History timeline

  

* 1893: Rudolf Diesel obtains a patent (RP 67207) titled [Theory and Construction of a Rational Heat-engine to Replace the Steam Engine and Combustion Engines Known Today] "Arbeitsverfahren und Ausführungsart für Verbrennungsmaschienen".

 

* 1897: On August 10 Diesel builds his first working prototype in Augsburg

 

* 1898 Diesel licences his engine to Branobel, Russian oil company, that is interested in the engine which can consume non-distilled oil. Branobel's engineers spent 4 years designing ship-mounted engine.

 

* 1899: Diesel licenses his engine to builders Krupp and Sulzer, who quickly become major manufacturers.

 

* 1902: until 1910 MAN produced 82 copies of the stationary diesel engine .

A diesel engine built by MAN AG in 1906

  

* 1903: Sormovo Shipbuilding Yard launches "Vandal" oil-tanker - first ship propelled by diesel engine.

 

* 1904: The French build the first diesel submarine, the Z.

 

* 1905: For diesel engines turbochargers and intercoolers were manufactured by Büchl (CH), as well as a scroll loader from Creux (F) company.

 

* 1908: Prosper L'Orange develops with Deutz a precisely controlled injection pump with a needle injection nozzle.

 

* 1909: The prechamber with hemispherical combustion chamber is developed by Prosper L'Orange with Benz.

 

* 1910: The Norwegian research ship Fram is the first ship of the world with a Diesel drive, afterwards Selandia was the first trading vessel. By 1960 the Diesel drive had displaced steam turbine and coal fired steam engines.

 

* 1912: The Danish built first diesel ship MS Selandia. The first locomotive with a diesel engine.

 

* 1913: U.S. Navy submarines use NELSECO units. Rudolf Diesel died mysteriously when he crossed the English Channel on the SS Dresden.

 

* 1914: German U-Boats are powered by MAN diesels.

 

* 1919: Prosper L'Orange obtains a patent on a prechamber insert and makes a needle injection nozzle. First diesel engine from Cummins.

 

* 1921: Prosper L'Orange builds a continuous variable output injection pump.

 

* 1922: First vehicle with (pre-chamber) diesel engine is theAgricultural tractor type 6 of Mercedes-Benz agricultural tractor OE Benz Sendling.

 

* 1923: first truck with diesel engine made by MAN, Benz and Daimler was tested.

 

* 1924: The introduction on the truck market of the diesel engine by commercial truck manufacturers in the IAA. Fairbanks-Morse starts building diesel engines.

 

* 1927: First truck injection pump and injection nozzles of Bosch. First passenger car prototype of Stoewer.

 

* 1930s: Caterpillar starts building diesels for their tractors.

 

* 1932: Introduction of strongest Diesel truck of the world by MAN with 160 hp (120 kW).

 

* 1933: of first passenger cars with diesel engine (Citroën Rosalie), Citroën uses an engine of the English Diesel pioneer sir Harry Ricardo . The car does not go into production due to legal restrictions in the use of Diesel engines.

 

* 1934: First turbo Diesel engine for railway train by Maybach.

 

* 1934–35: Junkers Motorenwerke in Germany starts production of the Jumo aviation diesel engine family, the most famous of these being the Jumo 205, of which over 900 examples are produced by the outbreak of World War II.

 

Rudolf Diesel's 1893 patent on his engine design

 

* 1936: Mercedes-Benz builds the 260D diesel car. AT&SF inaugurates the diesel train Super Chief. Airship Hindenburg is powered by diesel engines. First series manufactured passenger cars with diesel engine (Mercedes-Benz 260 D, Hanomag and Saurer). Daimler Benz airship diesel engine 602LOF6 for airship the LZ129 Hindenburg.

 

* 1937: BMW 114 (aircraft engine)|BMW 114 experimental airplane diesel engine development.

 

* 1938: First turbo Diesel engine of Saurer.

 

* 1944: Development of Air cooling for diesel engines by Klöckner Humboldt Deutz AG (KHD) for the production stage and later also for Magirus Deutz.

 

* 1953: Turbo Diesel truck for Mercedes in small series.

 

* 1954: Turbo-Diesel truck in mass production of Volvo. First diesel engine with an overhead cam shaft of Daimler Benz.

 

* 1968: Peugeot introduces the 204, the first small cars with a transversally mounted diesel engine and front-wheel drive.

 

* 1973: DAF produces an air-cooled diesel engine.

 

* 1976 February: Testing of a diesel engine of Volkswagen for the passenger car Volkswagen Golf. The Common Rail injection system was developed by the ETH Zurich from 1976 to 1992.

 

* 1977: The production of the first passenger car turbo-Diesels (Mercedes 300 SD).

 

* 1983: Grasshopper Mowers introduces the first zero-turn lawn mower powered by a diesel engine.

 

* 1985: ATI Intercooler diesel engine from DAF. First Common Rail system with the IFA truck type W50.

 

* 1986: Electronic Diesel Control (EDC) of Bosch with the BMW 524tD.

 

* 1987: Most powerful production truck with a 460 hp (340 kW) MAN diesel engine.

 

* 1988: First turbochargers with direct injection in the diesel engine from Fiat.

 

* 1991: European emission standards euro 1 met with the truck diesel engine of Scania.

 

* 1993: Pump nozzle injection introduced in Volvo truck engines.

 

* 1994: Unit injector system by Bosch for diesel engines.

 

* 1997: First common rail in passenger car, Alfa Romeo 156.

 

* 1998: BMW makes history by winning the 24 Hour Nuerburgring race with the 320d, powered by a two-liter, four-cylinder diesel engine. The combination of high-performance with better fuel efficiency allows the team to make fewer pit stops during the long endurance race.

 

* 1999: euro 3 of Scania and first Common Rail truck diesel engine of Renault.

 

* 2004: In Western Europe, the ratio of passenger cars with diesel engine exceeds 50%. Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system in Mercedes, Euro 4 with EGR system and particle filters of MAN. Piezoelectric injector technology by Bosch.

 

* 2006: AUDI R10 TDI wins 12 hours running in Sebring and defeats all other engine concepts. Euro 5 for all Iveco trucks.

 

* 2008: Subaru introduces the first horizontally-opposed diesel engine to be fitted to a passenger car. This is a Euro 5 compliant engine with an EGR system.

 

* 2009: Volvo claims the worlds strongest truck with their FH16 700. An inline 6 cylinder, 16 litre 700 hp (522 kW) diesel engine producing 3,150 N·m (2,320 lb·ft) of torque and fully complying with Euro 5 emission standards.

    

### ........must view as slide show.......##

Replaced the cartridge with a Denon DL103r moving coil cartridge

Replaced 14/07/2024

 

IMG_0762-02-B

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 17-Feb-16.

 

Air Bridge Carriers. Looking very much in need of a coat of paint. Who remembers sending Telex's?...

 

First flown in Dec-60 with the UK temporary registration G-1-7, this aircraft was delivered to Riddle Airlines in Jan-61 as N6502R. It was sold to Capitol Airways in Jul-62 and sold to Zantop Air Transport in Sep-65. Zantop Air Transport was renamed Universal Airlines and the aircraft was re-registered N895U in Sep-66. In Feb-72 it was sold to Sagittair and stored at Coventry, UK. It was sold to Field Aircraft services in 1973 and remained stored until it was registered G-BEOZ in Mar-77. It was leased to ABC Air Bridge Carriers in Aug-79. It was retired at East Midlands Airport, UK, in Mar-86 and was preserved at the East Midlands Aeropark in May-87.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beamish_Museum

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

History

Genesis

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

 

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

 

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

 

Establishment and expansion

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Remaking Beamish

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

 

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

 

Museum site

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

 

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

 

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

 

Governance

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

 

Sections of the museum

1913

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

 

Tramway

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

 

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

 

Bakery

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

 

Motor garage

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

 

Department Store

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

 

Ravensworth Terrace

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

 

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

 

Pub

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

 

Town stables

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

 

Printer, stationer and newspaper branch office

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

 

Sweet shop

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

 

Bank

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

 

Masonic Hall

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

 

Chemist and photographer

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

 

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

 

Redman Park

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

 

Other

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

 

Unbuilt

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

 

Railway station

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

 

Rowley station

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

 

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

 

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

 

Signal box

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

 

Goods shed

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

 

Coal yard

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

 

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

 

Bridges and level crossing

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

 

Waggon and Iron Works

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

 

Other

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

 

Fairground

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

 

Colliery

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

 

Deep mine

Reconstructed pitworks buildings showing winding gear

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Drift mine

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

 

Lamp cabin

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

 

Colliery railways

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Other

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

 

Pit Village

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

 

Miner's Cottages

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

 

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

 

School

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

 

Chapel

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

 

Fish bar

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

 

Band hall

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

 

Pit pony stables

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

 

Other

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

 

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

 

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

 

The Georgian North (1825)

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

 

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

 

Pockerley Old Hall

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Pockerley Waggonway

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

 

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

 

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

 

Wooden waggonway

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

 

St Helen's Church

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Joe the Quilter's Cottage

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

 

Other

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

 

Farm (1940s)

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Town (1950s)

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

 

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

 

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

 

Spain's Field Farm

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

 

1820s Expansion

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

 

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

 

Museum stores

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

 

Open Store

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

 

Regional Museums Store

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

 

Transport collection

Main article: Beamish Museum transport collection

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

 

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

 

Agriculture

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

 

Regional heritage

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

 

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

 

Filming location

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

 

Visitor numbers

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

 

Awards

Museum of the Year1986

European Museum of the Year Award1987

Living Museum of the Year2002

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

Large Visitor Attraction of the Year (bronze)VisitEngland awards2016

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

 

Critical responses

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

 

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

 

Legacy

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

 

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

Seen on North Hanover Sreet is two of McLean's of Airdrie coaches. At the front is former Travel DeCourcey Caetano Levante bodied Volvo B9R AJ13MCL (new as FJ13EBA) and behind is VDL Futura HD NX69MCL which is about to replace the booked coach on the 923 to Stranraer.

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 02-Jan-16

 

Delivered to Eastern Air Lines in Dec-73 as N326EA, the aircraft was leased to TWA Trans World Airlines in May-74 and returned to Eastern in Oct-74. It was leased to Cathay Pacific Airways in Sep-76. In May-77 Cathay Pacific bought it and it became VR-HHX. It was sold to Norske Finance Nederland BV in Dec-95 as TF-ABH and leased to Air Atlanta Icelandic in Jan-96. It was sub-leased to Peach Air in May-97 and returned to Air Atlanta Icelandic in Apr-98. It was leased to Peach Air again for the summer season between May/Oct-98. It was retired at Manston, UK, in Apr-99 and was broken up there in Nov-99.

 

As well as being a fruit, Peach is also an anagram for 'cheap'... say no more!

Replaced the old cameras with new ones and added more detail.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 23-Oct-14.

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 28-Oct-21 (DeNoise AI)

 

Named: "Royal Burgh of Nairn".

 

G-ASJI was delivered new to British United Airways in Apr-65. British United merged with Caledonian Airways to form Caledonian//BUA in Nov-70 and became British Caledonian Airways in Sep-71.

 

The aircraft was sold to the British Jet Aircraft Company in Jan-82 and leased to Pacific Express as N106EX. Pacific Express didn't keep up the payments and it was repossessed in Mar-84.

 

After 6 months in storage it was leased to Cascade Airways in Sep-84 and was returned to the British Jet Aircraft Co in Jan-86. It was sold to Florida Express the same month. Florida Express merged into Braniff Airways in Mar-88.

 

It was sold to the GPA Group Ltd (which later became part of GECAS) in Jul-88 as EI-BWM while the lease to Braniff continued. It was repossessed in Dec-89 and stored at Kansas City, USA.

 

In Mar-91 it was leased to Shabair, Zaire as 9Q-CSJ. It was sold to ITAB Cargo in Jan-96 (Zaire became the Democratic republic of Congo in 1997) and to Air Katanga in Jun-98. The aircraft was still in service with Air Katanga as late as Apr-05 although it was thought to be stored at Lubumbashi, Dem Rep of Congo, by 2009.

Replacing an earlier scanned 6"x4" print with a better version 27-Feb-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

First flown in Apr-88 with the British Aerospace test registration G-5-103, this aircraft was due to be delivered to Presidential Airways (USA) as N412XV but the order was cancelled and it was re-registered with British Aerospace as G-OLCB in Jul-88.

 

The aircraft was leased to the Jet Acceptance Corporation (USA), still as G-OLCB, and sub-leased to American Airlines in Oct-88. It had been due to become N693AA but that wasn't taken up. It was returned to Jet Acceptance Corp in Apr-89 and leased to Loganair (UK) in May-89.

 

It returned to the lessor in Jan-92 and stored until Mar-92 when it was leased to Loganair again (short term) before being returned to British Aerospace in Apr-92. It was leased to Malmo Aviation (Sweden), still as G-OLCB, in May-92, returning to British Aerospace in Feb-93.

 

In Apr-93 the aircraft was leased to Jersey European Airways as G-JEAK. It was wet-leased to CityJet (Ireland) in Mar-00. While it was with CityJet, Jersey European was renamed British European Airways in Jun-00 and the aircraft was returned to them in Sep-00.

 

British European was renamed FlyBe Airlines in Jul-02. The aircraft continued in service until it was returned to British Aerospace in Apr-07 and stored. It was leased to Hemus Air (Bulgaria) as LZ-HBZ in Jun-07. It was wet-leased to Belle Air (Bulgaria) between Jul/Oct-08.

 

Hemus Air also wet-leased it to Taban Airlines (Iran) in Sep-07. By the time it returned, Hemus Air had become Bulgaria Air and it was returned to them in May-11. The aircraft was withdrawn from service and stored in Nov-11. It returned to service in Aug-14 and was stored again in Jun-16 and returned to BAE Systems.

 

The aircraft was sold to Neptune Aviation Services (USA) as N477NA in Sep-16 and was converted to a fire-fighting tanker, operating as 'Tanker 15'. It was put into winter storage at Missoula, MT, USA in Nov-21. It's now 34 years old. Updated 27-Feb-22.

I replaced the previous video with this 720 rez, let's see if it works. Flickr is spotty today

Today 14 wild horses came galloping down our dirt road and made a beeline to our stock tank. OMG, they drank it dry in minutes. So, I got the hose out while talking sweet to them and started filling it back up. They watched intently and then started drinking from the hose gentle spray. Then they made another beeline to the tall grasses near our septic tank field.

I love nature!!!

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 12-Mar-17, although the negative has deteriorated (yellowed) over time.

 

Taken from the glass fronted viewing terrace at Las Palmas with some reflections!

 

A UK airline based at Manchester, Av8 Airlines (Aviate - gettit?) was yet another airline that didn't last. Initial services were operated using this leased Icelandair B767 on long-haul flights Manchester / Dublin / Cape Town using Icelandair's AOC. Operations were started in Nov-03. The plan was to have a B767-300ER for long-haul and a B757-200 for inclusive tour flights from Manchester to southern Europe. They took delivery of the B757 (G-OAVB) in Nov-03 and it flew regular training flights but never entered revenue service. Their own AOC was granted in Mar-04 but was rescinded almost immediately as the parent travel company couldn't raise the necessary CAA Bond. They ceased trading in early Apr-04 and the B757 was returned to the lessor.

 

This aircraft was delivered to SAS Scandinavian Airlines as SE-DKX in Oct-91. It was sold to the Sunrock Aircraft Corporation in Jan-94 and leased back to SAS. At the same time it was transferred to SAS Norway and re-registered LN-RCL. The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Nov-03 as N365SR.

 

It was leased to Icelandair the following month and immediately wet leased to a new UK company, Av8 Airlines. They ceased operations in Apr-04 and the aircraft was returned to Icelandair.

 

In Dec-04 it was wet leased to NEOS (Italy) for the winter, returning to Icelandair in Apr-05. It was wet-leased to SBA Santa Barbara Airlines in Nov-06, returning to Icelandair in Sep-08.

 

After major maintenance at Tel Aviv the aircraft was leased to Travel Service Airlines (Czech Republic) in Dec-09. In May-09 it was sub-leased by Travel Service Airlines to Kabo Air (Nigeria), still operated by Icelandair. The aircraft returned to Travel Service Airlines in Dec-09 and was returned to Icelandair in Apr-10.

 

In May-10 it was wet-leased to SBA Santa Barbara Airlines again, returning to Icelandair in Feb-11. It had a major maintenance check at Guangzhou, China and was dry leased, long term, to Air Niugini as P2-PXW in Apr-11. Now 31 years old, it continues in service. Updated 29-Oct-22.

 

Note: The registration TF-FIB was previously used on an Icelandair B737-400.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 04-Mar-24. I was never that good at panning, slightly blurred!

 

Named: "Azarabadgan".

 

Built as a 'Combi' with a main deck 'side cargo door', this aircraft could be used for passengers, cargo or a mixture of both.

 

First flown in Jul-76, this aircraft was delivered to Iran Air as EP-IAG in Oct-76. It was wet-leased to Nigerian Airways between Sep / Oct-82 for a Haj Pilgrimage operation. The aircraft was permanently retired at Tehran-IKA in Apr-16. It was noted still stored at Tehran-IKA in Jul-18. Updated 04-Mar-24.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 12-Aug-24.

 

This aircraft was delivered to ILFC International Lease Finance Corporation and leased to TAP Air Portugal as CS-TIE in Jun-90. It was returned to the lessor in Jun-98.

 

In Jul-98 the aircraft was leased to Istanbul Airlines as TC-IAC, it returned to the lessor in Aug-00 and was stored. It was re-registered N115GB the following month.

 

It remained stored until it was leased to British Airways as G-LGTF in Mar-01. The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Apr-09 and was stored at Chateauroux, France. It was due for lease to Aeroflot - Nord but the lease was cancelled.

 

The aircraft was re-registered N460CX for just two days in Apr-10 before being leased to Boliviana de Aviacion (Bolivia) as CP-2553. It was returned to the lessor in Mar-13 and permanently retired at Wilmington, DE, USA. It was broken up there two months later in May-13.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 30-Sep-22 + DeNoise AI.

 

Seen here on its first visit to Manchester in the original livery.

 

First flown in Dec-88 as CCCP-82060, this world-famous aircraft was operated by Antonov Airlines and originally designed to carry the Russian equivalent of the Space Shuttle, 'Buran'.

 

Russia's 'Space Shuttle' programme was cancelled and the aircraft converted into a freighter configuration, completed in Sep-93 and re-registered in Ukraine as UR-82060. It was withdrawn from use and stored at the Antonov factory airfield at Gostomel, Kyiv, Ukraine in Apr-94.

 

It was re-registered UR-480182 in May-96 and returned to its original registration, UR-82060 in May-98. The aircraft didn't fly again until May-01 when it entered service as the world's largest cargo carrier.

 

It was stored at Gostomel between Aug-20 and Jun-21. It was stored again at Gostomel in early Feb-22. Sadly, the aircraft was destroyed by Russian Forces on 24-Feb-22 in the early stages of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 03-Oct-21 (DeNoise AI).

 

'jmc AIR' sometimes leased aircraft in the USA during the UK winter season. This was leased to Ryan International Airlines and operated for Apple Vacations. It's seen here about to depart Manchester for the USA.

 

Another long and complicated history... First flown with the Airbus test registration F-WWBQ, this aircraft was delivered to GECAS and leased to Airworld (UK) as G-BXKC in Dec-97.

 

It was wet-leased on delivery, to Ryan International Airlines (USA) and operated on behalf of US Tour Company 'Apple Vacations'. It returned to Airworld in Apr-98.

 

Airworld was merged into Flying Colours Airlines in Nov-98 and the aircraft was again wet-leased to Ryan International on behalf of Apple Vacations in Dec-98 and returned to Flying Colours in Apr-99.

 

This aircraft was repainted in 'jmc AIR' livery in Oct-99 and then wet-leased to Ryan International in Dec-99, again operating for Apple Vacations. At the end of Mar-00, Flying Colours was merged with Caledonian Airways (Mk:2) for form 'jmc AIR' (see below) and the aircraft was returned to 'jmc' in Apr-00.

 

The operation was repeated between Dec-00/May-01, Nov-01/Apr-02 and Dec-02/Apr-03. 'jmc AIR' was renamed Thomas Cook Airlines in Mar-03. For the next four European Winter seasons (Dec-03/Apr-04, Dec-04/Apr-05, Dec-05/Apr-06 and Nov-06/Apr-07), the aircraft was wet-leased to Bredan Airways (doing business as USA 3000 Airlines).

 

It was returned to GECAS in Jan-08 and leased to Vladivostok Avia as VP-BFX a few days later, It was returned to GECAS in early 2014 and stored at Shannon, Ireland. In Apr-14 the aircraft was leased to Hamburg Airways. Hamburg Airways ceased operations in mid Dec-14 and the aircraft was returned to GECAS at the end of the month when it was again stored at Shannon.

 

It was sold to Sunrise Asset Management Inc and leased to Allegiant Air as N229NV in Apr-15. Current, updated 15-Dec-22.

 

Note: The 'JMC' in 'jmc AIR' is the initials of Thomas Cook's son John Mason Cook! Who knew!! Well, no one really! The name and the livery were an advertising man's dream, but an airline man's nightmare. The general public (and half the travel trade) had no idea what it meant, what it stood for and what it's history was. It wasn't the greatest success and three years later 'jmc AIR' was renamed Thomas Cook Airlines.

Replacing their K-Bus as part of modernization.

 

Prince McKhaine Transport 0821

 

Company/Owner: Prince McKhaine Transport, Inc.

Route: Malanday-Baclaran via Ayala

Rationalized Route: EDSA Carousel (ES Transport and Partners Consortium, Corp.)

Area of Service: Metro Manila (NCR)

Type of Service: PUB City Operation Bus

Classification: Airconditioned bus

Coachbuilder: Zhongtong Bus Holdings, Ltd.

Model: LCK6125 "Fashion"

Chassis: LCDGCS

Engine: YC6L330-42

Transmission: M/T

Speed: 6 Forward, 1 Reverse

Suspension Type: Airsuspension

Seat Configuration: 2x2

Maximum Capacity: 43+1+standees

Shot Location: EDSA Carousel Nepa-Q Mart Bus Stop, EDSA-Pan-Philippine Highway, Cubao, Quezon City

Date Taken: October 19, 2022

With Halton Transport having met its demise, various operators have filled the gaps. Arriva have replaced many service runs, including parts of servcies 14A, 61, 62 and 200, Warrington's Own Buses have taken on parts of service 62 and some college work, Stagecoach have taken on some schools work and Ashcroft Travel have taken on services 26/27.

 

Warrington's Own buses have drafted in additional vehicles from far and wide, including a trio of ex Transdev Lancashire Volvo B7RLE / Wright. 227 (BD12TEJ) is seen in Runcorn old town working a former Halton service 62.

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 04-Jan-20.

 

Now with 'billboard' titles

 

Named: "Prince Sebastian".

 

This aircraft was delivered to Luxair Luxembourg Airlines as LX-LGU in Oct-98. It was sold to Champion Air LLC (Dale Ernhardt Racing) as N500DE in Oct-07. Current, updated 10-Oct-24.

 

Note: The registration LX-LGU was previously used on a Luxair Boeing 707-344B between 1987/1993 and is currently on a Luxair B737-8C3/SW since 2012.

Gladstone Roman Catholic Church of St Peter, built to replace the former church of 1881.

 

NEW CATHOLIC CHURCH AT GLADSTONE

Foundation Stone Laid by Bishop Killian

The foundation stone of the new Catholic Church at Gladstone was solemnly blessed and laid by the Most Rev Andrew Killian, DD, Bishop of Port Augusta, at 3 pm on Sunday, April 22, in the presence of a large and representative assembly of Catholics. As well as members of the local congregation, many familiar faces from Georgetown, Laura, Caltowie, Crystal Brook, and the districts adjacent to those towns, were to be seen in attendance.

 

Mass was held in the existing building at 10 a.m., the celebrant being the Rev Father O'Rourke, of Port Pirie, while the local choir, under the leadership of Mr J Hillary, rendered Webb's Mass in G.

 

The dimensions are: body of Church, 60 feet by 30 feet; sanctuary, 18 feet by 18 feet, and vestry, 18 feet by 12 feet. The contractor expects to complete the work five or six months’ time. [Ref: Southern Cross 27-4-1928]

 

NEW ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Opened at Gladstone

Gladstone, October 22

On Sunday the new Roman Catholic Church at Gladstone, dedicated to St. Peter, was formally opened and blessed by the Right Rev Dr Killian Bishop of the R C Diocese of Port Augusta. The church, which is solidly built, of Gladstone cut stone, is of Gothic type, and will seat 300 people. It was completed to the drawings of Mr Smerdon, architect of Port Pirie, by the contractor (Mr G B Hinks), of Port Pirie, under the very efficient supervision of the clerk of works (Mr Frank Evans).

 

The main entrance is a roomy portico surmounted by choice coloured light windows, and the main building is lofty, very airy, and well lighted by several attractive leadlight windows, some of which were given by generous parishioners. The spacious sanctuary contains an exquisite altar, the work of Pimlott Limited, of Port Pirie. This part of the church contains also a series of beautiful windows which add beauty thereto and provide an abundance of light. The sanctuary is lighted at night by the installation of a floodlight effect. The building and furnishing are a credit to the pastor (Very Rev Monsignor Mulcahy), the parishioners, and the town.

[Ref: Register 24-10-1928]

 

Gladstone, December 19

The Roman Catholic Church here was consecrated and dedicated by the Bishop yesterday.

There were about 300 persons present including a large number of Protestants. The Bishop spoke of the increasing prosperity of the North, and the prosperous state of the Church, there being over seventy in the diocese.

At the close of the services a collection was made. There is a debt of £400 on the building.

[Ref: South Australian Register 20-12-1881]

   

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 07-Aug-21.

 

-Delft Blue Daybreak-, Netherlands World Tail livery. Operated by British Airways franchise partner Maersk Air UK.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Maersk Air (Denmark) as OY-APB in Apr-96. It was leased to Maersk Air UK as G-MSKE in Apr-99 and operated on behalf of British Airways under a franchise agreement. The aircraft was returned to Maersk Air (Denmark) as OY-APB in Dec-01.

 

Maersk Air was merged into Sterling European Airlines in Sep-05. Sterling European ceased operations at the end of Oct-08 and the aircraft was returned to Maersk Finance in Oct-08. It was initially stored at Copenhagen, Denmark and move to Chateauroux (France) for further storage in Dec-08.

 

It was sold to the Orix Atlas Corporation in late May-10 as F-HCOA and leased to Air Mediterranee (France) in early Jun-10. They ceased operations in Feb-16 and the aircraft was returned to the lessor and stored at Lourdes, France.

 

In Jun-18 it was sold to Kalitta Charters II LLC (USA) as N375CK and ferried to Oscoda, MI, USA where it was permanently retired and used for spares. Updated 07-Aug-21.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 24-Dec-17, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 29-Oct-23.

 

Fleet No: '562'.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Western Air Lines a N2812W in Mar-74. Western was merged into Delta Air Lines in Apr-87.

 

After 27 years in service, the aircraft was permanently retired at Victorville, CA, USA in May-01. It was sold to the Avborne Accessory Group later that month for parting out.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 25-Aug-17 + DeNoise AI 23-Oct-22.

 

This aircraft was delivered to Pegasus Aviation Inc and leased to TACA Airlines as N769TA in Nov-94. It was sub-leased to Avianca Colombia in Sep-99 and returned to TACA in Oct-99.

 

It was stored at San Salvador, El Salvador in Oct-99. In Jun-00 it was returned to the lessor, leased to Air Canada as C-GGBI and sub-leased to Canadi>n Airlines International in a hybrid livery. Canadi>n Airlines was merged into Air Canada in Apr-01.

 

The aircraft was returned to the lessor in Sep-03 and stored. It was re-registered N979PG in Dec-03. It was transferred to Pegasus Aviation Ireland Ltd in Jan-04 as EI-DDW and leased to Alitalia. It was returned to the lessor in Mar-13 as N979PG again.

 

In Apr-13 the aircraft was leased to Business Air (Thailand) as HS-BIH. They didn't last and it returned to the lessor as N969PG in Oct-14 and was stored at Bangkok - DMK.

 

It was ferried to Mexico City in Dec-14 for continued storage. The aircraft was fitted with blended winglets at Mexico City in Dec-15 before being leased to SBA Santa Barbara Airlines as YV612T in Jan-16.

 

It was stored at Mexico City in Mar-17 and was returned to the lessor in May-17 as 2-DYUS (Guernsey Register). The aircraft was leased to Boliviana de Aviacion as CP-3086 in Nov-17.

 

It was withdrawn from service and stored at Cochabamba, Bolivia in Mar-20 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and returned to service in Jul-20. The aircraft was ferried to Mexico City 20/21-Oct-22, probably for lease return. Updated 23-Oct-22.

 

I also have a photo of this aircraft with Canadian Airlines International at...

www.flickr.com/photos/kenfielding/6714573777

Ontario

Where once the laptop had its place is now a quiet little corner. We decided to move the laptop back upstairs in the bedroom...we both have realised we spent waaay too much time on the internet (yes im guilty to being addicted to flickr and a bit facebook) not like we are reaaally,really addicted but it was time ;)

 

Replacing an earlier scanned slide with a better version 14-Sep-15, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 01-Sep-25.

 

Named: "City of Watertown".

 

Delivered to Mohawk Airlines as N7822M in Nov-67, Mohawk was merged into Allegheny Airlines in Apr-72. The aircraft was sold to Sudwes Legdiens, South Africa, as ZS-SWK in Dec-74.

 

TAT Touraine Air Transport bought it in Jan-79 when it became F-GBRQ. TAT were renamed Transport Aerien Transregional in Apr-84. The aircraft was wet-leased to Jenair between Apr/Nov-92 and wet-leased to Air Martinique in Apr/May-93.

 

It was withdrawn from use and stored at Dinard, France in May-93. It was leased to Air Provence International in 1996 and then sold to Sahara Airlines, Algeria as 7T-VKK in Jul-99.

 

Sahara Airlines ceased operations in 2003 and their fleet of 5 FH-227's were stored at Algiers. Some of them were still there in 2006 but I can find no further information on this aircraft.

The 05.53 Derby RTC - Norwich track recording train has just crossed the reversible down road to Clacton with a 360 on a Liverpool Street - Clacton heading down it towards East Gate Junction.

This morning's brightness had completely vanished to be replaced with full dull. Needless to say the cloud had largely melted away 5 minutes later as I walked back home up the Ipswich Road.

The dog walker is too close to the edge of the frame for my liking and the chimney from the house just below and to the right of the leading class 37 had started smoking heavily ten minutes or so before this appeared - thankfully I just got away with it.

I was originally planning to wait for 3S60 to Clacton some 40 minutes later but I am glad I didn't as it was raining hard by then!

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 16-Apr-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

National Jet Systems.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 17-Nov-17, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 11-Jul-23.

 

Fleet No: '5BU'.

 

This aircraft was delivered to American Airlines as N684AA in Jul-91, it was sold to a lessor on delivery and leased back to American. It was fitted with blended winglets in Apr-08.

 

After 21 years with American, the aircraft was retired and stored at Roswell, NM, USA in Jan-12. It was returned to the lessor in Jan-13 and leased to Icelandair as TF-ISK the following month.

 

The aircraft was permanently retired at Reykjavik-Keflavik, Iceland in May-21 after 30 years in service. Updated 11-Jul-23.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 24-Oct-17.

 

Delta Air Transport, operating for SABENA Belgian World Airlines.

 

First flown with the British Aerospace test registration G-6-167, this aircraft was delivered to DAT Delta Air Transport as OO-DJF in Aug-90. It was operated on behalf of SABENA Belgian World Airlines until they ceased operations in Feb-02. DAT was then renamed SN Brussels Airlines and continued operating parts of SABENA's European network. The 'SN' was dropped from the titles in Mar-07 and Brussels Airlines got rid of the old 'Sabena' style livery with a completely new look. The aircraft was permanently retired at Brussels in Feb-09 and it was broken up there in Dec-10.

Bolton West signal box between the (near to far) Up Passenger Loop and Down Branch lines at the north end of Bolton railway station

 

Bolton West signal box was a Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Company non standard design fitted with an 83 lever McKenzie & Holland and Westinghouse Style A electro-pneumatic miniature lever frame that opened on 27th September 1903 replacing Blackburn Junction and Johnston Street Fork Junction signal boxes. When built the signal box box was of all wood construction with a row of single pane windows below the 2x2 pane operating floor windows but the lower half of the structure was rebuilt with a brick base in the late 1930s in order to make the signal box "bomb proof". The signal box closed at 12:30am on 8th December 1985, when signalling around Bolton railway station passed to Bolton power signal box. After closure the lever frame, frame number A8, was moved to the National Railway Museum at York

 

The signal box carried a British Railways London Midland Region maroon enamel nameplate

 

Ref no BT/00788

Replacing an earlier 6"x4" scanned print with a better version 29-Oct-21 (DeNoise AI).

 

I was just about to fly on this aircraft from Miami to Key West.

 

Fleet No: "931".

 

First flown with the deHavilland Canada test registration C-GFOD, this aircraft was delivered to Henson Airlines as N931HA in Jan-89. Henson Airlines was renamed (the new) Piedmont Airlines in Jul-93 and operated on behalf of US Air Express.

 

US Air was renamed US Airways in Feb-97 and US Air Express became US Airways Express. US Airways was officially merged into American Airlines in Apr-15 and US Airways Express became a part of American Eagle.

 

The aircraft was returned to Piedmont Airlines in Jan-17 after 28 years in service. It was initially stored at Salisbury, MD, USA and moved to Roswell, NM, USA at the end of May-17. Permanently retired. Updated 29-Oct-21.

 

Note: The original Piedmont Airlines was a US regional airline that was merged into US Air in Aug-89. US Air resurrected it when they took over Henson Airlines in Jul-93.

Woordfoto: fietsen

This is meant to go with my Shelby Cobra when I'm finished :-)

 

I got the idea for doing the logos brick-built from Ryan Link

 

Thanks for rendering Blackout!

 

Looks best when either far away or small

Replacing the KingAir as multi-engine training aircraft.

Replacing an earlier photo from Feb-16 with a better version 22-Jun-16.

 

This aircraft was delivered to TUIfly, Germany as D-ATUO in Feb-15 and retro-fitted with Splic Scimitar winglets. TUIfly was renamed TUI Airlines Germany in Oct-17. It was leased to Sunwing Airlines, Canada as C-GTUO in Dec-19 and returned to TUI Germany as D-ATUO in Apr-20. Current, updated 11-Jun-25

Replacing an earlier digital photo with a better version 26-Mar-23.

 

On the tail you can just make out the Goodjet logo under the thin layer of paint.

 

First flown in Oct-90 with the Airbus test registration F-WWIY, this aircraft was delivered to GATX Leasing and leased to LACSA (Costa Rica) as N482GX in Dec-90, it was wet-leased to Aero Quetzal in Sep-91 and returned to LACSA in Oct-91.

 

It was returned to the lessor in Jan-95 and leased to Air Charter (France) as F-GLGN in Feb-95. It was returned to the lessor in Nov-98 and stored. The aircraft was leased to Air Europe SpA (Italy) in Apr-99 and returned to the lessor in Apr-01.

 

Then it was leased to Canada 3000 Airlines as C-GVXH. Canada 3000 ceased operations in Nov-01 in the aftermath of the 911 terrorist attacks in the USA. The aircraft was returned to the lessor and initially stored at Toronto, ON, Canada.

 

It was moved to Toulouse, France in Apr-02 and re-registered F- GKCI the following month. It was re-registered F-WKCI in Aug-02 before being leased to Transair Sweden as SE-RCG in Oct-02. On delivery to Transair, it was immediately wet-leased to Goodjet (Norway).

 

Transair Sweden ceased operations for Goodjet in Dec-02 due to a US$ 3 million debt (they were declared bankrupt in Jan-03). Goodjet also ceased operations and were declared bankrupt the same month!

 

The aircraft was repossessed by the lessor and stored at Bordeaux, France. It was leased to Free Bird Airlines (Turkey) as TC-FBE in Nov-03. It was returned to the lessor and stored at Goodyear, AZ, USA in Oct-11. The aircraft was sold to AeroTurbine Inc as N216AT and permanently retired. It was broken up at Goodyear in late 2012.

Replaced the old cameras with new ones and added more detail.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 12-Feb-22 (DeNoise AI).

 

This aircraft, built as a Tristar 500, was delivered to British Airways as G-BFCE in Jul-79. It was in service for less than four years before it was sold to the UK's RAF Royal Air Force as ZD952 in Mar-83.

 

It was leased back to British Airways charter subsidiary British Airtours as G-BFCE in Jun-85 for the peak summer season, and returned to the RAF as ZD952 in early Oct-85.

 

It was converted to a Tristar KC.1 in Oct/Nov-85. The aircraft was in service with the Royal Air Force for another 29 years until it was permanently retired at Kemble, UK in Feb-14. Updated 12-Feb-22.

Replaced with:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/nolarisingproject/2807497005/

 

NoLA Rising salutes Banksy: nolarising.blogspot.com

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 26-Nov-18.

 

Built in 1972, ex CCCP-11526 Aeroflot, RA-11526, D2-FDB, LZ-VED Vega Airlines, UP-AN211, now 46 years old and still in service with Cavok Air as UR-CKM. Current (Nov-18).

Caernarfon Castle is a medieval fortress in Caernarfon, Gwynedd, north-west Wales cared for by Cadw, the Welsh Government's historic environment service. It was a motte-and-bailey castle from the late 11th century until 1283 when King Edward I of England began to replace it with the current stone structure. The Edwardian town and castle acted as the administrative centre of north Wales, and as a result the defences were built on a grand scale. There was a deliberate link with Caernarfon's Roman past, and the Roman fort of Segontium is nearby.

 

While the castle was under construction, town walls were built around Caernarfon. The work cost between £20,000 and £25,000 from the start until the work ended in 1330. Although the castle appears mostly complete from the outside, the interior buildings no longer survive and many of the building plans were never finished. The town and castle were sacked in 1294 when Madog ap Llywelyn led a rebellion against the English. Caernarfon was recaptured the following year. During the Glyndŵr Rising of 1400–1415, the castle was besieged. When the Tudor dynasty ascended to the English throne in 1485, tensions between the Welsh and English began to diminish and castles were considered less important. As a result, Caernarfon Castle was allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. Despite its dilapidated condition, during the English Civil War Caernarfon Castle was held by Royalists, and was besieged three times by Parliamentarian forces. This was the last time the castle was used in war. The castle was neglected until the 19th century when the state funded repairs. The castle was used for the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1911 and again in 1969. It is part of the World Heritage Site "Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd".

 

The first fortifications at Caernarfon were built by the Romans. Their fort, which they named Segontium, is on the outskirts of the modern town. The fort sat near the bank of the River Seiont; the fort was probably built here due to the sheltered position and because it could be resupplied via the river Seiont. Caernarfon derives its name from the Roman fortifications. In Welsh, the place was called y gaer (lenition of caer) yn Arfon, meaning "the stronghold in the land over against Môn"; Môn is the Welsh name for Anglesey. Little is known about the fate of Segontium and its associated civilian settlement after the Romans departed from Britain in the early 5th century.

 

Following the Norman Conquest of England, William the Conqueror turned his attention to Wales. According to the Domesday Survey of 1086, the Norman Robert of Rhuddlan was nominally in command of the whole of northern Wales. He was killed by the Welsh in 1088. His cousin Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester, reasserted Norman control of north Wales by building three castles: one at an unknown location somewhere in Meirionnydd, one at Aberlleiniog on Anglesey, and another at Caernarfon. This early castle was built on a peninsula, bounded by the River Seiont and the Menai Strait; it would have been a motte and bailey, defended by a timber palisade and earthworks. The motte, or mound, was integrated into the later Edwardian castle, but the location of the original bailey is uncertain, although it may have been to the north-east of the motte. Excavations on top of the motte in 1969 revealed no traces of medieval occupation, suggesting any evidence had been removed. It is likely that the motte was surmounted by a wooden tower known as a keep. The Welsh recaptured Gwynedd in 1115, and Caernarfon Castle came into the possession of the Welsh princes. From contemporary documents written at the castle, it is known that Llywelyn the Great and later Llywelyn ap Gruffudd occasionally stayed at Caernarfon.

 

War broke out again between England and Wales on 22 March 1282. The Welsh leader, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, died later that year on 11 December. His brother Dafydd ap Gruffydd continued to fight against the English, but in 1283 Edward I was victorious. Edward marched through northern Wales, capturing castles such as that at Dolwyddelan, and establishing his own at Conwy. War finally drew to a close in May 1283 when Dolbadarn Castle, Dafydd ap Gruffudd's last castle, was captured. Shortly afterwards, Edward began building castles at Harlech and Caernarfon. The castles of Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech were the most impressive of their time in Wales, and their construction—along with other Edwardian castles in the country—helped establish English rule. The master mason responsible for the design and construction of the castle was probably James of Saint George, an experienced architect and military engineer who played an important role in building the Edwardian castles in Wales. According to the Flores Historiarum, during the construction of the castle and planned town, the body of the Roman emperor Magnus Maximus was discovered, and Edward I ordered its reburial in a local church.

 

The construction of the new stone castle was part of a programme of building which transformed Caernarfon; town walls were added, connected to the castle, and a new quay was built. The earliest reference to building at Caernarfon dates from 24 June 1283, when a ditch had been dug separating the site of the castle from the town to the north. A bretagium, a type of stockade, was created around the site to protect it while the permanent defences were under construction. Timber was shipped from as far away as Liverpool. Stone was quarried from nearby places, such as from Anglesey and around the town. A force of hundreds worked on the excavation of the moat and digging the foundations for the castle. As the site expanded, it began to encroach on the town; houses were cleared to allow the construction. Residents were not paid compensation until three years later. While the foundations for the stone walls were being created, timber-framed apartments were built for Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, his queen. They arrived at Caernarfon on either 11 or 12 July 1283 and stayed for over a month.

 

Construction at Caernarfon Castle continued over the winter of 1283–84. The extent of completion is uncertain, although architectural historian Arnold Taylor speculated that when Edward and Eleanor visited again in Easter 1284 the Eagle Tower may have been complete. The Statute of Rhuddlan, enacted on 3 March 1284, made Caernarfon a borough and the administrative centre of the county of Gwynedd.[Gwynedd was not a county.] According to tradition, Edward II was born at Caernarfon on 25 April 1284. Edward was created Prince of Wales in 1301, with control over Wales and its incomes. Since then the title has traditionally been held by the eldest son of the monarch. According to a famous legend, the king had promised the Welsh that he would name "a prince born in Wales, who did not speak a word of English" and then produced his infant son to their surprise; but the story may well be apocryphal, as it can only be traced to the 16th century. In 1284, Caernarfon was defended by a garrison of forty men, more than the thirty-strong garrisons at Conwy and Harlech. Even in peace time, when most castles would have a guard of only a few men, Caernarfon was defended by between twenty and forty people due to its importance.

 

By 1285, Caernarfon's town walls were mostly complete. At the same time work continued on the castle. Spending on construction was negligible from 1289 and accounts end in 1292. Edward I's campaign of castle-building in Wales cost £80,000 between 1277 and 1304, and £95,000 between 1277 and 1329; by 1292 £12,000 had been spent on the construction of Caernarfon's castle—of which the southern façade was furthest along—and town walls. As the southern wall and town walls completed a defensive circuit around Caernarfon, the plan was to build the castle's northern façade last.

 

In 1294, Wales broke out in rebellion led by Madog ap Llywelyn, Prince of Wales. As Caernarfon was the centre of administration in Gwynedd and a symbol of English power, it was targeted by the Welsh. Madog's forces captured the town in September, and in the process heavily damaged the town walls. The castle was defended by just a ditch and a temporary barricade. It was quickly taken and anything flammable was set alight. Fire raged across Caernarfon, leaving destruction in its wake. In the summer of 1295, the English moved to retake Caernarfon. By November the same year, the English began refortifying the town. Rebuilding the town walls was a high priority, and £1,195 (nearly half the sum initially spent on the walls) was spent on completing the job two months ahead of schedule. Attention then shifted to the castle and on finishing the work that had halted in 1292. Once the rebellion was put down, Edward began building Beaumaris Castle on the Isle of Anglesey. The work was overseen by James of Saint George; as a result, Walter of Hereford took over as master mason for the new phase of construction. By the end of 1301, a further £4,500 had been spent on the work; the focus of the work was on the northern wall and towers. The accounts between November 1301 and September 1304 are missing, possibly because there was a hiatus in work while labour moved north to help out with England's war against Scotland. Records show that Walter of Hereford had left Caernarfon and was in Carlisle in October 1300; he remained occupied with the Scottish wars until the autumn of 1304 when building at Caernarfon resumed. Walter died in 1309 and his immediate subordinate, Henry of Ellerton, took over the position of master mason. Construction continued at a steady rate until 1330.

 

From 1284 to 1330, when accounts end, between £20,000 and £25,000 was spent on Caernarfon's castle and town walls. Such a sum was enormous and dwarfed the spending on castles such as Dover and Château Gaillard, which were amongst the most expensive and impressive fortifications of the later 12th and early 13th centuries. Subsequent additions to Caernarfon were not major, and what remains of the castle is substantially from the Edwardian period. Despite the expense, much of what was planned for the castle was never carried out. The rears of the King's Gate (the entrance from the town) and the Queen's Gate (the entrance from the south-east) were left unfinished, and foundations in the castle's interior mark where buildings would have stood had work continued.

 

For around two centuries after the conquest of Wales, the arrangements established by Edward I for the governance of the country remained in place. During this time the castle was constantly garrisoned, and Caernarfon was effectively the capital of north Wales.[30] There was a degree of discrimination, with the most important administrative jobs in Wales usually closed to Welsh people. Tension between the Welsh and their English conquerors spilled over at the start of the 15th century with the outbreak of the Glyndŵr Rising (1400–1415). During the revolt, Caernarfon was one of the targets of Owain Glyndŵr's army. The town and castle were besieged in 1401, and in November that year the Battle of Tuthill was fought nearby between Caernarfon's defenders and the besieging force. In 1403 and 1404, Caernarfon was besieged by Welsh troops with support from French forces;[30] the garrison at the time was around thirty. The accession of the Tudor dynasty to the English throne in 1485 heralded a change in the way Wales was administered. The Tudors were Welsh in origin, and their rule eased hostilities between the Welsh and English. As a result, castles such as Caernarfon, which provided secure centres from which the country could be administered, became less important. They were neglected, and in 1538 it was reported that many castles in Wales were "moche ruynous and ferre in decaye for lakke of tymely reparations".

 

In Caernarfon's case the walls of the town and castle remained in good condition, while features which required maintenance—such as roofs—were in a state of decay and much timber was rotten. Conditions were so poor that of the castle's seven towers and two gatehouses, only the Eagle Tower and the King's Gate had roofs by 1620. The domestic buildings inside the castle had been stripped of anything valuable, such as glass and iron. Despite the disrepair of the domestic buildings, the castle's defences were in a good enough state that during the English Civil War in the mid-17th century it was garrisoned by Royalists. Caernarfon Castle was besieged three times during the war. The constable was John Byron, 1st Baron Byron, who surrendered Caernarfon to Parliamentarian forces in 1646. It was the last time Caernarfon Castle saw fighting. Although it was ordered in 1660 that the castle and town walls should be dismantled, the work was aborted early on and may never have started.

 

Despite avoiding slighting, the castle was neglected until the late 19th century. From the 1870s onwards, the government funded repairs to Caernarfon Castle. The deputy-constable Llewellyn Turner oversaw the work, in many cases controversially restoring and rebuilding the castle, rather than simply conserving the existing stonework. Steps, battlements, and roofs were repaired, and the moat to the north of the castle was cleared of post-medieval buildings that were considered to spoil the view, despite the protest of locals. Under the auspices of the Office of Works and its successors since 1908, the castle was preserved due to its historic significance. In 1911, Caernarfon was used for the investiture of the Prince of Wales for the first time for Prince Edward (later Edward VIII), eldest son of the newly crowned King George V; the ceremony was held there at the insistence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George, a Welshman raised in Caernarfonshire. In 1969, the precedent was repeated with the investiture of Charles, Prince of Wales. Although Caernarfon Castle has been the property of the Crown since it was built, it is currently cared for by Cadw (English: to keep), the Welsh Government's historic environment division, responsible for the maintenance and care of Wales' historic buildings. In 1986, Caernarfon was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites as part of the "Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd" in recognition of its global importance and to help conserve and protect the site. The castle houses the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum. During 2015 a new "entrance pavilion" was built, designed by architects Donald Insall Associates.

 

Caernarfon Castle is now a major tourist attraction, with over 205,000 people visiting the attraction in 2018.

 

Caernarfon is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the island of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is 8.6 miles (13.8 km) to the north-east, while Snowdonia (Eryri) fringes Caernarfon to the east and south-east.

 

Abundant natural resources in and around the Menai Strait enabled human habitation in prehistoric Britain. The Ordovices, a Celtic tribe, lived in the region during the period known as Roman Britain. The Roman fort Segontium was established around AD 80 to subjugate the Ordovices during the Roman conquest of Britain. The Romans occupied the region until the end of Roman rule in Britain in 382, after which Caernarfon became part of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. In the late 11th century, William the Conqueror ordered the construction of a motte-and-bailey castle at Caernarfon as part of the Norman invasion of Wales. He was unsuccessful, and Wales remained independent until around 1283.

 

In the 13th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, ruler of Gwynedd, refused to pay homage to Edward I of England, prompting the English conquest of Gwynedd. This was followed by the construction of Caernarfon Castle, one of the largest and most imposing fortifications built by the English in Wales. In 1284, the English-style county of Caernarfonshire was established by the Statute of Rhuddlan; the same year, Caernarfon was made a borough, a county and market town, and the seat of English government in north Wales.

 

The ascent of the House of Tudor to the throne of England eased hostilities with the English and resulted in Caernarfon Castle falling into a state of disrepair. The town has flourished,[when?] leading to its status as a major tourist centre and seat of Gwynedd Council, with a thriving harbour and marina. Caernarfon has expanded beyond its medieval walls and experienced heavy suburbanisation. The community of Caernarfon's population includes the highest percentage of Welsh-speaking citizens anywhere in Wales. The status of Royal Borough was granted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1963 and amended to Royal Town in 1974. The castle and town walls are part of a World Heritage Site described as the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd.

 

The town's name consists of three elements: caer , yn, and arfon. "Caer' means 'fortress", in this case either the Roman fort of Segontium, which lies on the outskirts of the modern town, or the Norman castle erected near the mouth of the Afon Seiont. "Arfon" means "opposite Môn (Anglesey)", and the full name therefore means "the fortress in the land opposite Anglesey".

 

The earlier British and Romano-British settlement at Segontium was named Cair Segeint ("Fort Seiont") after the river. It was also known as Cair Custoient ("Fortress of Constantine"), after a belief that it was the capital of Gwynedd under Constantine, a supposed son of Saint Elen and the Emperor Magnus Maximus. Both names appear in the Historia Brittonum traditionally ascribed to Nennius. A medieval romance about Maximus and Elen, Macsen's Dream, calls her home Caer Aber Sein ("Fort Seiontmouth" or "the fortress at the mouth of the Seiont") and other pre-conquest poets such as Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd used the name Caer Gystennin. A 1221 charter by Llywelyn the Great to the canons of Penmon priory on Anglesey mentions Kaerinarfon, and the Welsh chronicle Brut y Tywysogion mentions both Kaerenarvon and Caerenarvon.

 

The town and the county named after it were officially spelled "Carnarvon" until 1926. At a meeting on 10 November 1925 the borough council resolved to ask the county council to change the spelling to "Caernarvon". The county council gave permission for the change of spelling for the name of the borough with effect from 14 January 1926, and at the same time decided to ask the government to also change the spelling of the county's name to Caernarvon. The government confirmed the change in the spelling of the county's name with effect from 1 July 1926.

 

The municipal borough was designated a royal borough in 1963. When the borough was abolished in 1974 the status of "royal town" was granted to the new community which succeeded it. The spelling of both borough and county remained "Caernarvon" until they were abolished in 1974. The spelling of the community's name was changed from "Caernarvon" to "Caernarfon" with effect from 2 June 1975 by order of Arfon Borough Council.

 

Caernarfon contains a Roman fort, Segontium, and a Norman motte-and-bailey castle was built at the mouth of the River Seiont.

 

In 1283, King Edward I completed his conquest of Wales which he secured by a chain of castles and walled towns. The construction of a new stone Caernarfon Castle seems to have started as soon as the campaign had finished. Edward's architect, James of St. George, may well have modelled the castle on the walls of Constantinople, possibly being aware of the town's legendary associations. Edward's fourth son, Edward of Caernarfon, later Edward II of England, was born at the castle in April 1284 and made Prince of Wales in 1301. A story recorded in the 16th century suggests that the new prince was offered to the native Welsh on the premise "that [he] was borne in Wales and could speake never a word of English", however, there is no contemporary evidence to support this.

 

Caernarfon was constituted a borough in 1284 by a charter of Edward I. The charter, which was confirmed on a number of occasions, appointed the mayor of the borough Constable of the Castle ex officio.

 

On 2 November 1401, 'Y Ddraig Aur' (The golden dragon) of Owain Glyndŵr was attested to have been flown during the Battle of Tuthill at Caernarfon, it is also likely that it was also flown throughout the Welsh independence campaign.

In 1911, David Lloyd George, then Member of Parliament (MP) for Caernarfon boroughs, which included various towns from Llŷn to Conwy, agreed to the British Royal Family's idea of holding the investiture of the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle. The ceremony took place on 13 July, with the royal family visiting Wales, and the future Edward VIII was duly invested.

 

In 1955, Caernarfon was in the running for the title of Capital of Wales on historical grounds but the town's campaign was heavily defeated in a ballot of Welsh local authorities, with 11 votes compared to Cardiff's 136. Cardiff therefore became the Welsh capital.

 

On 1 July 1969, the investiture ceremony for Charles, Prince of Wales was again held at Caernarfon Castle. The ceremony went ahead without incident despite terrorist threats and protests, which culminated in the death of two members of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (Welsh Defence Movement), Alwyn Jones and George Taylor, who were killed when their bomb – intended for the railway line at Abergele in order to stop the British Royal Train – exploded prematurely. The bombing campaign (one in Abergele, two in Caernarfon and finally one on Llandudno Pier) was organised by the movement's leader, John Jenkins. He was later arrested after a tip-off and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment.

 

In July 2019, Caernarfon hosted a rally for Welsh independence. The event, organised by AUOB (All Under One Banner) Cymru, included a march through the town centre. Organisers estimated that roughly 8,000 people joined the march on the town square; local authorities confirmed at least 5,000 attendees. The event featured a number of speakers including Hardeep Singh Kohli, Evra Rose, Dafydd Iwan, Lleuwen Steffan, Siôn Jobbins, Beth Angell, Gwion Hallam, Meleri Davies and Elfed Wyn Jones. Talks covered criticism of Brexit and Westminster with advocating Welsh Independence.

 

The history of Caernarfon, as an example where the rise and fall of different civilizations can be seen from one hilltop, is discussed in John Michael Greer's book The Long Descent. He writes of Caernarfon:

Spread out below us in an unexpected glory of sunlight was the whole recorded history of that little corner of the world. The ground beneath us still rippled with earthworks from the Celtic hill fort that guarded the Menai Strait more than two and a half millennia ago. The Roman fort that replaced it was now the dim brown mark of an old archaeological site on low hills off to the left. Edward I’s great grey castle rose up in the middle foreground, and the high contrails of RAF jets on a training exercise out over the Irish Sea showed that the town’s current overlords still maintained the old watch. Houses and shops from more than half a dozen centuries spread eastward as they rose through the waters of time, from the cramped medieval buildings of the old castle town straight ahead to the gaudy sign and sprawling parking lot of the supermarket back behind us.

 

Caernarfon is situated on the southern bank of the Menai Strait facing the Isle of Anglesey. It is situated 8.6 miles (13.8 km) south-west of Bangor, 19.4 miles (31.2 km) north of Porthmadog and approximately 8.0 miles (12.9 km) west of Llanberis and Snowdonia National Park. The mouth of the River Seiont is in the town, creating a natural harbour where it flows into the Menai Strait. Caernarfon Castle stands at the mouth of the river. The A487 passes directly through Caernarfon, with Bangor to the north and Porthmadog to the south.

 

As the crow flies, the summit of Snowdon lies a little over 9.6 miles (15.4 km) to the southeast of the town centre.

 

Caernarfon's historical prominence and landmarks have made it a major tourist centre. As a result, many of the local businesses cater for the tourist trade. Caernarfon has numerous guest houses, inns and pubs, hotels, restaurants and shops. The majority of shops in the town are located either in the centre of town around Pool Street and Castle Square (Y Maes), on Doc Fictoria (Victoria Dock) or in Cei Llechi (Slate Quay). A number of shops are also located within the Town Walls.

 

The majority of the retail and residential section of Doc Fictoria was opened in 2008. The retail and residential section of Doc Fictoria is built directly beside a Blue Flag beach marina. It contains numerous homes, bars and bistros, cafés and restaurants, an award-winning arts centre, a maritime museum and a range of shops and stores.

 

Pool Street and Castle Square contain a number of large, national retail shops and smaller independent stores. Pool Street is pedestrianised and serves as the town's main shopping street. Castle Square, commonly referred to as the 'Maes' by both Welsh and English speakers, is the market square of the town. A market is held every Saturday throughout the year and also on Mondays in the summer. The square was revamped at a cost of £2.4 million in 2009. However, since its revamp the square has caused controversy due to traffic and parking difficulties. During the revamp, it was decided to remove barriers between traffic and pedestrians creating a 'shared space', to force drivers to be more considerate of pedestrians and other vehicles. This is the first use of this kind of arrangement in Wales, but it has been described by councillor Bob Anderson as being 'too ambiguous' for road users. Another controversy caused by the revamp of the Maes was that a historic old oak tree was taken down from outside the HSBC bank. When the Maes was re-opened in July 2009 by the local politician and Heritage Minister of Wales, Alun Ffred Jones AM, he said, "the use of beautiful local slate is very prominent in the new Maes."

 

There are many old public houses serving the town, including The Four Alls, The Anglesey Arms Hotel, The Castle Hotel, The Crown, Morgan Lloyd, Pen Deitch and The Twthill Vaults. The oldest public house in Caernarfon is the Black Boy Inn, which remained in the same family for over 40 years until sold in 2003 to a local independent family business. The pub has stood inside Caernarfon's Town Walls since the 16th century, and many people claim to have seen ghosts within the building.

 

In and around the Town Walls are numerous restaurants, public houses and inns, and guest houses and hostels.

 

Gwynedd Council's head offices are situated in the town. The Caernarfon parliamentary constituency was a former electoral area centred on Caernarfon. Caernarfon is now part of the Arfon constituency for both the UK Parliament and the Senedd. The town is twinned with Landerneau in Brittany. Caernarfon was the county town of the historic county of Caernarfonshire.

 

At the local level, Caernarfon Royal Town Council consists of 17 town councillors, elected from the wards of Cadnant (3), Canol Tref Caernarfon (3), Hendre (3), Menai (4) and Peblig (4). The current Mayor is Councillor Maria Veronica Sarnacki.

 

The population in 1841 was 8,001.

 

The population of Caernarfon Community Parish in 2001 was 9,611. Caernarfon residents are known colloquially as "Cofis". The word "Cofi" /ˈkɒvi/ is also used locally in Caernarfon to describe the local Welsh dialect, notable for a number of words, not in use elsewhere.

 

Within Wales, Gwynedd has the highest proportion of speakers of the Welsh language. The greatest concentration of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd is found in and around Caernarfon.

 

According to the 2011 census, 85.8% of residents were born in Wales, one of the highest proportions in Gwynedd, and 77.0% reported a 'Welsh only' national identity.

 

The present castle building was constructed between 1283 and 1330 by the order of King Edward I. The banded stonework and polygonal towers are thought to have been in imitation of the Walls of Constantinople. The impressive curtain wall with nine towers and two gatehouses survive largely intact. Caernarfon Castle is now under the care of Cadw and is open to the public. The castle includes the regimental museum of the Royal Welch Fusiliers.

 

The medieval town walls, including eight towers and two twin-towered gateways, form a complete circuit of 800 yards (730 m) around the old town and were built between 1283 and 1285. The walls are in the care of Cadw but only a small section is accessible to the public. The town walls and castle at Caernarfon were declared part of a World Heritage Site in 1986. According to UNESCO, the castle and walls together with other royal castles in Gwynedd "are the finest examples of late 13th century and early 14th century military architecture in Europe".

 

Dedicated to Saint Peblig, the son of Saint Elen and Macsen Wledig (Magnus Maximus), the church is built on an important early Christian site, itself built on a Roman Mithraeum or temple of Mithras, close to the Segontium Roman Fort (200m away, in the care of Cadw). A Roman altar was found in one of the walls during 19th-century restoration work. The present church dates mainly from the 14th century and is a Grade I listed building.

 

The statue in Castle Square was sculpted by W. Goscombe John and was erected in 1921 when Lloyd George was Prime Minister. David Lloyd George was the Member of Parliament for the area from 1890 to 1945.

 

The Old Market Hall in Hole-in-the-Wall Street and Crown Street was built in 1832, but the interior and roof were rebuilt later in that century. It is a Grade II listed building. It now acts as a pub and music venue.

 

A small Victorian urban park, Morfa was laid out in 1888. It stands to the south of the town, bordered by the 'Ysbyty Eryri' hospital [see below] at its southern edge. It is listed at Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

 

The old County Hall, which went on to become a courthouse, is situated inside the castle walls, next door to the Anglesey Arms Hotel. The old courthouse was built in the Neo-classical style. The courthouse was replaced by the new Caernarfon Criminal Justice Centre on the former Segontium School site in Llanberis Road in 2009. The old courthouse adjoins what used to be Caernarfon Gaol, which has been closed since the early 20th century and was subsequently converted into council offices.

 

There is a small hospital in the town, 'Ysbyty Eryri' (i.e. "Snowdonia Hospital"). The nearest large regional hospital is Ysbyty Gwynedd, in Bangor.

 

Caernarfon Barracks was commissioned by John Lloyd, County Surveyor of Caernarfonshire, as a military headquarters and completed in 1855.

 

Caernarfon was at one time an important port, exporting slate from the Dyffryn Nantlle quarries. This traffic was facilitated from 1828 by the Nantlle Railway which predated far more widely known ventures such as the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Ffestiniog Railway.

 

Five passenger stations have served the town. Caernarvon railway station opened in 1852 as the western terminus of the Bangor and Carnarvon Railway. This connected the town with the North Wales coast and the expanding national network. Carnarvon Castle railway station opened in 1856 as the northern passenger terminus of the 3ft 6in narrow gauge Nantlle Railway. This service ended in 1865 when the line being built from the south by the standard gauge Carnarvonshire Railway took over most of its trackbed. The Carnarvonshire Railway's temporary northern terminus was at Pant to the south of the town. Pant station opened in 1867. At the same time, the Carnarvon and Llanberis Railway built its line from Llanberis to Caernarfon. Its temporary western terminus was called Carnarvon (Morfa). It opened in 1869 near the modern road bridges over the Afon Seiont. For a short period, therefore, Caernarfon had three terminating stations on its edges. Records are contradictory, but this ended in either 1870 or 1871 when they were connected by a line through the town using the tunnel which survives, having been converted in 1995 for road traffic. When the through route was opened Pant and Morfa stations closed and the original station became the town's only station. The London and North Western Railway also took over all the lines mentioned leaving one station and one service provider by 1871.

 

The services to Llanberis and south to Afon Wen closed progressively from the 1930s, with tracks being lifted in the mid-1960s, but Caernarvon station survived until 1970, with Bangor to Caernarvon one of the last passenger services to be closed under the Beeching Axe; it is now the site of a Morrisons supermarket. In November 2020 the Welsh Government stated 'further consideration' should be given to reopening the line. The fifth station was opened in 1997 on the old trackbed in St. Helen's Road. It is the northern terminus of the 2ft narrow gauge Rheilffordd Eryri / Welsh Highland Railway. Work began on a permanent station for the town in February 2017. The new station opened to passengers in the Spring of 2019. Heritage steam services provide links to Porthmadog, where passengers can change for services on the Ffestiniog Railway to Blaenau Ffestiniog.

 

Bus services in the town are provided by Arriva Buses Wales, and a number of smaller, local operators. Longer distance, cross-country services are operated by Lloyds Coaches, and connect the town with Bangor to the north, and Aberystwyth via Porthmadog, Dolgellau and Machynlleth to the south. These services are part of the Welsh Government funded TrawsCymru network.

 

The A487 trunk road bisects the town, providing access to major urban areas along the North Wales coast and the Port of Holyhead, via the A55 expressway. Llanberis at the foot of Snowdon can be reached via the A4086, which heads east out of the town towards Capel Curig.

 

Heading north out of the town is the Lôn Las Menai cycle path to nearby Y Felinheli. Heading south out of the town is the Lôn Eifion cycle path, which leads to Bryncir, near Criccieth. The route provides views into the Snowdonia mountains, down along the Llŷn Peninsula and across to the Isle of Anglesey.

 

Caernarfon Airport is 4.5 miles (7.2 km) to the southwest, and offers pleasure flights and an aviation museum.

 

The Aber Swing Bridge is a pedestrian swing bridge that crosses over the Afon Seiont to connect pedestrians from the foreshore to the Watergate entrance in the centre of Caernarfon by the Caernarfon Castle.

 

There are four primary schools in Caernarfon, Ysgol yr Hendre being the largest. The others are Ysgol y Gelli, Ysgol Santes Helen and Ysgol Maesincla. Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen is the single secondary school serving Caernarfon and the surrounding areas and currently has between 900 and 1000 pupils from ages 11 to 18. Ysgol Pendalar is a school for children with special needs. Coleg Menai is a further education college for adult learners.

 

Notable people

Lewis Jones, 1898

Saint Elen, late 4th-century founder of churches in Wales.

Edward II of England (1284–1327), King of England from 1307 to 1327.

Morris Williams (1809–1874), clergyman and writer, known by his bardic name Nicander

William Henry Preece (1834–1913), an electrical engineer and inventor.

Lewis Jones (1837-1904), one of the founders of the Welsh settlement in Patagonia.

David Lloyd George (1863–1945), Prime Minister of the UK from 1916 to 1922.

Gwilym Edwards (1881–1963), Presbyterian minister, writer and academic

Lionel Rees (1884–1955), aviator, flying ace and recipient of the Victoria Cross

Maureen Peters (1935–2008), an historical novelist

Dafydd Wigley (born 1943), politician, MP for Caernarfon from 1974 until 2001

Sian Eleri, BBC Radio 1 presenter

Sport

Bryan Orritt (1937–2014), a professional footballer with over 370 club caps

Barry Hughes (1937–2019), a professional footballer and manager, active primarily in the Netherlands

Wyn Davies (born 1942), a footballer with 611 club caps and 34 for Wales

Tom Walley (born 1945) footballer with over 410 club caps

Catrin Thomas (born 1964), ski mountaineer and mountain climber.

Waynne Phillips (born 1970), a professional footballer with over 470 club caps

Nathan Craig (born 1991), a professional footballer.

Osian Dwyfor Jones Wales Commonwealth Hammer Thrower

 

Caernarfon Town F.C. (Welsh: Clwb Pêl Droed Tref Caernarfon) is a Welsh football club based in the town, which currently plays in the Cymru Premier, the top level for football in Wales. The club is nicknamed "the Canaries" because of its yellow and green strip. Caernarfon Town plays at The Oval which has a capacity of 3000 people and 250 seated people.

 

Caernarfon hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1862, 1894, 1906, 1921, 1935, 1959 and 1979. Unofficial National Eisteddfod events were also held there in 1877 and 1880. Caernarfon also hosted the 30th annual Celtic Media Festival in March 2009. Cultural destinations include Galeri and Oriel Pendeitsh. Galeri is a creative enterprise centre that houses a gallery, a concert hall, a cinema, a number of companies, and a range of other creative and cultural spaces. Oriel Pendeitsh is a ground-floor exhibition space adjoining the Tourist Information Centre opposite Caernarfon Castle. The gallery has a varied and changing programme of exhibitions throughout the year.

 

The Caernarfon Food Festival takes place in the town's streets including The Slate Quay (Cei Llechi) and Castle Square (the Maes), which is pedestrianised for the event. Stalls are also located along the promenade next to the Menai Strait towards the marina and Doc Fictoria.

 

The festival was formed in 2015 as a result of public consultation within the town. The first festival was held in 2016. It is organised by the Caernarfon Food Festival Group which is made up of local volunteers who hold regular meetings to plan each festival. The festival has a number of support groups, including a content group, sponsorship group, technical group, communication group and volunteer group. These groups feed into the main group's monthly meetings. The festival logo was inspired by contributions from pupils at Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen and designed by Iestyn Lloyd of Cwmni Da. The festival has been supported by Welsh Government through the Food Festival Grant Scheme and was highly commended by Food Awards Wales in 2019, Car parking is provided at the Slate Quay (Cei Llechi) and at other car parks around the town while the Welsh Highland Railway provides transport from Porthmadog. Cycle access is by the cycle tracks along the disused railway lines which include Lôn Las Eifion, which runs from Porthmadog, by-passing Penygroes and on to Caernarfon, Lôn Las Menai from Y Felinheli to Caernarfon and Lôn Las Peris from Llanberis to Caernarfon.

 

Gwynedd is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The city of Bangor is the largest settlement, and the administrative centre is Caernarfon. The preserved county of Gwynedd, which is used for ceremonial purposes, includes the Isle of Anglesey.

 

Gwynedd is the second largest county in Wales but sparsely populated, with an area of 979 square miles (2,540 km2) and a population of 117,400. After Bangor (18,322), the largest settlements are Caernarfon (9,852), Bethesda (4,735), and Pwllheli (4,076). The county has the highest percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales, at 64.4%, and is considered a heartland of the language.

 

The geography of Gwynedd is mountainous, with a long coastline to the west. Much of the county is covered by Snowdonia National Park (Eryri), which contains Wales's highest mountain, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa; 3,560 feet, 1,090 m). To the west, the Llŷn Peninsula is flatter and renowned for its scenic coastline, part of which is protected by the Llŷn AONB. Gwynedd also contains several of Wales's largest lakes and reservoirs, including the largest, Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid).

 

The area which is now the county has played a prominent part in the history of Wales. It formed part of the core of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and the native Principality of Wales, which under the House of Aberffraw remained independent from the Kingdom of England until Edward I's conquest between 1277 and 1283. Edward built the castles at Caernarfon and Harlech, which form part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site. During the Industrial Revolution the slate industry rapidly developed; in the late nineteenth century the neighbouring Penrhyn and Dinorwic quarries were the largest in the world, and the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales is now a World Heritage Site. Gwynedd covers the majority of the historic counties of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire.

 

In the past, historians such as J. E. Lloyd assumed that the Celtic source of the word Gwynedd meant 'collection of tribes' – the same root as the Irish fine, meaning 'tribe'. Further, a connection is recognised between the name and the Irish Féni, an early ethnonym for the Irish themselves, related to fían, 'company of hunting and fighting men, company of warriors under a leader'. Perhaps *u̯en-, u̯enə ('strive, hope, wish') is the Indo-European stem. The Irish settled in NW Wales, and in Dyfed, at the end of the Roman era. Venedotia was the Latin form, and in Penmachno there is a memorial stone from c. AD 500 which reads: Cantiori Hic Iacit Venedotis ('Here lies Cantiorix, citizen of Gwynedd'). The name was retained by the Brythons when the kingdom of Gwynedd was formed in the 5th century, and it remained until the invasion of Edward I. This historical name was revived when the new county was formed in 1974.

 

Gwynedd was an independent kingdom from the end of the Roman period until the 13th century, when it was conquered by England. The modern Gwynedd was one of eight Welsh counties created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It covered the entirety of the historic counties of Anglesey and Caernarfonshire, and all of Merionethshire apart from Edeirnion Rural District (which went to Clwyd); and also a few parishes of Denbighshire: Llanrwst, Llansanffraid Glan Conwy, Eglwysbach, Llanddoged, Llanrwst and Tir Ifan.

 

The county was divided into five districts: Aberconwy, Arfon, Dwyfor, Meirionnydd and Anglesey.

 

The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 abolished the 1974 county (and the five districts) on 1 April 1996, and its area was divided: the Isle of Anglesey became an independent unitary authority, and Aberconwy (which included the former Denbighshire parishes) passed to the new Conwy County Borough. The remainder of the county was constituted as a principal area, with the name Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire, as it covers most of the areas of those two historic counties. As one of its first actions, the Council renamed itself Gwynedd on 2 April 1996. The present Gwynedd local government area is governed by Gwynedd Council. As a unitary authority, the modern entity no longer has any districts, but Arfon, Dwyfor and Meirionnydd remain as area committees.

 

The pre-1996 boundaries were retained as a preserved county for a few purposes such as the Lieutenancy. In 2003, the boundary with Clwyd was adjusted to match the modern local government boundary, so that the preserved county now covers the two local government areas of Gwynedd and Anglesey. Conwy county borough is now entirely within Clwyd.

 

A Gwynedd Constabulary was formed in 1950 by the merger of the Anglesey, Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire forces. A further amalgamation took place in the 1960s when Gwynedd Constabulary was merged with the Flintshire and Denbighshire county forces, retaining the name Gwynedd. In one proposal for local government reform in Wales, Gwynedd had been proposed as a name for a local authority covering all of north Wales, but the scheme as enacted divided this area between Gwynedd and Clwyd. To prevent confusion, the Gwynedd Constabulary was therefore renamed the North Wales Police.

 

The Snowdonia National Park was formed in 1951. After the 1974 local authority reorganisation, the park fell entirely within the boundaries of Gwynedd, and was run as a department of Gwynedd County Council. After the 1996 local government reorganisation, part of the park fell under Conwy County Borough, and the park's administration separated from the Gwynedd council. Gwynedd Council still appoints nine of the eighteen members of the Snowdonia National Park Authority; Conwy County Borough Council appoints three; and the Welsh Government appoints the remaining six.

 

There has been considerable inwards migration to Gwynedd, particularly from England. According to the 2021 census, 66.6% of residents had been born in Wales whilst 27.1% were born in England.

 

The county has a mixed economy. An important part of the economy is based on tourism: many visitors are attracted by the many beaches and the mountains. A significant part of the county lies within the Snowdonia National Park, which extends from the north coast down to the district of Meirionnydd in the south. But tourism provides seasonal employment and thus there is a shortage of jobs in the winter.

 

Agriculture is less important than in the past, especially in terms of the number of people who earn their living on the land, but it remains an important element of the economy.

 

The most important of the traditional industries is the slate industry, but these days only a small percentage of workers earn their living in the slate quarries.

 

Industries which have developed more recently include TV and sound studios: the record company Sain has its HQ in the county.

 

The education sector is also very important for the local economy, including Bangor University and Further Education colleges, Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor and Coleg Menai, both now part of Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.

 

The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census who said they could speak Welsh.

Gwynedd has the highest proportion of people in Wales who can speak Welsh. According to the 2021 census, 64.4% of the population aged three and over stated that they could speak Welsh,[7] while 64.4% noted that they could speak Welsh in the 2011 census.

 

It is estimated that 83% of the county's Welsh-speakers are fluent, the highest percentage of all counties in Wales.[9] The age group with the highest proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd were those between ages 5–15, of whom 92.3% stated that they could speak Welsh in 2011.

 

The proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd declined between 1991 and 2001,[10] from 72.1% to 68.7%, even though the proportion of Welsh speakers in Wales as a whole increased during that decade to 20.5%.

 

The Annual Population Survey estimated that as of March 2023, 77.0% of those in Gwynedd aged three years and above could speak Welsh.

 

Notable people

Leslie Bonnet (1902–1985), RAF officer, writer; originated the Welsh Harlequin duck in Criccieth

Sir Dave Brailsford (born 1964), cycling coach; grew up in Deiniolen, near Caernarfon

Duffy (born 1984), singer, songwriter and actress; born in Bangor, Gwynedd

Edward II of England (1284–1327), born in Caernarfon Castle

Elin Fflur (born 1984), singer-songwriter, TV and radio presenter; went to Bangor University

Bryn Fôn (born 1954), actor and singer-songwriter; born in Llanllyfni, Caernarfonshire.

Wayne Hennessey (born 1987), football goalkeeper with 108 caps for Wales; born in Bangor, Gwynedd

John Jones (c. 1530 – 1598), a Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic priest and martyr; born at Clynnog

Sir Love Jones-Parry, 1st Baronet (1832–1891), landowner and politician, co-founder of the Y Wladfa settlement in Patagonia

T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935), archaeologist, army officer and inspiration for Lawrence of Arabia, born in Tremadog

David Lloyd George (1863–1945), statesman and Prime Minister; lived in Llanystumdwy from infancy

Sasha (born 1969), disc jockey, born in Bangor, Gwynedd

Sir Bryn Terfel (born 1965), bass-baritone opera and concert singer from Pant Glas

Sir Clough Williams-Ellis (1883–1978), architect of Portmeirion

Owain Fôn Williams, (born 1987), footballer with 443 club caps; born and raised in Penygroes, Gwynedd.

Hedd Wyn (1887–1917), poet from the village of Trawsfynydd; killed in WWI

Replacing an earlier scanned print with a better version 19-May-19, plus DeNoise AI 22-Dec-22.

 

Operated by Transavia Holland on behalf of Sabre Airways in basic Transavia livery without titles.

 

First flown with the Boeing test registration N1786B, this aircraft was delivered to Transavia Airlines Holland as PH-HZK in May-00.

 

It was wet-leased to Sabre Airways in Dec-00 and returned to Transavia in Apr-01. It was wet-leased to Air One (Italy) for a week in Apr-04. In Apr-05 the aircraft was leased to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in full KLM livery.

 

It was returned to Transavia in Mar-07 and blended winglets were added the same month. In Nov-08 it was wet-leased to Sunwing Airlines (Canada) for the winter season, returning to Transavia in Apr-09.

 

The aircraft was sold to The Dart Group Plc as G-JZHE and leased to Jet2,com in Mar-16, painted in Jet2 Holidays livery. Current, updated 12-Apr-25.

In 2024, Stagecoach in South Wales received its first sizeable batch of new vehicles after a gap of five years in the shape of 19 8.57m Switch Mobility Solos, (48101-3/15-23/85-91), which have all have all been allocated to Cwmbran depot. I say 19, but in reality the first three (48101-3) spent the first six months operating in Manchester and replaced what would have been 48192-4.

 

They can usually be found on the local services in Cwmbran, having replaced older Solo SRs and the 60-plate Alexander Dennis Enviro200s, as well as interworked Services 5 (Blackwood-Oakdale-Crumlin-Newbridge-Pant) and 21 (Cwmbran-Pontypool-Hafodyrynys-Llanhilleth-Crumlin-Newbridge-Blackwood).

 

However, in this January 2025 shot taken at Market Square in Newport, 48186 was operating Service X15 (Newport-Rogerstone-Crosskeys-Newbridge-Hafodyrynys-Llanhilleth-Abertillery-Brynmawr) with a friendly wave from the driver.

 

Coincidentally, its 19 years since the company's first new Solos arrived and there are still a couple of survivors from that batch.

Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 08-Sep-23.

 

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

 

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

 

It was returned to Orient Leasing in Dec-94 and was stored at Rio de Janeiro-Galeao, Brazil. In Feb-96 it was sold to Cathay Pacific Airways as VR-HME. The aircraft was converted to a full freighter configuration by Apr-96 and leased to Cathay's subsidiary, Air Hong Kong.

 

In Oct-97 it was re-registered B-HME when Hong Kong became an autonomous region of China. The aircraft was returned to Cathay Pacific Airways Cargo in Jul-02 and continued in operation until it was retired in Sep-08 and stored at Victorville, CA, USA. It was last noted still at Victorville in May-15.

Estamos substituindo cartas por e-mails, radio por televisão, livros por livros de internet, a realidade por computador... Iremos substituir as pessoas pelas máquina?

 

we're replacing the letters for e-mails, the radio for the television, books for internet's books, the reality for the computer... Are we going to replace people for machines?

 

minha internet não poderia estar pior!

"...there's a kid in here! A real kid!"

 

This is one of those Disneyland exclusive (well, California Adventure, actually) attractions that I enjoyed tremendously. Very well done, a lot of fun, and Monsters, Inc. is probably my favorite Pixar movie... great dark ride!

 

View On Black

 

See where this picture was taken. [?]

 

Quick EXIF:

Exposure: 1/50

Aperture: f/1.4

Focal Length: 30 mm

ISO: 560

 

Pictured:

Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!

Hollywood Pictures Backlot

Disney's California Adventure

Disneyland Resort

Anaheim, California

August, 2008

 

Quick Fact: The attraction replaced the park's only other dark ride, Superstar Limo, which ran from the park's opening until 2002.

 

Thanks for droppin' in!

Go North East's Riverside-based Volvo B11RT/Caetano Levante 2 7121 (BX65 WDC), which carries a purple temporary variant of the "X-lines" branding, is pictured here on Thorpe Road, Peterlee, whilst working "X-lines" service X9 to Peterlee then Middlesbrough. 05/09/20

 

In order to improve reliability and passenger comfort, coaches are being introduced to Go North East's flagship X9 and X10 routes, which operate between Newcastle and Middlesbrough, via Dalton Park (X10) and Peterlee (X9).

 

Coaches operated on the X9 service back in 2009, but were later replaced by conventional double-deck buses for capacity and accessibility requirements.

 

Through the years since, the X9/X10 services have seen a few different Wright-bodied Volvo chassis double-deck vehicle combinations; including Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7s, Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9s, and latterly Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5s. With each upgrade has come a time at which reliability has started to dwindle: conventional buses have a certain lifespan on these heavy-endurance routes and need to be replaced after a few years.

 

The impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on the X9/X10 services has seen passenger numbers stagnate, such that the services can be operated by lower capacity vehicles without issue.

 

This autumn, Go North East will take delivery of seven pre-owned Volvo B11RT/Plaxton Elitei interdeck coaches from sister operating company Oxford Bus Company, previously used on the company's high-profile X90 service operating between Oxford and London, until the service was withdrawn late last year.

 

They are currently undergoing repaint and refurbishment work at Hants & Dorset Trim, and until they are delivered, Go North East has introduced a temporary fleet of Caetano Levante coaches on the X9 & X10 services. Three of these coaches are twin-axles from the Northern Coaching unit, and four are former National Express tri-axles, which were otherwise out of use, due to the service reductions on the National Express network associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The four tri-axles (7120 - 7123) have received a temporary livery to promote the new, bigger and better, coaches, which are due to arrive this autumn.