March's Picture

Just a word about March's picture which I took on our City Safari to Lisbon last year.
The Oriente Station is to the north of the city close to the new shopping centre which has been developed on the 1998 Exhibition site.

To the left a view of the lower levels of the station which connect the shopping malls with the bus station. The trains run from the upper level.

The Oriente station was designed by architect Santiago Calatrava for the Expo Its facilities serve and interconnect several forms of transport. Passengers can change between metropolitan, long- and medium-haul regional and international trains. There are connections into the underground system, national and metropolitan buses or taxis. There is also an airport link and check-in facilities.
Expo 98 was developed on the eastern waterfront on reclaimed industrial land. the area is now renamed Parque das Nações. The Exposition was developed with the specific theme, "The Oceans: A Heritage for the Future" It has become a showcase for modern architecture and includes the landmark Torre Vasco da Gama. The two striking towers were designed to look like giant sailboats and are named after two of da Gama's ships, São Gabriel and São Rafael.
Lisbon's World Fair was special because it hosted a record 130 countries and international organizations, was the 100th international exhibition since the Great Exhibition of London in 1851, the last one of the 20th century, and coincided with the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama's arrival in India and the United Nations' "Year of the Oceans."
The Expo site originally comprised 70 hectares with a riverfront of 2 kilometres but this area has been extended to 340 hectares, including 5 km of river front property. The original site was developed around the Olivais Dock, a 1940's airport for seaplanes.
The main Pavilion of the 1998 Expo was later transformed into a huge mall. The building currently holds many shops, restaurants and bars. The pavilion is covered with a double glass ceiling. Water falls between the glasses, making you feel inside a waterfall.

Wednesday

Nearly the end of the month and so last night, Wednesday, was the regular monthly GLIAS Board meeting. more important for me, apart from my report as Membership Secretary, is the visit to the Royal Oak in the Borough. This pub is tucked away and you would think would be quiet, but these days its really packed. (You would think that I would not be mentioning it!) It has Harvey's beer from Lewes with geat home cooked food including steak and kidney pudding. But please don't tell anyone else!

Colne Valley Postal History Museum

I have been contacted by someone who had seen the K8 notes posted the other day and who mentioned their website, http://www.shortal.com/kitmaster-bloke/profile.html, which publicises the work of the Colne Valley Postal History Museum, which is in Halstead in Essex.
Some years ago now, when I was researching post boxes for my GLIAS talk on 'London Street Furniture', I could find very few on-line resources, or even books, about post boxes and telephone kiosks. At that time the Letter Box Study Group, http://www.lbsg.org/, did not offer much in the way of history unless you joined the Society.
Now I find that the new Colne Valley site has LOTS of information about postal history as well as links to LOTS of other sites connected with all sort of street furniture. Another one for my already overcrowded 'favourites' list.
By the way, the Museum, housed in the garden of a private house, is open to the public by appointment only, but certainly looks as though its worth the effort if you are in Essex.

Nowells of Dewsbury

One of my other interests is Family History and I have found a link back to the Nowell Family in Dewsbury in the early 19th century. Checking out the internet, I have found details of an extensive Nowell family who were stone masons, then canal and railway contractors in the 19th century. As yet I cannot find a connection to them, although there are a lot of Biblical names such as Benjamin and Samuel in common.
I have been somewhat distracted by this contracting family who apparently were involved in all sorts of projects such as the abutments for the Gauxholme Viaduct and the piers of the Britannia Bridge. Much of this information comes from the Macclesfield Canal Society who have published an article from 1932 from the Dewsbury Reporter written by a family member. Check it out at http://adkins-family.org.uk/macclesfieldcanal/history/nowells.htm, it is a fascinating read.
I checked with various of my friends who are civil engineering historians but no one has heard of the Nowells which is surprising considering the types of important contracts they were dealing with. Back home in Dewsbury, the parish church has a number of monuments on the family tombs. Also remaining in the city is the home of the 'pater familias' , Quarry Hill House, which is now used as a convent. This is to be found in the area called Dewsbury Moor, where their original quarries were to be found. There is also a Nowell Street in the area.
The extended family continued to work in civil engineering until at least the middle of last century. Anyone know more? Or is anyone researching the name who has found Jacob Nowell, the missing one I am looking for. His son Thomas was a clothier in 1841 but I am convinced there is a link, perhaps further back with the masons.
Please help and put me out of my misery!

K8 Telephone Boxes

The Twentieth Century Society, http://www.c20society.org.uk/docs/press/070311_K8_phone_boxes.html, has started a campaign to save the few remaining K8 telephone boxes. They have apparently put forward the names of the 12 still in service for listing and are asking members if they know of any others.

Their site describes the boxes as being constructed of cast iron, but I had thought that they were unusual in that they were in steel. I shall have to look further.!

The boxes were designed by Bruce Martin who won a competition organised by the GPO in 1965. 11,000 were manufactured and installed. They were very distinctive with large glass panels but when BT began de-commissioning boxes, they were the first to go - almost overnight. At that time they were oly 20 years old and so ineligible for listing. Now English Heritage is considering their eligibility.

I know of a derelict one on the outskirts of Portsmouth which has probably gone by now. There are also two, painted blue, on the Circle/District Line platforms which are in sue as 'offices' for the platforms staff. But are there any more? Can anyone let me know where they are? Below is a photo of the K8.

PS Further research has found that there are 4 K8s in Swindon!

City Safaris

I notice I have been talking about City Safaris without explaining what they are. Have a look at the City Safari website in the Links Section.
My husband and I, with friend Paul Saulter, devised these weekends which explore a city using public transport. We look at the industrial history as well as the old and new architecture of European and British cities. In a small group on foot and using trams and buses we can see how the city works, quite literally. We also go to places that the regular trips never visit such as the former gas works or meat market. As we say the tours are for the 'adventurous urban rambler'!

Here we are in the sewers of Prague. Don't worry, its a disused section and not at all smelly! There is also a preserved working steam engine on site.







In the 10 years we have been operating these specially devised tours we have been as far apart as Prague, Turin and Portugal. The picture of the Lisbon Oriente station was taken last year on one of our visits.



This is a view of water mills on the River Certovka through a land arch of the Charles Bridge.

We do not neglect British cities either such as Glasgow and Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. Canals in Birmingham, Warehouses in Liverpool, early mills in Manchester - all neglected yet vital remains of Britain's industrial revolution which we have visited recently.
Here is the group in Newcastle, admiring the refurbished stall which was an early Marks and Spencer stall. It still sells their goods.







Nor do we neglect exploration of local eating spots - in this case a restaurant once Sunlight Chambers in Newcastle and covered in Burmantofts tiles. We have a dinner and orientation talk on the first evening - but often eat together on other evenings.
As I said - check out the link to City Safaris and see what we do and perhaps join us this year.

Geograph

I found Blogger through the Geograph site. How sad that I had not found it before! Take a look - http://www.geograph.org.uk/

Its a simple idea - to try to photograph every kilometre square in Great Britain and these pictures are meant to represent the geographical features in each square. The vision and expertise of the photographers is variable but there are some memorable images and great discussion pages with pages devoted to all sorts of topics including how to use the images in education which is how I got here!

This is one of my pictures for Square SK1870 which is just outside Ashford in the Water in Derbyshire. This was Christmas Day a couple of years ago after lunch.

The other is of poppies in similar fields close by in the summer but not, I'm afraid, by me. but by George Wolfe

I also like the quirky and one of my particular interests is street furniture such as telephone boxes, letter boxes or street signs and they too can be found in profusion on this site. The picture on the left is in Square NT0987 and is by Paul McIlroy. Edward VIII boxes are relatively rare and this one in in Dunfermline. The telephone boxes on the right in Square TQ3181 by Patrick Mackie are in Smithfield Market.

The one at the bottom of a combined telephone box, stamp machine and letter box is mine and is close to the station in Froadsham, Cheshire.

Already, in a couple of years, over 50% of all the squares have been filled - but don't worry more than one image per square helps to show what it is like. Join in. The more pictures there are, the more they can be used.

All the photographs are Creative Commons Licenced.

SERIAC Preparations

I have been busy today preparing a Heritage of Industry powerpoint presentation for publicity at SERIAC, http://www.hants.gov.uk/suiag/, the South East England Industrial Archaeology Conference. Heritage will have a publicity stall and a rolling presentation to make delegates aware of our 2007 programme and our ability to prepare 'custom-built' industrial archaeology tours.

This year we will be in Latvia for a week, Prague and Central Bohemia for a week as well as City Safaris in Glasgow and Vienna.