Pentax Spotmatic SPII

Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 50mm f/1.4

Unicolor

Pakon F135

Practicing his model poses

"Oella is a mill town on the Patapsco River in western Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, located between Catonsville and Ellicott City. It is a 19th-century village of millworkers' homes.

 

Oella was founded in 1808 by the Union Manufacturing Company as a working class community for the company's mill workers. It was one of the earliest and most extensive cotton factories in the United States and used water-powered looms as early as 1819.

 

The Union Manufacturing Company was motivated by the Embargo Act of 1807 which required Baltimore merchants to manufacture finished goods in the United States rather than England. Stock in the company was issued to fund a series of industrial mills, the largest working with cotton and wool. Child and indigent labor was used reaching 150 employees in 1811. After the War of 1812 ended the embargo, cotton prices fell. A fire at the largest mill on 13 December 1815 took a decade to rebuild and recover from. The Mill rebounded with water driven looms, and expanded to three mill buildings before finally dissolving in 1887 after another drop in textile prices. William J. Dickey of Dickeysville (Gwynns Falls) purchased the mill in 1887, operating it as W.J. Dickey and Sons, naming the mill "Oella" after the first woman to spin cotton in America.

 

The Oella Historic District includes the village that consists of 19th century workers housing and one late 19th century church. The only known 20th century building is the W.J. Dickey Company Mill constructed in 1919 as a rebuild after a 1918 fire. The plant was eventually used for the city. A drawing from 1812 by Maximilian Godefroy shows most of the stone buildings. The brick houses date from the mid-19th century, while the frame buildings were constructed at the end of the century. The Oella Methodist Church is a simple frame building with a tower on the northeast corner, which has been converted into offices. The Patapsco River continued to provide power to generate electricity until 1972, when Hurricane Agnes flooded the power plant. That same year, the Dickey Company ceased manufacturing.

 

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Also listed on the National Register at Oella are the Ellicott's Mills Historic District and Mount Gilboa Chapel.

 

Oella is along the route of the Trolley Line Number 9 Trail." - info from Wikipedia.

 

The fall of 2022 I did my 3rd major cycling tour. I began my adventure in Montreal, Canada and finished in Savannah, GA. This tour took me through the oldest parts of Quebec and the 13 original US states. During this adventure I cycled 7,126 km over the course of 2.5 months and took more than 68,000 photos. As with my previous tours, a major focus was to photograph historic architecture.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon.

Dee doesn't leave me alone.

Never.

He's always asking for something.

He wants to play with the ball,

or to go out for a walk.

He begs for bread

or cookies.

Any treats, Mari.

He requires, requires, requires.

Attention or whatever.

Sometime I ignore him.

Homeworks, today.

He stares at me, at the beginning.

Then he starts to express his disappointment.

HUUFFFF

Nothing.

He barks, at the end.

 

I love having his sweet face around.

|(°o°)|

...but no longer! My last required XC HST powercar, 43285, slinks out of Tiverton Parkway P2 on 1M49, the 1153 service from Plymouth to Birmingham New Street, led by 43357.

Normally this would be another 220/221 unit, continuing to Manchester, but it just so happens that it was an HST this time around.

Motorcycle riders without helmets or any other type of safety equipment

 

Malé, Kaafu Atoll, Maldives

 

For my video; youtu.be/IW-UtSWZ_yY

NOTE: This Photo-Shoot requires some imagination on your part, dear viewers. The models are suppose to be "leaping" in mid air :)

 

BNTM Episode 07: The Girls Who Take a Dive

Photo-Shoot 07: Jumpsuit Editorial

 

Now on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwTS-ctnUHg

 

Vote for Model of the Moment: bntm.tumblr.com/post/6628465501/model-of-the-moment

TopGear 2002 Season 1 (Episode 6): Renault AVANTIME on the Cool Wall: Jeremy Clarkson places the Renault AVANTIME on the very edge of the Sub-Zero section!

TopGear 2008 Season 12 (Episode 3) a used AVANTIME was recognized by the presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May as one of the few cars that they all three liked.

www.flickr.com/photos/halfbyte/3040409681/

 

This is my 2002 Renault AVANTIME 2.0 16V TURBO 'NOIR NOCTURNE' photographed on our driveway.

 

No other car in the world has these ingenious doors and I'm sure this feature will be one of the most remembered features of this AVANTGARDE LOOKING FUTURE CLASSIC.

Detail ingenious doors: www.autoreview.ru/new_site/year2001/n13/avantime/avant-19...

 

THE AVANTIME HISTORY RETOLD

Renault suffered from over-capacity at their factories, and rather than letting people off, they wanted to take over the manufacture of the hugely successful Espace. So, they made the agreement with Matra that if Matra was given the task of developing this new high-spec topmodel, Renault could bring the Espace production in-house. Since Renault don't have the knowhow and expertise to produce cars like Matra do, they had to redesign the Espace, making it the conventional steel car we see marketed as "Espace IV". Matra took on the task and they came up with a series of design-ideas, all based on the "Espace III".

 

The Geneva motor show in March 1999 saw the unveiling of a new Renault concept car - where it was called a "Coupéspace" - which leads the way in opening up a long forgotten niche - that of a luxurious Grand Tourer Coupé with space for four adults to relax in comfort.

Poster AVANTIME 1999: www.flickr.com/photos/m_and_jiji/6920221965/

 

In the 1920's and '30's Renault's main products were luxurious sports models like the 1929 eight-cylinder Reinastella and 1930 Nervastella, driven by Royalty and Europe's aristocracy. The AVANTIME takes some inspiration from these powerful Grand Tourers, built to cover large distances in great comfort and style, whilst focusing firmly on the future. The AVANTIME, illustrates in a forthright manner Renault's ability to shape the future of the motor car. The manufacturer is convinced that there is room in the market for a new breed of coupe, targeted at a customer group seeking the visual distinction, rarity and driving enjoyment of a coupe with the luxury of space and comfort found in a large car or monospace, all wrapped up in a vehicle which is technologically advanced and forward looking. Styled by Patrick Le Quément, the AVANTIME was intended to combine the space of an MPV with four-place pillarless qualities of a coupé. Regarding the styling, Thierry Metroz, design project manager, said, "We wanted someone walking around the car to be continually astonished."

 

You sit high up, with glass all around you. The AVANTIME has no B-pillars - one thing that certainly delayed the project was getting the pillar-less design safety-approved - which adds a roadster feel to it, with windows down.

It was named the AVANTIME, which is not pronounced fully in French, but a combination 'AVANT' as in French for "ahead" and 'TIME' pronounced in english. In other words "Ahead of its time". They are quite probably right, and it will not be the first time Matra have been ahead of their time, and have spotted a niche almost before it appeared. It is an avantgarde looking car, the target group were people (former Espace-owners) whose kids have left home, but who still prefer the style and flexibility of the Espace, spiced up with a more luxurious interior and some decent performance. Very similar to the Espace the AVANTIME uses a warm-galvanized chassis in the lower part, but with the upper structure done in aluminium, to get the centre of gravity even lower than the Espace. The bodywork is still polyester, which is bonded in place. The doors are now a (galvanized) steel construction with polyester bodypanels bonded to it, making them much stronger than standard Espace doors, which were all fibreglass, with a metal frame, and in later models (J63 and JE) a side-impact steel bar about halfway up, on the inside. The frontend design is developed from the Espace, with the air-con intake moved to above the headlights, rather than the sidemirrors. The sidemirrors, on the other hand, have moved towards the door-windows again, as on the early Espace models.

 

Matra's engineers have avoided the top-heaviness of a minivan or SUV by fitting a lightweight aluminum superstructure to the Espace chassis. The track has been widened, the suspension lowered, and the wheels and brakes enlarged. Careful development has produced a car that feels stable at high speed on the autobahn, steers accurately, rolls only a little when cornered hard, yet smoothes all but the roughest roads. This is an impressive achievement and makes the AVANTIME fun for the driver and calm and secure for the passengers.

 

Renault has enlisted the services of French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier to front its first-ever cross-brand advertising campaign "Créateur d'automobiles" (a one-minute spot with music by Etienne de Crécy). The pan-European ad aims to position the French motor brand as being creative and innovative, paving the way for forthcoming launches such as the new AVANTIME GT Coupe in 2001. TV advertising, by incumbent agency Publicis, breaks on October 17 (2000) and shows Gaultier designing and producing a new dress, from sketches to the finished product on the catwalk. After the fashion show, the model sees a Renault AVANTIME and is captivated by it. The ad then shows the process by which the car was created, in reverse from the completed car back to the production line. The designer's sketch is reduced to a blank piece of paper, mirroring Gaultier's process. Eric Bernard, Renault's worldwide advertising director, said: 'We're going to cause a stir with this campaign, and we hope to surprise and interest those who only think of Renault as a brand for small and medium-sized cars. 'It will trigger awareness and help us develop the new message in preparation for the launch of our new large cars.' The TV campaign's launch is being timed to coincide with the Birmingham International Motor Show, where Renault is unveiling its production version of the AVANTIME. It is being supported by press and poster activity.

Link Renault AVANTIME spot commercial 2001: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FS3V-akz-c

 

In the meantime - there was a considerable delay in launching the AVANTIME - Renault had tested their design studio VEL SATIS with the public at car-shows and put the VEL SATIS into production, and hit the marked about the same time as the Avantime was finally ready. This means that Renault had two different approaches to the high-end luxury car, one being almost entirely Renault, the other a Matra. The Renault VEL SATIS has 4 doors, which should appeal to less adventurous (or more conservative) people. The AVANTIME was a two-doors only car (well, Matra did have a prototype 4-door version, but it never made it to production), but the doors are "huge" to allow for easy access, and are novel in the way they open, as they are internally hinged, making them sort of fold when you open them. Hereby even these huge doors will only require the same parkingspace as any other car, but at the same time offering excellent access. Having the AVANTIME compete with its Renault sibling obviously was not a good thing for Matra, who must have felt that Renault had not kept their part of the deal. To add insult to injury, its no secret that Renault urged their sales-organisation to push the VEL SATIS before the AVANTIME (by offering higher bonuses to the sales-people). This caused the AVANTIME to sell suficciently poor, to drain Matra for funds, and since there were no hopes for Renault helping them out, Matra decided in december 2002 that enough was enough and in April 2003 they shut down Matra Automobile and closed the factory in Romorantin. The last AVANTIME left the Matra assembly lines 18th of April 2003.

 

The following production figures have been published (Source: Matra France, L.Thimonner, 2003 ):

2001 : 2067

2002 : 5097

2003 : 1286

 

HISTORY REPEATING

Only 8450 Renault AVANTIME's were eventually built, before its abrubt end-of-life...

In the science fiction movie 'Children of men' (released 2006), the AVANTIME prototype 4-door version was seen in the cinema, Clive Owen and Julianne Moore travel in the AVANTIME until a breathtaking action sequence disrupt the journey...

 

Avantime has retained its feeling of novelty!

www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=renault%20icons%20...

The tale of Renault's short lived but stunning coupé is brought to life using interviews with the key players in the cars development, including ex Renault Head of Design Patrick Le Quement and Matra's Phillipe Guedon. With a colourful gathering of over 200 of the iconic cars at the famous Montlhery race track, the Avantime's 10th anniversary is the centre piece of this programme. Enthusiasts and experts swap opinions about what prevented this car becoming as much of a success as it perhaps should have been. Even more of the car's story is provided by Renault Avantime insiders Thierry Metroz and Carole Hurel, while current boss of Renault design, Laurens Van Den Acker gives his verdict on what makes this unique car so special.

 

Official Video Renault 10 Years AVANTIME, the "Coupéspace"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCXHroaxg8w&feature=feedu

  

Explore Renault AVANTIME

www.flickr.com/photos/55176801@N02/sets/72157625359946635/

     

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Scotswood Bridge is one of the main bridges crossing the River Tyne in North East England. It links the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne on the north bank of the river with the MetroCentre and Blaydon in Gateshead on the south bank. It is situated 5.2 km (3.2 mi) upstream of the better-known city centre bridges.

 

The Chain Bridge

Scotswood Bridge over River Tyne Act 1829

The first bridge across the river at this location was the Old Scotswood Bridge, or "The Chain Bridge" as it was known locally. It was a suspension bridge with two stone towers, from which the road deck was suspended by chains. An act to authorise the building of the bridge was passed by Parliament in 1829 (10 Geo. 4. c. x) and designed by John Green, with construction beginning that year. It was opened on 16 April 1831.

 

The toll to cross the bridge was abolished on 18 March 1907. In 1931 the bridge needed to be strengthened and widened. The width was increased from 17 ft (5.2 m) to 19.5 ft (5.9 m) with two 6 ft (1.8 m) footpaths. The suspension cables and decking were also strengthened, allowing the weight limit to be raised to 10 tonnes (9.842 long tons; 11.02 short tons). The bridge eventually proved too narrow for the traffic it needed to carry and its increasing repair costs proved too much. After standing for 136 years, it was closed and demolished in 1967 after its replacement had been completed.

 

Current bridge

Scotswood Bridge Act 1962

A replacement for the Chain Bridge had been proposed as early as 1941. Permission was finally granted in 1960, and authorised by an act of Parliament, the Scotswood Bridge Act 1962. A new bridge was designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson and built by Mitchell Construction and Dorman Long. Construction commenced on 18 September 1964. It was built 43 m upstream of the Chain Bridge, which continued operating during the new bridge's construction. The bridge was opened on 20 March 1967. It is a box girder bridge, supported by two piers in the river and carries a dual carriageway road. Combined costs for demolition of the old bridge and construction of the new one were £2.5 million.

 

Scotswood Bridge carried the traffic of the Gateshead A69 western by-pass from 1970 up until the construction of Blaydon Bridge and the new A1 in 1990. Between June 1971 and January 1974 traffic on the bridge was limited to single file to enable strengthening work to take place, which was needed to address design concerns. It has required further strengthening and repairs a number of times since; between 1979 and 1980, in 1983 and in 1990.

 

Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle is a cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the River Tyne's northern bank, opposite Gateshead to the south. It is the most populous settlement in the Tyneside conurbation and North East England.

 

Newcastle developed around a Roman settlement called Pons Aelius, the settlement became known as Monkchester before taking on the name of a castle built in 1080 by William the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert Curthose. It was one of the world's largest ship building and repair centres during the industrial revolution. Newcastle was part of the county of Northumberland until 1400, when it separated and formed a county of itself. In 1974, Newcastle became part of Tyne and Wear. Since 2018, the city council has been part of the North of Tyne Combined Authority.

 

The history of Newcastle upon Tyne dates back almost 2,000 years, during which it has been controlled by the Romans, the Angles and the Norsemen amongst others. Newcastle upon Tyne was originally known by its Roman name Pons Aelius. The name "Newcastle" has been used since the Norman conquest of England. Due to its prime location on the River Tyne, the town developed greatly during the Middle Ages and it was to play a major role in the Industrial Revolution, being granted city status in 1882. Today, the city is a major retail, commercial and cultural centre.

 

Roman settlement

The history of Newcastle dates from AD 122, when the Romans built the first bridge to cross the River Tyne at that point. The bridge was called Pons Aelius or 'Bridge of Aelius', Aelius being the family name of Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was responsible for the Roman wall built across northern England along the Tyne–Solway gap. Hadrian's Wall ran through present-day Newcastle, with stretches of wall and turrets visible along the West Road, and at a temple in Benwell. Traces of a milecastle were found on Westgate Road, midway between Clayton Street and Grainger Street, and it is likely that the course of the wall corresponded to present-day Westgate Road. The course of the wall can be traced eastwards to the Segedunum Roman fort at Wallsend, with the fort of Arbeia down-river at the mouth of the Tyne, on the south bank in what is now South Shields. The Tyne was then a wider, shallower river at this point and it is thought that the bridge was probably about 700 feet (210 m) long, made of wood and supported on stone piers. It is probable that it was sited near the current Swing Bridge, due to the fact that Roman artefacts were found there during the building of the latter bridge. Hadrian himself probably visited the site in 122. A shrine was set up on the completed bridge in 123 by the 6th Legion, with two altars to Neptune and Oceanus respectively. The two altars were subsequently found in the river and are on display in the Great North Museum in Newcastle.

 

The Romans built a stone-walled fort in 150 to protect the river crossing which was at the foot of the Tyne Gorge, and this took the name of the bridge so that the whole settlement was known as Pons Aelius. The fort was situated on a rocky outcrop overlooking the new bridge, on the site of the present Castle Keep. Pons Aelius is last mentioned in 400, in a Roman document listing all of the Roman military outposts. It is likely that nestling in the shadow of the fort would have been a small vicus, or village. Unfortunately, no buildings have been detected; only a few pieces of flagging. It is clear that there was a Roman cemetery near Clavering Place, behind the Central station, as a number of Roman coffins and sarcophagi have been unearthed there.

 

Despite the presence of the bridge, the settlement of Pons Aelius was not particularly important among the northern Roman settlements. The most important stations were those on the highway of Dere Street running from Eboracum (York) through Corstopitum (Corbridge) and to the lands north of the Wall. Corstopitum, being a major arsenal and supply centre, was much larger and more populous than Pons Aelius.

 

Anglo-Saxon development

The Angles arrived in the North-East of England in about 500 and may have landed on the Tyne. There is no evidence of an Anglo-Saxon settlement on or near the site of Pons Aelius during the Anglo-Saxon age. The bridge probably survived and there may well have been a small village at the northern end, but no evidence survives. At that time the region was dominated by two kingdoms, Bernicia, north of the Tees and ruled from Bamburgh, and Deira, south of the Tees and ruled from York. Bernicia and Deira combined to form the kingdom of Northanhymbra (Northumbria) early in the 7th century. There were three local kings who held the title of Bretwalda – 'Lord of Britain', Edwin of Deira (627–632), Oswald of Bernicia (633–641) and Oswy of Northumbria (641–658). The 7th century became known as the 'Golden Age of Northumbria', when the area was a beacon of culture and learning in Europe. The greatness of this period was based on its generally Christian culture and resulted in the Lindisfarne Gospels amongst other treasures. The Tyne valley was dotted with monasteries, with those at Monkwearmouth, Hexham and Jarrow being the most famous. Bede, who was based at Jarrow, wrote of a royal estate, known as Ad Murum, 'at the Wall', 12 miles (19 km) from the sea. It is thought that this estate may have been in what is now Newcastle. At some unknown time, the site of Newcastle came to be known as Monkchester. The reason for this title is unknown, as we are unaware of any specific monasteries at the site, and Bede made no reference to it. In 875 Halfdan Ragnarsson, the Danish Viking conqueror of York, led an army that attacked and pillaged various monasteries in the area, and it is thought that Monkchester was also pillaged at this time. Little more was heard of it until the coming of the Normans.

 

Norman period

After the arrival of William the Conqueror in England in 1066, the whole of England was quickly subjected to Norman rule. However, in Northumbria there was great resistance to the Normans, and in 1069 the newly appointed Norman Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Comines and 700 of his men were killed by the local population at Durham. The Northumbrians then marched on York, but William was able to suppress the uprising. That same year, a second uprising occurred when a Danish fleet landed in the Humber. The Northumbrians again attacked York and destroyed the garrison there. William was again able to suppress the uprising, but this time he took revenge. He laid waste to the whole of the Midlands and the land from York to the Tees. In 1080, William Walcher, the Norman bishop of Durham and his followers were brutally murdered at Gateshead. This time Odo, bishop of Bayeux, William's half brother, devastated the land between the Tees and the Tweed. This was known as the 'Harrying of the North'. This devastation is reflected in the Domesday Book. The destruction had such an effect that the North remained poor and backward at least until Tudor times and perhaps until the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle suffered in this respect with the rest of the North.

 

In 1080 William sent his eldest son, Robert Curthose, north to defend the kingdom against the Scots. After his campaign, he moved to Monkchester and began the building of a 'New Castle'. This was of the "motte-and-bailey" type of construction, a wooden tower on top of an earthen mound (motte), surrounded by a moat and wooden stockade (bailey). It was this castle that gave Newcastle its name. In 1095 the Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Mowbray, rose up against the king, William Rufus, and Rufus sent an army north to recapture the castle. From then on the castle became crown property and was an important base from which the king could control the northern barons. The Northumbrian earldom was abolished and a Sheriff of Northumberland was appointed to administer the region. In 1091 the parish church of St Nicholas was consecrated on the site of the present Anglican cathedral, close by the bailey of the new castle. The church is believed to have been a wooden building on stone footings.

 

Not a trace of the tower or mound of the motte and bailey castle remains now. Henry II replaced it with a rectangular stone keep, which was built between 1172 and 1177 at a cost of £1,444. A stone bailey, in the form of a triangle, replaced the previous wooden one. The great outer gateway to the castle, called 'the Black Gate', was built later, between 1247 and 1250, in the reign of Henry III. There were at that time no town walls and when attacked by the Scots, the townspeople had to crowd into the bailey for safety. It is probable that the new castle acted as a magnet for local merchants because of the safety it provided. This in turn would help to expand trade in the town. At this time wool, skins and lead were being exported, whilst alum, pepper and ginger were being imported from France and Flanders.

 

Middle Ages

Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England's northern fortress, the centre for assembled armies. The Border war against Scotland lasted intermittently for several centuries – possibly the longest border war ever waged. During the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, David 1st of Scotland and his son were granted Cumbria and Northumberland respectively, so that for a period from 1139 to 1157, Newcastle was effectively in Scottish hands. It is believed that during this period, King David may have built the church of St Andrew and the Benedictine nunnery in Newcastle. However, King Stephen's successor, Henry II was strong enough to take back the Earldom of Northumbria from Malcolm IV.

 

The Scots king William the Lion was imprisoned in Newcastle, in 1174, after being captured at the Battle of Alnwick. Edward I brought the Stone of Scone and William Wallace south through the town and Newcastle was successfully defended against the Scots three times during the 14th century.

 

Around 1200, stone-faced, clay-filled jetties were starting to project into the river, an indication that trade was increasing in Newcastle. As the Roman roads continued to deteriorate, sea travel was gaining in importance. By 1275 Newcastle was the sixth largest wool exporting port in England. The principal exports at this time were wool, timber, coal, millstones, dairy produce, fish, salt and hides. Much of the developing trade was with the Baltic countries and Germany. Most of the Newcastle merchants were situated near the river, below the Castle. The earliest known charter was dated 1175 in the reign of Henry II, giving the townspeople some control over their town. In 1216 King John granted Newcastle a mayor[8] and also allowed the formation of guilds (known as Mysteries). These were cartels formed within different trades, which restricted trade to guild members. There were initially twelve guilds. Coal was being exported from Newcastle by 1250, and by 1350 the burgesses received a royal licence to export coal. This licence to export coal was jealously guarded by the Newcastle burgesses, and they tried to prevent any one else on the Tyne from exporting coal except through Newcastle. The burgesses similarly tried to prevent fish from being sold anywhere else on the Tyne except Newcastle. This led to conflicts with Gateshead and South Shields.

 

In 1265, the town was granted permission to impose a 'Wall Tax' or Murage, to pay for the construction of a fortified wall to enclose the town and protect it from Scottish invaders. The town walls were not completed until early in the 14th century. They were two miles (3 km) long, 9 feet (2.7 m) thick and 25 feet (7.6 m) high. They had six main gates, as well as some smaller gates, and had 17 towers. The land within the walls was divided almost equally by the Lort Burn, which flowed southwards and joined the Tyne to the east of the Castle. The town began to expand north of the Castle and west of the Lort Burn with various markets being set up within the walls.

 

In 1400 Henry IV granted a new charter, creating a County corporate which separated the town, but not the Castle, from the county of Northumberland and recognised it as a "county of itself" with a right to have a sheriff of its own. The burgesses were now allowed to choose six aldermen who, with the mayor would be justices of the peace. The mayor and sheriff were allowed to hold borough courts in the Guildhall.

 

Religious houses

During the Middle Ages a number of religious houses were established within the walls: the first of these was the Benedictine nunnery of St Bartholomew founded in 1086 near the present-day Nun Street. Both David I of Scotland and Henry I of England were benefactors of the religious house. Nothing of the nunnery remains now.

 

The friary of Blackfriars, Newcastle (Dominican) was established in 1239. These were also known as the Preaching Friars or Shod Friars, because they wore sandals, as opposed to other orders. The friary was situated in the present-day Friars Street. In 1280 the order was granted royal permission to make a postern in the town walls to communicate with their gardens outside the walls. On 19 June 1334, Edward Balliol, claimant to be King of Scotland, did homage to King Edward III, on behalf of the kingdom of Scotland, in the church of the friary. Much of the original buildings of the friary still exist, mainly because, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries the friary of Blackfriars was rented out by the corporation to nine of the local trade guilds.

 

The friary of Whitefriars (Carmelite) was established in 1262. The order was originally housed on the Wall Knoll in Pandon, but in 1307 it took over the buildings of another order, which went out of existence, the Friars of the Sac. The land, which had originally been given by Robert the Bruce, was situated in the present-day Hanover Square, behind the Central station. Nothing of the friary remains now.

 

The friary of Austinfriars (Augustinian) was established in 1290. The friary was on the site where the Holy Jesus Hospital was built in 1682. The friary was traditionally the lodging place of English kings whenever they visited or passed through Newcastle. In 1503 Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII of England, stayed two days at the friary on her way to join her new husband James IV of Scotland.

 

The friary of Greyfriars (Franciscans) was established in 1274. The friary was in the present-day area between Pilgrim Street, Grey Street, Market Street and High Chare. Nothing of the original buildings remains.

 

The friary of the Order of the Holy Trinity, also known as the Trinitarians, was established in 1360. The order devoted a third of its income to buying back captives of the Saracens, during the Crusades. Their house was on the Wall Knoll, in Pandon, to the east of the city, but within the walls. Wall Knoll had previously been occupied by the White Friars until they moved to new premises in 1307.

 

All of the above religious houses were closed in about 1540, when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.

 

An important street running through Newcastle at the time was Pilgrim Street, running northwards inside the walls and leading to the Pilgrim Gate on the north wall. The street still exists today as arguably Newcastle's main shopping street.

 

Tudor period

The Scottish border wars continued for much of the 16th century, so that during that time, Newcastle was often threatened with invasion by the Scots, but also remained important as a border stronghold against them.

 

During the Reformation begun by Henry VIII in 1536, the five Newcastle friaries and the single nunnery were dissolved and the land was sold to the Corporation and to rich merchants. At this time there were fewer than 60 inmates of the religious houses in Newcastle. The convent of Blackfriars was leased to nine craft guilds to be used as their headquarters. This probably explains why it is the only one of the religious houses whose building survives to the present day. The priories at Tynemouth and Durham were also dissolved, thus ending the long-running rivalry between Newcastle and the church for control of trade on the Tyne. A little later, the property of the nunnery of St Bartholomew and of Grey Friars were bought by Robert Anderson, who had the buildings demolished to build his grand Newe House (also known as Anderson Place).

 

With the gradual decline of the Scottish border wars the town walls were allowed to decline as well as the castle. By 1547, about 10,000 people were living in Newcastle. At the beginning of the 16th century exports of wool from Newcastle were more than twice the value of exports of coal, but during the century coal exports continued to increase.

 

Under Edward VI, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, sponsored an act allowing Newcastle to annexe Gateshead as its suburb. The main reason for this was to allow the Newcastle Hostmen, who controlled the export of Tyne coal, to get their hands on the Gateshead coal mines, previously controlled by the Bishop of Durham. However, when Mary I came to power, Dudley met his downfall and the decision was reversed. The Reformation allowed private access to coal mines previously owned by Tynemouth and Durham priories and as a result coal exports increase dramatically, from 15,000 tons in 1500 to 35,000 tons in 1565, and to 400,000 tons in 1625.

 

The plague visited Newcastle four times during the 16th century, in 1579 when 2,000 people died, in 1589 when 1700 died, in 1595 and finally in 1597.

 

In 1600 Elizabeth I granted Newcastle a charter for an exclusive body of electors, the right to elect the mayor and burgesses. The charter also gave the Hostmen exclusive rights to load coal at any point on the Tyne. The Hostmen developed as an exclusive group within the Merchant Adventurers who had been incorporated by a charter in 1547.

 

Stuart period

In 1636 there was a serious outbreak of bubonic plague in Newcastle. There had been several previous outbreaks of the disease over the years, but this was the most serious. It is thought to have arrived from the Netherlands via ships that were trading between the Tyne and that country. It first appeared in the lower part of the town near the docks but gradually spread to all parts of the town. As the disease gained hold the authorities took measures to control it by boarding up any properties that contained infected persons, meaning that whole families were locked up together with the infected family members. Other infected persons were put in huts outside the town walls and left to die. Plague pits were dug next to the town's four churches and outside the town walls to receive the bodies in mass burials. Over the course of the outbreak 5,631 deaths were recorded out of an estimated population of 12,000, a death rate of 47%.

 

In 1637 Charles I tried to raise money by doubling the 'voluntary' tax on coal in return for allowing the Newcastle Hostmen to regulate production and fix prices. This caused outrage amongst the London importers and the East Anglian shippers. Both groups decided to boycott Tyne coal and as a result forced Charles to reverse his decision in 1638.

 

In 1640 during the Second Bishops' War, the Scots successfully invaded Newcastle. The occupying army demanded £850 per day from the Corporation to billet the Scottish troops. Trade from the Tyne ground to a halt during the occupation. The Scots left in 1641 after receiving a Parliamentary pardon and a £4,000,000 loan from the town.

 

In 1642 the English Civil War began. King Charles realised the value of the Tyne coal trade and therefore garrisoned Newcastle. A Royalist was appointed as governor. At that time, Newcastle and King's Lynn were the only important seaports to support the crown. In 1644 Parliament blockaded the Tyne to prevent the king from receiving revenue from the Tyne coal trade. Coal exports fell from 450,000 to 3,000 tons and London suffered a hard winter without fuel. Parliament encouraged the coal trade from the Wear to try to replace that lost from Newcastle but that was not enough to make up for the lost Tyneside tonnage.

 

In 1644 the Scots crossed the border. Newcastle strengthened its defences in preparation. The Scottish army, with 40,000 troops, besieged Newcastle for three months until the garrison of 1,500 surrendered. During the siege, the Scots bombarded the walls with their artillery, situated in Gateshead and Castle Leazes. The Scottish commander threatened to destroy the steeple of St Nicholas's Church by gunfire if the mayor, Sir John Marley, did not surrender the town. The mayor responded by placing Scottish prisoners that they had captured in the steeple, so saving it from destruction. The town walls were finally breached by a combination of artillery and sapping. In gratitude for this defence, Charles gave Newcastle the motto 'Fortiter Defendit Triumphans' to be added to its coat of arms. The Scottish army occupied Northumberland and Durham for two years. The coal taxes had to pay for the Scottish occupation. In 1645 Charles surrendered to the Scots and was imprisoned in Newcastle for nine months. After the Civil War the coal trade on the Tyne soon picked up and exceeded its pre-war levels.

 

A new Guildhall was completed on the Sandhill next to the river in 1655, replacing an earlier facility damaged by fire in 1639, and became the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council. In 1681 the Hospital of the Holy Jesus was built partly on the site of the Austin Friars. The Guildhall and Holy Jesus Hospital still exist.

 

Charles II tried to impose a charter on Newcastle to give the king the right to appoint the mayor, sheriff, recorder and town clerk. Charles died before the charter came into effect. In 1685, James II tried to replace Corporation members with named Catholics. However, James' mandate was suspended in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution welcoming William of Orange. In 1689, after the fall of James II, the people of Newcastle tore down his bronze equestrian statue in Sandhill and tossed it into the Tyne. The bronze was later used to make bells for All Saints Church.

 

In 1689 the Lort Burn was covered over. At this time it was an open sewer. The channel followed by the Lort Burn became the present day Dean Street. At that time, the centre of Newcastle was still the Sandhill area, with many merchants living along the Close or on the Side. The path of the main road through Newcastle ran from the single Tyne bridge, through Sandhill to the Side, a narrow street which climbed steeply on the north-east side of the castle hill until it reached the higher ground alongside St Nicholas' Church. As Newcastle developed, the Side became lined with buildings with projecting upper stories, so that the main street through Newcastle was a narrow, congested, steep thoroughfare.

 

In 1701 the Keelmen's Hospital was built in the Sandgate area of the city, using funds provided by the keelmen. The building still stands today.

 

Eighteenth century

In the 18th century, Newcastle was the country's largest print centre after London, Oxford and Cambridge, and the Literary and Philosophical Society of 1793, with its erudite debates and large stock of books in several languages predated the London Library by half a century.

 

In 1715, during the Jacobite rising in favour of the Old Pretender, an army of Jacobite supporters marched on Newcastle. Many of the Northumbrian gentry joined the rebels. The citizens prepared for its arrival by arresting Jacobite supporters and accepting 700 extra recruits into the local militia. The gates of the city were closed against the rebels. This proved enough to delay an attack until reinforcements arrived forcing the rebel army to move across to the west coast. The rebels finally surrendered at Preston.

 

In 1745, during a second Jacobite rising in favour of the Young Pretender, a Scottish army crossed the border led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Once again Newcastle prepared by arresting Jacobite supporters and inducting 800 volunteers into the local militia. The town walls were strengthened, most of the gates were blocked up and some 200 cannon were deployed. 20,000 regulars were billeted on the Town Moor. These preparations were enough to force the rebel army to travel south via the west coast. They were eventually defeated at Culloden in 1746.

 

Newcastle's actions during the 1715 rising in resisting the rebels and declaring for George I, in contrast to the rest of the region, is the most likely source of the nickname 'Geordie', applied to people from Tyneside, or more accurately Newcastle. Another theory, however, is that the name 'Geordie' came from the inventor of the Geordie lamp, George Stephenson. It was a type of safety lamp used in mining, but was not invented until 1815. Apparently the term 'German Geordie' was in common use during the 18th century.

 

The city's first hospital, Newcastle Infirmary opened in 1753; it was funded by public subscription. A lying-in hospital was established in Newcastle in 1760. The city's first public hospital for mentally ill patients, Wardens Close Lunatic Hospital was opened in October 1767.

 

In 1771 a flood swept away much of the bridge at Newcastle. The bridge had been built in 1250 and repaired after a flood in 1339. The bridge supported various houses and three towers and an old chapel. A blue stone was placed in the middle of the bridge to mark the boundary between Newcastle and the Palatinate of Durham. A temporary wooden bridge had to be built, and this remained in use until 1781, when a new stone bridge was completed. The new bridge consisted of nine arches. In 1801, because of the pressure of traffic, the bridge had to be widened.

 

A permanent military presence was established in the city with the completion of Fenham Barracks in 1806. The facilities at the Castle for holding assizes, which had been condemned for their inconvenience and unhealthiness, were replaced when the Moot Hall opened in August 1812.

 

Victorian period

Present-day Newcastle owes much of its architecture to the work of the builder Richard Grainger, aided by architects John Dobson, Thomas Oliver, John and Benjamin Green and others. In 1834 Grainger won a competition to produce a new plan for central Newcastle. He put this plan into effect using the above architects as well as architects employed in his own office. Grainger and Oliver had already built Leazes Terrace, Leazes Crescent and Leazes Place between 1829 and 1834. Grainger and Dobson had also built the Royal Arcade at the foot of Pilgrim Street between 1830 and 1832. The most ambitious project covered 12 acres 12 acres (49,000 m2) in central Newcastle, on the site of Newe House (also called Anderson Place). Grainger built three new thoroughfares, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street with many connecting streets, as well as the Central Exchange and the Grainger Market. John Wardle and George Walker, working in Grainger's office, designed Clayton Street, Grainger Street and most of Grey Street. Dobson designed the Grainger Market and much of the east side of Grey Street. John and Benjamin Green designed the Theatre Royal at the top of Grey Street, where Grainger placed the column of Grey's Monument as a focus for the whole scheme. Grey Street is considered to be one of the finest streets in the country, with its elegant curve. Unfortunately most of old Eldon Square was demolished in the 1960s in the name of progress. The Royal Arcade met a similar fate.

 

In 1849 a new bridge was built across the river at Newcastle. This was the High Level Bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson, and slightly up river from the existing bridge. The bridge was designed to carry road and rail traffic across the Tyne Gorge on two decks with rail traffic on the upper deck and road traffic on the lower. The new bridge meant that traffic could pass through Newcastle without having to negotiate the steep, narrow Side, as had been necessary for centuries. The bridge was opened by Queen Victoria, who one year later opened the new Central Station, designed by John Dobson. Trains were now able to cross the river, directly into the centre of Newcastle and carry on up to Scotland. The Army Riding School was also completed in 1849.

 

In 1854 a large fire started on the Gateshead quayside and an explosion caused it to spread across the river to the Newcastle quayside. A huge conflagration amongst the narrow alleys, or 'chares', destroyed the homes of 800 families as well as many business premises. The narrow alleys that had been destroyed were replaced by streets containing blocks of modern offices.

 

In 1863 the Town Hall in St Nicholas Square replaced the Guildhall as the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council.

 

In 1876 the low level bridge was replaced by a new bridge known as the Swing Bridge, so called because the bridge was able to swing horizontally on a central axis and allow ships to pass on either side. This meant that for the first time sizeable ships could pass up-river beyond Newcastle. The bridge was built and paid for by William Armstrong, a local arms manufacturer, who needed to have warships access his Elswick arms factory to fit armaments to them. The Swing Bridge's rotating mechanism is adapted from the cannon mounts developed in Armstrong's arms works. In 1882 the Elswick works began to build ships as well as to arm them. The Barrack Road drill hall was completed in 1890.

 

Industrialisation

In the 19th century, shipbuilding and heavy engineering were central to the city's prosperity; and the city was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle's development as a major city owed most to its central role in the production and export of coal. The phrase "taking coals to Newcastle" was first recorded in 1538; it proverbially denotes bringing a particular commodity to a place that has more than enough of it already.

 

Innovation in Newcastle and surrounding areas included the following:

 

George Stephenson developed a miner's safety lamp at the same time that Humphry Davy developed a rival design. The lamp made possible the opening up of ever deeper mines to provide the coal that powered the industrial revolution.

George and his son Robert Stephenson were hugely influential figures in the development of the early railways. George developed Blücher, a locomotive working at Killingworth colliery in 1814, whilst Robert was instrumental in the design of Rocket, a revolutionary design that was the forerunner of modern locomotives. Both men were involved in planning and building railway lines, all over this country and abroad.

 

Joseph Swan demonstrated a working electric light bulb about a year before Thomas Edison did the same in the USA. This led to a dispute as to who had actually invented the light bulb. Eventually the two rivals agreed to form a mutual company between them, the Edison and Swan Electric Light Company, known as Ediswan.

 

Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine, for marine use and for power generation. He used Turbinia, a small, turbine-powered ship, to demonstrate the speed that a steam turbine could generate. Turbinia literally ran rings around the British Fleet at a review at Spithead in 1897.

 

William Armstrong invented a hydraulic crane that was installed in dockyards up and down the country. He then began to design light, accurate field guns for the British army. These were a vast improvement on the existing guns that were then in use.

 

The following major industries developed in Newcastle or its surrounding area:

 

Glassmaking

A small glass industry existed in Newcastle from the mid-15th century. In 1615 restrictions were put on the use of wood for manufacturing glass. It was found that glass could be manufactured using the local coal, and so a glassmaking industry grew up on Tyneside. Huguenot glassmakers came over from France as refugees from persecution and set up glasshouses in the Skinnerburn area of Newcastle. Eventually, glass production moved to the Ouseburn area of Newcastle. In 1684 the Dagnia family, Sephardic Jewish emigrants from Altare, arrived in Newcastle from Stourbridge and established glasshouses along the Close, to manufacture high quality flint glass. The glass manufacturers used sand ballast from the boats arriving in the river as the main raw material. The glassware was then exported in collier brigs. The period from 1730 to 1785 was the highpoint of Newcastle glass manufacture, when the local glassmakers produced the 'Newcastle Light Baluster'. The glassmaking industry still exists in the west end of the city with local Artist and Glassmaker Jane Charles carrying on over four hundred years of hot glass blowing in Newcastle upon Tyne.

 

Locomotive manufacture

In 1823 George Stephenson and his son Robert established the world's first locomotive factory near Forth Street in Newcastle. Here they built locomotives for the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, as well as many others. It was here that the famous locomotive Rocket was designed and manufactured in preparation for the Rainhill Trials. Apart from building locomotives for the British market, the Newcastle works also produced locomotives for Europe and America. The Forth Street works continued to build locomotives until 1960.

 

Shipbuilding

In 1296 a wooden, 135 ft (41 m) long galley was constructed at the mouth of the Lort Burn in Newcastle, as part of a twenty-ship order from the king. The ship cost £205, and is the earliest record of shipbuilding in Newcastle. However the rise of the Tyne as a shipbuilding area was due to the need for collier brigs for the coal export trade. These wooden sailing ships were usually built locally, establishing local expertise in building ships. As ships changed from wood to steel, and from sail to steam, the local shipbuilding industry changed to build the new ships. Although shipbuilding was carried out up and down both sides of the river, the two main areas for building ships in Newcastle were Elswick, to the west, and Walker, to the east. By 1800 Tyneside was the third largest producer of ships in Britain. Unfortunately, after the Second World War, lack of modernisation and competition from abroad gradually caused the local industry to decline and die.

 

Armaments

In 1847 William Armstrong established a huge factory in Elswick, west of Newcastle. This was initially used to produce hydraulic cranes but subsequently began also to produce guns for both the army and the navy. After the Swing Bridge was built in 1876 allowing ships to pass up river, warships could have their armaments fitted alongside the Elswick works. Armstrong's company took over its industrial rival, Joseph Whitworth of Manchester in 1897.

 

Steam turbines

Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine and, in 1889, founded his own company C. A. Parsons and Company in Heaton, Newcastle to make steam turbines. Shortly after this, he realised that steam turbines could be used to propel ships and, in 1897, he founded a second company, Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company in Wallsend. It is there that he designed and manufactured Turbinia. Parsons turbines were initially used in warships but soon came to be used in merchant and passenger vessels, including the liner Mauretania which held the blue riband for the Atlantic crossing until 1929. Parsons' company in Heaton began to make turbo-generators for power stations and supplied power stations all over the world. The Heaton works, reduced in size, remains as part of the Siemens AG industrial giant.

 

Pottery

In 1762 the Maling pottery was founded in Sunderland by French Huguenots, but transferred to Newcastle in 1817. A factory was built in the Ouseburn area of the city. The factory was rebuilt twice, finally occupying a 14-acre (57,000 m2) site that was claimed to be the biggest pottery in the world and which had its own railway station. The pottery pioneered use of machines in making potteries as opposed to hand production. In the 1890s the company went up-market and employed in-house designers. The period up to the Second World War was the most profitable with a constant stream of new designs being introduced. However, after the war, production gradually declined and the company closed in 1963.

 

Expansion of the city

Newcastle was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835: the reformed municipal borough included the parishes of Byker, Elswick, Heaton, Jesmond, Newcastle All Saints, Newcastle St Andrew, Newcastle St John, Newcastle St Nicholas, and Westgate. The urban districts of Benwell and Fenham and Walker were added in 1904. In 1935, Newcastle gained Kenton and parts of the parishes of West Brunton, East Denton, Fawdon, Longbenton. The most recent expansion in Newcastle's boundaries took place under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974, when Newcastle became a metropolitan borough, also including the urban districts of Gosforth and Newburn, and the parishes of Brunswick, Dinnington, Hazlerigg, North Gosforth and Woolsington from the Castle Ward Rural District, and the village of Westerhope.

 

Meanwhile Northumberland County Council was formed under the Local Government Act 1888 and benefited from a dedicated meeting place when County Hall was completed in the Castle Garth area of Newcastle in 1910. Following the Local Government Act 1972 County Hall relocated to Morpeth in April 1981.

 

Twentieth century

In 1925 work began on a new high-level road bridge to span the Tyne Gorge between Newcastle and Gateshead. The capacity of the existing High-Level Bridge and Swing Bridge were being strained to the limit, and an additional bridge had been discussed for a long time. The contract was awarded to the Dorman Long Company and the bridge was finally opened by King George V in 1928. The road deck was 84 feet (26 m) above the river and was supported by a 531 feet (162 m) steel arch. The new Tyne Bridge quickly became a symbol for Newcastle and Tyneside, and remains so today.

 

During the Second World War, Newcastle was largely spared the horrors inflicted upon other British cities bombed during the Blitz. Although the armaments factories and shipyards along the River Tyne were targeted by the Luftwaffe, they largely escaped unscathed. Manors goods yard and railway terminal, to the east of the city centre, and the suburbs of Jesmond and Heaton suffered bombing during 1941. There were 141 deaths and 587 injuries, a relatively small figure compared to the casualties in other industrial centres of Britain.

 

In 1963 the city gained its own university, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, by act of parliament. A School of Medicine and Surgery had been established in Newcastle in 1834. This eventually developed into a college of medicine attached to Durham University. A college of physical science was also founded and became Armstrong College in 1904. In 1934 the two colleges merged to become King's College, Durham. This remained as part of Durham University until the new university was created in 1963. In 1992 the city gained its second university when Newcastle Polytechnic was granted university status as Northumbria University.

 

Newcastle City Council moved to the new Newcastle Civic Centre in 1968.

 

As heavy industries declined in the second half of the 20th century, large sections of the city centre were demolished along with many areas of slum housing. The leading political figure in the city during the 1960s was T. Dan Smith who oversaw a massive building programme of highrise housing estates and authorised the demolition of a quarter of the Georgian Grainger Town to make way for Eldon Square Shopping Centre. Smith's control in Newcastle collapsed when it was exposed that he had used public contracts to advantage himself and his business associates and for a time Newcastle became a byword for civic corruption as depicted in the films Get Carter and Stormy Monday and in the television series Our Friends in the North. However, much of the historic Grainger Town area survived and was, for the most part, fully restored in the late 1990s. Northumberland Street, initially the A1, was gradually closed to traffic from the 1970s and completely pedestrianised by 1998.

 

In 1978 a new rapid transport system, the Metro, was built, linking the Tyneside area. The system opened in August 1980. A new bridge was built to carry the Metro across the river between Gateshead and Newcastle. This was the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, commonly known as the Metro Bridge. Eventually the Metro system was extended to reach Newcastle Airport in 1991, and in 2002 the Metro system was extended to the nearby city of Sunderland.

 

As the 20th century progressed, trade on the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides gradually declined, until by the 1980s both sides of the river were looking rather derelict. Shipping company offices had closed along with offices of firms related to shipping. There were also derelict warehouses lining the riverbank. Local government produced a master plan to re-develop the Newcastle quayside and this was begun in the 1990s. New offices, restaurants, bars and residential accommodation were built and the area has changed in the space of a few years into a vibrant area, partially returning the focus of Newcastle to the riverside, where it was in medieval times.

 

The Gateshead Millennium Bridge, a foot and cycle bridge, 26 feet (7.9 m) wide and 413 feet (126 m) long, was completed in 2001. The road deck is in the form of a curve and is supported by a steel arch. To allow ships to pass, the whole structure, both arch and road-deck, rotates on huge bearings at either end so that the road deck is lifted. The bridge can be said to open and shut like a human eye. It is an important addition to the re-developed quayside area, providing a vital link between the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides.

 

Recent developments

Today the city is a vibrant centre for office and retail employment, but just a short distance away there are impoverished inner-city housing estates, in areas originally built to provide affordable housing for employees of the shipyards and other heavy industries that lined the River Tyne. In the 2010s Newcastle City Council began implementing plans to regenerate these depressed areas, such as those along the Ouseburn Valley.

The appalling state of decay of the canopy over "Platform 3" at Penrith North Lakes Station.

This platform is not really required for embarking and disembarking passengers as "P3" is really just part of the Down Passing Loop created since the demise of the former branch to Keswick.

Actually this used to be P4, as the former bay platform used to be designated P3 back in the day.

Either way the canopy is so badly decayed that it has had to be fenced off to prevent access to the general public.

I frequently have a chunter to myself about this kind of thing when I see reports of shiny new railway infrastructure "Down South".

Tiny and beautiful. Found this while crawling around trying to shoot wild asters. Can't seem to find it again ;( Perhaps a coleus?

The local Sparrowhawk had just had a successful attack run and made off with a Nuthatch so extra vigilance was now required if you were to make it through the rest of the day in one piece !

The latest in my series of Ween / Boognish photos...

 

my buddy got a new sticker today for his classic Fender...

 

...I am so envious!

 

Long live the Boognish!

Dressed as required for the Brompton World Challenge section of the Prudential Ride London event on which I did the 47 mile route but actually did 53 (85km). M6L with 44t

 

Nice comments without copied/pasted group icons are welcome. .

 

As Flickr is a sharing site I only add my pictures to public groups, .

 

Photography experience courses available, please email for details.

 

The full portfolio available from Stock photography by Tim Large at Alamy

 

Photographer:- TimLarge

Location:- Burtle, Somerset, UK

 

©TimothyLarge

Even an emergency exit requires climbing 20 meters / 65 feet to the surface.

Free download under CC Attribution (CC BY 4.0). Please credit the artist and rawpixel.com.

 

Experience this magnificent collection of vintage icons including wild animals, classic vehicles, and victorian skull engravings from several artists. Digitally enhanced and now available in high-resolution printable quality, download your favorites under the CC0 license. They are absolutely free and can be used without any restrictions.

 

Higher resolutions with no attribution required can be downloaded: https://www.rawpixel.com/board/539757/public-domain-icons

 

Is there any other sort of visual art that requires such a combination of speed, timing and accuracy? And do those constraints change throughout the year, month to month and sometimes minute to minute?

 

This was originally going to be called Seventeen Sun Circles which sounds like a much cooler number than five.

 

But I started too late and the evenings are really drawing in fast and I started to run out of thorns. If I wanted to make seventeen circles then by the time I had finished it would be dark and I would have missed my chance.

 

Of course musicians and dancers have to be accurate, fast and timely. Perhaps painters have to apply their paint in a particular fashion so it does or doesn't dry. A stone sculptor must tap the chisel just right to reveal the shape within the rock, whilst the bronze must be at the right temperature for correct casting. All important technical skills for artists in a myriad of disciplines. But, as I have never followed these disciplines, their subtleties pass my by.

 

The materials I use come from nature and change and grow and decay all the time. Leaves rip, tear, dry out, shed fixing thorns, curl up and go brown. You need to be accurate so that you aren't fixing them over and over as they cannot take the punishment. Wood and sticks dry out and contract, will snap and not be moist enough to be pierced with thorns. Colours fade and everything becomes brittle so you need to be fast too if you want to bring your ideas into fruition.

 

I try to incorporate the elements themselves into what I create, the sun, the moisture in the air, the temperature all play a part and as you become more skilled with the materials, you reveal more and more about how they behave. You notice the subtle nuances in everything: the height of the stream, the angle of the sun, which new plants grow at different points throughout the year.

 

This may sound like I am bemoaning the variability of what I use but that couldn't be further from the truth. Does paint change throughout the year? Will a piece of music die off in autumn and return once again in spring? The more time I spend making land art the more gifts Mother Nature throws up for me to discover.

 

I may have set off to make seventeen circles but I had to adapt. Therein lies the essence of land art. I had to experience and feel the change in the movement of the sun, the drawing in of the evenings and the impending dark time I feel within.

 

Nothing ever stands still, everything is in constant flux and making natural art sculptures from anything I find around me opens a little window into the world of nature and all her wonderful and fascinating nuances.

 

By the way - I am still hibernating. I made this is in September. I'm off back to my cave...

I wanted a grand tribute to the great state of Indiana and its once and never again governor with such low base approval. This is representative of the pens the gov thought could corral the subspecies that required separation and subjugation... women. He signed a bill forcing women to disclose their reasons for terminating pregnancies and criminalizing doctors who provided the service, forcing Indianaian women to call him and report on their periods as long as the governor was so concerned with their private matters. The protest was called Periods for Pence. The gov called for full investigations and funerals for still borns. Perhaps he could keep all lesser women penced up here! Black burkas would be nice, then all women would represent the requisite flock of sheep, black sheep. And Pence would be the shepherd with staff and crook to keep the subspecies in subjugation. There could be big trouble if T-Rump also herds his bikini bare bimbos from Bosnia in the same pen. Girl fights galore, go T-Rump! Hell hath no fury like bimbos scorned. We'll need full media coverage and a large percentage of beer sales. We could hold a wake at the same time, called "A Penance for Pence." Are coffin nails silver?

 

We tracked down the Gold Hill road to review the fence and aspen groves I visited earlier. The lighting had more punch on this day. I was searching this spot of aspen cloaked in showy fall coats The color was generally short of peak on my first day but looks primo up here in the wide opens. This "snake" fence wanders down the line and I was forced to climb it so I could find to shoot down the line. I returned with my normal-zoom. This is my shot. I looked and looked but never found the line shack that is supposed to be here somewhere. It might be covered in aspen.

 

The grade of the Denver, Boulder & Western Railroad grade made it up to Gold Hill station to service the town that was already in production for a couple of decades before Croffut toured Colorado. The old railroad grade remains largely intact for trail and 4X use. The route west from Gold Hill Station toward Ward pinches in pretty good with recent (decades) aspen growth. Sawmill Road road drops over the edge here and cuts through the old grade on its way to Lefthand canyon. The intersection is right here. There was not much altitude gain from Gold Hill Station to the grade below here so the route engineering was successful. The original railroad, floated by the Union Pacific, was named The Greeley, Salt Lake and Pacific around the 1885 Croffut date. During the heyday of railroad building, most paper, coupon and budding lines included the name, Pacific, in the hopes of garnering big funding. This line, too, had Pacific dreams. They started drilling a majestic tunnel through the Continental Divide at Yankee Doodle Lake on the Moffat Line. There is no way they could have climbed Pennsylvania Gulch up to the multitudes at their prospective tunnel anyway. Their terminus was Sunset, Colorado, west of Boulder before the flood. The Colorado & Northwestern Railroad, The Switzerland Trail, was organized and the company relaid grade and track up to Sunset then switch backed north on the way up to Ward, Colorado then took a break until the reorganization as the Denver, Boulder & Western Railroad. It was then nicknamed the Switzerland Trail. The company started grading and laying rail up a second switchback south from Sunset to start gaining altitude on a new branch that headed through the New Cardinal area for Eldora. Naturally, Cardinal began migrating closer to the railroad grade. Usually rail development companies shook down the camps and mine owners for bond sales as they surveyed and graded nearby.

  

DM&N 2-10-2 506 on display at NRM in Green Bay. The Missabe's Santa Fe type locomotives were well documented while operating on home rails.

The Oban to Lochgilphead and Ardrishaig 23 & 423 generally follows the main road except at Ardfern where a double run is required to serve the village. The Volvo coach, providing rather upmarket facilities, is seen reversing at the fire station there.

This was new to Selwyns as FJ60 EFW.

 

Just after sunrise, these 2 CN C40-8Ms haul a freight toward Fond Du Lac, WI on a frigid sub-zero morning, something that should be illegal without snow on the ground. Thanks to my brother-in-law Chris for the navigating, as this consist required chasing.

Staying aloft requires forward motion. To remain inside a thermal column, eagles navigate in circular paths, steering with tails and wings. Thus they create lazy circles in the sky. Many circling birds within a thermal is called a kettle of eagles. I saw these Bald Eagles following a thermal column across the Boundary Bay sky in Delta BC Canada

.. and the first wave took possession of her Aigle wellies ;-)

97302 ‘Rheilffyrdd Ffestiniog ac Eryri/Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways' + 37685 ‘Loch Arkaig’ on 1Z67 - 05.57 - Bristol Temple Meads - Pwllheli, Pathfinder Railtours “The Cambrian Coast Express” Thrashing through the valley at Criccieth Pentrefelin 16/05/2025

 

We had very little time after arriving here and realising it wasn't on due to 4x big bushs!! Me mate tried and failed lol then i thought sod it last minute and did the honours... unfortunately they were spikey ones as you can see there bases in the pic so i ended up looking like i'd been fighting freddy crugar lol worth it thou even if it was only a quick grab screen shot from my video as didn't have time to run were i left my camera....

The universe from nothing?

 

The law of cause and effect tells us that every natural entity/event/effect requires an adequate cause. Which means an uncaused, ‘natural’ first cause is impossible, according to this fundamental principle of science.

Of course, this fact is fatal to atheist beliefs, because it rules out every conceivable, naturalistic, origin scenario.

 

One of the ways atheists try to get round the problem of a first cause is by saying - that the universe created itself from ‘nothing’ by natural processes.

If you think the notion that something could arise from nothing, by natural processes, is a crazy idea which defies logic and common sense, you are perfectly correct.

But atheists become extremely indignant at that accusation, and usually retort that anyone who thinks the idea is crazy is just plain ignorant. They accuse them of not understanding science, or what is really meant by 'nothing'.

 

So just what do atheists mean by their idea of nothing?

Incredibly, it turns out that the ‘nothing’ that atheists call nothing, isn't really nothing at all, but a definite ‘something’, i.e. space/time.

 

Confused or what?

 

So we have to ask - why do atheists perversely insist on referring to SOMETHING (i.e. space and time) which clearly ISN'T nothing - as NOTHING? They could, for example, just say that the universe created itself from a pre-existing, natural entity.

The answer is plain and simple … it is an obvious smokescreen.

 

Why would they need such a smokescreen?

 

Atheists know that people can easily accept the idea of an eternal nothingness, because ‘nothing’ in its true sense of the word (meaning NO - THING) doesn’t need a first cause. It simply means non-existence of everything.

And that which doesn’t exist, doesn’t need a cause.

Therefore, for atheists to claim the universe arose from 'nothing' means they can avoid having to explain ... what caused that which they believe existed before the universe?

However, the atheist’s ‘nothing’ actually turns out to be part of the existing material realm.

The atheist’s nothing is … ‘space’, and space is NOT nothing. Space is the medium which is around and between cosmic bodies in the existing universe.

 

In our universe, there is no such thing as empty space, even though it may look empty. We know that ‘space’ contains light, radio waves, gravitational forces, cosmic rays etc. Space is an integral part of the material universe, and is just as dependant on a first cause as the cosmic bodies it surrounds.

Therefore it is evident that the confusion between ‘space’ and ‘nothing’ is deliberate. The real nothing, that every sensible person understands as nothing, is totally different to the atheist idea of 'nothing'.

 

The space/time that atheists refer to as ‘nothing’ in their “UNIVERSE FROM NOTHING” scenario, apparently also contains energy and gravity.

Hence, the atheist ‘nothing’ turns out to be - not nothing at all, but a definite SOMETHING … And furthermore, it is an integral part of the material realm.

This means that, like all material things, – space (the atheist's 'nothing') cannot be non-contingent or eternally self-existent.

And that is the absolute crux of the matter.

It means that atheists are back to square one with the impossible problem of explaining a 'natural' first cause, because they still need to explain what CAUSED their 'nothing' (space) to exist, which is exactly what they were trying to avoid?

 

So there is no such thing as ... the universe from nothing. When you hear atheists proposing the universe arising from nothing, you will know what they are really proposing is the universe arising from 'something' which is itself already an integral part of the universe. In other words, it doesn't explain anything at all about a first cause of the universe. It is useless as a credible explanation of origins. It is just another atheist myth that has been debunked.

 

Why God must exist.

www.flickr.com/photos/101536517@

 

THE QUANTUM EFFECTS, SMOKE AND MIRRORS TRICK ...

What about the idea presented by some atheists that the answer to the origin of the universe lies in quantum mechanics and the so-called 'God' particle?

 

It is common sense that quantum effects cannot have anything to do with the origin of the universe.

 

The reasoning of those who propose quantum effects as a possible origin of the universe seems to be that, if something is impossible, just propose that it could happen - little by little -and that makes it plausible. If you make something as small, as simple, and as less complex as you can, people will believe anything is possible.

It is a similar reasoning to that applied to the origin of life and progressive evolution.

 

But what makes anyone think it is easier for something to come from nothing if it is smaller or simpler?

Is it any easier or more credible for a grain of sand to come from nothing than it would be for a boulder?

Of course it isn’t - it makes no difference whatsoever.

Something cannot come from nothing - that is an irrefutable fact.

Size or lack of complexity doesn’t alter that.

 

Nevertheless, some atheists apparently still think …. that, although people might realise that you couldn’t get a grain of sand from nothing, any more than you could a boulder, what if we propose the something which came from nothing is the smallest thing imaginable?-

What about the quantum world – how about a sub-atomic particle?

That should sound much more plausible to the public.

We could even find a particle which we could nickname the ‘God’ particle. Problem solved - apparently!

People will at least think that, even if we haven’t solved it completely, we are well on the way to solving it.

And, of course, if anyone still stubbornly insists that even a simple, sub-atomic particle can’t come from nothing, we can always propose that nothing isn’t really nothing, but ‘something’.

It shouldn’t be too difficult to get a scientifically illiterate and gullible public, in awe of anything claimed to be scientific, to swallow that.

 

However, the idea of a so-called ‘God’ particle was always an OBVIOUS misnomer to anyone with any common sense, but some atheists loved it and, predictably, the secular, media hacks also loved it.

What they either failed to realise (or deliberately failed to admit) is that not only is it just as impossible for a particle (however small) to arise of its own volition from nothing, as anything else, but also the smaller, simpler and less complex a proposed, first cause becomes, the more IMPOSSIBLE it is for it to be a first cause of the universe.

A simple, sub-atomic particle CANNOT possibly be the first cause, it CANNOT replace God, because it is clearly not adequate for the effect/result.

So those atheists who try to persuade people that it is easier for something to come from nothing, if it is simple and microscopic, actually shoot themselves in the foot....

The little by little approach which they apply to the origin of life and progressive evolution doesn’t work for the origin of the universe.

 

An effect CANNOT be greater than its cause.

The very first cause of the universe cannot be something simpler or less complex than everything that follows it, which is the sum total of the universe itself.

The first cause of the universe MUST be adequate to produce the universe in its entirely and complexity - and that means every property and quality it contains. The end result - the universe - cannot be greater in any respect than that which ultimately caused it. The properties of the first cause of the universe must at the very least, be equal to every property that exists in the universe.

Sub-atomic particles or quantum effects are OBVIOUSLY not up to the job, any more than any of the other natural, first causes proposed by atheists.

Furthermore, quantum effects are not uncaused. They are part of a caused, contingent universe and are just as reliant on causes as the universe itself.

 

So those atheists who think they can replace God with quantum mechanics are entirely wrong, they are interesting phenomenon, but the one thing it is absolutely certain they are not, is a first cause of the universe.

The nickname the God particle actually originates from a book by Lederman.

 

Wikipedia …

“And since the Higgs Boson deals with how matter was formed at the time of the big bang, and since newspapers loved the term, the term “God particle" was used.

While media use of this term may have contributed to wider awareness and interest many scientists feel the name is inappropriate since it is sensational hyperbole and misleads readers the particle also has nothing to do with God, leaves open numerous questions in fundamental physics, and does not explain the ultimate origin of the universe. Higgs, an atheist, was reported to be displeased and stated in a 2008 interview that he found it "embarrassing" because it was "the kind of misuse... which I think might offend some people” Science writer Ian Sample stated in his 2010 book on the search that the nickname is "universally hate[d]" by physicists and perhaps the "worst derided" in the history of physics, but that (according to Lederman) the publisher rejected all titles mentioning "Higgs" as unimaginative and too unknown.”

 

____________________________________________

"I believe that the more thoroughly science is studied, the further does it take us from anything comparable to atheism"

"If you study science deep enough and long enough, it will force you to believe in God"

Lord William Kelvin.

Noted for his theoretical work on thermodynamics, the concept of absolute zero and the Kelvin temperature scale.

 

The Law of Cause and Effect is a fundamental principle of the scientific method. Science literally means 'knowledge'. Knowledge about the natural world is gained through seeking adequate causes for every natural occurrence. An uncaused, natural ocurrence, is a completely, unscientific notion.

Concerning the Law of Cause and Effect, one of the world's greatest scientists, Dr. Albert Einstein wrote: “All natural science is based on the hypothesis of the complete causal connection of all events”

Albert Einstein. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Hebrew University and Princeton University Press p.183

 

FOUNDATIONS OF SCIENCE

The Law of Cause and Effect. Dominant Principle of Classical Physics. David L. Bergman and Glen C. Collins

www.thewarfareismental.net/b/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/b...

 

"The Big Bang's Failed Predictions and Failures to Predict: (Updated Aug 3, 2017.) As documented below, trust in the big bang's predictive ability has been misplaced when compared to the actual astronomical observations that were made, in large part, in hopes of affirming the theory."

kgov.com/big-bang-predictions

 

Archive

 

This scene required 3 days of careful preparation, planning beforehand and a bit of luck, of course.

 

First, we had to figure out where the stags usually cross this active fork of the river. Just 2 days prior to this photo, due to low water, they could cross that shoal with the water barely covering their hock, which looked much less dramatic. Luckily, the water level ran high rather quickly in just a couple of days.

 

The rut was reaching its peak, stags were rutting in all direction. It was a challenge to get to the riverbank still in dark with the rutting stags not noticing our presence. We made it somehow, set up a photoblind, me and my photographer fellows were ready to go. Two stags were rutting just above the riverbank, where we were sitting.

 

This was the first stag to cross the river, which I encountered at least two more times during the rutting season by the way. Later in that sequence, he was rutting in the water, as well. 15 minutes later the other stag crossed the river, also.

 

It was a morning to remember!

Thunder Bay, Ontario

Another Dick Horstmann castaway - this one required a lot of cleanup but is well worth the effort IMO. A pair of PAs heads northeast with a short passenger extra. The unlabeled slide is obviously taken at Pony Farm Road in Oneonta NY and is stamped as sometime in 1972, on either end of the year where winter reigns. Otherwise I have no other information about the move.

Requires humus rich, well-drained soil and preferably full sun to do it justice!

 

Dense panicles of marvellously fragrant, double white flowers in May and June and heart-shaped, fresh green leaves. Mmm eh?

 

This elegant white lilac is perfect for a sunny mixed or shrub border. Growing a late summer flowering clematis through the branches is a good way of enhancing the shrub after it has flowered!

  

I decided a different box was required for my Dinky Concrete Mixer 690 as an alternative to my original rather battered striped box and fancied the illustrated version. A repro was far too expensive so…a few ‘borrowed’ pics off ebay sellers of original models with boxes , Adobe Photo Shop and some jiggery pokery and I have one using an Atlas Guy van box as donor – not perfect but is passes muster and all for less than £10! The Atlas box is slightly longer but the correct width. And I know some of the typefaces are not quite right but they look the part!

 

Mirit Ben Nun: Shortness of breath

'Shortness of breath' is not only a sign of physical weakness, it is a metaphor for a mental state of strong desire that knows no repletion; more and more, an unbearable glut, without repose. Mirit Ben Nun's type of work on the other hand requires an abundance of patience. This is a Sisyphean work (requiring hard labor) of marking lines and dots, filling every empty millimeter with brilliant blots. Therefore we are facing a paradox or a logical conflict. A patient and effortful work that stems from an urgent need to cover and fill, to adorn and coat. Her craft of layering reaches a state of a continuous ceremonial ritual.

This ritual digests every object into itself - useful or discarded -- available and ordinary or rare and exceptional -- they submit and devote to the overlay work. Mirit BN gathers scrap off the streets -- cardboard rolls of fabric, assortments of wooden boards and pieces, plates and planks -- and constructs a new link, her own syntax, which she alone is fully responsible for. The new combination -- a type of a sculptural construction -- goes through a process of patching by the act of painting.

In fact Mirit regards her three dimensional objects as a platform for painting, with a uniform continuity, even if it has obstacles, mounds and valleys. These objects beg her to paint, to lay down colors, to set in motion an intricate weave of abstract patterns that at times finds itself wandering the contours of human images and sometimes -- not. In those cases what is left is the monotonous activity of running the patterns, inch by inch, till their absolute coverage, till a short and passing instant of respite and than on again to a new onset.

Next to this assembly of garbage and it's recycling into 'painted sculptures' Mirit offers a surprising reunion between her illustrated objects and so called cheap African sculpture; popular artifacts or articles that are classified in the standard culture as 'primitive'.

This combination emphasizes the difference between her individualistic performance and the collective creation which is translated into cultural clichés. The wood carved image creates a moment of peace within the crowded bustle; an introverted image, without repetitiveness and reverberation. This meeting of strangers testifies that Mirit' work could not be labeled under the ´outsiders art´ category. She is a one woman school who is compelled to do the art work she picked out to perform. Therefore she isn't creating ´an image´ such as the carved wooden statues, but she produces breathless ´emotional jam' whose highest values are color, motion, beauty and plenitude. May it never lack, neither diluted, nor dull for even an instant

 

Tali Tamir

One of the things I love about Arabian horses is that they are such funny characters and have a great variety of facial expressions ! :)

lgbt

 

Credit www.quotecatalog.com/quotes/inspirational with an active link required.

 

Images are free for usage on websites (even websites with ads) if you credit "source" with an active link to www.quotecatalog.com/quotes/inspirational.

A little note from me to some admins:

 

Please do not place any invitation likns on my images if you really insist on my giving awards in your groups because I have no intentions of upsetting you by violating your group rules. Please read carefully before you place any invite links for any invites placed under will be regarded as those that require no compulsory awarding.

 

Nevertheless, I appreciate anyone who visits my photostream. Thanks for your kind understanding!!!

 

---------------

 

If you are interested in my works, they are available on Getty Images.

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一張可以完全表達一個人對照片內容的最深沈的感受的照片才是張絕佳的照片。

A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.

～Ansel Adams

From Hubble in narrowband red, mediumband green and blue filters. I did not enhance the saturation for this image; the filter choices manage to separate the colors on their own with little processing effort required.

 

It is important to note that no one has seen a clear image of Neptune directly without the aid of a camera and various processing techniques. With that in mind, I have tried to modify my Hubble processing to match more closely with the Voyager 2 data. I have noted that the blue channel must be more emphasized, and the green channel less emphasized to approach what others have reported seeing regarding the human-perceived color of the planet. I have relied on the advice of H. B. Hammel and Björn Jónsson from short Twitter exchanges. Here and here.

 

I would guess that this is more saturated than Neptune may appear to a human eye, but it's hard for me to say. Based on this and the Voyager 2 data, I am intrigued by the possibility that the pinkish limb may be visible to a human eye, if a human was ever to travel there and bear intimate witness to such an elusive majesty.

 

The high clouds in the northern hemisphere have been evolving for the past few years. Previously, bright cloud formations have been noted nearer to the equator. They are large enough and bright enough that amateur astronomers have also been recording them and collaborating with pros. (Hat tip Björn Jónsson)

 

The easiest way to see the changes documented that I know if is via the OPAL website, by loading the various Neptune tables. archive.stsci.edu/prepds/opal/

 

Red: WFC3/UVIS F657N

Green: WFC3/UVIS F547M

Blue: WFC3/UVIS F467M

 

North is up.

If your require coffee to wake yourself up in the morning, never attempt to shoot it! I tried so many zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

Wha? Oh yeah,

View on black or I will zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

Our Dailzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

Our Daily Challenge: On top of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

Thats it! I'm drinking the dang subject now zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Isn't that always the case at Christmas time?

Far out in a field, which required a long lens, but posed very nicely for me.

Cleaning required