typical tactical camouflage in up to four hues of green and brown into a much more subdued two tone grey livery with lighter, bluish-grey undersides, combined with toned-down markings like tactical codes in white outlines only. Some late MiG-21s also received this type of livery, and at least one Polish Fishbed instructional airframe received white low-viz national insignia.
For the paint scheme itself I used the MiG-21 pattern as benchmark (found in the Planes & Pilots MiG-21 book) and adapted it to the G.91Y as good as possible. The tones were a little difficult to define – some painting instructions recommend FS 36118 (US Gunship Grey) for the dark upper grey tone, but this is IMHO much too murky. Esp. on the Su-22s, the two upper greys show only little contrast, and the lower grey does not stand out much against the upper tones, either. On the other side, I found a picture of a real-life MiG-21U trainer in the new grey scheme, and the contrast between the grey on the upper surfaces appeared much stronger, with the light grey even having a brownish hue. Hmpf.
As a compromise I settled for FS 36173 (F-15E Dark Grey) and 36414 (Flint Grey). For the undersides I went for FS 35414 (Blue Green), which comes close to the typical Soviet underside blue, but it is brighter.
After basic painting, the kit received a light black ink wash and subtle post-shading, mostly in order to emphasize single panels, less for a true weathering effect.
The cockpit was painted in Dark Gull Grey (Humbrol 140), with a light blue dashboard and a black ejection seat. The OOB pilot was used and received an olive drab suit with a light grey helmet, modern and toned down like the aircraft itself. The landing gear as well as the air intake interior were painted in different shades of aluminum.
The decals were, as so often, puzzled together from various sources. The interesting, white-only Polish roundels come from a Mistercraft MiG-21. I also added them to the upper wing surfaces – this is AFAIK not correct, but without them I found the model to look rather bleak. Under the wings, full color insignia were used, though. The English language “Navy” markings on the fuselage might appear odd, but late MiG-21s in Polish Navy service actually had this operator designation added to their spines!
The typical, tactical four-digit code consists of markings for Italian Tornados, taken from two different Italeri sheets. The squadron emblem on the fin came from a Mistercraft Su-22, IIRC.
Most stencils were taken from the OOB sheet, some of them were replaced with white alternatives, though, in order to keep a consistent overall low-viz look.
Finally the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish.
An interesting result. Even though this Polish Gina is purely fictional, the model looks surprisingly convincing, and the grey low-viz livery actually suits the G.91Y well.
Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 15-Nov-21 (DeNoise AI).
Named: "Al Riggah".
First flown in May-95 with the Airbus test registration F-WWJJ, this aircraft was delivered to Kuwait Airways as 9K-AND in Jul-95.
After 22 years in service the aircraft was withdrawn from use and stored at Kuwait City in Jul-17.
It was thought to be permanently retired, however, after almost three years in storage it was ferried to Banjul (The Gambia, West Africa) in Mar-20 and sold to an unknown company as C5-AST.
It was stored at Banjul for another 19 months before being ferried to Johannesburg (No!) at the end of Oct-21.
It might have been flightplanned for Johannesburg but it shows up on FR24 (under 9K-AND) as flying for around 30 minutes. It never got higher than 9,000 feet and the trace was lost at 4,525 feet and descending towards Bissau, Guinea Bissau. Updated 15-Nov-21.
I've replaced my trusty but aging Tamron 18-250 superzoom walk-around lens with a swanky new Sigma 18-250 macro with HSM focusing. Popped out this evening to take a few sample shots with it. Very happy so far. The HSM is superb!
Certainly can't complain about this handheld shot. Has picked up a terrific amount of detail on the moon's surface. It also locked focus first time even shooting through the branches of the tree.
Marbill, Beith replaced an assorted collection of Daimler Fleetlines and Ailsas with a large fleet of these Plaxton Derwent 2 bodied Volvo B10M's that had been new to Smith, Alcester (Your Bus).
“Cherry blossom stone” (9 mm across) - pinite (= muscovite mica replacing intergrown cordierite-indialite) from Kameoka, west of Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, southwestern Honshu Island, southern Japan. The small, central, hexagonal structure represents where indialite used to be. The “petals” of the cherry blossom flower (= the 6 wedge-shaped masses surrounding the center hexagon) represent where cordierite used to be.
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One of the most famous & visually intriguing geologic materials collected in Japan is the cherry blossom stone. These interesting structures have a complex geologic history.
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What are they now?
Cherry blossom stones are relatively small, subhexagonal-shaped masses of fine-grained muscovite mica that show a flower-like pattern in transverse cross-section.
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What did they used to be?
The muscovite mica is not the original material making up these structures. Before the growth of muscovite mica, these were complex intergrowths of six cordierite crystals and one indialite crystal. So, cherry blossom stones represent muscovite mica replacing cordierite-indialite (muscovite pseudomorphs after cordierite-indialite). Such complex pseudomorphs have been referred to as pinite.
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What is the host rock?
Cherry blossom stones are hosted in a matrix of hornfels, a fine-grained, contact metamorphic rock. Hornfels form by intense alteration (heating & chemical alteration) of shales by nearby lava or magma.
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How did they form?
The hornfels host rocks were originally fine-grained siliciclastic sedimentary rocks (shales) of the Tamba Group (Triassic-Jurassic-lowermost Cretaceous). In the mid-Cretaceous (early Cenomanian Stage, ~98 m.y.), underground igneous activity resulted in granites and granodiorite intrusions altering the shales into hornfels by contact metamorphism. These hornfels had decent-sized masses of intergrown cordierite-indialite.
Indialite is a magnesium aluminosilicate mineral (Mg2Al4Si5O18). Cordierite is an iron magnesium aluminosilicate mineral ((Fe,Mg)2Al4Si5O18). The subhexagonal-shaped masses of cordierite-indialite in the hornfels consist of seven individual crystals. At the center of each mass is a dumbbell-shaped indialite crystal - very narrow at the center, and relatively wide at the ends (look at the varying sizes of the center hexagon in the cherry blossom stones in this photo album). Surrounding the indialite crystal are six prism-shaped cordierite crystals. They are widest at the center of each cherry blossom stone and narrowest at the ends.
A second metamorphic event altered the cordierite-indialite masses. Hydrothermal metamorphism resulted in fine-grained muscovite mica replacing the original minerals.
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Much info. from:
Rakovan et al. (2006) - Sakura Ishi (cherry blossom stones): mica pseudomorphs of complex cordierite-indialite intergrowths from Kameoka, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. in Minerals from Japan. Rocks & Minerals Reprint 2006: 31-39.
In order to replace the lovable 328 of the late 90's, Ferrari's next product really had to get inventive. The 348 was an interesting product of the company, but often forgotten, overshadowed mostly by the successful F355 that replaced it, and the classical lines of the 328 it replaced.
The 348, badged as the rather unfortunately chosen 348TB for the coupé, Trasversale Berlinetta (or Tuberculosis, okay I'm sorry!) and 348TS, Spider, for the Targa versions, entered the market in 1989 to replace the 1985 328, which itself was a development of the 308 that dated back to 1975. The 348 featured a naturally aspirated 3.4L version of the Ferrari quad-cam, four-valve-per-cylinder V8 engine. As with its predecessors, the model number was derived from this configuration, with the first two digits being the displacement and the third being the number of cylinders.
The engine, which produced 300hp, was mounted longitudinally and coupled to a transverse manual gearbox, like the Mondial T with which the 348 shared many components. This was a significant change for Ferrari, with most previous small Ferraris using a transverse engine with longitudinal transmission. The T in the model name 348TB and TS refers to the transverse position of the gearbox. Overall, 2,895 examples of the 348 tb and 4,230 of the 348 ts were produced.
The 348's styling differed from previous models with straked side air intakes and rectangular taillights resembling the Testarossa. The F355 that replaced it returned to the styling cues of the 328 with round tail lights and rounded side air scoops. Fifty-seven "Challenge" models were built for owners who wanted a more "track-ready" car.
The 348 was fitted with dual-computer engine management using twin Bosch Motronic ECUs, double-redundant anti-lock brakes, and self-diagnosing air conditioning and heating systems. Late versions built after 1993 have Japanese-made starter motors and Nippondenso power generators to improve reliability, as well as the battery located within the front left fender for better weight distribution.
However, all these developments and more to the Ferrari formula eventually came to the development of the company's next big hit to show that it wasn't an ageing automotive dinosaur producing the same archaic designs. In 1994, the company's latest magnum-opus, the F355, burst onto the scene and set the entire motoring world ablaze. A car more manageable than the F40, but still possessing that spark that had kept the Ferrari badge going through those slow years in the late-70's and through the 80's.
With the release of the F355, the 348 seemed almost pedestrian and was axed in 1995 after 8,844 members had been built. Although some felt that the 348 would be blessed with instant classic status like the 328 it replaced, the 348 had trouble finding a gap in the preservation market, leaving it to fall into comparative obscurity. Like the Mondial, the 456 and the Testarossa, the 348 is a car that is often forgotten, outdone by the stylish F40 and the mighty F355's of the 1990's. Because of this, the 348 is a hard car to come by, and even when people do come across it, it's often mistaken for a 355 or a Testarossa.
But to be honest, hopefully someday the 348 will find itself some true classic status among the many great Ferrari cars that have preceded and succeeded it, after all, it's still a Ferrari, and on merit alone that's worth the price of admission!
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Fiat G.91Y was an Italian ground attack and reconnaissance aircraft that first flew in 1966. Resembling its predecessor, the Fiat G.91, the aircraft was a complete redesign, a major difference being its twin-turbojet engines for a considerably increased performance.
Funded by the Italian government, the G.91Y prototype was based on the G.91T two-seat trainer variant with a single Bristol Orpheus turbojet engine. This was replaced with two afterburning General Electric J85 turbojets which increased thrust by 60%. Structural modifications to reduce airframe weight increased performance further and an additional fuel tank occupying the space of the G.91T's rear seat provided extra range. Combat manoeuvrability was improved with the addition of automatic leading edge slats.
The avionics equipment of the G.91Y was considerably upgraded with many of the American, British and Canadian systems being license-manufactured in Italy.
Flight testing of three pre-production aircraft was successful with one aircraft reaching a maximum speed of Mach 0.98. Airframe buffeting was noted and was rectified in production aircraft by raising the position of the tailplane slightly.
An initial order of 55 aircraft for the Italian Air Force was completed by Fiat in March 1971, by which time the company had changed its name to Aeritalia (from 1969, when Fiat aviazione joined the Aerfer). The order was increased to 75 aircraft with 67 eventually being delivered. In fact, the development of the new G.91Y was quite long, and the first order was for about 20 pre-series examples that followed the two prototypes.
Like the G.91 before, the G.91Y attained much interest as it was a versatile light fighter bomber. One of the countries that ahd an eye on the upgraded Gina was Switzerland, looking for a dedicated support or even replacement for the Hawker Hunters, which were primarily used in the interceptor role, as well as the outdated D. H. Venom fighter bombers.
Fiat's answer was the G.91YS, a version tailored to Swiss needs. A first prototype with enhanced avionics, a strengthened structure for higher external loads as well as for typical operations on short runways with steep climbs and extra hardpoints to carry AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles for evaluation by Switzerland.
The first G.91YS flew on 16 October 1970, but at that time it was already clear that the machine was to carry smart weapons, primarily the AGM-65 'Maverick', which was also earmarked as new, additional Hawker Hunter ordnance.
In order to get things moving the Swiss Air Force ordered in 1972 an initial batch of 22 G.91YS, knowing that an upgrade would become necessary soon. It was a kind of stopgap purchase, though, because the original types for that role, Vought A-7 or the Mirage III derivative Milan S, were rejected after long negotiations. The G.91YS was a more simple and cost effective option, and also as a better option than a short-notice offer for second hand A-4Bs in late 1972.
The new machines were delivered until summer 1974 and allocated to Fliegerstaffel 22 which exclusively operated the fighter bomber. This came just in time because by 1975 plans were laid to replace the Hunter in the air-to-air role with a more modern fighter aircraft, the Northrop F-5E Tiger II (which became operational in 1978). The Hunter remained in a key role within the Swiss Air Force, though. Like the RAF's Hunter fleet, the type transitioned to become the country's primary ground attack platform, completely replacing the Venom, while the G.91YS was regarded as more sophisticated attack aircraft against small, single targets, including tanks (with Soviet mobile tactical missile launch platforms in mind), relying on the AGM-65 as its main armament. Four of these missiles could be carried under the wings, plus a pair of AIM-9 for self-defense. Alternative loads included unguided missiles of various sizes (incl. podded launchers), iron bombs or napalm tanks of up to 1.000 lb caliber, or drop tanks on the inner pylons.
The G.91YS’s primary mission as precision strike aircraft was further emphasized through a massive upgrade program in 1982, including improved sensors, a modernized radio system, a nose-mounted laser tracker/range finder (replacing the former Vinten cameras and greatly improving single pass attack capability and accuracy) and the integration of electronic countermeasure (ECM) systems. The upgraded machines were easily recognizable through their more rounded nose shape with a pitot tube mounted on top, a characteristic spine fairing and a radar warning system housing at the top of the fin.
In this form the G.91YS was kept in operational service until 1994, when it was retired together with the Swiss Hunter fleet. Six aircraft had been lost through accidents during the type’s career. Author Fiona Lombardi stated of the retirement of the Hunter and the G.91YS, the Swiss Air Force "definitively lost the capability to carry out air-to-ground operations". With the retirement of the G.91YS fleet Fliegerstaffel 22 was disbanded, too.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length (incl. pitot): 12.29 m (40 ft 11 in)
Wingspan: 9.01 m (29 ft 6.5 in)
Height: 4.43 m (14 ft 6.3 in)
Wing area: 18.13 m² (195.149 ft²)
Empty weight: 4.000 kg (8.810 lb)
Loaded weight: 8.000 kg (17.621 lb)
Max. take-off weight: 9.000 kg (19.825 lb)
Powerplant:
2× General Electric J85-GE-13A turbojets with afterburners, 18.15 kN (4,080 lbf) each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 1.110 km/h (600 kn, 690 mph,
Mach 0.95 at 10,000 m (33,000 ft)
Range: 3,400 km (ferry range with droptanks) (2,110 mls)
Service ceiling: 12,500 m (41,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 86.36 m/s (17,000 ft/min)
Wing loading: 480 kg/m² (98.3 lb/ft² (maximum)
Thrust/weight: 0.47 at maximum loading
Armament:
2× 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA cannons
6× under-wing pylon stations holding up to maximum of 2.270 kg (5.000 lb) of payload.
The kit and its assembly:
A classic whif – the G.91YS for the Swiss Air Force actually existed, and I just spun the idea further. The compact fighter would have been a suitable addition to the small nation’s air force, and I interpreted it as an addition to the big Hawker Hunter fleet with a dedicated role and with suitable special equipment.
The basis is the Matchbox G.91Y kit with some minor changes:
• A new nose from a Fujimi Harrier GR.3
• The jet exhausts were opened and some interior added
• Flaps were lowered
• Some added detail to the ejection seat
• The spine extension, a simple piece of sprue
• The radar warning fairing is a square piece of styrene sheet
• Replacement of the cast-on guns with hollow steel needles
• The Sidewinder hardpoints come from a Revell F-16A
• The AGM-65s and their launch rails come from a Hasegawa weapon set
Painting and markings:
The bigger challenge, because I did not want to use the typical “Hunter livery” in Extra Dark Sea Grey/SlateGrey/Aluminum – even if it would have been the natural choice for a Swiss aircraft. Choice for alternative yet authentic schemes is narrow, though – late Mirage III or the F-5Es carry a two-tone grey air superiority scheme, and I found this rather unsuitable for an attack aircraft.
So I developed my own design: a mix of the original Italian grey/green scheme and a two-tone pattern that late Turkish RF-4E/TMs carried - but with different colors and all mashed up into a modern, disruptive scheme. Experimental schemes of the German Luftwaffe in the late 70ies for their Alpha Jets and the F-4F fleet (leading to the complex Norm ’81 patterns) also had an influence.
As basic tones I used RAL 6007 (Grüngrau, Revell 67) and Dark Gull Grey (FS36231, Modelmaster, turned out to be a bit too pale for what I wanted to achieve), with added fields of RAL 7000 (Fehgrau, Revell 57) on the upper surfaces and on the mid-waterline flanks – lighter and softer than the original NATO tones and with disruptive lighter blotches that break up the silhouette.
The underside was simply painted in uniform FS36375 (Humbrol 127), which was also carried onto the fin. After a thin black ink wash panels were lightened through dry-brushing.
Cockpit interior was painted with Humbrol 140, the landing gear with a mix of White and Aluminum, trying to emulate look of real aircraft. In order not to make them stand out too much I painted the AGM-65s in olive drab, even though I think all Swiss missiles of that type were white. Artistic freedom…
Decals were puzzled together, e. g. from a Mirage III Carpena sheet and an Italieri Bae Hawk sheet, most stencils come from the OOB sheet (despite being slightly yellowed...).
A simple whif, done in a week, and based on an obscure real-life project. And the G.91 bears more whiffing potential, at least one more is to come!
In the midst of lockdown numero uno in Lahore over the weekend, I decided to head to my village in Radhan, a half an hour or so from Sargodha. Traffic in Lahore was beyond light, almost absent, so we hit the motorway quickly and reached Sargodha earlier than expected. I thought the drive through the city would have been a much desired breeze as well but the residents of the city seemed to be out and about per their normal routine. Clearly the rules set upon the larger cities hadn’t taken effect here yet. But it was the village that was the bubble existing above and beyond everything that seemed to be happening in the world.
Unlike the rest of it, or at least the West, Pakistan has taken the approach of slow roll-out in what was likely going to be a long-term lockdown. We had started with 2 days on March 21st, now we are at 15 and everyone assumes that will be extended in the same slots indefinitely. A few stories about the treatment of those who have revealed their state of being positive to the State have been frightening to the point that unless faced by death, I think people will stick it out in their rooms. And some might also prefer to die there.
There are articles abound about people in the north testing positive, then running away from the health facilities to God knows where. No one has a real clue what is happening of course and beyond the “We love China” anthem the PM is singing, what we are really hoping for is one of those hospitals our “all-weather friend” built in 8 days, (or was it 18), to pop up in at least one province each. Personally, I would rather the People's Republic ended the internment of a million Muslims but we seem to have already signed off on that being ok.
The poor are scared out of their wits because we have extremely high numbers of workers in the larger cities who earn their income on a daily basis and with the shutdown, they don’t have a clue as to how to feed their families. Those of the Sahib e Taufeeq are therefore anxiously and quickly trying to distribute ration for a month to as many families as possible. Meanwhile the Sahib e Maal contingent is interneting themselves to wherever that will lead, which we will soon discover.
In Lahore, if one meets someone, all one talks about is the virus. For a while at least. That has been my experience of the under 50 crowd. It’s like the greeting of “salam” changed to “yaar yeh kya cheez aa gayee hai?” which then moves forward into exchanges of updates and readings per each person’s interest and/or fear of death. Since I have been most influenced by my friends and elders who, while taking sensible precautions, believe in the “jiss ko hona hai, uss to hona hai” (whoever’s going to get it is going to get it) school of thought, I have little to offer.
While being holed up, I scan Drudge and get the scariest breaking updates of the world on a daily basis. It makes me smile that the US has already ingrained into the public that 18 months are on the horizon for this nightmare and we are going forward in 15 day increments. I guess if the Pakistani Government made a similar announcement of 180 days (plus), people would just be like “screw it” and brazen defiance would follow. The rest of my days are spent humming tunes to come up with melodies for the kalam in my book which I then share with my friend, Ustad Imran and we play with it till its ready for upload on a gorgeous insta page, courtesy of Hiba.
Meanwhile, the rumour mills are spewing out new suggestions daily. High on the list is bio-weaponary going out of hand. China-US-Israel are the three villains most frequently named. On the spiritual side a trusted spiritual master says it is the fasid jinns, who, in collusion with fasid humans, are creating this havoc. Like millions, I have all my hopes tied to the return of Imam Mahdi (as) who might appear to save the day.
The Saudis closing Umra, cancelling Haj and making the tawaaf practically void is what saddens the believers the most. As one who had intended to perform the Haj this year, it is no doubt tremendously disappointing. But then I had heard from my Mamu many years before he passed that the Haj would stop in the future. I just imagined that it would happen because of war, not a plague. The Naqshbandis were told by their Spiritual Master, Sheikh Nazim (ra), that blight would arise from China and spread into the world and would disappear one day just like it came. In the days through it, he had advised his disciples to give sadqa to express their gratitude for life.
But coming back to the story of the village. After having lunch and meeting Pathani, who worked for me for 20 some years and is now retired, I sat with the women who work in the house near their out-door kitchen. I began the conversation in the way I had been taught these past few days in Lahore. Except it was in Punjabi.
“Yaar eh ke shay saddey pichay peh gayee hai” (what is this strange thing that has come after us?)
The women looked at me but no one said anything. I waited but they seemed to be waiting also, I gathered, for me to continue. When I didn’t, they just went back to what they were doing. I gave it another shot.
“So everyone in Lahore is holed up in their houses and living in fear,” I attempted raising the bar from casual conversation to sensationalism. “No one goes anywhere and all the markets are closed.”
Again I received nothing.
I think one woman said, “Jiya” in a tone which best translates into a flat “I guess” or “Mmm hmmm.”
I started smiling. “You guys are really lucky,” changing gears yet again, this time offering praise of good fortune. “You can roam around and it’s so beautiful here. And clean. And the food is good and fresh. And there’s hardly any people.” I racked my brain for more positives. “And it hasn’t turned hot yet so the weather is perfect.”
This time instead of one, I got three “Jiyas” and one “Jiya Ji.” It made me give up. I’ll try again tomorrow I thought. I got a charpaaye and spend the rest of the day in the massive garden reading books I had brought with me from Lahore and again, humming the melody of the next tune. It was by Baba Farid Kot Mithan (ra) and I have to say it had an effect on my heart that was superbly softening. Sometimes the words made me smile and sometimes I cried. I love the range of the arc that poetry can make, going from the earth to the sky, from the sun to the moon, from the day to the night and from the heart to the heart.
The next day I went for a walk in the kinoo gardens. The fruit has been picked but the orange blossoms were in full bloom and deeply intoxicating. I sat under a tree brimming with the flowers and listened to music on my Ipod. At lunch the women sat nearby, possibly feeling bad for me that I always came all alone. I decided, incorrigibly, to mention the virus again.
“So to stay safe you have to wash your hands A LOT. My teacher, Qari Sahib, says to just stay in a state of wudu. Even if you are not going to pray soon.”
I looked at each woman one by one, this time awaiting their favoured response.
“Jiya,” said one. “This is a good suggestion.”
I was dying to ask if they did that or prayed but gained control of myself.
Usually the gate to the house is left open for people from the village, essentially women, to come in and say hello to the arrivals from the city. But this time Pathani had given strict instructions to the chawkidaar to not let anyone in.
“Not even Ghulam Biwi?” I asked. As I write this I wonder if her name is Ghulam Bibi re-pronounced Biwi in the village or if she was literally named “the wife of Ghulam.” Probably the former. How would anyone know the husband’s name at birth?
“No,” she decided. “Best to be safe. She roams around the whole village and God only knows where else all day.”
Amma Ghulam Biwi was an old woman in her 70s who was almost deaf. On every visit I had made in the last few years, she had come to see me. She had a lovely voice and knew tons of Punjabi songs, film and spiritual kalam, and would sing to me. She loved Nur Jahan tracks from the 60s and I enjoyed my time with her. The conversations were by sign of course. She loved me and I loved her.
She was the reason I had come to understand that the prayers of a poor person, who one is kind to, far exceed in their expression the prayers of even one’s own parents. “Takhtaan te bakhtaan,” is what she always asked for me. Thrones and best of fortunes! I’m pretty sure neither of my parents ever prayed for thrones for me! Plus I often heard her address God as “Takhtaan te bakhtaan aaliya,” which meant she was asking Him to give me of Himself and that which is His. Not to mention the ask of never-ending wealth and telling Allah to give me more and more and more. Again, I don’t think my parents asked for that either! If they did it would have indeed been strange. Then there was “Allah raazi howey iss tun,” the most elevated prayer of all, “God, be pleased with her.”
I was a little bummed that I was not going to see her but it seemed like the thing to do. But fortune had other plans. Later in the afternoon I went to the family graveyard, just outside the women’s house and adjacent to the haveli the men occupy. For the second time in my lifetime, I went to the graves inside the mosque where my grandfather, his brother and their father are buried. Usually I just sit in the area outside where the rest of our family, including my mother and sister are, but I had visited the village a month before with my Nani (kind of) who is in her 90s and had gone inside with her.
When we had arrived at the graveyard then, just the walk from the car to the graves, only a few feet away, had taken so long and seemed so tiring for her that I had told her to just pray from there and not walk the extra few feet to where her father and brothers were buried. She had waived me away as if I had suggested something beyond ludicrous and said, “Then why am I here?”
With her nurse holding her on one side and me on the other, we had gone into the small room where the three graves lay in a line. In the back was a large marble slab and on it was a Surah from the Quran. She had kept insisting she wanted to read it herself but when I asked if she wanted a chair brought in while she did so, she had waived me away again. Apparently it was another absurd idea. I told her I would read it for her and while she sat at the feet of her father, I recited the Surah.
It was Al-Mulk and I remember crying the whole way through it. I didn’t understand it all of course but I wept because of the lines addressing the ungrateful who will be asked if a warner came to them and they will say, yes, a warner did come but we rejected him. I cried because I didn’t understand why they rejected him and I hoped I wasn’t one of them because rejection has its own layers. And I sobbed because of those I love deeply who live restless lives in perpetuity but refuse to unhinge themselves from a position that they took for one reason, one incidence or another, that had now taken hold of them, replacing all their happiness with anxiety and paranoia to live a life lifeless.
But it was the second line that never left me from that first time I read it for it had triggered a significant part of my understanding of the Quran.
"He who created death and life, that He may test which of you is best in deed.
And He is the Bestower of Honor and Oft-Forgiving."
The revelation had formed a chunk of my address at the book launch: that the verses of deep consequence referencing “deed,” giving it a singular, exalted status repeatedly by God, tie in precisely and inextricably with the multitude of verses on Nabi Kareem (saw) as the one to follow and obey. Making his deed one’s own rendered one “best” indeed.
This was going to be the second time I would enter the room inside the mosque. I had heard earlier in the morning, quite randomly, that my mother used to take the Quran to her father’s grave every day after he passed while she was in the village. To read it for him, to send the blessings of her readings to him. I had never done that before even though my family members had died almost 23 years ago. But on this day that I did it I knew it meant the beginning, albeit a late one, of doing it for them in the future.
It was on my way back from the graveyard that I saw Amma Ghulam Biwi standing near the gate of the house with her cane and some cloth she was carrying. From a distance she didn’t recognize me even though I waived at her but when I got close, she threw the cane and cloth on the ground, raising her hand up in the air, letting out a cry of joy.
Normally she would greet me with her favourite song by Nur Jahan; "Chan mahiya teri rah pai takni aan. Tariyan tu puch le ve chan kolun puch leh, sareian tu puch le, mein sayn nahin sakni aan." The words translated into "Dearest sweetheart, I have been looking for you to come my way for so long. Ask the stars, go ask the moon. Ask them all, I haven't slept a night waiting for you." I always laughed at the intensity of the tone. It made me wonder if she was a Scorpio like me.
When I got close to her I tried to yell that it’s best we don’t meet like we normally do but of course she didn’t understand a word. Next thing I knew she had thrown her arms around me, pulled me towards her and planted a wet kiss on my cheek. I burst out laughing while I heard the gate-keeper doing his best to scream out that that was not the way to meet in these times. She walked at a snail’s pace so it took us a while to reach the house from the gate and someone brought a chair for her to sit on and some kinoo juice to drink.
She had once told me she would say prayers and breathe them on water, something we call “pani dumm karna,” meaning making a water have the capacity to heal through the effect of verse from the Quran. I had a half finished bottle of water with me so I handed it to her and gestured for her to make me one. But before that I played the part of a mime and explained that the whole world was under attack by a disease and people were sick and dying. That required a decent amount of touching my forehead and sticking my tongue out as if fatigued beyond belief. And it worked! “Bimari aa gayee ae?” she said. And I nodded in the affirmative vigourously, holding my palms up in the air, signaling for her to pray for all of us.
I listened as she spoke the prayers out one by one for the water. The prayers have to be recited in a specific number, usually 11 but she went over a few times so she must have different system. I recognized the prayers and each time I thought she was done and got up to take the bottle from her, she waived me away as if annoyed by my impatience. The wave of dismissal must be a thing of older women from Radhan. The prayer that struck me was “Qulna ya naaro, kuni bardan wa salaman ala Ibrahim (as).” “We (God) said, ‘Fire, be cool and safe for Ibrahim (as).’”
The verse was in my book in the chapter on Trust. Also I was studying deeply each mention of the Prophet Ibrahim (as) in the Quran these days with Qari Sahib. Each incidence was extraordinary for he was Khalil Allah, the Friend of God. His asks, his bestowings, every action, was spell-binding through the tafseer of Ghaus Pak (ra). I know he is the only one who gives the exegesis of the word Ibrahim in specific verses to be the soul. That itself changed everything entirely as suddenly it was about me. And everyone else!
Before Amma Ghulam Biwi left, she looked at me with deep anguish and said her heart ached that I kept bending over. I had been doing my stretches while she sat in the chair and was touching my toes over and over, holding the position and counting to eight. I wanted to tell her that I was fine so I tried giving her a thumbs up but she just looked extremely bewildered so I decided to leave it alone. We said our goodbyes. My info on the disease devouring the world had left no impact on her so she hugged and kissed me again, then shuffled out of the house.
On my last day at breakfast, one of the women who brought me my meal asked, “So what is the news from Lahore?”
I was thrilled that I had managed to pique enough interest that she had gotten some information on her own about it which she wanted to relay to me.
“You heard about the extension of the lockdown?” I asked expectantly.
She looked blasé.
“No. I’m just asking what is going on there?” As in “What’s up in Lahore?”
“Oh,” I said. “Nothing much,” I responded, taking on her indifference and expressing my capitulation. “It’s more of the same. Who knows what will happen?”
She smiled at me and left to go back to the kitchen.
The village! The simplicity of life is apparent always. In the scenery and the quietness, the apparel and the taste of the food cooked without any overwhelming flavours or colour of individual ingredients, yet incomparably delicious. But the glaring cut-off from the world is from lack of technology interceding in life, as relates specifically to the internet. And this applies of course to those of my age, 50 and above. Maybe even just the women since I don’t interact with any men at all while there.
My three days spent there left me happy and smiling as I gathered my stuff to return to a city that I also deeply love. I felt grateful that in these times of extreme gravity and not having a clue as to who will live another day, life can still have a lightness to it. Recently I saw a beautiful painting the famed British artist, David Hockney, made to life the spirits of the world in this time of gloom. “Do remember, they can’t cancel spring,” is what he said. In that vein, my motivation to make music set to words written by poets extraordinaire and spiritual masters had accelerated. I also wanted to alleviate the sadness of the world. Because I already knew the effect of sound on the soul. It was a major part of my new writing:
"In Risala Qusheria I had read page after page of what was said about the effect of sound on the heart. Imam Ali (ratu) and others like him attest to the fact that every single thing in the Universe is in a state of zikr, remembrance, of Allah As-Sami’, The Hearer of All. And most surprising of all, it wasn’t just elements of nature, the birds, the bees, water and wind. It was instruments when played without a voice, it was the wheel of the potter, it was the rope that pulled water from a well. Hazrat Abu Suleman Durani (ra) said, ''A beautiful voice does not insert anything into a heart. It only resonates with and makes alive that which lies in it already.'"
Who knows what lies inside hearts except those who occupy them but one line rings true for all of us and it comes most beautifully worded in Punjabi by my Pir Mehr Ali Shah Sahib (ra.) For the ask from God of those who know Him, as opposed to those who merely worship Him, focuses on what can be bestowed, as opposed to what can be withdrawn.
Sha Allah wat aawin uwa ghariaan
May those moments come back again.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0x2U1fWwS8&feature=youtu.be
kalam by Ustad Imran Jafri on insta @the.softest.heart
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Heinkel He 276 was a night fighter that served with the German Luftwaffe in the later stages of World War II. Its inception dated back to June 1942 when the RLM requested a multi-purpose combat aircraft, the so-called "Arbeitsflugzeug", that could be adapted to various roles and would replace the Bf 110, Ju 88/188 and Do 217.
Heinkel responded with a multitude of designs under the project number P.1065, all of them capable of a speed between 600-700 km/h (373-435 mph) and a ragne form 400-1.000km (248-621 miles) and all driven by piston engines. None of them would enter the hardware stage, though.
In parallel, Heinkel also worked on the fast He 219 "Uhu" night fighter, also a psiton-engined design which was a direct response to the RAF's fast Mosquito night bombers which flew so high and fast that they could operate almost unmolested over Germany. Additionally, the Luftwaffe had to cope with more and intense night bomber raids - it became clear that the number of night fighters was not big enough to cope with this threat, let alone the aircraft's capabilities.
The He 219 was introduced with high hopes, but the advent of the jet age already signalled that the piston-engined fighetr would become obsolete in a matter of months. As stopgap solutions, 1st generation jet aircraft like the Me 262 or the Ar 234 were in hurry converted to night fighters, but this could not hide that fact that a more potent solution was needed - concerning almost any aspect like range, speed, firepower and radar capability.
Plans to augment the He 219 were dropped after intial trials, so that Heinkel decided in September 1944 to develop a completely new aircraft, dedicated to the long range night fighter role. The design team did not start from scratch, though, as the He 219 was already a very good basis to start from, with jigs and tools available for quick production start.
The He 276 A-0 was consequently designed around the He 219 structure, even though all wing surfaces were new. The main wings had a laminar profile for higher speeds in excess of 800km/h, the aircraft was to be powered by two Heinkel-Hirth S011 jet engines in nacelles under the wings.
In order to keep the tail surfcaes free from the jet efflux, the He 219's twin fin arrangement was replaced by a single fin with a cruciform stabilizer above the fuselage level. Since the engine nacelles could not take the landing gear anymore, a new arrangement with wells in the lower fuselage waas introduced - overall the He 276 resembled a lot the much smaller Ar 234.
The radar system was to be the FuG 240 'Berlin', which was still under development, with a (draggy) "antler" antenna arrangement on the nose plus a rearward-facing warning radar. The rarar was operated by a second crew member who's also control the defensive armament, a tail-mounted FDL 131Z barbette. Main armament were four 30mm MK103 machine cannons in the lower fuselage, each with a muzzle velocity of 860 m/s (2,822 ft/s) and firing HE/M rounds at 380 RPM. Like the He 219 the He 276 was equipped with ejection seats.
The first prototype was assembled in record time, and the first flight of the He 276 A-0 took place in August 1945 - only to reveal several shortcomings. One issue was poor directional handling, which could quickly be mended through an enlarged fin surface and a fin fillet, the bigger problem was the unavailability of the HeS011 engine for serial production, and its priority allocation to light fighters.
As a consequence, the engine arrangement was literally revised over night - the He 276 was direly needed in frontline service and no more delays were accepted. This lead to the He 276 B series, which would become the production type.
This version was powered by four of the proven Junkers Jumo 109-004D, an uprated version of the Me 262's engine. The engines were mounted in separate nacelles under the wings, even though these were so close to each other that they looked like a double nacelle.
A further innovation of the B-series was the introduction of the first radar-guided weapons station - the FDL 131ZR was not visually guided (a task that proved to be almost impossible during night sorties), but rather slaved to the radar system which would automatically align and fire the guns. The radar operator could still override the autamatic guidance, but the system was deemed reliable enough for front line use and it effectively relieved the radar operator.
The first production series (B-1) only comprised 10 aircraft, and it was almost immediately replaced by the B-2 which introduced another novelty: the parabolic antenna for the FuG 242 'Schwerin' radar, an improved version of the FuG 240 with longer range and higher sensitivity.
The He 276 B-2 arrived at the Nachtjagdgeschwader in early 1946 and was immediately thrown against Allied bombers and fared surprisingly well.
The He 276 was a simple aircraft, which made production and maintenance relatively easy. It also offered enough development and modification potential - many machines received augmented armament and equipment in form of so-called Rüstsätze, which were later integrated into production and earned the aircraft additional 'U-X' suffixes. These included racks for unguided R4M or RZ 65 rockets under the wings, or several 'Schräge Musik' cannon arrangements, which featured two or four oblique-mounted guns in the fuselage, partly coupled with an optical or radar trigger to fire them automatically when flying under a target.
The He 276 B-2 was the only version to enter service, though - a planned B-3 upgrade with four reheated Jumo 109s (rated at 1.200 kp each) remained on the drawing board.
General characteristics:
Crew: 2
Length (incl. rear antenna): 14.97 m (49 ft 2 in)
Wingspan: 16.56 m (54 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.14 m (16 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 44.4 m² (478 ft²)
Max. takeoff weight: 13,580 kg (29,900 lb)
Powerplant:
4× Junkers Jumo 109-004D jet engines, each rated at 1.015 kp
Performance:
Maximum speed: 916 km/h (494 kn, 568 mph)
Range: 1,540 km (831 nmi, 960 mi)
Ferry range: 2,148 km (1,160 nmi, 1,335 mi)
Service ceiling: 13.300 m (43.564 ft)
Armament:
4 × 30 mm MK 103 cannons in a detachable fairing under the fuselage, 220 RPG;
2× 13 mm MG 131 in an FDL 131ZR tail barbette, 450 RPG;
Factory Rüstsatz "U1" with 4× 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannons, mounted dorsally as
Schräge Musik (oriented 65° above horizontal), 100 RPG
Two hardpoints under the outer wings, capable of carrying 500 kg each
(normally occupied by 300l drop tanks).
The kit and its assembly:
This whiffy Luft ’46 aircraft model had two inspirational roots. One was the question what could a jet-powered He 219 night fighter have looked like, the other was the real Heinkel P.1065 ‘Arbeitsflugzeug’ project(s), following the idea what that aircraft might have looked like if it had been ushered into production and service?
It would certainly have relied upon existing components – so the concept for this jet-propelled, dedicated night fighter design was born.
The model is a wild kitbash, welded together from the following main ingredients:
• Fuselage of a 1:72 Frog He 219 (Matchbox re-boxing)
• Wings from a 1:100 VEB Plasticart An-24 (NuBee re-boxing)
• Two pairs of 1:72 Revell Me 262 engine nacelles
• Fin and stabilizer from an 1:72 Matchbox Douglas F3D Skyknight
Sounds odd? Yes, and it took some surgical work to get these pieces together. The He 219 fuselage was shortened, a 1” plug taken out at the wings’ trailing edge, thereby shortening the wing roots to the An-24’s dimensions, and the tail section cut off. The tail gap was replaced by a scratched FDL 131Z barbette, and new stabilizers from a Matchbox F3D placed on top of the fuselage, far away from the jet efflux.
I did not want to open the cockpit, but the canopy offers good visibility into the interior, so I scratched something together - the Frog kit has literally nothing of value to offer, so I added a new floor (also acting as front wheel well), new Me 262 seats, dashboards, an IR sight and something that looks like the upper side of a fuselage tank, plus two crew figures.
The wings were clipped, too, and the original An-24 turboprops replaced by two pairs of Me 262 engines in the same place, mounted closely together.
This meant that the landing gear had to go elsewhere, so I relocated the main landing gear wells into the lower fuselage, changing it into a narrow Ar 234 or B-66 style arrangement - from AH-64, F-86 and Bv 155 parts.
For this new arrangement the belly was cut open and a Fiat G.91 part from a Revell kit integrated. The covers for the main landing gear were scratched from sytrene sheet.
The front wheel strut is OOB, but shortened, and instead of a single, big wheel I used smaller twin wheels, from a Matchbox Canberra PR.9. After 25 years these parts finally found a new destination. ^^
The thimble radome is a Pavla resin piece, it actually belongs to a Bristol Beaufighter TF Mk. X, but perfectly fits ins shape and size - and the new nose dramatically changes the He 219 lines!
On the fuselage, I finally added four vertical guns as a "Schräge Musik" installation, adding some more purpose to the rather ugly aircraft. A pair of drop tanks (from two Academy Fw 190 kits) and their respective hardpoints (from a Me 262) complete the ordnance.
I must admit that the thing is ugly as hell, but on the other side looks very German and purposeful - and the new nose section recalls some similarity with a CF-100 or even a B-57a C-130 or a Transall?
Painting and markings:
As a late war German night fighter, almost anything goes. I went for a personal mix of two real night fighter schemes, blended into one: the basis comes from a Me 262 two seater which was finished in an unusual scheme for night duties: upper surfaces in RLM 81 & 83 (Braunviolett and Dunkelgrün), with black (RLM 22) undersides.
Since many night fighters received field modifications, and in patricular much lighter upper surfaces, I added an individual RLM 76 treatment (maybe whitewash, though - not certain if it was intended as winter or night cammo) that comes from a Ju 188 night reconnaissance aircraft and which can only be described as original.
In an initial step the model received its normal paint scheme (using Humbrol 116 and 155, plus flat black from Modelmaster), the RLM 76 additions (with Modelmaster Authentic enamel paint and some Humbrol 127) were then added, so that the original paint could shine through. Everything done with a soft brush, and the result is IMHO very good.
All interior surfaces and the landing gear were painted in dark grey (Humbrol 67) and later slightly dry-painted with medium grey (Humbrol 176) in order to point out details.
Decals were puzzled together from various sources, and I kept everything very simple and minimal - just some German insignia, a tactical code and the last digits of the airframe's serial number at the top of the fin.
Finally, some soot stains were added with grinded graphite and everything sealed under matt acrylic varnish (Revell).
I will admit that the He 276 is an ugly aircraft, with a rather utilarian design. But this actually adds a very German touch to it - and how else could a successos to the He 219 or Ju 88 C look like? ;)
The DISNEY MAGIC Leaving Liverpool Cruise Terminal,
for a very short Cruise.
With the Mananan Ferry following it,
Also the Floating Platform Crain LARA 1
which is dismantling the Seacombe ferry terminal
and replacing it with a new one.
This video is taken at 1 frame per second,
and it has been reduced in size to 720p.
Created using Linux and WinFF.
© Kevin A Urquhart Photography.
Bath, New York. April 2014.
In 2013, Tractor Supply remodeled a former P&C supermarket and moved in while Save a Lot relocated from an old location elsewhere in Bath into a former Eckerd that was never a Rite Aid.
This Sign used to house both companies logos.
Southbound I-5 between the Convention Center and I-90 was reduced to one lane over President’s Day weekend to replace several aging expansion joints. Replacing the old joints helps prevent emergency repairs in the future, which are costly and can cause unplanned backups during rush hour.
Fourth generation (1991–1996)
The 1991 model was completely restyled—It replaced the 1977-based rectilinear design with rounded, more aerodynamic sheetmetal. While the body and interior were all new, excluding the Anti-Lock Braking System, the chassis and powertrain were carried over from the 1990 model. and several major components (including the floor pan) are entirely interchangeable between 1977 and 1996.
Motor Trend awarded the new Caprice Classic Car of the Year. Two trim levels were initially offered—Caprice and Caprice Classic, replacing the previous Classic and Brougham models. General Motors had hoped to regain the top spot as America's favorite automobile with the new aerodynamic styling of their full-size offering.
The last-generation Caprice was not well received by critics and did not hold on to high sales numbers. The car's styling was criticized with car aficionados calling it a "beached whale" and "an upside-down bathtub". For 1993 there were some revisions, the most obvious being the removal of the skirted rear wheel wells in favor of more conventional, open wheel wells. This applied only to the sedan model; station wagons retained the skirted wheel wells. In 1995, minor modifications were made to the C-pillars & the wagon was given the same mirrors as the sedan; 1995 was the final year for the Caprice wagon.
In 1994 the Caprice received the new-generation GM engines, including an optional detuned version of the Corvette's LT1 350 cu in (5.7 L) engine that put out 260 hp (194 kW) and 330 lb·ft (447 N·m) of torque. The standard engine in all sedans, including the 9C1 police cars, was the 200 hp (150 kW), L99 263 (4.3 L) V8. The LT1 was optional in the 9C1 police-package and standard in the wagon. The LT1 350 was standard in the civilian sedans with the addition of the B4U towing package. The towing package also gave a heavy duty suspension nearly identical to the 9C1 police car suspension, 2.93 gears, heavy duty cooling, heavy duty rear drum brakes and positraction. The 265 (4.3 L) L99, and 350 (5.7 L) LT1 look nearly identical externally. Many 4.3 L99 equipped sedans are passed off as 5.7 LT1 cars. The 8th digit in the Vehicle Identification Number is the Engine code. W: 4.3 L L99, P: 5.7 L LT1. The 1994 Caprice's interior had a redesign which featured a Camaro steering wheel, digital speedometer and a new console.
The Caprice 9C1 with the LT1 engine became one of the fastest and most popular modern day police vehicles. This vehicle established such strong devotion by many police departments that a cottage industry thrived in refurbishing Caprices for continued police service after GM discontinued production of the car.
The car's production was stopped in 1996 from sales pressure from the mid-size Chevrolet Lumina, financial troubles at General Motors, and consumer demand shifting from full-sized family sedans to the increasingly popular sport utility vehicles. The Arlington, Texas vehicle assembly plant (used for Caprices, Buick Roadmaster, Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, and Cadillac Fleetwood) was converted to produce GM's more profitable full size SUVs (the Tahoe and Suburban). In 1997, the Lumina LTZ would take the Caprice's place as Chevrolet's premium passenger car. Total production of 1991–96 models was 689,257 with production ending on December 13, 1996.
Aftermath
With the exit of the Caprice, the Ford Crown Victoria and its corporate siblings (Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car), continued as the sole traditional rear-drive, body-on-frame, V8-powered American sedans (though the final assembly point is in Canada) until their discontinuation in 2011. Thereafter the Ford Crown Victoria dominated police vehicle sales from 1997 through 2011. Dodge would introduce the unibody Dodge Charger in 2006 (Chrysler Corp and AMC had a long history of using unibody rather than body on frame for their full sized cars since 1960 and 1948, respectively), the division's first rear-wheel drive sedan since 1989.
The Chevrolet Impala nameplate was reintroduced to the American passenger car market in 2000 as the marque's premium offering, albeit in a front wheel drive configuration.
[Text from Wikipedia]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Caprice
The car shown here is a 1992 Caprice Taxi from the film '28 Days'.
www.imcdb.org/vehicle.php?id=3421
This miniland-scale Lego Chevrolet Caprice Taxi (1991 - '28 Days') has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 92nd Build Challenge, - "Stuck in the 90's", - all about vehicles from the decade of the 1990s.
I have been to Throwley on at least three previous occasions, the fourth was going to be during Ride and Stride in September, but another crawler told me it had failed to open as per the list.
St Michael and All Angles is a large and from the outside and interesting looking church, looked like it had a story to tell. So, last week, I contacted the wardens through the CofE A church Near You website, I got a reply and a date and time agreed for Saturday morning.
We arrived 15 minutes early, and it was as locked as ever, but on a fine if frosty morning took the time to study the church ad churchyard, and saw yet more fine details we had missed previously.
Dead on time the warden arrived, and was very welcoming indeed. They loved to have visitors she said. Now I know how to contact them, I can see that.
She was clearly proud of the church, and rightly so, most impressive was the south chapel with a pair of kneeling couples on top of chest tombs, staring at each other for all eternity.
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St Michael & All Angels is the parish church of Throwley. The first church on the site was probably built between 800 and 825. This would have been a small wooden structure, barely distinguishable from a farm building.
After the Norman Conquest in 1066 this was replaced by a Romanesque stone structure.
This was still small, but as the population of the parish increased the church was enlarged, until in about 1510 it reached its present size. Since then its appearance has changed little, although an extra storey was added to the tower - now far seen - in the 1860s.
The church has an elaborate Romanesque west entrance; its east window in the chancel, by Curtis, Ward & Hughes of Soho, London, is a memorial to Throwley men who gave their lives in the First World War.
In the Harris chapel is the church's newest stained-glass window, commemorating Dorothy Lady Harris who died in 1981. It was designed and executed in the Canterbury Cathedral Workshops by Frederick Cole (see pictures on left).
The church has more than its fair share of fine 16th to 19th century monuments, mainly to members of the local Sondes and Harris families, and these are all described.
www.faversham.org/community/churches/throwley.aspx
--------------------------------------------
TQ 95 NE THROWLEY THROWLEY
ROAD
(west side)
4/181
Church of
St. Michael
and All
24.1.67 Angels
GV I
Parish Church. C12, C13 north chapel, C14 south chapel, C15
nave arcades, restored 1866 and tower heightened. Flint and
plain tiled roofs. Chancel, north and south chapels, nave and
aisles, south tower and south porch. West doorway, C12, with
attached shafts and 3 orders, the outer panelled with X's on
circles, the centre roll moulded with the blocks offset and
alternately projecting, the inner with more X's on circles,
with 2 offset buttresses either side of doorway. South aisle
with plinth, string course and parapet, 3 offset buttresses and
C15 Perpendicular windows. South tower of 2 stages with square
south-eastern stair turret and C16 moulded brick surround
sundial. Water spouts on each corner in the 4 Evangelical
symbols. Half-timbered C19 south porch, south doorway with
rolled and double hollow chamfered surround, and outer surround
with label and quatrefoil spandrels. North aisle under 1 roof
with nave, with C15 fenestration, and C19 chimney to north west.
North and south chapels with C14 cusped 'Y' tracery fenestration,
with hollow chamfered and ogee drip moulds. Chancel east
window C19 curvilinear style. Interior: 2 bay nave arcades,
double hollow chamfered arches on octagonal piers. C12 single
arches to north and south eastern bay, that to south recessed
and double chamfered through tower wall. Barrel roof.
Chamfered arch on corbels from south aisle to tower, itself
with corbel table on south wall, and triple arch through to south
chapel C19 chancel arch. Chancel with 2 bay double chamfered
arcade to north chapel with octagonal capitals on round piers, and
single double chamfered arch on round responds to south chapel.
Fittings: hollow chamfered piscina and sedile in window reveal in
chancel and cusped recess in north wall. C19 reredos and altar
rail. Cusped piscina and four centred arched wall recess in
south chapel. Choir stalls, some C19, the four on the south C15
with carved misericords. Monuments: south chapel C16 chest tomb,
with shields in panelled sides, moulded plinth, lozenge-shaped
flowers, fluting and frieze. Chest tomb, Sir George Sondes,
Earl of Faversham, d.1677. Black marble with blank panelled sides.
Inscription on the top panel (made 1728). Standing monument,
Sir Thomas Sondes, died 1592. Marble tomb chest, gadrooned with
achievements on side panels. Kneeling alabaster figures of
knight and his Lady on opposite sides of central prayer desk,
carrying inscription. Mary Sondes, died 1603. Smaller and
identical to Sir Thomas Sonde's monument, with 2 adults and 2
infant sons and daughters on either side of sarcophagus. Misplaced
scrolled and enriched carved achievement on floor to east of
those monuments. Wall plaque, Captain Thomas Sondes, died 1668.
Black and white marble, with draped apron, swagged and draped
sides with military trophies. Broken segmental pediment with male
bust. Signed W.S. (B.0.E. Kent II, p.477 suggests William Stanton).
North chapel C16 chest tomb, moulded plinth, panelled sides with
shields (1 panel reset in south chapel south wall). Early C16
tomb recess with moulded jambs, with rope work, crenellated,
with late Perpendicular motifs in spandrels, and tomb with 3
panelled recesses with 2 shields on each panel. Wall plaque,
Charles Harris, d.1814, by Flaxman. White plaque on white
background; dead soldier lifted from the grave by Victory, with
palms and cannon in background. Statue, to George, first Lord
Harris, life size soldier with sword and plans, on four foot
plinth. By George Rennie, 1835. Nave, wall plaque, Stephen
Bunce, d.1634. Black plaque on coved base and apron. Foliated
sides. Scrolled nowy cornice and pediment with achievement.
(See B.O.E. Kent II, 1983, 476-7.)
Listing NGR: TQ9883454254
www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-176587-church-of-st-m...
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LIES the next parish north-eastward from Stalisfield. It is called in the record of Domesday, Trevelei, in later records Truley and Thruley, in Latin ones Trulega and Truilla; it is now written both Throwley and Throwleigh.
THROWLEY is mostly situated on high ground, it is a more pleasant and open country than that last described, for though wild and romantic among the hills and woods, it is not so dreary and forlorn, nor the soil so uncomfortable, being much drier. Besides it has a more chearful and brighter aspect from the width of the principal valley which leads through it, from north to south, whence the hills rise on each side, with smaller delves interspersed among them. There is a good deal of wood-ground, mostly of beech, interspersed at places with oak and hazel, with some good timber trees of oak among them, especially in the northern and southern parts; much of the former belongs to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. The soil is mostly chalk, the rest a heavy tillage land of red cludy earth, the whole mixed with quantities of flint stones. There are some level lands, especially in the disparked grounds of Throwley park, which are tolerably good, much more so than those in the other parts of the parish; on the east side of the park are the foundations of the antient seat of the Sondes's, with the church close to them, the whole lying on high ground, with a good prospect of the surrounding country; not far from it is Town place, now only a farm-house. There is no village, excepting the few houses in Abraham-street may be so called, the rest of the houses, which are mostly cottages, standing dispersed throughout it, either single, or built round the little greens or softalls, of which there are several in different parts of the parish. On a larger one of these called Wilgate-green, there is a house belonging to the estate of Mr. Philerenis Willis's heirs, and another larger antient one, which with the estate belonging to it, was formerly the property of the Chapmans, and sold by them to Christopher Vane, lord Barnard, in 1789, gave it, with his other estates in this county, to David Papillon, esq. of Acrise, the present owner of it. (fn. 1)
There was a family named Wolgate, from whose residence here this green seems to have taken its name of Wolgate, or Wilgate-green. After they had remained here for some generations they ended in a daughter, for Mr. Ralph Wolgate dying in 1642, his daughter Anne married Mr. William Genery, and entitled him to her father's possessions here, at Posiers, in Borden, and other parts of this county. The Woodwards seem afterwards to have possessed their estate here, several of whom lie buried under a tomb in Throwley church-yard.
About half a mile distant south-westward from Wilgate-green, in Abraham-street, there is a seat, called, from its high situation and expensive prospect, BELMONT; it was built in the year 1769, by Edward Wilks, esq. storekeeper of the royal powdermills at Faversham, who inclosed a paddock or shrubbery round it, and occasionally resided here, till he alienated it in 1779 to John Montresor, esq. the present proprietor, who resides in it.
THE BEECH TREE flourishes in the greatest plenty, as well single to a large size, as in stubs in the coppice woods, which consist mostly of them, as well in these parts as they do in general on the range of chalk hills throughout this county, in some places extending two or three miles in width, and in others much more. The large tracts of ground in this and other counties, overspread with the beech-tree, the random situation of their stubs, and other circumstances which occur in viewing them, are strong proofs of their being the indigenous growth of this island, notwithstanding Cæfar's premptory assertion, in his Commentaries, of there being none here in this time. The Britons, he says, had every material for use and building, the same as the Gauls, excepting the fir and the beech. The former there is positive proof of his being grossly mistaken in, which will in some measure destroy that implicit credit we might otherwise give to his authority, as to the latter; indeed, the continued opposition he met with from the Britons, during his short stay here, assorded him hardly a possibility of seeing any other parts of this country than those near which he landed, and in the direct track through which he marched to wards Coway-stakes; too small a space for him to form any assertion of the general products of a whole country, or even of the neighbouring parts to him. Of those he passed through, the soil was not adapted to the growth of the beech tree; from which we may with great probability suppose, there were none growing on them, nor are there any throughout them, even at this time, a circumstance which most likely induced him to suppose, and afterwards to make the assertion beforementioned.
The slints, with which the cold unfertile lands in these parts, as well as some others in this county, are covered, have been found to be of great use in the bringing forward the crops on them, either by their warmth, or somewhat equivalent to it. Heretofore the occupiers of these lands were anxious to have them picked up and carried off from their grounds, but experiencing the disadvantage of it in the failure of their crops, they, never practice it themselves, and submit to the surveyors of the highways taking them off with great reluctance.
In the parish there are quantities of the great whitish ash coloured shell snail, which are of an unusual large size; they are found likewise near Darking, in Surry, and between Puckeridge and Ware, in Hertsordshire. They are not originally of this island, but have been brought from abroad, many of them are at this time observed in different parts of Italy.
MR. JACOB, in this Plantœ Favershamienses, has enumerated several scare plants observed by him in this parish, besides which, that scarce one, the Orchis myodes, or fly satrition, has been found here, growing on the side of the path, in a small wood, midway between the church and Wilgate green.
THIS PLACE, at the taking of the general survey of Domesday, about the 15th years of the Conqueror's reign, was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, and earl of Kent, the king's half brother, under the general title of whose lands it is thus described in it:
Hersrid holds Trevelai. It was taxed at three sulings. The arable land is eight carucates. In demesne there is one, and twenty-four villeins, with five borderers having six carucates and an half. There is a church, and five servants. Wood for the pannage of twenty bogs, and in the city three houses of thirty-two pence. In the time of king Edward the Conssessor it was worth seven pounds, and afterwards six pounds. Ulnod held it of king Edward.
On the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, about four years afterwards, this among his other estates, became consiscated to the crown.
After which it was held of the king in capite, by barony, by Jeffry de Peverel, and together with other lands made up the barony of Peverel, as it was called, being assigned to him for the defence of Dover-castle, for which purpose he was bound to maintain a certain number of soldiers from time to time for the desence of it, and to repair and defend at this own charge a particular tower or turret there, called afterwards Turris Gattoniana, or Gatton's tower.
In the reign of king Henry III. Robert de Gatton, who took his name from the lordship of Gatton, in Surry, of which his ancestors had been some time owners, was in possession of the manor Thrule, and died in the 38th year of that reign, holding it by knight's service of the king, of the honor of Peverel, by reason of the escheat of that honor, &c. (fn. 2) He was succeded in it by this eldest son Hamo de Gatton, who resided here, and served the office of sheriff in the 14th year of Edward I. His eldest son of the same name left one son Edmund, then an instant, who afterwards dying under age, his two sisters became his coheirs, and divided his inheritance, of which Elizabeth entitled her husband William de Dene to this manor, and all the rest of the estates in Kent; and Margery entitled her husband Simon de Norwood to Gatton, and all the other estates in Surry.
William de Dene had a charter of free warren for his lands in Thurley, in the 10th year of Edward II. He died anno 15 Edward III. then holding this manor by the law of England, as of the inheritance of Elizabeth his late wife deceased, of the king in capite, as of the castle of Dover, by knight's service, and paying to the ward of that castle. His son Thomas de Dene died possessed of it in the 23d year of that reign, leaving four daughters his coheirs, of whom Benedicta, the eldest, married John de Shelving, and entitled him to this manor, on whose death likewise without male issue, his two daughters became his coheirs, of whom, Joane married John Brampton, alias Detling, of Detlingcourt, and Ellen married John de Bourne, the former of whom, in his wife's right, became possessed of this manor. He lest only one daughter Benedicta his heir, who carried it in marriage to Thomas at Town, who was possessed of much land about Charing, and bore for his arms, Argent, on a chevron, sable, three crosscrostess, ermine, which coat is in the windows of Kennington church, impaled with Ellis, of that place. He removed hither in the reign of Henry VI. and built a feat for his residence in this parish, about a quarter of a mile from the church, which he named, from himself, Town-place, soon after which he died, leaving his possessions to his three daughters and coheirs, of whom Eleanor was married to Richard Lewknor, of Challock; Bennet to William Watton, of Addington, and Elizabeth to William Sondes, of this parish and of Lingfield, in Surry, in which county his ancestors had been seated as early as the reign of Henry III. at Darking, where their seat was named, from them, Sondes-place. (fn. 3) Upon the division of their inheritance, the manor of Throwley was allotted to William Sondes, and Town-place, with the lands belonging to it in Throwley, to Richard Lewknor, who sold it to Edward Evering, the eldest son of Nicholas, third son of John Evering, of Evering, in Alkham, and his daughter and heir Mary marrying in 1565, with John Upton, of Faversham, entitled him to this estate, which he very soon afterwards alienated to Shilling, from whom it as quickly afterwards passed by sale to Anthony Sondes, esq. of this parish, whose ancestor William Sondes, on the division of the inheritance of the daughters and coheirs of Thomas at Town as before mentioned, had become possessed of the manor of Throwley, and the antient mansion of it, in which he afterwards resided, and dying in 1474, anno 15 Edward IV. was buried in the north chapel of this church, though he ordered by his will a memorial for himself to be put up in the church of Lingfield. The family of Sondes bore for their arms, Argent, three blackmores heads, couped, between two chevronels, sable, which, with the several quarterings borne by them, are painted on their monuments in this church.
His descendant, Anthony Sondes, esq. of Throwley, in the 31st year of Henry VIII. procured his lands in this county to be disgavelled, by the act then passed, and died in 1575, having married Joane, daughter of Sir John Fineux, chief justice of the king's bench, by whom he had two sons, Thomas and Michael, and two daughters.
He was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Thomas Sondes, sheriff anno 22 Elizabeth, who founded the school in this parish. He died in 1592, leaving issue only by his second wife, one daughter Frances, married to Sir John Leveson, so that on his death without male issue, his only brother Sir Michael Sondes, of Eastry, succeeded to this manor and seat of his ancestors, in which he afterwards resided. He was sheriff in the 26th year of queen Elizabeth's reign, and died in the 16th year of king James I. having had by his first wife Mary, only daughter and heir of George Fynch, esq. of Norton, six sons and six daughters.
Sir Richard Sondes, the eldest son, resided at Throwley, where he died in the 8th year of Charles I. having had by his two wives a numerous issue, of both sons and daughters. He was succeeded in this manor and seat, with the rest of his estates, by his eldest son Sir George Sondes, who was made a knight of the Bath at the coronation of king Charles I. soon after which he began to rebuild his seat of Lees-court, in Sheldwich, and fixed his residence there, under the description of which a more particular account of him and his descendants may be seen. Not long after which this seat was entirely pulled down, and the park adjoining to it disparked. The foundations of the former still remain, and the disparked lands still retain the name of Throwley park.
Sir George Sondes was afterwards created Earl of Faversham, Viscount Sondes, of Lees court, and Baron of Throwley, whose two daughters became his coheirs; Mary was married to Lewis, lord Duras, marquis of Blanquefort, and afterwards earl of Faversham, and Katherine to Lewis Watson, esq. afterwards earl of Rockingham, who each successively, in right of their respective wives, inherited this manor and estate, which has since descended in like manner as Lees-court, in Sheldwich, to the right hon. Lewis-Thomas, lord Sondes, and he is the present possessor of this manor, with Town-place and the estate belonging to it. Acourt baron is held for this manor.
The denne of Toppenden, alias Tappenden, in Smarden, in the Weald, is an appendage to the manor of Throwley, and is held of it.
WILDERTON, alias Wolderton, called also in antient deeds Wilrinton, is a manor in this parish, which was once part of the possessions of the eminent family of Badlesmere, of which Bartholomew de Badlesmere was possessed of it in the reign of Edward II. of whom, for his services in the Scottish wars, he obtained in the 9th year of it many liberties and franchises for his different manors and estates, among which was that of free-warren in the demesne lands of this manor of Wolrington. (fn. 4) Having afterwards associated himself with the discontented barons, he was taken prisoner, and executed in the 16th year of that reign. By the inquisition taken after his death, which was not till anno 2 Edward III. at which time both the process and judgement against him was reversed, it was found that he died possessed of this manor, among others, which were then restored to his son Giles de Badlesmere, who died in the 12th year of Edward III. s. p. being then possessed of this manor. Upon which his four sisters became his comanor fell to the share of Margery, wife of William, manor fell to the share of Margery, wife of William, lord Roos, of Hamlake, who survived her husband, and died in the 37th year of Edward III. possessed of it, as did her grandson John, lord Roos, in the 9th year of Henry V. leaving no issue by Margaret his wife, who survived him, and had this manor assigned to her as part of her dower. She afterwards married Roger Wentworth, esq. whom she likewise survived, and died anno 18 Edward IV.
On the death of John, lord Roos, her first husband, s. p. the reversion of this manor, after her death, became vested in Thomas his next surviving brother and heir, whose son Thomas afterwards became a firm friend to the house of Lancaster, for which he was attainted anno 1 Edward IV. and his lands were consiscated to the crown.
On the death of Margaret, the widow of Roger Wentworth, esq. the manor of Wulrington, but whether by grant or purchase, I have not found, came into the possession of Richard Lewknor, of Challock, owner likewise of Town-place, as before-mentioned, who sold it to Edward Evering, already mentioned before, whose daughter and heir Mary marrying in 1565 with Mr. John Upton, of Faversham, entitled him to it. He joined with his brother Nicholas Upton, in 1583, in the sale of the manor-house, with all the demesne lands belonging to it, excepting one small piece called the manor-croft, and a moiety of the ma nor, which, from its situation, from that time was known by the name of NORTH-WILDERTON, to Anthony Terry, of North Wilderton, yeoman, upon whose death it came to his four sons, Arnold, William, Thomas, and George Terry, who in 1601 made a partition of their father's estates, in which this manor was allotted to Arnold Terry, and William his brother, from whom it descended to Anthony Terry, of Ospringe, who in 1689 sold it to Mr. Thomas Knowler, of Faversham, who devised it to his sister Abigail for her life, and after her death to John Knowler, gent. of Ospringe, in fee. She afterwards married John Bates, and they, together with John Knowler above-mentioned, about the year 1694, joined in the sale of it to Mr. Edward Baldock, of Aylesford, and Bennet his wife. He survived her, and by deed of gift in 1717, vested the fee of it in his son Edward Baldock, who passed it away to Mr. Thomas Greenstreet, of Norton, whose niece Elizabeth marrying with Mr. Thomas Smith, of Gillingham, entitled him to this manor, which has been since sold to John Montresor, esq. of Belmont, in this parish, the present owner of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
There was antiently a chapel at this manor of Wilrintune, as appears by a charter, dated anno 1217, lately in the treasury of St. Bertin's monastery at St. Omers, concerning the privilege of a bell to it.
BUT THE REMAINING MOIETY of the manor, with a small crost called the manor-croft, lying at the west end of Hockstet green, remained with John Upton, and thenceforward acquired the name of SOUTH, alias GREAT WILDERTON. After whose death it came to his eldest son John Upton, who died possessed of it in 1635, and was buried with his ancestors in Faversham church. They bore for their arms, Quarterly, sable, and or; in the first and fourth quarters, a cross flory, argent, each charged with a trefoil, azure. (fn. 5)
John Upton, his eldest son, inherited this manor, and at his death in 1664, by his will gave it to his daughter Anne, wife of Charles Castle, gent. who in 1688 devised it to her brother-in-law George Naylor, and George White, the former of whom becoming solely possessed of it, in 1705 devised it to his nephew Mr. John Dalton, gent. of St. Edmundsbury, for his life, and afterwards to his son Thomas Dalton, and his issue, in consequence of which it descended to Benjamin Shuckforth, of Diss, in Norfolk, who in 1741 sold it to Mr. Giles Hilton, of Lords, in Sheldwich, on whose death it descended to his three sons, John, William, and Robert Hilton, the youngest of whom, Mr. Robert Hilton, as well as by the devise of his two elder brothers, afterwards became the sole proprietor of this manor. He died in 1782, and his son Mr. John Hilton, of Sheldwich, as next in the entail, succeeded to it, and is the present possessor of it.
IN THE REIGN of king Stephen there was AN ALIEN PRIORY established in this parish, as a cell to the Benedictine abbey of St. Bertin, at St. Omers, the capital of Artois, in Flanders, William de Ipre, in 1153, having given this church, with that of Chilham, to it for that purpose; which gift was confirmed by king Stephen the same year, as it was by the several archbishops afterwards, and by the charters of Henry II. and III. The charter of this gift was till lately in the treasury of the monastery of St. Bertin, as were all the others hereafter mentioned relating to this church and priory.
There are very few formal foundations of these cells, the lands of them being usually granted to some monastery abroad, as an increase to their revenues, after which, upon some part of them they built convenient houses, for the reception of a small convent. Some of these cells were made conventual, having a certain number of monks, who were mostly foreigners, and removeable at pleasure, sent over with a prior at their head, who were little more than stewards to the superior abbey, to which they returned the revenues of their possessions annually; others were permitted to chuse their own prior, and these were entire societies within themselves, and received their revenues for their own use and benefit, paying perhaps only a yearly pension as an acknowledgement of their subjection, or what was at first the surplusage to the foreign house.
The cell at Throwley was of the former sort, for which reason, during the wars between England and France, as their revenues went to support the king's enemies, these kind of houses were generally seized on by the king, and restored again upon the return of a peace. (fn. 6)
In the 25th year of king Edward I. Peter, prior of Triwle, as it was spelt in the record, made fine to the king at Westminster, and had a privy seal for his protection, by which he had the custody of his house and possessions committed to his care, to retain them during the king's pleasure, answering to his exchequer for the profits of them, according to the directions of him and his council.
The scite of this priory was that of the parsonage of the church of Throwley, which, with that of Chilham, seems to have been all their possessions in this kingdom. These were valued in the 8th year of king Richard II. anno 1384, each at forty pounds annually, and their temporalities at 20s. 6d. at which time the parsonage of Throwley was become appropriated to this cell, and a vicarage was endowed in it. In which situation this priory remained till the general suppression of the alien priories throughout England, in the 2d year of Henry V. anno 1414, which was enacted in the parliament then held at Leicester, and all their houses, revenues, &c. were given to the king and his heirs for ever. (fn. 7)
This priory, with its possessions, seems to have remained in the hands of the crown till Henry VI. in his 22d year, settled them on the monastery of Sion, in Middlesex, founded by his father Henry V. with which they continued till the general suppression of religious houses, this being one of those greater monasteries dissolved by the act of the 31st year of king Henry VIII. How this priory was disposed of afterwards by the crown, may be further seen hereafter, under the description of the parsonage of the church of Throwley.
The only remains left of this priory are some few foundations, and two walls of flint, which support a building, standing behind the parsonage-house and garden.
THERE IS A FREE SCHOOL in this parish, the house of which is situated adjoining to the church-yard, which was founded by Sir Thomas Sondes, who died in 1592, who by his will devised a house and six poundes per annum to the master of it, to dwell in, and as a recompence for his pains; but having charged his executors and not his heirs to the fulfilling of this bequest, and charged the payment of the above sum, among other charitable legacies, on several leasehold estates, the terms of which expired in his nephew Sir Richard Sondes's time, and the house having tumbled down for want of repairs, Sir George Sondes, son of Sir Richard above-mentioned, thought it unreasonable, as he had none of the estates, that he should be bound to maintain the school; however, he voluntarily paid the master his salary, and gave him a house to live in, both which have been continued by the possessors of Throwley manor to this time, as far as I can learn, as of their own free gift.
The present right hon. lord Sondes appoints the schoolmaster as such during pleasure, and pays him a salary of twelve pounds per annum, besides which, he allots him an house and garden, worth about six pounds per annum, which his lordship repairs from time to time, and for which no parochial or church-dues are paid. There are at present fourteen boys taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, gratis, in this school, which though taken mostly from the parishes of Throwley, Badlesmere, and Leveland, are not confined to those parishes.
Charities.
CATHERINE, LADY SONDES, gave by will the sum of 40s. a year, to be received yearly on St. Barnabas's day, towards the relief of the poor, payable from a farm in it, called Bell-horn, now belonging to lord Sondes, and now of that annual produce.
THERE WERE three alms-houses in this parish, the gift of one of the Sondes family; one of them was some time since burnt down, and has not been rebuilt, but lord Sondes allows the person nominated to it the value of it in money yearly.
The poor constantly relieved are about thirty, casually double that number.
THROWLEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Ospringe.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Michael, consists of three isles and three chancels. The steeple is a square tower, and stands in the centre of the south side of it, in which there is a peal of six bells, given in 1781, at the expence of Mr. Montresor, of Belmont. In the south isle is a memorial for Francis Hosier Hart, gent. obt. 1761, leaving three daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, and Diana Hosier. In the middle isle is a small monument for Stephen Bunce, esq. of this parish, one of the Antients of New-Inn, who died there in 1634, and was buried in St. Clement's church, London. In the middle chancel there are two stalls of wood, which are not fixed, and in the north isle three more of the like sort, joined together, with a desk before them, which seem to have been removed from the chancel, and were both intended for the use of the religious of the priory here. In the middle of this chancel is a memorial for Dr. Thomas Horsemonden, patron and rector of Purleigh, in Essex, prebendary of Lincoln, &c. who died anno 1632. In the north and south chancel are several monuments for the family of Sondes, with their essigies, arms and quarterings; one of them in the latter, a plain altar tomb of black marble for Sir George Sondes, earl of Faversham, his lady and descendants; many more of this family, as appears by the parish register, are buried in the vault underneath, but the family of Watson burying at Rockingham, this vault has not been opened for several years. The north and south chancels above-mentioned belonged, one to the possessors of Throwley manor, the other to those of Townplace, but they both belong now to lord Sondes.
There were formerly in the windows the arms of Sondes, Finch, and Gatton, and in the north window this inscriptin, Pray for the good estate of Alice Martyn, the which did make this window, MCCCCXLV.
In the church yard, at the west end of the north isle, there is a circular door-case of stone, having several bordures of Saxon ornaments carved round it. In the church-yard is an altar tomb for William Woodward, gent. of Wilgate-green, obt. 1681, and Anne his wife.
It appears by the will of William Sondes, esq. anno 1474, that this church had then constantly burning in it lights, dedicated to St. Michael, the Holy Trinity, the Holy Cross, St. Mary, St. Thomas, St. Christopher, St. George, St. Katherine, St. Margaret, St. Mary Magdalen, and St. Nicholas.
An account of the antient patronage of the church of Throwley has already been given, as first belonging to the alien priory here, and then to the monastery of Sion, to the time of the dissolution of the latter in the 31st year of Henry VIII. the year after which, the king granted the rectory, with the advowson of the vicarage of the church of Throwley, to the prebendary of Rugmer, in the cathedral church of St. Paul, London, in exchange for lands belonging to that prebend, to be inclosed within the king's park of Marybone, in pursuance of an act then passed. Since which this parsonage and advowson have continued part of the abovementioned prebend. The former is leased out by the present prebendary to the right hon. lord Sondes, but the advowson of the vicarage he retains in his own hands, and is the present patron of it.
¶There was a rent of 4l. 18s. 4d. reserved from the parsonage by king Henry VIII. nomine decimœ, which was granted by queen Elizabeth, in her third year, to archbishop Parker, among other premises, in exchange for several manors, lands, &c. belonging to that see, which rent still continues part of the revenue of the archbishopric.
A vicarage was endowed here in 1367, anno 42 king Edward III. by archbishop Langham, at which time the chapel of Wylrington belonged to it. (fn. 8)
It is valued in the king's books at 7l. 11s. 8d. and the yearly tenths at 15s. 2d.
In 1578 there were one hundred and eighty communicants here. In 1640 it was valued at forty-five pounds, communicants two hundred and twenty.
We had a weekend in Borrowdale recently, a Christmas present that we tagged a day on to. After calling at work on Saturday morning to open for business we headed up the motorway to Penrith. The road through the central lakes was washed away in the recent floods and it is going to be a long job replacing it. This made the diverted journey around 145 miles but we had a good run up there. We wanted to get walking ASAP so we pulled in at Threlkeld with a view to heading up Clough Head, and subject to conditions, head over the Dodds and back by the Old Coach Road. We had left appalling weather at home, wind, rain, fog and sleet on the tops. Thankfully it was better further north. There was laying snow on the summits, it was fairly calm low down and some summits were cloud free.
We left the car at 11.10 in our winter gear, straight up through the quarries and the steep scree slope (another Red Screes), by now we were into the snow line. The cloud was down, the wind gale force and the summit frozen hard – a different world up here. South next to Calfhow Pike, the wind made it difficult to talk and it was around -4 so the there was a fair wind-chill factor. It was tough going to our next top – Great Dodd, part of the Helvellyn massif – It was to icy to walk in places which meant deviating from the path, and losing our bearings, visibility was around ten yards with spindrift creating a whiteout at times. We battled on to the top and found the summit cairn. Great Dodd isn’t the easiest top to find your way off in low visibility, we would have gone further but in these conditions it was pointless so we retraced our steps to Calfhow and clear conditions. From here we followed Mosedale beck to Mariel Bridge, which is on the Old Coach Road, this gave us a circular route back to our start. The Old Coach Road has been wrecked by the floods and the 4x4 off roaders are making it a lot worse. 9.25 miles in 3 ¼ hours and we were in Brysons Tearooms in Keswick for Coffee and cake by 3.45pm. We carried on to Borrowdale and checked in at our hotel, not a bad day really.
After a poor night in a poor bed we were breakfasted and out for 8.30. We drove the few miles up to Seatoller and we were kitted up and away at 9.10. A bitterly cold and icy morning, there was some sun but not as much as promised. We could see the summit of Great End covered in cloud, we were heading up there on to the Sca Fell massif. We followed the valley to the east of Seathwaite Fell, a new path for us. Once in the snow the going was very icy with the path ice covered in places. The snow was dry and powdery and in places it had blown over the underlying ice. At this point I might add, we do own crampons. After a winter of splashing around soaked we didn’t expect to need them and they were at home – very clever! This was our first real winters day this winter, other than an hour on Sca Fell Pike on Christmas Day, we haven’t seen winter conditions this winter. By the time we got to Esk Hause it was difficult to stay upright and on our way to Great End we had to pick our way very carefully around the worst of the ice. The spindrift made it difficult to see the ground at times, spinning around our feet in a mist. Once on the summit the cloud was thick and the wind speed high. We had been here fairly recently so I knew the layout of the summit and we had little difficulty finding the summit cairn. We were cursing our lack of crampons and the cloud. Instead of heading into the cloud along the Sca Fell Pike path we decided to get under the cloud, back to Esk Hause and head over Allen Crags and Glaramara. At this point we both took some heavy falls, as did others up there, a lot turned around and headed back down, it was deadly. The cloud had thickened, there wasn’t a ray of sun to soften things. Our chosen route was one of the hardest afternoons we had ever had. Everywhere was frozen solid, we had to kick toe or heel holes to move on slopes that we wouldn’t have broken stride on normally. Minor rock scrambles down steep crags had become life threatening in places and we proceeded with extreme care. The knees were creaking on the long descent to Seathwaite. 10.3 miles in six hours, almost half the speed of yesterday. We made it Keswick for afternoon tea – and bought some Micro Spikes for unfinished business to deal with tomorrow. A beautiful day was forecast so fingers crossed we headed back for a soak in the tub.
Day three, a gorgeous icy, sunny winters day. Things looked promising. We left along yesterday’s route at the same start time – with walking poles and Micro Spikes! At the top of the valley we met a guy who had set off before us, two guys known to him were picking their way through the crags, tiny specks on the 800 foot rocky crag. Some appeared to have tried to climb the snow filled chimney that runs to the summit but we heard later that conditions weren’t suitable. Even though it was minus four the sun had softened the snow just enough to get a grip and it was easier to avoid the worst of the ice, unlike yesterday. The summit of Great End was incredible with never ending vistas. We could see a steady stream of walkers on every path by now. Word had got out that we were in for a rare treat today, plus it was school half term so a lot of people were off work. I visited every possible viewpoint as we went to the summit of Ill Crag , Broad Crag and finally Sca Fell Pike. It was 1.00 PM by now and a steady stream of elated walkers were arriving on England’s highest point. It was bitter but beautiful. We had around five miles back to the car along the Corridor Route to Styhead, Stockley Bridge and Seathwaite. Part of this route we had covered recently on Christmas Day and despite the snow and ice we powered along. We would have been back in two hours but! A mile from the car, following the manmade path down Taylorgill Force to Stockley Bridge Jayne Stumbled. It’s not often she walks in front. I normally lead and relay instructions and warnings back to her. She hit the rock path with her head and face really hard, stunned, she rolled off the path over a drop. She was vertical, resting on a rock on her knees and clinging on to the edge of the path with her fingertips. I grabbed her rucksack and held her whilst I checked her injuries. She had a bad bump on her temple, another on her forehead, split the bridge or her nose, her glasses had gone flying but would straighten. Being left handed she had stuck her left hand out and it had been bent back, it was swelling and discolouring pretty fast. When I had established that nothing was serious enough to stop her moving I got her back on to the path to see to her injuries. The pain initially made her think that she was in a worse state than ( I thought) she really was. She could move her fingers and wrist, albeit with some pain but not enough for it to be broken. The wound to the bridge of her nose although very painful wasn’t going to be a problem. The bumps on her head were turning into eggs by now. I gave her Ibuprofen and Paracetemol and she sat and composed herself for the final mile. We made it to the café in Keswick and got a slightly later afternoon break, our first of the day again. 11.3 miles today in 6 ¼ hours and fairly tough going. It was nothing more than a careless, tired perhaps, stumble on one of the horrible ( our own opinion, I might add) manmade paths made out of irregular stones which are laid at odd angles and are a nightmare to descend when wet on tired legs. A few days later and Jayne is sat on reception at the doctors looking like she’s been boxing, with a purple eye and nose, her left hand swollen and purple – otherwise she’s OK. I came down with mild food poisoning during the night and had to drive 145 miles home at 8.00 the morning after feeling extremely ill. I was due to start fasting for a Colonoscopy in three days. I ended up eating six slices of toast over a four day period – Monday evening to Thursday evening- Having had over 40 stomach endoscopies in twenty years the colonoscopy was nothing more than uncomfortable and , subject to biopsy results, everything looked OK. The trapped wind was another matter – for two days! All in all a very traumatic week. Needless to say we didn’t use the Micro Spikes.
Replacing an earlier photo from Jun-14 with a better version.
First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWII, this aircraft was delivered to the CIT Leasing Corporation and leased to Cebu Pacific Air as RP-C3247 in May-08. It was returned to the lessor in May-14 and leased to Nouvelair Tunisie as TS-INR the following month. The aircraft was sub-leased to NAS Air (National Air Services, Saudi Arabia) between Aug/Oct-15. It was also sub-leased to Air Algerie between Nov-15/Jan-16. Current (May-18).
Conrails red class marker lights are alight on the 8753 as a west bound freight waits at SEPTA's Cheltenham Station, for the SEPTA' dispatchers permission to proceed.
This wash was replaced with a Istobal M'Start in September 2020.
We purchased the top wash. This was the rinse pass, before the dryer cycle but after the wash cycle. It appeared to be wax.
© Cool James (James G) 2019, all rights reserved. Do not use my content/any part of this photo without permission!
Completed in 1922, this Beaux Arts-style hotel replaced the earlier Golden Eagle Hotel, later the Eagle Hotel, which had operated on the same site since 1822, and was located in a building constructed as a general store in 1794, which was heavily renovated in the Second Empire style in the 1870s. The hotel was constructed by The Bethlehem Hotel Corporation starting in 1921, utilizing funding from multiple investors whom were heavily involved with Bethlehem Steel, seeking to improve the city with a modern hotel to replace the antiquated Eagle Hotel. The 11-story building features a brown wire brick exterior, low-slope roofs with brick parapets, stone trim consisting of sills, keystones, cartouches, and decorative panels between windows on the top floor, a cornice with modillions, large multi-story arched windows on the first and second floors, a stone base, a metal canopy over the front entrance, and replacement windows. The interior of the hotel features a large lobby with massive arched windows, an old solarium, now a restaurant, with Moravian tile, and intact historic ballrooms with Classical detailing. The hotel suffered a major fire in 1989 that killed 4 people, and stood vacant through the late 1990s, before being heavily renovated and reopened as a hotel, which has remained a viable and popular enterprise. The hotel is a contributing structure in the Central Bethlehem Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and expanded to include additional buildings in 1988.
The factory premium sound system was buggered. My friend Will donated this old Pioneer in dash and I reworked the original faceplate to hold it.
Rathfarnham Castle on a sunnier day.
Origins:
The earlier Anglo-Norman castle which was replaced by the present building was built on lands which were confiscated from the Eustace family of Baltinglass because of their involvement in the Second Desmond Rebellion. It defended the Pale from the Irish clans in the nearby Wicklow Mountains. It is believed the present castle was built around 1583 for Yorkshireman, Adam Loftus, then Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Protestant Archbishop of Dublin. Originally a semi-fortified and battlemented structure, extensive alterations in the 18th century give it the appearance of a Georgian house.
The castle consisted of a square building four stories high with a projecting tower at each corner, the walls of which were an average of 5 feet (1.5 m) thick. On the ground level are two vaulted apartments divided by a wall nearly 10 feet (3.0 m) thick which rises to the full height of the castle. On a level with the entrance hall are the 18th century reception rooms and above this floor the former ballroom, later converted into a chapel.
Rathfarnham was described as a "waste village" when Loftus bought it. His new castle was not long built when in 1600 it had to withstand an attack by the Wicklow clans during the Nine Years War (Ireland).
Civil war:
Archbishop Loftus left the castle to his son, Dudley and it then passed to his son Adam in 1616. During Adam's ownership, the castle came under siege in the 1641 rebellion. It was able to hold out against the Confederate army when the surrounding country was overrun. Adam Loftus opposed the treaty of cessation in order the stop the fighting between the Irish Confederates and the English Royalists. Consequently, he was imprisoned in Dublin Castle.
During the subsequent Irish Confederate Wars (1641-53), the castle changed hands several times. From 1641 to 1647, it was garrisoned by English Royalist troops. In 1647, Ormonde, commander of the Royalists in Ireland, surrendered Dublin to the English Parliament and Parliamentary troops were stationed at the castle until 1649 when a few days before the Battle of Rathmines, the castle was stormed and taken without a fight by the Royalists. However, the Roundheads re-occupied it after their victory at the Battle of Rathmines. It has also been reported that Oliver Cromwell held council there during his campaign in Ireland before going south to besiege Wexford. Adam Loftus, who recovered his castle and lands under Cromwell, sided with the Parliamentarians and was killed at the Siege of Limerick in 1651.
After the English Civil War, the Loftus family retained ownership of the castle. In 1659, Dr. Dudley Loftus, great grandson of Archbishop Loftus, took over the castle. During his lifetime, Dudley held the posts of Commissioner of Revenue, Judge Admiralty, Master in Chancery, MP for Kildare and Wicklow and MP for Bannow and Fethard. His body is interred at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
The eighteenth century:
The property then passed by marriage to Philip Wharton. The young man lost his money in the South Sea Bubble and in 1723 the castle was sold to the Right Hon. William Connolly, speaker of the Irish House of Commons for £62,000. In 1742, the castle was sold to Dr. Hoadly, Archbishop of Armagh, and on his death four years later it passed to his son-in-law Bellingham Boyle. In 1767, he sold the property to Nicholas Hume-Loftus, second Earl of Ely, a descendant of Adam Loftus, the original builder of the castle.
The castle in 1774
Nicholas died within a few years, probably as an indirect result of great hardships which he had suffered in his youth, and the estate passed to his uncle, Hon. Henry Loftus, who was created Earl of Ely in 1771. In commemoration of regaining ownership, the Loftus family constructed another entrance for the castle in the form of a Roman Triumphal Arch. The arch can still be viewed from nearby Dodder Park Road. Henry Loftus, Earl of Ely was responsible for much of the conversion of the medieval fortress into a Georgian mansion and employed renowned architects Sir William Chambers and James 'Athenian' Stuart to carry out these works. The mullioned windows were enlarged and the battlements replaced by a coping with ornamental urns. A semi-circular extension was added to the east side and an entrance porch approached by steps, on the north. The interior was decorated in accordance with the tastes of the period and leading artists, including Angelica Kauffmann were employed in the work. Writers of the period who visited the house have left extravagant descriptions of its splendour.
Henry died in 1783 and was succeeded by his nephew Charles Tottenham. He subsequently became Marquess of Ely as a reward for his vote at the time of the Union.
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries:
In 1812, the family leased the estate to the Ropers and removed their valuable possessions to Loftus Hall in Wexford. The lands and castle were then used for dairy farming and fell into disrepair. To quote a contemporary account from 1838: "Crossing the Dodder by a ford, and proceeding along its southern bank towards Rathfarnham, a splendid gateway at left, accounted among the best productions of that species of architecture in Ireland, invites the tourist to explore the once beautiful grounds of Rathfarnham Castle, but they are now all eloquently waste, the undulating hills covered with rank herbage, the rivulet stagnant and sedgy, the walks scarce traceable, the ice-houses open to the prying sun, the fish-pond clogged with weeds, while the mouldering architecture of the castle, and the crumbling, unsightly offices in its immediate vicinity,…The castle, so long the residence of the Loftus family, and still the property of the Marquis of Ely, subject, however, to a small chief rent to Mr. Conolly, is an extensive fabric,.....The great hall is entered from a terrace, by a portico of eight Doric columns, which support a dome, painted in fresco with the signs of the Zodiac and other devices. This room was ornamented with antique and modern busts, placed on pedestals of variegated marble, and has three windows of stained gloss, in one of which is an escutcheon of the Loftus arms, with quarterings finely executed. Several other apartments exhibited considerable splendour of arrangement, and contained, until lately, numerous family portraits, and a valuable collection of paintings by ancient masters. But, when it is mentioned, that this structure has been for years a public dairy, and the grounds to the extent of 300 acres (1.2 km2) converted to its uses, some notion may be formed of their altered condition.
In 1852 it was bought by the Lord Chancellor, Francis Blackburne whose family resided there for three generations. The property developers Bailey & Gibson acquired the castle in 1912 and divided up the estate. The eastern part became the Castle Golf Club, the castle and the southwestern portion were bought in 1913 by the Jesuit Order and the northwestern part was devoted to housing.
The Jesuits are an order renowned for their education and one of them; Father O'Leary S.J. constructed a seismograph. This machine could detect earth tremors and earthquakes from anywhere in the world and for a time, Rathfarnham Castle became a source of earthquake information for the national media.
To the north of the castle was a long vaulted chamber formerly known as Cromwell’s Court or Fort. This was apparently a barn or storehouse erected as part of the castle farm and had narrow loopholes in its 5-foot (1.5 m) thick walls. In 1922, it was incorporated into the new retreat house, to which it formed the ground story and its character concealed from the outside by a uniform covering of cement plaster.
Not far from the Golf Club House was an attractive little temple built of stone and brick, another relic of Lord Ely’s occupation of Rathfarnham. Although rather out of repair, if restored, it would have added much to the charm of this part of the links. Unfortunately, by decision of the committee, it was demolished in 1979.
In 1986, the Jesuits sold Rathfarnham Castle but before leaving, they removed the stained glass windows, made in the famous Harry Clarke studios, from the chapel and donated them to Tullamore Catholic Church which had been destroyed by fire in 1983. The other windows were donated to Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross and Temple Street Children's Hospital, Dublin.
Preservation:
The castle was sold to Delaware Properties in 1985 and it was feared that it was facing demolition. After immense public pressure to save the building, it was purchased by the state in 1987 and was declared a National Monument. Currently, by the Office of Public Works, there is an extensive refurbishment going through the castle but it is still open to the public during the summer months (5th May - 12th October). The Castle is presented as a castle undergoing active conservation, where visitors can see, at first hand, tantalising glimpses of layers of its earlier existence uncovered during research.
My three-year old Regenyei Federschwert is in need of replacing the grip cord wrapping but it's good to check over the entire steel longsword trainer to check on its overall condition. Not counting the times I took breaks or used other simulators the total time used where there was impact is closer to a year and a half. That's anywhere from light contact to full force depending on what kind of exercise, drills, or sparring conditions.
It has been used mostly with Ensifers, Regenyeis, and a few Chlewbowskis. The most damage came from blunts such as Albion which have thinner edges and softer steel that knurl and create sharp edges that can produce notches. Potentially the most non-visual damage may probably be from old Angus Trim I-Beam with its shorter length and massively thicc edge.
Fortunately sparring against I-Beams is generally limited to people who have some very good control over power delivery. One-handed swords with bucklers, wooden shaft spears with rubber tips, and tires round out the remaining physical contacts.
Regenyei steel feders on average lasts two years. I've seen ones that break in about a year and others that are close to four years. Most reputable smiths will replace feders that break under a year when it's used reasonably.
Inspection
One of the insightful things pointed out by a Victorian practitioner in the club is that chips along the blade edges can over time act as points of stress such as the triangular cut outs of a potato chip bag. I use a green Scotch-Brite half-sponge to smooth these out while others use files.
The blade while clearly worn is smooth and one of the interesting things that happened to it was that I lent it to a Japanese sword practitioner early on. His tendency to parry was to use the flat of the sword instead of the edge which makes total sense for the system he was familiar with. Even now there is this interesting pattern of burning embers fanned by a breeze that slowly fades up along the lower blade flat.
The guards have a number of chips from attempts to control opposing blades that has been smoothed out. The pommel has a few dents and scratches mostly from bashing - lightly - against drill partners and opponent's faces in close distances but otherwise the peen at the bottom is still smooth. No monologues here when opponents are trying to push the blades into your face.
The grip on the other hand has dents. Our club's master at arms has experimented with 3D-printed handles and while I noted that these plastics cave in from grip strikes which is expected, the wood has that as well. It seems to be two to three times more resilient from cave-ins and there's no cracks or rot so and that's very good news.
I'm glad that I choose a cord wrapping instead of leather. Cords are easily treated and fixed using bees wax and can be done as field repairs. Eventually there was more wax than cord and the cords exploded out spectacularly during a Swordsquatch sparring session while twisting the grip into a Zwerchau. The cord on the grip needs to be entirely replaced.
General Maintenance
Always keep in mind that I'm just another random voice on the internet so while I make an effort to verify things it's best to ask those who are much more knowledgeable. It's best to considered what's said here as a starting point to ask questions rather than an infallible instructional. Anyway this is what works for me, other people will have different suggestions that will work too. I mentioned most of this previously in other places except now it's been informed by real-world use and time.
Safety - Personal Protective Equipment
During sanding I wear a 3M Ultimate FX FF-402 full-face respirator with olive-coded 3M multi gas vapor cartridges that are NIOSH P100 rated. I recommend cheaper full-face respirators if lightness and the ability to speak are not as important. This isn't a test to be used for proper equipment check but after putting on the respirator I cup the cartridge intakes with my hands and breathe in and out to check for leaks. I do this facing forward and once again looking down to see if the straps are loose.
I had conversations with a surprising number of people outside of the martial art community saying that a full face respirator is a waste of money because they know metal smiths don't use them. Fair enough they do what they want. I sometimes wear a Petzl headlamp and during cleaning see lots of Scothc-Brite strands and metal dust in the air and am used to wearing full-faced respirators. Your health is more important than convenience and that's all I have to say on that.
Wearing a full-face respirator is sweaty even when it's cold so for cleaning I put isopropyl alcohol on a paper towel and wipe down anything that came into contact with my face and fair. This includes the straps too because it's not good to have things growing while the respirator is sitting in a bag for a week or more. I have a sacrificial plastic face shield over the respirator face but unless there's paint or an accident then it probably doesn't need to be replaced for years. I still use the original removable shield.
Disposable gloves are also useful to avoid chemicals, rubbing metal particulates into eyes, or ingesting metal while eating.
Preparation and Sanding
If a file is being use make sure it's for steel and not wood and I've seen sandpaper used just fine too. Low grit number is rougher, higher grit number is smoother.
For corrosion and notches I use a green Scotch-Brite half-sponge while others use files. The 3M Scotch-Brite pads have grit ratings classified by color. Green pads are about 600 grit and the blue pad I sometimes use for light anti-corrosion work that is equivalent to a 3M white pad is a finer 1000 grit. It's important to keep in mind that unless the federschwert's purpose is to be hung on a wall or non-contact solo drills then the blade is going to get marred so I wouldn't bother with immaculate polishing with Metal Glo. This is a workhorse, each mark tells a story.
All metal surfaces are wiped down with isopropyl alcohol with a towel to remove oil before Scotch-Brite is used. It seems strange to say this but it's best not to ever get a Scotch-Brite sponge wet because they get less pliable and can crack after drying.
The feder has a blunt edge so it's fine to go back and forth over the entire blade with a Scotch-Brite linearly along the blade length. The only time I spot clean is if I know I'll be going over the entire blade anyway. I admit avoiding noticeable scuff spots is partly for aesthetic reasons although a blade that has a predictable pattern will make looking for problems so much easier.
I place the tip down on cardboard and clean the guards, pommel, and the flared schilt at the base of the blade easily this way. The blade can be cleaned like this although I find it easier to just run it horizontally like a fiddle. I occasionally let it cool down which gives me an excuse to take a break.
Red is active rust while black marks tend to be inactive. Dents and what not along the edges should be sanded smooth. A good rule of thumb is if you still don't want the blade edge or other surfaces to drag across your skin or clothing then it needs more smoothing. This applies to the guards as I and many others have had forearms shredded during grappling.
A very noticeable sign for the need for sanding the blade is during sparring or heavy contact drills that have blades sparking. While extremely cool looking those are pieces of metal burned off form impact and friction leaving a jagged edge behind.
Cleaning and Corrosion Prevention
All surfaces are then wiped with isopropyl alcohol towel to remove as much of the steel dust. Dust increases surface area, attracts more dust and moisture, and breaks the protective barrier of the thin film of oil that prevents corrosion. Usually I find that a followup with a separate oily rag will fully wipe off metal particulates.
I use food grade mineral oil that's also good for knives and wooden butcher blocks. This is absolutely not corn oil or olive oil as they will eventually go rancid. Regular mineral oil will work fine as well as gun oil. Choji sword oil as far as I can tell is basically expensive scented mineral oil.
WD-40 is primarily for water displacement so that oils intended for corrosion prevention can be used. For short durations of a few days WD-40 is better than nothing but it evaporates too quickly for long term corrosion prevention.
Once applied the oil should add a glossy effect on metal surfaces but it shouldn't be thick to reduce attracting dust. An hour or two after applying oil if there's a sweating effect on the surfaces then there's too much oil and a simple wipe should fix it.
Optionally I use a cotton swap with a little bit of oil to wipe the inside of the feder's back-folded tip, the top and bottom gaps between the blade schilt and the guard, the depressed ring at the base of the pommel, and the flattened peen.
I often wipe down the feder with oil after class. If there is skin contact such as during blade grabs then I will wipe down surfaces with isopropyl alcohol before applying oil. This is because there's a chance that salt and moisture can get trapped between the surface the fresh application of oil causing corrosion and ultimately pitting. I've seen this out at sea with tools where the environment has a high salt content in the moisture but it has happened with my feder.
Once oiled there's no issues with storing the feder out in the open for a month. Once there's dust then it needs to be wiped down with oil again as one time I've actually seen the beginnings of pitting from where the oil film barrier was compromised by the dust. That took an hour to slowly sand without leaving a noticeable sanding spot mark. Corrosion prevention done consistently will save tons of time down the road.
I knew someone who used floor wax to good effect giving the blade a slightly duller matte look. Unfortunately edges and strikes along the flat easily removes the protection. The best bet is to wipe down everything after practice. It's probably a good idea to avoid storing the feder in scabbard for long periods. If placed on a sword hangar or display make sure to research if galvanic corrosion will occur with any metal in contact with the steel.
Corded Wrap Grip Maintenance
I really liked the look and feel of leather wraps but even before finding out that one of things we drill for is hand strikes from other's experiences that leather gets damaged easily and is a pain to repair compared to cord. I wear leather gloves anyway. After a month of using the corded grip I noticed that there were very small fibers starting to appear almost like a fuzz. The cord was very slowly coming apart from use so a few people suggested I use bees wax and work it into the cord with heat to prevent fraying.
For melting bees wax I use a Xikar Tech 525BK Lighter refillable with butane. It's a cigar lighter with an adjustable flame dial at the bottom. I also have a Zippo lighter using traditional lighter fluid and one with a Thunderbird butane insert and neither has a flame as predictable as a jet flame. I've use double jets and it was annoying trying to figure out where the sweet spot is for melting things without under or overcooking especially with shock cords so single flame is the way to go.
The wax will darken the color of the cord so mine went from an almost cherry brown to a chocolate brown. The cord will be a little grippier too which is a nice bonus. Some people use epoxy or other kinds of shellac-like covering for the grip and they work quite well up until they crack from a hand strike. The wax does very well with keeping cut cords onto the grip and using a finger nail it can be shaped with thread lines that will hide the repair at first glance.
Epilogue
Everything seems to have held up well and the cord is the only thing that is in need of replacement. Thanks for reading this far and I hope this is a useful starting point to ask others about basic maintenance for your federschwert.
I spotted the sign for the church from a nearby crossroads, I don't seem to recall the name, so we take the turning and drive across the fields.
The road came to a 90 degree bend, and from out of the corner of my eye, I spot a gravestone and a glimpse of a tower.
I park dangerously near to the corner, there was no where else really, but then the road wasn't busy, so should be alright.
The exterior of the church looked modern and not at all promising, it seemed to have been coated, skimmed, in something like concrete, giving the feeling of a village hall.
Inside it was a delight, clearly an ancient building, recesses in the east wall showing where the original windows had sat, now replaced, and above, sturdy roof kept up by large kingposts.
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The land between the North Downs and the north Kent marshes was once wealthy through agriculture and country estates grew as hubs of thriving communities. One such was Badlesmere which gave its name to a family whose peak of power occurred in the early fourteenth century. Their fall was almost as quick as their rise, the family falling foul of political intrigues in the reign of Edward II. They would have known the tiny church of St Leonard, although its character is now an unusual hybrid of medieval woodwork, box pews from the time of Jane Austen and stained glass of the present time. There is fine Royal Arms of George I and a hatchment to the First Earl Sondes. By far the most important furnishings are the medieval bench ends to be found in the chancel. One shows the frequently illustrated carving of the Trinity, represented by a triangle. The two west windows by Frederick W. Cole represent St Francis of Assisi and The Sower. Apart from that the church is very simple - just nave and chancel, and so beautifully cared for that it is obviously a building which excites great passion. Indeed it should do, for as the north Kent corridor gets ever covered with concrete, it is little pockets like this bring us closer to our ancestors.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Badlesmere
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BADLESMERE.
THE next adjoining parish to Leveland, still further eastward, is Badlesmere, usually called Basmere.
It is a parish but little frequented, and with hardly any thoroughfare, lying on the opposite side of the high road from Faversham to Ashford, which runs along its western boundaries; it is situated about six miles from the former, mostly on high ground, the soil of it in this part of it is tolerable good and level, much like the part of Leveland adjoining to it, but the eastern side of the parish is very hilly and chalky, a poor soil covered with flints, a very forlorn rough country, with much woodland in it. At a field's distance from the above road stands the court-lodge, called Basmerecourt, a mean farm-house, with the church almost adjoining to it northward.
In the next field south-eastward of the church, the foundations of the antient seat of the Badlesmeres are easily traced out, by the different colours of the corn, and from the number of apartments in it appears to have been a very large and noble mansion; among them is a large pond, called the Cellar pond, which, as its name implies, was no doubt the place where the cellars of this seat were formerly. At the south-west extremity of the parish is Basmere-lees, over which the Ashford road passes. There are several houses round it, those on the north-east side only, one of which is the parsonage, are in this parish, the rest being in those of Leveland and Sheldwich.
A fair is held here on St. Leonard's day, now by the alteration of the stile on Nov. 17, yearly.
Sir Thomas Randolph, an eminent statesman in queen Elizabeth's reign, son of Avery Randolph, of Badlesmere, was born in this parish in 1523, and was much favored and distinguished by the queen, being employed in no less than eighteen different embassies. He died in 1590, and was buried in St. Peter's church, Paul's wharf, in London, leaving a numerous issue by one of his wives, a sister of Sir Francis Walsingham. (fn. 1)
BARTHOLOMEW DE BADLESMERE was by writ summoned to parliament, in the 3d year of king Edward II. among the barons of this realm, by the title of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, of Badlesmere, chevalier. This barony, by the death of Giles, lord Badlesmere, his son, s. p. devolved by the marriage of Maud, the eldest of his four sisters and coheirs, to John de Vere, earl of Oxford, and it continued in his descendants down to John de Vere, the fourteenth earl of Oxford, and baron of Badlesmere in king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign, who dying s. p. the earldom descended to the heir male of the Vere's, but the barony of Badlesmere descended to the three sisters of the earl John last-mentioned, viz. Ursula, married to George Windsor, and afterwards to Edward Knightly, of Northamptonshire; Dorothy to John Nevil, lord Latimer, and Elizabeth to Sir Anthony Wingfield, but this dignity being entire, and not divisable, they became incapable of it, otherwise than by gift from the crown, and it in strictness of law reverted to, and was in the king's disposition, but the crown seemingly dispensed with this, for the four several earls of Oxford successively after this, assumed and used among their titles, that of baron of Badlesmere. At length, after the death of Henry, earl of Oxford, and baron of Badlesmere, in 1625, there arose a dispute concerning these titles, which was in 1626, by solemn adjudication of parliament, determined, that the earldom belonged to the heir male of the Vere's, and that the barony of Badlesmere was wholly vested in the king to dispose of at his pleasure, which judgment the king approved of, at which time the office of great chamberlain of England, which had for so many descents been vested in the Vere's, earls of Oxford, was claimed by Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, as heir male, and by Robert, lord Willoughby, of Eresby, as heir-general, and by the adjudication of the house of lords, though the earldom was adjudged to the heir male, yet the office of chamberlain was adjudged to the lord Willoughby. (fn. 2)
THIS PLACE, in the 15th year of the reign of William the Conqueror, was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, the king's half-brother, accordingly it is thus entered, under the general title of that prelate's lands, in the survey of Domesday, taken about that time:
The same Anfrid holds of the bishop (of Baieux) Badelesmere. It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is two carucates and an half. In demesne there is one, and ten villeins, having one carucate and an half. There is a church, and two servants, and a fishery of twelve-pence. Wood for the pannage of four hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, it was worth sixty shillings, and afterwards sixty shillings, now four pounds. The abbot of St. Augustine's claimed this manor, because he had it in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and the hundred witnessed for him, but the son of the tenant said, his father could turn himself over wherever he would, and this the monks did not deny.
Four years after this, the bishop of Baieux fell into disgrace, and the king seized on this estate among the rest of his possessions.
After which the manor of Badlesmere was granted by the king to Hamo de Crevequer, and together with other lands made up the barony of Crevequer, as it was called, being held of the king in capite by barony, as of his castle of Dover, for the desence of which he was bound by his tenure. (fn. 3)
Of his heirs this manor was held by the eminent family of Badlesmere, who took their surname from their possessing it. Guncelin de Badlesmere, with his brother Ralph, accompanied king Richard I. to the siege of Acon, in Palestine. Guncelin de Badlesmere held this manor, 2s before-mentioned, in the reign of king John, and was a justice itinerant, as was his brother Giles de Badlesmere, who was slain in a conflict with the Welsh in the 43d year of Henry III. anno 1248. The former left one son Bartholomew, and two daughters, Joane, married to John de Northwood, and another to John de Coningsby.
Bartholomew de Badlesmere afterwards possessed this manor, and on his death was succeeded in it by his son Guncelin, who was chief justice of Chester in the 2d year of Edward I. He died in the 29th year of that reign, and was buried in Badlesmere church, where his effigies lying cross-legged, cut in wood, was remaining in Philipott's time, then holding this manor of the king in capite, as of the barony of Crevequer, by knight's service, and paying to the ward of Dover castle, and making suit to the king's court of Ledes. He left by Margaret his wife, heir of Ralph Fitzbernard, one son Bartholomew de Badlesmere, who from the greatness of his wealth and possessions, afterwards acquired the title of the rich lord Badlesmere of Ledes, of which castle, in the 5th year of Edward II. he was appointed constable, and obtained a grant in see of the castle and manor of Chilham, among other lands; after which, in the 9th year of that reign, he obtained several more grants of lands, and a special charter of liberties within his manors, and free-warren in all his demesne lands in this manor of Badlesmere among others; in the 11th year of Edward II. he was once more made governor of Ledes-castle, two years after which he obtained the king's licence to found a priory within his manor here, which was held in capite, for canons regular; and that he might, of the demesnes of the manor, grant to them twenty-four acres, to be possessed by them in pure and perpetual alms, for their inhabiting and building there a church, and other buildings, with a non-obstante to the statute of mortmain. But by the troubles which immediately after this ensued to the lord Badlesmere, nothing further was done towards it till the 4th year of Edward III. when the king confirmed this endowment, together with the advowsons of this church of Badlesmere, with those of Whitstaple, Redlingweld, Old Romney, Northfield, and Charleton, in this county; Northmyms, in Hertfordshire, and Luddington, in Huntingdonshire; notwithstanding which, it appears by their afterwards continuing in the possession of lay proprietors, and by no further mention being to be found of this priory, that the design of erecting it fell to the ground, and that nothing further was afterwards done towards it. The year after king Edward the IId.'s granting this licence to Bartholomew de Badlesmere, he was constituted governor of Tunbridge castle, and having been for several years steward of the king's houshold, he had, in reward for his services, the grant of the castle of Ledes in fee, in exchange for other lands which he had purchased.
But this great and powerful baron, after having had such continual favors heaped on him, and having been summoned to parliament till the 14th year of that reign, then withdrew his allegiance, and joined with the earl of Lancaster and the other discontented barons; for which he had a full pardon granted next year, but within a small time afterwards, queen Isabel being denied entrance into his castle of Ledes, the king became highly incensed against him, and immediately besieged and took it, with Margaret his wife, Giles his infant son, and all his children in it, who were sent prisoners to the Tower, and all his lands were seized into the king's hands. (fn. 4) After which, flying into the north, and being overtaken at Burrowbridge, he received a total defeat, and being sent to Canterbury, was hanged at the gallows of Blean, near that city, and his head being cut off, was set on a pole at Burgate, and his body buried in the White Friars church, in that city. The Badlesmeres bore for their arms, Azure, a sess between two gemelles, gules; which coat was afterwards quartered by the Veres, earls of Oxford, Manners's, dukes of Rutland, the lord Scroope, Nevill lord Latimer, the lord Wentworth of Nettlested, and other noble families.
The inquisition of his lands was not taken till the 2d year of Edward III. when the king directed his writs to the several sheriffs of Kent, and many other counties, (by which the wide extent of his possessions in different parts of the kingdom may be seen) (fn. 5) to restore to Margaret his widow, all manors, lands, &c. forfeited in those counties, &c. By this it appears that he died possessed, among others, of this manor of Badlesmere, leaving by Margaret his wife, sister and coheir of Richard de Clare, who survived him, and died anno 5 Edward III. a son Giles, and four daughters, Maud, married first to Roger Fitzpain, and secondly to John de Vere, earl of Oxford; Margery to William, lord Roos, and afterwards to Sir Thomas Arundel; Elizabeth first to Edmund Mortimer, and secondly to William Bohun, earl of Northampton; and Margaret to Sir John Tibetot.
Giles de Badlesmere, the son, the process and judgment against his father having been reversed, had his manors and lands restored to him, and having been much trusted and employed by the king in his wars, and having received summons to parliament, he died s. p. in the latter of them, and was buried near his father in the same church, being then possessed of this manor, and leaving his four sisters his coheirs; upon the division of their inheritance, this manor among others was assigned to Maud, the eldest sister, wife of John de Vere, earl of Oxford, who in her right became possessed of it, and he accordingly paid aid for it, in the 20th year of Edward III. He was descended of a family which took its name from the town of Vere, in Zealand, where they had flourished as earls of Guisne for several generations, of whom Alberic, or Aubrey de Vere, came over into England with William the Conqueror, as appears by the roll of Battle-abbey, and was rewarded by him with divers lordships, which are recorded in Domesday. After which he married Beatrix, the Conqueror's sister. (fn. 6) They bore for their arms, Gules, and or, in the first quarter, a mullet, argent; which arms are in several places on the roof of the cloysters, and in the windows of the cathedral of Canterbury.
He was a nobleman of high courage, and performed great and exemplary services in the wars in France, during which he died in the English army encamped before Rheims, anno 34 Edward III.
In his descendants, earls of Oxford, and barons of Badlesmere likewise, by their descent from Maud, the sister and coheir of Giles, lord Badlesmere, beforementioned, men illustrious not only from their high birth and alliances, but from the noble actions they performed, and the highest offices of state which they held from time to time, among which was the hereditary office of lord chamberlain, this manor continued down to John, earl of Oxford and baron of Badlesmere, who in king Henry the VIth.'s reign, being firmly attached to the house of Lancaster, was, on Edward IV. attaining the crown, attainted in parliament, being then far advanced in years, and with Aubrey his eldest son, afterwards beheaded on Tower-hill. (fn. 7) By this act of attainder the manor of Badlesmere became vested in the crown, and it appears to have been granted by the king next year, being the second of his reign, to Richard, duke of Gloucester, his uncle, on whose obtaining the crown by the title of king Richard III. it became part of the royal possessions. After which the king having in his first year, constituted John Howard, duke of Norfolk, lord high admiral, granted to him, among many others, in special tail, the manor of Badlesmere; but the duke did not long enjoy those great possessions, for next year he was slain, with the king, at the battle of Bosworth, on August 22, 1485, from whence he was conveyed to Thetford, and there buried, after which he was attainted in parliament, in the 1st year of the next reign of Henry VII. (fn. 8)
After which the manor of Badlesmere having been granted in special tail as before-mentioned, came into the possession of the duke's only son and heir Thomas Howard, earl of Surry, who after having been confined in the tower for near four years, was in the 4th year of that reign restored in parliament to the title of earl of Surry, and wholly to the king's favor, and having served him with great honor and fidelity, he had, in the 22d of that reign, a special grant of all the manors and lands of which the duke of Norfolk his father died possessed. In the next reign of Henry VIII. he continued highly in the king's favor, and in the 4th year of that reign, having by his prudence and valour, gained the memorable victory over the Scots at Floden-field, he had for that eminent service an augmentation added to his arms, to him and his heirs male, and was advanced to the title of duke of Norfolk, with a grant of divers lands in special tail. He died in the 16th year of that reign, and was succeeded in titles and estates by his eldest son Thomas, who had been in his life-time created earl of Surry, and was intrusted by the king in great and high offices of state, but notwithstanding his performing signal services both as a soldier and a statesman, he was through the king's jealousy of his greatness, which was not a little somented by several of the new raised nobility, in the 38th year of that reign, committed to the Tower, and both he and his son the earl of Surry were attainted by special bills in parliament; the earl was soon afterwards beheaded, and a warrant was signed for the execution of the duke, but the king dying the same day, his executors did not venture to enforce the sentence at so critical a juncture.
This manor, thus coming to the crown, among the rest of the duke's possessions, seems to have been granted to Sir Robert Southwell, master of the rolls, whose brother Sir Richard had been the chief accuser of the late earl of Surry. This family of Southwell, according to Mr. Camden, takes its name from the town of Southwell, in Nottinghamshire, where they were first seated; the descendants of which in king Henry the VIth.'s reign had spread themselves into Norfolk, Suffolk, and other counties, at which time John Southwell, M. P. for Lewes, in Sussex, had two sons, John, of Norwich, who was ancestor of the lords Southwell, of the kingdom of Ireland, and of those seated at Kings-Weston, in Gloucestershire; and Robert, who was ancestor of Sir Robert Southwell, master of the rolls above-mentioned, who bore for his arms, Argent, three cinquefoils, gules, charged with six annulets, or. He immediately afterwards, anno 2 king Edward VI. alienated this manor of Badlesmere, with 2000 acres of land in Badlesmere, and the adjoining parishes, to Sir Anthony Aucher, of Otterden, who died anno 4 and 5 king Philip and queen Mary, possessed of this manor, held in capite by knight's service. His eldest son John Aucher, of Otterden-place, by his first wife, daughter of Sir William Kellawny, left an only daughter and heir Anne, who in queen Elizabeth's reign marrying with Sir Humphry Gilbert, entitled him to the possession of this manor. Sir Humphry Gilbert was equally distinguished in the reign of queen Elizabeth, by his eminent abilities and great courage, being usually stiled in the Latin writers of that time egregius Miles. He was descended of an antient family in Devonshire, and was second son of Otho Gilbert, esq. of Greenway, by his wife Katherine, daughter of Sir Philip Champernon, of Modbury, in that county, who afterwards married Walter Raleigh, esq. of Fardel, and by him was mother of the famous Sir Walter Raleigh. They bore for their arms, Argent, on a chevron, sable, three roses of the first, seeded, or. Sir Humphry's genius led him to the studies of cosmography, navigation, and the art of war. He by his merit acquired the honorable post of commander in chief, and governor of the province of Munster, in Ireland; but what rendered him most famous was his great skill in mathematics, which induced him to undertake a voyage for the discovery of the northwest passage to the East-Indies, and to plant unknown countries, to facilitate which he published more than one discourse; for these adventurous designs he procured a patent from the queen in 1578, wherein he had full powers to undertake such discoveries, and to inhabit and possess any lands which were at that time unsettled by Christian princes, or their subjects. With this view he made two voyages to Newfoundland, and made several discoveries; but whilst in those seas, the vessel in which he was being too small to resist the swell of them, about midnight on Sept. 9, 1583, she was swallowed up and never seen more, Sir Humphry and all the crew perishing in her. (fn. 9) Before his death however, he sold this manor in the 23d year of that reign to Sir Michael Sondes; (fn. 10) afterwards of Throwley, whose grandson Sir George Sondes, of Lees-court, in Sheldwich, K. B. was in the reign of king Charles II. created earl of Faversham. He left two daughters his coheirs, of whom Mary was married to Lewis, lord Duras, afterwards earl of Faversham, and Katherine to Lewis Watson, earl of Rockingham, each of whom successively, in right of their respective wives, inherited this manor, which has since descended in like manner as Lees-court, in Sheldwich, (to the account of which the reader is referred) down to the right hon. Lewis-Thomas, lord Sondes, who is the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
WOODS-COURT is a manor in the north-east part of this parish, which was antiently, from the possessors of it, called Godislands. William de Godisland held it in the reign of Edward I. by knight's service, as did his descendant Richard de Godisland at his death in the 19th year of Edward III. then holding it of the king in capite, by the service of one sparrow-hawk, or two shillings at the king's exchequer yearly. He was succeeded in it by his son and heir William de Godisland, but before the end of that reign, this family seems to have been extinct here, for Robert at Wood died possessed of it in the 6th year of Richard II. anno 1382, as was then found by inquisition, at which time it had acquired from him the name of the manor of Atwoods, and was held of the king in capite, as of his castle of Dover, by rent to the ward of that castle yearly, and that William Attwood, his uncle, was his next heir.
Guido atte Wode, of the parish of Bocton, was possessed of it in the reign of Edward IV. in the 6th year of which he died, and was buried in Bocton church, before the high cross. By his will he gave this manor, called Woodys court, to his wife Joane for life, and afterwards to his brother Thomas atte Wode, except one piece of land called Geroldysdane, which he ordered to be sold. Thomas atte Wode above-mentioned was of Ickham, and died possessed of this manor three years afterwards, as appears by his will that year.
¶After this name was gone from hence, this manor was become the property of Sayer, one of whom, John, son of Henry Sayer, of Faversham, in 1517, conveyed it to John Cheney, gent. of Eastchurch, in Shepey, who in the 14th year of that reign, sold it to Reynold Snode, gent. of Sheldwich, descended of a family of good account in these parts of Kent so early as king Henry III.'s reign. Isabella de Snode is mentioned, among the gentry of this neighbourhood, as living at that time, in the leiger-book of Davington priory, and there is yet, not far from hence, a hamlet of houses, called from them, Snode-street. His son Samuel Snode became possessed of it on his father's death in the 11th year of queen Elizabeth; he sold it to Gabriel Giles, of Sheldwich, who in the 25th year of it alienated it to Thomas and Henry Unkle, the former of whom, in 1591, conveyed it to Mildred, widow of the latter, and sister of Nicholas Pemble, and she, in the 41st year of queen Elizabeth, marrying with Arthur Franklyn, gent. of Badlesmere, he, in her right, became possessed of it, and by fine levied in 1599, settled it upon their issue, which was Arthur Franklyn, from whom it descended to Mr. John Franklyn, who dying intestate it came to his kinsman Mr. James Franklin, who in 1743 devised it by his will to his eldest son Mr. Arthur Franklyn, gent. who resided in it, and in the year 1764 passed it away by sale to Lewis, lord Sondes, whose son the right hon Lewis-Thomas, lord Sondes, is the present owner of it.
BADLESMERE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of O'pringe.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Leonard, is but a very small mean building, consisting of one isle and one chancel, with a small turret at the west end, in which is one bell; there were formerly three bells here, but two were taken down and sold many years ago, towards the repair of the church.
In the chancel is a memorial, in old English letters, for Barbara, late wife of John Writhe, alias Dict, garter king at arms, daughter and heir of John Castlecombe, of Cricklade, in Wiltshire, who died in 1483.
There was formerly a small chapel adjoining to the south side of it, the foundations of which still remain, but it was fallen to ruin before the middle of the last century; in this chapel or chancel, which had a door opening into the middle of the isle of the church, were the tombs of several of the family of Badlesmere.
This church has ever been an appendage to the manor of Badlesmere, for though Bartholomew de Badlesmere, and his son Giles, assigned it as part of the endowment of the priory they intended to erect in this parish, yet as that design never took place, this church has continued in the possession of the several proprietors of the manor from that time to the present, and as such is now become vested in the right hon. Lewis-Thomas, lord Sondes.
It is a rectory, and a discharged living, of the clear yearly certified value of forty-six pounds, the yearly tenths being 10s. 2¼d.
In 1578 there were communicants here thirty-four; in 1640 it was valued at eighty pounds per annum, communicants forty.
A Saturday morning, and on a second wild goose chase looking for the Wall Pennywort in Folkestone.
Problem was, I didn't have the photo with me so I could triangulate the plant with the church in the background. Instead, I (wrongly) assumed that it would be growing on a wall, so spent the morning looking on every wall in the churchyard, and nothing found.
But St Mary was open.
And I just had the 50mm with me, but I was delighted inside to find the harsh orange lights under the tower have been replaced with something kinder.
I did meet a warden who was very interested in the plant tale, and other stories, so I didn't get round to photograph everything, but did see the old clock mechanism for the first time, not sure where that had been kept up to now.
And the remains of St Eanswythe, or almost certainly her remains, now dated to the mid 7th century are in a niche in the Chancel ready for placing somewhere befitting a Kentish Queen.
A superb location in a leafy churchyard away from the busy shopping centre, and yet much more of a town church than that of a seaside resort. It was originally a thirteenth-century building, but so much has happened to it that today we are left with the impression of a Victorian interior. Excellent stained glass by Kempe, mosaics by Carpenter and paintings by Hemming show the enthusiasm of Canon Woodward, vicar from 1851 to 1898. His efforts encouraged others to donate money to beautify the building in an almost continuous restoration that lasted right into the twentieth century They were spurred on by the discovery, in 1885, of the bones of St Eanswythe, in a lead casket which had been set into the sanctuary wall. She had founded a convent in the town in the seventh century and died at the age of twenty-six.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Folkestone+1
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FOLKESTONE.
THE parish of Folkestone, which gives name to this hundred, was antiently bounded towards the south by the sea, but now by the town and liberty of Folkestone, which has long since been made a corporation, and exempt from the jurisdiction of the hundred. The district of which liberty is a long narrow slip of land, having the town within it, and extending the whole length of the parish, between the sea shore and that part of the parish still within the jurisdiction of the hundred, and county magistrates, which is by far the greatest part of it.
THE PARISH, which is about three miles across each way, is situated exceedingly pleasant and healthy. The high chalk, or down hills uniclosed, and well covered with pasture, cross the northern part of it, and from a sine romantic scene. Northward of these, this part of the parish is from its high situation, called the uphill of Folkestone; in this part is Tirlingham, the antient mansion of which has been some years since pulled down, and a modern farm-house erected in its stead; near it is Hearn forstal, on which is a good house, late belonging to Mr. Nicholas Rolse, but now of Mr. Richard Marsh; over this forstal the high road leads from Folkestone to Canterbury. The centre of the parish is in the beautiful and fertile vale called Folkestone vale, which has downs, meadows, brooks, marshes, arable land, and every thing in small parcels, which is sound in much larger regions; being interspersed with houses and cottages, and well watered by several fresh streams; besides which, at Ford forstall, about a mile northward from the town, there rises a strong chalybeat spring. This part of the parish, by far the greatest part of it, as far as the high road from Dover, through it, towards Hythe, is within the jurisdiction of the hundred of Folkestone, and the justices of the county. The small part on the opposite, or southern side of that road is within the liberty of the town or corporation of Folkestone, where the quarry or sand hills, on the broken side of one of which, the town is situated, are its southern maritime boundaries. These hills begin close under the chalk or down hills, in the eastern part of this parish, close to the sea at Eastware bay, and extend westward along the sea shore almost as far as Sandgate castle, where they stretch inland towards the north, leaving a small space between them and the shore. So that this parish there crossing one of them, extends below it, a small space in the bottom as far as that castle, these quarry, or sand hills, keeping on their course north-west, from the northern boundary of Romney Marsh, and then the southern boundary of the Weald, both which they overlook, extending pretty nearly in a parallel line with the chalk or down hills.
The prospect over this delightful vale of Folkestone from the hill, on the road from Dover as you descend to the town, is very beautiful indeed for the pastures and various fertility of the vale in the centre, beyond it the church and town of Hythe, Romney Marsh, and the high promontory of Beachy head, boldly stretching into the sea. On the right the chain of losty down hills, covered with verdure, and cattle seeding on them; on the lest the town of Folkestone, on the knole of a hill, close to the sea, with its scattered environs, at this distance a pleasing object, and beyond it the azure sea unbounded to the sight, except by the above-mentioned promontory, altogether from as pleasing a prospect as any in this county.
FOLKESTONE was a place of note in the time of the Romans, and afterwards in that of the Saxons, as will be more particularly noticed hereafter, under the description of the town itself. By what name it was called by the Romans, is uncertain; by the Saxons it was written Folcestane, and in the record of Domesday, Fulchestan. In the year 927 king Athelstane, son of king Edward the elder, and grandson of king Alfred, gave Folkstane, situated, as is mentioned in the grant of it, on the sea shore, where there had been a monastery, or abbey of holy virgins, in which St. Eanswith was buried, which had been destroyed by the Danes, to the church of Canterbury, with the privilege of holding it L. S. A. (fn. 1) But it Seems afterwards to have been taken from it, for king Knute, in 1038, is recorded to have restored to that church, the parish of Folkstane, which had been given to it as above-mentioned; but upon condition, that it should never be alienated by the archbishop, without the licence both of the king and the monks. Whether they joined in the alienation of it, or it was taken from them by force, is uncertain; but the church of Canterbury was not in possession of this place at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in 1080, being the 14th year of the Conqueror's reign, at which time it was part of the possessions of the bishop of Baieux, the conqueror's half-brother, under the general description of whose lands it is thus entered in it:
In Limowart lest, in Fulcbestan hundred, William de Acris holds Fulchestan. In the time of king Edward the Consessor, it was taxed at forty sulings, and now at thirty-nine. The arable land is one hundred and twenty carucates. In demesne there are two hundred and nine villeins, and four times twenty, and three borderes. Among all they have forty-five carcates. There are five churches, from which the archbishop has fifty-five shillings. There are three servants, and seven mills of nine pounds and twelve shillings. There are one hundred acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of forty bogs. Earl Godwin held this manor.
Of this manor, Hugo, son of William, holds nine sulings of the land of the villeins, and there he has in demesne four carucates and an half, and thirty-eight villeins, with seventeen borderes, who have sixteen carucates. There are three churches, and one mill and an half, of sixteen shillings and five-pence, and one saltpit of thirty pence. Wood for the pannage of six bogs. It is worth twenty pounds.
Walter de Appeuile holds of this manor three yokes and twelve acres of land, and there he has one carucate in demesne, and three villeins, with one borderer. It is worth thirty shillings.
Alured holds one suling and forty acres of land, and there he has in demesne two carucates, with six borderers, and twelve acres of meadow. It is worth four pounds.
Walter, son of Engelbert, holds half a suling and forty acres, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with seven borderers, and five acres of meadow. It is worth thirty shillings.
Wesman holds one suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, and two villeins, with seven borderers having one carucate and an half. It is worth four pounds.
Alured Dapiser holds one suling and one yoke and six acres of land, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with eleven borderers. It is worth fifty shillings.
Eudo holds half a suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with four borderers, and three acres of meadow. It is worth twenty shillings.
Bernard de St. Owen, four sulings, and there he has in demesne three carucates, and six villeins, with eleven borderes, having two carucates. There are four servants, and two mills of twenty-four shillings, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of two bogs.
Of one denne, and of the land which is given from these suling to ferm, there goes out three pounds. In the whole it is worth nine pounds.
Baldric holds half a suling, and there he has one carucate, and two villeins, with six borderers having one carucate, and one mill of thirty pence. It is worth thirty shillings.
Richard holds fifty-eight acres of land, and there he has one carucate, with five borderers. It is worth ten shillings.
All Fulchestan, in the time of king Edward the Consessor, was worth one hundred and ten pounds, when he received it forty pounds, now what he has in demesne is worth one hundred pounds; what the knights hold abovementioned together, is worth forty-five pounds and ten shillings.
¶It plainly appears that this entry in Domesday does not only relate to the lands within this parish, but to those in the adjoining parishes within the hundred, the whole of which, most probably, were held of the bishop of Baieux, but to which of them each part refers in particular, is at this time impossible to point out. About four years after the taking of the above survey, the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions consiscated to the crown. After which, Nigell de Muneville, a descendant of William de Arcis, mentioned before in Domesday, appears to have become possessed of the lordship of Folkestone, and as such in 1095, being the 9th year of king William Rusus, removed the priory of Folkestone from the bail of the castle to the place where it afterwards continued. His son William dying in his life-time s. p, Matilda his sole daughter and heir was given in marriage with the whole of her inheritance, by king Henry I. to Ruallanus de Albrincis, or Averenches, whose descendant Sir William de Albrincis, was become possessed of this lordship at the latter end of that reign; and in the 3d year of the next reign of king Stephen, he confirmed the gifts of his ancestors above-mentioned to the priory here. He appears to have been one of those knights, who had each a portion of lands, which they held for the de sence of Dover castle, being bound by the tenure of those lands to provide a certain number of soldiers, who should continually perform watch and ward within it, according to their particular allotment of time; but such portions of these lands as were not actually in their own possession were granted out by them to others, to hold by knight's service, and they were to be ready for the like service at command, upon any necessity whatever, and they were bound likewife, each knight to desend a certain tower in the castle; that desended by Sir William de Albrincis being called from him, Averenches tower, and afterwards Clinton tower, from the future owners of those lands. (fn. 2) Among those lands held by Sir William de Albrincis for this purpose was Folkestone, and he held them of the king in capitle by barony. These lands together made up the barony of Averenches, or Folkestone, as it was afterwards called, from this place being made the chief of the barony, caput baroniæ, as it was stiled in Latin; thus The Manor of Folkestone, frequently called in after times An Honor, (fn. 3) and the mansion of it the castle, from its becoming the chief seat or residence of the lords paramount of this barony, continued to be so held by his descendants, whose names were in Latin records frequently speit Albrincis, but in French Avereng and Averenches, and in after times in English ones, Evering; in them it continued till Matilda, daughter and heir of William de Albrincis, carried it in marriage to Hamo de Crevequer, who, in the 20th year of that reign, had possession given him of her inheritance. He died in the 47th year of that reign, possessed of the manor of Folkestone, held in capite, and by rent for the liberty of the hundred, and ward of Dover castle. Robert his grandson, dying s. p. his four sisters became his heirs, and upon the division of their inheritance, and partition of this barony, John de Sandwich, in right of his wife Agnes, the eldest sister, became entitled to this manor and lordship of Folkestone, being the chief seat of the barony, a preference given to her by law, by reason of her eldership; and from this he has been by some called Baron of Folkestone, as has his son Sir John de Sandwich, who left an only daughter and heir Julian, who carried this manor in marriage to Sir John de Segrave, who bore for his arms, Sable, three garbs, argent. He died in the 17th year of Edward III. who, as well as his son, of the same name, received summons to parliament, though whether as barons of Folkestone, as they are both by some called, I know not. Sir John de Segrave, the son, died possessed of this manor anno 23 Edward III. soon after which it appears to have passed into the family of Clinton, for William de Clinton, earl of Huntingdon, who bore for his arms, Argent, crusulee, situchee, sable, upon a chief, azure, two mullets, or, pierced gules; which coat differed from that of his elder brother's only in the croslets, which were not borne by any other of this family till long afterwards, (fn. 4) died possessed of it in the 28th year of that reign, at which time the mansion of this manor bore the name of the castle. He died s. p. leaving his nephew Sir John de Clinton, son of John de Clinton, of Maxtoke, in Warwickshire, his heir, who was afterwards summoned to parliament anno 42 Edward III. and was a man of great bravery and wisdom, and much employed in state affairs. He died possessed of this manor, with the view of frank-pledge, a moiety of the hundred of Folkestone, and THE MANOR OF WALTON, which, though now first mentioned, appears to have had the same owners as the manor of Folkestone, from the earliest account of it. He married Idonea, eldest daughter of Jeffry, lord Say, and at length the eldest coheir of that family, and was succeeded in these manors by his grandson William, lord Clinton, who, anno 6 Henry IV. had possession granted of his share of the lands of William de Say, as coheir to him in right of his grandmother Idonea, upon which he bore the title of lord Clinton and Saye, which latter however he afterwards relinquished, though he still bore for his arms, Qnarterly, Clinton and Saye, with two greybounds for his supporters. After which the manor of Folkestone, otherwise called Folkestone Clinton, and Walton, continued to be held in capite by knight's service, by his descendants lords Clinton, till Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, which title he then bore, together with Elizabeth his wife, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. conveyed these manors, with other premises in this parish, to Thomas Cromwell lord Cromwell, afterwards created earl of Essex, on whose attainder two years afterwards they reverted again to the crown, at which time the lordship of Folkestone was stiled an honor; whence they were granted in the fourth year of Edward VI. to the former possessor of them, Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite, for the meritorious services he had performed. In which year, then bearing the title of lord Clinton and Saye, he was declared lord high admiral, and of the privy council, besides other favours conferred on him; and among other lands, he had a grant of these manors, as abovementioned, which he next year, anno 5 Edward VI. reconveyed back to the crown, in exchange for other premises. (fn. 5) He was afterwards installed knight of the garter, by the title of Earl of Lincoln and Baron of Clinton and Saye; and in the last year of that reign, constable of the tower of London. Though in the 1st year of queen Mary he lost all his great offices for a small time, yet he had in recompence of his integrity and former services, a grant from her that year, of several manors and estates in this parish, as well as elsewhere, and among others, of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, together with the castle and park of Folkestone, to hold in capite; all which he, the next year, passed away by sale to Mr. Henry Herdson, citizen and alderman of London, who lest several sons, of whom Thomas succeeded him in this estate, in whose time the antient park of Folkestone seems to have been disparked. His son Mr. Francis Herdson alienated his interst in these manors and premises to his uncle Mr. John Herdson, who resided at the manor of Tyrlingham, in this parish, and dying in 1622, was buried in the chancel of Hawking church, where his monument remains; and there is another sumptuous one besides erected for him in the south isle of Folkestone church. They bore for their arms, Argent, a cross sable, between four fleurs de lis, gules. He died s. p. and by will devised these manors, with his other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to his nephew Basill, second son of his sister Abigail, by Charles Dixwell, esq. Basill Dixwell, esq. afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, a part of the estate devised to him by his uncle, where, in the 3d year of king Charles I. he kept his shrievalty, with great honor and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and in 1627, anno 3 Charles I. created a baronet; but having rebuilt the mansion of Brome, in Barham, he removed thither before his death. On his decease unmarried, the title of baronet became extinct; but he devised these manors, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William Dixwell, of Coton, in Warwickshire, who afterwards resided at Brome. He married Elizabeth, sister and heir of William Read, esq. of Folkestone, by whom he had Basill Dixwell, esq. of Brome, who in 1660, anno 12 Charles II. was created a baronet. His son Sir Basill Dixwell, bart. of Brome, about the year 1697, alientated these manors, with the park-house and grounds, and other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to Jacob Desbouverie, esq. of LondonHe was descended from Laurence de Bouverie, de la Bouverie, or Des Bouveries, of an antient and honorable extraction in Flanders, (fn. 6) who renouncing the tenets of the Romish religion came into England in the year 1567, anno 10 Elizabeth, and seems to have settled first at Canterbury. He was a younger son of Le Sieur des Bouveries, of the chateau de Bouverie, near Lisle, in Flanders, where the eldest branch of this family did not long since possess a considerable estate, bearing for their arms, Gules, a bend, vaire. Edward, his eldest son, was an eminet Turkey merchant, was knighted by king James II. and died at his seat at Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, in 1694. He had seven sons and four daughters; of the former, William, the eldest, was likewife an eminent Turkey merchant, and was, anno 12 queen Anne, created a baronet, and died in 1717. Jacob, the third son, was purchaser of these manors; and Christopher, the seventh son, was knighted, and seated at Chart Sutton, in this county, under which a further account of him may be seen; (fn. 7) and Anne, the second daughter, married Sir Philip Boteler, bart. Jacob Desbouverie afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, and dying unmarried in 1722, by his will devised these manors, with his other estates here, to his nephew Sir Edward Desbouverie, bart. the eldest brother son of Sir William Desbouverie, bart. his elder brother, who died possessed of them in 1736, s. p. on which his title, with these and all his other estates, came to his next surviving brother and heir Sir Jacob Desbouverie, bart. who anno 10 George II. procured an act to enable himself and his descendants to use the name of Bouverie only, and was by patent, on June 29, 1747, created baron of Longford, in Wiltshire, and viscount Folkestone, of Folkestone. He was twice married; first to Mary, daughter and sole heir of Bartholomew Clarke, esq. of Hardingstone, in Northamptonshire, by whom he had several sons and daughters, of whom William, the eldest son, succeeded him in titles and estates; Edward is now of Delapre abbey, near Northamptonshire; Anne married George, a younger son of the lord chancellor Talbot; Charlotte; Mary married Anthony, earl of Shastesbury; and Harriot married Sir James Tilney Long, bart. of Wiltshire. By Elizabeth his second wife, daughter of Robert, lord Romney, he had Philip, who has taken the name of Pusey, and possesses, as heir to his mother Elizabeth, dowager viscountess Folkestone, who died in 1782, several manors and estates in the western part of this county. He died in 1761, and was buried in the family vault at Britford, near Salisbury, being succeeded in title and estates by his eldest son by his first wife, William, viscount Folkestone, who was on Sept. 28, anno 5 king George III. created Earl of Radnor, and Baron Pleydell Bouverie, of Coleshill, in Berkshire. He died in 1776, having been three times married; first, to Harriot, only daughter and heir of Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell, bart. of Colefhill, in Berkshire. By her, who died in 1750, and was buried at Britford, though there is an elegant monument erected for her at Coleshill, he had Hacob, his successor in titles and estates, born in 1750. He married secondly, Rebecca, daughter of John Alleyne, esq. of Barbadoes, by whom he had four sons; William-Henry, who married Bridget, daughter of James, earl of Morton; Bartholomew, who married MaryWyndham, daughter of James Everard Arundell, third son of Henry, lord Arundell, of Wardour; and Edward, who married first Catherine Murray, eldest daughter of John, earl of Dunmore; and secondly, Arabella, daughter of admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle. His third wife was Anne, relict of Anthony Duncombe, lord Faversham, and daughter of Sir Thomas Hales, bart. of Bekesborne, by whom he had two daughters, who both died young. He was succeeded in titles and estates by his eldest son, the right hon. Jacob Pleydell Bouverie, earl of Radnor, who is the present possessor of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, with the park-house and disparked grounds adjacent to it, formerly the antient park of Folkestone, the warren, and other manors and estates in this parish and neighbourhood.
FOLKESTONE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Eanswith, consists of three isles and three chancels, having a square tower, with a beacon turret in the middle of it, in which there is a clock, and a peal of eight bells, put up in it in 1779. This church is built of sand-stone; the high chancel, which has been lately ceiled, seems by far the most antient part of it. Under an arch in the north wall is a tomb, with the effigies of a man, having a dog at his feet, very an tient, probably for one of the family of Fienes, constables of Dover castle and wardens of the five ports; and among many other monuments and inscriptions, within the altar-rails, are monuments for the Reades, of Folkestone, arms, Azure, a griffin, or, quartering gules, a pheon between three leopards faces, or; for William Langhorne, A.M. minister, obt. 1772. In the south chancel is a most elegant monument, having the effigies of two men kneeling at two desks, and an inscription for J. Herdson, esq. who lies buried in Hawkinge church, obt. 1622. In the south isle a tomb for J. Pragels, esq. obt. 1676, arms, A castle triple towered, between two portcullises; on a chief, a sinister hand gauntled, between two stirrups. In the middle isle a brass plate for Joane, wife of Thomas Harvey, mother of seven sons (one of which was the physician) and two daughters. In the north wall of the south isle were deposited the remains of St. Eanswith, in a stone coffin; and under that isle is a large charnelhouse, in which are deposited the great quantity of bones already taken notice of before. Philipott, p. 96, says, the Bakers, of Caldham, had a peculiar chancel belonging to them in this church, near the vestrydoor, over the charnel-house, which seems to have been that building mentioned by John Baker, of Folkestone, who by his will in 1464, ordered, that his executors should make a new work, called an isle, with a window in it, with the parishioners advice; which work should be built between the vestry there and the great window. John Tong, of Folkestone, who was buried in this church, by will in 1534, ordered that certain men of the parish should be enfeoffed in six acres of land, called Mervyle, to the use of the mass of Jhesu, in this church.
On Dec. 19, 1705, the west end of this church, for the length of two arches out of the five, was blown down by the violence of the wind; upon which the curate and parishioners petitioned archbishop Tillot son, for leave to shorten the church, by rebuilding only one of the fallen arches, which was granted. But by this, the church, which was before insufficient to contain the parishioners, is rendered much more inconvenient to them for that purpose. By the act passed anno 6 George III. for the preservation of the town and church from the ravages of the sea as already noticed before. After such works are finished, &c. the rates are to be applied towards their repair, and to the keeping in repair, and the support and preservation of this church.
¶This church was first built by Nigell de Muneville, lord of Folkestone at the latter end of king Henry I. or the beginning of king Stephen's reign, when he removed the priory from the precinct of the castle to it in 1137, and he gave this new church and the patronage of it to the monks of Lolley, in Normandy, for their establishing a cell, or alien priory here, as has been already mentioned, to which this new church afterwards served as the conventual church of it. The profits of it were very early appropriated to the use of this priory, that is, before the 8th of king Richard II. anno 1384, the duty of it being served by a vicar, whose portion was settled in 1448, at the yearly pension of 10l. 0s. 2½d. to be paid by the prior, in lieu of all other profits whatsoever. In which state this appropriation and vicarage remained till the surrendry of the priory, in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when they came, with the rest of the possessions of it, into the king's hands, who in his 31st year demised the vicarage and parish church of Folkestone, with all its rights, profits, and emoluments, for a term of years, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, who assigned his interest in it to Anthony Allcher, esq. but the fee of both remained in the crown till the 4th year of king Edward VI. when they were granted, with the manor, priory, and other premises here, to Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite; who the next year conveyed them back again to the crown, in exchange for other premises, (fn. 23) where the patronage of the vicarage did not remain long; for in 1558, anno 6 queen Mary, the queen granted it, among several others, to the archbishop. But the church or parsonage appropriate of Folkestone remained longer in the crown, and till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange, among other premises, to archbishop Parker, being then in lease to lord Clinton, at the rent of 57l. 2s. 11d. at which rate it was valued to the archbishop, in which manner it has continued to be leased out ever since, and it now, with the patronage of the vicarage, remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury; the family of Breams were formerly lessees of it, from whom the interest of the lease came to the Taylors, of Bifrons, and was sold by the late Rev. Edward Taylor, of Bisrons, to the right hon. Jacob, earl of Radnor, the present lessee of it.
A pulled rickshaw (or ricksha) is a mode of human-powered transport by which a runner draws a two-wheeled cart which seats one or two people.
In recent times the use of human-powered rickshaws has been discouraged or outlawed in many countries due to concern for the welfare of rickshaw workers.
Pulled rickshaws have been replaced mainly by cycle rickshaw and auto rickshaws.
OVERVIEW
Rickshaws are commonly believed to have been invented in Japan in the 1860s, at the beginning of a rapid period of technical advancement.
In the 19th century, rickshaw pulling became an inexpensive, popular mode of transportation across Asia.
Peasants who migrated to large Asian cities often worked first as a rickshaw runner.
It was "the deadliest occupation in the East, [and] the most degrading for human beings to pursue."The rickshaw's popularity in Japan declined by the 1930s with the advent of automated forms of transportation, like automobiles and trains. In China, the rickshaw's popularity began to decline in the 1920s. In Singapore, the rickshaw's popularity increased into the 20th century. There were approximately 50,000 rickshaws in 1920 and that number doubled by 1930.
DESCRIPTION
The initial rickshaws rode on iron-shod wooden wheels and the passenger sat on hard, flat seats. In the late 19th century and early 20th century. Rubber or pneumatic rubber tires, spring cushions, and backrests improved the passenger's comfort. Other features, such as lights were also added.
In the city of Shanghai, public rickshaws were painted yellow to differentiate from the private vehicles of the wealthy citizens, which were described as:
... always shiny, were carefully maintained, and sported 'a spotless white upholstered double seat, a clean plaid for one's lap, and a wide protective tarpaulin to protect the passenger (or passengers, since sometimes up to three people rode together) against the rain.'
The rickshaws were a convenient means of travel, able to traverse winding, narrow city streets. During monsoon season, passengers might be carried out of the carriage, above the flooded streets, to the door of their arrival. They offered door-to-door travel, unlike scheduled public bus and tram service.
COUNTRY OVERVIEW
AFRICA
EAST AFRIKA
In the 1920s, it was used in Bagamoyo, Tanga, Tanzania and other areas of East Africa for short distances.
MADAGASCAR
Rickshaws, known as pousse-pousse, were introduced by British missionaries. The intention was to eliminate the slavery-associated palanquin. Its name pousse-pousse, meaning push-push, is reportedly gained from the need to have a second person to push the back of the rickshaw on Madagascar's hilly roads. They are a common form of transport in a number of Malagasy cities, especially Antsirabe, but are not found in the towns or cities with very hilly roads. They are similar to Chinese rickshaws and are often brightly decorated.
NAIROBI
Rickshaws operated in Nairobi in the beginning of the 20th century; pullers went on strike there in 1908.
South Africa
Durban is famous for its iconic Zulu rickshaw pullers navigating throughout the city. These colorful characters are famous for their giant, vibrant hats and costumes. There were about 2,000 registered men who pulled rickshaws in Durban in 1904; Since displaced by motorised transport, there are approximately 25 rickshaws left whom mostly cater to tourists today.
ASIA
CHINA
In China, from the ancient times and until the 19th century, rich and important people, when traveling overland, were commonly transported in sedan chairs carried by bearers, rather than in wheeled vehicles. This was at least partly explained by road conditions. It is thought that it was from China (or East Asia in general) that sedan chair (a.k.a. "palanquin") designs were introduced into Western Europe in the 17th century. However, wheeled carts for one or two passengers, pushed (rather than pulled, like a proper rikshaw) by human servant, were attested as well.The proper rickshaw (pronounced renliche in Chinese) was first seen in China in 1886, and was used for public transportation in 1898. It was commonly called dongyangche for Japanese vehicle or "east- foreign-vehicle."
Rickshaw transportation was an important element in urban development in 20th century China, as a mode of transportation, source of employment and facilitation of migration for workers. According to author David Strand:
Sixty thousand men took as many as a half million fares a day in a city of slightly more than one million. Sociologist Li Jinghan estimated that one out of six males in the city between the ages of sixteen and fifty was a puller. Rickshaw men and their dependents made up almost 20 percent of Beijing's population.
Shanghai's rickshaw industry began in 1874 with 1,000 rickshaws imported from Japan. By 1914 there were 9,718 vehicles. The pullers were a large group of the city's working poor: 100,000 men pulled rickshaws by the early 1940s, up from 62,000 in the mid-1920s.Most manual rickshaws, a symbol of oppression of the working class, were eliminated in China after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
HOG KONG
Rickshaws were first imported to Hong Kong from Japan in 1880. They were a popular form of transport for many years, peaking at more than 3,000 in the 1920s. However, their popularity waned after World War II. No new licenses for rickshaws have been issued since 1975, and only a few old men—four as of 2009—still bear a license. It is reported that only one of them still offer rickshaw rides on The Peak, mainly for tourists.
INDIA
Around 1880, rickshaws appeared in India, first in Simla. At the turn of the century it was introduced in Kolkata (Calcutta), India and in 1914 was a conveyance for hire.
SERVICE AVAILIBILITY
Though most cities offer auto rickshaw service, hand-pulled rickshaws do exist in some areas, such as Kolkata, "the last bastion of human powered tana rickshaws". According to Trillin, most Kolkata rickshaws serve people "just a notch above poor" who tend to travel short distances. However, in a recent article by Hyrapiet and Greiner, the authors found that rickshaws also transport middle-class residents who use their services out of convenience and for short distance trips to the local marketplace. Rickshaws are used to transport goods, shoppers, and school children. It is also used as a "24 hour ambulance service."
Also according to Hyrapiet and Greiner, rickshaw pullers have acted as peer-educators for the Calcutta Samaritans prodving critical information on HIV/AIDS because of their access to marginalized groups within Kolkata's red light districts.
Rickshaws are the most effective means of transportation through the flooded streets of the monsoon season.
When Kolkata floods rickshaw business increases and prices rise.
The pullers live a life of poverty and many sleep under rickshaws.Rudrangshu Mukerjee, an academic, stated many people's ambivalent feelings about riding a rickshaw: he does not like about being carried in a rickshaw but does not like the idea of "taking away their livelihood."Motor vehicles are banned in the eco-sensitive zone area of Matheran, India, a tourist hill station near Mumbai so man-pulled rickshaws are still one of the major forms of transport there.
LEGISLATION
In August 2005, the Communist government of West Bengal announced plans to completely ban pulled rickshaws, resulting in protests and strikes of the pullers. In 2006, the chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, announced that pulled rickshaws would be banned and that rickshaw pullers would be rehabilitated.
JAPAN
There are several theories about the invention of the rickshaw. Japan historian Seidensticker wrote of the theories:
Though the origins of the rickshaw are not entirely clear, they seem to be Japanese, and of Tokyo specifically. The most widely accepted theory offers the name of three inventors, and gives 1869 as the date of invention.
Starting in 1870, the Tokyo government issued a permission for Izumi Yosuke, Takayama Kosuke, and Suzuki Tokujiro to build and sell rickshaws. By 1872, they became the main mode of transportation in Japan, with about 40,000 rickshaws in service. The rickshaw's popularity in Japan declined by the 1930s with the advent of automated forms of transportation, like automobiles and trains. After the World War II, when gasoline and automobiles were scarce, they made a temporary come-back. The rickshaw tradition has stayed alive in Kyoto and Tokyo's geisha districts only for tourists as well as in other tourist places. The tradition completely disappeared once, but a few people revived jinrikisha (human-powered rickshaws) for tourists in the 1970s-1980s and the rickshaws became popular as a tourism resource in the 2000s. The modern rickshaw men are a kind of tourist guide, who take their clients to some tourist spots and explain about them. Many of them are part-time working students and athletes who like running or exchanging cultures.
MALAYSIA
Rickshaws were a common mode of transport in urban areas of Malaysia in the 19th and early 20th centuries until gradually replaced by cycle rickshaws.
PAKISTAN
Pulled and Cycle rickshaw (qinqi) have been banned in Pakistan since November 1949. Prior to the introduction of auto rickshaws in cities, horse-drawn carriages (tongas) were a main source of public transportation.
SINGAPORE
Singapore had received its first rickshaws in 1880 and soon after they were prolific, making a "noticeable change in the traffic on Singapore's streets." Bullock carts and gharries were used prior to the introduction of rickshaws.Many of the poorest individuals in Singapore in the late nineteenth century were poor, unskilled people of Chinese ancestry. Sometimes called coolies, the hardworking men found pulling rickshaws was a new means of employment. Rickshaw pullers experienced "very poor" living conditions, poverty and long hours of hard work. Income remained unchanged from 1876 to 1926, about $.60 per day.Rickshaws popularity increased into the 20th century. There were approximately 50,000 rickshaws in 1920 and that number doubled by 1930. In or after the 1920s a union was formed, called the Rickshaw Association, protect the welfare of rickshaw workers.
NORTH AMERIKA
UNITED STATES OF AMERIKA
From A History of the Los Angeles City Market (1930-1950), pulled rickshaws were operated in Los Angeles by high school teenagers during that time period.
CANADA
Foot-driven rickshaws have enjoyed several decades of popularity in Halifax, Nova Scotia; in addition to providing tours of the historic Waterfront, rickshaws are also occasionally used for transportation by local residents. The city is home to the oldest rickshaw company in Canada.Rickshaws are a popular mode of transportation in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, providing tours of historical Byward Market, in the summer. Ottawa's rickshaws stay true to the traditional foot-driven rickshaw model, but feature modern sound-systems.
WIKIPEDIA
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
HNLMS Karel Doorman (R81) was a Colossus-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Formerly the British ship HMS Venerable, she was sold to the Netherlands in 1948 as a light attack carrier and operated Fairey Firefly strike fighters and Hawker Sea Fury fighters, which were in 1958 replaced by Hawker Sea Hawk jet aircraft. In 1960, she was involved in the decolonization conflict in Western New Guinea with Indonesia. After a major refit in 1964, following the settlement of issues threatening its former colonial territories and changes in the mission for the Royal Netherlands Navy within NATO, the role was changed to anti-submarine warfare carrier and primarily ASW aircraft and helicopters were carried. At that time, the last Dutch Sea Hawks were phased out and the Koninlijke Marine ’s FJ-4B fighter bombers were relegated to land bases and soon handed back to the USA and re-integrated into USMC units. As an alternative multi-role aircraft that could both deliver strikes against ground as well as sea targets and provide aerial defense for the carrier or escort its slow and vulnerable ASW aircraft, the American Douglas A-4 Skyhawk was procured.
The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk was a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The delta-winged, single turbojet-powered Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later by McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated A4D under the U.S. Navy's pre-1962 designation system. The Skyhawk was a relatively light aircraft, with a maximum takeoff weight of 24,500 pounds (11,100 kg), had a top speed of 670 miles per hour (1,080 km/h) and very good handling, making it a serious threat in an aerial dogfight. The aircraft's five hardpoints supported a variety of missiles, bombs, and other munitions.
The A4D (re-named into A-4 under the USA’s unified designation system) was capable of carrying a bomb load equivalent to that of a World War II–era Boeing B-17 bomber and could even deliver nuclear weapons using a low-altitude bombing system and a "loft" delivery technique. The A-4 was originally powered by the Wright J65 turbojet engine, but from the A-4E onwards, the more fuel efficient and powerful Pratt & Whitney J52 engine was used. The Skyhawk proved to be a relatively common United States Navy aircraft export of the postwar era. Due to its small size, it could be operated from the older, smaller World War II-era aircraft carriers still used by many smaller navies during the 1960s. These older ships were often unable to accommodate newer Navy fighters such as the F-4 Phantom II and F-8 Crusader, which were faster and more capable than the A-4, but significantly larger and heavier than older naval fighters.
At the same time as the Netherlands, Australia was looking for a new carrier-borne jet aircraft, too, and in negotiations with Douglas for newly built A-4s for the RAN's carrier HMAS Melbourne, a Majestic-class light aircraft carrier. These aircraft had a very similar duty profile to those the Royal Netherlands Navy was looking for, and in order to save development costs and speed up the procurement process, the Royal Netherlands Navy simply adopted the Australian specifications which became the unique A-4G variant, the Skyhawk’s first dedicated export version.
The A-4G was directly developed with minor variations from the current, most modern Skyhawk variant, the USN's A-4F. In particular, the A-4G was not fitted with the late Skyhawk variants' characteristic avionics "hump", had a simple ranging radar for air-to-air combat and was modified to carry four underwing Sidewinder AIM-9B missiles (instead of just two), increasing their Fleet Defense capability. Additionally, the A-4Gs for the Royal Netherlands Navy received the avionics package to deploy radio-controlled AGM-12 Bullpup missiles, which the Kon. Marine had been using together with the FJ-4Bs for some years, and Skyhawks’ capability to provide buddy-to-buddy refueling services with a special pod made them a vital asset for carrier operations, too.
A total of twenty A-4G Skyhawks were purchased by the Royal Australian Navy in two batches for operation from HMAS Melbourne, and the Koninlijke Marine ordered twelve. These aircraft were part of the first A-4G production batch and arrived in 1967, together with four TA-4J trainers, for a total fleet of sixteen aircraft. The machines were delivered in the contemporary US Navy high-visibility scheme in Light Gull Grey and White, but they were soon re-painted in a less conspicuous scheme of Extra Dark Sea Grey on the upper surfaces and Sky underneath, conforming to NATO standards of the time. After initial conversion training from land bases the re-formed MLD 861 Squadron (a carrier-based unit that had operated Fairey during the Fifties) embarked upon HNLMS Karel Doorman in February 1968 with a standard contingent of six carrier-based aircraft. The rest was stationed at Valkenburg Naval Air Base for maintenance and training and frequently rotated to the carrier.
However, the Dutch Skyhawks' career at sea was very short – it lasted in fact only a couple of months! A boiler room fire on 26 April 1968 removed HNLMS Karel Doorman from Dutch service. To repair the fire damage, new boilers were transplanted from the incomplete HMS Leviathan. But this did not save the ship, and in 1969 it was decided that the costs for repairing the damage in relation to the relatively short time Karel Doorman was still to serve in the fleet proved to be her undoing and she was sold to the Argentine Navy, renamed Veinticinco de Mayo, where she would later play a role in the 1982 Falkland Islands Conflict.
Additionally, the fatal fire accident coincided with the arrival of land-based long range maritime patrol aircraft for the Royal Netherlands Navy that were to take over the ASW role Karel Doorman had been tasked to perform ever since the start of the 1960s. These were one squadron of Breguet Atlantique sea-reconnaissance aircraft and one of P-2 Neptunes, while the international NATO anti-submarine commitment was taken over by a squadron of Westland Wasp helicopters operated from six Van Speijk-class anti-submarine frigates.
This left the Royal Netherlands Navy with a full operational squadron of almost brand-new aircraft that had overnight lost their raison d'être. To avoid sunk costs the government decided to keep the Skyhawks in active service, even though only land-based now and as part of the Netherlands air force's home defense – a plan that had been envisioned for the A-4Gs for the mid-Seventies, anyway.
In 1974, the A-4G's MLD 861 Squadron was disbanded (again) and the aircraft were formally transferred to the Royal Netherlands Air Force, where they received new tactical codes (H-30XX - H- 30YY) and formed the new RNLAF 332 Squadron, primary tasked with aerial support for the Netherlands Marine Corps. To avoid staff and equipment transfer costs to a different location, the Skyhawks stayed at their former home base, Valkenburg Naval Air Base, where they operated alongside the MLD’s new long-range maritime patrol aircraft.
At that time, the machines received a small update during regular overhauls, including the ability to deploy the new TV-guided AGM-65 Maverick missile (which replaced the unreliable and rather ineffective AGM-12) as well as more effective AIM-9J air-to-air missiles, and an AN/APQ-51 radar warning system, recognizable through small cone-shaped radomes under the nose, at the tail and under the wing roots. Being land-based now, some machines received a new NATO-style camouflage in Olive Drab and Dark Grey with Light Grey undersides, even though the Skyhawks’ full carrier capability was retained in case of a NATO deployment on another nation’s carrier.
In 1979, when the RNLAF received its first F-16A/B fighters, all Skyhawks eventually received a more subdued grey three-tone camouflage with toned-down markings which was effective both over the sea and in the sky, similar to the RNLAF’s NF-5A/B day fighters.
However, the arrival of the modern F-16, which was in any aspect superior to the A-4 except for a lack of carrier-capability, meant that the RNLAF Skyhawks’ career did not last much longer. In the early Eighties, all Dutch A-4Gs were replaced with license-built F-16A/B fighter bombers. They were placed in store and eventually sold to Israel in 1985, where they were revamped and re-sold with surplus A-4Es to Indonesia as attrition replacements after high losses during the anti-guerilla warfare in East Timor. They were delivered in 1986 and served in Indonesia until 2003, where the last Skyhawks were finally retired in 2007.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 40 ft 1.5 in (12.230 m)
Wingspan: 27 ft 6 in (8.38 m)
Height: 15 ft 2 in (4.62 m)
Wing area: 260 sq ft (24 m²)
Airfoil: root: NACA 0008-1.1-25; tip: NACA 0005-.825-50
Empty weight: 9,853 lb (4,469 kg)
Gross weight: 16,216 lb (7,355 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 24,500 lb (11,113 kg)
Powerplant:
1× Pratt & Whitney J52-P-6A turbojet engine, 8,500 lbf (38 kN) thrust
Performance:
Maximum speed: 585 kn (673 mph, 1,083 km/h) at sea level
Range: 1,008 nmi (1,160 mi, 1,867 km)
Ferry range: 2,194 nmi (2,525 mi, 4,063 km)
g limits: +8/-3
Rate of climb: 5,750 ft/min (29.2 m/s)
Wing loading: 62.4 lb/sq ft (305 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.526
Armament:
2× 20 mm (0.79 in) Colt Mk 12 cannon with 100 RPG
5× hardpoints with a total capacity of 8,500 lb (3,900 kg)
The kit and its assembly:
This what-if project was more or less a stopgap: I had a Hasegawa 1:72 A-4E/F kit in The Stash™, primarily bought for its separate avionics hump that is supposed to be transplanted on a Fujimi A-4C someday to create an A-4L, of which AFAIK no OOB kit exists. However, I played with potential fictional operators, and read about the Australian A-4Gs. When I compared them with the historic timeframe of the Dutch HNLMS Karel Doorman, I recognized very close parallels (see background above) so that a small Skyhawk fleet for a single carrier with a focus on ASW duties would make sense – even though Karel Doorman was soon struck by a fire and ended the story. However, this was a great framework to tell the story of Dutch Skyhawks that never had been, and my model depicts such an aircraft soon after its update and in late RNLAF colors.
The Hasegawa kit is not bad, but IMHO there are better offerings, you can see the mold’s age. It goes together easily, comes with a good pilot figure and offers optional parts for an E or F Skyhawk, plus lots of ordnance, but it comes with raised (yet very fine) panel lines and an odd canopy: the clear part is actually only the canopy’s glass, so that the frame is still molded into the fuselage. As a result, opening the cockpit is a VERY tricky stunt (which I eventually avoided), and the clear piece somehow does not fit well into its intended opening. The mold dates back to 1969, when the A-4E/F was brand new, and this was all acceptable in the Seventies and Eighties. But for today’s standards the Hasegawa kit is a bit outdated and, in many cases, overpriced. Permanent re-boxings and short-run re-issues do not make the old kit any better.
Despite these weaknesses the kit was built OOB, without big modifications or the optional camel hump for the A-4F, with the early straight IFR probe and with parts from the OOB ordnance. This included the ventral drop tank (which comes with an integral pylon) and the underwing pylons; from the outer pair the integral launch rails for the Bullpups were sanded away and replaced with a pair of longer launch rails for AIM-9B Sidewinder AAMs from the scrap box.
As a modern/contemporary detail I scratched a training/dummy AGM-65 Maverick without fins for one of the inner underwing stations, which would later become a colorful eye-catcher on the otherwise quite subdued aircraft. Additionally, some small blade antennae were added around the hull, e. g. on the front wheel well cover for the Bullpup guidance emitter.
Painting and markings:
A Kon. Marine Skyhawk offers a wide range of painting options, but I tweaked the background that I could incorporate a specific and unique Dutch paint scheme – the early Eighties livery of the RNLAF’s NF-5A/Bs. These aircraft initially wore a NATO-style green/grey livery with pale grey undersides, but they were in the late Seventies, with the arrival of the F-16s, repainted with the F-16s’ “Egypt One” colors (FS 36118, 36270 and 36375). However, the Egypt One scheme was not directly adopted, only the former RAF-style camouflage pattern was re-done with the new colors. Therefore, the Skyhawks were “in my world” transferred from the Dutch Navy to the Air Force and received this livery, too, for which I used Humbrol 125, 126 and 127. The pattern was adapted from the sleek NF-5s as good as possible to the stouter A-4 airframe, but it worked out.
However, the result reminds unintentionally a lot of the Australian A-4Gs’ late livery, even though the Aussie Skyhawks carried a different pattern and were painted in different tones. Even more strangely, the colors on the model looked odd in this striped paint scheme: the dark Gunship Gray appeared almost violet, while the Medium Gray had a somewhat turquoise hue? Weird! Thankfully, this disappeared when I did some post-panel-shading after a light black in washing…
The cockpit became Dark Gull Grey (FS 36231, Humbrol 140), even though there’s hardly anything recognizable through the small canopy: the pilot blocks anything. The landing gear and the respective wells became classic bright white (Revell 301), as well as the air intake ducts; the landing gear covers received a thin red outline.
The Sidewinders and their launch rails became white, the drop tank was painted in FS 36375 like the underside. The dummy AGM-65 was painted bright blue with a white tip for the live seeker head.
The decals were gathered from various sources. The RNLAF roundels came from a generic TL Modellbau sheet, the tactical code from a Swiss F-5E. The small fin flash is a personal addition (this was not common practice on RNLAF aircraft), the red unit badge with the seahorse comes from a French naval WWII unit. Most stencils were taken from the OOB sheet but supplemented with single bits from an Airfix Skyhawk sheet, e. g. for the red trim around the air intakes, which was tricky to create. The interior of the fuselage air brakes was painted in bright red, too.
After a Koninlijke Marine FJ-4B Fury some years ago, here’s a worthy and logical successor, even though it would have quickly lost its naval base, HNLMS Karel Doorman. Really bad timing! Even though not much was changed, this simple looking aircraft has IMHO a certain, subtle charm – even though the paint scheme makes the Dutch Skyhawk look more Australian than intended, despite representing an A-4G, too. But time frame and mission profiles would have been too similar to ignore this parallel. Not a spectacular model, but quite convincing.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
During the Second World War, the Slovak Air force was charged with the defense of Slovak airspace, and, after the invasion of Russia, provided air cover for Slovak forces fighting against the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front While engaged on the Eastern Front, Slovakia’s obsolete biplanes were replaced with German combat aircraft, including the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the Focke Wulf Fw 190. The air force was sent back to Slovakia after combat fatigue and desertion had reduced the pilots' effectiveness. Slovak air units took part in the Slovak National Uprising against Germany from late August 1944.
Towards the end of the war, General Alois Vicherek left Britain for the Soviet Union, where he was supposed to take over command of the Czechoslovak Air Force in the USSR. However he only arrived on May 1, 1945, when the war was almost over. Vicherek was happy to serve an Eastern Bloc Czechoslovakia, and on May 29, 1945, he was appointed the Commander of the Czechoslovak Air Force.
Initial equipment of the Czechoslovak Air Force directly after WWII consisted mainly of surviving German aircraft, and parts and tools in the factory sites on Czechoslovak territory. One of these “indigenous” types were the Avia S-99 (a Bf 109G-6) and the S-199, a Bf 109 derivate with a Junkers Jumo 211 F engine that actually belonged to the He 111 bomber. Another similar family consisted of the Avia S-90 and S-91: the S-90 was a Fw 190 A-8, while the S-91 was built from unfinished Fw 190 A-8 airframes and spare parts, and due to the lack of engines outfitted with a Soviet Shvetsov ASh-82FNU engine and other Soviet equipment.
All these aircraft were built or made airworthy by the two aircraft factories in Czechoslovakia: one of them officially called závod Avia (Avia Plant) (1946–48) and závod Avia-Jiřího Dimitrova (Avia-George Dimitroff-Plant, 1948–49) in Čakovice near Prague, as a post-war corporative part of the Automobilové závody, n.p. [Automotive Works, National Corp.], and the other one called závod Vysočany (Vysočany Plant, 1948–49) in Prague, as a corporative part of Letecké závody, n.p. [Aviation Works, National Corp.] They were effectively constructed with parts and plans left over from Luftwaffe aircraft production that had taken place under the country's German occupation during the war.
While around 550 S-199s were built and even exported to Israel, the S-90 and S-91 were only produced in small numbers, and only for the Czechoslovak Air Force. About 40 S-90 were taken into service in 1946, while the assembly of the S-91 with its different engine and other adaptations started in 1948, and less than 20 were built from existing materials – none was actually newly manufactured.
The S-91 was easy to recognize by its bigger fin with a square outline, as well as the different cowling with its oil cooler underneath the ASh-82FNU. This was an improved M-82FN with more boost pressure and RPM and the power output increased to 1,380 kW (1,850 hp). The different engine and its radiator fan called for a different spinner, too, so that the nose profile differed considerably from the Fw 190 A-8, even though most of the internal structure was still the same.
Armament of the S-91 consisted of four Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 23 mm cannons in the wings (one pair in the wing roots, synchronized to fire through the propeller disc, and another pair outside of the landing gear wells) with 125 RPG, the fuselage-mounted machine guns of the Fw 190 A-8 were omitted to save weight. The original underfuselage hardpoint for a drop tank or a bomb of up to 500 kg (1.102 lb) caliber was retained, as well as optional hardpoints under the wings for bombs or other ordnance of up to 250 kg (551 lb) weight, even though the S-90 and S-91 were almost exclusively used in the fighter role. Both types were very popular among the crews, as they were both much more agile and better armed than the rather sluggish S-199, which was cheaper to produce, though.
The S-90’s and S-91’s service career was short, though: from 1955 Czechoslovakia became a member of the Warsaw Pact. Because of this, the Czechoslovak Air Force started to use Soviet aircraft, doctrines, and tactics, and with the purchase of equipment of Soviet origin the leftover WWII relics were soon retired. Nevertheless, both received the NATO ASCC reporting names ‘Finch A & B’, respectively. The S-90 was phased out until 1958, the slightly superior S-91 followed soon in 1960, when both were replaced by MiG-15 jet fighters.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 9.10 m (29 ft 7 in)
Wingspan: 10.51 m (34 ft 5 in)
Height: 3.95 m (12 ft 12 in)
Wing area: 18.30 m² (196.99 ft²)
Empty weight: 3.170 kg (7.010 lb)
Loaded weight: 4.400 kg (9.700 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 4,900 kg (10,800 lb)
Powerplant:
1× Shvetsov ASh-82FNU air-cooled radial engine with a two-stage supercharger and fuel injection, rated at 1,380 kW (1,850 hp)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 685 km/h (426 mph) at 6,600 m (21,655 ft), 710 km/h (440 mph) at 37,000 ft (11,000 m)
Range: 950 km (590 mi), clean and with internal fuel only
Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,370 ft)
Rate of climb: 758 m/min (2,487 ft/min)
Wing loading: 241 kg/m² (49.4 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 0.29-0.33 kW/kg (0.18-0.21 hp/lb)
Armament:
4× Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 23 mm cannons with 125 RPG in the wings
Up to 1.000kg (2.202 lb) of external ordnance on three hardpoints under the fuselage and under the outer wings (rarely used)
The kit and its assembly:
Another whif inspired by someone else’s idea. This time, the model was inspired by Czech-based fellow user PantherG at whatifmodelers.com, who posted a profile of a Fw 190 A-8 in Czechoslovak Air Force markings, the Avia S-90 - the latter must have been an authentic designation, but I could not find any proof for a service use of the Fw 190 A-8 in the Czechoslovak Air Force?
Anyway, the post-WWII idea had its charm, and I liked PantherG's idea of a rather ugly livery in RLM colors. So much that I decided to build it in hardware form! But, as things evolved, I decided to add a personal twist to the model, taking the original idea one step further.
This led directly to “my” S-91: a re-engined variant of the S-90 – I found parts for a Shvetsov ASh-82 engine in my scrap box, and thought THAT could be a fine alternative…?
The basic kit is the Academy Fw-190 A-8, a solid model with some flaws (e .g. a rather clumsy landing gear), but with good fit and overall details. It is mostly built OOB, with only minor mods: The engine cowling was re-shaped with putty, two ram air scoops for the twin turbochargers were added and a chin oil cooler was mounted added. A new propeller with the typical, different radiator fan was scratched from various single parts (I assume there are He 100D, Spitfire and I-210 parts in it!).
As an additional design twist the Fw 190 fin was replaced by a leftover Me 163 donation part, making it taller and slightly larger in area. This change was not really necessary, but I wanted to change the Fw 190's classic outline a little, for a more modern and Lavochkin La-9/11-like look.
Unfortunately the model suffered from a major crash from the work bench, just before I wanted to apply decals - the fin was ripped apart. I tried to fix it, but the damage can still be recognized.
The fuselage hardpoint comes from a Hobby Boss Fw 190, but it was left empty. In the cockpit a different seat was added, as well as a Matchbox pilot figure and a scratched gun sight. Hollow steel needles were used as gun barrels on the wings.
Painting and markings:
As already mentioned, I liked the rather ugly choice of camouflage that PantherG suggested for his S-90: RLM 75 & 81 (Grauviolett & Braunviolett, yuck!) from above and RLM 76 for the lower sides. Despite the kit mods I decided to stick to PantherG's original design as much as possible - I just changed the aircraft's squadron, since I found appropriate emblems in the stash (see below). Another motivation was that I wanted to see how sick this would actually look like on a Fw 190…
I used ModelMaster Authentic enamels for the upper surfaces authentic RLM tones (2085 & 2090), and I tried the new RLM 76 from Humbrol (#247) for the lower sides.
Compared with the Modelmaster enamel, Humbrol 247 is slightly lighter and recognizably more turquise, almost like RLM 65, and close to Humbrol 128 (FS 36320). In contrast to the poor RLM 83 (Humbrol 253) which I recently used and which failed miserably, the RLM 76 paint is fine: Opaque, good to apply with a synthetic brush, dries up quickly and with an even, matt finish. I hope the horrible 253 enamel is/was just a one-off!
After basic painting, the kit received a black ink wash and some dry painting on panels for weathering and visual drama (with Humbrol 155, 140 and 127), as well as some very light dry-brushed silver on leading edges – the aircraft was supposed to look used, but not too worn. Exhaust an soot stains were also added, with grinded graphite.
All interior surfaces were painted in Extra Dark Slate Grey, as a dull alternative to RLM02.
The markings were puzzled together, according to the original profile sketch; the Czechoslovakian roundels come from KP Arado Ar 96 and Yak-23 kits. Unfortunately I did not have roundels with white outlines in appropriate size in store, but the blue alternative does not look bad at all.
The tactical code was made from single letters from TL Modellbau. The unit badge, a black bat on yellow ground (a full moon?), comes from the Bilek MiG-21PF kit. The few other stencils etc. were taken from the OOB sheet of the Academy Fw 190 kit.
So, a double tribute: first of all to Czech fellow modeler PantherG (who also inspired my German Marineflieger Super Étendard last year), and it is also a suitable contribution to a recent Group Build in memoriam of a deceased fellow user at whatifmodelers.com.
Some background:
The Bentley 4½ Litre was a British car based on a rolling chassis built by Bentley Motors. Walter Owen Bentley replaced the Bentley 3 Litre with a more powerful car by increasing its engine displacement to 4.4 L (270 cu in).
Bentley buyers used their cars for personal transport and arranged for their new chassis to be fitted with various body styles, mostly saloons or tourers. However, the publicity brought by their competition programme was invaluable for marketing Bentley's cars.
At the time, noted car manufacturers such as Bugatti and Lorraine-Dietrich focused on designing cars to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a popular automotive endurance course established only a few years earlier. A victory in this competition quickly elevated any car maker's reputation.
A total of 720 4½ Litre cars were produced between 1927 and 1931, including 55 cars with a supercharged engine popularly known as the Blower Bentley. A 4½ Litre Bentley won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1928. Though the supercharged 4½ Litre Bentley's competitive performance was not outstanding, it set several speed records, most famously the Bentley Blower No.1 Monoposto in 1932 at Brooklands with a recorded speed of 222.03 km/h (138 mph).
Although the Bentley 4½ Litre was heavy, weighing 1,625 kg (3,583 lb), and spacious, with a length of 4,380 mm (172 in) and a wheelbase of 3,302 mm (130.0 in), it remained well-balanced and steered nimbly. The manual transmission, however, required skill, as its four gears were unsynchronised.
The robustness of the 4½ Litre's lattice chassis, made of steel and reinforced with ties, was needed to support the heavy cast iron inline-four engine. The engine was "resolutely modern" for the time. The displacement was 4,398 cc (268.4 cu in): 100 mm (3.9 in) bore and 140 mm (5.5 in) stroke. Two SU carburetters and dual ignition with Bosch magnetos were fitted. The engine produced 110 hp (82 kW) for the touring model and 130 hp (97 kW) for the racing model. The engine speed was limited to 4,000 rpm.
A single overhead camshaft actuated four valves per cylinder, inclined at 30 degrees. This was a technically advanced design at a time where most cars used only two valves per cylinder. The camshaft was driven by bevel gears on a vertical shaft at the front of the engine, as on the 3 Litre engine.
The Bentley's tanks - radiator, oil and petrol - had quick release filler caps that opened with one stroke of a lever. This saved time during pit stops. The 4½ was equipped with a canvas top stretched over a lightweight Weymann body. The hood structure was very light but with high wind resistance (24 Hours Le Mans rules between 1924 and 1928 dictated a certain number of laps for which the hood had to be closed). The steering wheel measured about 45 cm (18 in) in diameter and was wrapped with solid braided rope for improved grip. Brakes were conventional, consisting of 17-inch (430 mm) drum brakes finned for improved cooling and operated by rod. Semi-elliptic leaf springs were used at front and rear.
Building the kit and its display box:
I normally do not build large scale kits, except for some anime character figures, and I especially stay away from car models because I find it very hard to come close to the impression of the real thing. But this one was a personal thing, and I got motivated enough to tackle this challenge that caused some sweat and shivers. Another reason for the tension was the fact that it was intended as a present - and I normally do not build models for others, be it as a gift or on a contract work basis.
The background is that a colleage of mine will retire soon, an illustrator and a big oldtimer enthusiast at the same time. I was not able to hunt down a model of the vintage car he actually owns, but I remembered that he frequently takes part with his club at a local car exhibition, called the "Classic Days" at a location called Schloss Dyck. There he had had the opportunity some time ago to take a ride in a Bentley 4.5 litre "Blower", and I saw the fascinationn in his eyes when he recounted the events. We also talked about car models, and I mentioned the 1:24 Heller kit of the car. So, as a "farewell" gift, I decided to tackle this souvenir project, since the Bentley drive obviously meant a lot to him, and it's a quite personal gift, for a highly respected, artistic person.
Since this was to be a gift for a non-modeler, I also had to make sure that the car model could later be safely stored, transported and displayed, so some kind of base or display bon on top was a must - and I think I found a nice solution, even with integrated lighting!
As already mentioned, the model is the 1:24 Heller kit from 1978, in this case the more recent Revell re-boxing. While the kit remained unchanged (even the Heller brand is still part of the molds!), the benefit of this version is a very nice and thin decal sheet which covers some of the more delicate detail areas like gauges on the dashboard or the protective wire mesh for the headlights.
I had huge respect for the kit - I have actually built less than 10 car models in my 40+ years of kit building. So the work started with detail picture research, esp. of the engine and from the cockpit, and I organized appropriate paints (see below).
Work started slowly with the wheels, then the engine followed, the steerable front suspension, the chassis, the cabin section and finally the engine cowling and the mudguards with the finished wheels. Since I lack experience with cars I stuck close to the instructions and really took my time, because the whole thing went together only step by step, with painting and esp. drying intermissions. Much less quickly than my normal tempo with more familiar topics.
The kit remained basically OOB, and I must say that I am impressed how well it went together. The car kits I remember were less cooperative - but the Heller Bentley was actually a pleasant, yet challenging, build. Some issues I had were the chrome parts, which had to be attached with superglue, and their attachment points to the sprues (the same green plastic is used for the chrome parts, too - a different materiallike silver or light grey would have made life easier!) could only hardly be hidden with paint.
The plastic itself turned out to be relatively soft, too - while it made cleaning easy, this caused in the end some directional issues which had to be "professionally hidden": Once the cabin had been mounted to the frame and work on the cowling started, I recognized that the frame in front of the cabin was not straight anymore - I guess due to the engine block which sits deep between the front beams. While this was not really recognizable, the engine covers would not fit anymore, leaving small but unpleasant gaps.
The engine is OOB not über-detailed, and I actually only wanted to open the left half of the cocling for the diorama. However, with this flaw I eventually decided to open both sides, what resulted in having the cowling covers sawn into two parts each and arranging them in open positions. Quite fiddly, and I also replaced the OOB leather straps that normally hold the cowling covers closed with textured adhesive tape, for a more voluminous look. The engine also received some additional cables and hoses - nothing fancy, though, but better than the quite bleak OOB offering.
Some minor details were added in the cabin: a floor mat (made from paper, it looks like being made from cocos fibre) covers the area in front of the seats and the steering wheel was wrapped with cord - a detail that many Bentleys with race history shared, for a better grip for the driver.
Overall, the car model was painted with pure Humbrol 239 (British Racing Green) enamel paint, except for the passenger section. Here I found Revell's instructions to be a bit contradictive, because I do not believe in a fully painted car, esp. on this specific Le Mans race car. I even found a picture of the real car as an exhibition piece, and it rather shows a faux leather or vinyl cladding of the passenger compartment - in a similar dark green tone, but rather matt, with only a little shine, and with a lighter color due to the rougher surface. So I rather tried to emulate this look, which would also make the model IMHO look more interesting.
As a fopundation I used a mix of Humbrol 239 and 75 (Bronze Green), on top of which I later dry-brushed Revell 363 (Dark Green). The effect and the gloss level looked better than expected - I feared a rather worn/used look - and I eventually did not apply and clear varnish to this area. In fact, no varnish was applied to the whole model because the finish looked quite convincing!
The frame and the engine were slightly weathered with a black ink wash, and once the model was assembled I added some oil stains to the engine and the lower hull, and applied dust and dirt through mineral artist pigments to the wheels with their soft vinyl tires and the whole lower car body. I wanted the car to look basically clean and in good shape, just like a museum piece, but having been driven enthusiastically along some dusty country roads (see below). And this worked out quite well!
Since I wanted a safe store for the model I tried to find a suitable display box and found an almost perfect solution in SYNAS from Ikea. The sturdy SYNAS box (it's actually sold as a toy/Children's lamp!?) had very good dimensions for what I had in mind. Unfortunately it is only available in white, but for its price I would not argue. As a bonus it even comes with integrated LED lighting in the floor, as a rim of lights along the side walls. I tried to exploit this through a display base that would leave a 1cm gap all around, so that light could be reflected upwards and from the clear side walls and the lid onto the model.
The base was created with old school methods: a piece of MDF wood, on top of which I added a piece of cobblestone street and grass embankment, trying to capture the rural atmosphere around Schloss Dyck. Due to the large scale of the model I sculpted a light side slope under the pavement (a Tamiya print with a light 3D effect), created with plaster and fine carpenter putty. The embankment was sculpted with plaster, too.
The cobblestone cardboard was simply glued to the surface, trimmed down, and then a fairing of the base's sides was added, thin balsa wood.
Next came the grass - again classic methods. First, the surface was soaked with a mix of water, white glue and brown dispersion paint, and fine sand rinsed over the surfaces. Once dry, another mix of water, white glue and more paint was applied, into which foamed plastic turf of different colors and sizes was dusted. After anothetr drying period this area was sprayed with contact glue and grass fibres were applied - unfortunately a little more than expected. However, the result still looks good.
At the border to the street, the area was covered with mineral pigments, simulating mud and dust, and on the right side I tried to add a puddle, made from Humbrol Clearfix and glue. For some more ambiance I scratched a typical German "local sight" roadsign from cardboard and wood, and I also added a pair of "Classic Days" posters to the mast. Once in place I finally added some higher grass bushels (brush fibres) and sticks (dried moss), sealing everything in place with acralic varnish from the rattle can.
In order to motivate the Bentley's open cowling, I tried to set an engine failure into scene: with the car abandoned during the Classic Days' demo races along the local country roads, parked at the side of the street, and with a puddle of engine below and a small trail of oil behind the car (created with Tamiya "Smoke", perfect stuff for this task!). A hay bale, actually accessory stuff for toy tractors and in fact a square piece of wood, covered with straw chips, subtly hint at this occasion.
Finally, for safe transport, the model was attached to the base with thin wire, the base glued to the light box' floor with double-sided adhesive tape and finally enclosed.
Quite a lot of work, the car model alone took four patient weeks to fully materialize, and the base in the SYNAS box took another two weeks, even though work proceeded partly in parallel. However, I am positively surprised how well this build turned out - the Heller kit was better/easier to assemble than expected, and many problems along the way could be solved with patience and creative solutions.
Replacing a Jonckheere Mistral which used to be on this plate, VanHool T9 Alizée bodied DAF SB4000XF coach R3 YPB is in a new livery for York Pullman as heads along Nunnery Lane, running a Goodwin PLC charter. this had been YJ03 PPF having been with the Southern Vectis coaching arm known as Moss Motors, and also Marchwood Coaches.
On one level, I actually feel bad replacing my original a7--It's been everywhere I've been. So I wanted to take some nice glamour shots of it and try my best to make it look like a million bucks. Or, at least is MSRP.
The little red dot fell off the lens a while back so I used my fiance's sparkly nail polish to mark it, unfortunately (or fortunately, if you want a lens to be FABULOUS) I spilled some of the sparkly nail polish on it. I could only wipe so much off, so now I have a sparkly lens.
THE HISTORY OF THE DRIVE IN THEATER:
The DRIVE IN THEATER was the creation of Camden, New Jersey, chemical company magnate Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr., whose family owned and operated the R.M. Hollingshead Corporation chemical plant in Camden. In 1932, Hollingshead conducted outdoor theater tests in his driveway at 212 Thomas Avenue in Riverton. After nailing a screen to trees in his backyard, he set a 1928 Kodak projector on the hood of his car and put a radio behind the screen, testing different sound levels with his car windows down and up. Blocks under vehicles in the driveway enabled him to determine the size and spacing of ramps so all automobiles could have a clear view of the screen. Following these experiments, he applied August 6, 1932, for a patent of his invention, and he was given U.S. Patent 1,909,537 on May 16, 1933.
Hollingshead's drive-in opened in New Jersey June 6, 1933, on Admiral Wilson Boulevard at the Airport Circle in Pennsauken, a short distance from Cooper River Park. It offered 400 slots and a 40 by 50 ft (12 by 15 m) screen. He advertised his drive-in theater with the slogan, "The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are." The first film shown was the Adolphe Menjou film Wife Beware. The facility only operated three years, but during that time the concept caught on in other states. The April 15, 1934, opening of Shankweiler's Auto Park in Orefield, Pennsylvania, was followed by Galveston's Drive-In Short Reel Theater (July 5, 1934), the Pico Drive-In Theater at Pico and Westwood boulevards in Los Angeles(September 9, 1934) and the Weymouth Drive-In Theatre in Weymouth, Massachusetts (May 6, 1936). In 1937, three more opened in Ohio, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with another 12 during 1938 and 1939 in California, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Texas and Virginia. Early drive-in theaters had to deal with noise pollution issues. The original Hollingshead drive-in had speakers installed on the tower itself which caused a sound delay affecting patrons at the rear of the drive-in's field. In 1935, the Pico Drive-in Theater attempted to solve this problem by having a row of speakers in front of the cars. In 1941, RCA introduced in-car speakers with individual volume controls which solved the noise pollution issue and provided satisfactory sound to drive-in patrons.
The drive-in's peak popularity came in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly in rural areas, with some 4,000 drive-ins spread across the United States. Among its advantages was the fact that a family with a baby could take care of their child while watching a movie, while teenagers with access to autos found drive-ins ideal for dates. Revenue is more limited than regular theaters since showings can only begin at twilight. There were abortive attempts to create suitable conditions for daylight viewing such as large tent structures, but nothing viable was developed.
In the 1950s, the greater privacy afforded to patrons gave drive-ins a reputation as immoral, and they were labeled "passion pits" in the media. During the 1970s, some drive-ins changed from family fare to exploitation films, as a way to offset declining patronage and revenue. Also, during the 1970s, some drive-ins began to show pornographic movies in less family-centered time slots to bring in extra income. This allowed censored materials to be viewed by a wide audience, some for whom viewing was illegal, and it was reliant upon the whims of local ordinances controlling such material. It also required a relatively remote location distant from populated areas such as towns and cities.
Over time, the economics of real estate made the large property areas increasingly expensive for drive-ins to operate successfully. Land became far too valuable for businesses such as drive-ins, which in most cases were summer-only. Widespread adoption of daylight saving time subtracted an hour from outdoor evening viewing time. These changes and the advent of color televisions, VCRs and video rentals led to a sharp decline in the drive-in popularity. Drive-ins were subject to the whim of nature as inclement weather often caused
cancellations. They eventually lapsed into a quasi-novelty status with the remaining handful catering to a generally nostalgic audience, though many drive-ins continue to successfully operate in some areas. By 2013, drive-ins comprised only 1.5 percent of movie screens in the United States. At the industry's height, 25 percent of the nation's movie screens had been in a drive-in. As of 2012, a figure of 368 drive-ins has been published as for how many Drive-Ins remain in use through out the United States.
THIS DRIVE IN THEATER....
opened for business on August 12, 1949. As developed by Courtney Evans, on land owned by Mildred and Albert Steele, the drive-in, in 1949 was quite different than what remains of it today. tod During its first year of operations, two large speakers mounted on opposite sides of the screen broadcast the sound. When conditions were right, it was possible to hear the movie three miles away in the town. When the Steeles' purchased Mr. Evans’ interest in the operation in 1950, the sound system was replaced by in-car speakers.
The original screen was also quite different from the one that still stands today. Transplanted from Camden, New Jersey, it was constructed of fabric and could be raised or lowered on a supporting framework. A well-corroborated story has it, that one night some local boys cut the tethers during a show, sending the screen to the ground just as a plane in the picture went down in flames. This screen was eventually replaced by a rather small but more conventional movie screen, which was succeeded, in 1972, by the steel screen structure that remains today.
While the amenities of public accommodations have changed along with popular expectations, those found along rural roadsides in the 40’s and 50’s were often quite rudimentary by contemporary standards. The facilities featured at this Drive-In Theater during this period were no exception. Until the Roller Rink opened on the premises in 1954, ladies and gentlemen were offered restroom accommodations in outhouses concealed behind a rose trellis. When the adjacent roller rink opened in ‘54, women were offered accommodation inside and the men's outdoor facilities remained until 1968 when separate indoor restrooms were constructed.
During the drive-in’s early years, this states Blue Laws prohibited the exhibition of motion pictures on Sundays. To circumvent these restrictions, the Steeles presented music shows on a stage in front of the screen. Albert’s band, The Blue Hen Ramblers, was a familiar attraction, as was Pollie Peach Tree, a comedy routine between sets, featuring Mildred Steele. Bill Haley performed at the Drive-In, without his Comets, as did Tex Ritter.
In 1966, the Drive-In was leased to a Baltimore-based exhibition circuit for the next 20 years. Disappointed with the results from their initial engagements, R/C Theaters ventured into the burgeoning field of adult entertainment. Though tame by the standards of contemporary features, the adult films of the late 60’s were an instant success at the drive-in. By the mid 80’s, though, even this market had lost its vitality, and as occurred with so many outdoor theaters at the time, and the Drive-In closed its doors in 1986 as audiences migrated to a new generation of indoor theaters and patrons stayed at home choosing movies on cable and video cassette instead.
In 1996, veteran New England drive-in operator Don Brown leased the Drive-In Theater property, renovating and reopening it again and bringing it back to its glory days of mass-appeal drive-in entertainment. But, This would end in November 2008, and the last Movie to screened at this Drive-In was Madagascar 2, this is when the Steeles' heirs opted not to renew the lease in order to put the land on the market.
Much good this did the family as the land, 5 years later still sits Abandoned to this day...
Fonte: Wikipedia
The band was established by brothers Keith and Jordan Buckley, whose father, Michael Buckley, lectures Computer Science and Engineering at the University at Buffalo. They added to the initial lineup with guitarist Andy Williams, bassist John McCarthy, and drummer Michael "Ratboy" Novak. In their first short tour covering the Buffalo, New York and Toronto, Ontario, Canada vicinities, the band met Goodfellow Records producer Chris Logan, who released the band's debut EP Burial Plot Bidding War in 2000. The following year, Aaron Ratajczak replaced McCarthy as bassist before the band released its debut full-length album Last Night in Town that year under Ferret Records, leading to a tour for that album in collaboration with Killswitch Engage the following year.[1]
In 2001, Stephen Micciche, of Kid Gorgeous replaced Ratajczak as bassist for the band's second full-length Hot Damn! and the band's subsequent American tour supporting Jackass star Steve-O. This era brought about their first mini Warped Tour stint, overseas tours with NORA and Chimaira, numerous U.S tours with bands such as Bleeding Through, Norma Jean, Dillinger Escape Plan, and a spot on the 2004 Ozzfest tour. However, Micciche resigned from his position in 2005. Micciche was replaced by Kevin Falk. However, three months after recording sessions for the band's third album Gutter Phenomenon and a European tour, he was replaced by Chris Byrnes of NORA, who left the band after touring with them at the Warped Tour 2006. Their sixth bassist, Keller Harbin (formerly of The Chariot), replaced Byrnes and played with the band for its tour with Atreyu on the World Championship Tour along with From First to Last and Chiodos. The band was featured on the 2007 Sounds of the Underground tour. Josh Newton, was inducted in September 2007 as the band's seventh bassist for a tour with Underoath.
In 2006, their song "The New Black" was featured as a bonus track in Guitar Hero 2 and also in the PlayStation 3 game MotorStorm. The band performed the song "We'rewolf" live on the ABC late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Halloween of 2007. From January–February 2008, Every Time I Die went on a tour with Killswitch Engage, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and Parkway Drive. They also headlined the Take Action Tour, playing alongside From First to Last, August Burns Red, The Bled, and The Human Abstract. The band played the entire Warped Tour 2008.
During the 2009 UK tour with Gallows, a song titled "Buffalo 666" from their then-upcoming album New Junk Aesthetic was played for the first time. The album also included guest vocals by Pete Wentz, Matt Caughthran and Greg Puciato. At the end of June it was announced that drummer Mike "Ratboy" Novak had left the band due to "personal conflicts".
On August 23, Ryan "Legs" Leger was added as the new drummer.[9] The band was part of the European Taste of Chaos Tour at the end of 2009, supporting headliners Killswitch Engage and In Flames.
Every Time I Die headlined the 2010 Australian Boys of Summer Tour. In support of Every Time I Die were Australian bands 50 Lions, House vs. Hurricane and Mary Jane Kelly. The band toured across Australia playing shows in Sydney, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
Josh Newton announced on October 12, 2011 that he was no longer in the band. For the remainder of the tour, Stephen Micciche filled his role as bassist. On December 12, they released a video on Warped Tour's YouTube channel announcing they were playing all dates on the 2012 Warped Tour.
In January 2012, Every Time I Die released their video for "Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space", from their album Ex Lives, which was released on March 6, 2012. On February 23, Every Time I Die posted a film clip to another new song, "Revival Mode". In January, the band made a tour in South America with Four Year Strong and New Found Glory. Rio de Janeiro's show, the last one in Brazil was recorded and will be the next DVD of the band.
On October 15, 2013, the band was announced to be a support act for A Day to Remember on their European Tour 2014.
In the spring of 2014, the band announced that they were starting production on their seventh studio album From Parts Unknown with producer Kurt Ballou which was released July 8, 2014 along with their 6th run on the Vans Warped Tour 20th edition. The album peaked at #22 on the Billboard 200, their second top 25 in the band's existence. Following their time on Warped Tour Every Time I Die started a Canadian tour in mid September with Expire and Counterparts. Following their Canadian tour they co-headlined a winter tour with The Ghost Inside along with support from Architects, Backtrack and Hundredth as their openers.
In February 2015 the band announced Ryan Leger's departure to be replaced by Daniel Davison, formerly of Norma Jean and Underoath. On March 29, the band revealed that they would be releasing an EP exclusively for Record Store Day titled Salem.
In the 1890s members of the parish of St. John's Church discussed the prospects of replacing the wooden church they used for worship, that was erected in 1868, with a more substantial structure, but no definite action was taken. The proposal was afterwards revived on various occasions, but it was not until the early 1930s that a preliminary sketch plan of a new building was prepared. However, in the Great Depression era, finance held the project up until 1936, when a definite move was made to erect a new Anglican Church on a site in Downey Street on the same block as the rectory.
The St John’s Anglican Church that we see today on Downey Street, Alexandra, opposite the State Offices, is the result. Plans for a notable improvement in local church architecture were prepared by Mr. L. R. Williams of Melbourne, and a contract awarded to Mr. George. A. Payne of Alexandra. The new church is built in Spanish Mission style and is constructed of the 1930s wonder building material; concrete. The current church building, which has a stuccoed treatment to its walls, is a notable landmark in the town because of its elegant lines, its elongated shape and the very tall belfry that stands above the single and double-storey buildings in its immediate vicinity. It has architectural features typical of the Spanish Mission style, including; groups of narrow arched windows, ornamental grillework over some of the windows, decorative parapets on the belfry, a hipped roof and Spanish style tiles. Together with interior furnishings, St John’s Anglican Church cost about £2,400.00.
Many pieces of the church’s furnishings, windows and supporting structures were gifts from the generous local community. The memorial gates leading onto the street were given by Mr. and Mrs. George. A. Payne in memory of their mothers – Mrs. Phoebe J. Payne and Mrs. M. A. Haning. Mr. George A. Payne also generously donated over £100.00 in order to provide for a more expensive terracotta tiled roof, instead of the cheaper alternative iron roof, which was provided for in the contract. The tiles give added beauty to the building. The pulpit, altar, and choir rails are outstanding examples of local craftsmanship, and are made from Ruoak timber obtained from the Rubicon forest close by. Mrs. G. Hall, contributed the cost of the pulpit, and the late Mr. Gordon Payne, the altar and rails. Both were dedicated to memory of their parents, the late Mr. and Mrs. G. Payne, of "Summerview," Messrs. Clark and Pearce provided and fixed the dado. The ladies' club supplied the carpet. Mr. G. Sapsford paid for the choir stall, which was dedicated to memory of his mother, the late Mrs. Mary Jane Payne. A Miss Magee had a stained glass window dedicated to the memory of her brothers and sister. A Mr. George A. Payne's family also dedicated a stained glass window, in memory of their mother, Phoebe J. Payne. Mr. E. Trenerry donated a prayer desk and seat. Mr. G. Grant donated a credence table. Miss L. Maddox donated a set of communion cruets. Mrs. Melville gave a pedestal and Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Webb dedicated a pedestal to the memory of their daughter Winifred.
St John’s Anglican Church was dedicated on a Saturday afternoon in 1937 by the Bishop of Wangaratta, the Right Rev. J. S. Hart, in the presence of over 350 people, who came from near and far to take part in an historic event of great in interest to the Anglican community around Alexandra. At 2.30 p.m. the choir and members of the clergy marched round the building, singing the hymn, "Through all the changing scenes of life." At the main entrance the Bishop was presented with a petition, on behalf of the congregation, praying that the building be dedicated. After prayers had been said the Bishop blessed the baptismal font, pulpit and altar, and dedicated the pulpit and altar. The church and various gifts were also dedicated, and the Bishop, in his address, said the old structure had outlived its usefulness, and now the people had given a beautiful present to the glory of God in a new church After referring to preliminary steps taken by the Rev, L. G. Ball, the Bishop said that under the able guidance of the present rector, the Rev. Douglas Blake, the work had been planned and carried out. The rector had the real gift of leadership, combined with common sense and artistic taste. The architect had given of his best, and the contractor had realised his dream of building a worthy structure. The visiting clergy included two former rectors – Cannons Scott and Rowed, the Revs. Robertson and Brown (Violet Town and Mansfield respectively) and Mr. Purbrick, Registrar of the Diocese. All present were afterwards entertained by the ladies in the church hall, where a bountiful supply of refreshments was provided.
The Spanish Mission style was typically a style that emerged in California during the interwar years and spread across the world.
Alexandra is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located at the junction of the Goulburn Valley Highway (B340) and Maroondah Highway (B360), 26 kilometres west of Eildon. The town was settled in the late 1860s, with a Post Office opening on 15 March 1867 (known until 24 April 1867) as Redgate. The town was originally known as Redgate, or Red Gate Diggings. The current name either derives from Alexandra of Denmark (Queen’s Consort to King Edward VII of England) when given a stature of her to the shire; or from three men named Alexander (Alesander, McGregor, Alexander Don, and Alexander Luckie) who discovered gold in the area in 1866. Charles Jones born Herefordshire also discovered Gold on the Luckie Mine in 1866. He bought a Hotel with John Henry Osborne and was the proprietor of the New York and London Hotel Grant Street Alexandra. The railway to Alexandra arrived in the town via Yea from Tallarook in 1909, and closed on November 18, 1978. The Rubicon Tramway connected Alexandra with the village of Rubicon, at the junction of the Rubicon and Royston Rivers. Today many tourists pass through Alexandra on their way to the Mount Buller ski resort from Melbourne. The town contains the Timber Tramway and Museum (located at the Alexandra Railway Station), and the National Trust classified post office and law courts. There is a local market on the second Saturday of each month from September to May, an annual art show at Easter, an agricultural show and rose festival in November, and the annual Truck, Rod and Ute Show in June.
We had a weekend in Borrowdale recently, a Christmas present that we tagged a day on to. After calling at work on Saturday morning to open for business we headed up the motorway to Penrith. The road through the central lakes was washed away in the recent floods and it is going to be a long job replacing it. This made the diverted journey around 145 miles but we had a good run up there. We wanted to get walking ASAP so we pulled in at Threlkeld with a view to heading up Clough Head, and subject to conditions, head over the Dodds and back by the Old Coach Road. We had left appalling weather at home, wind, rain, fog and sleet on the tops. Thankfully it was better further north. There was laying snow on the summits, it was fairly calm low down and some summits were cloud free.
We left the car at 11.10 in our winter gear, straight up through the quarries and the steep scree slope (another Red Screes), by now we were into the snow line. The cloud was down, the wind gale force and the summit frozen hard – a different world up here. South next to Calfhow Pike, the wind made it difficult to talk and it was around -4 so the there was a fair wind-chill factor. It was tough going to our next top – Great Dodd, part of the Helvellyn massif – It was to icy to walk in places which meant deviating from the path, and losing our bearings, visibility was around ten yards with spindrift creating a whiteout at times. We battled on to the top and found the summit cairn. Great Dodd isn’t the easiest top to find your way off in low visibility, we would have gone further but in these conditions it was pointless so we retraced our steps to Calfhow and clear conditions. From here we followed Mosedale beck to Mariel Bridge, which is on the Old Coach Road, this gave us a circular route back to our start. The Old Coach Road has been wrecked by the floods and the 4x4 off roaders are making it a lot worse. 9.25 miles in 3 ¼ hours and we were in Brysons Tearooms in Keswick for Coffee and cake by 3.45pm. We carried on to Borrowdale and checked in at our hotel, not a bad day really.
After a poor night in a poor bed we were breakfasted and out for 8.30. We drove the few miles up to Seatoller and we were kitted up and away at 9.10. A bitterly cold and icy morning, there was some sun but not as much as promised. We could see the summit of Great End covered in cloud, we were heading up there on to the Sca Fell massif. We followed the valley to the east of Seathwaite Fell, a new path for us. Once in the snow the going was very icy with the path ice covered in places. The snow was dry and powdery and in places it had blown over the underlying ice. At this point I might add, we do own crampons. After a winter of splashing around soaked we didn’t expect to need them and they were at home – very clever! This was our first real winters day this winter, other than an hour on Sca Fell Pike on Christmas Day, we haven’t seen winter conditions this winter. By the time we got to Esk Hause it was difficult to stay upright and on our way to Great End we had to pick our way very carefully around the worst of the ice. The spindrift made it difficult to see the ground at times, spinning around our feet in a mist. Once on the summit the cloud was thick and the wind speed high. We had been here fairly recently so I knew the layout of the summit and we had little difficulty finding the summit cairn. We were cursing our lack of crampons and the cloud. Instead of heading into the cloud along the Sca Fell Pike path we decided to get under the cloud, back to Esk Hause and head over Allen Crags and Glaramara. At this point we both took some heavy falls, as did others up there, a lot turned around and headed back down, it was deadly. The cloud had thickened, there wasn’t a ray of sun to soften things. Our chosen route was one of the hardest afternoons we had ever had. Everywhere was frozen solid, we had to kick toe or heel holes to move on slopes that we wouldn’t have broken stride on normally. Minor rock scrambles down steep crags had become life threatening in places and we proceeded with extreme care. The knees were creaking on the long descent to Seathwaite. 10.3 miles in six hours, almost half the speed of yesterday. We made it Keswick for afternoon tea – and bought some Micro Spikes for unfinished business to deal with tomorrow. A beautiful day was forecast so fingers crossed we headed back for a soak in the tub.
Day three, a gorgeous icy, sunny winters day. Things looked promising. We left along yesterday’s route at the same start time – with walking poles and Micro Spikes! At the top of the valley we met a guy who had set off before us, two guys known to him were picking their way through the crags, tiny specks on the 800 foot rocky crag. Some appeared to have tried to climb the snow filled chimney that runs to the summit but we heard later that conditions weren’t suitable. Even though it was minus four the sun had softened the snow just enough to get a grip and it was easier to avoid the worst of the ice, unlike yesterday. The summit of Great End was incredible with never ending vistas. We could see a steady stream of walkers on every path by now. Word had got out that we were in for a rare treat today, plus it was school half term so a lot of people were off work. I visited every possible viewpoint as we went to the summit of Ill Crag , Broad Crag and finally Sca Fell Pike. It was 1.00 PM by now and a steady stream of elated walkers were arriving on England’s highest point. It was bitter but beautiful. We had around five miles back to the car along the Corridor Route to Styhead, Stockley Bridge and Seathwaite. Part of this route we had covered recently on Christmas Day and despite the snow and ice we powered along. We would have been back in two hours but! A mile from the car, following the manmade path down Taylorgill Force to Stockley Bridge Jayne Stumbled. It’s not often she walks in front. I normally lead and relay instructions and warnings back to her. She hit the rock path with her head and face really hard, stunned, she rolled off the path over a drop. She was vertical, resting on a rock on her knees and clinging on to the edge of the path with her fingertips. I grabbed her rucksack and held her whilst I checked her injuries. She had a bad bump on her temple, another on her forehead, split the bridge or her nose, her glasses had gone flying but would straighten. Being left handed she had stuck her left hand out and it had been bent back, it was swelling and discolouring pretty fast. When I had established that nothing was serious enough to stop her moving I got her back on to the path to see to her injuries. The pain initially made her think that she was in a worse state than ( I thought) she really was. She could move her fingers and wrist, albeit with some pain but not enough for it to be broken. The wound to the bridge of her nose although very painful wasn’t going to be a problem. The bumps on her head were turning into eggs by now. I gave her Ibuprofen and Paracetemol and she sat and composed herself for the final mile. We made it to the café in Keswick and got a slightly later afternoon break, our first of the day again. 11.3 miles today in 6 ¼ hours and fairly tough going. It was nothing more than a careless, tired perhaps, stumble on one of the horrible ( our own opinion, I might add) manmade paths made out of irregular stones which are laid at odd angles and are a nightmare to descend when wet on tired legs. A few days later and Jayne is sat on reception at the doctors looking like she’s been boxing, with a purple eye and nose, her left hand swollen and purple – otherwise she’s OK. I came down with mild food poisoning during the night and had to drive 145 miles home at 8.00 the morning after feeling extremely ill. I was due to start fasting for a Colonoscopy in three days. I ended up eating six slices of toast over a four day period – Monday evening to Thursday evening- Having had over 40 stomach endoscopies in twenty years the colonoscopy was nothing more than uncomfortable and , subject to biopsy results, everything looked OK. The trapped wind was another matter – for two days! All in all a very traumatic week. Needless to say we didn’t use the Micro Spikes.
Hartley is the third of the parishes that make up modern Longfield.
Situated down a long and narrow leafy lane, a modern church centre built against the west end is the fist thing you see after leaving the car park.
Inside, there are some fine wall paintings surviving, and interesting glass.
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In 1876 Hartley was described as a quiet, out of the way place with hop gardens on every hand, three or four comfortable farmhouses, a smith's forge and a few scattered cottages. The church of All Saints is mentioned as the only building of interest. The present building dates from the early 12th century and, like so many others, probably replaced one of Saxon origin. Amongst our neighbours, the churches of Fawkham, Ridley and West Kingsdown are of a similar age.
The church, which is flint with tiled roof, is a simple one comprising nave and chancel without aisles or chapels. A vestry and porch were added in the 19th century. All that remains of the Norman church are two small round-headed windows, one to the left of the porch as you enter the church, and the other in the north wall, and the impressive south door which still contains the original oak panels and wrought iron hinge work.
During the 13th century the chancel and chancel arch were rebuilt and, with the insertion of two large windows in the nave, the church took on its present shape. The only other remaining part of the medieval church is in the nave roof. Looking up, one can see the fine oak tie beams linking the north and south walls. On the top of these are three crown posts indicative of a 15th century date.
There is little in the church to remind us of the next three centuries. The parish registers should start in 1538 but the earliest register is lost. Now the registers of baptisms, marriages and burials start in 1712 and continue without a break to the present day. A Book of Remembrance was placed in the chancel in 1981 and records the names of departed loved ones.
During the last hundred years the church has undergone some necessary repairs and alterations. The east wall was rebuilt and vestry added in 1860-3. The stained glass in the south windows is of Victorian origin. The west wall and turret were rebuilt in 1892 and the porch in 1899. The bell turret, which existed in medieval times, is known to have been extensively repaired in 1750 and again in 1818. This caring work continues and the east window, which was filled with stained glass in 1898 to the memory of Adam Tait, was restored and re-ordered by the Friends of All Saints and parishioners with the generous assistance of the P & O Company in 1987.
www.fawkhamandhartley.org.uk/History/All%20Saints%20Churc...
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HARTLEY.
NEXT adjoining south-eastward lies Hartley, called in Domesday, Erclei, in the Textus Roffensis, Herdei.
This parish, which is but little known or frequented, contains about twelve hundred acres, part of which is a large wood, called Hartley-wood, containing one hundred and fifty acres, at the northern boundary of it; the soil of it is chalky, light, and much covered with flints. The church stands on the hill, round which there is no village, though here, and at Hartley-green, about a quarter of a mile northward from it, there are several stragling houses. The western part of this parish lies in the valley, called Hartley-bottom, along which the road leads to Wrotham and Trosley.
This place, at the taking the survey of Domesday, was part of the vast possessions of Odo, the great bishop of Baieux, and half-brother to the Conqueror; under the general title of whose lands it is thus described there.
Ralph Fitz Turald holds Erclei of the bishop (of Baieux.) It was taxed at one suling. The arable land is . . . . . In demesne there are 2 carucates and 9 villeins, with 6 cottagers, having 3 carucates. There are 3 servants, and wood for the pannage of 10 bogs. The whole manor was worth 3 pounds, and now 100 shillings; a certain woman held it.
In the same record, a little further on, under the same title of the bishop of 'Baieux's lands, is this entry:
Ralph Fitz Turald bolds Erclei of the bishop (of Baieux.) It was taxed at 1 suling. The arable land is half a carucate, and there are now 30 acres of arable. In demesne there is 1 carucate and 6 villeins, having half a carucate. There are 12 acres of meadow. In the time of king Edward the Confessor and afterwards, it was 40 shillings, now 4 pounds. Hunef, held it of earl Harold.
On the disgrace of the bishop of Baieux, which happened about four years after the taking this survey, all his lands and possessions became forfeited to the crown.
THE MANOR OF HARTLEY, soon after the Conqueror's reign, became part of the possessions of the noble family of Montchensie, (fn. 1) one of whom, Warine de Montchensie, was owner of it in the reign of king John. In the 37th year of king Henry III. he ob tained a charter of free-warren for this manor, and died next year, being then reputed one of the most valiant, prudent, and wealthy men in this kingdom. He left a son and heir William, and a daughter Joane, who had married William de Valence, the king's half brother. William de Montchensie, two years after, had possession granted of all his father's lands; not long after which, he took part with the discontented barons; and when the king was made prisoner at the battle of Lewes, in the 48th year of his reign, and the barons had summoned a parliament in his name, he was one of the chief of those that sat therein. (fn. 2) Notwithstanding, he was afterwards taken at Kenilworth, a little before the battle of Evesham, and his lands seized, yet he had soon after such favor shewn him, for his sister's sake, that they were freely restored to him again; and in the 6th year of king Edward I. he obtained full pardon, with other favors afterwards, among which was that of the view of frank-pledge, and the courts belonging to it in all his lands. He was killed at the siege of Drosselan-castle, in Wales, in the 17th year of that reign, leaving one daughter and sole heir, Dionisia, who was shortly afterwards married, through the king's means, to Hugh de Vere, third son of Robert, earl of Oxford, who in the 17th year of it had possession granted of the lands of her inheritance. In the 1st year of king Edward II. he was summoned to the king's coronation, as was Dionisia his wife, by whom it seems he had no issue; for on her death, in the 7th year of that reign, it was found that she died possessed of this manor of Hartley, among others, holding it of the king in capite, and that Adomar de Valence, earl of Pembroke, son of Joane and William de Valence before-mentioned, was her next heir. (fn. 3)
Aymer, earl of Pembroke, was greatly favored and employed both by king Edward I. and II. but in the 17th year of the reign of the latter, attending the queen into France, he was murdered there, in revenge, for the death of the earl of Lancaster, this earl being one of those who had passed sentence of death upon him at Pontefract two years before. (fn. 4) He left no issue, though he had three wives. Upon which John, son of John de Hastings, by Isabel his wife, the earl's sister, and John, son of John Comyn, of Badenagh, by Joane his other sister, were found to be his coheirs and next of kin, but Mary de St. Paul, his widow, surviving him, had next year for her dowry an assignation of this manor, among others. She died possessed of it in the 51st year of king Edward III. (fn. 5) Upon which it came to John de Hastings, great grandson of John de Hastings before-mentioned, who was found to be coheir, and next of kin to Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke.
John de Hastings before-mentioned, was then an insant, and at the coronation of king Richard II. being not quite five years old, claimed to carry the great golden spurs; and shewing sufficient evidence of his right to do that service, it was adjudged to him, and a deputy allowed him for that purpose, by reason of his non-age. He was afterwards unfortunately killed at a tournament at Woodstock, anno 13 king Richard II. (fn. 6) having married Philippa, daughter of Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, by whom he left no issue. Upon his death Reginald, lord Grey, of Ruthyn, was found to be his cousin, and next heir of the whole blood, as descended from John de Hastings and Isabel his wife, one of the sisters and heirs of Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke.
Philippa, countess of Pembroke, survived her husband; and having afterwards married Richard Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, (to whom she was second wife) he had this manor in dowry with her.
The earl was sined for this marriage four hundred marcs to the king, in consideration of which he was pardoned. Some time after which, observing the dangerous tendency of the times, and the implacable hatred that reigned in the king's breast against him, he retired into the country, having obtained a special dispensation from attending the parliament, or any other public employment. Notwithstanding which, the king searing him, soon afterwards got him into his power by fair words, and then sent him to prison, and quickly after brought him to his trial; and though he pleaded the king's promises and charter of pardon, he received a most severe sentence, to be drawn, hanged, quartered, &c. The rigour of which was somewhat softened, for he only lost his head at London, the king himself being a spectator of the execution. After his death his widow Philippa still kept possession of this manor, of which she was possessed at the time of her death, in the 2d year of king Henry IV. she then bearing the title of countess of Pembroke. (fn. 7)
On this, Reginald, lord Grey, of Ruthyn, became entitled to it, as next of kin, and heir of Aymer, earl of Pembroke, and as such at the coronation of king Henry IV. he carried the great golden spurs. Great quarrels arising between this Reginald, who had large possessions in Wales, and Owen Glendower, they had recourse to arms, and in the sequel Reginald was taken prisoner by the latter in Wales, and was obliged to give ten thousand marcs for his ransom; to raise which king Henry IV. in his 4th year granted licence to Robert Braybrooke, bishop of London, and others, then feoffees of several of his lordships, to fell the manor of Hertelegh, among others, towards raising that sum. (fn. 8) They sold it to John Urban, of Southfleet, who died possessed of it in the 8th year of king Henry V. (fn. 9) as did his son John in the 4th year of king Henry VI. (fn. 10) on which it came to his sister Emma Penhale, who died next year, (fn. 11) and left it to her son, and he held it in the 2d year of king Edward IV. as appears by the book of Dover in the exchequer.
In the 13th year of king Henry VII. William Cressel, esq. died possessed of the manor of Hartley, which he held of the king in capite by knight's service. (fn. 12) His son, Richard Cressel, in the beginning of the next reign, sold it to Draper; who passed it away to Ballard; and he conveyed it to William Sedley, esq. of Southfleet, at the latter end of the reign of king Edward VI. (fn. 13) in whose descendants it continued, in the same manner as the manor of Southfleet did, down to Sir Charles Sedley, bart. of Nuthall, in Nottinghamshire, who, in 1770, sold it to William Glanvill Evelyn, esq. of St. Cleres, in Ightham, the present owner of this manor.
Charity.
JOHN WALKER, esq. of Fawkham, who died in 1625, by his will bequeathed a coat, and a gown of good russet cloth, to two of the poorest men, and two of the poorest widows of this parish; to be delivered on Christmas-day yearly to each. After which they were to attend the service in the church of Fawkham, and then return to his mansion-house there, where they were to have a plentiful dinner. (fn. 14)
HARTLEY is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese and deanry of Rochester. The church is dedicated to All Saints. It is a small building, consisting of one isle and a chancel, having a pointed steeple at the west end, in which are two bells.
Among other inscriptions in this church, on the north side is a memorial for James Burrow, gent. of Kingsdown, obt. 1728, æt. 53; and for Elizabeth, his wife, daughter of John Cox, gent. of Stansted, obt. 1729; above, these arms, azure three fleurs de lis ermine impaling sable a chevron argent, between three attires of a stag fixed to the scalp of the second.
¶It is a rectory, and was formerly of the patronage of the Talbots, earls of Shrewsbury; to whom it came from their ancestor, Gilbert Talbot, who on the death of Mary de St. Paul, widow of Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, in the 51st year of king Edward III. was found by inquisition to be her heir, and next of kin. It was lately in the patronage of the earl of Plymouth, (fn. 15) afterwards of the reverend Thomas Blomfield, and since of his son, Thomas Blomfield, esq. who sold his interest in it to Richard Forrest, esq. who died in 1796. Since which it has been sold by the trustees appointed by his will, to the reverend Mr. Bradley, rector of this parish, who married Mr. Forrest's daughter, and he is now owner of this advowson.
In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church was valued at twelve marcs. By virtue of the commission of enquiry, issuing out of chancery in 1650, it was returned, that Hartley was a parsonage, with a house, and eight acres of glebe land, all worth sixty pounds per annum; one master Eves enjoying it, and preaching there. (fn. 16) It is valued in the king's books at seven pounds, and the yearly tenths at fourteen shillings. It is now of the value of about two hundred guineas per annum.
The Mack R series of trucks were produced from 1966-2005. It replaced the very successful Mack B series models. The first R models introduced were powered by Mack Thermodyne diesel and gasoline engines The Mack Maxidyne engine was introduced in 1967, it provided more maximum horsepower over a wider range of engine speeds than any other standard diesel engine of its day.
The Mack R-600 oil tanker truck found in the 1981 film, 'Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior,' used a 'coolpower' engine setup
Engines; Maxidyne 237hp 675, 285hp 676 and 322hp 865
During 1916 the British born Australian architect Walter Richmond Butler (1864 – 1949) designed a new Anglican Mission to Seamen to be built on an oddly shaped triangular block of land at 717 Flinders Street on the outskirts of the Melbourne central city grid, to replace smaller premises located in adjoining Siddeley Street, which had been resumed by the Harbour Trust during wharf extensions.
The Missions to Seamen buildings, built on reinforced concrete footings, are in rendered brick with tiled roofs. Walter Butler designed the complex using an eclectic mixture of styles, one of which was the Spanish Mission Revival which had become a prevalent style on the west coast of America, especially in California and New Mexico during the 1890s. The style revived the architectural legacy of Spanish colonialism of the Eighteenth Century and the associated Franciscan missions. The revival of the style is explicit in the Mission’s small, yet charming chapel with its rough-hewn timber trusses, in the bell tower with its pinnacles and turret surmounted by a rustic cross and in the monastic-like courtyard, which today still provides a peaceful retreat from the noisy world just beyond the Missions to Seamen’s doorstep. The chapel also features many gifts donated by members of the Harbour Trust and Ladies’ Harbour Lights Guild, including an appropriately themed pulpit in the shape of a ship's prow and two sanctuary chairs decorated with carved Australian floral motifs. Some of the stained glass windows in the chapel depict stories and scenes associated with the sea intermixed with those Biblical scenes more commonly found in such places of worship.
The adjoining Mission to Seamen’s administration, residential and recreational building shows the influence of English domestic Arts and Crafts architecture, with its projecting gable, pepper pot chimneys and three adjoining oriel windows. The lobby, with its appropriately nautically inspired stained glass windows, features a large mariner's compass inlaid in the terrazzo floor. Built-in timber cupboards, wardrobes, paneling and studded doors throughout the buildings evoke a ship's cabin.
Walter Butler, architect to the Anglican Diocese in Melbourne, had come to Australia with an intimate knowledge and experience of the Arts and Crafts movement and continued to use the style in his residential designs of the 1920s. The main hall has a reinforced concrete vaulted ceiling. Lady Stanley, wife of the Mission's patron, Governor Sir Arthur Lyulph Stanley, laid the foundation stone of the complex in November 1916. The buildings were financed partly by a compensation payment from the Harbour Trust of £8,500.00 and £3,000.00 from local merchants and shipping firms. The Ladies' Harbour Lights Guild raised over £800.00 for the chapel. Most of the complex was completed by late 1917 whilst the Pantheon-like gymnasium with oculus was finished soon afterwards. The substantially intact interiors, including extensive use of wall paneling in Tasmanian hardwood, form an integral part of the overall design.
The Missions to Seamen buildings are architecturally significant as a milestone in the early introduction of the Spanish Mission style to Melbourne. The style was to later find widespread popularity in the suburbs of Melbourne. The choice of Spanish Mission directly refers to the Christian purpose of the complex. The Missions to Seamen buildings are unusual for combining two distinct architectural styles, for they also reflect the imitation of English domestic architecture, the Arts and Crafts movement. Walter Butler was one of the most prominent and progressive architects of the period and the complex is one of his most unusual and distinctive works.
The Missions to Seamen buildings have historical and social significance as tangible evidence of prevailing concerns for the religious, moral, and social welfare of seafarers throughout most of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. The complex has a long association with the Missions to Seamen, an organisation formed to look after the welfare of seafarers, both officers and sailors, men "of all nationalities". It had its origins in Bristol, England when a Seamen's Mission was formed in 1837. The first Australian branch was started in 1856 by the Reverend Kerr Johnston, a Church of England clergyman, and operated from a hulk moored in Hobsons Bay; later the Mission occupied buildings in Williamstown and Port Melbourne. In 1905 the Reverend Alfred Gurney Goldsmith arrived at the behest of the London Seamen's Mission to establish a city mission for sailors working on the river wharves and docks. The building reflects the diverse role played by the Mission with its chapel, hall and stage, billiards room, reading room, dining room, officers' and men’s quarters, chaplain's residence, and gymnasium. It is still in use to this day under the jurisdiction of a small, but passionate group of workers, providing a welcome place of refuge to seamen visiting the Port of Melbourne.
Walter Butler was considered an architect of great talent, and many of his clients were wealthy pastoralists and businessmen. His country-house designs are numerous and include “Blackwood” (1891) near Penshurst, for R. B. Ritchie, “Wangarella” (1894) near Deniliquin, New South Wales, for Thomas Millear, and “Newminster Park” (1901) near Camperdown, for A. S. Chirnside. Equally distinguished large houses were designed for the newly established Melbourne suburbs: “Warrawee” (1906) in Toorak, for A. Rutter Clark; “Thanes” (1907) in Kooyong, for F. Wallach; “Kamillaroi” (1907) for Baron Clive Baillieu, and extensions to “Edzell” (1917) for George Russell, both in St Georges Road, Toorak. These are all fine examples of picturesque gabled houses in the domestic Queen Anne Revival genre. Walter Butler was also involved with domestic designs using a modified classical vocabulary, as in his remodelling of “Billilla” (1905) in Brighton, for W. Weatherley, which incorporates panels of flat-leafed foliage. Walter Butler also regarded himself as a garden architect.
As architect to the diocese of Melbourne from 1895, he designed the extensions to “Bishopscourt” (1902) in East Melbourne. His other church work includes St Albans (1899) in Armadale, the Wangaratta Cathedral (1907), and the colourful porch and tower to Christ Church (c.1910) in Benalla. For the Union Bank of Australia he designed many branch banks and was also associated with several tall city buildings in the heart of Melbourne’s central business district such as Collins House (1910) and the exceptionally fine Queensland Insurance Building (1911). For Dame Nellie Melba Butler designed the Italianate lodge and gatehouse at “Coombe Cottage” (1925) at Coldstream.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some Background:
The Grumman F8F (G-58, Grumman Aircraft's design designation) Bearcat was a U.S. Navy/Marine Corps single-engine, fighter aircraft. It was introduced late in World War II as a carrier-based fighter. In replacing the obsolescent F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat, climb rate was an important design factor for the F8F, which was faster and lighter than the F6F carrier-based fighter. In late 1943, Grumman began development of the F8F Bearcat and deliveries from Grumman began on 21 May 1945.
In 1946, the F8F set a climb record of 6,383 fpm and held this record until it was broken by a jet fighter in 1956. Early F8Fs first flew in August 1944, followed by production aircraft starting in February 1945, the war ended before the F8F saw combat.
The F8F was Grumman’s last piston engine fighter Production ended in 1949, after Grumman had produced 1,265 F8F Bearcats in total. Directly after the war, the F8F was a key fighter for the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps. Since it was one of the best-handling piston fighters ever, its performance made it the top selection in 1946 for the U.S. Navy’s elite Blue Angels demonstration squadron. When the F8F became obsolete (The last ones in U.S. service were retired in 1952), it was replaced with jet fighter aircraft, the F9F Panther and the F2H Banshee.
From 1946 to 1954, the F8F saw its first combat during the French Indochina War, being used by French forces. Surviving Bearcats from that war were given to the Republic of Vietnam Air Force and to Cambodia, and some were mothballed. The Royal Thai Air Force also flew a number of Bearcats that were purchased from the U.S. Navy.
Gabon became another, rather late operator of the F8F. In the early 1960s, following the country's independence from the French Republic, aerial detachments remained inside the country. The first president of Gabon, elected in 1961, was Léon M'ba, with Omar Bongo Ondimba as his vice president. As a starting stock of flying equipment, Gabon took over twenty refurbished, former Armée de L’air F8F Bearcats from French surplus stock and used them both as advanced trainers and for operational military duties, which became more and more the Bearcats’ primary mission. After M'ba's accession to power, the press was suppressed, political demonstrations banned, freedom of expression curtailed, other political parties gradually excluded from power, and the Constitution changed along French lines to vest power in the Presidency, a post that M'ba assumed himself.
However, when M'ba dissolved the National Assembly in January 1964 to institute one-party rule, an army coup sought to oust him from power and restore parliamentary democracy. French paratroopers flew in within 24 hours to restore M'ba to power. At that time the small Gabonese F8F fleet was joined by a couple of former French Douglas AD-4 Skyraiders, which had been originally procured for use in the Algerian War. After the end of this conflict in 1964, the machines were used in Djibouti, Madagascar and Chad, among other places, and eight of them joined the Gabonese forces as part of the Presedential Guards, flown by French mercenaries because the Gabonese troops lacked flight and – moreover – combat experience. After a few days of fighting, the coup ended and the opposition was imprisoned, despite widespread protests and riots. French soldiers still remain in the Camp de Gaulle on the outskirts of Gabon's capital to this day.
After these riots, Gabon’s first official aerial installation was established in 1966: Mouila Training Center in the south-west of the country. When M'Ba died in 1967, Bongo replaced him as president. In March 1968, Bongo declared Gabon a one-party state by dissolving the BDG and establishing a new party—the Parti Democratique Gabonais (PDG). He invited all Gabonese, regardless of previous political affiliation, to participate. Bongo sought to forge a single national movement in support of the government's development policies, using the PDG as a tool to submerge the regional and tribal rivalries that had divided Gabonese politics in the past.
On January 25, 1972, by presidential decree signed by President Omar Bongo, the Gabonese Air Force became an official branch of the armed forces, separate from the army, and funds were allocated to replace the outdated and worn-out AD-4s and F8Fs with more adequate equipment. The implementation of this plan would take some more years, though, starting with the procurement of modern Mirage 5 fighter bombers from France in 1978, which replaced the old types until the end of the decade. In January 1980, at the initiative of President Bongo, the Air Force eventually developed and adopted a combat structure and created the dedicated Mvengue Air Base in the capital.
Today, Gabon has a small, professional military of about 5,000 personnel, divided into army, navy, air force, gendarmerie, and national police. Gabonese forces are oriented to the defense of the country and have not been trained for an offensive role. A well-trained, well-equipped 1,800-member guard provides security for the president.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 28 ft 3 in (8.61 m)
Wingspan: 35 ft 10 in (10.92 m)
Height: 13 ft 10 in (4.22 m)
Wing area: 244 sq ft (22.7 m²)
Aspect ratio: 5.02
Airfoil: root: NACA 23018; tip: NACA 23009
Empty weight: 7,650 lb (3,470 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 13,460 lb (6,105 kg)
Powerplant:
1× Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney R-2800-34W Double Wasp 18-cylinder air-cooled radial piston
engine with 2,100 hp (1,600 kW), driving a 4-bladed constant-speed propeller
Performance:
Maximum speed: 455 mph (732 km/h, 395 kn)
Range: 1,105 mi (1,778 km, 960 nmi)
Service ceiling: 40,800 ft (12,400 m)
Rate of climb: 4,465 ft/min (22.68 m/s)
Wing loading: 42 lb/sq ft (210 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.22 hp/lb (0.36 kW/kg)
Armament:
4× 20 mm (.79 in) AN/M3 cannon in the outer wings
2,000 lb (907 kg) of ordnance on three prime hardpoints (incl. bombs, rocket pods, napalm tanks
or drop tanks), plus four underwing hardpoints for light loads like 5” (127 mm) HVAR unguided rockets
The kit and its assembly:
A rather quick/simple project that had been lingering in The Stash™ for a couple of years. The idea and inspiration: what if the French air force had left more than just a couple of Skyraiders in Northern African countries after their independence? The F8F was operated by the French Armée de l’air until 1954, even though primarily in Indochina. But some of these could have been transferred to countries like Chad, Central African Republic or Gabon, too, and from this thought this what-if model was born.
There are certainly better F8F kits (e. g. the Art Model kit with resin parts, including a finely detailed landing gear wells interior), but for a "budget build" or a conversion this one is a good starting point – and I had a Monogram F8F (Revell re-boxing) ready in stock. The model was basically built OOB, just with some cosmetic changes. The Monogram F8F in 1:72 holds only small surprises. It's a typical vintage Monogram kit (IIRC, the molds are from 1976) with raised (yet fine) details and vague fit - even though nothing fatal. PSR was basically necessary at any seam, esp. the unique wing/fuselage solution calls for some seam-filling. The cockpit interior is bare, but, except for the (quite nice) seat and the dashboard, nothing can be seen later. In order to pimp the interior, I added a dashboard – the kit comes with a rather symbolic one, consisting of two sections molded into the fuselage halves with an ugly seam. A styrene tube was added behind the engine block to take the propeller’s new metal axis, and a small pitot was added under the left wing, made from wire.
The clear parts (two pieces) are very transparent but came with lots of flash and massive attachment points to the sprue, what left visible marks on the parts. The landing gear is simple but O.K., very robust, but it appears quite stalky to me and the wells are totally bare. The oil cooler intakes in the wing roots are just holes, so I filled them with bits of foamed styrene. The underwing ordnance was changed into triple bazooka unguided missile launchers in the standard pylons' poristions (which had to be sanded away since they are molded into the wings' lower half), procured from an Academy P-51 kit, and on short notice I added four small bombs to the HVAR stations, from a Hobbycraft Skyraider. Not certain what they are supposed to be (maybe M47 incendiary bombs?), because of their small size and the vintage "box tail", but they could be light anti-personnel/shrapnel bombs?
Painting and markings:
I used the real-world Gabonese AD-4s as benchmarks – and even had a complete decal set for one of these machines (from a Hobbycraft kit) at hand. Consequently, I gave the F8F an overall NMF look, created with a base of Revell 99 (Aluminum), some single panels in Humbrol 56 (Aluminum Dope) and later a panel-shading with Humbrol 27001 (Matt Aluminum Metal Cote) and some good rubbing with a soft cotton cloth and a bit of graphite for some more depth in between the tones. Quite complex process, but it creates a nice, uneven and worn metallic look.
Parts of the cowling and the exhaust area became black, created with paint and decal material. The anti-glare panel was also painted in black, just with s slightly different tone (Revell 06, Tar Black).
I adopted a green cheatline as an individual aircraft marking, and the respective decals from the Hobbycraft Skyraider’s sheet were tailored accordingly to match the small F8F’s hull. A matching green tone was mixed for the wing, stabilizer and fin tips, and the propeller’s tip was painted green, too. The propeller blades’ tips received two yellow stripes on overall black – inspired by the design of the real Gabonese AD-4s’ markings.
All interior surfaces except for the cockpit were painted with bright green zinc primer (Revell 361, the cockpit ina darker Humbrol 226), the landing gear became silver-grey (Humbrol 56) – the former French F8Fs had kept the USN all-dark blue livery, and their landing gear would have been blue, too, but as a refurbished aircraft, stripped off of its former livery, would probably have a bare metal landing gear, too?
The kit received a black ink washing before aforementioned surface treatment was applied. After the addition of the decals the whole kit was sealed with a semi-gloss acrylic varnish to promote sine, except for the anti-glare panel, which became matt. Oil stains around the engine were created with Tamiya X-19 (Smoke) and soot stains around the guns and the exhaust ports were dry-painted with black acrylic paint and some graphite.
Well, this is, despite being more or less built OOB, a highly exotic what-if model, and I think that the NMF together with the green cheatlines suit the Bearcat well - adapting the paint scheme from a Douglas Skyraider onto the similar F8F was quite easy (and incidently the same path I had taken with another Monogram F8F in Cambodian markings some months ago).