Moonta.

The original occupants of the land around Moonta were the Narrunga people who lived across Yorke Peninsula. Once white settlements appeared in the Copper Triangle towns a group of interdenominational zealots formed a committee in 1867 to set up a mission for Aboriginal people. A year later the group was granted 600 acres of land by the government for the establishment of Point Pearce Aboriginal Mission near Port Victoria. The first superintendent of the Mission was the Reverend Julius Kuhn. White settlement really began in the district in 1861 when Walter Watson Hughes of the Wallaroo run began mining operations at Wallaroo Mines. Patrick Ryan, one of his shepherds had discovered copper ore in a wombat burrow the year before. At that time in the 1860s copper was binging as much as £87 per ton so Walter Hughes became a wealthy man quickly. He developed the mine with capital from Elder Smith and Company and his fellow company directors. The first miners in the Copper Triangle were Cornish miners moving down from Burra. The majority of settlers though came directly as sponsored immigrants from Cornwall. In 1865 some 43% of all immigrants to SA came from Cornwall. This direct migration continued especially after the closure of some big mines in Cornwall in 1866. Mining began at Moonta about the same time as mining at Wallaroo Mines (1861.) Hughes was the major investor in both the Wallaroo Mining Company and the Moonta Mining Company. The smelters for the district were located at Wallaroo. The Moonta Mines were the richest in the whole district and in its first year of operations the Moonta Mines made a profit of £101,000.

 

One of the first shafts sunk at Moonta was the Ryan shaft, after Watson’s shepherd. From 1864 the mine superintendent was Henry Hancock and consequently the second shaft was named the Hancock shaft. Hancock was the one who made sure the mines operated efficiently. His “reign” lasted until 1898. He also had advanced social welfare ideas for the times and he established a school of mines for the boys and a library for the miners. By 1876 under Hancock’s expert management the mine had produced £1,000,000 in dividends. Upon his retirement in 1898 Hancock’s son took over management of the Moonta mines which had been amalgamated with the Wallaroo mines into one company in 1890. Mining operations at Moonta were complex and some shafts exceeded 700 metres in depth. This created problems with water (and heat for the miners) so large pump houses were required such as the Hughes Engine House which still stands, albeit in ruins. The Moonta mine lasted for over sixty years and Cornish miners influenced the style of buildings in the town and the design of pump and engines houses as they were all the same as those in Cornwall. Some engines were made in Cornish foundries but others were made by James Martin‘s large foundry in Gawler. After World War One the price of copper fell dramatically and the mines became financially unviable and closed in 1923. Their heyday had been between 1900 and 1910 when much of the mining equipment had been replaced and modernised and prices were good, but a disastrous underground fire in 1904 in Taylor’s shaft began a slow decline in returns for the mine investors.

 

The Copper Triangle towns of Moonta-Wallaroo- Kadina had 12,000 people by 1890, representing about 10% of Adelaide’s population which was only 130,000. Consequently government services for the area were given priority and by 1878 the Triangle had a daily rail connecting service to Adelaide via Port Wakefield, Balaklava and Hamley Bridge. Apart from their mining skills the Cornish brought with them their religious faith hence the numerous Methodist chapels and churches in the area. All three branches of Methodism were well represented- Bible Christian Methodists, Primitive Methodists and Wesleyan Methodists. The 1891 census showed that 80% of the residents of the Moonta district were Methodists. Not surprisingly the Moonta Methodist Circuit (like a synod) had more church members than the big circuits in Adelaide such as Pirie Street, Norwood or Kent Town. The old Methodist Church at Moonta Mines was built in 1865 and with its gallery it can hold 1,250 worshippers. It seldom gets 50 worshippers these days! At one stage there were 14 Methodist churches in Moonta with a further 10 in Wallaroo/Kadina. As the Cornish used to say “Methodist churches are as common as currents in a cake.” The pulpits of the churches provided good training ground for public speaking as lay preachers were often used in these churches. One such trainee was John Verran who was Premier of SA between 1910-12. He once remarked “he was a MP because he was a PM” i.e Primitive Methodist!

 

The miners built their own cottages on the mining lands so many were poorly built and did not last but some still remain. In 1878 the very large Moonta Mines School opened as a model school. It soon had an enrolment of 1,000 children, although it was built to accommodate 800. Today the old school is the town museum. The biggest problem facing the Cornish miners was a lack of water. There are no rivers on Yorke Peninsula. Rainwater was gathered from puddles in roads and from roofs and in 1863, in just one week, 110 deaths were registered during a typhoid outbreak. The Moonta cemetery has many sad tales to tell and it is well worth a visit. Reticulated water was not piped to the town until 1890 when the pipeline from Beetaloo Reservoir reached the town and ended the summer typhoid outbreaks. Moonta was declared a town in 1863; the local Council was instituted in 1872; and by 1873 the town had 80 businesses, five hotels, numerous churches, its own newspaper, four banks and an Institute. A horse tramway connected the suburbs of Moonta Mines, Moonta and Moonta Bay. Other “suburban” areas of Moonta were Yelta, North Yelta, Cross Roads and Hamley Flat. When the mines closed in 1923 many left the town and it had a population of just over 1,000 people in 1980. Today it has a population of just over 4,000 people.

Moonta Historical Walk. See map on previous page.

1. Moonta Area School, Blanche Terrace. Selina Hancock first started a licensed school on this site, with 41 children, in 1865. After the passing of the compulsory school act of 1875, a school building was erected by the Colonial Architect in 1877, at a cost of £6,400– a large sum for those days. The local builders were Rossiter and Davies and almost immediately the school had an enrolment of 800 – a solid number of students! The school was extended further in 1903. The original school had six classrooms plus three other large rooms (65’ by 24’), one for boys and one for girls and another for infants. Until 1978 this was the Moonta Primary School.

2. St Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church, Blanche Terrace. This simple Gothic style limestone building was completed in 1869. Priests from Kadina serviced this church. Four buttresses support each side. The modern additions on the sides of the building unfortunately detract from its general appearance.

3. The Masonic Temple, Blanche Terrace. This magnificent Italian style building was completed in 1875. It has cement dressings and fine fretwork quoins. It is believed to be the oldest purpose built Masonic Temple still used for that purpose in Australia. The first lodge meetings were held in Moonta in July 1868 as lodges were strongly supported by the Cornish miners. The interior was especially fine and described in 1899 as having ornate ceilings, with chocolate, gold and salmon coloured scrolls painted on the walls. It has a fine tile floor and wooden benches and fittings. The building was fitted out in 1899 with gas hanging lamps. Like most Masonic Temples it has half windows only. The side and rear parts of the building are like a medieval crenulated castle. A good limestone garden wall surrounds the whole complex.

4. All Saints Anglican Church, corner of Blanche Terrace & Milne Terrace. This limestone church with brick quoins has a fine hammer and beam ceiling inside. The bell was made of local copper in 1874, whilst the church itself dates from 1873. The bell was donated by the Wallaroo Smelter Company. It stands in a separate wooden bell structure on the west side of the church. Unfortunately the original slate roof was replaced with asbestos imitation slate in 1973. The stone is local and the bricks were made at the Woods Brickyard at Moonta Mines. It is commonly regarded as the Anglican “cathedral” church of Yorke Peninsula. Note the fine triangular stone windows above the larger Gothic windows. Stone was left near the doorway for the addition of a stone porch that has not happened yet! The adjoining church hall was built in 1903.

5. School of Mines, Ellen Street on cnr of Robert Street. This important building was built in two stages, the southern half being built in 1866 as a Baptist Chapel (with a manse next door). In 1891 it became the School of Mines, the first school outside Adelaide for the training of adults and youths in trades and bookwork. The northern half of the School of Mines was built in 1903 to match the southern half. It is a fine limestone building in the Gothic style with a pediment to the roofline. When the School of Mines opened in 1891 it started with 33 students and a government grant of £200 per annum. The first subjects taught were Mine Surveying, Mechanical Drawing and Mathematics. By 1896 there were 100 students enrolled and by 1898 this had grown to 275 students. New subjects were added to the curriculum such as Sheet Metalwork, Plumbing, Carpentry, Bookkeeping and Metallurgy. Scholarships were made available to underground mine workers and early in the 20th century the government grant increased to £1000 per annum. There is a stable block next to the building.

6. Bible Christian Church, Cnr Henry and Robert Streets. This imposing and distinctive old church dating from 1873 was built for the Bible Christians. It was built by Nettle and Thor. In 1913 it was sold to the Church of Christ but it has been unused for religious services for many years and is now almost derelict. It is a Romanesque style church with a grand arched central doorway with three small Romanesque arched windows above. It is one of the most distinctive buildings in Moonta. Made of local stone, it has a fine finial on top of the gable façade. As with most Romanesque style buildings it has relatively small windows and this gives an impression of mass and solidness. Note the fretwork dividing the windows. The triple arched rounded windows above the doors are typical of this style of building.

7. The Uniting Church, Robert Street facing Queen’s Square. This former Wesleyan Methodist Church is a grand building reflecting the prominence of Methodism amongst the Cornish miners of Moonta. £4,000 was raised to build this church in 1873. Its Gothic style is offset with some fine Mintaro slate steps and a slate roof. The pulpit, large enough to hold four speakers, is a decorative example made of imported Bath stone from England. Delabole Slate Yards in Willunga carved it. The main window facing the street and square displays stone tracery dividing the stained glass panels. The church has seven buttresses and the symmetry of the façade is emphasised by four stone spires. It is a fine example of a Gothic style church designed by architect Roland Rees. The church was placed alongside the town square to indicate its importance to the town. Mining company officials and the first Mayor of Moonta, Mr Drew worshipped here. He laid the foundation stone on October 6th 1873. The adjoining hall was built in 1866.

8. Polly Bennet’s Shop, Robert Street facing Queen’s Square. This interesting little shop was a fashionable milliner’s shop. The wealthiest of the Methodist ladies purchased their hats here to wear to the Sunday services. The shop was built between 1864 and 1874. It is a nondescript little building only of historical interest because of its links to the premier Moonta Methodist congregation.

9. Queen’s Square. This attractive town square was named after Queen Victoria. It was planted and laid out in 1897 – (the 25th anniversary of the town) and in the centre a fountain commemorates the work of Charles Drew. The pretty cast iron three tiered fountain was erected in 1893. A rotunda for bands and concerts was also erected in 1893, but pulled down in 1947. However a modern replica was later erected. Some of the trees planted in 1897 include Moreton Bay Figs, Tamarisks and Norfolk Island Pines. Until 1945 the square was fenced.

10. Moonta Town Hall, George Street facing the Square. This prominent structure was built in 1885 as the fourth local institute, using volunteer labour. Mrs Corpe, wife of the then chairman of the Institute committee and a major Moonta mines investor, laid the foundation stone and the Governor of South Australia, Sir W. C. F. Robinson opened the building. Thomas Smeaton of Adelaide designed it. The grand design reflects the prosperity of the times for Moonta. It has a three storey clock tower with French metal roof, classical half round windows, and the ground level window sills have the original metal spikes on them to stop loitering! The clock tower was added in 1907 and the new clock faces were fitted in 1963. Around 1907 the Institute became the Town Hall. In 1928 some internal remodelling saw the introduction of a cinema room and Art Deco entrance leadlight doors. Outside the Town Hall is a cast iron drinking fountain erected in 1890 to commemorate the arrival of reservoir water from Beetaloo Dam.

11. Shop – formerly an Institute Building at 55 George Street. This quaint building was the third Institute erected in Moonta. It dates from 1870. The land was donated by David Bowers for the Institute. It is a classical designed building with Greek triangular pediments above the two doors and a rounded arch over the central window. It has had many uses in latter years. The current veranda ruins the classical appearance of the building and it must be seen from across the street to appreciate its architecture. Note the round louvred roof vent.

12. Former Bank of South Australia, 46 George Street. Built in 1864, this was the first bank in Moonta. It later became the Union Bank. The arched porch is very distinctive and the quoins around the windows and corners give the building an attractive frontage. The Moonta Mining Company banked here.

13. Prince of Wales Hotel, George and Ellen Streets. This pug, limestone and plaster building is one of the oldest in Moonta, dating from 1863, which was the year the town was laid out. The first meetings of the Moonta Council were held here and the first licensee of the hotel was Mr Weekes. The hotel lost its licence in 1911. It has been an antique shop for many years. It is one of the few partly pug buildings left in Moonta as opposed to Moonta Mines which has many pug buildings. Its large 160,000 gallon rain water tank was used by many townspeople in times of drought.

14. Old Union Bank, Ellen Street. This grand façade dates from 1865 when it was opened as the Bank of South Australia, later becoming the Union Bank in 1892 and trading as a bank until 1943. The façade is noted for its classical arches, symmetry and balustrades along the parapet roof. This is the finest commercial building in Moonta. A fine photograph of the building and Ellen Street in 1874 appears on the cover of Philip Payton’s, Pictorial History of Australia’s Little Cornwall, Rigby, Adelaide, 1978. Note the wooden louvred rounded window on the southern wall, the bricked up one, and the five half rounded windows of grand proportions and two half rounded doors on the front. Note the fine scrollwork around the windows. You can still faintly see “Union Bank” on the front parapet.

15. Cornwall Hotel, Cnr Ellen and Ryan Streets. This old public house was licensed and erected in 1865 with the upper storey added in 1890. The wood worked veranda clearly dates the upstairs to this time. There are four stables for coaches at the rear. It is a solid limestone building with cement rendered quoins.

16. Post Office, Ryan Street opposite Cornwall Hotel. This typical Georgian style Post Office was built in 1866, one of the early buildings of Moonta. The bull-nosed veranda was added in 1909 destroying the Georgian appearance of the building. Note the fine semi-circular small paned windows - half rounded and rectangular. This complex included the postmaster’s residence. A similar style police station next door was demolished in the 1960’s.

17. Druid’s Hall, Ryan Street. This small gothic building was erected as an Anglican schoolroom in 1866 and taken over by the Druids in 1902. Its simple façade with a gable, scrolls and Gothic arched windows is quite pleasing.

18. Royal Hotel, Cnr Ryan Street and Blanche Terrace. Dating from 1865 this is one of the three original hotels of Moonta. Originally it was called the Globe. After fire damage it was extensively rebuilt in 1885. The upper storey is an unusual mixture of half rounded windows with rectangular doors! The Ryan Street façade has a beautiful Art Nouveau style leadlight semi-circular window.

19. Moonta Railway Station and Information Centre. A display of old photographs and a number of books are available for reading here etc. The building is a typical Art Nouveau style station that was built in a number of South Australian country towns. Although there was a horse tramway between Wallaroo and Moonta as early as 1866 the government did not acquire the line until 1878. It was then converted to a 3’6” rail gauge track in 1891 with the first train arriving from Wallaroo in 1892. This line was converted to the usual South Australian 5’3’’ gauge at the time when the station was built in 1914. The building cost £2,000. The last passenger train to Adelaide ran in 1969 and the line closed in 1979.

20. Moonta Cemetery. Just 5 minutes’ walk from the Anglican Church is the cemetery established in 1866 just 5 years after mining began. The first recorded burial was for the infant son of the licensee of the Cornwall Hotel (then known as the Globe). There is a fine Gothic style gatehouse and a limestone wall complete with broken glass atop, surrounding the cemetery which was completed in 1874. The cemetery bell was erected in 1896 from local copper and cast in Adelaide by Horwood and Company. The bell called mourners to funerals. A small area of the cemetery was allocated for Jewish burials in 1875. It is located along the eastern wall (ie on your left when standing at the gatehouse) opposite the old original toilet block, which is on the right hand wall of the cemetery. The “new” section of the cemetery begins immediately beyond the Jewish section. The “new” section was opened in 1897! The area to the left of the main entrance is for unmarked children’s graves. There is a small memorial to them all. As noted previously typhoid and other epidemics caused by lack of freshwater caused many childhood deaths. This area also has an unusual wooden “headstone” dating from 1865 for Samuel Jones, which predates the opening of the cemetery! The cemetery has about 9,000 burials in it. In the 19th century over a quarter of all deaths recorded were of people 21 years or younger.

 

There has been a settlement at Kyrenia since the 10th century BC, but the harbour today was shaped most by the Venetians. When they gained control of Cyprus in 1489, the Venetians fortified the island against possible invasion by the Ottoman Empire. At that time Kyrenia was the most important port on the northern Cyprus coastline, a little too close to the mainland for the Venetian’s comfort. So, they built impressive defences for the town, although when the Ottoman invasion did come in 1571, the Venetians gave up without a fight!

 

Cyprus44: The North Cyprus Travel Guide

Mixed media, collage 20x20cm

This four storied bluestone mill building dominates the Middleton skyline. Its quoins, parapets and window surrounds are built of local Batson red brick.

 

*"The large and commodious Steam Flour Mill at Middleton is now completed and has added much to the appearance and importance of this rising township.

The engine is an elegant piece of workmanship and is the first, I believe to be erected in the colony upon the new expansive principle." [Ref: Observer 15-12-1855]

 

*The Steam Flour Mill was built in 1855 for Messrs W and A Bowman.

The chimney, which has since been demolished, was built of bluestone and bricks from the nearby Batson's Brickyard.

The mill plant was driven by a 12 horsepower steam engine with a tubular type boiler.

The engine was assembled by Messrs. Tuxford and installed by Josiah Oldfield.

 

Due to the large interior spaces the mill was also used for civic functions. On 23 April 1869 when the railway line from Middleton to Strathalbyn was opened the town’s residents celebrated with a luncheon held in the mill’s storeroom.

The mill was sold in 1889 to Fred Ellis for 1,000 pounds.

 

*Middleton, the intended junction of the Strathalbyn Tramway with the existing line.

There is already a fair start of settlement in the district, the nucleus of it being Mr Bowman’s flour mill. Around it is a cluster of neat cottages. [Southern Argus 4-1-1868]

 

*FIFTY YEARS AGO From the Register Friday December 14 1955.

The large steam flourmill at Middle is now completed. The Engine, manufactured by Messrs Tuxford, is the first erected in the province upon the new expansive principle. It is of 12hp with tubular boiler. [Ref: Register 15-12-1905]

 

*Middleton July 8

One of the largest floods in the district was witnessed on Friday, doing a great deal of damage places, especially to ploughed land in crop.

Traffic in the main road was unable to pass through the town for a time until the water (which was well over the Middleton Creek bridge, and as high as the fences in places) subsided.

Water went through the flour mill and some of the houses. Sand-bagging doorways was the order of the day. The newly planted soldiers’ memorial gardens, and other gardens, suffered.

The train had to go through water a foot deep in the station yard when it arrived. [Re: Observer 22-7-1922]

 

*At a National Trust meeting at Victor Harbor the early history of the district was discussed.

The very first cargo shipped overseas from Port Victor was flour from Bowman’s Mill. It was destined for Dunedin in the schooner ‘Elizabeth’. [Victor Harbour Times 11-4-1968]

 

*Railway line marked town's beginning

The section of land on which the town of Middleton is situated was first purchased on October 25, 1849. by Thomas Walker Higgins at an auction held on September 14, 1849, for 17 pounds and one shilling.

 

When the Goolwa to Port Elliot railway was built a single track was laid down and it was necessary to provide loop lines for the trucks to pass. Two such loops were provided, placed about equidistant from the terminals.

One crossing point was sited at a place later to be called Middleton. The siding was constructed and ready for use in September 1854.

 

It was from the establishment of this siding that the town eventually grew. Mr Higgins could foresee that a township would be an advantage sited on his land and so he had the area surveyed and laid out as a town in October 1856. He named the town Middleton after family associations in Ireland, although he was born in Sussex.

 

However, before the survey had been approved, building had commenced in the immediate area. One of the earliest buildings was the store on the main road which was erected in 1854 by Mr Limbert. Subsequent owners were Mr Heggarton and Mr SW Padman.

 

The largest building in Middleton was, and still is the flour mill. In December 1855, it was reported as being complete. It was built for Messrs W & A Bowman. It was a steam driven mill, power being supplied by a 12 hp engine built by Messrs Tuxford.

Grain ground at this mill, as well as being used locally, was sent up the Murray by paddle steamer and was also shipped first from Port Elliot and later Victor Harbor. In fact the first cargo shipped directly overseas from this latter port was flour ground at Bowman's Mill at Middleton. This was a shipment made to New Zealand. This mill was the largest on the South Coast.

 

At the same time the mill was being built there were already eight houses in the vicinity. The first school was established in 1856 and has continued until the present day [sic] with the number of students fluctuating as the population increased and later decreased. The first examinations for the 59 scholars were held on October 15 1869, supervised by several prominent townspeople in a new classroom erected by the teacher.

 

The Middleton Hotel on the Main Road was licensed in 1857. This building was set back from the road alignment and became the centre of activity of the township and was in demand until it was finally demolished in the early 1920's.

 

About the time the hotel was built one of Middleton's industries was begun, a brickyard operated by Mr W Batson. The works were sited between the town and the beach. His two sons continued the business until the 1920's when the yard was closed.

 

In 1863 a Methodist Church was built on the main road and is still in use.

 

An important event took place in September 1865. A ploughing match was arranged and as a result of the success of this event, the Southern Agricultural Society was formed the following year. The society arranged an annual day, attracting a great number of people and as a result Middleton became the agricultural centre for that area of the South Coast. In 1869 the nucleus of a show was held in the extensive yards adjoining the Middleton Hotel.

 

By 1867 the population had grown to about 200. Mr W Bowman JP was appointed the resident magistrate. On June 15 1867, a race meeting was held on the beach. There were two horses in one race and this was followed by a footrace. In the following year a correspondent described the town as a thriving community dominated by Bowman's Flour Mill. Additionally there were a number of dwellings, a store, a post office, a hotel, a chapel, and several workshops which indicated the prosperity of the town and district at that time.

 

The year 1869 was most significant in the history of Middleton. On Tuesday April 23, the Governor, Sir James Ferguson opened the Strathalbyn to Middleton Railway.

 

The first sod of the new line was turned on August 1 1868, the Governor Sir Dominick Daly, driving down from Adelaide for the occasion.

The earthworks of this line were much more extensive than on the Goolwa to Port Elliot railway. In addition there were three large structures to be erected. The first was over Currency Creek, a second over Black Swamp, and a third over the Finniss River. The foundation stone of the Currency Creek Viaduct was laid in December, 1866, with great ceremony by Mrs Higgin, the wife of the Colonel of the local cavalry. The foundation stone of the Finniss Bridge was laid by the Commissioner of Public Works with full masonic honours four months later. The Black Swamp Viaduct was erected without any pomp or celebration. Unfortunately for posterity the foundation stone of the Finniss Bridge was swept away in a flood six months after it had been laid with so much ceremony.

 

After the completion of the Strathalbyn line, the Government decided to lease the system for five years, the lessee paying an annual rental of 1000 pounds. The experiment was not successful and 13 months later the Government resumed control.

 

The following description of carriages introduced in 1869 proves interesting when compared with today's vehicles. They were built at the Adelaide Workshops and were much lighter than any of their predecessors, weighing only 17cwt. There was accommodation for 30 passengers. The seats of pine were placed transversely, being separated by partitions carried up to roof height. The frames were of blackwood with cedar panelling. The sides were open, protected from the weather being provided by leather blinds, which could be raised or lowered as required.

 

The average speed for passenger trains was from 8.5 to 9.5 miles per hour. Three hours being taken for a trip from Strathalbyn to Victor Harbor, changing horses at Finniss and Midddleton. It was possible to spend a weekend at Victor Harbor, leaving at 2am on Monday morning and transferring to a Hill & Co's coach at Strathalbyn, arriving in Adelaide about 11am. Travel along this line was fairly safe, only one passenger being killed when he fell from a truck and the wheels passed over his body.

 

It was possible to be kicked by a jibbinghorse if you happened to be sitting on the front seat. The usual railway accidents occurred: passengers seemed to prefer falling off to alighting in the usual way, while trucks were derailed by obstacles maliciously placed on the line.

 

They were also derailed in those mysterious circumstances known only to those who work trains. Employees were involved in shunting accidents and one employee lost his arm when a loaded gun, being carried as general merchandise, was accidentally discharged while being removed from under a tarpaulin.

 

Meanwhile a new store was erected on the corner of Thomas Street and the Main Road at Middleton by Mr Pierce. It was purchased by Mr Padman. the Middleton storekeeper who then owned the original shop on the Main Road. For some years is was the residence of Dr Shand and later became a temperance hotel and finally a guest house.

 

A blacksmith's shop for shoeing the horses used on the railway was built at the western end of the town while a similar establishment for use by the local inhabitants was erected on the Main Road and this building is still standing. During 1875 the ticket office on the station platform, which was near the Flour Mill, was extended to house the telegraph instruments and in 1878 a ladies waiting room was added for the convenience of passengers using the railway.

Nearby was a wrought iron goods shed which had been imported to South Australia in pieces and taken to Middleton for assembly. A carpenter’s shop was also established for repairing the railway trucks.

 

About 1880 stables were erected within the town to house the railway horses. About that time there were seven teams operating on the line. The daily timetable required one team of four horses to leave Middleton hauling four trucks each carrying 30 bales of wool for Victor Harbor.

The day's work was finished when the team returned to Middleton. This arrangement caused a lot of inconvenience and lost time in the working schedules and it was felt that had the stables been established at the terminals trucks and horses could be employed more efficently. However this system continued until the introduction of steam locomotives in 1885.

 

With the conversion of the line to steam traction and the diversion of the railway from Currency Creek through Goolwa, Middleton lost much of its importance as a railway town. Its role then became that of a popular holiday resort while still continuing as a centre for the surrounding agricultural area.

 

In 1901 the foundation stone for the Institute, was laid by Mrs R Chibnall on October 19. The building, designed to seat 150 people, was opened on January 15, 1902, by Mr Charles Tucker MP. The new hall now became the centre of social activity of the townspeople.

 

Mindacowie was built in 1911 [by Mr Abbott for his sisters the Misses Abbott] as a guest house by Misses Abbott and is conducted in this same role today.

 

The railway station has moved from its original position near the Mill to the present site west of the town in the 1920s. Although Middleton has had to play a minor role in relation to the neighbouring towns of Port Elliot and Goolwa the townspeople have always loyally supported their neighbours in their energetic endeavours to have improvements made and additional facilities provided to promote and develop the whole area.

 

Meetings were instituted by these residents, who called on their neighbours to attend and support them in their efforts to press the authorities to have new amenities provided in the whole district and on a number of occasions petitions were organised due to the untiring efforts of the people of Middleton even when they were not directly to benefit from the improvements asked for.

 

The area between the old town and the beach was surveyed for closer development in 1924 by the Basham family and now there are many houses in this section. It has become a pleasant place to live and is enjoyed by a growing number of visitors who can spend a short time away from city rush and bustle, taking in the wonderful view of the endless breakers on the beach. [Ref: Times (Victor Harbor 20-1-1988]

   

Week 27: This is one of 24 stone hut circles which is enclosed by a stone perimeter wall. The settlement dates from the Bronze Age and the name most likely derives from the Anglo Saxon God of war Grim (also known as Woden or Odin). This is located on Dartmoor to the north of the village of Widecombe.

Akaroa, South Island, NZ

IEV100 approaching Settlement Road, Kilmany on it's way to Melbourne.

Day 2 of our hike from Wamena to the territory of the Yali ethnic group. We left our campsite (at Jel sp?), still in the Dani part of the region, and walked through a mix of farmland and areas where trees had been felled, then a mixed walk (ups and downs) along the gorge; lunchbreak in a village with an abandoned lading strip. Overall we climb a net 700-800m to camp at 2,600/2,700 m (near Kurima, the last of the Dani villages).

The lego barbarian tribes are on the move for settlements to control and take their wealth. Soldiers of the northern province in the Boreal kingdom take swift action against them. The barbarians have already raided nearby settlements by the time the army arrives. The army makes short work of them as these barbarians have very little experience fighting in wooded areas. The expert swordsmen of the boreal kingdom live up to there reputation.

Friendly Settlement

The settlement Kangaamiut. Photo: Th. N. Krabbe 1889-1909.

Elliston is an incorporated fishing settlement situated on the Bonavista Peninsula of Newfoundland, Canada

Clarke Quay 克拉码头

 

Clarke Quay is a historical riverside quay in Singapore, located within the Singapore River Planning Area. The quay is situated upstream from the mouth of the Singapore River and Boat Quay.

 

Etymology

 

Clarke Quay was named after Sir Andrew Clarke, Singapore's second Governor and Governor of the Straits Settlements from 1873 to 1875, who played a key role in positioning Singapore as the main port for the Malay states of Perak, Selangor and Sungei Ujong.

 

Clarke Quay is also the name of a road along the quay, part of which has since been converted into a pedestrian mall. Clarke Street, located next to Clarke Quay, was officially named in 1896, and was originally two streets known simply as East Street and West Street in north Kampong Malacca. Similar to Clarke Quay, Clarke Street has since been converted into a pedestrian mall.

 

The Hoklos (Hokkien) refer to Clarke Street as gi hok kong si au, meaning "behind the new Gi Hok Kongsi" (house). The new Gi Hok Kongsi was near Carpenter Street. Another Chinese reference, which only refers to the Southern bank around Read Bridge area, was cha chun tau (柴船头), meaning "jetty for boats carrying firewood". Small tongkangs carrying firewood from Indonesia berthed at this jetty. The firewood trade was primarily a Teochew enterprise.

Panoramic view of Singapore River, with Clarke Quay on the left (northern) bank and Riverside Point on the right (southern) bank. Photograph taken from Ord Bridge, which can be seen on the extreme right.

[edit] History

 

The Singapore River has been the centre of trade since modern Singapore was founded in 1819. During the colonial era, Boat Quay was the commercial centre where barge lighters would transport goods upstream to warehouses at Clarke Quay.

 

At the height of its prosperity, dozens of bumboats jostled for mooring space beside Clarke Quay. This continued well into the later half of the twentieth century. By this time, the Singapore River had also become very polluted. The government decided to relocate cargo services to a new modern facility in Pasir Panjang. The bumboats and lorries departed to their new home and Clarke Quay fell silent.

 

The government then cleaned up the Singapore River and its environment from 1977 to 1987. Plans were made to revamp the area and turn it into a flourishing commercial, residential and entertainment precinct. These plans took into serious consideration the historical value of Clarke Quay, making it mandatory that new buildings complement the historical character of the area and that certain old buildings be restored.

leftG-MAX reverse bungee

 

Clarke Quay Festival Village, the biggest conservation project for the Singapore River, was developed and officially opened on 10 December 1993. In later years, Clarke Quay was managed and owned by CapitaLand.

 

Ten years later, works were commenced to revamp the Clarke Quay area in order to give the place a better tenant mix. The development also saw major changes to the exterior and riverside areas. The Satay Club and a number of establishments vacated Clarke Quay to make way for new tenants. The upgraded Clarke Quay features the Zirca, The Clinic, Forbidden City by the Indochine Group and the whole development was completed in October 2006.

 

The Clarke Quay area at present, is drastically different from the preservation/conservation effort from 1993, resembling more like a Disneyland partyground for tourists and middle class locals alike.

 

Presently, five blocks of restored warehouses house various restaurants and nightclubs. There are also moored Chinese junks (tongkangs) that have been refurbished into floating pubs and restaurants. The Cannery is one of the anchor tenants of the place. With over 5 different concepts in one block, you'll be spoilt for options. Another anchor tenant, The Arena, will be home to Singapore's First Permanent Illusion Show (starting Aug 2008) starring J C Sum and 'Magic Babe' Ning. The G-MAX reverse bungee, the first in Singapore, is located at the entrance which opened in November 2003. Notable restaurants and nightclubs include Hooters and Indochine. River cruises and river taxis on the Singapore River can be accessed from Clarke Quay. One of its most popular attractions is its exciting host of CQ's signature events happening once every quarter. Clark Quay has become known as a hub of singaporean nightclubs including Zirca and up until 2008 the ministry of sound which was shut down by the company head quarters for undisclosed reasons

 

Clarke Quay MRT Station is located within the vicinity and a new SOHO concept development cum shopping centre called The Central, above the MRT station, was completed in 2007.

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The National Museum of Iceland’s permanent exhibition, Making of a Nation - Heritage and History in Iceland, is intended to provide insight into the history of the Icelandic nation from the Settlement to the present day.

 

The aim is to cast light on the Icelanders’ past by placing the cultural heritage preserved by the National Museum in a historical context, guided by the question: What makes a nation?

 

The exhibition includes about 2,000 objects, dating from the Settlement Age to the present, as well as about 1,000 photographs from the 20th century.

 

The exhibition is conceived as a journey through time: it begins with the ship in which medieval settlers crossed the ocean to their new home, it ends in a modern airport, the Icelanders’ gateway to the world.

 

www.thjodminjasafn.is/english

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_Iceland

 

This work by Rhonda Surman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

 

© Rhonda Surman 2016

Ancient Phrygian settlement....Sabuncupinar, Turkey

 

In the heart of Turkey’s Afyon lies the Phrygian valley, a huge area with a series of mystical caves steeped in ancient history.

Afyon is a central region of Turkey well known for it’s thermal springs, but travel past the spas and you’ll discover the beautiful Phrygian Valley, a huge expanse of hollow caves that have been inhabited for over 7000 years. Still populated to this day, the Phrygian Valley is a wonderful contrast of the ancient with the present, with a thriving farming community working the land around the gorgeous ochre coloured caves and natural rock formations that are scattered across the whole valley. Wandering along the dusty road that goes through the centre of the valley feels like something out of an Indiana Jones film, with huge ancient caves looming on all sides, each containing their own secrets from centuries gone by. Exploring these carved out caverns is utterly fascinating, as each has its own history that tells the story of ancient civilisations that have made the valley their home. One cave holds the carved out graves of a Roman family, with protective engraved stone lions over the door, which have stood the test of time and several different inhabitants. A church from the second century, the era in which the Christians settled in Afyon, has a cathedral-esque interior, stone eaves and worship rooms chiselled deep into the rocks face. Explore the caves some more and you find another tiny space that appears unassuming, but look at the walls through a camera lense and you’ll see the Jesus and the 12 disciples painted onto the stones surface. This phenomenon continues to baffle scientists and is definitely worth the trek up the step hill upon which it sits. The Phrygian Valley also plays host to the fabled King Midas’ castle, a huge rock formation that stands out in the plains that has natural rooms that apparently housed the famous donkey-eared king. If you’ve got strong shoes its well worth climbing up to the top of the rock for unbeatable views of the sweeping valley and its famous‘fairy chimneys’, the colloquial term for rock formations that look uncannily like mushrooms.

oil on canvas

24" x 30"

at Mira Godard Gallery

Direcleit, Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides.

gitnang-gitna pumarada si die hards!

Traveling further north from Perperikon ruins we arrived at Stara Zagora. "The city had a period of different names, mainly Beroe, Borui, Irenepolis, Eski Zagra, Augusta Traiana, etc. Earliest traces of civilisation date back to the 7th millennium B.C. Some scholars believe that the ancient Thracian Beroe was located there. In 1968, Neolithic dwellings from the mid-6th millennium BC were discovered in the town, which are the best preserved and richest collection in Europe and have been turned into a museum. A high density of Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlements has been identified by researchers and a ritual structure nearly 8,000 years old has also been discovered".Wikipedia

Title: Bankstown Soldiers' Settlement Estate - clearing land

Dated: by 31/12/1921

Digital ID: 8095_a016_a016000001

Series: NRS 8095 Photographs of Soldier Settlements

Rights: www.records.nsw.gov.au/about-us/rights-and-permissions

We'd love to hear from you if you use our photos.

Soldier settlement refers to the occupation and settlement of land throughout parts of Australia by returning discharged soldiers under schemes administered by the State Governments after world Wars I and II. from Wikipedia

Many other photos in our collection are available to view and browse on our website using Photo Investigator.

 

 

Sorrento. Pop 1,600.In 1803 Captain Collins established the convict settlement near present day Sorrento on Nepean Bay. Evan Nepean was the naval officer administrator in England who organised the sending of the First Fleet to Botany Bay in 1787. He was created a baronet in 1804 and made a Lord of the Admiralty the same year. He was remembered by the naming of Nepean Bay, the Nepean River in NSW and Nepean Bay on Kangaroo Island. Evans’ brother Nicholas Nepean was also in the marines but resigned from them in 1789 and joined the New South Wales Corps. In 1790 he arrived in the colony on the Neptune with the first contingent of NSW Corp officers. He did not fare well in the colony because of his temper and disagreement with John MacArthur. He left in 1793 and returned to England via a short stay at the Norfolk Island convict settlement. He remained in the navy until he retired in 1814. Over the years he was promoted to major and then lieutenant general. The convict settlement lasted only a few months from 9 October 1803 to 30 January 1804 and nothing of it remains but a memorial cairn erected at nearby Sullivan Bay. The last equipment and couple of residents left on 21 May 1804 except for escapee William Buckley who lived among the Aborigines for the next 32 years.

 

The district had good limestone deposits and by 1840 several lime burning kilns were established here. By 1845 there were 17 recorded lime kilns operating. The waters of the bay had plentiful fish and some fishermen camped here from around 1840 with three Scottish Watson brothers becoming major fishermen from 1850 onwards. Portsea was the first named place here in 1843 by James Ford who took up land then. Ten years later he asked to be allowed to purchase 640 acres here next to the quarantine station as he had lime kilns, houses and fencing on the land. The limit of settlement was the quarantine station which emerged in 1852 when the ship the Ticonderoga from Liverpool landed with 400 passengers ill with fever out of the almost 800 that set out on the voyage. The sick were landed at the Heads and given supplies. 70 died and were buried there and then later re-interred in Sorrento cemetery in 1952. Construction of the quarantine station began in 1854 and it was used for this purpose during the 1919 Spanish influenza pandemic. It closed in 1950 when the Australian Army established their officer cadet training program there. In 2004 it became a Victorian National Park.

 

The town began to emerge in the 1860s. Around that time Sir Charles Duffy took up land for a summer house. By 1871 there were 22 houses in the Portsea-Sorrento area. The Sorrento pier was erected in 1870 so that ships could bring holiday makers to Sorrento and the Post Office opened in January 1871. In 1874 an Anglican Church was built between Sorrento and Portsea on land donated by the headmaster of Geelong Grammar School. George Coppin began developing the district at his own expense before he founded a company with other investors. In 1875 Coppin’s company built baths for returning swimmers. Then Coppin built the Mornington Hotel (now the Intercontinental) opened in 1878 and established the Sorrento-Queenscliff Navigation Company. This was to bring day trippers from Melbourne to Sorrento via Geelong and Queenscliff. At this time more sandstone houses were built in Sorrento and George Coppin founded the Ocean Park Trust to develop the beaches and pathways. Coppin built his own large house called The Anchorage on the corner of Coppin Road and Point Nepean roads. It was built in local limestone in 1873. The Sorrento Mechanics Institute was built in 1884 and it opened as the town museum in 1967. Next to it is Watts Cottage. The family were lime burners one of the early Peninsula industries. The cottage was built in wattle and daub in 1869. The Athenaeum or library was built in 1894. The new Sorrento Hotel was built in the 1890s too and in 1890 the Sorrento Tramway Company started to move visitors around. The tramway operated until 1920.

 

George Coppin the main developer of Sorrento was a very interesting character. He was actually a comic actor and investor. He left England and arrived in Sydney in 1843. He produced shows in Melbourne, Adelaide (the old Queens Theatre off Hindley Street) in the 1840s. In 1850 he bought the Queens Theatre in Adelaide and reopened it as the Royal Victoria Theatre which he ran until 1853 along with a hotel in Port Adelaide. He returned to Melbourne where he also ran a theatre. He entered state politics in Victoria in 1858. He introduced a real property act for Victoria based on the SA Robert Torrens act. He remained in the Victorian parliament off and on until 1895. His investments in Sorrento were not financially rewarding and he lost a considerable sum on the Sorrento Tramway Company.

 

Arrowtown

 

New Zealand Vista coach-trip Day 9 - Queenstown

St Mary Magdalene, Debenham, Suffolk

  

Debenham is unusual, because it is the largest settlement in East Anglia that the Victorian railways never reached. There was a plan during the 20th Century for trains to serve it, as we shall see. But Victorian industry never troubled it much, except for a brick factory, and because of this it has a quite different character to other Suffolk places of its size.

 

It is softer, more pastoral, with elegant little shops lining its high street.This isn't a place many people pass through, unless on the back road from Ipswich to Eye. It is more a place that tourists know to be beautiful, and local villages look to for amenities - the Co-op, the school, the sports centre. White's Suffolk Gazetteer of 1844 found about 3,500 people living in and around it, and I do not suppose that there are many more than this today.

 

St Mary Magdalene is a large, surprisingly urban church. But why not? For in larger places, it is the town that has become more urbanised, not the church. Most towns were once like this. It is set back on a rise above the old market place, although most people will approach it from the west, beside the little parish hall on the high street. Here, the first thing to admire is Suffolk's grandest galilee porch, with its former chapel above. These western porches are most unusual: there is a similar one at Bottisham in Cambridgeshire, and one on the round tower at Mutford. The western extension at Lakenheath was never a porch at all. So here is an experience to savour: you enter the church through a series of unfolding spaces, so that finally opening the double west doors into the nave comes as a surprise. You step out from beneath the recently restored tower. The porches and aisles clustering beneath it create the sense of a cruciform building, which of course it isn't. It is certainly a very old tower, though, with evidence of Norman and even Saxon work on the lower reaches. The upper decorated stage is 14th century, and looks rather unusual for Suffolk, the bell openings being so close to the battlements. This is because it had to be truncated after being struck by lightning in the 17th century. Perhaps its squatness is rather charming. The ring of 8 bells is considered one of the most mellow in the county, and the space beneath them, has several of those boards recording remarkable feats of bell-ringing.

 

You step into a big church made gorgeous by the brick patterning of the floor, the fruit of Debenham's one major 19th Century industry. Red and white bricks are laid in a diamond pattern, with small floral tiles in the points of the diamonds. It is surely one of the most beautiful church floors in Suffolk, and a sign that, although the inside of this building is almost entirely 19th Century in content and character, this interior is by no means an anonymous one. Grumpy old Cautley pottered about looking for medieval survivals, but this is an interior to enjoy as a whole; as with so many urban churches, the 19th century work contributes to a sense of continuity rather than disrupting it.

 

There are medieval survivals, as we shall see, but most eyes will be first caught by the striking memorial in the south aisle to John Simpson, who died in 1697. In some ways, this is an unusual date for a memorial of this kind. Here we have a kind of Baroque grandiloquence which will come to full flower for great landowners and heroes over the next half a century, and which will become increasingly secularised until we get the typically entirely pagan 'memorials' of the middle of the 18th Century onwards. But here, Simpson seems concerned to have left the parishioners a catechetical tool, a protestant equivalent of the glass, wall paintings and sculptures intended to reinforce Catholic orthodoxy in the years before the Reformation.

 

Two other former Debenham citizens lie in the chancel. Sir Charles Framlingham and his wife appear to have been woken suddenly from sleep, their eyes wide and staring, as if terror-struck. Her ruff is fabulous. Their recumbent effigies lie on a rather battered tombchest, its kneeling figures doubtless removed by enthusiastic parishioners of John Simpson's predecessors in the middle of the 17th Century, who misinterpreted them as Saints. What little coloured glass this big church has is up in the chancel, all of it fairly good. The Victorians placed triple lancets in the east, rather than the more familiar large-scale Perp revival, and this creates a sense of intimacy. The crucifixion in the east window is sombre and detailed, but best of all are the figures of St Columba and the Blessed Virgin at the Annunciation that remember the Dove family on the south side.

 

At the east end of the south aisle, the apparatus for a chantry altar is still in place, with a piscina, and the rood loft stairs opening off of it rather than in the nave or chancel. At the east end of the north aisle is a curiosity, a piscina made up of odds and ends rescued from elsewhere, including a fine 13th Century Bishop's head. The font is a rather battered late medieval example, with an elegant 17th Century cover. Above the chancel arch, the rood beam is still in place. Like so many survivors, its bulk must have made the 16th century reformers wary of removing it, lest the church fall down without it.

 

Just to the north of Debenham, the remarkable Mid-Suffolk Light Railway ran on its way from Haughley Junction to Laxfield (it was planned to reach Halesworth, but this never materialised). This early 20th Century enterprise was the setting for John Hadfield's novel Love on a Branch Line, and was still remembered fondly by older Suffolkers when I moved to the county forty years ago. At the time of the First World War, a spur was built from Kenton Junction to a field just north of Debenham. It was an expensive and hare-brained extension, for permission to carry passengers along this stretch was never obtained, and nor was the last stretch into Debenham itself ever built.

 

So, Debenham fended off the iron giants to the very last, and they will never come now. Use of the spur for goods traffic was discontinued after a few short years, and the rails were removed. The cost of this spur contributed ultimately to the Middy's demise. Although very little evidence of this company's railway survives today, there are substantial remains of a bridge and embankment of the Kenton-to-Debenham spur on the road to Aspall, about a mile north of the church. The traffic rushes by, but to clamber up on this overgrown ridge is to consort with ghosts.

  

The build is divided into these main sections, that can also be further separated for more modularity.

 

Instruction available at Rebrickable

Occupied Palestine

The build started with this simple shack. The shack contains the most luxurious bed and a safe.

 

Instruction available at Rebrickable

Anlaby Station.

White settlement in the Kapunda district began with the arrival of Frederick Hansborough Dutton and his brother Francis and his station manager Alexander Buchanan in 1839. A third brother William was also involved with the property. They squatted on land along the Light River and established Anlaby station. When Special Surveys were available in 1840 they paid £4,000 for the Light River Special Survey. They were then able to select the best 4,000 acres( land had to be at least £1 per acre) and the government had 11,000 acres of land to put up for public auction. They leased additional land from 1842. Frederick moved to Melbourne and his brother Francis took over the property with his other brother William Hampden Dutton. It was Francis in 1842 who discovered some copper on the run. William died early in 1849 and Francis became the main proprietor of Anlaby but his brother Frederick maintained a financial interest in the run. When the bachelor Frederick died in 1890 he left Anlaby to one of the sons of his brother William, not Francis.

 

Anlaby Station was located on a spring and named after a village in Yorkshire. It was near the Stock Travelling Route from NSW that was used to drove sheep and cattle and eventually horses down into SA along the Murray River and then across into the Adelaide Hills. By 1842 Duttons had 9,750 sheep, the largest flock in the state. During the 1840s and 1850s wool brought premier prices in England as it was desperately needed to supply the booming mills of the Industrial Revolution. These high prices made Duttons extremely wealthy. By 1851 Francis Dutton had taken out more leases on land that stretched as far as Eudunda and Robertstown. The property had increased to 70,000 acres (28,328 ha) of freehold land and the first 10,000 sheep had been increased to 60,000 sheep. He employed 20 men and their families on the property including some Chinese shepherds. For much of the time Francis lived in England and his brother Frederick lived on the property with the manager Buchanan. Duttons also participated in the Mt Remarkable Special Survey and the Kapunda copper mine.

 

The Anlaby homestead was built in 1840, extended in the 1850s and then again in 1908 and 1928. The writer Geoffrey Dutton was the last of the family to live there until the property was sold during 1977. At some stage various members of the British royal family have stayed there.

The gardens were a special feature of the homestead and in the early 20th century 14 full time gardeners were employed. They tended rose beds, conservatories, garden beds and croquet greens and tennis courts. The homestead complex included stables, coach house, blacksmith’s shop, offices and workers’ cottages.

 

As closer settlement encroached on Anlaby Dutton bought up freehold land to create his huge estate. The 70,000 acres of land included some of the best well watered and fertile soil in the state. It stretched 10 miles by 14 miles. Dutton was usually referred to as Squire Dutton. Like the English gentry the Duttons were major benefactors of Kapunda and a gift of £2,500 was given to start the Kapunda hospital fund and £500 was given for Dutton Park. Although the estate escaped the effects of the 1869 Strangways Closer Settlement Act it did not escape the 1905 Closer Settlement Act. The government resumed 24,000 acres of Anlaby at that time and put it up for public auction. A further 7,000 acres were resumed and sold in 1911, and more was resumed after World War One.

 

 

Dublin (/ˈdʌblᵻn/, Irish: Baile Átha Cliath [blʲaːˈklʲiəh]) is the capital and largest city of Ireland.[8][9] Dublin is in the province of Leinsteron Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey. The city has an urban area population of 1,273,069.[10] The population of the Greater Dublin Area, as of 2011, was 1,801,040 persons.

 

Founded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin became Ireland's principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland.

 

Dublin is administered by a City Council. The city is listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as a global city, with a ranking of "Alpha-", placing it among the top thirty cities in the world.[11][12] It is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration, economy and industry.

  

Toponymy

Although the area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times, the writings of Ptolemy (the Greco-Roman astronomer and cartographer) in about 140 AD provide possibly the earliest reference to a settlement there. He called the settlement Eblana polis (Greek: Ἔβλανα πόλις).[13]

 

Dublin celebrated its 'official' millennium in 1988 AD, meaning that the Irish government recognised 988 AD as the year in which the city was settled and that this first settlement would later become the city of Dublin.

 

The name Dublin comes from the Gaelic word Dublind, early Classical Irish Dubhlind/Duibhlind, dubh /d̪uβ/, alt. /d̪uw/, alt /d̪u:/ meaning "black, dark", and lind /lʲiɲ[d̪ʲ] "pool", referring to a dark tidal pool where the River Poddle entered the Liffey on the site of the Castle Gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle. In Modern Irish the name is Duibhlinn, and Irish rhymes from Dublin County show that in Dublin Leinster Irish it was pronounced Duílinn /d̪ˠi:lʲiɲ/. The original pronunciation is preserved in the names for the city in other languages such as Old English Difelin, Old Norse Dyflin, modern Icelandic Dyflinn and modern Manx Divlyn as well as Welsh Dulyn. Other localities in Ireland also bear the name Duibhlinn, variously anglicized as Devlin,[14] Divlin[15] and Difflin.[16]Historically, scribes using the Gaelic scriptwrote bh with a dot over the b, rendering Duḃlinn or Duiḃlinn. Those without knowledge of Irish omitted the dot, spelling the name as Dublin. Variations on the name are also found in traditionally Gaelic-speaking areas (the Gàidhealtachd, cognate with Irish Gaeltacht) of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh ("the black pool"), which is part of Loch Linnhe.

 

It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, from which Dyflin took its name. Beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. The Viking settlement of about 841 was known as Dyflin, from the Irish Duibhlinn, and a Gaelic settlement, Áth Cliath ("ford of hurdles") was further up river, at the present day Father Mathew Bridge (also known as Dublin Bridge), at the bottom of Church Street. Baile Átha Cliath, meaning "town of the hurdled ford", is the common name for the city in modern Irish. Áth Cliath is a place name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street, currently occupied by Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church. There are other towns of the same name, such as Àth Cliath in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which is Anglicised as Hurlford.

 

The subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay. The Dubhlinn was a small lake used to moor ships; the Poddle connected the lake with the Liffey. This lake was covered during the early 18th century as the city grew. The Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle. Táin Bó Cuailgne ("The Cattle Raid of Cooley") refers to Dublind rissa ratter Áth Cliath, meaning "Dublin, which is called Ath Cliath".

 

Middle Ages

Dublin was established as a Viking settlement in the 10th century and, despite a number of rebellions by the native Irish, it remained largely under Viking control until the Norman invasion of Ireland was launched from Wales in 1169.[17]The King of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada, enlisted the help of Strongbow, the Earl of Pembroke, to conquer Dublin. Following Mac Murrough's death, Strongbow declared himself King of Leinster after gaining control of the city. In response to Strongbow's successful invasion, King Henry II of England reaffirmed his sovereignty by mounting a larger invasion in 1171 and pronounced himself Lord of Ireland.[18] Around this time, the county of the City of Dublin was established along with certain liberties adjacent to the city proper. This continued down to 1840 when the barony of Dublin City was separated from the barony of Dublin. Since 2001, both baronies have been redesignated the City of Dublin.

 

Dublin Castle, which became the centre of Norman power in Ireland, was founded in 1204 as a major defensive work on the orders of King John of England.[19] Following the appointment of the first Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1229, the city expanded and had a population of 8,000 by the end of the 13th century. Dublin prospered as a trade centre, despite an attempt by King Robert I of Scotland to capture the city in 1317.[18] It remained a relatively small walled medieval town during the 14th century and was under constant threat from the surrounding native clans. In 1348, the Black Death, a lethal plague which had ravaged Europe, took hold in Dublin and killed thousands over the following decade.[20][21]

 

Dublin was incorporated into the English Crownas the Pale, which was a narrow strip of English settlement along the eastern seaboard. The Tudor conquest of Ireland in the 16th century spelt a new era for Dublin, with the city enjoying a renewed prominence as the centre of administrative rule in Ireland. Determined to make Dublin a Protestant city, Queen Elizabeth I of England established Trinity College in 1592 as a solely Protestant university and ordered that the Catholic St. Patrick's and Christ Church cathedrals be converted to Protestant.[22]

 

The city had a population of 21,000 in 1640 before a plague in 1649–51 wiped out almost half of the city's inhabitants. However, the city prospered again soon after as a result of the wool and linen trade with England, reaching a population of over 50,000 in 1700.

 

Early Modern

 

As the city continued to prosper during the 18th century, Georgian Dublin became, for a short period, the second largest city of the British Empire and the fifth largest city in Europe, with the population exceeding 130,000. The vast majority of Dublin's most notable architecture dates from this period, such as the Four Courtsand the Custom House. Temple Bar and Grafton Street are two of the few remaining areas that were not affected by the wave of Georgian reconstruction and maintained their medieval character.

 

Dublin grew even more dramatically during the 18th century, with the construction of many famous districts and buildings, such as Merrion Square, Parliament House and the Royal Exchange.[22] The Wide Streets Commissionwas established in 1757 at the request of Dublin Corporation to govern architectural standards on the layout of streets, bridges and buildings. In 1759, the founding of the Guinness brewery resulted in a considerable economic gain for the city. For much of the time since its foundation, the brewery was Dublin's largest employer.

 

Late Modern

 

Dublin suffered a period of political and economic decline during the 19th century following the Act of Union of 1800, under which the seat of government was transferred to the Westminster Parliament in London. The city played no major role in the Industrial Revolution, but remained the centre of administration and a transport hub for most of the island. Ireland had no significant sources of coal, the fuel of the time, and Dublin was not a centre of ship manufacturing, the other main driver of industrial development in Britain and Ireland. Belfast developed faster than Dublin during this period on a mixture of international trade, factory-based linen cloth production and shipbuilding.

 

The Easter Rising of 1916, the Irish War of Independence, and the subsequent Irish Civil War resulted in a significant amount of physical destruction in central Dublin. The Government of the Irish Free State rebuilt the city centre and located the new parliament, the Oireachtas, in Leinster House. Since the beginning of Normanrule in the 12th century, the city has functioned as the capital in varying geopolitical entities: Lordship of Ireland (1171–1541), Kingdom of Ireland (1541–1800), island as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922), and the Irish Republic (1919–1922). Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, it became the capital of the Irish Free State(1922–1937) and now is the capital of Ireland. One of the memorials to commemorate that time is the Garden of Remembrance.

 

Dublin was also victim to the Northern IrishTroubles. While during this 30 year conflict, violence mainly engulfed Northern Ireland. However, the Provisional IRA drew a lot of support from the Republic, specifically Dublin. This caused a Loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force to bomb the city. The most notable of atrocities carried out by loyalists during this time was the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in which 34 people died, mainly in Dublin itself.

 

Since 1997, the landscape of Dublin has changed immensely. The city was at the forefront of Ireland's rapid economic expansion during the Celtic Tiger period, with enormous private sector and state development of housing, transport and business.

 

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin

Pine Mountain Settlement School located in Pine Mountain Harlan KY,

This is a B/W photograph taken inside the prehistoric Cave at Theopetra, Greece (general inner view). It was closed to visitors for several years, but on April 2, 2025 one had the pleasure to walk through its gate again and enter; it has remained open to the members of the public ever since. The archaeological finds include items of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods.

 

A stone Wall or barrier dating from 23,300 (± 800) yrs ago was found at the cave’s entrance; this wall is, therefore, the most ancient man-made structure on Earth, for it was built before Göbekli Tepe (c. 9,500 BC, Turkey), before the Pyramids (c.3,200 BC, Egypt) etc. Human footprints within the Cave were dated by thermoluminescence to ca. 120,000 yrs ago (Middle Palaeolithic Period aka Old Stone Age). Hearths and human burials were also found. Hunters-gatherers’ human settlement in this prehistoric Cave began in the Middle Paleolithic Period and continued without interruption until the end of the Neolithic Period (c. 3000 BC, aka New Stone Age).

 

The cave’s entrance measures 56 x 10 ft (17 x 3 m); the Cave itself measures 5,382 sq.ft. (500 sq.m). Theopetra is an immense limestone rock formation 3 miles (4.7 km) away from Meteora, Greece. The oblong landmark is 2,625 ft (800 m) long, 902 ft (275 m) wide, 656 ft (200 m) high and visible from afar. Theopetra means “God’s stone” in Greek.

 

The settlement Godhavn seen from the north. Photo: Th. N. Krabbe 1889-1909.

South Africa

Viking settlement 100 miles south of the artic circle Russia

Okhotskoye settlement, Sakhalin Island, Russia

Some History of Brisbane.

The first European settlement in Queensland was a small convict colony which was established at Redcliffe, now a northern beach suburb, in 1824. The settlement was soon moved in 1825 to a better location on the Brisbane River in what is now the CBD of Brisbane. John Oxley suggested this change of location and that the town be known as Brisbane after Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of NSW who visited this settlement in 1826. Prior to this the settlement was known as the Moreton Bay. By 1831 Moreton Bay had 1,241 people, but 86% were convicts, and almost all the rest were guards and administrators. One of the founding free men to settle in Brisbane was Andrew Petrie, a government clerk, who arrived in the settlement in 1837. His son later became the first mayor of Brisbane.

 

In 1842 (six years after the settlement of SA) Moreton Bay penal settlement was closed and the area opened to free settlers. Half the convicts at Moreton Bay were Irish Catholics which influenced the development of the settlement thereafter as many stayed on. By 1846 Moreton Bay had a population of 4,000 people, considerably less than that of Burra at the time which had over 5,000 people! In 1848 the first immigrants direct from Britain arrived, as did some Chinese. In 1849 three ship loads of Presbyterians arrived in Brisbane, the first ship being the Fortitude- hence the naming of Fortitude Valley. The colony was still far from self-sufficient in terms of food production. In the mid-1850s German immigrants also started to arrive in the settlement. The only building still standing built by convict labour is the Old Windmill in Wickham Park.

 

During the late 1840s a few grand houses were built in Brisbane like Newstead House at Hamilton and the city began to take shape. All the central streets were named after members of Queen Victoria’s family- Adelaide, Alice, Ann, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Margaret, Mary for the streets parallel to Queen Street, and Albert, Edward, George and William for the streets perpendicular to Queen Street. In 1859 the population had grown sufficiently, to about 30,000 people, for Queensland to be proclaimed a separate colony from NSW with Brisbane (about 6,000 people) as the capital city. It was now a self-governing independent colony. Old Government House was built shortly after this in 1862 followed by numerous colonial government buildings. The French Empire style Parliament House opposite the old Botanical Gardens was erected in 1865 to a design by Charles Tiffin. It had perfect symmetry a mansard roof and an arcaded loggia. It is still one of the most distinctive buildings in Brisbane. Nearby the pastoralists and wealthy built the Queensland Club in Alice Street in 1882 with classical columns but with Italianate style bay windows. The location near parliament house is much like the situation of the Adelaide Club on North Terrace almost adjacent to the SA parliament. The wealthy and pastoralists in both states had immeasurable influence over early colonial politics. One of the other finest colonial buildings of Brisbane is the Old Customs House with the circular copper domed roof on the edge of the Brisbane River. It was erected in 1888.

 

Although Brisbane grew quickly through the following decades it was not incorporated as a city until 1902.Part of the reason for the relatively slow of growth of Brisbane, compared to Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney was that it was not the focal point of the state railway network. Queensland always had other major regional centres. The railway from Brisbane reached out to southern Queensland only- Ipswich in 1864, Toowoomba in 1867, and Charleville in 1888. There was no early push to have a railway link between the coastal cities. They were not linked by a railway until 1927 when road transport had already taken over the transport of livestock and freight. The coastal railway to Cairns was always for passenger traffic as much as freight traffic.

 

Unlike the other Australian state capitals, Brisbane City Council governs most of the metropolitan area of Brisbane. In 1925 over twenty shires and municipalities were amalgamated into the City of Brisbane. It was at this time that the landmark Brisbane city Hall was built in Art Deco style. It was opened in 1930. During World War Two, Brisbane had a distinctive history as Prime Minister John Curtin had the “Brisbane Line” as a controversial defense plan, whereby if there was a land invasion of Australia, the northern half of the country would be surrendered at a line just north of Brisbane! Brisbane also became the headquarters for the American campaign in the South Pacific with General Douglas MacArthur based there at times. In 1942 a violent clash erupted between American and Australian service personnel in Brisbane. Between 2,000 and 5,000 men were involved in the riots which spread over two days. One soldier was killed and eight injured by gun fire as well as hundreds injured with black eyes, swollen faces, broken noses etc. On the second night 21 Americans were injured with 11 of them having to be hospitalised. This was The Battle of Brisbane. Yet around 1 million American troops passed through Queensland between December 1941 (just after the bombing of Pearl Harbour) and the end of 1945. They were here to spearhead attacks to take back the Philippines and to prevent the Japanese from taking New Guinea. Black American soldiers were especially unpopular in Brisbane as their landing contravened the “White Australia Policy” of those times. In response to this policy General Douglas MacArthur announced his support for the Australian government’s insistence that no more Black American troops be sent to Brisbane after 1942. The Black American units in Australia were later sent to New Guinea and New Caledonia. Black American troops in New Guinea were not allowed to visit Australia for rest and recreation leave although white American troops were allowed to visit Australia, mainly to Mackay. Resentment between American and Australian troops in Brisbane had to be contained and suppressed. Riots between troops also occurred in Townsville during the War. Today Brisbane is a fast growing city that has far outstripped Adelaide in terms of population, growth and infrastructure.

 

Swan Hill.

It has been estimated that the largest group of Aborigines (about 600) in what was to become Victoria lived in the Swan Hill district prior to white settlement. The first white men to see this area were the crew of Captain Charles Sturt’s exploration of the Murray River system in 1830. Sturt’s published report in 1832 excited others to see this district. The next to do so was Major Thomas Mitchell on his 1836 Australia Felix explorations of the Murray and the Western Districts of Victoria. In fact it was Mitchell who named the location Swan Hill. Three years later in 1839 illegal squatters moved into the Swan Hill area. They had been encouraged by the success of Joseph Hawdon and Charles Bonney (January-April 1838) and Edward John Eyre (October-November 1838) who had all overlanded the first cattle and sheep from the Albury district of NSW along the River Murray into South Australia and down to the sale yards of Adelaide. One of the first official leaseholds was granted in 1847 for the Murray Downs property across the river from Swan Hill. NSW was reluctant to allow squatters along the River Murray but they could not resist once illegal squatters moved along the Murray. Murray Downs and its grand homestead (built in 1870) still stand and the property had a major influence on the later development of the town of Swan Hill. It covered 150,000 acres and most development occurred under the ownership of Suetonius and Charles Officer from 1862 to 1883 and then Charles Campbell took over from 1884. The other early property near Swan Hill was Tyntyndyer station of about 30,000 acres. It was occupied from 1846 with a formal leasehold later in 1848. The Beveridge brothers especially Black Beveridge ran the property. Black Beveridge was known for his good relations with the local Aboriginal people when others did not have a good relationship. Despite this Aboriginal and white deaths still occurred on Tyntyndyer station in the early years. The early timber homestead is now heritage listed. Tyntyndyer station ran up to Piangil and inland. It was owned by the Beveridge brothers until 1876. It is now owned by the local Aboriginal community and sometimes opened as a museum of Aboriginal experience on a white pastoral estate. Another important property was the Swan Hill run itself taken out by Curlewis and Campbell in 1848. Their leasehold covered 60,000 acres in the Swan Hill district.

 

Swan Hill was a town that emerged rather than a town that was surveyed and created. The crossing of the River Murray at Swan Hill was the best and easiest for a 100 mile stretch of the river so naturally travellers and stockmen gravitated to that spot. A kind of ferry/punt service began at the spot in 1847 and around the same time Gideon Rutherford and John McCrae opened the Lower Murray Inn. They were still the licensees in 1853. Others settled near the river crossing and the hotel. The punt service was taken over by John Gray in 1860 and he and his family operated it for 30 years until the first pontoon bridge was built across the River Murray in 1891. Back in 1849 the NSW government began a mail service to Swan Hill from Mount Macedon and opened the first Swan Hill Post Office with John McCrae of the Lower Murray Inn (then the Swan Hill Inn) as the first Post Master. There were settlers in the district but no town as such existed at that time. The NSW government also employed Native Troopers at Swan Hill from 1850 to quell any violence. In 1851 the Swan Hill district became part of the new colony of Victoria and the first elections were held and a Police Constable was stationed there from 1851 and court sessions were held there from 1852. Then the discovery of gold late in 1851 at Bendigo was to transform the district as failed gold diggers moved north to the River Murray to start a new life. This was followed by the arrival of the first two River Murray steamers from South Australia in 1853 – The Lady Augusta captained by Cadell of Goolwa and the Mary Ann captained by William Randell of Mannum. From 1853 onwards Swan Hill was a different place with goods coming and going to South Australia and up the Darling River on the paddle steamers and overland traffic of goods to and from the major centre of gold mining at Bendigo and Mt Alexander. To commemorate the importance of the river trade both Captains Cadell and Randell are listed as men of influence in the town on the Explorers Obelisk in McCallum Street. Before the railway reached Swan Hill in 1890 there were 222 registered paddle steamers on the River Murray in Victoria.

 

The first survey of Swan Hill was undertaken in 1851 by Surveyor Pritchard and the streets were marked out. But the town was tiny and had few stone or brick buildings before 1858. The government appointed a doctor for Swan Hill in 1857. The first brick general store was built in 1858. The first butcher shop opened in 1858. There were few buildings in the early town except for two hotels, the general store, the pine log courthouse and a few houses. In 1860 the population of Swan Hill was 142. The first bakery opened in 1860. The first church was a weatherboard Anglican erected in 1865. As late as 1876 Swan Hill only less than 200 residents. Burke and Wills on their famous and ill-fated expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria camped on the river banks at Swan Hill for several weeks. It was not a great town at that time. The first school in Swan Hill opened in 1862 with 21 students but closed for lack of funds several months later. A small private school opened and the state school did not open until 1871! The government used other premises until 1874 when they erected a wooden classroom. The first brick building was built in 1876 and is now part of the Catholic School. The first Methodist church services were held in Swan Hill in 1881 and the first weatherboard church was erected in 1886. A new brick Methodist church was built in 1918. Presbyterian Church services began in Swan Hill in 1871 at Murray Downs homestead. Mrs Suetonius Officer laid the foundation stone of the Presbyterian Church in 1872 with it opening in in that same year. This church was moved to a new site in 1910 and some materials were used in building a new church which opened in 1913. This Presbyterian Church was again moved and rebuilt in 1944 in Curlewis Street.

 

The 1880s saw great growth and change in Swan Hill. The population jumped from 250 people in 1880 to 820 people by 1887. Two new banks opened in this period, with the National Bank opening in 1888. The first brick water tower was erected in 1885 to provide reticulated town water. At the end of the decade the railway reached Swan Hill and the railway station was built followed by many residences in the 1890s. The flour mill was built in this decade too and the first steel bridge across the Murray opened in 1896. The 1890s was also the decade in which irrigation pumps were installed along the River Murray for irrigated crops and land use. This increased the rural population surrounding the town and then after World War One soldier settler blocks were established near Swan Hill at Woorinen with vines and fruit trees and near Tyntynder with dairying. Vines and dairying became major rural industries. So in many respects Swan Hill is a 20th century town. A second water tower, the butter factory and many other industrial structures all were built in the 20th century. Today Swan Hill has around 10,000 residents and it is known for the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement which is a recreation of the town and district in the 19th and early 20th century. In the evening they hold a spectacular Heartbeat of the Murray Laser Show.

 

A settlement named "Comps" was known here since 909. Around 1050 the church and land of Comps were endowed to the Abbaye de la Chaise-Dieu by Raoul de Lugeac. The important Abbaye de la Chaise-Dieu, founded by Saint Robert de Turlande, had about 300 monks at that time. It was decided to found a nunnery here as a priory.

 

The construction of the cloister and the convent buildings took place between 1052 and 1058, as the nuns moved in already in 1058. In 1487 the name was changed from Comps to Lavaudieu ("Valley of God"), so the nunnery became "Priory Saint-André Lavaudieu". After 1516 the matrons were ordered by the king and were no longer elected by the monastery community, so the strict rules of the order relaxed. In 1718 the former priory became an abbey and at the beginning of the Revolution 13 nuns lived here, all daughters of regional nobles. They were expelled and the abbey was sold. Most of the buildings were used for agriculture, large parts of the convent building were demolished. Meanwhile, the still existing buildings are carefully restored.

 

When I visited Lavaudieu the first time, church and cloister were locked. This time I had more luck. The church was open, only the cloister was locked!

 

The church has frescoes of which most were uncovered and restored between 1965 and 1980. Some of them are dated 1315 by an inscription.

 

This capital, depicting Adam and Eve, is older. Adam has a pretty large navel!

   

Coleraine. Major Thomas Mitchell passed through here exploring in 1836 and it was because of his favourable reports the Edward Henty took up a squatting run just west of Coleraine in 1837. This was later converted to leasehold which Henty called Merino Downs. The main early homestead named Muntham was on a different run. Henty’s brother-in-law James Bryan squatted here too but his land was soon taken by an official lease by the Whyte brothers in 1846 for their run called Koroite. In time some of their lease was subdivided into smaller properties and in 1870 the rest of the run was resumed for closer settlement. Around 1850 a small settlement emerged called Bryans Creek Crossing, after James Bryan. This was later changed to Coleraine in 1853 when a government town was surveyed. The town grew slowly as the runs around it were so big until the 1880s and beyond. When selection acts were introduced in Victoria the wealthy pastoralists bought up their runs freehold. The Anglican Church opened in 1865, the Catholic Church 1888 and the Presbyterian 1892. Many of the large estates were not broken up until the 1910 closer settlement act and in 1923 when blocks were offered to soldier settlers.

The settlement of Eleusis was founded in ca. 2000 B.C. on the slopes of the hill, and during the Mycenaean period it developed into a large fortified settlement, mostly due to its strategic position. During this period the cult of Demeter was introduced, as the worship of a deity connected to nature and the growing of cereals. The continuity of Demeter's cult is attested until Roman times, by the erection of successive temples on the east side of the hill.

 

In the 8th century B.C. the sanctuary aquired a panhellenic character, and in the time of Solon, the Eleusinian Mysteries were established as one of the most important Athenian festivals. During the tyranny of Peisitratos the sanctuary and the settlement were enclosed with a massive fortification wall reinforced with towers. Splendid buildings were erected during the Classical and Roman periods, but with the spread of Christianity and especially after the invasion of the Ostrogoths, the sanctuary was abandoned.

 

The most important monuments of the site are:

 

Sacred Court. It was the gathering place of the pilgrims and marked the end of the Sacred Way, which led to Eleusis from Athens. It contained the "Eschara", a structure dated to the 8th-2nd centuries B.C., with altars for the offerings to the goddesses, and the temple of Artemis Propylaea, dated to the 2nd century A.D.

 

Greater Propylaea. Doric propylon, a close copy of the central section of the Prolpylaea on the Athenian Acropolis, which were designed by Mnesikles. Dated to the second half of the 2nd century A.D.

 

Lesser Propylaea. Internal Ionic propylon, dedicated to the goddess by Appius Claudius Pulcher in 54 B.C.

 

The Telesterion. Large square hall with six entrances, two on each of the three sides, and eight tiers of seats along all of the four sides, where the initiates sat (only their foundations are preserved today). The centre of the hall was occupied by the "megaron", the adyton of the Eleusenian cult, where only the hierophantes (the high priest) was allowed to enter in order to perform the mysteric rites. Several architectural phases are distinguished in the building, dated from the 5th century B.C. until the 2nd century A.D.

 

Triumphal Arches. They are Roman reproductions of Hadrian's Arch in Athens, built after A.D. 129.

 

Callichoron Well. According to the Homeric Hymn, here rested Demeter, when she first came to Eleusis. Around this well the Eleusinian women performed dances during the ceremony in honor of the goddess. Dated to the first half of the 5th century B.C.

 

Ploutoneion. Sacred retaining wall around a cave where, according to tradition, Plouto, the god of the Underwolrd, appeared. A representation of the annual return of Persephone on earth took place here. Dated between the second half of the 6th and the 4th century B.C.

 

The Mycenaean Megaron. Part of foundations belonging to a rectangular temple with two columns on the longitudinal axis.

Moorook another Village Settlement in the 1890s.

Thomas Wigley was granted a pastoral lease in this area in 1851 which he called Thurk covering the area from Moorook to Kingston-on-Murray. John Whyte took this lease over in the early 1860s. In 1868 part of Thurk was re-subdivided and the area round Moorook was leased to W and W Shephard. The Hundred of Moorook was declared in 1893 along with other hundreds facing the River Murray. Moorook had sand hills on one bank and a lagoon on the other so it was an attractive site to the local Aboriginal people for burials, stone axe production and fishing and ceremonies. But by the time the Hundred of Moorook was declared in 1893 there few Aboriginal people anywhere in the district. Moorook became another communistic village settlement in 1894. Twenty families, mainly from Port Adelaide settled at Moorook after disembarking there from the paddle steamer Gem. The government provided initial supplies, pumping equipment for irrigation etc but the clay soils of the flats near the River Murray emerged as a great problem. Once wet it stuck to everything. The first pumps were operational by 1896. The settlers soon produced onions and potatoes for sale despite the conflicts and hardships and the rising debts to the government. The first stone house was built at Moorook in 1896. Many had left the struggling village settlement by 1900 and in 1905 Moorook settlement and others were wound up with no leases continuing. New leased blocks covering 3,000 acres were then issued to ten settlers and individualism returned to Moorook. The government declared Moorook and Irrigation Area in 1914 and a large new pumping station was installed. This was partly to provide an income for returning soldiers from World War One. By 1918 Moorook was becoming a major soldier settler district and the town blossomed. Twenty soldier settlers and their families had arrived in 1917 and further 19 soldiers and their families arrived in 1918. By 1922 more 30 soldier settlers were allocated blocks. In 1921 the government erected the Woolpunda Water Tower west of Moorook on Koop Road to help service the irrigation area. At that time it was the highest water tower in Australia being 101 feet from the foundations and 122 feet above the ground. It held 250,000 gallons of water pumped to it from Kingston-on-Murray. Pipelines were built from the water tower to surrounding towns and districts including Moorook, Wunkar and Mantung etc. It has since been replaced by a modern space mushroom tower and the original tower was demolished in 1979.

 

In 1919 the government began surveying a formal settlement with quarter acre town blocks along the river frontage thus creating the township of Moorook. The first government school in Moorook was built in stone in 1896 and served as the first institute or public hall. It is now the rear section of the 1933 Moorook Institute. In 1923 when two new school rooms were built by the government the old 1896 school became the public hall. In 1933 a major stone front extension was opened. A new stone and red brick school was built on another site in 1923 to provide sufficient accommodation for the influx of children of soldier settlers. It remains as the Moorook School. Some town buildings preceded the formal town. The first store and Post Office opened in 1910. A prefabricated hall was moved after World War One from Colonel Light Gardens military camp to Moorook to be used as a R.S.L. hall and Church of Christ. It was named the McIntosh Hall. In 1956 it became the Moorook Co-operative building and general store. Moorook Co-operative was formed in 1921 as the soldier settlers arrived. It began by opening a general store and large packing shed for dried fruit processing and handling. They also installed a grape crusher and distillery in 1921 for distilling their Doradillo gapes. The distillery operated for many years until 1943 when World War Two Italian prisoners of war from Loveday Internment camp dismantled the distillery. In the 1930s the State Bank of South Australia had an agency in the Moorook Co-operative store. The bank opened its own office in Moorook in 1949 before it built a new bank and residence in 1951. As it was near the River Murray it was only saved from the 1956 flood by massive sandbagging by locals.

 

The residents of Moorook were devout church attenders. Anglicans held monthly church services in the Moorook School from 1908 until a church hall was started in 1932. The land was donated by Mr W Loxton and the foundation stone laid at the end of 1932. The parish hall/church opened in 1933. The hall was consecrated as St Mary’s the Virgin Church. During the 1956 River Murray flood it was six feet under water for nine months. When a porch was added by the Bishop in 1974 the hall became an official Anglican Church which only closed in 2018. The first German Lutheran settlers of Moorook attended church in New Residence but in 1910 land was donated by Rien Gogel for Moorook’s St Peter’s Lutheran. It opened in January 1911. The church was renovated and enlarged in 1957 and a new Sunday School was added in 1970. The Church of Christ ran a Sunday School and church service in the McIntosh Hall from 1922 until 1924 and then church services were held in private homes from 1925 until the late 1930s. In 1956 they recommenced Church of Christ services in the former McIntosh Hall and later the Moorook Hall. In 1966 a new Church of Christ was built at Moorook South. On the main road beside the Moorook General Store and Post Office is the old galvanised iron Vercoe’s Billiard Rooms. It was erected in 1926.

 

The Loveday camps housed Germans, Italians and Japanese from the UK, from the war arenas in the Middle East and Asia and a few Australian residents of enemy alien background. A maximum of 5,382 internees were held at Loveday including 2,206 Italians, 2,035 Japanese, 532 Germans and 609 others. Loveday was the largest prisoner of war camp in Australia. It employed around 1,500 military personnel with the camp headquarters based in Barmera and they ate the same food as the internees. During World War Two when the Loveday Internment Camp was established there were small camps of internees in various places along the River Murray with Japanese soldiers interned near Renmark, and some Italians Interned at Moorook. The Moorook Camp opened in 1942 as a tent camp. 210 Italian prisoners lived and worked from the camp. A few of the internees worked with local farmers but most worked cutting wood for fires and fuel for the water pumping stations along the Murray. It was a wood camp. The Italians were moved out of Moorook Camp at the beginning of 1943 and Japanese prisoners of war immediately replaced them. When Moorook Camp closed permanently in February 1944 the Japanese were sent to a camp near Renmark for the remainder of the War.

 

8-9-14 While the MS Veendam was traveling through Prince Christian Sound in southern Greenland. The ship passed this small settlement of around 132 people. Info on the settlement at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aappilattoq,_Kujalleq

Port Pirie.

Prior to white settlement the area was known by the local aboriginal people as “muddy creek.” Samuel Germein named the area Samuel’s Creek in 1839. In 1846 it was re-named Port Pirie by Governor Robe after the first vessel to land here. It took on board sheep from the Crystal Brook run leased by William Younghusband and Peter Ferguson. The ship was the John Pirie. Two years later in 1848 Emanuel Solomon and Matthew Smith laid out a private township on land they had bought from the Crystal Brook run which they called Solomontown. But nothing much happened in Solomontown for the next 23 years until the SA government gazetted and laid out a town further along the harbour from Solomontown which was called Port Pirie. This occurred in 1871 but before then the Pirie district became established as a significant port but without a town. Why? Because the port at Pirie, which is one of the best natural harbours in SA, was the export point for the wool cargoes of the major pastoral runs of the surrounding country. They were Crystal Brook run (285 square miles); Baroota run (65 square miles)- north of Pirie; Telowie run (43 square miles) north of Pirie and into the Flinders Ranges; Booyoolie( 194 square miles) at Gladstone; and Beetaloo ( about 30 square miles) near what is now Laura. For 23 years Pirie was a major port for the export of SA wool.

 

In 1871 the government surveyed and gazetted a government town next to Solomontown. In the government town the streets were named after the family members of the Surveyor General, George Woodroofe Goyder with the main streets being Ellen, Gertrude, and Alexander etc. This government town was established because most of the pastoral runs mentioned above were resumed by the government for surveying and sale to wheat farmers. In a few years around 1870 the Hundreds of Pirie, Napperby, Crystal Brook, Wandearah, Telowie, Narridy and Booyoolie were all declared. Port Pirie continued as the major regional port but for wheat as much as wool from 1871 onwards. It was also the main service centre for the region. Wheat grew well on the slopes towards the Flinders Ranges, south towards Crystal Brook and inland around Gladstone and Laura. As the new town of Pirie emerged Solomon re-surveyed and redesigned his town of Solomontown in 1873 with a grand church circle in the middle of it for a Jewish synagogue or church. Almost overnight, like many other wheat towns established under the new land sale regulations which permitted land on credit, Pirie emerged from the mangrove swamps and sands near the harbour.

 

The first wooden churches emerged, hotels were built and most importantly the government created a new larger wharf in 1874. All the allotted areas were quickly taken up for wheat or wool exporters and timber merchants to bring in the materials to build the new city. In 1874 the telegraph line to Adelaide was established, the first of three flour mills was constructed and a start was made on a railway line to Crystal Brook. Early wharf allotment holders included Dunn -flour millers, Duffield – flour millers, Hart – flour millers, Elder Smith & Co – wool handlers, and several timber and general merchant importers. The first government school, Pirie West opened in 1877 and seven hotels were licensed and operating by 1886. Stone for many of the grander buildings came from sandstone quarries near Napperby in the foothills. But the story of Pirie’s early growth was related to the railway. It reached Crystal Brook in 1874 bringing in wheat from areas near that town. In 1876 this line was extended on to Gladstone and by 1877 it had reached Jamestown. In 1880 it reached a new rail terminus at Peterborough which was just being established. The steam engines for this route from Pirie were all landed at the Port Pirie wharf. All the new towns in the hinterland added to the growth and prosperity of Pirie. They included: Redhill (1869); Gladstone (1872); Laura (1872); Jamestown (1872); Koolunga (1875); Crystal Brook (1875); Warnertown and Napperby (1877); Orroroo (1877); Booleroo Centre (1879); and Peterborough (1880).

 

To maintain law and order the first Court House and Customs House (1875) were built adjacent to the wharves. Exports of wheat from Pirie started with over 200,000 bushels in 1873 rising to over 500,000 bushels in 1875 and then jumping to over 1.1 million bushels in 1876. By 1880 Pirie was exporting over 2.7 million bushels of wheat a year. Pirie surpassed the other major SA port - Port Adelaide by 1878. By 1884 Port Pirie was exporting twice the number of bushels of wheat as Port Adelaide! But Port Adelaide exported more flour than Port Pirie. So within ten years of its founding Pirie was the major wheat port of SA and it was still exporting significant amounts of wool. It had advantages of a deep port and a big hinterland being opened up with new rail lines and new farmers every year.

 

Socially the Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists, Congregationalists and Baptists had all established churches. But unlike most other SA towns Pirie attracted two immigrant groups in the 19th century. There were the Italians and the Greeks, long before the post World War Two immigration to other areas. Why? Because Pirie was an international port. Sailors told stories to friends back home and the first Italian fishermen settled in Pirie in the early 1880s. Most stayed year or two and then returned home to Italy but more kept coming. Around 75% of the early Italian settlers came from one town- Molfetta in Puglia. By 1900 Italian women were settling in Pirie also and the Italian community became a permanent residential group thereafter. Most resided in King and Prince Streets in Solomontown which were known as Little Italy. The first Italians to turn to wheat farming and tomato growing did so at Napperby in 1902. Others followed suit and by the 1930s many were workers in the Pirie smelters. A Fascist Club was formed in 1929 to support Mussolini in Italy but when World War Two broke out a number of Italians enlisted with Australian troops. The Italian community always worshiped at St. Marks Catholic church and Saint Anthony’s Catholic Church at Solomontown. They established the ritual of the Blessing of the Fleet for early September each year in 1929 .On this date a processions travels from St. Mark’s Cathedral to St. Anthony’s Catholic Church at Solomontown.

 

A few Greeks settled for short periods in Pirie from the 1875 but a community as such did not emerge until 1912. More Greeks came to Pirie during and after World War One when there was an exchange of territories between Greece and Turkey. When a survey was done of alien Greeks during World War One the majority in SA, lived in Port Pirie, not Adelaide. One notable immigrant was George Polites who worked in the smelters but grew tomatoes at Napperby on his land there. Son Con was born in 1919 at Napperby. He is now a major SA landowners and developer. As Pirie was the centre of Greeks living in SA in the 1920s it is not surprising that the first Greek Orthodox Church in SA was established in Port Pirie in 1925. They employed the first Greek priest in the former wooden Anglican Church. This building was used until the current white painted Greek Orthodox Church was built between 1957 and 1960 in Florence Street. By 1925 when the first Royal Commission into Plumbism( lead poisoning) was held there were 362 Greek men employed in the Pirie smelters alone. The Napperby School was the first in SA to start Greek lessons in SA in 1945! The Greek Orthodox Church in Pirie is pictured above.

 

But the factor the sealed the industrial fate of Port Pirie and lead (pun intended) to it becoming the first regional city in South Australia was the establishment of smelters for the Broken Hill silver, lead and zinc mines in 1889.The rich lodes at Broken Hill were discovered in 1883. The SA government decided to cash in on this and built a railway line to the NSW border in 1887 of 3’6” gauge. Several options were considered for such as a line including lines from Morgan or from Terowie or from Orroroo but the line built was from Peterborough connecting with the existing line from Port Pirie. But a private railway company was needed to cover the last distance to Broken Hill within NSW. Hence the Silverton Railway Company was formed. Now all the supplies of timber and food were railed from Port Pirie to Broken Hill providing a boom for Pirie merchants and shippers. There were a number of mining companies in Broken Hill and they adopted different responses to the problem of smelting their ores. Some ore was smelted in Broken Hill but water was limited and fuel had to be railed from Port Pirie. Some was railed and shipped to Port Adelaide but that was expensive. Some was railed to Pirie and then shipped to Germany for smelting. Eventually in 1889 the minor British Broken Hill Company decided to build their smelter in Port Pirie. This was followed by Broken Hill Propriety, the major mine deciding to do likewise in 1892. It took over the British Broken Hill Company smelter and enlarged it. In 1915, the smelting of five companies was amalgamated and BHAS, Broken Hill Associated Smelters developed the Pirie smelters into the largest in the world.

 

But what was the effect of the 1892 decision to concentrate smelting in Port Pirie? It increased the population and it gave the town a reliable electricity supply. By 1891 Port Pirie was the largest settlement in SA outside of Adelaide with 4,000 people, but the Copper Triangle (Moonta, Wallaroo and Kadina) was still the major population area outside of Adelaide with around 12,000 people. But ten years later in 1901 Pirie was by far the largest country town in SA with 8,000 people. The smelters also led to Pirie’s rise as an industrial and commercial centre.

 

The city already had shipping agents, timber merchants, importers and exporters, many law firms, a bustling School of Mines (from 1902) and the usual range of town businessmen. But the smelters brought a bigger professional class to the town of engineers, industrial chemists and smelter managers. Pirie soon had wealth and wealthy suburbs. But it also had many unionised workers. The three main industrial groups in Pirie were the railway workers, the wharfies and the smelter workers. In 1885 a Working Men’s Association had been formed to prevent non union labour being employed in the town. The first showdown came in 1888 when town businessmen were told that non union wharfies could not work in Pirie. The shipping companies acceded to the demand. Then in 1890, like unionists across Australian, there was great sympathy with the striking wharfies in London. All three union groups threatened to strike in sympathy and all three groups got wage increases and concessions. The power of the unions was realised and Pirie was hence forth a fully unionised town. In 1891 following this success the unions met and formed a Trades and Labour Council in Pirie which eventually became the Amalgamated Workers’ Association of Port Pirie in 1901.

 

As the unions came together they realised their political force and as the largest population outside of Adelaide the Pirie workers decided the state election results in this region. Any political candidate had to have their support. Pirie was the only SA town to ever have political muscle as the union members voted as a block. Many later state politicians started out in Pirie and began their political careers there. During the major communist inspired strikes of 1917 in Australia, Port Pirie remained calm. One of the local union leaders and strike organisers was Percy Brookfield who went on to become a Member of Parliament. In 1923 he was assassinated by a mad man on Riverton railway Station. Overall Pirie remained relatively calm in 1917 because of the new smelter manager Sir Gerald Mussen. He established the BHAS shop in the town to offer workers lower prices for clothing and other goods. He later made significant donations on behalf of the BHAS to the Pirie War Memorial Gates depicted above and in 1918 he provided funds, materials and support for the Playground in a Day project. The playground, designed by the government Town Planner, Charles Reade who also designed Colonel Light Gardens, included a lake, play equipment and gardens and paths. It was located opposite the Pirie West School in the George Goyder surveyed town parklands. This was a great family boost for poor children in Pirie at that time. Alas it no longer exists and it is not even marked with a plaque only the entrance gates.

 

The smelter was the main employer in the city for decades and consequently Port Pire was the largest city outside of Adelaide until the rise of Whyalla in the 1960s. Port Pirie was declared the first provincial city in SA in 1953. It had been made the cathedral city of the Catholic Diocese of Port Pirie in the 1953 when the new St Mark’s Cathedral opened and the old cathedral in Peterborough lost its status as such. Apart from employment from smelting, the town has always been a major port for the export of grain, and is currently the second port in SA. The Mallyon designed Anglican Church in Port Pirie became the Anglican Cathedral for the Anglican Diocese of Willochra in 1999. Pirie is one of the few regional centres in SA to boast a festival theatre complex, named after Keith Michell, the famous actor who grew up in Port Pirie. Unfortunately Port Pirie no longer has a railway service or station. The original railway station Ellen Street was built in French Empire style in 1902. Then in 1937 Port Pirie got its first direct rail connection to Adelaide via Redhill and Snowtown. Prior to that the rail service to Adelaide went via Peterborough on a very circuitous route. A new railway station opened in Port Pirie in 1967 so that Ellen Street station could be closed down thus ending trains travelling up the middle of the main street. In turn this station was closed in 1982 when the line from Adelaide to Port Augusta was standardised and Port Pirie bypassed. That station is now the City Information Centre and Art Gallery and well worth a visit.

 

I attended a good friends wedding in Inverness, I stayed overnight and decided to capture Inverness Castle and the surrounding area, moving a few miles further North to visit Urquhart Castle too.

 

This set of photos is from my visit to Inverness on Friday 27th July 2018, it was a magnificent summers day, the city was beautiful , I had a great day .

 

Inverness - from the Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Nis ,meaning "Mouth of the River Ness".

 

Scots: Inerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Inverness lies near two important battle sites: the 11th-century battle of Blàr nam Fèinne against Norway which took place on the Aird and the 18th century Battle of Culloden which took place on Culloden Moor.

 

It is the northernmost city in the United Kingdom and lies within the Great Glen (Gleann Mòr) at its north-eastern extremity where the River Ness enters the Moray Firth.

 

At the latest, a settlement was established by the 6th century with the first royal charter being granted by Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim (King David I) in the 12th century. The Gaelic king Mac Bethad Mac Findláich (MacBeth) whose 11th-century killing of King Duncan was immortalised in Shakespeare's largely fictionalized play Macbeth, held a castle within the city where he ruled as Mormaer of Moray and Ross.

 

The population of Inverness grew from 40,969 in 2001 to 46,869 in 2012.

 

The Greater Inverness area, including Culloden and Westhill, had a population of 59,969 in 2012. In 2018 it has a population of 69,989.

 

Inverness is one of Europe's fastest growing cities,with a quarter of the Highland population living in or around it, and is ranked fifth out of 189 British cities for its quality of life, the highest of any Scottish city.

 

In the recent past, Inverness has experienced rapid economic growth: between 1998 and 2008, Inverness and the rest of the central Highlands showed the largest growth of average economic productivity per person in Scotland and the second greatest growth in the United Kingdom as a whole, with an increase of 86%.

 

Inverness is twinned with one German city, Augsburg, and two French towns, La Baule and Saint-Valery-en-Caux.

 

Inverness College is the main campus for the University of the Highlands and Islands.

 

With around 8,500 students, Inverness College hosts around a quarter of all the University of the Highlands and Islands' students, and 30% of those studying to degree level.

 

In 2014, a survey by a property website described Inverness as the happiest place in Scotland and the second happiest in the UK.

 

Inverness was again found to be the happiest place in Scotland by a new study conducted in 2015.

 

Inverness was one of the chief strongholds of the Picts, and in CE 565 was visited by St Columba with the intention of converting the Pictish king Brude, who is supposed to have resided in the vitrified fort on Craig Phadrig, on the western edge of the city.

 

A 93 oz (2.9 kg) silver chain dating to 500–800 was found just to the south of Torvean in 1983.

 

A church or a monk's cell is thought to have been established by early Celtic monks on St Michael's Mount, a mound close to the river, now the site of the Old High Church and graveyard.

 

The castle is said to have been built by Máel Coluim III (Malcolm III) of Scotland, after he had razed to the ground the castle in which Mac Bethad mac Findláich (Macbeth) had, according to much later tradition, murdered Máel Coluim's father Donnchad (Duncan I), and which stood on a hill around 1 km to the north-east.

 

The strategic location of Inverness has led to many conflicts in the area. Reputedly there was a battle in the early 11th century between King Malcolm and Thorfinn of Norway at Blar Nam Feinne, to the southwest of the city.

 

Inverness had four traditional fairs, including Legavrik or "Leth-Gheamhradh", meaning midwinter, and Faoilleach. William the Lion (d. 1214) granted Inverness four charters, by one of which it was created a royal burgh. Of the Dominican friary founded by Alexander III in 1233, only one pillar and a worn knight's effigy survive in a secluded graveyard near the town centre.

 

Medieval Inverness suffered regular raids from the Western Isles, particularly by the MacDonald Lords of the Isles in the fifteenth century. In 1187 one Domhnall Bán (Donald Ban) led islanders in a battle at Torvean against men from Inverness Castle led by the governor's son, Donnchadh Mac An Toisich (Duncan Mackintosh).

 

Both leaders were killed in the battle, Donald Ban is said to have been buried in a large cairn near the river, close to where the silver chain was found.

 

Local tradition says that the citizens fought off the Clan Donald in 1340 at the Battle of Blairnacoi on Drumderfit Hill, north of Inverness across the Beauly Firth.

 

On his way to the Battle of Harlaw in 1411, Donald of Islay harried the city, and sixteen years later James I held a parliament in the castle to which the northern chieftains were summoned, of whom three were arrested for defying the king's command.

 

Clan Munro defeated Clan Mackintosh in 1454 at the Battle of Clachnaharry just west of the city.

 

Clan Donald and their allies stormed the castle during the Raid on Ross in 1491.

  

Engraving of Inverness from A Tour in Scotland by Thomas Pennant, 1771.

In 1562, during the progress undertaken to suppress Huntly's insurrection, Mary, Queen of Scots, was denied admittance into Inverness Castle by the governor, who belonged to the earl's faction, and whom she afterwards caused to be hanged.

 

The Clan Munro and Clan Fraser of Lovat took the castle for her.

 

The house in which she lived meanwhile stood in Bridge Street until the 1970s, when it was demolished to make way for the second Bridge Street development.

 

Beyond the then northern limits of the town, Oliver Cromwell built a citadel capable of accommodating 1,000 men, but with the exception of a portion of the ramparts it was demolished at the Restoration. The only surviving modern remnant is a clock tower.

 

Inverness played a role in the Jacobite rising of 1689. In early May, it was besieged by a contingent of Jacobites led by MacDonell of Keppoch. The town was actually rescued by Viscount Dundee, the overall Jacobite commander, when he arrived with the main Jacobite army, although he required Inverness to profess loyalty to King James VII.

 

In 1715 the Jacobites occupied the royal fortress as a barracks. In 1727 the government built the first Fort George here, but in 1746 it surrendered to the Jacobites and they blew it up.

  

Culloden Moor lies nearby, and was the site of the Battle of Culloden in 1746, which ended the Jacobite rising of 1745–46.

 

The Rose Street drill hall was completed in around 1908.

 

On 7 September 1921, the first British Cabinet meeting to be held outside London took place in the Town House, when David Lloyd George, on holiday in Gairloch, called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Ireland.

 

The Inverness Formula composed at this meeting was the basis of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

 

Inverness and its immediate hinterland have a large number of originally Gaelic place names as the area was solidly Gaelic-speaking until the late 19th century.

 

Several springs which were traditionally thought to have healing qualities exist around Inverness. Fuaran Dearg, which translates as the "red spring" is a chalybeate spring located near Dochgarroch. Fuaran a' Chladaich (The Spring on the Beach) near Bunchrew was once accessed by a causeway from the shore. Although submerged at high tide it continues to bubble and was traditionally known for treating cholera. Fuaran Allt an Ionnlaid (Well of the Washing Burn) at Clachnaharry, where the Marquis of Montrose was allowed to drink while on his way from his capture in Sutherland to his execution in Edinburgh, was known for treating skin conditions. Also at Clachnaharry, Fuaran Priseag (The Precious Well) was said to have been blessed by Saint Kessock and could treat weak and sore eyes, as well as expelling evil and shielding curses if a silver coin was offered. Tobar na h-Oige (Well of the Young) is located near Culloden and was known for curing all ailments. Fuaran a' Chragan Bhreag (Well of the Speckled Rock) is located near Craig Dundain and Fuaran na Capaich (The Keppoch Well) is located near Culloden.[28] Although a Gaelic name itself, Craig Phadraig is alternatively known as Làrach an Taigh Mhóir, or "the place of the Great house".

 

Several Gaelic place names are now largely obsolete due to the feature being removed or forgotten. Drochaid an Easain Duibh (Bridge by the Small Dark Waterfall), referred to in the tale Aonghas Mòr Thom na h-Iubhraich agus na Sìthichean (Great Angus of Tomnahurich and the Fairies) has not yet been located within Inverness and Slag nam Mèirleach (meaning Robbers' hollow), adjacent to Dores Road in Holm is no longer in use. Until the late 19th century, four mussel beds existed on the delta mouth of the River Ness: 'Scalp Phàdraig Mhòir' (Scalp of Great Patrick), 'Rònach' (Place of the Seals) 'Cridhe an Uisge' (The Water Heart) and 'Scalp nan Caorach' (Scalp of the Sheep) – these mussel beds were all removed to allow better access for fishing boats and ships.

 

Allt Muineach (The Thicket River) now runs underground between Culcabock Roundabout and Millburn Roundabout. An Loch Gorm (The Turquoise Loch), a small sea loch which was situated beside Morrisons supermarket, was filled in during the 19th century and lives on only in the name of Lochgorm Warehouse. Abban Street stems from the word àban, a word of local Gaelic dialect meaning a small channel of water.

 

Many prominent points around Inverness retain fully Gaelic names.

 

Beinn Bhuidhe Bheag – Little Yellow Hill

Beinn Uan – Lamb Hill

Cnoc na Mòine – The Peat Hill

Cnoc na Gaoithe – The Hill of the Wind

Cnoc an t-Seòmair – The Hill of the Room

Creag Liath – Grey Crag

Creag nan Sidhean – The Crag of the Fairies

Doire Mhòr – Great Oakwood

Carn a' Bhodaich – The Old Man's Cairn

Meall Mòr – Great Hill

 

In the colonial period, a Gaelic speaking settlement named New Inverness was established in McIntosh County, Georgia, by settlers from in and around Inverness.

 

The name was also given by expatriates to settlements in Quebec, Nova Scotia, Montana, Florida, Illinois, and California.

 

The name Inverness is also given to a feature on Miranda, a moon of the planet Uranus, as well as a 2637 m tall mountain in British Columbia, Canada.[

 

Inverness is also known by its nicknames Inversnecky or The Sneck, with its inhabitants traditionally known as "Clann Na Cloiche" ("Children of the Stone" in Gaelic) owing to the importance of the Clach Na Cudainn stone in the city's history.

 

Inverness is situated at the mouth of the River Ness (which flows from nearby Loch Ness) and at the south-western extremity of the Moray Firth. The city lies at the end of the Great Glen with Loch Ness, Loch Ashie and Loch Duntelchaig to the west. Inverness's Caledonian Canal also runs through the Great Glen, connecting Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy.

 

The Ness Islands, a publicly owned park, consists of two wooded islands connected by footbridges and has been used as a place of recreation since the 1840s.

 

Craig Phadraig, once an ancient Gaelic and Pictish hillfort, is a 240 m hill which offers hikes on a clear pathway through the wooded terrain.

 

Inverness lies on the Great Glen Fault.

 

There are minor earthquakes, usually unnoticed by locals, about every 3 years. The last earthquake to affect Inverness was in 1934.

 

Climate

Like the rest of Scotland, Inverness has an oceanic climate. Its sheltered location makes it one of the driest areas in Scotland. Inverness sees around 18.3 days of falling snow per year, and the record accumulation of snow was 1 foot 2 inches in January 2010.

 

The climate here is much colder than south-eastern Britain.

 

The highest temperature recorded is 29.7 °C in July 2006. Typically the year's warmest day rises to 25.4 °C with a total of 2 days per year reaching or exceeding 25.1 °C. The lowest temperature recorded is -18.7 °C in January 2010. Typically the coldest night falls to -10.6 °C.

 

Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows[clarification needed], and there is adequate rainfall year-round.

  

The Köppen climate classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (marine west coast climate/oceanic climate).

Important buildings in Inverness include Inverness Castle, and various churches.

 

The castle was built in 1835 on the site of its medieval predecessor. It is now a sheriff court.

 

Inverness Cathedral, dedicated to St Andrew, is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church and seat of the ordinary of the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness. The cathedral has a curiously square-topped look to its spires, as funds ran out before they could be completed.

 

The oldest church is the Old High Church, on St Michael's Mount by the riverside, a site perhaps used for worship since Celtic times. The church tower dates from mediaeval times, making it the oldest surviving building in Inverness. It is used by the Church of Scotland congregation of Old High St Stephen's, Inverness,[98] and it is the venue for the annual Kirking of the Council, which is attended by local councillors.

 

There is no Catholic cathedral in the area as the Diocese's cathedral (St Mary) is at Aberdeen, the seat of the Diocese of Aberdeen. The Catholic population is served by two parish churches: St Mary's Church, founded in 1837, is the older of the two and the first Catholic church founded in Inverness since the Reformation.

 

St Ninian's was built during the 1960s and 1970s.

 

Inverness College is the hub campus for the UHI Millennium Institute.

 

Porterfield Prison, officially HMP Inverness, serves the courts of the Highlands, Western Isles, Orkney Isles and Moray, providing secure custody for all remand prisoners and short-term adult prisoners, both male and female, who are segregated.

  

Notable people

 

Main category: People from Inverness

 

Charlie Christie – Footballer; career included playing for Celtic and Inverness Caledonian Thistle

 

Charles Fraser Mackintosh (Teàrlach Friseal Mac An Toisich) – lawyer, author and politician. Born and raised in Inverness and represented the Highlands in Westminster.

 

Yvette Cooper – Work and Pensions Secretary in the Brown Cabinet,was born in Inverness

 

Don Cowie – Footballer, currently playing for Heart of Midlothian

 

James Alexander Forbes – British Vice-Consul to Mexican California as well as the first British Consul to the American state of California

 

Karen Gillan – Actress, best known as Amy Pond, the Doctor's Companion in Doctor Who

 

Elspet Gray – Actress

Murray Grigor – Scottish film-maker

 

Derry Irvine – Former Lord Chancellor (under Tony Blair); was born in Inverness

 

Malcolm Jones – Musician; guitar player for Runrig

 

Charles Kennedy – Former leader of the Liberal Democrats; was born in Inverness

 

Russell Knox – Scottish professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour

 

Kevin MacDonald – Former footballer who played for Liverpool F.C., and former caretaker first team coach at Aston Villa

 

John A. Mackay – Presbyterian theologian, missionary, and educator

 

Mary Macpherson – (Màiri Nic a' Phearsain) poet and political activist, "Great Mairi of the Songs" raised her children in Inverness, where she wrote much of her work.

 

John McGinlay – Former footballer who played as a striker, most notably for Bolton Wanderers

 

Very Rev Mitford Mitchell DD Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1903

 

Ethel Moir – Nursing orderly with Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service

 

Ali Smith – Author; born in Inverness in 1962

 

Mr Egg – MacAcidhouse musician; born in Inverness on 7 January 1959

 

Major General Douglas Wimberley—British Army officer, born in Inverness 16 August 1896, service in World War I and World War II

 

Josephine Tey – Author

Hereford in Herefordshire

 

Hereford means the ford used by the army. The Saxons arrived in this part of England in the 7th century and a settlement grew up at the ford. Saxon Hereford also had a mint and a weekly market. Hereford was able to resist a Danish attack in 914. About 1050 a castle was built in Hereford. However the town was burned by the Welsh in 1055.

 

After the Norman conquest many Frenchmen came to settle in Hereford. The town grew northwards and the market was moved to a new position north of the old town. In Medieval Hereford the main industry making wool. The wool was woven then it was fulled. That means the wool was cleaned and thickened by being pounded in a mixture of clay and water. The wool was pounded by wooden hammers worked by watermills. The Normans set about rebuilding Hereford cathedral.

 

Bishop Thomas Cantilupe died in 1282. He was buried in Hereford and in 1320 he was canonised (declared a saint). Soon people reported miracles at his shrine and many pilgrims visited the town to see it adding to the prosperity of the town.

 

In 1642 came civil war between king and parliament. Hereford strongly supported the king. Nevertheless in September 1642 a parliamentary force took Hereford but they withdrew in December. A small royalist army then held the town but they fled in April 1643 when a superior parliamentary force came. However Hereford soon changed hands again when the parliamentarians left and a royalist army arrived.

 

A parliamentary army laid siege to the town in July 1645 but they were unable to take Hereford. They withdrew in September. However by then the king was losing the war. In December the parliamentarians took Hereford by trickery. Some of their soldiers dressed as laborers and took shovels and picks. They went to Bysters Gate. When it was opened they took control and let in more parliamentary soldiers. Hereford was soon taken.

 

In the 18th century Hereford remained a quiet market town. In 1757 it had a population of 5,592. There was little manufacturing industry although it was known for glove making. However in the 1720's Daniel Defoe visited Hereford but he was not impressed, he called it 'mean built and very dirty!'.

 

At the end of the 18th century all the gates around Hereford were demolished as they restricted traffic. Wye Bridge Gate and Friars Gate went in 1782. St Owens Gate went in 1786, Eign Gate followed in 1787, Bysters Gate and Widemarsh Gate were demolished in 1798.

 

Information gained from www.localhistories.org/hereford.html