Day 38
February 7, 2010The Fishing Boat Harbour was humming with people today. The fishing boats by contrast were resting…..
1,406,076
The Fishing Boat Harbour was humming with people today. The fishing boats by contrast were resting…..
Finished our house packing and took the crates to Jean for storage. It’s warming up again!
Spotted these green fishing nets in the harbour.
Colourful nets on a trawler in the harbour
Amazing news from Freo! We’ve only been left 48 hours and after no rain since November they have 35mm in one hour! People were wading thigh deep on the road behind our house and swimming across the Esplanade Park. Chris’s friend has 300 dents in a brand new Jaguar, caused by golf ball sized hailstones.
This stack of material for shirt tailoring caught my eye.
Call me sad if you want, but I quite like this picture.
Our lives for the last 3 weeks have been dominated by the building work on our front garden. This is hopefully coming to a close soon.
This is mortar for laying bricks. More commonly known in the trade as ‘gobbo’. We have plenty of it in our house on the carpets, the kitchen floor….
I was very tempted to put this in as a ‘Stihl Life‘ (play on words)
A 38 mile cycle ride to bag this photo !
There is something strangely iconic about the mining industry in Britain. The Period of decline which led to the strikes and civil unrest experienced during the 1980’s made mining the Industry that symbolized Britain’s industrial decline. The result was the mass closure of pits and works in the years that followed.
In 1922 the shafts were sunk at Clipstone colliery to exploit the top hard seam. In 1950’s the National Coal Board Conducted a series of modernisations deepening the shafts and creating the present day head stocks. Standing at 65 meters they were once the second tallest in the world when they were built. The mine operated until July 2003 when it was decided the remaining reserves were no longer economical.
The following year saw vandalism and demolition remove the offices and shower blocks. But under the protection of a conservation order the headstocks and winding house survived. A recent poll among local residents found in favor of demolition and it is now likely that these impressive structures will be demolished in favor of a business park.
I couldn’t make my mind up which photo to use today so the reserve is here too. I like the picture but it isn’t clear that it’s a mine headstock. Any views?
A wander around the old industrial area of Kelham Island in Sheffield.
Kelham Island is one of Sheffield’s eleven designated Quarters. Formerly an industrial area, the island itself was created by the building of a goit, or mill race, fed from the river Don to serve the water wheels powering the workshops of the areas’ industrial heyday. The quarter was named after the island, however, the boundaries extend beyond the physical island created by the river and goit.
One of the most impressive derelict buildings in this area is Green Lane Works. Very difficult to photograph because it is well boarded up hopefully for future preservation works.
The entrance gate to the works is particularly ornate and has been designated as a Grade II* listed building. Nikolaus Pevsner called the gate “the most spectacular survival of factory architecture in the city”. The works are situated in the suburb of Neepsend within the Kelham Island Quarter of the city and date from 1795 although they were extensive alterations in 1860.
The original Green Lane Works were established in 1795 by the firm of Hoole and Company who were manufacturers of ornamental stove grates and fenders in Bronze and metal. The firm flourished and their products won a first Council medal at theThe Great Exhibition of 1851 and a Medaille d’honneur at the Exposition Universelle of 1855. This success brought considerable prestige to the firm and its proprietor at the time Henry E. Hoole. In 1859 Hoole was elected Lord Mayor of Sheffield and to celebrate this he had major alterations carried out to the works.[2]
The most important part of the 1860 rebuilding was the construction of the decorative entrance arch on Green Lane. It is thought that the sculptor Alfred Stevens designed the gatehouse and may have been responsible for the relief sculptured decoration. Stevens had worked for Hoole and Company between 1850 and 1852 as chief designer on a salary of £20 per annum and had designed much of the firms award winning work for the 1851 exhibition. When he returned to London after two years with Hooles he left behind him many drawings and designs for apprentices to study.
The Gateway is constructed of ashlar, stucco and brick and takes the form of a tripartite triumphal arch with a carving of a female head on the keystone above the main (central) arch. The two outer (pedestrian) arches have relief panels of the Greek gods Hephaestus (left) and Athena (right) above them. The name of the works is carved above the central arch and above this is an apex roof which at one time had a coat of arms on it which is now missing. The gateway is topped off by acupola with clock and weather vane.
The works were considerably damaged in the Great Sheffield Flood of March 1864 with Samuel Harrison in his “A Complete History of the Great Sheffield Flood” saying:
“ | The Green Lane Works, the property of Messrs. H. E. Hoole and Co., were damaged considerably. A large room, filled with stoves, fenders, and so forth, was flooded to a depth of four feet. Trunks of trees were washed into the grinding wheel, the engine and boiler were covered with debris, and a great quantity of miscellaneous property was destroyed. | ” |
The works continued to make stove grates and fenders until 1930, up until 1948 it produced files as part of the Ibbotson Brothers group. In April 1948 the works were purchased by W.A. Tyzack who produced agricultural tools and parts for farm machinery. In late 2010 the works are disused with its future unknown. The gateway has been partly bordered to protect it from vandalism.
The entrance gateway in the early 1860s just after being built.
It’s Saturday so I should be starting a new theme…..
We have relatives from Australia arriving this week to stay with us for nearly a month. As a result we will be out and about all over the place showing them the local sights.
The plan (do we have a plan?), is to keep the theme open for now and see what turns up.
Like today some pallets of colourful empty beer casks standing outside a local brewery, waiting to be filled.
RECENT COMMENTS